Why randomly dropping "superior" brains is an inferior idea.

I love how some people are still saying "I had no problem with this..." completely missing the point of the original post, and the player perspective vs. developer perspective...

I had no problem getting this on any of my characters either. I still completely agree with the OP that RNG is a bad progression mechanic.


Also completely agreed that the entire tier 2 progression mechanic is broken and idiotic. "Um... I built this thing. WHERE did the processor come from?"

 

The way I see it, the processor is something you build but it's more of an empty shell until the robot goes live. Then that robot's AI populates this chip with "organic" code which means it can be used to upgrade the ship later on. The robot should have more of a distinct power up animation once it's been activated though, to make things clearer.

 

This happens in terraria as well
When they have sooo many (less than) 1% drops now

 

Terraria doesn't (as far as I recall) require you to have those absurdly-rare drops to progress in the game, though. Let me check my memory; correct me if this has changed:
Eye - random OR summonable (with relatively common drop mats), technically skippable.
Eater - Required, but no randomness.
Skeletron - Required, no randomness.

Hard mode... less clear on these. I think the only randomness is in getting the souls of night/light, and they're still relatively common.

Edt: I guess randomly lacking certain convenience gear like the recall mirror or some form of jump assist would suck, but it's not technically required. They even moved away from this, with the alternate methods of getting grapples, so no more irritation with skeleton-farming for hooks.

 

Sad but true, I have YET to get a brain. I've gone to a small planet and just ran laps around the thing zaping all in my way and never once gotten a brain.
I've been on MP with friends who were able to collectively get a few. But thats MP with a hand full of friends getting an even smaller hand full of brains between them. But alone on my own? Not yet have I gotten one.

 

true, there are not rare drops to progress through the game, but there are for getting some high level items, for example, EVERY ITEM REQUIRED FOR THE ANKH CHARM
the rod if discord is one thats rare (traded mine to a friend for 3 ankh charm items and 100 platinium, never got another)
those items are very high level, but are not necessary to get far into the game

 

I was thinking more along the lines of late late end game material

Pumpkin moon event is pretty much impossible to beat without some of those rare weapons

 

The only grind I noticed in Terraria that was excessive and memorable was when I was looking for jungle keys and such (optional chests in the dungeon). I also had a rough time finding a bandage or something for the ankh (also optional), but only one of the 7 or 8 items required for it caused problems.

 

You should have mentioned the 704,041 people who got it by killing less than 25 monsters, including the 56,000 who got it on their first try.
3136 of them probably even got two in a row

I'm not defending the cult of the Random Number God though.
I played enough korean F2P MMOs to know better

 

This actually isn't the first topic about this subject, there was another one earlier that spanned quite a few number of pages, much like this one is doing right now.
Other than stating that I don't have much to add to this subject other than stating my opinion
Personally, I don't mind random drops that much as long as it's not completely ridiculous, but if a random drop is required to progress and it's actually "rare" then that's kind of BS in my opinion. I think, or I can at least hope, that the Robot is actually another place holder boss and when the game is officially released the robot will be removed as well as the brain grinding. However one way to make the Brain grind not as bad but while keeping the drop rate the same is to give inferior brains a use (such as food or maybe being able to make decoration items with brains.) personally I would rather bump up the drop rate of the superior brain because that is the item that is required to progress through the tiers where the inferior brains aren't, but at the very least if they give inferior brains a use then getting an inferior brain wouldn't be such a taunt.

Oh also, on that other topic someone posted about this, someone mentioned that you should get superior brains from the random "brain" biomes that random planets have sometimes by chopping down the "brain trees" or something like that. Which would certainly be an interesting way to get the superior brain, although it would still be random in a way assuming you don't look up coordinates. But still that would be another interesting solution to this drop rate predicament if that brain biome actually helped you get the superior brain.

 

I got a pumpkin moon on my first night of hard mode (heh, speaking of fun with RNG...). I'd crafted the Night's Edge before making the changeover, but the only things I had to worry about were the wraiths. It's amazing what a proper magma-trap can do. Got two broken heros' blades too.

