Okay, so, Let's get to the point.
The ocean is a fairly bland biome. Compared to nearly every biome in the game, it dosen't really have much use to it. I think everyone knows about the major role of Jungle, Evil Biomes, Dungeon and Hallow, and aswell as the less prominent, but still present Desert, Snow biome and Mushroom Biome utilities. But when it comes to the ocean, there really isn't much.
Allow me to explain:
There's 5 Mobs that can spawn in the Ocean: Sharks, Pink Jellyfish, Sea Snails, Squids and Crabs. Out of these, one has no drops other than coins and is essentially just a enemy that exists to be a enemy (Crab), Two are enemies exclusively for Dyes (Sea Snail and Squid) wich while not useless at all, is a very niche function wich not many players will pay attention to.
The two remaining ones are the ones that have a more broad utility: Pink Jellyfish can obviously drop Glowsticks, such as basically all Jellyfish, and can also drop the ''Jellyfish Necklace''
(or uh something like that) accessory, While sharks can drop the ''Diving Helmet'' (AGAIN SOMETHING LIKE THAT) acessory and Shark fins, The latter being quite useful due to being used to craft potions and one of the arguably most famous weapons in the game.
However, both of these acessories are only really used for swimming, and really, when are you going to need to swim other than when exploring the same exact ocean were you get these acessories from to search for Coral and Water Chests? In the end, they aren't really all that usefull and once again fill a ''Niche'' role.
So covering that, there's little use for all of the aquatic enemies in pre-hardmode, and essentially none other than a few shark fins wich you can easily get in order to craft the Megashark.
So, what about the biome itself? Well, you can fish here to get unique items: The Sawtooth shark, The only pre-hardmode Saw (And unlike another item that's a tool with ''Shark'' on it's name, this one is a actual real animal), The Reaver Shark, essentially the best Pre-Hardmode pickaxe, and a few other items. However, basically all of these itens only come in use to pre-hardmode, even if they are extremely useful like the Reaver shark. So probably all you'l try fishing here in hardmode are Crates (Wich you can already fish basically everywhere), and Fish used to cook food (Wich are even more common than crates and ''Even more everywhere'', too).
Well, you get a NPC here, But that's a One-Time thing. It's basically like having a new biome that consists of nothing but the fact it can spawn one npc to save, and then becomes utterly useless.
In the end, all that left is the terrain, where you can get Sea chests and Aquatic animals that serve as blocks, Like Coral and Starfish. But once again, there's a argument that essentially makes these not that important. Sea chests have pretty mediocre items other than the water walking boots and are really only usefull earlygame, and considering the danger of the oxygen bar and the Sharks and Jellyfish from the ocean, it's unlikely players will go there earlygame to begin with. The Animal-Blocks mentioned befoe are all purely decorative other than the Coral, wich is used to craft two potions. One of wich is the gills potion, but again: The only massive space of water you'l likely want to explore is the ocean, and you get the Gills potion makes it so you can breathe underwater, so unless you make a underwater arena or something similar, it's once again, a very, very niche. The other potion, however, i must admit is quite usefull if you're going fishing. (Sonar Potion).
Well, there's Duke Fishrom, but you really don't need to explore the ocean at all to fight him, if anything, you explore the Mushroom biome to summon it, and other than fighting it at the ocean, it really dosen't add that much to the Biome (Not complaining about Duke itself, Great boss, Both challenging and fun.)
So, wHAT DO
Well, i have a few ideas to make the ocean better. I'l divide these in some different parts.
1. NEW ENEMIES
This Biome is really lacking in enemies, as said before. There's enough of a challenge in Pre-Hardmode with the Jellyfish and Sharks, But not many usefull enemies other than the Sharks, to be honest.
And in Hardmode, the challenge goes away completely as there's no new enemies. I personally think some new enemies or just some adjusts to previous enemies would be a nice addition.
