Game Mechanics Improving the Jungle Temple (and the rest of Late Hardmode)

[Old Master Rope God🌳]

Wouldn't you rather something more unique than just Golem heads? We don't want to make the Temple exactly like the Dungeon.

A door that blocks you from entering is too unoriginal.
Hes suggesting another boulder trap.
How is that original?

 

[Big Sammich]

A door that blocks you from entering is too unoriginal.
Hes suggesting another boulder trap.
How is that original?

I didn't say anything about being original. Don't put words in my mouth. Besides, a huge boulder makes perfect sense for the Jungle temple.

 

[Old Master Rope God🌳]

I didn't say anything about being original. Don't put words in my mouth. Besides, a huge boulder makes perfect sense for the Jungle temple.

I like Indiana jones, i can agree with that.

Wouldn't you rather something more unique than just Golem heads? We don't want to make the Temple exactly like the Dungeon.

That sounds like talk about unoriginality to me.

 

[Big Sammich]

That sounds like talk about unoriginality to me.

It's not. I'm talking about making it distinct from the Dungeon, not entirely unique from anything else. And your idea was hardly original - it's just the Dungeon Guardian again.

 

[Yousef the H]

People who encounter the Dungeon Guardian don't go back to see if it's gone until they have a solid reason, that being Skeletron's defeat. I doubt people will do the same for the boulder in the Temple. But then again, we can't really know until we see for ourselves.

5 Adamantite/Titanium bars is also fine, but I balk at putting a dart trap in there. Dart traps are non-renewable.

right, i forgor, maybe a recipe to them would be nice

Fair enough. There's a lot of them.

I'm not sure what your point is here. Care to explain?

the lihzahrds created golem, so with this whole temple revamp maybe a little revamp to the arena would be nice, since we're getting new enemies and such

I think him "barely" summoning the Pillars in time more refers to the fact that the player was too slow, rather than that the Cultist was rushing. The way the cultists are encountered implies that the Lunatic Cultist was planning on fighting you, but he needed probable cause first, or else his minions being killed was part of his plan. But either way, my point stands that Cultist needs to be much harder, and the best way is to make him more mobile.

i want him to be more mobile, but also be timed so again, the player wouldn't stall or run away to nurse or smth (i want that to be nerfed, so maybe just bias here)

Not a bad thought. But plenty of other bosses come out of nowhere. The Jungle doesn't prepare you for bee hives, or for Plantera. The Ocean doesn't hint at Duke Fishron at all. While the Temple could benefit from a little bit of warning, the same could be said for a lot of the game, and personally I don't think it's a problem to have the boss arena come out of nowhere, as long as the boss itself doesn't ambush you.

the 666 fishing power is a little bit of a hint (not a good one tbf), there are other smaller hives that spawn bees when broken in the jungle, plantera has the jungle grows restless thing but i guess it's vague
and my problem with the arena suddenly appearing is just that there's no build up, you just go through the temple and bam arena
like, the temple could literally just be golem's arena and no one would ask a thing, but if there was at least something more to the temple i would be very interested to know what's at the end

 

[Big Sammich]

i want him to be more mobile, but also be timed so again, the player wouldn't stall or run away to nurse or smth (i want that to be nerfed, so maybe just bias here)

Putting a time limit on Cultist won't help at all. Cultist is not hard enough now to require players to stall or run away to the Nurse. Making Cultist harder in the way I suggested would also make it more difficult to do those things because he'd chase after you much faster.

And I don't think the Golem arena needs to be changed at all, outside of coding its generation better to make it less janky. The presentation of the boss is just fine as it is.

 

[Big Sammich]

Updating the thread to say that I've added the images for the Lihzahrd Aberrant, Lihzahrd Conjurer, and Living Statue. These are the only images I'll be making for this thread, so don't expect any more updates.