 

I think your talking about the solar eclipse then, pumpkin moon does not happen naturally or give broken hero swords
but ya, I never actually got enough broken swords from that to craft the terra blade
rare drop from common spawn from very rare event with RNG hating me says I would have a great challenge getting the blade
but thats the whole point, RNG with low drop rates can be incredibly evil and annoying
another thing with rng hating me from terraria (note I had full hardmode gear and had the pwnhammer)
I was killing the WoF to get the trophy from it when the bug where no pwnhammer drops happens, 99.99% chance to drop and its a bug that it doesnt
what ever, less inventory clog but it actually happend 3 times in a row... a .01% drop chance happens 3 times in a row
ive used terraria as the example because it is similar to starbound right now and has low drop chances for items, or low chances of things happening and is the perfect example of RNG being annoying

 

Ill put in my 2cents.

Its frustrating that me and my friend have zapped a total of 150 monsters without getting a single superior brain. I had to check the wiki to see if there was some sort of special NPC that would give you the brain.

And my friend just got the game. This left a bad taste in his mouth.

 

If it's not a natural event, then yeah, I'm getting them confused. And yes, fully agreed that RNG often very annoying. It's just that it's even worse to have it in required progression.

 

I think Superior Brains should only drop from NPCs (except maybe floran).

 

hey don't diss the vegetables

 

World of Warcraft did easy enougth fix: If you are on quest to get X items with 25% drop chance, if you dont get it few times in a row drop chance increases

DOTA2 have something similiar, http://dota2.gamepedia.com/Pseudo-random_distribution

Basically, the more unlucky you get the bigger chance you have to get a drop. So 1/4 chance would be 100% chance after you didnt get drop after 10 or 20 kills

 

Well over 10 characters now that have gotten the brain not one has taken more than 38, in fact only that one took over 20 tries, and 4 of them were below 10 tries. 38, 6, 1, 17, 9, 3, 15, 19, 11, and 19. Since ya only have to do it once per character it really doesn't take too long.

 

Just adding my two pixels, but as someone who mostly plays multiplayer it does kind of suck.
We managed to get one brain (In like 15 kills, not bad) but we both decided not to try for another. In general I like having one 'special item' for each of us (so that we can transfer them to different bases ect) but it seems I can't get that you know?

One of the BIGGEST problems I have with this gun is that after you get the superior brain it is literally useless. It sits in your inventory and takes up space or you destroy it. Sure you can use it to make another robot but... why? You've already got your table.

Let us use the brains for something else (Guard spawners sound like a great idea, add that into the recipe or w/e.) Make it a food thing too! Let us USE these inferior brains, and I think it would honestly make it hurt less when you get a buttload of them.

And let's not forget: Maybe a 20 brain cost to make a superior or something like that, for those who can't get the drop. That would honestly fix this entire issue.

(Beyond the fact that the weapon sucks, please to make it cost less energy)

 

I really didn't mind this mechanic. Getting the distress beacon and beating the UFO took a bit of time. Then i hit up 1-2 desert planets and had the resources and pixels to easily make the entire robot but the brain.

30mins on a stage 1 planet and i got the superb one and blam, tier is done. Imo the rng at the end was the only real progression of the tier. Also imo i have found the last 2 tiers (i just hit 4) were completely forgettable, especially 3 which i basically skipped.

But i know from reading on the net that tiers go fast and furious regardless.

So the question i ask is does RNG have a place and keeping the pace in check? Or do you want the tiers to be entirely forgettable like they are now? These questions are more about the overall game though than the pesky brain farming really.

But i can agree with the op that i hope RNG does not become a mechanic for progression. maybe have it as horizontal progression in a tier and not the only vertical progression available. Everyone HAS to do this, and its the only one (so far) in this regard.

But i will admit its been a bit of a let down as i get further into the game. Those silver bars for the distress beacon took me awhile to get. Since learning about desert planets and how easy it is to get materials the pace has not slowed at all. If anything its picking up...