I agree with the first take, master mode is very poorly implemented. Expert mode had a lot of great changes on top of the classic terraria experience, small things which were a pain but made sense. -Water in the ice biome made you cold -Boss AI and mechanics were adjusted, some bosses got whole new stages -Loot was VERY impactful from the beginning -Loot bags from bosses but they have scaling HP depending on player count Just to name a few changes from classic to expert. But expert to master had nothing new. It was PURELY stat changes. Enemies have more HP, more damage, debuffs last longer, player defence scales more, we drop more gold when killed. All things expert set the precedent for.
Am I gonna say master is all bad? No. But master failed to live up to the expectations set by master. We could've got new mechanics and boss AI; Destroyer could have a period of i.frames on spawn to prevent cheesing, the twins could have mechanics to prevent one of them being focused down, golem could have an extra phase, the celestial pillars could have respective master mode exclusive mini-bosses. A lot of potential was entirely passed up on just to do expert+
I think there should be more content for master mode, for example being able to spawn the bosses from the relics, things that make Master unique as the Expert bags and accessories are to classic mode.
Extra accessory slot, Relics, Boss Pets, the extra difficulty that just so happens to be the edge between fun and challenging. Man, I love Master Mode and I even made my friend first playthrough be Master Mode, was I too quick on making that choice? Did he suffer a lot more for a beginner? Yes, but now he has 400 hours on terraria and is doing a solo calamity playthrough, so I think it worked
For veteran players who only play Vanilla Terraria or can only play Vanilla because they're on console or mobile, I can agree to a point that Master mode does offer some benefit.
However; the argument of Master mode being a well designed increase in difficulty compared to the previous hardest difficulty (expert mode) falls apart when you consider how it's implemented in comparison to both what came before in the base game and what is available within a single difficulty within the game's biggest mod.
Revengeance mode in the Calamity Mod
A difficulty which has since had all master mode exclusive additions added to it.
Sure, you could argue that change was made because master mode exists in the first place but even if we exclude all the content Calamity adds and simply focus of the vanilla changes revengeance as a difficulty setting makes, it's clearly a more well designed and fair increase similar to going from classic to expert.
Bosses and enemies actually feel more powerful because they have new attacks, patterns, and are generally smarter. Even a basic purple or black slime which while it does have more health and do more damage than in expert mode isn't unfair because you have 120 HP and take 65 damage per hit while it has 250 HP and you do 9 damage.
It smart, because while you aren't paying attention while mining, you got surprise attacked in the caves only to die after you dug away to escape and it followed the trail you left behind to finish you off.
This is objectively far better difficulty design than damage and health values changing from a 100 to 350 and 10 to 35.
I honestly prefer jumping straight to legendary mode, if i want to suffer just to have +1 accessory slot, 1 more boss drop, and relics, i might aswell do it on maximum pain
I like master mode because I find expert mode too easy. Master mode doesn't need to do anything special, it just needs to be a harder expert mode. Although it's not perfect and expert mode is still the more balanced and intended Terraria difficulty. And I really like having seven accesyory slots
Feel like master mode should've had more unique to it though. Like the jump from classic to expert is game-changing. But mastermode is just harder, no unique boss attacks, terrain events, etc.
Master mode isn't for me but I'm glad they made it. For me I get plenty of challenge out of expert mode but I'm just alright at the game, if I was much better or just more determined to get the best gear I can easily see expert mode being too easy and wanting another difficulty.
I don’t like how strong basic enemies are in master and legendary. Literally bigger threats than the bosses. It leads to situations where I mind my own business and get 2 shot out of nowhere with very little time to react. Then deal with the abysmal respawn time
Master mode added that appreciation towards building after every boss fight. I always made it a goal to build something big or small after every master mode fight because it was a part of the difficulty for myself. Then the peaceful reward after.
Honestly I still disagree with it, like yes it's nice to have relics and cool pets but like, I feel like it should change the boss ai like how expert mode does, you know? Maybe by making it faster?
I personally just wish Master Mode had better drops. It feels weird that Expert Mode actually gives you unique accessories that affect gameplay, but Master Mode is just increased health and nothing else. Expert Mode and Normal Mode also have AI differences that make things more interesting, but Expert Mode and Master Mode are basically the same.
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I agree with the first take, master mode is very poorly implemented. Expert mode had a lot of great changes on top of the classic terraria experience, small things which were a pain but made sense.
-Water in the ice biome made you cold
-Boss AI and mechanics were adjusted, some bosses got whole new stages
-Loot was VERY impactful from the beginning
-Loot bags from bosses but they have scaling HP depending on player count
Just to name a few changes from classic to expert. But expert to master had nothing new. It was PURELY stat changes. Enemies have more HP, more damage, debuffs last longer, player defence scales more, we drop more gold when killed. All things expert set the precedent for.
