Walter is awesome. And no, he does not need a buff!

[Majestix]

Just wanted to create a topic to counter-balance the habitually vocal group on here that want the game to be easier.

I have now given Walter a proper spin, and I think he is an excellent character! He will be pretty hard for weak players, but that's ok, they already have a large number of friendly characters to choose from. For stronger players he is exactly what he needs to be, since he takes away many chores that were never hard for good players, just annoying.

Chiefly among these is, of course, movement. For the price of 3 monster meats he essentially gets a beefalo for a few days, which is excellent! Decent players have no trouble coming up with the resources required for this on a regular basis, and nobody likes to spend a lot of time just walking.

If you know how to kite, he gives you pretty tight control over your sanity. For example I also enjoy Wortox quite a bit, but at some point his constantly being insane and having to deal with nightmare creatures just becomes an annoying chore. Walter, instead, becomes insane exactly when he wants to, at least in the hands of a competent player, and has no trouble staying insane if he wants to farm nm fuel.

The additional personal chester who follows into the caves is very nice, and makes inventory management on long trips much less annoying!

People who complain about the slingshot misunderstand its purpose. It is certainly too cumbersome in its use to be able to entirely replace melee and kiting, but it is just good enough to complement it nicely in a few situations when perfect kiting becomes too difficult. I found it quite handy in the last phase of the Klaus fight, for example. I have not tried the bee queen yet, but hardly anyone fights her legitimately solo anyway, so I won't be complaining if Walter cannot solo her without any cheese like bunnymen.

My summary: thank you, Klei, that was an awesome present! After playing with Walter for a day, I went and bought some skins, just because I felt like I had to pay Klei for this generous gift.

[Maxposting]

He's also a good meme material...

Spoiler

Thanks for the character, Klei.

[Yuuko]

I agree with you.  Their change to allow you to cancel the attack animation was the only thing Walter really needed.  It was very easy to get stuck in a second attack animation before, but now you can cancel it - with the required skill of also not cancelling it on accident lol.

I think people who are asking for more range or damage don't realize his kit.  He isn't a high dps character, he is a safe character.  That is, safe if you know what you're doing.  His stones are good for farming butterflies for the first bit.  Once you get alchemy gold pellets are easy to farm and let you get rabbits, birds, moles, or whatever other little things you want.  The marble ones can be used for dps if you want, but nothing about his kit says you can't just swing a ham bat at that point.

Getting to ride Woby into the ruins is really useful!  It makes it easier to find and access the ruins, and lets you carry more loot.  You don't have to worry about him dying to a rook or getting looted by monkeys.

[ShadowDuelist]

A few not very known facts about Walter I've found, plus some tips and tricks I thought about sharing:

• A single stone lets you craft 10 stone pellets. Feeding 7 stone pellets to a rock lobster gets you maximum loyalty time. That means that Walter can befriend a rock lobster for a long time with only one stone.
• A slingshot without ammo lets you command the attack of any followers you may have at a safe distance, without catching aggro.
• You can shoot enemies as they come to you, before switching to your melee. This usually lets you place 3-4 shots before reaching melee range, giving a big advantage over conventional fights. This is specially useful when fighting Krampii.
• Mactusk's hounds won't attack you if you are at slingshot distance of Mactusk, and they are at follower distance of him. This means that shooting mactusk will cause him to go into ranged battle with you, while the hounds stare behind him.
• Bearger gets mostly stunlocked by the slingshot. Shooting a slow pellet once and then increases this effect even further.
• If the slingshots start to stockpile in your world, you can burn them by dropping it to the ground and lighting it with a torch. Lureplants however won't eat it, and you can't use it as fuel.
• Woby burns, but takes no damage for it. I've seen it being used to provide light in winter.
• Woby can, and will be attacked by snurtles if you carry minerals in her inventory. She won't take any damage for the attack, but they will steal the minerals. Woby can also get her inventory stolen by monkeys, unless you are actively riding her.
• You can avoid other players from looting your Woby by quickly opening it before they do. When a suspicious player gets nearby, I immediately open Woby and just stay like that until they move further away.
• A well fed Woby can "almost" outrun hounds (they run at the same speed, but they sometimes stop to bark or get distracted, and they don't catch up with you as fast as they would without Woby). Its very useful to always carry monster jerky, feed 3 to woby right before a hound wave, and then safely lead your hounds pack to toothtraps, beefalos, or anything else that gets them killed. Sometimes you get such a large headstart from the hounds, that you can land a few hits with your slingshot, and maybe kill a few on the way. You can technically kill all of them by shooting from Woby and running fast, but it's super stressful, time consuming, and hard to pull off every time.
• As long as they don't spawn right over you, you can stunlock shadows with your slingshot by keeping F pressed.
• When you are running out of gold, keep at least one nugget, and go to pig king. Killing birds and giving morsels to PK will quickly get your pockets with gold. Plus you give Krampus sack farming a few tries, as a bonus.