I'm not gonna exactly suggest the specific enemies i have in mind, since that's up to the Re-Logic team to decide, but i personally think the Ocean shouldn't be crowded with new enemies like some other biomes, like the Desert or Jungle, but still have a reasonable amount. They should also have some useful drops (And maybe some niche drops mixed in there) for players overall and be challenging.
One thing i do really want tough are Bobbit Worms. Please get us Bobbit worms.
2. NEW DROPS/RESOURCES
Yeah, this one is pretty obvious. Being able to craft more stuff from resources from this biome would make it much more important to visit and even give water-motion itens like Gill Potions, Flippers, Or all the variants of Diving Helmets more useful. What if one of those theoretical hardmode enemies had a chance to drop a ''Lower'' version of the Fishrom mount, being faster underwater? Yes, i'm aware the Turtle exists, but that one nor flies nor is really fast... neither on water or on land.
I think a Flying Squid could fit (Yes, Those are real). While in real life they only glide and are about the size of a small child's arm, THIS IS TERRARIA. It would work just like the fishrom mount, but on a much lower deegree: Not that fast on land, Can fly but isn't the best at it, but gets a exceptional speed boost on water. I know i said no to my own enemy ideas, but maybe it could a rare/uncommon drop from some sort of enemy with the Jellyfish AI? Like a Giant Squid/ Kraken?I dunno, but the main focus here is the idea of a ''Lower fishrom mount''. The Flying Squid and the Jellyfish AI Enemy are just additional characteristics i think would be clever, tough i'd absolutely love having a Flying Squid mount. Other than that, maybe there could be some weapons aswell? In Pre-Hardmode, there's very few Summoner weapons, so maybe you could craft one with Coral and other resources from the Ocean like Shark fins and Seashells? Dunno, Maybe even a Crab staff, that works like a weaker version of the Spider summon. When flying it could be carried by a tiny Seagull (Don't you think i didn't see the Seagull in the Void storage spoiler!). Again, the main thing here is a pre-hardmode ocean summon, but i just tought to add my own idea from what it would be to it.
3. MORE ENVIROMENTAL AND ATMOSPHERIC FEATURES
So uh, what do i mean by this? Simple features that make the biome feel more alive. Kelp on the seafloor that could be animated (Thinking of Super Mario Bros 3., Hehe) and maybe just to give it some more purpose other than Decoration, be cooked into a nice Kelp Salad.
More critters in particular are what interest me the most: There's no critters that can spawn here. I can understand maybe as to why due to the amount of enemies, but most enemies probably wouldn't even have a high chance of killing the critters to begin with, other than maybe sharks and jellyfish since they're constantly swimming around.
It could easily just be a new fish (I mean come on, we've only had one aquatic critter for ages), like a Tuna or a Sardine. But i think a Sea Turtle would be nice. Some Sea Turtle species are smaller and could easily work as a critter. Oh yeah, there's also the Seagulls. That's coming.
4. MINIBOSS/WEATHER EVENT
A simple solution to basically all biomes without much purpose: It happened to Space, The snow Biome, and now the Desert. Just give it a Miniboss. I'm really not sure what it would be, but it would probably spawn in a weather event of sorts, high tides maybe? Just like the sandstorm, this would mostly just be the wait for the Miniboss while a small amount of new enemies appear, mostly of wich only serve as a challenge rather than actually having useful drops, but maybe they could still drop something, but probably nothing exclusive to them. As for what the Miniboss would drop, i'm not sure. Maybe a much higher chance of getting the Treasure Map? Some sort of crafting material for new tools/ weapons (Besides Armor/Weapons/Tools the generic stuff, It could be used to craft a Fishing rod considering there isn't really anything inbeetween the Lava-whatever-you-call-it Fishing Rod/Gold Fishing rod and the Sitting Duck Fishing rod.)
And that's about all i can tell would improve the biome. If anyone has anything else in their mind, feel free to tell, most of this is just basic stuff anyways.
