Terraria 1.2.3 Update…



“Value.” Just one of many positive comments that could be made to sum up the Terraria experience so far…and then comes another update…!?

It doesn’t appear to be an update that incorporates anything earth-shattering in terms of the actual game-play.  But then again, there are a number of Hard-mode “balancing changes” mentioned in the developer notes to entice fans back for another playthrough…

Here is the link from the developer blog listing all the new updates:

Http://www.terrariaonline.com/threads/terraria-1-2-3.132539/

Upon logging into my Terraria world today, I immediately noticed some of the new animations related to the character’s equipped accessories and some of the new sound effects scattered throughout the game (i.e. duck noises).  This was a fun surprise because I had been preparing my world a few days prior to go and take down the Wall of Flesh and activate Hard-mode…I cleared out the area around the Jungle Temple, farmed the WOF twice, destroyed five or so Demon Alters and then got smoked by a Pirate Invasion that I just didn’t see coming…, “Boo me”!

The best part of it all is that I have played through the game in Hard-mode previously and defeated the other bosses, except for Pirate Invasion and Pumpkin King…that’s even more value coming my way down the road!  In my experience when the developer team is releasing a new update before the user has played through the previously released material that’s a good sign for both sides.

It appears fans are letting developers know that the punctuated stream of improvements is appreciated.  I paid $4.99 on Steam for my copy last June and then bought two more copies to share with friends a few months later.  At the time, many of us were “waiting patiently” on an update rumored in August or Sept of ’13…, but in the era of developers charging a fee for DLC, this “free” content is a nice change of pace.  Few could have expected the game to be improved so dramatically, developers had already produced a great game that had tremendous replay value.  Now they have followed it up with multiple patches that improve the game in a meaningful way.  Let’s hope this trend catches on with other development teams moving forward…