 

[Yousef the H]

Putting a time limit on Cultist won't help at all. Cultist is not hard enough now to require players to stall or run away to the Nurse. Making Cultist harder in the way I suggested would also make it more difficult to do those things because he'd chase after you much faster.

fine, it is still something i want

And I don't think the Golem arena needs to be changed at all, outside of coding its generation better to make it less janky. The presentation of the boss is just fine as it is.

i would have a lot more fun grinding the boss with an arena to make it feel like an actual fight

also a bit outside of this but please use less colors next time when righting suggestions it hurt my eyes reading this

 

[Big Sammich]

i would have a lot more fun grinding the boss with an arena to make it feel like an actual fight

also a bit outside of this but please use less colors next time when righting suggestions it hurt my eyes reading this

But once you beat Golem, you can reshape his room with either the Picksaw (if you get it) or with the Laser Drill to make it more fit for grinding. It is within your control to make an arena for Golem. No other boss spawns with a pre-built "arena."

Also, I use colors to draw attention to the important points of my post. While I empathize with your eyes hurting, I don't plan to stop using multi-colored text.

 

[BluuMoon3]

Inspired strongly by this post by user @Stevreng, as well as the myriad of posts along these lines I've seen on the forum recently. This is a long suggestion, so please bear with me.

We can all agree that the Jungle Temple is a pretty boring part of the lategame. It's not very difficult to get through, providing you neutralize the traps, it contains almost no relevant loot, and Golem is notoriously easy. For most players, the Temple is simply something you have to do to spawn the Cultists, and is not seen as a legitimate stepping stone. This has led to a large quantity of posts and suggestions about making the post-Plantera portion of the game more significant, primarily focused on upping the relevance of the optional content that is meant to take place between Golem and Moon Lord. I figured I might throw my hat into the ring and give my own ideas for how this part of the game can be improved.

In this post I am primarily focused on the Temple. This location, I feel, is the primary sticking point that the rest of the lategame is held back by. It is seen by many as the lesser younger brother of the Dungeon, failing to live up to the legacy of it's predecessor in every way. It is less interesting, less impactful, and the consequences of it's completion stretch less far. My goal with this post will be to raise the Temple up to a similar level of importance and interaction as the Dungeon, while not sacrificing the differences in philosophy and game design that makes it Unique. With this in mind, I have split this post into three parts: pre-Plantera changes, proper Temple changes, and post-Golem changes. Please reserve your comments until after you've read the whole post, and keep all of my ideas in mind. All feedback, negative or positive, is appreciated as long as it is constructive. With that out of the way, let's get into it.

Spoiler: Pre-Plantera Changes

First things first: no, I am not suggesting the Temple be accessible before you defeat Plantera. This is something that I think should not be changed at all, and in fact with my suggestions it will become even more important that the Temple be locked away until Plantera is defeated. In the past, I've seen posts asking for a Temple Guardian (such as this one by user @Aceplante) as extra insurance to prevent players from getting into the Temple before they're supposed to. In the state the Temple is in now, I don't think it's necessary, but with my suggested changes, it probably will be. Let's see how that could look.

I think the first room in the Jungle Temple should be made more uniform. Instead of immediately getting into the ordinary Temple generation once you enter the door, the so-called "entrance hall" of the Temple will be a long, plain hallway with no traps or chests in it. The path to get to the rest of the Temple will be a hole in the floor, guaranteed to be at the very end of the hallway. If the player enters this hallway prior to defeating Plantera, the "Temple Guardian" will spawn at the end of the hall, in this case being an enormous mossy boulder made of Lihzahrd Bricks that covers the entire height of the hall. Once the player gets close enough, probably a bit before the boulder would appear on screen, it will begin to roll towards the player, moving faster than a normal boulder but not too fast that a quick player couldn't double back and escape.
If it hits the player, it'll do several thousand points of damage, and similarly to the Dungeon Guardian, this damage cannot be avoided by dodge chances or invincibility. The boulder is also different from regular boulders in that it doesn't break when it hits a wall; when it collides with a wall (likely stopping right against the door,) it will instead sit there, blocking the way in. This, I feel, is a tonally in-line and sensible way of preventing players from entering the Temple early, as well as being a fun reference to the first Indiana Jones movie. Given the existing protections that prevent the player from teleporting inside the Temple, there shouldn't be a way around this boulder.

