What difficulty should a new player (familiar with gaming) start at?

[Phrasmotic]

I want the game to be challenging, but I still want it to be fun. Started the game with the second difficulty setting (losing coins on death?) and then the third setting after that. End result was spawning literally right next to the crimson, and so many enemies spawned I couldn't get anything done. By the time I finally managed to build a shelter, there were hordes of slimes and crimson enemies waiting outside my doors. I had wooden armor and a wooden sword. Yeah, that's not fun.

Basically, I want a chill gaming experience that still poses some challenge when I want it. So, how should I set my difficulty?

Edit: for clarification, as soon as I spawned in to the game I was swarmed with purple and blue slimes that I could barely deal damage to. I managed to block them off and build a shelter, then decided to go exploring. Unfortunately the direction I went exploring in led to the crimson, and they followed me back to my shelter and kept killing me because I just couldn;t out damage them. With the respawn timer, my shelter door was open and the place became infested with slimes and crimson enemies.

[Blargo]

Terraria's difficulty terminology may be confusing at first, so here's a quick rundown in a nutshell:

Player difficulty

• Journey: A sort of pseudo-creative mode. You get access to world-altering commands you wouldn't normally have, such as a difficulty slider, spawn rates, time-of-day, etc., and can spawn an infinite number of items after researching them.
  
  
• Classic (also known as Softcore): Your player drops coins upon death.
  
  
• Mediumcore: Your player drops everything in their inventory upon death.
  
  
• Hardcore: Your player gets one life. If you die, their file is deleted permanently.

World Difficulty

• Journey: The setting that can be only used with Journey mode players.
  
  
• Classic: The default game experience.
  
  
• Expert: Enemies have a bit more health and deal a bit more damage. Bosses have new attack patterns and drop exclusive treasure bags, which contain accessories and the potential for rare developer vanity sets. Drop rates for items in general are increased slightly. Other minor world changes.
  
  
• Master: Enemies and bosses have much more health and deal much more damage. Some debuffs last longer. Drop rates for items in general are increased greatly. Players gain one additional accessory slot. Bosses drop exclusive pets, mounts, and relics, along with expert mode treasure bags. Other minor world changes.

You will also hear the term "hardmode", which isn't a difficulty setting, rather it's a large portion of the game's content that you unlock after defeating a certain boss, which does make harder enemies and events appear, but also introduces a ton of new gear to obtain and challenges to face.

Back to the topic:
Softcore/Expert is typically the "new player but want a challenge" combo.

It looks like you've gotten soft-locked, getting spawn killed. Exiting to the menu and then returning to your world will despawn all enemies. Some people like to build their houses fairly high off the ground and use something like ropes to reach them to prevent being invaded by enemies.

A bow is pretty good in the early game for dealing with enemies at a distance.

[Sbeve]

Originally posted by Dxpress:

Terraria's difficulty terminology may be confusing at first, so here's a quick rundown in a nutshell:

Player difficulty

• Journey: A sort of pseudo-creative mode. You get access to world-altering commands you wouldn't normally have, such as a difficulty slider, spawn rates, time-of-day, etc., and can spawn an infinite number of items after researching them.
  
  
• Classic (also known as Softcore): Your player drops coins upon death.
  
  
• Mediumcore: Your player drops everything in their inventory upon death.
  
  
• Hardcore: Your player gets one life. If you die, their file is deleted permanently.

World Difficulty

• Journey: The setting that can be only used with Journey mode players.
  
  
• Classic: The default game experience.
  
  
• Expert: Enemies have a bit more health and deal a bit more damage. Bosses have new attack patterns and drop exclusive treasure bags, which contain accessories and the potential for rare dev-vanity sets. Drop rates for items in general are increased slightly. Other minor world changes.
  
  
• Master: Enemies and bosses have much more health and deal much more damage. Some debuffs last longer. Drop rates for items in general are increased greatly. Players gain one additional accessory slot. Bosses drop exclusive pets, mounts, and relics, along with expert mode treasure bags. Other minor world changes.

You will also hear the term "hardmode", which isn't a difficulty setting, rather it's a large portion of the game's content that you unlock after defeating a certain boss, which does make harder enemies and events appear, but also introduces a ton of new gear to obtain and challenges to face.

Back to the topic:
Softcore/Expert is typically the "new player but want a challenge" combo.

It looks like you've gotten soft-locked, getting spawn killed. Exiting to the menu and then returning to your world will despawn all enemies. Some people like to build their houses fairly high off the ground and use something like ropes to reach them to prevent being invaded by enemies.

A bow is pretty good in the early game for dealing with enemies at a distance.

Drop rates aren't increased in master mode, only in expert mode AFAIK.

I would recommend Classic playthrough for your first one, and Expert playthroughs for subsequent ones. Only visit Master mode worlds with post-ML characters, because in my opinion master mode feels half-baked and unfinished, with artificial difficulty all over the place.

