(Sprites) Earlygame Armor tiering

[Orithan]

Note: This suggestion originated from before 1.3, but this suggestion is still relevant to the current game.
Disclaimer: This needs balancing.

Fixing up Earlygame Armor​

One major issue I have with the game is that the normalmode armor is useless. In between the grindfest required to obtain Silver/Gold tiers and their lack of perks power compared to the next tier up (Shadow Tier), it is useless and makes for a boring first few hours of the game for a newcomer that may very well turn them away. This suggestion comes in two parts: Cutting down on the grinding, making them more attractive to experienced players and rebalancing the alternative ore armor.

Part 1: Cutting down on the grinding

As we all know, Gold and Silver Tier Armor currently have very high bar requirements. It is 75 for Silver Tier, which translates into 300 ore. This is pretty bad considering that this is the main way to obtain Silver. However, Gold Tier is even worse: 90 bars, which translates to 360 ore to create the set. On addition, there are no other reliable ways to obtain the ore required: Fishing is doable if you have patience to gind in one spot while underground chests yield on average 2-3 bars of Silver (Gold only in Cavern chests) per chest discovered. That's asking for a lot, given their rarity.

New armor requirements:

• 
  /
  
  Silver/Tungsten Helmet:
  
  /
  
  10 Silver/Tungsten Bars
• 
  /
  
  Silver/Tungsten Chestplate:
  
  /
  
  20 Silver/Tungsten Bars
• 
  /
  
  Silver/Tungsten Leggings:
  
  /
  
  15 Silver/Tungsten Bars
  Total:
  
  /
  
  45 Silver/Tungsten Bars (180 ore)

Gold tier:

• 
  /
  
  Gold/Platinum Helmet:
  
  /
  
  13 Gold/Platinum Bars
• 
  /
  
  Gold/Platinum Chestplate:
  
  /
  
  24 Gold/Platinum Bars
• 
  /
  
  Gold/Platinum Leggings:
  
  /
  
  19 Gold/Platinum Bars
  Total:
  
  /
  
  56 Gold/Platinum Bars (224 Ore)

The new armor requirements puts the Silver and Gold tiers directly on par with Copper and Iron Tiers respectively as far as ore requirements go, the only lingering difference is the rarity of the ores themselves. This greatly cuts down on the boring grindfest for the inexperienced players, leaving them to only continue looking for any more Heart Crystals (and discover more of the wonders of the world of Terraria while they are at it) if they need it. However, experienced players will still end up skipping these two tiers anyway. This is why I have a second part of the suggestion.

Part 2: Making the armor more attractive to more experienced players

​

As they currently are in this state, experienced players will most likely end up skipping the Gold/Silver tier armor and go straight to Shadow tier anyway. This is where my second suggestion will come into play: Give them some perks and rebalance the alternative ores to provide niches over other armor.

First up, the ores are unbalanced statistically. The alternative ore armor is considerably stronger than their original counterparts, often nearly as strong as the next tier defense-wise. But how do we deal with this issue, as they are supposed to be generic armor without lots of flashy effects? My solution is this: Alter the set bonuses and rebalance the armor defense values to make up for it, like what the Pumpkin Armor did:

• 
  Pumpkin Helmet: +2 Defense
• 
  Pumpkin Chestplate: +3 Defense
• 
  Pumpkin Leggings: +2 Defense
• 
  
  Set Bonus: +10% Attack Damage

What I propose is altering the set bonuses of one set of armor from each tier to something small, but different, while leaving the other with alternate ore tier defense. So therefore here are my supposed changes:

Copper Tier:

Copper Armor:

• 
  Helmet: +1 Defense
• 
  Chestplate: +2 Defense
• 
  Leggings: +2 Defense
• 
  
  Set bonus: +8% Movement speed
• Total: +5 Defense, +8% Movement speed

Copper is known for being a light, easily malleable alloy. I imagine that this logic can be applied to Terraria, allowing for faster movement at the cost of defense.