As I mentioned earlier, the current state of the Temple does not necessitate a "Temple Guardian," but here we come to my first suggestion that would change this. Temple traps should be craftable with Solar Tablet Fragments. This would allow the Temple traps to be renewable, which they currently are not, but it comes with the caveat that players can get them a lot earlier, since you can still fight Lihzhards in and around the Temple before beating Plantera. I don't think this is a problem, though, because as long as the recipe for crafting them prevents their acquisition in pre-Hardmode while also ensuring that the traps will come at a very slow rate before Plantera is beaten, it's acceptable for players to get them in early Hardmode.
My recipe for them would be 25 Solar Tablet Fragments, 2 Adamantite/Titanium Bars, and 25 each of Arrows, Bones, Torches, or Spiky Balls to make the Super Dart Trap, Spear Trap, Flame Trap, and Spiky Ball Trap respectively. Given the low drop chance and low drop quantity of Solar Tablet Fragments, as well as the fact that you don't generally see many Lihzahrds outside of the Temple anyway, it would take a long time for pre-Plantera players to get these traps, but once the Temple is unlocked properly, they'll come much easier. If you don't want them to be obtainable before you're supposed to have them, then we can swap out the Adamantite/Titanium bars for Beetle Husks.

That's it for the changes that are relevant before Plantera is beaten. The Temple should only have major relevance once you can actually go there, so until then it should remain a strange monolith in the Jungle depths.

Spoiler: Temple Proper

Let's think for a moment about what the Temple is supposed to be. It's much less of a labyrinth than the Dungeon is, and more of a gauntlet of traps and enemies. It's tight walls, abundance of dangerous traps, and janky terrain make it difficult to progress smoothly through it, and quite honestly I think this part of the Temple is fine. I can definitely see the design philosophy here; at this point in the game, the player is quite capable of free movement and has the tools to overpower standard enemies, so the difficulty comes from loss of movement and damage sources you can't fight back against. Unfortunately, the Temple is simply not difficult enough. The enemies don't work well with the layout, the traps are easily neutralized, and the sources of danger rarely come to the forefront. To me, this says that the Temple needs to force the player to interact with it's contents better. Here are the ways I'd like to do this.

First, I have two proposals for a rework of Lihzahrd Pressure Plates. The first is that they also be allowed to generate on the ceiling. This will prevent players from simply flying or jumping over all of the traps, which as of now is a foolproof strategy. The second is that they also send a signal when they are broken, meaning that deactivating the traps remains a safe option, but it's not longer a free pass through the Temple, since breaking a pressure plate will likely result in damage, or worse, the release of several Spiky Balls restricting the player's movement.

Now for some new enemies to make these reworks more relevant. At certain points throughout the Temple, such as every time the path goes downwards, there will be a special enemy that I will call the Temple Blockade. This enemy is a tall enemy that acts as a wall to the player, preventing their passage further into the Temple. It is both an enemy and a block in that it has a health bar and can be killed, but the player cannot walk through its hitbox. It has no contact damage and no attacks, although it does have a "wave" attack that throws the player back, meaning that it acts purely as a wall.
It is also protected by a magical barrier, just much like the Lunar Pillars. In order to deactivate this barrier, a certain number of Lihzahrd enemies must be killed; let's say 50 enemies. Once the barrier is removed, the Temple Blockade can be destroyed, and the player can advance further into the Temple. Regardless of the size of the Temple, exactly 4 Blockades will spawn in every world, and each time the player will be forced to stop and battle enemies to continue onwards.
I think this accomplishes the goal of forcing interaction with the Temple very well; the player must fight the enemies, and they will likely have to make their way backwards through the hallway they're already in, which will also increase likelihood of interacting with the traps. It also provides a form of training for the Lunar Events, familiarizing the player with the gameplay mechanic that will become more relevant later in the game. The Temple Blockades will not respawn once they are killed, so the player only has to do all of this once.

