Walani change discussion

[Gotheran]

Thus far Walani is the only SW character whose perks offer nothing in the base Don't Starve world. I wanna see if anyone had any ideas to give her or tweak about her that would make her less of a beardless wilson in the base game.

Having a lengthy chat about it with @Mobbstar last night we agreed that she would benefit from using her board as a low tier melee weapon, and even plant it on the ground to use as a portable Siesta Lean-to.

Another idea I had was to change up how sea faring works, less boat durability and more a chance  to fall off, with the surfboard being an especially high chance to fall off but infinite durability and ofcourse Walani exclusive, incentivizing boat use even for her. This would obviously require the players can swim, which I would be fine if only Walani could naturally swim it honestly is weird she couldn't, and WX obviously wouldn't even with a crafted flotation device (due to probably weighing a ton + the water weakness)

[Tumalu]

I think it's okay that Walani has perks centered around shipwrecked, my problem is moreso that her perks aren't that useful... even -in- Shipwrecked. The Surfboard is okay since it's really nice earlygame (although it's not that hard to make a good boat pretty early and at that point there's little reason to ever use it again... there's better ways to get emergency sanity gain) but her other perks, whilst theoretically good, have so little strength they barely mean anything.

Giving the surfboard some use as a weak structure when place on the ground is a nice idea, though. Either for naps or a little weather resistance. For the most part I just think her wetness-related ability needs to be slightly better and give her sanity effect a little more oomph. Outside of shipwrecked this isn't super useful but that's about what to expect for the shipwreck-specialist character, and at least it'll be nice in spring and the sanity effect would be okay; plus I like her 200 max hunger.

[PanAzej]

Surfboard is a skateboard in RoG. Bam, interesting.

[WillPwn4Food]

It's not a matter of not being able to swim; it's that "they" pull you under when your ship falls apart. I think the life vest keeps you afloat, and thus protected from "them" pulling you into the depths.

[Slarstorm]

3 hours ago, PanAzej said:

Surfboard is a skateboard in RoG. Bam, interesting.

Hey, that was my idea... same wavelength man.

[YsaNoire]

I don't know what should be done, but I would appreciate a change. 

 

She's probably my favourite char art-wise but she's only cool for the first 5-10 days. After that she does nothing; not only that but I have some sanity problems with her because I'm not using her board (that would be unwise in the hurricane season).

Her description says she's a chill gal, shouldn't she have some kind of anti-overheating perk? Like not overheating when on water? (or near water that'd be useful in RoG)

[AnonymousKoala]

She should be affected less(or not at all, but less is probably better) by wetness. I mean, she's a surfer. Why would she go insane from exposure to the water?

[DwerBomb]

AnonymousKoala is right

maybe having the sanity drain from wearing soaked clothes halved? She should be used to it

[Gotheran]

1 hour ago, AnonymousKoala said:

She should be affected less(or not at all, but less is probably better) by wetness. I mean, she's a surfer. Why would she go insane from exposure to the water?

I'd like if she had significantly reduced penalties for wetness, such as slippery tools being less likely to, well, slip from her hands since she's used to the whole being wet thing, and significantly reduced if not totally removed sanity loss for wearing wet items, though it would be only fair if any dapperness her clothes had was lost until dry again.

7 hours ago, Tumalu said:

I think it's okay that Walani has perks centered around shipwrecked

perks about sw is one thing, not having use outside of it is my concern, again outside SW she's a beardless Wilson with tweaked stats, much like a sizable portion of mod characters, I prefer the characters be unique on a day to day basis regardless of setting not just reskins.

7 hours ago, Tumalu said:

For the most part I just think her wetness-related ability needs to be slightly better and give her sanity effect a little more oomph.

Agreed, her "dries off quicker" thing really isn't noticeable to me, and perhaps cruising waves could give 2-3 points of sanity instead of one, I can understand why thy lowballed the sanity buff of surfing though, it's pretty easy to do and too much sanity return could easily prove OP if useless in the main world.

