Portfolio/Multi-Topic Quest Fish and Angler Rework

Bry

Steampunker
(Ugh, I'm so out of it; this being in the Multi-Topic section doesn't even make sense; what was I THINKING?!)

Quest Fishing in this game blows.
From fishing itself being kind of boring (and occasionally really annoying) to the pure tedium of hoping the Angler likes your face at that particular moment when he gives you rewards, I think fishing as a whole needs a major facelift.
nwzP6dg.png


Yeah, that's all you're gonna get this time. Frankly, that's all you need.
Now, I've only heard ideas on how to make getting THESE
wNLygmz.png
buggers less annoying to obtain, from simply making them more common to having alternative means of getting them. But we have a few more problems than that, a few of which I can knock out alongside the Fish Finder accessories with a single idea. But first, lemme just get the easy exploit that lets you catch multiple of a Quest Fish on the same day with a single Chest or whatever (or just your Trash slot, even) out of the way.
As soon as a player catches a Quest Fish, they should have some sort of flag set off on them (I don't :red:in' know how code works, so I dunno if it's that simple), which'll block them from catching the same Quest Fish again unless the fish is somehow deleted. I know this'll upset players who would much rather be off fighting monsters than sitting on their rumpus and waiting every in-game day, but don't worry, you guys.
I have a solution to that, too.
For now though, let's get back to that Fish Finder solution:
The Angler Shop!
Yes, I'm for real. I propose that certain items in the Angler's Quest rewards should be instead thrown into a shop, where you can pick and choose which items you want-for a price. You won't be able to access it right away; after 5 Quests (the same time you get the Fuzzy Carrot), the Angler will tell you he's opened up shop!
"But Bry, you can't just sell these things off for Coins, you dumb:red:!"
Alright, first off, ow. Second off, yeah, I KNOW; that's why I'm not putting them up for Coins. Say hello to the newest in currency mechanics...
Fish Tokens.
<just imagine a paper token with a crudely-drawn fish on it>
What I was originally going to say: "Quest Fish. I mean, why add ANOTHER item with the sole purpose of trading with the Angler if that's the entire point of THESE babies?"
What I then realized: "Wait, :red:, that just makes Quests near-irrelevant."
You get 1 Fish Token alongside every reward the Angler gives you from a Quest, from the very first Quest onward. You still have the guaranteed and chance items you get from the Angler, but if you seriously just want your damn Cellphone parts, you can use earned Fish Tokens to buy them, as well as several other items that you kinda can't really get again unless your luck loves/hates you. If you and your friends want to, you guys can give one person all your tokens to speed up the buying process.
I have, here, a Table with every single item you can purchase as well as each item's Quest Fish price on it. You'll be able to buy some stuff before you'd normally get it via the Angler's Quests, which I have alternate solutions for, too. Tell me what you like, and tell me what you're mildly disgruntled with! (Like the fact that Coralstone Blocks aren't included in this, if you even remembered those exist!)​
Shop Prices
Fuzzy Carrot.png

Fuzzy Carrot
3 feeish tokens
Angler Hat.png

Angler Hat
3 feeish tokens
Angler Vest.png

Angler Vest
Only appears once you've obtained the Hat.
5 feeish tokens
Angler Pants.png

Angler Pants
Only appears once you've obtained the Vest.
5 feeish tokens
XmSPWWi.png

Angler Tackle Bag pieces
Only appear after Quest 20, when you would have the full Angler set.
6 feeish tokens each
wNLygmz.png

Fish Finder pieces
5 feeish tokens each, 3 in Hardmode
Fish Hook.png

Fish Hook
7 feeish tokens, 3 in Hardmode
Golden Bug Net.png

Golden Bug Net
20 feeish tokens, 15 in Hardmode
Golden Fishing Rod.png

Golden Fishing Rod
You can get this thing 5 Quests early, if you dedicate to it.
20 feeish tokens
Hotline Fishing Hook.png

Hotline Fishing Hook
You could also get this thing, if you're really feelin' it.
20 feeish tokens
Mermaid Costume.png

Mermaid Costume parts
Only appears after Quest 15, unless the Angler is at the Ocean.
They'll each show up individually, but I'm not wasting that space here.