Destroying a Temple Blockade will also enable the spawning of new Lihzahrd enemies. This will make the Temple combat become more interesting as the player moves further in, because let's be honest, killing 50 Flying Snakes every time you want to progress does not sound like a good time. My idea of this is that each time a Temple Blockade is destroyed, one more enemy will be added to the spawn list, with the exception of the last Blockade, for a total of 5 enemies in the Temple.

1. Lihzahrd Aberrant. This enemy would begin to spawn after the first Blockade is taken down. It would resemble a squat, deformed Lihzahrd with dim yellow eyes and tattered yellow robes. It always crawls on all fours, and it would have the ability to climb walls like Spider enemies, although I think comparing it to The Possessed is more accurate. It would have the movement stats of a regular Lihzahrd at half health, meaning it is resistant to knockback and moves very quickly. It would have less health than regular Lihzahrds, but more damage and defense.
   It would share its drops with the regular Lihzahrd, but would have a higher chance of dropping the ever-coveted Lizard Egg.
   View attachment 429054
   
2. Lihzahrd Conjurer. This would be a caster-type enemy that begins to spawn after the second Blockade is passed. It would look like a taller, thinner Lihzahrd wearing long yellow robes. It follows Caster AI, meaning that it teleports to one place, casts a volley of magical attacks, then teleports again. It would have the least HP of any enemy in the Temple, less than the Flying Snake, as well as very little defense.
   For its attack, it would put its hands together and chant, and three fireballs would appear above its head in a triangle formation. They would hang there for a moment, then quickly fire off one after another towards the player. They would have some homing properties and would pass through blocks, but they can be destroyed by attacks. Melee players be warned, however, as they explode when hit, damaging the player if they're too close. The fireballs would do decent damage and inflict the Hellfire debuff, as well as exploding when they make contact with the player, making them tougher on multiplayer groups.
   The Conjurer would only perform this attack once before teleporting again. Hitting the Conjurer before the fireballs are sent will interrupt the attack, as with all other casters, but once the first fireball is fired off, the others cannot be stopped from firing off as well.
   It would also share the same drops with the regular Lihzahrd, although it would have a greater chance to drop Solar Tablet Fragments, as well as dropping them in higher quantities.
   View attachment 429053
3. Living Statue. This would be a mimic-type enemy, although rather than resembling a chest, this one looks like one of the Lihzahrd Statues that appear in the Temple. It would only spawn after the third Blockade is felled. It can look like any of the three Lihzahrd Statues, and will stand motionless in place until the player gets close, whereupon it will awaken, its eyes glowing yellow and the cracks in its body illuminated by the energy powering it. It would have the highest HP of any normal enemy in the Temple by a large margin, having four times the HP of a standard Lihzahrd, as well as substantial defense.
   It behaves much like the Paladin, walking semi-slowly towards the player, completely immune to all knockback, and when it gets close enough, it will stop walking and begin to fire lasers from its eyes at the player. These would be the same lasers fired by Golem during it's boss fight. Attacking the Statue would interrupt its laser attack, but it will continue to walk towards the player, which could be troublesome because its melee damage is higher than it's laser damage.
   It would be rarer than the other enemies, and only a limited number can exist at a time, but in return, it would have a much higher chance of dropping Lihzahrd Power Cells.
   View attachment 429052

These enemies would make navigating the Temple much more of a daunting task, but it would also keep things interesting, as well as providing a greater challenge to the player. Compared to the post-Plantera Dungeon, the Temple has always been the less difficult, but with these new enemies, it may provide a stronger incentive for the player to power up before arriving.

