Game Mechanics Make mining Plantera's Bulb gives you a summoning item for Plantera, not instantly spawns Plantera

Dadademi

Terrarian
As the title says, I if feel like this would be more practical. I got this idea while I was watching old 1.4 spoilers and thinking this might should be like queen slime's gelatin crystal
 
dunno about if this is really that good of an idea tbh. it feels cooler imo to have the plant show up because you damaged the small plantera flower
 
DISAGREE. I personally don't think Plantera should ever be able to be collected as an item and summoned anywhere at your whim.

It is supposed to be a punishment for breaking the bulb, whether on purpose or accident, perhaps catching a new player off guard ("hey what is this?" *breaks it* "oh :red:"), an interaction that would not be the case if it was changed to just drop a boss summoning item for you to use at YOUR convenience later, and also clearly stating "summons Plantera"
 
dunno about if this is really that good of an idea tbh. it feels cooler imo to have the plant show up because you damaged the small plantera flower
DISAGREE. I personally don't think Plantera should ever be able to be collected as an item and summoned anywhere at your whim.
Do you have any reasons besides “it’s cooler?” Personally having to either kite to your main jungle arena from the bulb or make another on refights is just a chore that feels artificial.

I think a Queen Bee styled middle ground can be achieved here. Sure, the larva is nice and a good introduction, but Abeemination exists to help you out.

You also want the bulb to be found before you use the it (like how you pretty much need a hive to summon QB for the materials.)
 
Do you have any reasons besides “it’s cooler?” Personally having to either kite to your main jungle arena from the bulb or make another on refights is just a chore that feels artificial.
Most other bosses can easily be fought on your terms. In your arena where you have set up platforms, rails, or teleporters for an easy escape. A nearby nurse for quick healing. The heart lanterns, star in a bottle, campfires, bast statue, and enemy banners for even more general stat buffs.

For ONCE, let a boss force you to come to it, not the other way around... (even though you can still easily do this by just.. breaking the bulb and warping/running/teleporting back to your arena)

The only other bosses I can think of where this is the case is deerclops seeming to randomly spawn during snowstorms, making them a viable threat early game, and wall of flesh where a voodoo doll could fall into the lava before you are ready.

I think a Queen Bee styled middle ground can be achieved here. Sure, the larva is nice and a good introduction, but Abeemination exists to help you out.
The difference is that abeemination has to exist because there is a finite amount of the queen bee crystal things. Boss summoning items exist for most other bosses too because waiting around for them to spawn naturally is impractical (and they stop spawning naturally after you defeat them once). Plantera bulbs can regrow infinitely, so a boss summoning item is unneeded.
 
Most other bosses can easily be fought on your terms. In your arena where you have set up platforms, rails, or teleporters for an easy escape. A nearby nurse for quick healing. The heart lanterns, star in a bottle, campfires, bast statue, and enemy banners for even more general stat buffs.

For ONCE, let a boss force you to come to it, not the other way around.
But what does this achieve? Uniqueness? There’s plenty of other ways to make a boss unique.
The difference is that abeemination has to exist because there is a finite amount of the queen bee crystal things. Boss summoning items exist for most other bosses too because waiting around for them to spawn naturally is impractical (and they stop spawning naturally after you defeat them once). Plantera bulbs can regrow infinitely, so a boss summoning item is unneeded.
Plantera bulbs could also warrant waiting or mindless searching for another only to have to run away to your arena.
 
But what does this achieve? Uniqueness? There’s plenty of other ways to make a boss unique.
It doesnt take this one thing away from a boss that already has it. If a plantera summoning item had already been in the game, I dont think I would be suggesting to remove it, but I see why its not and would like it to stay that way.
Plantera bulbs could also warrant waiting or mindless searching for another only to have to run away to your arena.
Plantera bulbs, if I remember correctly, can easily be found with the metal detector since they have very high priority. If you are still having trouble, you can make flat strips of jungle grass to maximize growth chances.
 
Plantera bulbs, if I remember correctly, can easily be found with the metal detector since they have very high priority. If you are still having trouble, you can make flat strips of jungle grass to maximize growth chances.
Plantera bulbs don't even show up on the metal detector. You might be thinking of life fruits.
 
