FlakMaster
The Destroyer
As the title suggests, I am proposing a limit to how much buffs the player can have active at one instant. Before I go along with how I am going to propose to do this, I am going to answer this question:
Why?
I am aware that the freedom to use whatever potions one could want is satisfying, but just look at an optimal set-up for engaging the Frost Moon with the Tsunami:
(ignore the insane times, too lazy to prove my point without inventory editing )
Now, you tell me, isn't this a little much? We have potions such as Ironskin and Regeneration that you have access to at the start of the game, but because there is no limit they remain usable throughout the whole game. While this in itself is not bad whatsoever, it means that the more potions you add, the more people are going to use.
One could ask, "What is the problem with that?" This was a difficult one at first, but observing a recent thread made me realise that this unlimited buff train actually makes it difficult to suggest potions that would have purpose in this game. For example, one could ask for a 15% damage potion. However, this would be copying a potion that exists already and it makes the whole game easier because you can just add the 10% damage potion to this. However, that 15% damage potion could be granting it in a numerous amount of ways such as ranging in damage given alike the Mana sickness debuff. But because it gives damage at the end of the day, it is still mimicking the other potion.
And since all potions are made to make a specific task easier, any potion makes the game easier without a compromise. One solution to this would be dual-function potions where you get a positive benefit in trade for a negative trait. The only kind of buff that does exactly this through consumption is Ale. But that is for another day.
I shall now present my idea on how to limit potion usage. Put simply, there will be 'buff points' that add up until a limit is reached. Using a potion, such as Ironskin potion being 5 points, will take up a portion of a bar. The limit is determined by how much progress you have made into the game (more on this later). The maximum limit possible will be 35 points. Once a limit is reach, attempting to consume a potion will not work (if you want a different buff desperately, remember that you can cancel a buff at any time by right-clicking the buff icon).
I have listed what I am proposing each potion/food would cost in points in the spoiler below:
The points used will be displayed in a form of a bar, specifically this one (not yet finalised, open to criticism)
Each bar represents 5 buff points. Using an example of a combination of Archery Potion, Battle Potion, Ironskin, Lifeforce, Night Owl and Wrath (which sums up to the limit), the way this will be displayed in-game would be like this:
This isn't how I want it to look aesthetically, I just want to point out where it would be on the UI. And no, I'm not the Guide, I just forgot I had Shroomite
A small problem is that a 35point limit will have near to no effect on new characters. To solve this, I will say that the limits start at 10 points upon a fresh character. The Player can then upgrade their character by 5 points (one bar) by using these consumables (names are placeholders):
- Shady token (10 Demonite Bars, 15 shadow scales/10 Crimtane bars, 15 tissue samples)
- Skull token (100% drop by Skeletron)
- Wall of Flesh token (100% drop, can be sold for 1 gold so it doesn't clutter up the inventory of single-player characters uselessly)
- Mechanical token (5 Souls of Might, Fright and Sight, 10 Hallowed Bars)
- Plantera token (100% drop, can be sold for 1 gold)
I will present two examples with this method to present the idea better.
This bar is the result of someone only consuming a Shady token as well as having the Spelunker and Dangersense buffs (10 points):
This bar is the result of someone consuming all but the Plantera token, while having the Regeneration, Ironskin, Wrath and Mining buff active (23 points):
The coloured area indicates how much has been used, while the grey areas indicate how much buff points there are remaining and the black represents the currently unusable.
As the game expands further, there could be more slots open if the amount of potions increase drastically. This is a very complex idea, but it creates the same effect that having 5 accessory slots provides; variety in builds. I still love chugging down twenty-odd potions down as much as the next guy, but I believe this would give room for buffs to expand without over-saturating the game with the player having all of the buffs active. That's about it for my idea, but I have an important question to ask for those who don't like this idea much:
If not in the game as it is now, what about Expert Mode?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Additional proposition
With this suggestion, it could very well be possible to allow buffs to be gained multiple times. Possible buffs that could be acquired again are:
- Ammo Reservation potion (Not sure how this would work if you consume it 17 times)
- Regeneration (Having over five of these active might be a little overpowered)
- Swiftness (It might make you a little fast having over five of these)
- Ironskin (40 defence sounds game changing, because it is)
- Magic Power
- Wrath
- Rage
- Battle (Sceptical because I believe the spawn limit is also so low-end computers don't get fried. Still, would only be able to have 3 of these active)
- Archery
- Lifeforce
- Endurance
- Summoning
While I agree some of these ideas will be over-powered to stack (primarily Regeneration and Ironskin), there still is the drawback that you can only have so many buffs active. Just something to think about, is all.
Why?
I am aware that the freedom to use whatever potions one could want is satisfying, but just look at an optimal set-up for engaging the Frost Moon with the Tsunami:
(ignore the insane times, too lazy to prove my point without inventory editing )
Now, you tell me, isn't this a little much? We have potions such as Ironskin and Regeneration that you have access to at the start of the game, but because there is no limit they remain usable throughout the whole game. While this in itself is not bad whatsoever, it means that the more potions you add, the more people are going to use.
One could ask, "What is the problem with that?" This was a difficult one at first, but observing a recent thread made me realise that this unlimited buff train actually makes it difficult to suggest potions that would have purpose in this game. For example, one could ask for a 15% damage potion. However, this would be copying a potion that exists already and it makes the whole game easier because you can just add the 10% damage potion to this. However, that 15% damage potion could be granting it in a numerous amount of ways such as ranging in damage given alike the Mana sickness debuff. But because it gives damage at the end of the day, it is still mimicking the other potion.