[Tippy]

Originally posted by Sbeve:

Originally posted by Dxpress:

Terraria's difficulty terminology may be confusing at first, so here's a quick rundown in a nutshell:

Player difficulty

• Journey: A sort of pseudo-creative mode. You get access to world-altering commands you wouldn't normally have, such as a difficulty slider, spawn rates, time-of-day, etc., and can spawn an infinite number of items after researching them.
  
  
• Classic (also known as Softcore): Your player drops coins upon death.
  
  
• Mediumcore: Your player drops everything in their inventory upon death.
  
  
• Hardcore: Your player gets one life. If you die, their file is deleted permanently.

World Difficulty

• Journey: The setting that can be only used with Journey mode players.
  
  
• Classic: The default game experience.
  
  
• Expert: Enemies have a bit more health and deal a bit more damage. Bosses have new attack patterns and drop exclusive treasure bags, which contain accessories and the potential for rare dev-vanity sets. Drop rates for items in general are increased slightly. Other minor world changes.
  
  
• Master: Enemies and bosses have much more health and deal much more damage. Some debuffs last longer. Drop rates for items in general are increased greatly. Players gain one additional accessory slot. Bosses drop exclusive pets, mounts, and relics, along with expert mode treasure bags. Other minor world changes.

You will also hear the term "hardmode", which isn't a difficulty setting, rather it's a large portion of the game's content that you unlock after defeating a certain boss, which does make harder enemies and events appear, but also introduces a ton of new gear to obtain and challenges to face.

Back to the topic:
Softcore/Expert is typically the "new player but want a challenge" combo.

It looks like you've gotten soft-locked, getting spawn killed. Exiting to the menu and then returning to your world will despawn all enemies. Some people like to build their houses fairly high off the ground and use something like ropes to reach them to prevent being invaded by enemies.

A bow is pretty good in the early game for dealing with enemies at a distance.

Drop rates aren't increased in master mode, only in expert mode AFAIK.

I would recommend Classic playthrough for your first one, and Expert playthroughs for subsequent ones. Only visit Master mode worlds with post-ML characters, because in my opinion master mode feels half-baked and unfinished, with artificial difficulty all over the place.

dude master mode is easy just learn to dodge

[TrueEvil]

I recommend Classic characters on a Classic world. It's not too tough for beginners and is still my preferred difficulty after 600 hours.

Your early game will always be a bit rough. Keep that in mind.

[Blargo]

Originally posted by Sbeve:

Drop rates aren't increased in master mode, only in expert mode AFAIK.

Ah, my bad.

Originally posted by Sbeve:

in my opinion master mode feels half-baked and unfinished, with artificial difficulty all over the place.

Also agreed.

[qCWRbVuU]

Originally posted by Dxpress:

Terraria's difficulty terminology may be confusing at first, so here's a quick rundown in a nutshell:

Player difficulty

• Journey: A sort of pseudo-creative mode. You get access to world-altering commands you wouldn't normally have, such as a difficulty slider, spawn rates, time-of-day, etc., and can spawn an infinite number of items after researching them.
  
  
• Classic (also known as Softcore): Your player drops coins upon death.
  
  
• Mediumcore: Your player drops everything in their inventory upon death.
  
  
• Hardcore: Your player gets one life. If you die, their file is deleted permanently.

World Difficulty

• Journey: The setting that can be only used with Journey mode players.
  
  
• Classic: The default game experience.
  
  
• Expert: Enemies have a bit more health and deal a bit more damage. Bosses have new attack patterns and drop exclusive treasure bags, which contain accessories and the potential for rare dev-vanity sets. Drop rates for items in general are increased slightly. Other minor world changes.
  
  
• Master: Enemies and bosses have much more health and deal much more damage. Some debuffs last longer. Drop rates for items in general are increased greatly. Players gain one additional accessory slot. Bosses drop exclusive pets, mounts, and relics, along with expert mode treasure bags. Other minor world changes.

You will also hear the term "hardmode", which isn't a difficulty setting, rather it's a large portion of the game's content that you unlock after defeating a certain boss, which does make harder enemies and events appear, but also introduces a ton of new gear to obtain and challenges to face.

Back to the topic:
Softcore/Expert is typically the "new player but want a challenge" combo.

It looks like you've gotten soft-locked, getting spawn killed. Exiting to the menu and then returning to your world will despawn all enemies. Some people like to build their houses fairly high off the ground and use something like ropes to reach them to prevent being invaded by enemies.

A bow is pretty good in the early game for dealing with enemies at a distance.

"Familiar with gaming" is pretty vague, but I agree with most said here, think of the difficulty modes in Terraria as different from other games:

Normal is difficult but easier to more hardcore players / people who have played before, or if you're playing with more than one person.