Then we come to Golem himself. There has long been talk of Golem being a disappointingly easy boss, and fixing this problem has not proven easy, as most players have so thoroughly memorized Golem's attack patterns that even upping his damage cannot do enough anymore. However, I feel that there is a simple fix. Just take some of the mobility increases he receives in For The Worthy and put them in the regular game. He attacks faster, jumps higher, moves faster, everything. That's really all there is to it. When I played Legendary mode, I was taken aback by how much more difficult Golem was than I had expected, and I think the majority of this was how much harder it was to dodge his attacks, even if I thought I knew what to do. His mechanic of making the room significantly darker cannot be discounted, but I feel that should remain a secret seed exclusive. Golem already does significant damage, so making it harder to avoid that damage is all that needs to be done.

Spoiler: Post-Golem Changes

This section covers the way that the rest of the world responds to the defeat of Golem. While none of this applies to the Temple, I still feel that it is relevant to discuss, as this is where all of the remaining progression up until the Pillars falls. There is a lot of optional content that can be skipped between Golem and the Lunar Events, and while I don't believe most players skip all of this content, I do think it could be brought to the forefront a bit more.

First of all, the Pumpkin Moon and Frost Moon should be moved to be post-Golem by requiring Beetle Husks to craft the medallions. Replace the Hallowed Bars and Silk with Beetle Husks in the respective recipes, and we're good to go. No other changes are necessary. This should be done to make progression smoother and healthier in the game. Now, the relevant upgrades for the Temple all lie in the post-Plantera Dungeon, and the much stronger gear gotten from the Pumpkin and Frost Moons cannot be gotten until later. By separating upgrades, progression becomes more streamlined, and previously meta-irrelevant weapons may come to the forefront when their competitors are moved out of the way. There will be a better reason now to get weapons like the Spectre Staff and Tiki Armor because other, stronger gear won't be immediately available. Additionally, these events would be brought to the attention of new players better, as players are likely to check with the Guide everything that can be done with Beetle Husks as soon as they can, and they will see the two medallions on the list right away.

Second of all, Martian Probes should have a greater chance of spawning on the Surface until the first Martian Invasion is completed. Martian Madness is a very powerful event with very relevant gear, but it's a bit out of the way. Most players don't encounter a Martian Probe unless they go looking for them, which means that it is very easy to skip the event entirely. Having the Probe spawn in places the player is more likely to be would circumvent this issue, but for repeat invasions, you'd need to go looking. I know that Martian Probes already have increased spawn rates before Martian Madness is completed, but to be frank I don't think it's enough, although it doesn't need to be hugely more common. Just set the spawnrate on the surface to be equal to that of the Space layer, and then repeal that once the event is completed for the first time.

Lunatic Cultist also needs some attention. I've seen many posts complaining that the Pillar weapons outclass everything else post-Golem, and since Cultist is such an easy boss, it's too easy to get them, allowing most players to just bumrush the Pillars and ignore other optional content. I don't necessarily agree with this idea, but then again I'm someone who very much enjoys optional content, and I choose not to do the Cultist and the Pillars until I've gotten all the gear I want from Empress of Light, Duke Fishron, and the lategame events like Martian Madness. However, I see the wisdom in wanting to better incentivize optional content, so I've come up with a couple of ideas.