Plantera bulbs don't even show up on the metal detector. You might be thinking of life fruits.
I am aware that the lifeform analyzer only detects entities, not blocks (even though Plantera's Bulb should be detected by the lifeform analyzer), hence why I assumed surely the metal detector must detect it instead...

But I just checked the terraria wiki and.. ITS NOT DETECTED BY EITHER???

That is a separate issue that should be fixed by my above suggestion, not making the bulbs collectable.
 
Put yourself in the shoes of a new, casual player who just killed their lass mechanical boss. They see the little popup, so they rush to the Jungle with their brand new Pickaxe Axe. Mining up Chlorophyte and Life Fruits, they stumble upon a special flower. Not knowing what else to do, they break it and are immediately killed by Plantera.

This is a fun and unique experience.



Fast forward to a 500 hp player with full Chlorophyte armor and gear. They are prepared for the next boss, so they return to another bulb they had skipped previously. Digging out an arena around it, they manage to ignore the pestering Moss Hornets and Giant Tortoises and manage to build a good arena. They try their best on the refight and manage to get to phase two, but with about a quarter of her health left Plantera triumphs.

This is a moderately fun and unique experience.



Now the player, riding their hope, looks around for another one. Twenty minutes later, they find one on the other side of the Jungle from where they were originally fighting. Deciding to flee back to their arena, they break the bulb and start running. And running. And running. Plantera wrecks half of their health just getting there, and by the time they do her second phase finishes off the player at barely under half hp.

This is not a fun and unique experience.



Another twenty minute search session later, they decide to build an arena at the fourth bulb. Digging through the mud, moss hornets and giant tortoises sending them back to spawn… they’re left wondering why they have to do it all again. After 30 minutes of digging, they break the bulb and finally defeat the stupid plant to move on.

This is an unfun and bland experience.
 
Have you considered that you don't need an arena? I didnt make one in my first playthrough. With wings and hooks for movement, proper buffs and armor for survivability, and the best weapons I could get at the time, I didnt have that experience you describe.
 
Have you considered that you don't need an arena? I didnt make one in my first playthrough. With wings and hooks for movement, proper buffs and armor for survivability, and the best weapons I could get at the time, I didnt have that experience you describe.
Still, it can happen. With this kind of argument, you might as well say "Celestial Sigil is pointless just kill Moon Lord on your first try."
 
Have you considered that you don't need an arena? I didnt make one in my first playthrough. With wings and hooks for movement, proper buffs and armor for survivability, and the best weapons I could get at the time, I didnt have that experience you describe.
For expert mode, yes, you do. Perhaps not a very big one, but you still need a significantly spacious arena to circle her. The petals in her first phase in expert mode having slight homing, pass through tiles, and she shoots them fast enough to make weaving between them essentially impossible. The only reliable way to fight her without taking many, many hits is to circle her. In her second phase though, she doesn't have any ranged attacks and you can just lead her through the Jungle Caves, and you really, really should because being anywhere near her is exceedingly dangerous and she'll move laterally to cut you off if you try to go around her, so you may as well just keep running. You can also dig a straight tunnel away from the initial circling spot and the fight is trivial, no cave navigation required.

Personally, I don't think a portable summon item is necessary in the boss's current state, as the preparation I described above can be completed very quickly. However, if she gets updated to be a a boss that you can't just kite endlessly through the jungle (highly unlikely, though I think it would make it a much better bossfight) and will require a lot more preparation, then I think a summon item would be in order.
 
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Still, it can happen. With this kind of argument, you might as well say "Celestial Sigil is pointless just kill Moon Lord on your first try."
The moon lord is different. I could argue the sigil doesn't even need to exist because unlike queen bee (where there are a finite amount of those larva crystals), or other bosses that NEED to be summoned because they only spawn naturally once, there is a guaranteed way to get ML to spawn, by killing the cultists that are always at the dungeon, and the pillars which show up on the map and you therefore know exactly where they are. The sigil existing allows you to summon him on your terms, aka in your arena. But I will admit it is certainly nice to have an extra attempt via sigil before you have to do the cultist and pillars again if you dont succeed on the first attempt, which, as the final boss in the game, is perhaps needed.

