What do you all think of the 'Post Plantera' section of the game?

[Wolfen CQ]

While playing through the game when 1.4 originally came out, I had a realisation that a lot of the post Plantera section of the game is quite skippable due to the fact that only one boss, that being Golem, is required to really progress to the next stage, meaning a lot of the content that's concentrated and tiered for this area (HM Dungeon, leading to Pumpkin moon, Frost moon, Duke, and Empress) isn't incentivised in a way that would make someone go out of their way to do these bosses and events when they're 'supposed' to, especially since Golem is right there in the jungle with Plantera, so it's very easy to do them both in a row and skip straight to the cultists and pillars, which then give the best weps for each class pre ML, the last 'stage' before the end of the game.

In my eyes, it seems like a consequence of how how the game was made, with most of this content being from the 1.2.x era which almost always added somthing new to the end of the game, which back then was great, but now it just seems like a part of the game that's super dense in content with not much reason to actually do it other than a few accessories and a summoner whip, Especially now with the stardust whip* being teased for 1.4.5 which actively removes a reason to do EoL and Pumpkin Moon for summoners (though Terraprisma probably is a good enough reason in of itself lol)

* Said stardust whip:

I know 100% this is more from the perspective of someone who's been playing the game for a really long time, and so knows specifically what's needed to progress to each stage, so I'd love to see what other people think of this section of the game and evoke a bit of a discussion about it, personally I go out of my way to do all the content in this area since it's actually my favourite part of the game (though regularly I do Duke pre mech and let him pick my class for HM based on what weapon drops.. maybe I'm not the best guy to talk about skipping progression )

 

[Green_Metaknight]

I would probably do more post-plantera content if it weren't for the Pumpkin Moon tree miniboss.

 

[Mille Marteaux]

You do it if you want/need the items. The celestial invasion expects a certain degree of mobility from the player, as well as firepower - the enemies are as agile as they are since at this point you have multiple sources of infinite flight, they're as dense as they are since you have access to things like Terra Blade, Snowman Cannon, Razorblade, etc...

Assuming you can consistently deal with Cultist, then you absolutely can just run straight in to the events on minimal gear, and the gear from the pillars themselves is very strong, but you're going to have a pretty rough time with the first one regardless.

 

[Wolfen CQ]

You do it if you want/need the items. The celestial invasion expects a certain degree of mobility from the player, as well as firepower - the enemies are as agile as they are since at this point you have multiple sources of infinite flight, they're as dense as they are since you have access to things like Terra Blade, Snowman Cannon, Razorblade, etc...

Assuming you can consistently deal with Cultist, then you absolutely can just run straight in to the events on minimal gear, and the gear from the pillars themselves is very strong, but you're going to have a pretty rough time with the first one regardless.

oh yea totally, its definitely more of a veteran thing to skip straight to golem/pillars

 

[zenithspeed]

for me it mostly depends on the class tbh
though for all classes i usually fight DF for the wings (and end up grinding it for 2 hours until i get the wings)
for melee, i went to grab the TB and that's about it
for ranged, did Frost Moon for chain gun since i was really behind with the now-puny Megashark
for magic, did DF in order to get razorblade plus the wings as mentioned above
for summoner... i haven't gotten to Plantera yet in my run, but i am very close, just need to max out life fruits and then i'll fight her, but i'll do pumpkin moon for the dark harvest and the +1 minion accessory

 

[Wolfen CQ]

for me it mostly depends on the class tbh

what events and bosses do you do for each? what items do you typically go for

 

[zenithspeed]

what events and bosses do you do for each? what items do you typically go for

edited it, i accidentally pressed post too early

 

[Wolfen CQ]

edited it, i accidentally pressed post too early

I see I see, talking to other friends it seems like that's the most popular way to go about this stage of the game, doing DF For wings, then doing one of the moons

 

[Impostor]