• First, slow down the summoning of the Lunatic Cultist. This solution would mostly apply to new players who don't know everything that can be found in the game, alerting them that progressing through Cultist and on to the Lunar Events will send their world down a one-way street until the events are completed. I would do this by changing the summoning process of the boss. Killing the four cultists at the Dungeon entrance will result in the Mysterious Tablet glowing and flying upwards to hover in the air above the Dungeon entrance, accompanied by the chat message, The tablet hums ominously with celestial energy... are you sure about this? Going upwards and attacking the Tablet directly will cause it to crack into several pieces, whereupon the Lunatic Cultist will appear in the air next to it, absorb its energy, and begin the fight. This effectively gives players an "out" if they don't want to start the Lunar events yet, as well as indicating to new players that this isn't something to be done lightly. Leaving the Mysterious Tablet alone for a short while will result in it and the cultists returning to normal.
  I've seen several suggestions that said that the Pumpkin and Frost Moons should be required to summon the Lunar Events, but I don't agree that this is necessary. As it is now, no main-game progression is locked behind events, and the only required bosses you have to summon yourself are (arguably) Plantera and Golem, both of which are incredibly obvious and not at all hidden, whereas the Frost and Pumpkin Moons need to be initiated by the player after crafting an item. It's just counter-intuitive, although I do understand why people want them to be more integrated into progression.
  
  
• We also should make Lunatic Cultist harder - much harder. Cultist currently stands in one place and attacks the player with relatively weak magic attacks that are highly predictable, and half of them can't go through blocks. I propose a major rework. For starters, the boss needs to be much more mobile. Take advantage of it's small size and nature as a mage. Cultist should never be standing still unless it is summoning an attack. It should summon the lightning bolt sphere, then start dodging and zipping around while the sphere fires lightning at you. Teleport, hurl some fireballs while still moving, then teleport again, throw the ice star, go back to dodging, et cetera. The boss should only be standing still when doing its ritual circle attack.
  The attacks ought to do more damage, too. Most of Cultist's attacks do less damage than Plantera's. Why? In most playthroughs, I can beat Cultist with pre-Golem weapons, and I don't think this should be the case. Lunatic Cultist should feel like another player in how they fight you, not like they do now. It's the only small boss in the whole game, and that is simply not utilized well at all. Ideally, the Lunatic Cultist is the hardest boss next to Moon Lord, or at least way up there on the list, but I rarely ever struggle with Cultist.

Speaking of bosses, I would also like to propose a slight adjustment to Empress of Light. I'm not alone in seeing Empress as equivalent to Duke Fishron, but they aren't treated equally by the game. Therefore, I suggest that the Prismatic Lacewing should be allowed to spawn at any point in Hardmode, not just post-Plantera. This would obviously make it possible for players to get extremely powerful gear right at the beginning of Hardmode, but that's already true with Duke, who drops weapons that contend with Pillar weapons. Empress is not any easier for most players, and I think it would be very good to provide another parallel between the two bosses. Alternatively, we could change Duke Fishron and have Truffle Worms only spawn after Plantera is beaten, but I think the first method is better and more interesting. I will admit that this is not really a problem, since most players don't do Duke early, but I wanted to bring it up regardless.

That's all I have to say on this subject. I will return at a later date to add sprites for the enemies I suggested. I wanted to also add some new items to the Temple, but this post is long enough as it is, and I had no good ideas at the moment that haven't already been said by other people, such as in this thread by user @_Noodle. I apologize for the long post, but as I wrote I realized I had more to say on the subject than I thought. Let me know what you think!

Really neat idea. I think another fitting addition would be puzzles. Maybe like the ones from Starlight River

 

[Yousef the H]

But once you beat Golem, you can reshape his room with either the Picksaw (if you get it) or with the Laser Drill to make it more fit for grinding. It is within your control to make an arena for Golem. No other boss spawns with a pre-built "arena."

Also, I use colors to draw attention to the important points of my post. While I empathize with your eyes hurting, I don't plan to stop using multi-colored text.

no no, you can use the colors
but just don't over use them, or use them like in your thing where
when you said " the jungle temple is a pretty boring..." you colored jungle temple and boring, maybe you could've just done "jungle temple is a pretty boring" all colored instead
that'll make it a bit more bareable

 

[OlleWernersson]

I enjoy the idea of a giant boulder and think it would be hilarious if implemented correctly.