Likewise, plantera has a guaranteed way to summon her, the bulbs. And being able to just collect them would sort of ruin the interesting mechanic she currently has where you need to go to her, something no other boss really has.

Not every boss needs a summon item so you can easily cheese it in your arena. Some things take effort.
 
Honestly just collecting the bulbs feels underwhelming, but having absolutely no ability to summon her through other methods is painful.

Just because unlike Queen Bee and the Evils you can theoretically summon her infinite times doesn’t mean she’s fine as is.
 
Just because unlike Queen Bee and the Evils you can theoretically summon her infinite times doesn’t mean she’s fine as is.
Both queen bee and the evil bosses can be summoned unlimited times, as both bosses have summon items. You might be thinking that hive blocks aren't renewable, but you can get them by throwing honey blocks into the shimmer (as unrealistic as depleting an entire world of hive blocks is).

I do think that plantera should have some form of alternate method to summon her (just like these bosses), as it would make grinding her a lot more tolerable. In 95% of my playthroughs I just kill her once instead of bothering to grind her drops because she's tedious to re-summon.
 
Both queen bee and the evil bosses can be summoned unlimited times, as both bosses have summon items. You might be thinking that hive blocks aren't renewable, but you can get them by throwing honey blocks into the shimmer (as unrealistic as depleting an entire world of hive blocks is).
I messed up; I meant “Just because they’re finite without items doesn’t mean theoretically infinite ones can’t share the same problem and need items.”
I do think that plantera should have some form of alternate method to summon her (just like these bosses), as it would make grinding her a lot more tolerable. In 95% of my playthroughs I just kill her once instead of bothering to grind her drops because she's tedious to re-summon.
Yeah
 
Still, it can happen. With this kind of argument, you might as well say "Celestial Sigil is pointless just kill Moon Lord on your first try."
That’s true. It can happen. But I don’t think it does very often. You shouldn’t have a problem making an arena the first time, and the boss isn’t that difficult with temple-level items. A mage with a bubble gun and hallowed armor can face-tank half of the boss.
 
I don't support this. I think breaking the bulbs makes Plantera more unique, rather than just another summon item. I'd rather have Plantera drop something that allows you to summon her without breaking the bulbs. After a certain number of times, finding a Plantera bulb every time you want to fight her gets annoying.

Overall, as a perfect middle ground, the player should still have to find the bulb on the first attempt, but after that she should be able to be spawned freely.
 
DISAGREE. I personally don't think Plantera should ever be able to be collected as an item and summoned anywhere at your whim.

It is supposed to be a punishment for breaking the bulb, whether on purpose or accident, perhaps catching a new player off guard ("hey what is this?" *breaks it* "oh :red:"), an interaction that would not be the case if it was changed to just drop a boss summoning item for you to use at YOUR convenience later, and also clearly stating "summons Plantera"
It's hard to find plantera's bulb. Add a way to make plantera's bulb seeds with normal seeds to make summon plantera easier.

I have continued fighting with looking unsuccessfully for plantera bulbs... no bulbs and I've searched daily for 4 months of my real-life time.

I defeated all three of the mechanical bosses. Nothing.

I've even created underground grow stations, made from mud blocks, jungle grass seeds, water candles to try pulling the bulbs spawn.

Even use various potions such as spelunker and Mining speed particularly.

Although I've continued experimenting with various potions and items in an attempt to just get the damn bulb to f*ckin pop up already!!!

I'm really starting to wonder just how long I have to sit watching my character set on 24-hour speed for the day mode all with no success again and again.

At this point my character should have earned herself a weed-whacker accomplishment like damn ugggh lol



Surely I'm not all alone in the growing frustration and aggravation, right?!!

It would break my heart to step back from playing my all-time favorite game, but with Plantera at the point of straight-up interfering with my ability to further progress in my playing, I'm not sure what to do...

It's hard to find plantera's bulb. Add a way to make plantera's bulb seeds with normal seeds to make summon plantera easier.
 
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