Tin Armor:

• 
  Helmet: +1 Defense
• 
  Chestplate: +2 Defense
• 
  Leggings: +2 Defense
• 
  
  Set bonus: +2 Defense
• Total: +7 Defense

Tin I would imagine to be the stronger of the duo in terms of protection, and considerably heavier because it is found much later in the perodic table than what Copper is.


Iron Tier:

Iron Armor:

• 
  
  Helmet: +2 Defense
• 
  Chestplate: +3 Defense
• 
  Leggings: +3 Defense
• 
  
  
  Set bonus: +8% Knockback
• Total: +8 Defense, +8% Knockback

Iron is weak and flimsy on its own but tends to be associated with strength. The problem with boosting strength here is that a small attack boost (eg. +5% Damage) doesn't work with the small numbers that early weapons have. Instead, I elected to increase the knockback that weapons get with it as that is another measure of strength.

Lead Armor:

• 
  Helmet: +2 Defense
• 
  Chestplate: +3 Defense
• 
  Leggings: +3 Defense
• 
  
  Set bonus: +3 Defense
• Total: +11 Defense

I consider Lead to be the more sturdy armor of this set, as it is stronger by itself. Like Tin, it is much heavier than its counterpart.


Silver Tier:

Silver Armor:

• 
  Helmet: +3 Defense
• 
  Chestplate: +4 Defense
• 
  Leggings: +4 Defense
• 
  
  Set bonus: 15% Reduced debuff duration.
• Total: +11 Defense, 15% Reduced Debuff duration.

Silver is associated with cleanliness and purity, as silver's best reflection is shown when clean. I can imagine that logic being transferred to erasing impurities on the wearer. This ties in with Silver's original purpose of being used in the crafting of Jungle Armor, as the Jungle is full of poisonous wasps and has other debuff-related hazards like Dart Traps to contend with.
This debuff duration does not apply to infinite debuffs or any self-inflicted debuffs.

Tungsten Armor:

• 
  Helmet: +3 Defense
• 
  Chestplate: +4 Defense
• 
  Leggings: +4 Defense
• 
  
  Set bonus: +4 Defense
• Total: +15 Defense

Tungsten is generaly considered to be a much stronger material than Silver, so therefore the bigger defense buffs


Gold Tier:

Gold Armor:

• 
  
  Helmet: +5 Defense
• 
  Chestplate: +6 Defense
• 
  Leggings: +6 Defense
• 
  
  
  Set bonus: Enemies drop 10% more coins.
• Total: +17 Defense, Enemies drop 10% more coins.

Gold is usually depicted as a stronger armor than Silver because of its rarity, but that is far from the truth in real life. So I decided on a compromise. I gave it slightly higher defense than Tungsten, but then I added an extra, indirect, supportive bonus. Enemies dropping more money I can see working for Gold. While it is not a direct combat bonus, it is useful for grinding for the really costly stuff that crops up at roughly this stage like the Minishark and Illegal Gun Parts as well as reforging after the Goblin Army. It also gives it a niche over Shadow Tier armor.
Note: This stacks with Flask of Gold and Lucky Coin, allowing for even more insane money drops in Hardmode.

Platinum Armor:

• 
  Helmet: +5 Defense
• 
  Chestplate: +6 Defense
• 
  Leggings: +6 Defense
• 
  
  Set bonus: +6 Defense
• Total: +23 Defense

Platinum is even more valuable than Gold and it also somewhat lives up to that reputation, so it deserves to be the one with the boosted Defense, which is approaching Molten in that regard. The other boosts granted by Shadow and Crimson overshadow it though but it is an option if you need the extra defense and is useful for Expert Mode.