2 feeish tokens per piece; 6 total
Fish Costume.png

Fish Costume parts
Only appears after Quest 15.
2 feeish tokens per piece; 6 total
Shark Teeth Trophy.png
Pillagin' Me Pixels, I think.png

Fishing Furniture
Every remaining slot in the Angler's shop will be filled in with a random Furniture item; stock rotates daily.
2 feeish tokens each
Fin Wings.png

Fin Wings
Hardmode Only
7 feeish tokens
Bottomless Water Bucket.png

Bottomless Water Bucket
Hardmode Only
12 feeish tokens
Super Absorbant Sponge.png

Super Absorbant Sponge
Hardmode Only
7 feeish tokens each
Enchanted Sundial.png

Enchanted Sundial
Hardmode Only
Only appears after Quest 50.
10 feeish tokens
Wooden Crate.png
Dungeon Lock Box.png

Biome-specific Crate Items
Hardmode Only
Only appears after Quest 60.
Only 1 Crate's biome-specific items will be present at any time; the Angler must be in the corresponding biome.
2 feeish tokens per item

I'm also gonna be making a few additions and changes to the Angler's Quest rewards, just to make a few more of the items more easily obtainable, therefore giving them some more use and making it so the Fish Tokens aren't 100% necessary.
This is also where those "alternate solutions" are; they, uh, actually comprise most of this table.​
Fuzzy Carrot.png

Fuzzy Carrot
Still obtained at Quest 5.
If in inventory, you'll instead receive 5 Gold.
Angler Armor.png

Angler Armor pieces
Each piece is still obtained at its respective Quest.
If a piece is in your inventory during its particular Quest, you'll instead receive an Angler Tackle Bag piece.
XmSPWWi.png

Angler Tackle Bag pieces
Each piece has a raised chance of being obtained every 4th Quest.
Quests will attempt to give you pieces you don't have in your inventory; if all three are possessed in some form, you'll instead receive 3 additional Fishing Potions.
wNLygmz.png

Fish Finder pieces
Each piece's chance of being obtained in any non-predetermined Quest is slightly raised.
Quests will attempt to give you pieces you don't have in your inventory; if all three are possessed in some form, you'll instead receive 3 additional Crate Potions.
Fish Hook.png

Fish Hook
Chance of being obtained is raised to 25% for every 3rd Quest starting at Quest 3; chance raises by an additional 25% every 3rd Quest after that, being guaranteed at Quest 12. Once first obtained, its chance of being obtained is as normal.
I know the explanation is confusing, but it's the best I can do; I'm sorry.

If in inventory, Quests that would give you it will instead grant you 5 additional Apprentice Bait, or Fin Wings during Hardmode (if you don't have them).
Golden Fishing Rod.png

Golden Fishing Rod
Still obtained at Quest 30.
If already obtained, you'll receive the Golden Bug Net.
Golden Bug Net.png

Golden Bug Net
Substitutes the Golden Fishing Rod at Quest 30.
If already obtained, you'll receive 2 random Fishing Furniture items.
Hotline Fishing Hook.png

Hotline Fishing Hook
Now obtained at Quest 40.
If already obtained, you'll receive a Bottomless Water Bucket.
Mermaid Costume.png
Fish Costume.png

Mermaid and Fish Costumes
If any piece of one costume is in your inventory, you'll instead receive the other costume; if you possess pieces from both costumes, you'll instead receive a random Fishing Furniture item.
Shark Teeth Trophy.png
Pillagin' Me Pixels, I think.png

Fishing Furniture
Furniture items in your inventory will be excluded from the possible rewards; if you, for some reason, have ALL of them in your inventory, you'll just get a random one.
Fin Wings.png

Fin Wings
Obtained similarly to the Fish Hook, but starting at Quest 18 during Hardmode, instead; chance increases won't occur until your first 3rd Quest in Hardmode, though (to account for anyone who fishes for way too long in PreHardmode).
If in inventory, Quests that would give you it will instead grant you 8 additional Apprentice Bait.
Bottomless Water Bucket.png
Super Absorbant Sponge.png

Bottomless Water Bucket and Super Absorbant Sponge
Quests will attempt to give you the one you don't have, unless you have both, in which case you instead receive 8 Journeyman Bait.
nwzP6dg.png

Alright, that's the Angler stuff out of the way. But I actually have a SECOND proposal in mind, which is for the players who prefer killing things over fishing.
What if, after catching a Quest Fish for the first time...
...you could find it as an enemy?
You'd still be able to fish up the Angler's wanted Quest Fish, sure, but after doing that, you could find that particular fish at any time in areas where you'd normally fish for it instead of needing to wait for the Angler to want it. Each fish would be mostly unique; while a few will share similar AI, they will all have certain defining traits to make each and every fish feel special and worth fighting. I'll even give some of them unique drops; this would definitely encourage players who aren't fishers to at least try it while also rewarding them for doing so!
This would then create a problem with the folks who DO like to fish and would rather not be interrupted by attackers, though. Perhaps an item could be left in the inventory to allow the Quest Fish to spawn.
Now, uh, adding 39 Quest Fish into the game as fully-fledged enemies would take a LOT of work to implement, especially since a lot of them aren't based off of pre-existing creatures in the game at all; WORRY NOT, though, for I already have concepts for... uh, some of them.