And since all potions are made to make a specific task easier, any potion makes the game easier without a compromise. One solution to this would be dual-function potions where you get a positive benefit in trade for a negative trait. The only kind of buff that does exactly this through consumption is Ale. But that is for another day.
I shall now present my idea on how to limit potion usage. Put simply, there will be 'buff points' that add up until a limit is reached. Using a potion, such as Ironskin potion being 5 points, will take up a portion of a bar. The limit is determined by how much progress you have made into the game (more on this later). The maximum limit possible will be 35 points. Once a limit is reach, attempting to consume a potion will not work (if you want a different buff desperately, remember that you can cancel a buff at any time by right-clicking the buff icon).
I have listed what I am proposing each potion/food would cost in points in the spoiler below:
Well Fed - 3
Tipsy - 2
Ammo Reservation - 2
Archery - 5
Battle - 10
Builder - 5
Calming - 10
Crate - 4
Dangersense - 4
Endurance - 6
Featherfall - 3
Fishing - 3
Flipper - 3
Gills - 3
Gravitation - 5
Heartreach - 5
Hunter - 3
Inferno - 5
Invisibility - Uhm...who actually uses this? 2
Ironskin - 5
Lifeforce - 6
Magic Power - 6
Magic Regeneration - 4
Mining - 5
Night Owl - 2
Obsidian skin - 5
Rage - 7
Regeneration - 6
Shine - 2
Sonar - 1
Spelunker - 6
Summoning - 5
Swiftness - 4
Thorns - 2
Warmth - 4
Water Walking - 3
Wrath - 7
Disclaimer: List not final as it would need a lot of fine-tuning to be perfectly balanced. Any other buff is unaffected by the limitation.
Tipsy - 2
Ammo Reservation - 2
Archery - 5
Battle - 10
Builder - 5
Calming - 10
Crate - 4
Dangersense - 4
Endurance - 6
Featherfall - 3
Fishing - 3
Flipper - 3
Gills - 3
Gravitation - 5
Heartreach - 5
Hunter - 3
Inferno - 5
Invisibility - Uhm...who actually uses this? 2
Ironskin - 5
Lifeforce - 6
Magic Power - 6
Magic Regeneration - 4
Mining - 5
Night Owl - 2
Obsidian skin - 5
Rage - 7
Regeneration - 6
Shine - 2
Sonar - 1
Spelunker - 6
Summoning - 5
Swiftness - 4
Thorns - 2
Warmth - 4
Water Walking - 3
Wrath - 7
Disclaimer: List not final as it would need a lot of fine-tuning to be perfectly balanced. Any other buff is unaffected by the limitation.
The points used will be displayed in a form of a bar, specifically this one (not yet finalised, open to criticism)
Each bar represents 5 buff points. Using an example of a combination of Archery Potion, Battle Potion, Ironskin, Lifeforce, Night Owl and Wrath (which sums up to the limit), the way this will be displayed in-game would be like this:
This isn't how I want it to look aesthetically, I just want to point out where it would be on the UI. And no, I'm not the Guide, I just forgot I had Shroomite
A small problem is that a 35point limit will have near to no effect on new characters. To solve this, I will say that the limits start at 10 points upon a fresh character. The Player can then upgrade their character by 5 points (one bar) by using these consumables (names are placeholders):
- Shady token (10 Demonite Bars, 15 shadow scales/10 Crimtane bars, 15 tissue samples)
- Skull token (100% drop by Skeletron)
- Wall of Flesh token (100% drop, can be sold for 1 gold so it doesn't clutter up the inventory of single-player characters uselessly)
- Mechanical token (5 Souls of Might, Fright and Sight, 10 Hallowed Bars)
- Plantera token (100% drop, can be sold for 1 gold)
I will present two examples with this method to present the idea better.
This bar is the result of someone only consuming a Shady token as well as having the Spelunker and Dangersense buffs (10 points):
This bar is the result of someone consuming all but the Plantera token, while having the Regeneration, Ironskin, Wrath and Mining buff active (23 points):
The coloured area indicates how much has been used, while the grey areas indicate how much buff points there are remaining and the black represents the currently unusable.
As the game expands further, there could be more slots open if the amount of potions increase drastically. This is a very complex idea, but it creates the same effect that having 5 accessory slots provides; variety in builds. I still love chugging down twenty-odd potions down as much as the next guy, but I believe this would give room for buffs to expand without over-saturating the game with the player having all of the buffs active. That's about it for my idea, but I have an important question to ask for those who don't like this idea much:
If not in the game as it is now, what about Expert Mode?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Additional proposition
With this suggestion, it could very well be possible to allow buffs to be gained multiple times. Possible buffs that could be acquired again are:
- Ammo Reservation potion (Not sure how this would work if you consume it 17 times)
- Regeneration (Having over five of these active might be a little overpowered)
- Swiftness (It might make you a little fast having over five of these)
- Ironskin (40 defence sounds game changing, because it is)
- Magic Power
- Wrath
- Rage
- Battle (Sceptical because I believe the spawn limit is also so low-end computers don't get fried. Still, would only be able to have 3 of these active)
- Archery
- Lifeforce
- Endurance
- Summoning
While I agree some of these ideas will be over-powered to stack (primarily Regeneration and Ironskin), there still is the drawback that you can only have so many buffs active. Just something to think about, is all.
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