Rate the Weapon: Day Fifteen - Bladetongue

[Xylia]

They used to do this by not having the hardmode ores be in crates. Then they listened to people's suggestions for putting them in crates and look where we are - people just fish up a ton of crates PHM, crack them all open after beating WOF like it's Christmas, and then they're rolling in Titanium.

It's really just kind of a side effect of having a lot of options. Some of the options are really strong and really easy (crates, huge mimic drops) while some of them are less optimal and more challenging (smashing altars, using ore repeaters). People who just want to "beat the game" will use the easy ones and people who want to challenge themselves will limit the items they can personally use.

Options are good, but when an older option seems less valuable, it needs to be bumped up to be more valuable. Crates are OK, but yet what's NOT OK is how tedious and inferior smashing altars is.

People don't usually smash altars usually unless they simply hate fishing (they don't realize that they'd be saving themselves a lot of time and effort if they just merely did the fishing), because of how much of an annoyance it is.

The obvious fix would be, well, to make it less of an annoyance. Do we REALLY need the "Random Stone Converts to Ebon/Crimstone" mechanic, for example?

 

[Mille Marteaux]

when an older option seems less valuable, it needs to be bumped up to be more valuable

Not always. Sometimes the newer option needs to be toned down to bring it back in line with the older option.

Do we REALLY need the "Random Stone Converts to Ebon/Crimstone" mechanic, for example?

I don't have a problem with it. It's implied that you're releasing a lot of energy when you smash one of them apart, and they turn random chunks of dirt and stone into metals along with releasing Wraiths because something is very clearly wrong with what's happening. Them sometimes converting random stone into a chunk of spreading biome is perfectly acceptable.

It's kind of like asking if platformers should still have a lives mechanic if your progress is constantly saved and you have infinite continues.

 

[Xylia]

Not always. Sometimes the newer option needs to be toned down to bring it back in line with the older option.

I did say above, that I think the Stormbow needs to be changed, didn't I? You didn't comment on that, btw... swapping the Stormbow with the Pulse Bow.

I don't have a problem with it. It's implied that you're releasing a lot of energy when you smash one of them apart, and they turn random chunks of dirt and stone into metals along with releasing Wraiths because something is very clearly wrong with what's happening. Them sometimes converting random stone into a chunk of spreading biome is perfectly acceptable.

"Acceptable" but yet an unnecessary hassle that we don't actually really need. There's plenty enough spread and if you want more, you can spread stuff yourself. The random corruption/crimson everywhere is one of the main reason I refuse to break altars nowadays.

It's kind of like asking if platformers should still have a lives mechanic if your progress is constantly saved and you have infinite continues.

That is actually a pretty good point: If you have infinite continues, and your progress is constantly saved... then what IS the point of "limited" lives again? There is no point therefore it's redundant, therefore it doesn't really need to exist.

Look at Freedom Planet. You have lives. When they hit 0.......nothing happens. When you die, you go right back to the checkpoint and you keep on going.

So.......why do we even have that number in that game in the first place when it does absolutely nothing?

 

[Mille Marteaux]

I did say above, that I think the Stormbow needs to be changed, didn't I?

Not in the post that I quoted, no. Nor anywhere in this thread, really, at a quick search for "stormbow." Stormbow is only super overbearing when paired with Holy Arrows anyway, maybe when paired with Hellfire Arrows if you're talking about Destroyer but otherwise it's just a utility weapon. However, inside its niche, it is very, very strong.

You didn't comment on that, btw... swapping the Stormbow with the Pulse Bow.

I think that biome mimic drops in general need to be gated behind beating one of the mech bosses first.

The random corruption/crimson everywhere is one of the main reason I refuse to break altars nowadays.

I dunno, I personally don't mind it. I don't stick with worlds long enough for the spread to be a huge hassle, and it's only especially dangerous if it generates a c/c block near the Jungle. Even then, it could just hallow a block instead and then nothing happens.

So.......why do we even have that number in that game in the first place when it does absolutely nothing?

Depends heavily on the game. It actually allows us to have substantially more difficult levels now, since we don't lose hours of progress just because we can't get past one problem segment of a level eating up all 8 of our extra dudes. Depending on the difficulty of the level as well, you may even struggle to get to the main problem stretch to begin with, forcing you to learn how to approach the level better so when you do finally get to the problem stretch, you'll have as many lives as possible. Lives really are just a genre formality at this point, though.

