Potential Rework for WX-78

[BlueSteelBlades]

In light of the recent Wolfgang rework I have start think about other ways modify existing characters without ruining the core concept of the character; This was a major concern for the retooling of wolfgang, of which I had consider when proposing my ideas on the character. The character I ended up having the most thoughts following the rework was WX also known as the robot due to him sharing similar issue of character identity being loosely defined and/or consuming a valuable resource in a team game eg. Food for Wolfgang and Gears for WX. Under I will cover various tweaks to his kit + some additional changes that while rather large will hopefully keep in the spirit of his original character identity.

1. Remove the use of gears as a stat upgrading mechanic and instead replace it with a robotic upgrade system. He should be able to access said crafts through an easy/cheap to craft robot workstation for which only him and Winona operate (experience). These crafts should envolve the use of gears and be permanent upgrades(make once) and be utilised when equiped in their "assigned slots" (talk more about soon) as a means of reducing gears consumption for team benefit. These upgrades should fall under three headers which are optical, mobility and utility; The optical upgrades should serve to make night time exploration easier whilst also providing more infomation eg. hp status of energys for coloration. The mobility upgrades should act as speed enhancers and/or combat modification as to better compliment the kiting/combative side of the established character. The utility upgrades should be a means of upkeeping WX's robotic systems whilst also having more defensive elements. These "upgrades" will have their own unique slots (3 in total) for one of each upgrade type --> No wastage of valuable armour and tool slots + Bringing more utility to the character whilst not largely changing his role as a ruins rushing god.

Optical upgrade ideas:
"head lights": These once equiped should shoot two directed beams of light forward whilst creating a small radius of light around the player. This could be used to effectly preform midnight tasks + make early game cave exploration more achievable. Note that the beams will be superior to that of a mining hat whilst also not taking up a head slot to increase utilty further.
"vitals reader": Allows WX to see the overall wellbeing of friends and foes noted by different figure colaration eg. green meaning healthy and red translating to near death. This would allow the player to gauge situations before entering them eg. "how low is the boss" or knowing when to heal friends. As an additional benefit I set the upgrade apart from what a mod can already provide eg. hp readers WX should be able to deal more damage to growingly injured foes due to "perceived" weak points, with the damage increased being a flat rate percentage that slightly goes up when yellow (50% hp) and moderately when critically injured(25%) --> Increased combat prowess of which should add something to his kiting playstyle.
"high end optics": This item should require both the previous upgrades with some additional high rarity materials to craft as a means to once again save on gears whilst stopping players from immediately swapping to the superior optical upgrade. This should essentially be clearer vision moggles (grainy black and white camera filter) with the bonuses of the vital reader. This should serve as the ultimate end character upgrade for the optical upgrade section.

Mobility upgrade ideas:
"Cybernetic limbs": Increase base movement speed by 25%. This serves to contribute to his already speed based playstyle in and out of charged up status --> Early game speed perks which can "slightly" compound with walkingcane and charged state; As hinted at, the values should be adjusted/should be lowered depending on current sources of speed already present...balancing is important.
"Guard limbs": By equiping this item WX gain the ability to "leap" and upon landing crush what is below with area of effect/location of landing being visable not unlike Wolfgang dumbell toss; Of which could be activated by some set key bind. This ability should be capable of stunning nearby enemies whilst dealing light damage. This creating basic crowd control utility in combat. The stomp like action should also be capable of leveling a few nearby trees as a light harvesting mechanic that could be used in basic farming builds.
"Industrial limbs": Lowers damage taken during a system wide shutdown (will explain) whilst also increasing the speed at which "basic" refinement materials are made; In other words it is limited to rope, stone and boards. This function should cause gradual heat gain if done rapidably, especially if the same material is being mass produced. This upgrade essentially makes him a more efficent and slightly more sturdy base building robot.

Utility Upgrades:
"Protective Layer": This peice of equipment serves as a armour that protects against a small amount of damage. The Robots armour serves the additional purpose of lowering the damage by multipler to the functioning meter, allowing for better means of maintaining system health and general hp in and out of combat. This armour should able to be warn by other players without the "functioning meter benefit" of course as of providing some team play; Of which the armour should scale up to a log suit as it is base armour not additional like in WX's case.
"Battery pack": This upgrade lowers the drain of functioning meter passively as a result of being "charged up" whilst also extending the time for which the charge lasts if the item is equiped whilst charging. As a self imposed downside the weight of the battery pack should decrease the overall speed of the character whilst it is equiped to offset the large upside (no so much the speed buff is gone). This should allow for long more effective ruins explorations without the need to recharge.
"Cooling/Venting system": The gear should serve to offset the downside of greater overheating (mention later) and functioning meter damage as a result during the summer months. This part should require fueling via the use of Nitre supplies, creating further use of the rich material found in rock biomes. 