Most of the time I do fishron and that's all. I wish it was required to find the temple key in the dungeon at minimum post-plantera so other classes than mage would head down there though, HM Dungeon is insanely more fun than the Lizhard Temple in terms of enemy variety

 

[Wolfen CQ]

Most of the time I do fishron and that's all. I wish it was required to find the temple key in the dungeon at minimum post-plantera so other classes than mage would head down there though, HM Dungeon is insanely more fun than the Lizhard Temple in terms of enemy variety

I kinda like that idea

 

[Mille Marteaux]

I personally don't understand the hype behind Fishron Wings. I've always run Hoverboard (or Betsy's Wings) just for the horizontal mobility it offers, and pinch synergy with Shroomite when I'm playing those setups. The liquid mobility penalty is nice, but I don't exactly find myself in situations where it matters, if ever, compared to the extra horizontal mobility that a Hoverboard-type set of wings offers for me.. well, personal preference I suppose.

Most of the stuff I care about is fortunately nearly a guaranteed drop, or is easy to farm... but I haven't played a casting character in over a year now so I haven't had to farm Fishman for Razorblade.

 

[Aurora3500]

While I like the amount of lategame content that becomes available after defeating Plantera (and Golem by close extension), I do wish more of it were required in some form before defeating Golem, or before unlocking the cultists. It does feel like the gap between defeating Golem and the cultists becoming available to do the endgame event with the final boss is pretty small. It feels like Plantera is the climax of the game right before facing the final boss due to that feeling.

I mostly get excited to fight Duke Fishron and Empress of Light along with exploring the dungeon once I get into post-Plantera. Sometimes I'll fight Duke before Plantera as well. The drops from Duke & Empress serve me very well to the degree I don't feel the need to do the Frost/Pumpkin Moons, or Martian Madness/T3 Old One's Army. I'll still run a wave or 2 of each of them in most playthroughs, but otherwise once I've farmed Duke & Empress enough, I feel ready to go right to the cultists to finish my playthrough.

 

[BladeStaff]

In my eyes, it seems like a consequence of how how the game was made, with most of this content being from the 1.2.x era which almost always added somthing new to the end of the game, which back then was great, but now it just seems like a part of the game that's super dense in content with not much reason to actually do it other than a few accessories and a summoner whip, Especially now with the stardust whip* being teased for 1.4.5 which actively removes a reason to do EoL and Pumpkin Moon for summoners (though Terraprisma probably is a good enough reason in of itself lol)

* Said stardust whip:View attachment 453030

I know 100% this is more from the perspective of someone who's been playing the game for a really long time.

Tbf I do all the event just cus of 1 thing, FUN (Not to prepare for moon lord) The content given , tho not needed is just fun for me. Boss fights are fun, Invasions are fun(Excluding the martian one, That one is pain) and I believe adding the stardust whip won't exactly replace the other whips because of the tech of "WHIP STACKING".

But I also agree with you on the progression part. There are soo many great weapons which you get post golem which get disregarded because of the dam pillars. I think these weapons should be moved to post-plant and some even to pre-plant.

Also OLD ONES ARMY UNDER RATED FOR CLASSES OTHER THAN THE SUMMONER. YOU CAN GET ARMOR WHICH DO GREAT (regen/dmg) AND WEAPONS SUUCH AS FLYING DRAGON(TERRABLADES TWIN) BETSY'S WRAITH(BETTER PISS BOOK) AND BETSY WINGS (Sadly All summoner sentries are kinda meh in my opinnion sum how ummoners get the short end of the stick ) =.[

 

[zenithspeed]

I personally don't understand the hype behind Fishron Wings. I've always run Hoverboard (or Betsy's Wings) just for the horizontal mobility it offers, and pinch synergy with Shroomite when I'm playing those setups. The liquid mobility penalty is nice, but I don't exactly find myself in situations where it matters, if ever, compared to the extra horizontal mobility that a Hoverboard-type set of wings offers for me.. well, personal preference I suppose.