But seriously, please, Flying Squid mount. C'mon, it's obvious everyone would love it, amiright
The ocean is a fairly bland biome. Compared to nearly every biome in the game, it dosen't really have much use to it. I think everyone knows about the major role of Jungle, Evil Biomes, Dungeon and Hallow, and aswell as the less prominent, but still present Desert, Snow biome and Mushroom Biome utilities. But when it comes to the ocean, there really isn't much.
Allow me to explain:
There's 5 Mobs that can spawn in the Ocean: Sharks, Pink Jellyfish, Sea Snails, Squids and Crabs. Out of these, one has no drops other than coins and is essentially just a enemy that exists to be a enemy (Crab), Two are enemies exclusively for Dyes (Sea Snail and Squid) wich while not useless at all, is a very niche function wich not many players will pay attention to.
The two remaining ones are the ones that have a more broad utility: Pink Jellyfish can obviously drop Glowsticks, such as basically all Jellyfish, and can also drop the ''Jellyfish Necklace''
(or uh something like that) accessory, While sharks can drop the ''Diving Helmet'' (AGAIN SOMETHING LIKE THAT) acessory and Shark fins, The latter being quite useful due to being used to craft potions and one of the arguably most famous weapons in the game.
However, both of these acessories are only really used for swimming, and really, when are you going to need to swim other than when exploring the same exact ocean were you get these acessories from to search for Coral and Water Chests? In the end, they aren't really all that usefull and once again fill a ''Niche'' role.
So covering that, there's little use for all of the aquatic enemies in pre-hardmode, and essentially none other than a few shark fins wich you can easily get in order to craft the Megashark.
So, what about the biome itself? Well, you can fish here to get unique items: The Sawtooth shark, The only pre-hardmode Saw (And unlike another item that's a tool with ''Shark'' on it's name, this one is a actual real animal), The Reaver Shark, essentially the best Pre-Hardmode pickaxe, and a few other items. However, basically all of these itens only come in use to pre-hardmode, even if they are extremely useful like the Reaver shark. So probably all you'l try fishing here in hardmode are Crates (Wich you can already fish basically everywhere), and Fish used to cook food (Wich are even more common than crates and ''Even more everywhere'', too).
Well, you get a NPC here, But that's a One-Time thing. It's basically like having a new biome that consists of nothing but the fact it can spawn one npc to save, and then becomes utterly useless.
In the end, all that left is the terrain, where you can get Sea chests and Aquatic animals that serve as blocks, Like Coral and Starfish. But once again, there's a argument that essentially makes these not that important. Sea chests have pretty mediocre items other than the water walking boots and are really only usefull earlygame, and considering the danger of the oxygen bar and the Sharks and Jellyfish from the ocean, it's unlikely players will go there earlygame to begin with. The Animal-Blocks mentioned befoe are all purely decorative other than the Coral, wich is used to craft two potions. One of wich is the gills potion, but again: The only massive space of water you'l likely want to explore is the ocean, and you get the Gills potion makes it so you can breathe underwater, so unless you make a underwater arena or something similar, it's once again, a very, very niche. The other potion, however, i must admit is quite usefull if you're going fishing. (Sonar Potion).
Well, there's Duke Fishrom, but you really don't need to explore the ocean at all to fight him, if anything, you explore the Mushroom biome to summon it, and other than fighting it at the ocean, it really dosen't add that much to the Biome (Not complaining about Duke itself, Great boss, Both challenging and fun.)
So, wHAT DO
Well, i have a few ideas to make the ocean better. I'l divide these in some different parts.
1. NEW ENEMIES
This Biome is really lacking in enemies, as said before. There's enough of a challenge in Pre-Hardmode with the Jellyfish and Sharks, But not many usefull enemies other than the Sharks, to be honest.
And in Hardmode, the challenge goes away completely as there's no new enemies. I personally think some new enemies or just some adjusts to previous enemies would be a nice addition.