2. Remove his sanity gauge in place of a functioning meter. I have mentioned this feature a few times in my upgrades section but never truly explained it...I will do that now. Essentially the Functioning meter serves as a robotic wellness checker with different levels of function coming with there own boons and penalties depending on the hp of the bar. This bar takes damage anytime the robot takes damage, especially when wet (multiplier increased). The robots part health can be in one of three states of operation. Firslty theres the state of full operation, which is around 75% + of the bar and comes with no imposed downsides. Then theres the state of "Functional" in where the overall efffectiveness of various upgrades become less effective and show slight wear and tear with the rest of the character in the form of slight sparking + flicking optics and dints and scrapes upon gear(Around 50%-75%). Lastly there is the state of "Shutdown" in where all utilities stop working and the player starts routinely shutting down for basic software maintenance checks (tells you before event occurs + happens below 25%) whilst also losing a level of overall speed (charged move normal speed). This state can only be exited by having enough checks until you passively heal back to slightly above Shutdown into functional state or by applying a few second repairs that heal the meter overtime or longer fixs that have immediate results.

2. After a friend suggested to change this mechanic in favor of a far simplier one I was inclined to agree. I believe instead of a consulted sanity meter change they could instead make it that once 50 points or above of wetness are gained the upgrades become less effective overall, keeping the flicking optical lights idea and during full charge you take a set amount more damage in combat. This would build around his arguably lack luster downside and turn it into something more thematic and interesting.

3. WX experiences greater heat gain during the summer months and his inability to freeze whilst charged should become a greater insulation. As a robot, overheating makes sense + offsets some the looming benefits of having the ability to be upgraded so epically. This obviously creating the need for the before mentioned Cooling/Venting system mentioned in earlier points.

4. WX should be able to use charged lightning rods to overload himself with equal effect of a lightning bolts; With the charged rods loosing energy overtime if not stored effectively in battery stations (another craft for WX at his station). He should also be able to "let go" of charge by touching an empty lightning rod as to stop himself from causing system damage when out of ruins/combat". This change would provide the character with more full year utility past the need for a Wickerbottom by his side and/or at different parts of the year when lightning doesn't strike as often. Noting that the rods can still be filled by lightning strikes by Wickerbottom, not removing the synergy entirely.  

5. Give him unique repair crafts + battery station. These repair crafts should vary in quality, uses and its effect of being a regen/immediate heals depending on the rarity of the materials used. Nitre should probably be used as a key ingrediant in all crafts as to provide more use for the vastly plentiful material. The battery station should be able to hold 2-3 lightning rod charges --> 2-3 overloads for which can be accessed and used later by WX...This build could potentially be used as another power source for Winona --> Greater/new synergy. This station should like the rest be a one time craft with a high overall cost due to its overall usefullness to the character + balances out its benefit from a gameplay perspective + gives use for over abundance of gears after ruins rush if used as a material.

6. Keep pre-existing perks/downsides with the current character. These changes are trying to add alot more meat to the character not remove its founding bones. The framework is strong for the character its just the lack of additions that make him rather one trick and boring outside speed running the end game. With a bit of work the character can be so much more unique and fun.

I know these are alot of changes that are probs too much to actually add to the game when the rework eventually arrives but none the less I felt I should spitball some ideas as It seems from intial review amoungst peers that outside of nerfing the **** out of him no major quality of life improvements without being blatant buffs to an already solid character have been given. I may be wrong and I probably am but hopefully whatever the case these ideas in someway help with the recent discussion brought forth by the recent Wolfgang refresh. Thanks for listening to my TED Talk.
 

[BonesJrOfficial]

I like the idea of WX being able to charge himself with lightning rods that are currently glowing. I think that is perfect.

I actually don't think it is bad how WX currently upgrades via Gears. Perhaps they should add frazzled wires in the mix, as lesser items or maybe for crafting recipes of some sort.

I think a really cool idea would be adding WX an ability to eat Gems and Nitre. Winona uses these items as fuel for her machines, so I think it could be a natural fit. Maybe Blue Gems can cool WX down, and Red Gems can warm him up. Nitre could work much like a Soul for Wortox.

[Ahmad_Q8]

My idea for wx is he can charge battery with lightening Rod that when he eat it he becomes charged 

in team play he should have something