Expert is the "True" Terraria experience, it adds quite a bit to the game and is a lot more rewarding to play. I wouldn't necessarily play it as your first introduction to the game as it can be a bit off-putting due to the difficulty curve provided in the very beginning of the game, however it may be worth it if you're willing to rough it out or bring one or more people.

Master mode is highly discouraged for new players, it doesn't add much to the base game and the stuff it does add is mainly cosmetic. This mode is more for people who have beaten the game and want a genuine difficult experience, I would only recommend this if you are playing with very experienced players that can help teach you faster than playing the game naturally or with the wiki.

Speaking of the wiki, although it's up to preference I would highly recommend having it in a side tab as you play. Looking up what boss to kill next, what gear to go for, or just for finding out what a item ore enemy does is *extremely* helpful for new players (Although consulting a experienced player either via joining a discord or simply using a friend on these things is better than the wiki, without a doubt the Terraria wiki is a great source.)

[qCWRbVuU]

ah ♥♥♥♥ people added like 4 comments while I was writing lmao

[qCWRbVuU]

Also if you do end up deciding to play with friends just know depending on how casually you want to play the game you may end up feeling rushed if they want to progress the game faster than you

[Sbeve]

Originally posted by tipsgaming3:

Originally posted by Sbeve:

Drop rates aren't increased in master mode, only in expert mode AFAIK.

I would recommend Classic playthrough for your first one, and Expert playthroughs for subsequent ones. Only visit Master mode worlds with post-ML characters, because in my opinion master mode feels half-baked and unfinished, with artificial difficulty all over the place.

dude master mode is easy just learn to dodge

so you think enemies dealing over half your health in early hardmode when you're trying to gather resources is fair? I have spent a lot of time in Terraria, I know what I'm talking about, master mode is half-baked and should NOT punish that severely for getting hit.

[qCWRbVuU]

Originally posted by Sbeve:

Originally posted by tipsgaming3:

dude master mode is easy just learn to dodge

so you think enemies dealing over half your health in early hardmode when you're trying to gather resources is fair? I have spent a lot of time in Terraria, I know what I'm talking about, master mode is half-baked and should NOT punish that severely for getting hit.

I think he's just cocky, also yeah the best way to summarize is master mode is a difficulty option not a mode.

[AIM-9X]

Also by the way, in expert/master mode, enemies HP/DMG is greatly increased with more players, meaning everyone has to help out in a boss fight

[gatts]

Originally posted by Sbeve:

Originally posted by tipsgaming3:

dude master mode is easy just learn to dodge

so you think enemies dealing over half your health in early hardmode when you're trying to gather resources is fair? I have spent a lot of time in Terraria, I know what I'm talking about, master mode is half-baked and should NOT punish that severely for getting hit.

You're exaggerating a bit too much mate. Master mode isn't half baked, it gave plenty of new stuff. Also, enemies doing over half your health in early hardmode isn't a new thing??? They do that in expert mode too, when you haven't gotten any armor sets yet. This is coming from the guy who played a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ summoner on master mode, and reforged all my accessories to menacing, it isn't that bad.

[Sbeve]

Originally posted by gatts:

Originally posted by Sbeve:

so you think enemies dealing over half your health in early hardmode when you're trying to gather resources is fair? I have spent a lot of time in Terraria, I know what I'm talking about, master mode is half-baked and should NOT punish that severely for getting hit.

You're exaggerating a bit too much mate. Master mode isn't half baked, it gave plenty of new stuff. Also, enemies doing over half your health in early hardmode isn't a new thing??? They do that in expert mode too, when you haven't gotten any armor sets yet. This is coming from the guy who played a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ summoner on master mode, and reforged all my accessories to menacing, it isn't that bad.

the difference is that in expert mode, the enemies don't have insane knockback resistance and can be pushed away or killed in time, even with early HM gear. you absolutely must consider fleeing every encounter in master mode

[SmokeyDope]

I recommend normal character (drop some money on death) and normal world mode for beginners so you can learn things without feeling getting too stressed out over bosses and enemys with large health pools and extra damage. Expert mode is fun if you enjoy a challenge and rewards with exclusive boss loot but can be fustrating to even experienced players. crimson has slightly better gear in normal but worm scarf is godlike in expert so go corruption if you decide to do expert mode world. normal though it doesnt matter too much. good luck

[Pckables]

You could just choose Journey mode and then freely set the enemy difficulty that feels right for you.

If you don't want to do that, and you really want to maintain a challenge i'd recommend expert mode. The most difficult points are the very start of the game, and the very start of hardmode, since all the enemies are stronger than you unarmored, but bosses start to pose a challenge that can kill you.
Choosing a higher difficulty made the game last a lot longer for me, and a more enjoyable experience. Had I played Classic Difficulty, I would have put the game down after a week when every boss died on the first attempt.

Bosses in Classic Difficulty are more gear checks than anything, and can be killed fairly easily first try by getting the best armor available to you before the fight, making the boss hit like a wet noodle.

Or again, just choose Journey Mode and customize your experience.