...The problem is that I don't know if I should link you guys to the old thread that has those ideas or just redo it all and put it here. That suggestion has more than just Quest Fish, so it might not be the best idea, but I'm also reeeaaally strapped for time because I have a LOT of other work I want to get to before Journey's End gets out.
Just this once, I'll leave this decision to your guys' opinions. You get the main point of what I'm trying to say, at least, so you're only missing out on my ideas for each individual fish.
Sorry.
 
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I had a similar idea for a shop to change how the Angler rewards fishing. Either way, I probably wouldn't do it because fishing is always the most boring mechanic in any video game to exist. Don't quote me on that.
I never had the drive to make the idea into a concept, however. Very nicely done! I especially like the concept new enemies for each fish, considering my previous testimony regarding the mechanic.
 
The idea I had for an Angler rework was a lot like Clash Royale's Chest reward cycle. The way that game works, after 500 rewards you are guaranteed to get 4 of each chest type, and you get each special one every set amount of rewards, getting the low quality stuff before that. In Terraria this'd mean that after, say, 60 Angler quests, you are guaranteed to get every single unique reward from the Angler, and they'd come after a set 2-3 quests that pay the lame rewards (Bait and potions and stuff).

The Angler Shop is a slower version of my idea that lets you choose what you get, which is nice too. I'm not actually sure if NPC shops have enough Slots to fit every single Angler item though.

As for making the Fish enemies... ehhh. I use Angler for the Fishing Stuff, making the Quest Fish unique enemies is just unnecessary and defeats the point of his quests being a passive side activity.
 
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I completely support this idea, I hate the Angler and being able to simply buy what you want (after some quests of course) would make him far less annoying. The prices seem fairly balanced and I do like that the items can still be randomly obtained.
As for the second idea, I would like to see the quest items as real enemies, would you be able to catch them with a bug net? Or will they drop themselves when killed?
My bland idea would be to just allow an infinite number of quests per day :dryadtongue:
 
I'm not actually sure if NPC shops have enough Slots to fit every single Angler item though.

Excluding Crates And Furniture, The Total Comes To 24. That Means That There's 16 Left For Both Categories. Wooden, Iron, Golden, Hallowed, Corrupt, Crimson (I'd Assume, I've Never Actually Seen One), Jungle, Sky, Are The Ones I Know Of, Which Leaves 8 Maximum For Furniture, And Last Time I Checked, There Are 4 Trophies To Be Gotten, Which Leaves 4 For Everything Else, So Probably Not.
 
The idea I had for an Angler rework was a lot like Clash Royale's Chest reward cycle. The way that game works, after 500 rewards you are guaranteed to get 4 of each chest type, and you get each special one every set amount of rewards, getting the low quality stuff before that. In Terraria this'd mean that after, say, 60 Angler quests, you are guaranteed to get every single unique reward from the Angler, and they'd come after a set 2-3 quests that pay the lame rewards (Bait and potions and stuff).

The Angler Shop is a slower version of my idea that lets you choose what you get, which is nice too. I'm not actually sure if NPC shops have enough Slots to fit every single Angler item though.

As for making the Fish enemies... ehhh. I use Angler for the Fishing Stuff, making the Quest Fish unique enemies is just unnecessary and defeats the point of his quests being a passive side activity.
I thought of making the items guaranteed, but I didn't think the other items were important enough. I semi-did it for the Hook and Wings, though, just to hopefully give them a window of use.
I suppose making them enemies would do that. I thought my idea could add a bit more to the world itself, though, which was their purpose back in their original suggestion.
As for the second idea, I would like to see the quest items as real enemies, would you be able to catch them with a bug net? Or will they drop themselves when killed?
Any passive fish would be caught with a Bug Net, while the hostile ones would be dropped on kill. I had debated making ALL the fish hostile so there wouldn't be any inbalance in obtaining them, but I'm not entirely sure if that's even necessary.
Excluding Crates And Furniture, The Total Comes To 24. That Means That There's 16 Left For Both Categories. Wooden, Iron, Golden, Hallowed, Corrupt, Crimson (I'd Assume, I've Never Actually Seen One), Jungle, Sky, Are The Ones I Know Of, Which Leaves 8 Maximum For Furniture, And Last Time I Checked, There Are 4 Trophies To Be Gotten, Which Leaves 4 For Everything Else, So Probably Not.
hm
I can just make the furniture items rotate daily, then. For the crates, there'd only be one crate's inventory out at a time, so at least 9 slots would be left for furniture items at any time (the Dungeon Crate's Golden Lock Box has the most biome-specific loot items [7]).
 