Final note: Walter is very good.

[Mike23Ua]

Walter sucks, anyone can access Woby, and if everyone is playing as Walter then everyone has a Look alike Woby, they get mixed up and confused, there’s too many Walters at the Campfire trying to tell the same Story, His incredibly fast rate of hunger drain means you can’t get up from your console longer then 8 minutes without returning to discover that surprise?!!! You died of Starvation!

His hunger is the only thing other than “Everything Woby” that I Dislike about Walter.. Everything else is perfect.

Woby on the other hand... could use some more life- Shes a trained pet... yet she only behaves like a walking storage box.

CARRAT Was a better pet- You feed it, you took care of it, you trained it to perform better, you could customize its colors by feeding it different type of seeds, and Your Carrat could Also DIE If You did not take care of It.

TL:DR- Walter is Aight... Woby is a Disappointment.

[Majestix]

1 minute ago, Mike23Ua said:

Walter sucks,... you can’t get up from your console longer then 8 minutes without returning to discover that surprise?!!! You died of Starvation!

His hunger is the only thing other than “Everything Woby” that I Dislike about Walter.. Everything else is perfect.

...

TL:DR- Walter is Aight...

I cannot even tell if you are for real or trolling. But if this is trolling, then congrats, you are pretty good at it. If this was for real, then... well, I don't think we have anything else to say to each other.

[ShadowDuelist]

5 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

His incredibly fast rate of hunger drain means you can’t get up from your console longer then 8 minutes without returning to discover that surprise?!!! You died of Starvation!

He has no faster rate, just smaller max hunger.

DST was never AFK friendly, 7 out of 10 times you go AFK for 8 minutes will get you killed, mostly with any character.

 

7 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

if everyone is playing as Walter then everyone has a Look alike Woby, they get mixed up and confused

This is a valid point, but it's a small nuisance, though. Just move away from the Walter group and the Woby next to you will be the right one.
Klei could add a small QOL fix by adding the player's name before the Woby when you mouse over it. EG: "Shadowduelist's Woby".

 

10 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

Woby on the other hand... could use some more life- Shes a trained pet... yet she only behaves like a walking storage box.

And a super cheap and fast portable beefalo. Not a small detail at all.

[Mike23Ua]

My point wasn’t that she was a portable Beefalo, my point was that you do not actively have to feed or heal her like you do Carrat, Abigail, Bernie etc.. Woby is Invincible, nothing harms her 

Meanwhile just leaving my Carrat on the ground had him at risk of being eaten by the nearest rabbit that came along.

But I get it- some people like really easy games, they don’t care for the added stress of playing a uncompromising survival simulator, I just can’t get behind the idea of Woby being a Trained dog that doesn’t do well uhhh “Dog Stuff” 

We should have more interaction with Woby if she’s intended to be a pet and not just a walking storage chest.

Small Form Woby could sniff out hunts, Play Fetch.. Ya Know “Dog Stuff”

But in an Uncompromising wilderness survival game, where my little pet Carrat was NOT Invincible and could actually end up dying & turning into Leafy Meat.. Woby just feels Disappointing.

As for how to Address multiple Wobys in a Server- Why don’t they have colored scarfs For example Player 1 is Red, Player 2 is Yellow, Player 3 is Green.. etc.

Would be the simplest most noticeable thing to tell the differences between who’s Woby is Who’s I would think.