Bonus Part: Rebalancing armors post ore tiers

With the ore tiers out of the way, I figured that the next thing to do would be to rebalance the weaker armors that crop up past the early ore tiers. In this part of the suggestion, I will propose to buff the Gladiator, Obsidian and Pearlwood armors and nerf the Crimson armor. The three armors I wish to buff are armors that are useless for the tiers they are found at whereas Crimson armor is an overpowered classless armor that works well into Hardmode as opposed to a previous stage of Molten Armor like what Shadow Armor is.

Gladiator Armor:

A rare drop from Hoplites in the Marble Biome (5% chance for a piece to drop), Gladiator Armor's only purpose as a set of armor is for vanity despite looking like a valid set of armor. The defense bonus is decent, but by the time you can readily kill the Hoplites that drop it; the armor is useless and only serves as vanity. This suggestion aims to change that by changing it into a sidegrade for the Ninja Armor.

Here's the proposed changes:

• 
  Helmet: 2 Defense, +10% Trhowing Critical Strike Chance, +8% Throwing Damage,
  
  tier, doubled droprate
• 
  Chestplate: 3 Defense, +12% chance to not consume ammo, +5% Throwing velocity, +5% Throwing Damage,
  
  tier, doubled droprate
• 
  Leggings: 2 Defense, +8% chance to not consume ammo, +8% Throwing velocity,
  
  tier, doubled droprate
• 
  
  Set Bonus: +30% Throwing knockback
• Total: +7 Defense, +30 Throwing Knockback, +12% Throwing Damage, +12% Throwing velocity, +20% chance to not consume ammo.

Instead of focusing on the quantity of ammo you have like what Ninja Armor does, Gladiator Armor amplifies your defensive presence with greater knockback with slightly reduced damage and velocity.


Obsidian Armor:

Obsidian armor looks like a decent western gunslinger outfit. But much like Gladiator Armor, it merely serves as vanity (and, according to the devs, it was originally vanity but it was changed to proper armor at the last minute). Since it is now armor, let's give it more purpose than just for looks. As its appearance as well as a lack of a second set of prehardmode Ranged armor (whereas all other classes except Summoner gets two) suggests, lets turn it into some Ranger armor then.

Here's the proposed changes:

• 
  Outlaw Hat: 4 Defense, +5% Ranged Critical Strike Chance,
  
  tier, Doubled Obsidian Requirements
• 
  Longcoat: 5 Defense, +10% Ranged Damage,
  
  tier, Doubled Obsidian Requirements
• 
  Pants: 4 Defense, +5% Movement Speed,
  
  tier, Doubled Obsidian Requirements
• 
  
  Set Bonus: +15% Shoot Speed
• Total: +13 Defense, +15 Shoot Speed, +10% Ranged Damage, +5% Ranged Critical Strike Chance, +5% Movement Speed.

On addition, Obsidian can not be blown up by bombs or dynamite (NO EARLY RANGER ARMOR FOR YOU, BOMB USERS).

Unlike Necro Armor, this armor focuses on shooting fast and hard instead of buffing damage and conserving ammo. This lends to damage boost comparable to Necro's, with added movement speed to assist in evasion. The lower defense and lack of the ability for shots to not consume ammo serve as the armor's main drawbacks compared to Necro.


Crimson Armor:

Crimson Armor is overpowered as an armor and is a prime example of alt imbalance. What should be a decent mid-tier prehardmode Melee armor that lasts until you get Molten Armor turns out to be a very powerful prehardmode classless armor that can last you decently into Hardmode. Why is that? Crimson Armor has a very powerful bonus regeneration ability. To fix this imbalance, I propose a heavy nerf to Crimson Armor's regeneration ability and buffing its melee damage increase. I expect my solution to require balancing changes

• 
  Helmet: +6 Defense, +3% Melee Critical Strike Chance
• 
  Chestplate: +7 Defense, +3% Melee Speed
• 
  Leggings: +6 Defense, +3% Melee Damage
• 
  
  Set Bonus: Killing mobs with Melee weapons produces 1-2 Heart Fragments per mob killed (which resemble Heart Container Pieces from the Legend of Zelda series), which restore 5 HP each. Note: Does not work on Statue-spawned mobs or on statue-spawned Bunnies converted to Corruption/Crimson so no Blue Slime grinders to cheese your way through bosses. Worm-type enemies drop from only one segment; the one from the segment closest to the player.
• Total: +19 Defense, Killing mobs with Melee attacks spawns Heart Fragments, +3% Melee Damage, +3 Melee Speed, +3% Melee Critical Strike Chance.