hm
I can just make the furniture items rotate daily, then. For the crates, there'd only be one crate's inventory out at a time, so at least 9 slots would be left for furniture items at any time (the Dungeon Crate's Golden Lock Box has the most biome-specific loot items [7]).
Oh. That Makes A Hell Of A Lot More Sense. If Only One Crate Is Up At A Time, Then I Could Definitely See It Working. Also, Dungeon Crate? Seriously
 
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Oh. That Makes A Hell Of A Lot More Sense. If Only One Crate Is Up At A Time, Then I Could Definitely See It Working. Also, Dungeon Crate? Seriously
Magic Missile, Cobalt Shield, Blue Moon, Muramasa, Aqua Scepter, Handgun, and Shadow Key.
The Wooden, Corrupt, Crimson and Jungle crates come in second place with 5 items each, the Sky Crate comes in third with 3 items, and the Hallowed Crate in last, with, um, 0 items.
Yeah, I know it has Souls of Light and Crystal Shards as Hallow-specific loot; I'm not putting easily obtained materials in the Angler's shop.

So yeah, if I included every Biome-specific Crate item at once, that'd be 30 whole slots taken up. Doesn't quite fit, does it?
 
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Magic Missile, Cobalt Shield, Blue Moon, Muramasa, Aqua Scepter, Handgun, and Shadow Key.
The Wooden, Corrupt, Crimson and Jungle crates come in second place with 5 items each, the Sky Crate comes in third with 3 items, and the Hallowed Crate in last, with, um, 0 items.
Yeah, I know it has Souls of Light and Crystal Shards as Hallow-specific loot; I'm not putting easily obtained materials in the Angler's shop.

So yeah, if I included every Biome-specific Crate item at once, that'd be 30 whole slots taken up. Doesn't quite fit, does it?
I Meant That Dungeon Crate Even Exists. Wouldn't Jungle, Corrupt, Crimson, And Hallow All Tie For Last?
 
When You Say Shadow Orb/Crimson Heart Items, Do You Mean The Light Pets, Or The Items That Drop From The Breakables?
Ah yes, this floor is made of floor.
I didn't think this would be that hard to grasp, so I'll list off the items for you.
  • Wooden Crate/Wooden Chests: Aglet, Climbing Claws, Guide to Plant Fiber Collection, Radar and Umbrella.
  • Corrupt Crate/Shadow Orb: Ball O' Hurt, Musket, Vilethorn, Band of Starpower and Shadow Orb (Light Pet).
  • Crimson Crate/Crimson Heart: The Rotted Fork, The Undertaker, Crimson Rod, Panic Necklace and Crimson Heart (Light Pet).
  • Jungle Crate/Ivy Chests: Feral Gloves, Boomstick, Staff of Regrowth, Anklet of the Wind and Fiberglass Fishing Pole.
  • Sky Crate/Skyware Chests: Starfury, Shiny Red Balloon, Lucky Horseshoe.
  • Golden Lock Box/Locked Golden Chests: Yeah I'm not listing these off again.
  • Hallow Crate: I'm not making the Angler sell Souls of Light and Crystal Shards.
The Iron and Golden Crates don't have anything Biome-specific, in case you were gonna make a point about that, too.
 
Ah yes, this floor is made of floor.
I didn't think this would be that hard to grasp, so I'll list off the items for you.
  • Wooden Crate/Wooden Chests: Aglet, Climbing Claws, Guide to Plant Fiber Collection, Radar and Umbrella.
  • Corrupt Crate/Shadow Orb: Ball O' Hurt, Musket, Vilethorn, Band of Starpower and Shadow Orb (Light Pet).
  • Crimson Crate/Crimson Heart: The Rotted Fork, The Undertaker, Crimson Rod, Panic Necklace and Crimson Heart (Light Pet).
  • Jungle Crate/Ivy Chests: Feral Gloves, Boomstick, Staff of Regrowth, Anklet of the Wind and Fiberglass Fishing Pole.
  • Sky Crate/Skyware Chests: Starfury, Shiny Red Balloon, Lucky Horseshoe.
  • Golden Lock Box/Locked Golden Chests: Yeah I'm not listing these off again.
  • Hallow Crate: I'm not making the Angler sell Souls of Light and Crystal Shards.
The Iron and Golden Crates don't have anything Biome-specific, in case you were gonna make a point about that, too.
Jeez, You Seem A Little Irate `-_-
 
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Yes please! The fish outfit is my signature look. Every playthrough I do, it's such a pain in the butt to get.
 
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