Willow Refresh Info and Roadmap Schedule Update

[JoeW]

Hey Everybody, 

We’re just about ready for the next Character Refresh! Willow’s Refresh will be coming May 7th. 

I am going to share some of the details of her changes. Of course, this is still subject to change and will likely see some adjusting before and after release. 

• Willow no longer gets cold from low sanity.
• Willow takes more damage and loses sanity from freezing.
• Willow takes less damage from overheating.
• Willow gets fire immunity for the first several seconds and then reduced damage thereafter. 
• Willow takes no burn damage while extinguishing fires and does it faster than others.
• Adding fuel to fires is more effective for Willow.
• Bernie can now be equipped by Willow for sanity and warmth at the cost of durability.
• Bernie grows big and will taunt and fight most hostile creatures when Willow is nearby and insane.
• Bernie will still taunt Shadow Creatures when any other player is nearby and insane.
• In addition, Willow still gains sanity near fire and can still cook with her Lighter.

After going through the first few rounds of character refreshes and introducing a brand new character, we have had the chance to regroup to see how our scheduling is working out and have decided to make a few small changes. The scheduling we initially set for ourselves was too aggressive and we’ll be pulling back a bit so that the dev cycle for new content isn’t as hard on our team.

We found that our schedule was just too demanding and we want to be able to make things interesting and not just pump out stuff as fast as we can. 

As of this writing our schedule looks like this: 

Willow Refresh:  May 7th
Content Update (beta): Mid May
Unannounced New Character: Early June
Content Update (live): Mid/Late June
Next Refresh: Mid July

NOTE: As long time fans are aware, we do not prioritize dates above content or the team, so dates are always subject to change.

We have dates set for each of these, but at this point I think it may be best to not get too ambitious with setting a date publicly. Assuming that the dust is now settled, we hope that this will be our cadence for quite some time. We’ll review again after the content update hits beta next month.

As always, we look forward to your thoughts and feedback. Thanks everybody!
 

 

[Fuffles]

I assume 0 chances for the Trailer coming early or something? just hoping ;(

Why are you guys so negative about this? Like when was the last time you died to fire besides during D-Fly fight..?
and the fact that you get 100% immunity for a few seconds is perfect since you usually are just for a few seconds close to fire.

My largest issue with those changes is, Willow doesn't seem to change all that much in this rework, unlike Winona who got literally dedicated structures to herself and other cool stuff, well Willow barely did get anything here.

As others say it's pretty much true that Bernie is the spotlight of this rework. Willow doesn't seem too groundbreakingly changed like Winona or as awesome as Wortox.

Personal Comments
-> Willow now gets less drawback from heat, but more from cold
That's nice, Willow having a personal Thermometer is nice. Fits her Character very well.

-> Willow has 100% Fire Resistance which starts dropping after few seconds
Needs more clarification. How long are those few seconds, what's the cap of Fire Resistence, at what speed does the Fire Resistence decrease? As of now I can't tell if its good or not.

-> Willow takes no burn damage while extinguishing fires and does so faster
Makes sense character wise, but I guess it makes 0 impact on gameplay. How I'd personally like it, Willow has an Aura which extigquishes Fires in an area from structures (not anything natural) after a few seconds giving Willow time to decide whether to extinguish or not. This will turn accidental/griefing fires and turn her into a walking flingo in a way.

-> Fueling as Willow is more effective
Sounds nice 'w'

-> Bernie can be Equipped for Sanity and Warmth
Sounds neat, I wonder how it looks to be honest, and it makes sense character wise. Hope it pays off tho, since Bernie ain't cheap to make. Can he be fixed with a Sewing Kit (Im unsure)? If yes then maybe this aint as dramatic as anticipated

->Bernie will now basically be Forge Bernie 2.0 while still drawing Insane Creature Aggro
Now this is cool, but depends on how hard Bernie hits.

->Willow still gains Sanity from Fire and can Cook on her Lighter
noice!

[Primalflower]

why did you make it about bernie i hate it what this willow is has barely anything to do with the actual fire-loving willow of dont starve singleplayer (and what she canonically is) and everything to do with a tacked on item that was given to willow because people were complaining about her when you took her powers away

 

[Eusong]

If we find out Willow was a child all this time I get to say I told you so. @Fidooop

[Mr.Mulk]

Still no fire immunity? Like serious? I'm sorry but that really should be a thing...

While these rebalances don't sound bad so far I don't see anything particularly interesting or new in it, nothing that actually gives her that unique fire-based niche she desperately needs and has in Don't Starve.

To the first point, sure I'm glad it's gone but it had been nerfed already to not mattering.
To the second point sure, that only will effect newer players so eh
To the third rebalance will only help beginner players really, overheating isn't a challenge normally

Still no fire immunity, like why
The no damage from extinguishing fires was already a thing lol, and it's not a skill you'll need unless you just decide to risk summer without flingos

The fuel bonus is sort of negated by Maxwell's existence, although I guess it could have some application
The Bernie buffs do sound nice

Overall I'm glad there was an attempt but to be honest I feel like the perks don't really seem to impact all levels and skills of the game, and almost feel kinda attached as an afterthought.

[Warlockadamm]

Dealing more damage with fire staff and fire darts would be a neat addition too

Though those changes were well needed for Willow

[Imagionary]

I would expect Willow to have fire immunity like the Original Don't Starve...

[sinisterrkid]

Great to know!! Keep it up, it shows how much you guys care for your work

[Mr.Tarunio]

not bad.

[minespatch]

I'm hyped to find out who that older women in the picture is.

[Dudedude]

Thanks for the update, Joe! We're all looking forward to what you guys have got in store.