Most of the stuff I care about is fortunately nearly a guaranteed drop, or is easy to farm... but I haven't played a casting character in over a year now so I haven't had to farm Fishman for Razorblade.

i get what you mean tbh
the main reason why Fishron wings are probably so overhyped is simply cause they're one of the best wings at this stage in terms of pure power, even if lacking hovering or other things, though yeah the liquid movement bonus is kind of just an extra gimmick added on
personally, after Golem i just use the UFO to fly and reserve the wings for dodging moon lord's laser (they're close to twice as fast as the UFO in terms of max ascent speed) and tight spaces

 

[Wolfen CQ]

i get what you mean tbh
the main reason why Fishron wings are probably so overhyped is simply cause they're one of the best wings at this stage in terms of pure power, even if lacking hovering or other things, though yeah the liquid movement bonus is kind of just an extra gimmick added on
personally, after Golem i just use the UFO to fly and reserve the wings for dodging moon lord's laser (they're close to twice as fast as the UFO in terms of max ascent speed) and tight spaces

I personally don't understand the hype behind Fishron Wings. I've always run Hoverboard (or Betsy's Wings) just for the horizontal mobility it offers, and pinch synergy with Shroomite when I'm playing those setups. The liquid mobility penalty is nice, but I don't exactly find myself in situations where it matters, if ever, compared to the extra horizontal mobility that a Hoverboard-type set of wings offers for me.. well, personal preference I suppose.

Most of the stuff I care about is fortunately nearly a guaranteed drop, or is easy to farm... but I haven't played a casting character in over a year now so I haven't had to farm Fishman for Razorblade.

I'm like super bias towards Fishron wings since he's my favourite boss heh

 

[Ferrin🌳]

While playing through the game when 1.4 originally came out, I had a realisation that a lot of the post Plantera section of the game is quite skippable due to the fact that only one boss, that being Golem, is required to really progress to the next stage, meaning a lot of the content that's concentrated and tiered for this area (HM Dungeon, leading to Pumpkin moon, Frost moon, Duke, and Empress) isn't incentivised in a way that would make someone go out of their way to do these bosses and events when they're 'supposed' to, especially since Golem is right there in the jungle with Plantera, so it's very easy to do them both in a row and skip straight to the cultists and pillars, which then give the best weps for each class pre ML, the last 'stage' before the end of the game.

In my eyes, it seems like a consequence of how how the game was made, with most of this content being from the 1.2.x era which almost always added somthing new to the end of the game, which back then was great, but now it just seems like a part of the game that's super dense in content with not much reason to actually do it other than a few accessories and a summoner whip, Especially now with the stardust whip* being teased for 1.4.5 which actively removes a reason to do EoL and Pumpkin Moon for summoners (though Terraprisma probably is a good enough reason in of itself lol)
pre mech and let him pick my class for HM based on what weapon drops.. maybe I'm not the best guy to talk about skipping progression)

honestly speaking i don't get the point of "skippable" everything in this game is skippable if it's not strictly locking progression. All bosses have enough of a weaknesses for them to be defeated one way or another. (don't even get me started on mechanical cart strat, or just a runway plus stacking healing and def). At it's core it is not very hard to win bossfights in terraria as long as you prepare adequate setup or arena.
(btw what do you use for pre mech fishron, coz i find grind for accesories and weapons needed to defeat it, take more time than it saves on mechs)

So the way i see it is that this "side content" after planterra is most entertaining part of the game. Empress, fishron are for sure and by far the best bosses in my opinion, events are also fun assuming you already have some part of post planterra gear.
If you want to play more damage focus builds i'd argue that post planterra content is a must on check list.

