After a long discussion in a thread[1], I beleive we've done enough !!SCIENCE!! to realize.. these 'shrines' or Status Pods as the folders call them.. are simply horribly unbalanced. The risk of death is simply far too great for the reward. Die.. or change of 15-30 paltry seconds of a minor buff.. the choice clear If I may suggest some possible balances: Have the status effects last for MUUUUUCH longer.. and I do mean much longer. Have it (rarely) give out tech. Have it (a little less rarely) give out items? Possibly have the option to simply destroy it with pickaxe and/or weapons for Pixels (possibly a paltry amount, but more than the tiny pods). This would be helpful for those that simply want to construct things. Note that I am not asking to nerf the damage... but make the reward JUICY enough to entice those into trying. As it stands now, people simply skip over them.
Yeah, agreed agreed. I think they are wholly redundant in their current iteration and should only be avoided. I would like to be able to treat them as the beacon/artifacts of alien tech stranded on a remote planet that they are, and not just devices to take away pixels from newbies. http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/buff-pods-and-other-insta-death-items.50076
Some of those are good ideas, but it'd be up to the devs to figure out where to take it. I do like the risk of death. Makes it saucy, but the incentive for reward should be greater the more dangerous they are. Perhaps have different pods. Color code them. The typical one-tone ones for simple status effects (small chance of an item, maybe?) and maybe have more dangerous ones with a yellow or red light, indicating those are different, with higher possible rewards, but more risky punishments should you lose. Maybe SEVERAL different types and have higher tiers only available in beta or higher, yellows for beta with damage scaled to the armor you should be wearing in beta. Reds for higher.. and full black being the top one. But I'm just thinking out loud. It's not 'random death' either. It's not random. You choose whether to open it or not. In the words of the first reply in the thread linked in OP: "You played the lottery. You lost." You have to make the conscious decision to play 'the lottery' there and you assume the risks.