[Growey]

Why not fire immunity, it's not even that good but fits her character well. Also compared to Winona this rework is kinda boring. Hoping for an amazing short though.

[SteamMonkey]

Any news up twitch drop update? 

[MostMerryTomcat]

"Willow’s Refresh will be coming May 7th.

..Content Update (beta): Mid May"

 

Oh well.... better late than... later?!

[Warlockadamm]

Just now, minespatch said:

I'm hyped to find out who that older women in the picture is.

Its the trade-in man in disguise x)

*dramatic piano sound*

[Geeris]

[Pelontriques]

Nice!!

[GuyNamedChris]

2 minutes ago, JoeW said:

Willow takes no fire damage for the first several seconds and then reduced damage thereafter. 

Willow takes no burn damage while extinguishing fires and does it faster than others.

Were these perks not already the case? She honestly should have her fire immunity back at least.

Otherwise I like the changes. I'm excited to see what Bernie's gonna dish out alongside an insane Willow. Now she actually has a reason to stay insane.

 

[Spep]

hmmst, i mean its better, but still not great, putting out smouldering faster/with no damage is so situational it might as well not exist, bernie fighting shadow creatures is still pointless, overheating almost never occurs for new players, ditto with experienced ones, freezing pushes away new players and is almost nonexistant for experienced ones, no fire immunity, and the fire resistance is, again, not really useful, more effective fuel is just unneeded, and the previous abilities willow had are just as worthless, if this is how it will be for the update, it will make willow even more bland and unintresting then before, really hope that "this is still subject to change" counts complete reworks of the changes, otherwise willow will be, well, about as unused as before.

[zarklord_klei]

my thoughts on the changes in bold.

• Willow no longer gets cold from low sanity. I thought this was a good thing since they didn't make it super harsh, why remove it?
• Willow takes more damage and loses sanity from freezing. seems meh, inline with the character but meh.
• Willow takes less damage from overheating. again, fairly meh but seems inline with the character.
• Willow takes no fire damage for the first several seconds and then reduced damage thereafter. WHY, you literally changed almost nothing, since fire resistance was proven to be a useless perk.
• Willow takes no burn damage while extinguishing fires and does it faster than others. usefullISH.
• Adding fuel to fires is more effective for Willow. that's actually kinda nice, seems like a creative perk.
• Bernie can now be equipped by Willow for sanity and warmth at the cost of durability. This doesn't seem that useful, Bernie takes BEARD HAIR, unless the recipe changes, or the sanity/warmth is ridiculous, this wont be used almost ever.
• Bernie grows big and will taunt and fight most hostile creatures when Willow is nearby and insane. honestly could go either way, depends on the dps.
• Bernie will still taunt Shadow Creatures when any other player is nearby and insane. did you fix this so that this is actually useful, and you don't ever need to kite distracted shadow creatures?
• In addition, Willow still gains sanity near fire and can still cook with her Lighter. okay.

[OMERICA]

YES. This sounds perfect. Thank you Klei <3

[Nikki Darks]

The biggest disappointment of my entire life. Time to note everything that's wrong.

#1 No fire immunity? Disappointing. Very disappointing.
#2 No infinite lighter? Even more disappointing.

Come on Klei? Don't pretend like you don't know what the community wants. If you're being serious about this just add these 2 little things to the character and don't try to cover it up with tiny, small perks that the community never asked for. <3

 

• Willow no longer gets cold from low sanity. - Why remove a downside from a character? That's not fun.
   
• Willow takes more damage and loses sanity from freezing. - Interesting, fits the character, neglectable, people who spent at least 5 hours on this game will realize how neglectable this is.
   
• Willow takes less damage from overheating. - Very neglectable, give her flat summer insulation. Like a straw hat?
   
• Willow gets fire immunity for the first several seconds and then reduced damage thereafter. - Give her fire immunity back.
   
• Willow takes no burn damage while extinguishing fires and does it faster than others. - She already takes 0 damage from extinguishing, extinguishing faster is out of her character, and kinda neglectable.
   
• Adding fuel to fires is more effective for Willow. - This is cool. Me likey.
   
• Bernie can now be equipped by Willow for sanity and warmth at the cost of durability. - Interesting, in line with the character. Me likey.
   
• Bernie grows big and will taunt and fight most hostile creatures when Willow is nearby and insane. - This is very cool, me likey. Better work on giants.
   
• Bernie will still taunt Shadow Creatures when any other player is nearby and insane. - Cool, but already in the game.
   
• In addition, Willow still gains sanity near fire and can still cook with her Lighter. - Give us. Infinite. Lighter.

[Fidooop]

I agree with others here, Willow should definitely have her fire immunity back. Other than that the other bits of her rebalance seem pretty cool... Very weaksauce though compared to Wortox or Winona. If there was a neat way for her to abuse fire immunity for a plus in combat that would be really cool I think.

My thoughts on what should be done with Willow are on the second page.. 

 

[MrDeepDarkmind]

you know honestly I thought we were going to get fire immunity

I hope there is new animations for all these reworks, because the only rework I want is fire immunity 

[Mr.Mulk]

Like I'm not trying to be some sort of Contrarian but I really don't think these perks are effecting anyone but absolute noob players.

I'm honestly a little let down, after Wagstaff I had my hopes up for something really unique for her that affects all levels of gameplay, not just beginner players or earlygame.

At best the current perks are completely bland and only help beginners (and only them for the earlygame)

I wanted something unique, something along the lines of powerful, like inventory burning in Don't Starve.
Not just a list of minor perks that won't help anyone who's played the game for more than a few hours.