[Yuuko]

1 minute ago, Mike23Ua said:

My point wasn’t that she was a portable Beefalo, my point was that you do not actively have to feed or heal her like you do Carrat, Abigail, Bernie etc.. Woby is Invincible, nothing harms her 

Meanwhile just leaving my Carrat on the ground had him at risk of being eaten by the nearest rabbit that came along.

But I get it- some people like really easy games, they don’t care for the added stress of playing a uncompromising survival simulator, I just can’t get behind the idea of Woby being a Trained dog that doesn’t do well uhhh “Dog Stuff” 

We should have more interaction with Woby if she’s intended to be a pet and not just a walking storage chest.

Small Form Woby could sniff out hunts, Play Fetch.. Ya Know “Dog Stuff”

But in an Uncompromising wilderness survival game, where my little pet Carrat was NOT Invincible and could actually end up dying & turning into Leafy Meat.. Woby just feels Disappointing.

As for how to Address multiple Wobys in a Server- Why don’t they have colored scarfs For example Player 1 is Red, Player 2 is Yellow, Player 3 is Green.. etc.

Would be the simplest most noticeable thing to tell the differences between who’s Woby is Who’s I would think.

Its funny because you start by saying Woby doesn't require upkeep, and decry this as "for ppl who like it easy" but then want mechanics to make other parts of the game easy because you have Woby.

You don't feed Abi or Bernie.  You heal them, but they also help in combat.  Woby runs from combat.  They are not the same, and do not need the same mechanics.  It may not be your vision for how it works, its certainly not mine, but it is what Klei has made for us.  tbh I kinda ignore Woby when I play as Walter.  I will run around the map on foot with a stack of monster meat while woby trails behind forgotten lol

[ZTheNecromancer]

3 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

Carrat on the ground had him at risk of being eaten by the nearest rabbit

Quick question, how does a rabbit shove a veggie rat (Which I'm pretty sure are larger than the Constant's rabbits) down its throat?

[Mike23Ua]

1 minute ago, zee_dragon said:

Quick question, how does a rabbit shove a veggie rat (Which I'm pretty sure are larger than the Constant's rabbits) down its throat?

Honestly? Idk.. Cartoon drawn Rabbits Just seem to nibble Carrots at an alarmingly fast rate of speed.. Just ask this Guy.

 

[Squirrel12]

2 hours ago, Majestix said:

He will be pretty hard for weak players, but that's ok, they already have a large number of friendly characters to choose from. For 

Something I found fascinating when he was first released, was that everyone was saying he was a character for new players and he was easy. Even The Beard 777 said that in his video.

I don't know what people were on...He's really difficult for new people. He can't tank at all. New players really struggle with that. 

[Frashaw27]

1 hour ago, Mike23Ua said:

His incredibly fast rate of hunger drain means you can’t get up from your console longer then 8 minutes without returning to discover that surprise?!!! You died of Starvation!

Like ShadowDuelist said, Walter has the same hunger drain, just a smaller hunger and so a single day without food should not kill him. What can kill him however is Darkness. A full ingame day is 8 minutes, which means that you will go through every cycle in the day including night, and be vulnerable to good old Charlie. Since almost all light sources don't last 8 minutes, I know that you were most likely exposed during that time meaning clean for the pickings. The only light source that can last more then 8 minutes is the Glowcap/Mushroom Light which is locked behind Toadstool, and since your advent hate of the boss fights of the game, I'm going to assume that you didn't kill him before this point. This means that all this time, what you were blaming on starvation was actually just Charlie reaping you. That is the normal case, but there is also the chance that other players killed you (using unconventional methods like burning stuff around you to take fire damage or soaking a player in water balloons for freezing damage), Hounds, Nightmare Creatures, or the like could have also been the culprit. In short, while there is a reason behind you dying for every 8 minute break you take, Hunger is going to not be high on that list of probabilities if you have been taking care of it.

If you need to take a break, that is fine, but you need to either have someone babysit you while you do or turn off the server before you get back on. There is also the option of taking shorter breaks, as the time you take seems to be the one killing you.