Am I gonna say master is all bad? No. But master failed to live up to the expectations set by master. We could've got new mechanics and boss AI; Destroyer could have a period of i.frames on spawn to prevent cheesing, the twins could have mechanics to prevent one of them being focused down, golem could have an extra phase, the celestial pillars could have respective master mode exclusive mini-bosses. A lot of potential was entirely passed up on just to do expert+
I think there should be more content for master mode, for example being able to spawn the bosses from the relics, things that make Master unique as the Expert bags and accessories are to classic mode.
Extra accessory slot, Relics, Boss Pets, the extra difficulty that just so happens to be the edge between fun and challenging. Man, I love Master Mode and I even made my friend first playthrough be Master Mode, was I too quick on making that choice? Did he suffer a lot more for a beginner? Yes, but now he has 400 hours on terraria and is doing a solo calamity playthrough, so I think it worked
For veteran players who only play Vanilla Terraria or can only play Vanilla because they're on console or mobile, I can agree to a point that Master mode does offer some benefit.
However; the argument of Master mode being a well designed increase in difficulty compared to the previous hardest difficulty (expert mode) falls apart when you consider how it's implemented in comparison to both what came before in the base game and what is available within a single difficulty within the game's biggest mod.
Revengeance mode in the Calamity Mod
A difficulty which has since had all master mode exclusive additions added to it.
Sure, you could argue that change was made because master mode exists in the first place but even if we exclude all the content Calamity adds and simply focus of the vanilla changes revengeance as a difficulty setting makes, it's clearly a more well designed and fair increase similar to going from classic to expert.
Bosses and enemies actually feel more powerful because they have new attacks, patterns, and are generally smarter. Even a basic purple or black slime which while it does have more health and do more damage than in expert mode isn't unfair because you have 120 HP and take 65 damage per hit while it has 250 HP and you do 9 damage.
It smart, because while you aren't paying attention while mining, you got surprise attacked in the caves only to die after you dug away to escape and it followed the trail you left behind to finish you off.
This is objectively far better difficulty design than damage and health values changing from a 100 to 350 and 10 to 35.
I think my biggest gripe is there's just basically no innovation upon the great basis that is expert mode
No new attacks or patterns just inflated stats
Legendary mode
I can’t live without the extra accessory slot
Sheet i only play in master mode anything the bosses feel too easy otherwise (they still are)
Been feeling this with Legendary mode, just started my first playthrough and was shocked it would be so much harder than master mode.
Yeah bosses are ok to beat but invasions are why i think relogic did not playtest anything mastermode related
I play master exclusively for the accessory slot, for the most part otherwise I prefer expert but can't bring myself to play it anymore
I’ve been playing master mode so long I forgot relics were exclusive to it
I honestly prefer jumping straight to legendary mode, if i want to suffer just to have +1 accessory slot, 1 more boss drop, and relics, i might aswell do it on maximum pain
I do like being able to keep a record of which bosses I defeated and in what order
And that extra accessory slot 🤤
No one tell him about legendary mode…
I like master mode because I find expert mode too easy. Master mode doesn't need to do anything special, it just needs to be a harder expert mode. Although it's not perfect and expert mode is still the more balanced and intended Terraria difficulty. And I really like having seven accesyory slots
And moonlord lazer almost one hit me man😅
Feel like master mode should've had more unique to it though. Like the jump from classic to expert is game-changing. But mastermode is just harder, no unique boss attacks, terrain events, etc.
Master mode isn't for me but I'm glad they made it. For me I get plenty of challenge out of expert mode but I'm just alright at the game, if I was much better or just more determined to get the best gear I can easily see expert mode being too easy and wanting another difficulty.
I don’t like how strong basic enemies are in master and legendary. Literally bigger threats than the bosses. It leads to situations where I mind my own business and get 2 shot out of nowhere with very little time to react. Then deal with the abysmal respawn time
Wow so your telling me master mode is fun for people that have mastered the game? Im shocked and bewildered
Master mode added that appreciation towards building after every boss fight. I always made it a goal to build something big or small after every master mode fight because it was a part of the difficulty for myself. Then the peaceful reward after.
Honestly I still disagree with it, like yes it's nice to have relics and cool pets but like, I feel like it should change the boss ai like how expert mode does, you know? Maybe by making it faster?
I only play master mode. I never realized there's a difficulty difference between it and expert 😂
I personally just wish Master Mode had better drops. It feels weird that Expert Mode actually gives you unique accessories that affect gameplay, but Master Mode is just increased health and nothing else. Expert Mode and Normal Mode also have AI differences that make things more interesting, but Expert Mode and Master Mode are basically the same.