4 hours ago, WillPwn4Food said:

It's not a matter of not being able to swim; it's that "they" pull you under when your ship falls apart. I think the life vest keeps you afloat, and thus protected from "them" pulling you into the depths.

I feel like whether the Dev's like it or not some limited Swimming mechanic may be honestly required to finish SW, as far as the Shadow's pulling you under, It makes some vague sense but the idea of swimming is that you'd have a limited time-frame to accomplish it in, and it would only be "safe" in the shallow water where there's really no "depths" they'd be able to pull you to. One notable feature of use is if your ship were to somehow drift away from the shore you wouldn't be totally stranded if it was only a couple feet out.

[AnonymousKoala]

4 hours ago, Gotheran said:

I'd like if she had significantly reduced penalties for wetness, such as slippery tools being less likely to, well, slip from her hands since she's used to the whole being wet thing, and significantly reduced if not totally removed sanity loss for wearing wet items, though it would be only fair if any dapperness her clothes had was lost until dry again.

 

^^^Perfect balancing with the dapper stuff.

I also like the small perk of how her sanity comes down and comes up slower than others, I wish they focused more on that. It can be interesting.

Also, surfing has too little motivation. It restores very little sanity and the surfboard will collapse easily because of how bad it is and how low its durability is. 

(Oh and your picture is just amazing) 

[eusouopapao]

To me wallani solution is simple.

 increase wetness resistance, just like maxwell aura where is really really really hard to go insane.

WIth this massive wet resistance she can resist also summer(beside the wet seasons) would be also her best season since you just need to craft the ice hat to keep temperature low.

In order to make her not so much op you could make her more likely to freeze and struggle more in ROG winter.

Another inofensive disavantage you can add is ice hat making her freeze (since nobody will actually wear ice hat till she takes freeze damage), but this can be add just for sense reasons, also helps players keep in mind that she is vunerable to cold.

 

[SapphireBullets]

I realised today that the main thing I want for Walani is a set of jaunty Surf City style music to play as she surfs around. Though in keeping with DS' musical tone somehow.

[SapphireBullets]

Also, as a mention, some way to destroy old surfboards as you can for regular boats would be useful. I've found I end up with a bunch sitting around unused.

(If it's a limitation for the system, maybe allow them to be Refined back into logs/planks.)

[AnonymousKoala]

4 hours ago, SapphireBullets said:

Also, as a mention, some way to destroy old surfboards as you can for regular boats would be useful. I've found I end up with a bunch sitting around unused.

(If it's a limitation for the system, maybe allow them to be Refined back into logs/planks.)

Allowing them to be refined back will also make it useful a bit more, as to make more, you need boards, which you can only make in Science Machine tier. And by the time you get a science machine you can make much better boats

[Tumalu]

Hrm? You can totally hammer them to get rid of it. I didn't get any materials back when I hammered it, though... but getting the board back would be OP anyway I guess. (I'm not sure if that's because I hammered it on water)

Getting a few logs would be nice although it wouldn't make a ton of sense, the surfboard is questionable enough to use as-is with it's low durability and being slower than a good boat.

[SapphireBullets]

26 minutes ago, Tumalu said:

(I'm not sure if that's because I hammered it on water)

Oh, that'll be it then. I didn't try setting it on fire either.

I find the surfboard is pretty useful because:

• You can explore from one side of an island to another and sail off the other end without returning back to your boat.
• It's easier to escape from land if you're in a tight spot.
• Materials are so easy to find you can use it for run of the mill errands, saving your good boat for tough fights or using it as an escape pod from your regular boat if it's on the verge of sinking.
• It's a great way to get started in the early game.

I do think perhaps there needs to be a couple of adjustments. Maybe it should take less damage from general use or being hit by waves (There's not really much to water damage) and perhaps there should be a late-game upgrade available. (The "Golden Surfer"? but gold is probably too cheap for a big upgrade.)