49 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

some people like really easy games

Irony

51 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

Small Form Woby could sniff out hunts, Play Fetch.. Ya Know “Dog Stuff”

Yes, but there is also the point that Woby maybe a young dog, or a dog that simply doesn't or has no interest in playing fetch. One of my dogs is very nice, very friendly, yet he has no interest in playing fetch. It's not not unusual for a dog to just not want to play like that, and maybe she just doesn't have any interest in playing with sticks. There is also the point that Woby may not be a hunting type dog. If we are to assume that Woby is a form of modern dog then that means that maybe she comes from a past that didn't require her to hunt and so doesn't have these skills by the time she got trapped in the constant. She also could just not have a good nose, which is another possibility. I understand that you want to have this fully fleshed out Woby with all the bells and whistles, but that shouldn't happen because it would make Walter too cluttered for potentially useless perks. The best example is Wurt's books reading, yes, it fleshed out her character, but it was also a pointless addition that could have been left out and no one would be the wiser. Finally, just because she isn't up to your expectations, doesn't mean she is bad in any way. A pet is not about doing all the tricks and having any potential benefit, it about loving a animal so much that you take care of it, with them loving you back, which I think Woby does and does her best to help her new friend, not owner, the best she can.

[ArubaroBeefalo]

5th time someone says to mike that walter has no increase hunger drain, how many will need to stop complaining?

[bruhmoment23]

3 minutes ago, ArubaroBeefalo said:

how many will need to stop complaining?

Bottomless pit. The ride never ends.

[Well-met]

he's great now and both the community and klei should move on to the next content

[Scrimbles]

For me it's not that he's too strong, too weak, or really anywhere inbetween, it's that he's a collection or random perks with little synergy.

He doesn't have a clear value outside of "Eh, he has some fun stuff I guess."

 

He doesn't have problems traveling but he has a cheap beefalo.

He doesn't have problems with inventory management but he has a free chester.

He doesn't have a problem with melee combat but he has a free ranged weapon.

 

The closest thing he has is his sanity drain on getting hit to his sanity gain from sleeping, or sitting at night with no downside and regaining a massive amount of sanity, or he just standing by some trees.

But even then, insanity is a super weak "punishment" where you MAY encounter one of the easiest mobs in the game, and you can easily exit it with basic foods, or by killing the exact thing attacking you, which again is very easy to do.

(Also he has a bee allergy, but no extra reason to go after honey, or anything bee related.

 

I still enjoy playing Walter, but that is almost entirely because of his downside, and the fact that I play Uncompromising Mode, where Woby can die and sanity is a REAL threat.

[Viktor234]

While his good points might be balanced well for him, there are still other points which might need to be polished a bit:

• Give his Pinetree Pioneer Hat a real use, so far it's only useful for your first 10 days, if you are relying on Log Suits for tanking (Walter isn't made to tank), or if you for some have high sanity but low health (very unlikely to happen)
  • Changing its effect from "50% less sanity drain." to "Does not loose sanity over time while being low on health." would make the hat more of an emergency item, useful for if you are low on health and want to avoid shadows at any cost, or if you just don't want to use your tent to restore 20 health or so.
• Change his "Odds of Survival" from "Slim" to "Grim": Low stats & being punished for mistakes (Taking damage, Falling off Woby) doesn't fit to an easy to play character.
• Pebbles are too weak to be useful, increasing their damage from 17 (Whirly Fan damage) to 27.2 (Axe damage) might make them more useful
  • Gold Rounds are literally free right now: You can use a Gold Nugget to craft 10 Gold Rounds, two Gold Rounds can be used to kill two birds, dropping an average amount of one morsel, which can be traded for a Gold Nugget at Pig King.
    => 1x Gold Nugget for 8x Gold Rounds and 1x Gold Nugget, or in other words: 8x Gold Rounds for free!
    Pebbles on the other hand need to be farmed the natural way by farming or gathering rocks, and they are only half as effective as Gold Rounds, being only "useful" until you get your first Gold Rounds.
  • My goal here isn't to "make him too OP" like others are considering, I just want to give players more options about on what kind of ammo they want to rely on, because players can only rely on Gold Rounds right now, other kinds of ammo are either too weak or not easily renewable. And other perhaps suitable items like Ice, Charcoal, Moon Shards, Salt Crystals, Stingers, Birchnuts, Cacti, Rotten Eggs, Meatballs, etc. can't be turned into ammo.
• His max sanity might be adjusted a bit: I never felt like it was useful to get back to 200 sanity after a fight because loosing sanity as Walter is pretty easy, and due to his fearless he doesn't suffer from having low sanity if his health is full. The only reason why I would want to get back to 200 sanity would be to get rid of the insanity effects.
  • Tuning his sanity down to 120, reducing the insanity from damage taken from 200% to 100% and increasing his insanity over time while low on health could make him more suitable for whoever enjoys close combat and punish players harder for not restoring their health.
• Also like others did already note: His Woby AI might be polished a bit, making him not run away if you come too close to him and moving towards you if you want to pick up a statue or anything.
• It feels a bit strange how Walter gains sanity whenever he tells a story to... rocks? At least whenever he's alone.
  His sanity gain might be affected by the amount of nearby Players, Pigs, Bunnyman, Friendly Merms, Rock Lobsters to make it feel bit more realistic... (And make their loyality drop bit slower or so)