With the set bonus nerfed and changing the bonuses to reflect Melee, Crimson Armor is changed into a powerful mid-tier normalmode Melee armor that gives the user longevity through the extraction of health with each enemy killed as opposed to greatly buffing life regen. It can still be used over Molten if you so desire, but Molten outclasses it in every way except the set bonus.


Pearlwood Armor

Last but not least, Pearlwood Armor also needs major buffs. At the moment, it is completely outclassed in every way except vanity and I would like to see that changed. Instead of a full-scale stat revamp of the armor, I would like to give it one special feature:

• 
  Helmet: +3 Defense
• 
  Chestplate: +4 Defense
• 
  Leggings: +3 Defense
• 
  
  Set bonus: Amplifies light sources, grants immunity to Blindness and Blackout.
  
• Total: +10 Defense, Amplifies light sources, immunity to Blindness and Blackout.

As Wood armor normally shouldn't be very strong in the defensive department, it's defense rating is still pretty low. However, its special ability amplifies any light sources on the screen (to yourself) to double their normal brightness. This has a small niche for exploring in caves and works well in conjunction to light pets and for autopause abuse to rid of yourself any nasty Blackout Debuffs inflicted by Ragged Casters in the HM dungeon.


And with that concludes my suggestion. I hope you enjoyed reading this suggestion and please leave comments and suggestions as you see fit.

 

[neoselket]

looks great! the only thing i would change is making gold have extra defense, as it allows a defensive option for people who don't have platinum.

 

[CrazyDragon]

I like it, but why are all the alternative ores boring? All the originals get special set bonuses but the alternates still get boring old defence. Don't get me wrong, I always choose the defensive path. I just feel like it's a little unbalanced.

 

[Orithan]

I like it, but why are all the alternative ores boring? All the originals get special set bonuses but the alternates still get boring old defence. Don't get me wrong, I always choose the defensive path. I just feel like it's a little unbalanced.

I sort of agree with you here, but these straight up defense buffs on the alts serve a role. The extra defense Tin provides is enough to cut down a good amount of damage taken from enemies at their respective tiers. With Tin Armor equipped, most enemies in the aboveground Forest and dirt layers struggle to do good damage to you. With Tungsten Armor, threats like Skeletons become significantly less so since their damage gets cut down by 8 or so. With Platinum Armor, you are pretty much good until Molten if you are running a full Defense build and don't mind going classless.

Edit: And the suggestion has been updated with the bonus part.

 

[Ezel]

It's interesting. I always was thinking alternatives should have the same amount of defense, but different buffs that make stuff more balanced... still, it could make stuff less fair. Something like Shadow Armor (speed boost) and Crimson Armor (regen boost). Many people would prefer Crimson Armor, so I think it'd be good to change something with early armor.

Nice ideas. It's be a good thing to implement this, especially the reduced requirements for Gold/Platingum/Tungsten tier (75 bars or so is a pretty big amount).

 

[Tyro]

I love the changes, with the exception of making obsidian (famously brittle) bomb-proof. If you want to justify giving Gold armor more defense, consider that in myth and legend precious metals are more easily enchanted - in this example, for superior hardness.

We might also consider hybrid armor requirements - what if gold armor was actually gold plated silver or tungsten, and silver armor was silver plated iron or lead? You could decrease the gold/platinum bar requirements a bit further that way.