Honestly, in retrospect I'm actually not sure what I was going for when I brought that point up. Probably something to do with long-standing traditions? Maybe.

 

[Xakk]

Well, you still gotta get ore armor, lol. If you're wanting to use this, then you want melee armor. This means getting a bunch of hardmode ore.

Though to be honest, I never smash altars anymore. The random stone turning to ebon/crimstone thing alone is enough to turn me off on doing that. Then you got the Wraith spawns, and then on top of all of that, you gotta scour the world looking for the ore.

Oh and... impromptu mech spawns. That's the cherry on top.

Fishing crates were also a bit breaking, I have often wondered what the thinking was there. You're right about the random stone thing though. But remember ore swords aren't the only thing BT will have you skipping. The Beam Sword, Cutlass, Ice Sickle, Mushroom Spear, and again, Phasesabers all get jumped for this weapon. The issue is not what in particular the BT skips, most non-ore weapons will jump you ahaed a bit. The issue is how much and when. Going from square one to up under the chin of Plantera in the space of a couple hours max is unbalanced.

 

[Xylia]

Fishing crates were also a bit breaking, I have often wondered what the thinking was there. You're right about the random stone thing though. But remember ore swords aren't the only thing BT will have you skipping. The Beam Sword, Cutlass, Ice Sickle, Mushroom Spear, and again, Phasesabers all get jumped for this weapon. The issue is not what in particular the BT skips, most non-ore weapons will jump you ahaed a bit. The issue is how much and when. Going from square one to up under the chin of Plantera in the space of a couple hours max is unbalanced.

The problem with Beam Sword, Ice Sickle, etc is that they are rare drops and nobody feels like farming for hours while waiting on a decent weapon to drop. I have never thought to myself "I should get a Beam Sword/Ice Sickle/Frostbrand!"

I don't go after them, simply because they are too hard to get. And even if I do get a Bladetongue, it's usually used only in certain situations because of... *drumroll* Amarok.

Amarok does most of the heavy-lifting, while I occasionally swap to Bladetongue to handle certain situations (groups of weaker enemies).

As for Cutlass... well, that requires a Pirate attack and lately I feel that farming for maps is just too tedious and boring at least until you get a Neptune's shell.

Phaseblades are just unbalanced in the fact they are simply too weak. They are weaker than a Night's Edge and require 50 Crystal Shards and the Phasesaber (which I never make for the same reason). The only thing the Phaseblade has over the Night's Edge is that it is auto-swing. Night's Edge has significantly more knockback. So, I never used Phaseblades even before the Bladetongue's existence, lol.

To be honest, if you want to make other weapons attractive, you need to give players a reason to go get them.

Mimics need a spawn method similar to Biome Mimics, or perhaps they should spawn a little more often in the Ice Biome (I remember one time wanting a frost brand before the Bladetongue was a thing and I spent a couple hours derping around in there with a hunter potion and.... no mimics. When I finally did see one, it dropped a stupid flower instead of the sword; that's when I gave up on actually seeking ice biome weapons 'cept amarok).

Phaseblades need a damage upgrade, perhaps 50 damage instead of a piddly 41. Perhaps 10 crystal shards instead of 50. Extra Knockback would be nice too, because weak knockback in early hardmode is NOT good when you're just starting hardmode, you need stronger knockback than that.

Ice Sickle and similar weapons need a better drop rate, or, have them drop globally like the Amarok so that it doesn't take hours of farming to get one.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Yeah, 50 shards is too much for what the phasesaber has to offer.
The weapon balance in terraria is pretty bad overall.
Weapons that are too rare and tedious to acquire are pretty lacklustre, whilst there are easier weapons to acquire that perform even better, and the craftible weapons are generally pretty bad.

Why would I waste my time getting a medusa head, when I can just fish for a crystal serpent?
Why build a repeater when I can use the clockwork assault rifle? Even if I don't have the CAR, I can just buy a shotgun for a measly 25 gold. If you don't have at least that much by the time you reach hardmode, you've been wasting money.

 

[MegaSDMGShark]

I've never used a Bladetongue, but it seems pretty useful until you get a True sword.