Weapons & Equip Weapon Proficiency Idea

[Jimjam68]

Hey all,

I’m sure some variation of this idea has been floated before but here’s my take on this. I think having some kind of either weapon or weapon class proficiency would be helpful for the pace and content of the game.

For instance, I really love boomerangs and spears early game but they quickly become outclassed by other weapons and weapon types.

Same goes for how one often bypasses the storm spear and other desert treasures for example. If having some kind of weapon type buff that made it worth the extra exploring, I feel as though it would broaden the games content. It would make existing weapons receive more love and usage and might be able to softly balance power creeping during the more speedy points of the game.

This may be too broad in scope as an overhaul and might be leaning more towards Terraria 2 territory but I’d still like to share just in case.

Let me know your thoughts!

 

[CannedPotato]

Nice idea, I am not entirely sure what umbrellas you would tie proficiency to, would it be broad classes like melee and magic or more specific sub-types like maces and spell tomes? Or it might be tied to the exact weapon type like how after a certain amount of time using it I would get proficiency in 'magnet sphere'?

I feel like Terraria is always at odds with the feeling of only doing one type of damage, you play one class and you only really ever do that class, or at least until the end of the playthrough. I see people finding new weapons, thinking they are really interesting and never actually trying to use them because they do not match their chosen class. It hurts to see that because it isn't hard to change classes, get a new set, sometimes only headgear even, and then change your 1-3 class specific accessories out. It is restrictive and just doesn't feel good all around.

Where I am going with this is I feel like weapon proficiency would make this worse. It would reward putting all your eggs in one basket immediately and following that decision all the way to the end. Yes, you could change over but get ready to deal marginally less damage or grind for a few hours, both of them feeling like the game's way of slapping you on the wrist.
Applying proficiency would give buffs to weapons that are less used, but also weapons more used, it would not really be fair to give a proficiency system to the boomerang weapon type and not one to the basic sword type, and if it did then nothing would change in terms of which is better to use, and melee has way more sub-types than other classes as well, ranged has 3, mage has 2 or 3, summoner has staves and whips and has to use them both. I see what you mean by making less used weapons more viable but I do not think a levelling/proficiency system is exactly what we need.

Thanks for bringing it up though, this was a very fun idea to think about and got me thinking about parts of the class-dynamic that I have not noticed before. Again, I think you are discussing a very relevant problem, I just don't personally think this is the right way about it.

 

[Snek person👁🐿️]

This may be too broad in scope as an overhaul and might be leaning more towards Terraria 2 territory but I’d still like to share just in case.

it definitely is, and class/weapon type playthroughs aren't the way the game is meant to be played; they're player-created challenges done for fun

 

[Big Sammich]

How do you imagine this "weapon proficiency" working? How would the player attain/activate it? What kind of buffs would it give?

 

[Jimjam68]

it definitely is, and class/weapon type playthroughs aren't the way the game is meant to be played; they're player-created challenges done for fun

Maybe all I’d like to see for now is the desert weapons becoming easier to obtain

 

[Jimjam68]

How do you imagine this "weapon proficiency" working? How would the player attain/activate it? What kind of buffs would it give?

I’d like to see weapon proficiency acting as a little side icon with a meter ranging 1-10 on any given weapon above the weapon in the inventory. For weapon type proficiency, I’d like to see it maybe go to 50. If there isn’t a type that a weapon fits neatly into, maybe have it be a separate type called “special weapons”