Revamping Willow's lighter to make it (and fire in general) a more integral part of the character

[sinisterrkid]

I'll try to be concise.

My suggestion is to make it so Willow's lighter produces a different kind of fire so that setting mobs, structures and items on fire doesn't have most of the downsides of setting things on fire in regular ways.

Why:

For Willow, despite pyromania being her central attribute, fire is still somewhat situational, rather than a part of her daily life. That's of course for good reason, as the player wouldn't want fires in the middle of their base, or having burning mobs drop ashes instead of their loot. Another motivation is having the lighter moving beyond being an item only used at the very early days.

How:

Willow is great at creating controlled fires: When setting structures or items on fire with her lighter, that fire won't spread. And structures lit this way won't burn down. This way she is free to set stuff ablaze for warmth or sanity, with a much more sensational effect than campfires. At base or anywhere else, without griefing herself or her fellow player.

Hitting mobs once with her lighter guarantees they will be set ablaze.That fire also won't spread, and mobs lit this way will still drop their regular loot, unburned.

Maybe fire started from her lighter has different visual effects to differentiate it from regular fires, so everybody doesn't freak out at stuff being burned 

[Echsrick]

yes more like a smaller fire on what ever you burn

[Keller Max]

Great idea! But on the other hand Willow benefits from multiple fires and being unable to cause spreading fires will hurt her.

If only Willow could choose to cause controlled or spreading, then it would be cool.

[W0l0l0]

I agree that fire needs changes, and I like the ideas, Willow needs a way to control fire.

My only issue is that making fire not spread will no longer make it feel like fire. Fire is supposed to be powerful and hard to control. Making it behave like a damage over time poison effect reskin will be boring in my opinion.

I will say that the changes you've proposed are definitely better than the current state, and it's probably the best thing we can do without overhauling fire as a whole (which is unlikely to happen for a long time). 

[Mysterious box]

My biggest issue with Willow is how little control she has over bernie and the fact he doesn't care whether she's being being attacked by nightmare creatures just her mental state.

[Spookyrus]

Maybe fire could still function the same way, but Willow could have an item that automatically extinguishes all fires in a certain radius of her, and only she can use it. Similar to Webber's whistle and shoo box; one item causes the "problem," the other solves it. That way Willow can still have chaotic destruction powers while also being able to clean up her mess when necessary. Also, maybe she can extinguish fires with her bare hands the same way you'd stop smoldering, but this would only effect one object at a time.

I love the idea of fire being made a more central aspect of Willow's gameplay, and I hope we get to see something like this realized someday!

[sinisterrkid]

On 8/18/2021 at 6:03 AM, Keller Max said:

Great idea! But on the other hand Willow benefits from multiple fires and being unable to cause spreading fires will hurt her.

If only Willow could choose to cause controlled or spreading, then it would be cool.

Thanks! And the idea is that only her lighter would cause fires that don't spread. For regular fires she could use a torch or anything else!