char. refresh My idea for a Willow rework

[researchlab_2]

First off, I'm not a game developer nor a pro player by any means, and my idea here is not to balance, but rather an idea how to make Willow interesting and helpful to the team.

Let's look at the last two characters added to DST:

Winona - is able to build catapults and generators that allow her to take down waves of enemies - helpful both to the team and to herself.

Wortox - a fighter that needs to eat souls that allow him to teleport and heal himself and others - helpful both to the team and himself.

Now the one from Hamlet beta branch:

Wheeler - 5 fewer slots in her inventory, but is able to track down items + ranged attacks

Wagstaff - punishes for not prepared food, sees badly, makes a very good wood harvester - understandable why he's not in DST

The thing is, I believe, a character in DST should be both powerful alone and in terms of cooperation with others. Now, even with the rework, Willow is still not helpful to the team, besides Bernie, but it's still not needed when you have a football helmet + wooden armour, which is fairly easy to get

Here are my ideas:

Lighter:

-Is infinite in terms of giving light to prevent from Charlie

-Takes a small percent (maybe like 0.5%) every item set on fire

-Takes a larger percent for making a dwarf star-like orb that lasts about 1.5-2 days, warms, cooks and scares off monsters

-When reaches 0% is not broken, but needs to be refilled with nightmare fuel

The reason to make it refuelable with nightmare fuel comes from the idea of Bernie being a target dummy for nightmares, which if taken advantage of, could result in big numbers of nightmare fuel.

Willow herself:

-FULL. FIRE. RESISTANCE.

-deals 25% more damage with fire-themed weapons

-"Fire meter" that works similarly to Woodie's Log Meter, which means it lowers over time and needs to be refilled by setting things on fire.

 

 

 

[MondayNight]

1 hour ago, researchlab_2 said:

-Takes a larger percent for making a dwarf star-like orb that lasts about 1.5-2 days, warms, cooks and scares off monsters

 

Willow herself:

-FULL. FIRE. RESISTANCE.

-deals 25% more damage with fire-themed weapons

-"Fire meter" that works similarly to Woodie's Log Meter, which means it lowers over time and needs to be refilled by setting things on fire.

 

 

 

Indeed, looking at Winona's rework and Wortox's abilities for comparison, what Klei proposed to us as new Willow seems rather blunt and still doesn't elevates her beyond current (and underwhelming) status.

 

Yes that "star-like orb that lasts about 1.5-2 days" seems on paper a good direction to go with, maybe not a star-like but more camp-like thing or something somewhat in-between, however would indeed level her up to a more new-Winona tier.

Also dealing more dmg with fire-based weapons or even adding a fire-component to every kind of weapon she would use (i.e. small fire dmg) is as well a good direction for a proper Winona-like rework.

 

Regarding "fire meter", not so sure, seems too much of a leaning into Woodie territory.

 

New Bernie, if it can taunt Nightmare Creatures from Ruins as well, seems about right, in-tune with re-worked Winona tier.

[sinisterrkid]

Honestly I think they could simply make so mobs set on fire by Willow don't spread the fire and everybody would be super happy

[dameJuno]

really the only thing i don’t like would be the fire meter, as it would in my eyes lead to newer players panicking and setting things they shouldn’t on fire

[researchlab_2]

8 minutes ago, Moabjk said:

really the only thing i don’t like would be the fire meter, as it would in my eyes lead to newer players panicking and setting things they shouldn’t on fire

Makes sense, we can remove it.

[reverentsatyr]

3 hours ago, x0VERSUS1y said:

Indeed, looking at Winona's rework and Wortox's abilities for comparison, what Klei proposed to us as new Willow seems rather blunt and still doesn't elevates her beyond current (and underwhelming) status.

But everybody whined at how OP and broken Winona and Wortox is....

[researchlab_2]

3 hours ago, x0VERSUS1y said:

Yes that "star-like orb that lasts about 1.5-2 days" seems on paper a good direction to go with, maybe not a star-like but more camp-like thing or something somewhat in-between, however would indeed level her up to a more new-Winona tier.

Yes, maybe something campfire-like could work, but I want it to look distinct from the rest. Maybe a flower-styled fire or sth.

2 minutes ago, reverentsatyr said:

But everybody whined at how OP and broken Winona and Wortox is....

Well then, It's still easier to nerf a character when you have a good ground, but in this case Willow is a boring mess

[MondayNight]

5 minutes ago, reverentsatyr said:

But everybody whined at how OP and broken Winona and Wortox is....

That's a rather generalization. There were some, sure, like always - a vocal minority, some try-hards, some wanting other directions.

By now I believe they, for the most part, come to acceptance of current changes and hinted direction.

 

Yet "new" Willow's proposals from Klei dropped - and I think they are actually testing waters with this preview, no actual re-balance had yet been done on her - and people, this time looks like indeed a majority, reacted rather displeased; as she still remains underwhelming, not brought to re-worked Winona and Wortox levels.

[reverentsatyr]

47 minutes ago, x0VERSUS1y said:

That's a rather generalization. There were some, sure, like always - a vocal minority, some try-hards, some wanting other directions.

By now I believe they, for the most part, come to acceptance of current changes and hinted direction.

 

Yet "new" Willow's proposals from Klei dropped - and I think they are actually testing waters with this preview, no actual re-balance had yet been done on her - and people, this time looks like indeed a majority, reacted rather displeased; as she still remains underwhelming, not brought to re-worked Winona and Wortox levels.

I wouldn't say that the majority is unhappy. There are plenty of people that are happy, including me. Willow can now stay warm when insane, and Bernie sounds so much cooler. I don't really care about the fire immunity when she is already immune for a whole 6 seconds.