Summing it all up or all the reasons to bother with "side content" after planterra

empress - we know nothing about stardust whip so for now it's still the best whip, plus terraprisma, the best minion i think, i'll see exactly when we have minions targetting dummie. Also one of the best wings plus insignia

fishron (usually falls here so i'll adress it) great weapons, wings are meh compared to betsy and empress

frost moon - the best pre ML launcher if i'm not wrong, razorpine

pumpkin moon - best pre ML summoner armor, good whip, nearly all important accesories for summoner, one of better ranged weapons at that stage

tier 3 OOA - betsy wings, weapons, idk about other armors but when going for mage summoner hybrid dark artist set is probably best set in the game

 

[Wolfen CQ]

(btw what do you use for pre mech fishron, coz i find grind for accesories and weapons needed to defeat it, take more time than it saves on mechs)

Range titanium armour, the stormbow, ichor arrows, magic quiver, pixie wings and amphibian boots are like the main things, doesn't take that long

 

[Ferrin🌳]

Range titanium armour, the stormbow, ichor arrows, magic quiver, pixie wings and amphibian boots are like the main things, doesn't take that long

oh i heard about that loadout, seemed too much work coz the titanium armor and amphibians, but maybe should give it a try.
In hardmode I ussually get goat or unicorn mount, do queen slime as first boss then use her armor to kill mechs.

 

[Toxophilite [East]]

Before reading what others have said, I guess I'll give my current opinion on it.

Post Plantera isn't a real problem, in fact, most of the "problems" Terraria has are manufactured problems. This makes it extremely difficult for the Devs and the Audience to have fair, legitimate discourse, communication and discussion with one another, because the Devs oftentimes find themselves adopting the principles and philosophies of entire groups~ that've come to a general consensus through either Mods, Mod Developers, Speedrunners, YouTubers or a single, prevailing opinion [which is oftentimes incorrect].

As a person who's had the luxury of playing Terraria with over 20 different personalities, this includes Classic Mode, Expert Mode, Master Mode [on Journey Mode], PvP, Special Seeds, Adventure Maps, Builder's Maps, Social Maps and Servers and most importantly, beating the game by myself, without spoilers, I can tell you that Finding the Jungle Temple pre-Hardmode/ early-Hardmode, having no idea what it is, but trying to figure out how to get inside, is one of the best feelings in Terraria.

There's a TON of small details that exist like this, the Granite and Marble mini-Biomes included. Every newer feature added will take-up some form of real-estate within the games "Biosphere". How that works and what that looks like, will always be a challenge when you have very limited space to work with. This is likely why almost everything post-Plantera either reuses locations or exists outside of the General World. This isn't to excuse the "cramming" issue, but if you recall honestly, it was once possible to progression-skip a TON of pre-Hardmode at a time as well.

Does Hardmode necessarily need to be padded-out? I say no! There's plenty to do for those of us who'd love to stick around a bit longer, but if you don't, Hardmode is already a hefty experience, especially if you're a newer Player and don't know exactly where to go next. The Mech Bosses will certainly give you a run-for-your-money, and the numerous amount of Plantera Help threads should speak for themselves. The Pillars will kick just about anyone's teeth in, and Moon Lord is the perfect difficulty for a Final Boss. Terraria is already a complete videogame as of 1.4.4.9.

Now, for those who wish to relive their first-time playing Terraria, I empathize with you, I really do, especially those of you who were spoiled to certain secrets and progression skips before even understanding what Terraria was, however, your desires shouldn't outweigh the experience of a newcomer, and shouldn't come at the cost of the overall experience [i.e. Summoner Class, NPC Happiness, current bloat as of 1.4.4.9]. You had your time, the Devs made the Special Seeds just for you, go play those...

Overall, I just think that post-Plant is fine, but post-Golem could use some work, mainly having to do with Pillars. The game is in a great spot though IMHO.

 

[midnox]

In the same way that you TECHNICALLY can just kill Skeletron and go straight to WoF. You CAN, but you shouldn’ (Skeletron isn’t required for WoF, but he does for Moon Lord, so you have to kill him eventually anyway)