Having the Path to the Golem be more interesting and challenging would be a fun experience and test for all the new gear you may have during this part of the game. This is why I think changing the trap system so that it can't be so easily mitigated would be a great change in my opinion. And these new enemies would be a fun challange, I particularly like the Lihzahrd Conjurer and the Living Statues!

My only concern is that implementing a blockade of this sort would have a similar effect as the added destructible walls in the dungeon. I simply did not enjoy that change as it feels clumsy and unsatisfying in my opinion. But perhaps a blockade in the form of an enemy could be different enough to make it a solid challenge. I only see this blockade as a way to possibly prevent softcore players from rushing through the Temple. Mediumcore and Hardcore players would likely be forced to take things slow here anyway, ensuring they fight all the enemies and interact with all the traps. What are your thoughts on this? Why do you think that enemies and traps will be missed with no blockade? The Temple has such a narrow design that I find it hard to see players just rushing though it. Anyways, I enjoy the details and sprites!

 

[Big Sammich]

I enjoy the idea of a giant boulder and think it would be hilarious if implemented correctly.

Having the Path to the Golem be more interesting and challenging would be a fun experience and test for all the new gear you may have during this part of the game. This is why I think changing the trap system so that it can't be so easily mitigated would be a great change in my opinion. And these new enemies would be a fun challange, I particularly like the Lihzahrd Conjurer and the Living Statues!

My only concern is that implementing a blockade of this sort would have a similar effect as the added destructible walls in the dungeon. I simply did not enjoy that change as it feels clumsy and unsatisfying in my opinion. But perhaps a blockade in the form of an enemy could be different enough to make it a solid challenge. I only see this blockade as a way to possibly prevent softcore players from rushing through the Temple. Mediumcore and Hardcore players would likely be forced to take things slow here anyway, ensuring they fight all the enemies and interact with all the traps. What are your thoughts on this? Why do you think that enemies and traps will be missed with no blockade? The Temple has such a narrow design that I find it hard to see players just rushing though it. Anyways, I enjoy the details and sprites!

The enemies in the Temple right now are hard to ignore, it's true. But traps can be avoided entirely by simply sticking to the ceiling, which is not at all difficult to do. The blockades were designed to basically force the player to stop and actually interact with the Temple's geography, since the new enemies would make it very difficult to stay in one place. Now, I don't think this is a perfect change at all; to be honest, the Temple deserves a complete redesign. But I was trying to make a suggestion on improving what we have now, instead of making up an entirely new dungeon, especially since I don't even think the idea behind the Temple is all that bad. It just needs to be more challenging.

 

[Big Sammich]

Coming back to this post after a while because I realized I forgot to make a sprite for the Temple Blockade enemy. Whoops!

 

[Timey-Whimy]

how are you incorporating the key?
also, perhaps only two blockades, four just feels plain tedious, especially with fifty enemies to destroy it

 

[Shilaila]

I have a feeling even with all these new changes there would still be the odd player using a hoik and wire cutters to raid the mighty temple.

 

[Big Sammich]

I have a feeling even with all these new changes there would still be the odd player using a hoik and wire cutters to raid the mighty temple.

Wire cutters don't work anymore... you can't break (or see) wires in the Temple before Golem is defeated. Hoiks, yeah, there's nothing I can do about that.

 

[Aceplante]

I have a feeling even with all these new changes there would still be the odd player using a hoik and wire cutters to raid the mighty temple.

not with a temple guardian (as he already linked in his original post)

• We also should make Lunatic Cultist harder - much harder. Cultist currently stands in one place and attacks the player with relatively weak magic attacks that are highly predictable, and half of them can't go through blocks. I propose a major rework. For starters, the boss needs to be much more mobile. Take advantage of it's small size and nature as a mage. Cultist should never be standing still unless it is summoning an attack. It should summon the lightning bolt sphere, then start dodging and zipping around while the sphere fires lightning at you. Teleport, hurl some fireballs while still moving, then teleport again, throw the ice star, go back to dodging, et cetera. The boss should only be standing still when doing its ritual circle attack.
  The attacks ought to do more damage, too. Most of Cultist's attacks do less damage than Plantera's. Why? In most playthroughs, I can beat Cultist with pre-Golem weapons, and I don't think this should be the case. Lunatic Cultist should feel like another player in how they fight you, not like they do now. It's the only small boss in the whole game, and that is simply not utilized well at all. Ideally, the Lunatic Cultist is the hardest boss next to Moon Lord, or at least way up there on the list, but I rarely ever struggle with Cultist.