I'm not gonna exactly suggest the specific enemies i have in mind, since that's up to the Re-Logic team to decide, but i personally think the Ocean shouldn't be crowded with new enemies like some other biomes, like the Desert or Jungle, but still have a reasonable amount. They should also have some useful drops (And maybe some niche drops mixed in there) for players overall and be challenging.
One thing i do really want tough are Bobbit Worms. Please get us Bobbit worms.
2. NEW DROPS/RESOURCES
Yeah, this one is pretty obvious. Being able to craft more stuff from resources from this biome would make it much more important to visit and even give water-motion itens like Gill Potions, Flippers, Or all the variants of Diving Helmets more useful. What if one of those theoretical hardmode enemies had a chance to drop a ''Lower'' version of the Fishrom mount, being faster underwater? Yes, i'm aware the Turtle exists, but that one nor flies nor is really fast... neither on water or on land.
I think a Flying Squid could fit (Yes, Those are real). While in real life they only glide and are about the size of a small child's arm, THIS IS TERRARIA. It would work just like the fishrom mount, but on a much lower deegree: Not that fast on land, Can fly but isn't the best at it, but gets a exceptional speed boost on water. I know i said no to my own enemy ideas, but maybe it could a rare/uncommon drop from some sort of enemy with the Jellyfish AI? Like a Giant Squid/ Kraken?I dunno, but the main focus here is the idea of a ''Lower fishrom mount''. The Flying Squid and the Jellyfish AI Enemy are just additional characteristics i think would be clever, tough i'd absolutely love having a Flying Squid mount. Other than that, maybe there could be some weapons aswell? In Pre-Hardmode, there's very few Summoner weapons, so maybe you could craft one with Coral and other resources from the Ocean like Shark fins and Seashells? Dunno, Maybe even a Crab staff, that works like a weaker version of the Spider summon. When flying it could be carried by a tiny Seagull (Don't you think i didn't see the Seagull in the Void storage spoiler!). Again, the main thing here is a pre-hardmode ocean summon, but i just tought to add my own idea from what it would be to it.
3. MORE ENVIROMENTAL AND ATMOSPHERIC FEATURES
So uh, what do i mean by this? Simple features that make the biome feel more alive. Kelp on the seafloor that could be animated (Thinking of Super Mario Bros 3., Hehe) and maybe just to give it some more purpose other than Decoration, be cooked into a nice Kelp Salad.
More critters in particular are what interest me the most: There's no critters that can spawn here. I can understand maybe as to why due to the amount of enemies, but most enemies probably wouldn't even have a high chance of killing the critters to begin with, other than maybe sharks and jellyfish since they're constantly swimming around.
It could easily just be a new fish (I mean come on, we've only had one aquatic critter for ages), like a Tuna or a Sardine. But i think a Sea Turtle would be nice. Some Sea Turtle species are smaller and could easily work as a critter. Oh yeah, there's also the Seagulls. That's coming.
4. MINIBOSS/WEATHER EVENT
A simple solution to basically all biomes without much purpose: It happened to Space, The snow Biome, and now the Desert. Just give it a Miniboss. I'm really not sure what it would be, but it would probably spawn in a weather event of sorts, high tides maybe? Just like the sandstorm, this would mostly just be the wait for the Miniboss while a small amount of new enemies appear, mostly of wich only serve as a challenge rather than actually having useful drops, but maybe they could still drop something, but probably nothing exclusive to them. As for what the Miniboss would drop, i'm not sure. Maybe a much higher chance of getting the Treasure Map? Some sort of crafting material for new tools/ weapons (Besides Armor/Weapons/Tools the generic stuff, It could be used to craft a Fishing rod considering there isn't really anything inbeetween the Lava-whatever-you-call-it Fishing Rod/Gold Fishing rod and the Sitting Duck Fishing rod.)
And that's about all i can tell would improve the biome. If anyone has anything else in their mind, feel free to tell, most of this is just basic stuff anyways.
(I'm not going to put it past myself), but I think you could have had some more fun with this.