[Yuuko]

39 minutes ago, Ogrecakes said:

For me it's not that he's too strong, too weak, or really anywhere inbetween, it's that he's a collection or random perks with little synergy.

He doesn't have a clear value outside of "Eh, he has some fun stuff I guess."

 

He doesn't have problems traveling but he has a cheap beefalo.

He doesn't have problems with inventory management but he has a free chester.

He doesn't have a problem with melee combat but he has a free ranged weapon.

 

The closest thing he has is his sanity drain on getting hit to his sanity gain from sleeping, or sitting at night with no downside and regaining a massive amount of sanity, or he just standing by some trees.

But even then, insanity is a super weak "punishment" where you MAY encounter one of the easiest mobs in the game, and you can easily exit it with basic foods, or by killing the exact thing attacking you, which again is very easy to do.

(Also he has a bee allergy, but no extra reason to go after honey, or anything bee related.

 

I still enjoy playing Walter, but that is almost entirely because of his downside, and the fact that I play Uncompromising Mode, where Woby can die and sanity is a REAL threat.

I feel you're a bit too fixated on contextually opposed perks / penalties.  You don't need to have a move speed penalty in order to gain a move speed advantage.  If he was forced to rely on his ranged attack, like if his melee were penalized to force him to use his perk, not only would this be kinda bland because the game is giving you a "penalty" that is already solved inherently in his kit, but it would also mean they would have to buff his ranged combat to replace his lost melee ability and it would be too OP.  The fact that the ranged combat is more supplementary, with melee still being an option to lay down some dps allows the ranged to fit in the game and be useful even with its much lower dps.

Some perks are more quirky and some penalties are more flavorful than they are actual downsides.  Such as Willow cooking on her lighter, or holding Bernie to gain sanity.  These are used very rarely when I play Willow, if at all.  Similarly the wetness penalty of WX is pretty tame now.  I don't know when I last died to rain...  So Walter having a bee allergy is just kinda fun.

Also - kinda getting sick of you uncompromising snobs continually shoving that mod into every subject you talk about.  Like I get it, you want some ungodly difficult mode, go chat with Mike about it and leave this forum about the real game.

[Pikapikap]

10 minutes ago, Shosuko said:

I feel you're a bit too fixated on contextually opposed perks / penalties.  You don't need to have a move speed penalty in order to gain a move speed advantage.  If he was forced to rely on his ranged attack, like if his melee were penalized to force him to use his perk, not only would this be kinda bland because the game is giving you a "penalty" that is already solved inherently in his kit, but it would also mean they would have to buff his ranged combat to replace his lost melee ability and it would be too OP.  The fact that the ranged combat is more supplementary, with melee still being an option to lay down some dps allows the ranged to fit in the game and be useful even with its much lower dps.