My first playthough I got hard stuck on the cultist for a while, even with what the wiki said were the best weapons and armor. I dont think it needs to be any harder. I disagree that it is not very mobile, though I did not know about the attacks not going through blocks part. The only part I agree with is that as a magic user, its attacks could be more random, if they are not already? I have not really fought him in a while.

 

[Asternove]

Here are my problems:

Spoiler: Can Screw with Newbies

Golem (and by extension, the Temple) should more-or-less be designed for players who might not know of the gigantic power boost gotten from Plantera. Either that, or you're melee and need to fight Golem for Beetle Husks. Personally, on my first playthrough, I died a good bit. No matter what, if newbies are given a choice between "go back to the dungeon" and "go to the fresh temple," they shouldn't be punished for choosing "wrong." Now, I'm not against making it more unique, but it is fine difficulty-wise.

Spoiler: Messes Up Summoner Progression

Even if you use Tiki instead of Spooky, you still lose the Necromantic Scroll and its upgrade, the Papyrus Scarab. Second, Tiki vs. Spooky should be a choice, not just one being used to get to the superior armor. Making them more unique and equals would be my first choice rather than enforcing Tiki's role as a stepping stool.

Spoiler: Not Truly Unique

The blockades are just the pillars, but slightly earlier. That would get repetitive quick, especially to those who don't like that sort of thing. I would change it to having to deal with a tanky wall that spews out enemies. You would have to balance attacking the wall and enemies.

 

[Big Sammich]

Golem (and by extension, the Temple) should more-or-less be designed for players who might not know of the gigantic power boost gotten from Plantera. Either that, or you're melee and need to fight Golem for Beetle Husks. Personally, on my first playthrough, I died a good bit. No matter what, if newbies are given a choice between "go back to the dungeon" and "go to the fresh temple," they shouldn't be punished for choosing "wrong." Now, I'm not against making it more unique, but it is fine difficulty-wise.

I don't really think that making players go back to the Dungeon to power up before taking on the Temple is "punishing them for choosing wrong." It's not a punishment, it's encouragement. You can either power up, or you can stick it out and learn how the new enemies work; both are equally valid methods of approach. But I can't say you're wrong about the difficulty not necessarily needing an increase. I don't really know how difficult most people find the Temple. All I know is that I have never found it challenging, not even in my very first playthrough.

Even if you use Tiki instead of Spooky, you still lose the Necromantic Scroll and its upgrade, the Papyrus Scarab. Second, Tiki vs. Spooky should be a choice, not just one being used to get to the superior armor. Making them more unique and equals would be my first choice rather than enforcing Tiki's role as a stepping stool.

I'm not sure where you're getting this from. I never said anything about "enforcing Tiki's role as a stepping stool," except that I did take it for granted that that was the role it filled. It does seem clear to me that Tiki armor is less powerful than Spooky armor. But this suggestion isn't actually concerned with the handling of Tiki armor. If anything, it's more concerned with the handling of Spooky armor. As it is now, both Spooky and Tiki armor are available at the same point in progression, albeit with different amounts of work, but Spooky is preferable in most situations.

The blockades are just the pillars, but slightly earlier. That would get repetitive quick, especially to those who don't like that sort of thing. I would change it to having to deal with a tanky wall that spews out enemies. You would have to balance attacking the wall and enemies.

That's kind of the idea, no? An introduction to the pillar mechanics? But you might be right that it would get repetitive.