Some perks are more quirky and some penalties are more flavorful than they are actual downsides.  Such as Willow cooking on her lighter, or holding Bernie to gain sanity.  These are used very rarely when I play Willow, if at all.  Similarly the wetness penalty of WX is pretty tame now.  I don't know when I last died to rain...  So Walter having a bee allergy is just kinda fun.

Also - kinda getting sick of you uncompromising snobs continually shoving that mod into every subject you talk about.  Like I get it, you want some ungodly difficult mode, go chat with Mike about it and leave this forum about the real game.

bravo 

[ArubaroBeefalo]

I see pointless having a downside to have a perk that nullifies it, maybe for few perks like wendys damage or wortox food mechanic, but not for all

Walter already has psinergies between his perks like having a mount to shot his unique range weapon, having his sanity mechanics and being able to sleep longer, happy near trees and tell stories, having low stats but range weapon.

Maybe his perks are not 100% oriented to his personality (you dont need to be a scout to have that weapon and s dog) but the character is so interesting, has a unique way to play (for me with this is enough) and unique mechanics.

For the balance i have nothing more to say that others or myself have said. Its a difficult but fun character and that, atleast for me, is more than enough. Klei could give us a simple and op or useless charactrr for free but they released an unique character. Could be stronger? Maybe, (no need, is good to have variety of difficulties when the world is always the same) but atleast hasnt got non sense perks like wurts king and his collection of rot and seeds

[bruhmoment23]

54 minutes ago, Shosuko said:

Also - kinda getting sick of you uncompromising snobs continually shoving that mod into every subject you talk about.  Like I get it, you want some ungodly difficult mode, go chat with Mike about it and leave this forum about the real game.

[Mike23Ua]

I’m playing on an XBOX we don’t have Mods.. and we will not EVER have Mods. When I talk about an Uncompromising Mode.. (MODE NOT MOD) I am talking very specifically about a currently Non-Existent Game Mode created, and Designed by Klei Developers (and not Mod Creators) a MODE (again Not MOD....) That Harkens DST Back to its Roots-

Something adding Don’t Starve Giant Edition (The Single Player version of DS) Levels of Difficulty- Like challenging Puzzles of Campaign Mode, or all the additional challenging stuff Klei Added that made the game Harder with their DLC Add-Ons

Here are a few examples-

Shipwrecked has its own “At Sea” Version of a Insanity creature that looks like lochness monster.. DST has- Oh wait that’s right..

Hamlet has Entire Biomes you can’t even step foot into without first wearing protective gear- DST has- oh.. oh yeah.

Chopping Trees in Hamlet can spawn Scorpions, Snakes or Squirrels all of which are designed to either kill you, or make the game more challenging by stealing the seeds you wouldve used to make new trees and eating them.

Telling me to go discuss some (not created by Klei) Player created MOD does not help ME in any way get an actual Mode designed by Klei.

And here’s the TL:DR facts- If Klei can’t provide the same Uncompromising feelings of the single player game by creating harder modes.. harder difficulty toggles, New biomes you have to sail out to find harder SOMETHING drawing Inspiration from their Single Player game and its Add-Ons... Then DST is always going to feel like a game that’s lost it’s way.

[splorange]

walter's #1 fan here

 ever since he was released i can't stop playing him, as someone who values high movement speed and lots of inventory space walter is like a christmas gift to me

 woby feels really great to use, high movement speed at the cost of the occasional monster meat, which you can earn just by dealing with hound attacks, the 9 extra slots feels amazing, and you can gain even more inventory slots by using a piggyback in the early game, which pairs well with woby's mounting

 his sanity perk is convenient, i go insane a lot less, while also being able to manipulate your sanity pretty easily

 i'm personally really happy with the slingshot, a lot of people expected to be able to use it 24/7 but it's pretty niche, if you find a use for the slingshot it excels (krampus farming, clearing tentacles easily for monster meat, spikes, and spots for rain coats)

 super amazing character, really well designed, and easily my new favorite!

[DaZoul]

11 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

But in an Uncompromising wilderness survival game, where my little pet Carrat was NOT Invincible and could actually end up dying & turning into Leafy Meat.. Woby just feels Disappointing.

I have a feeling that all this hate for Woby just comes from a traumatic event involving the death of a carrat...