My thoughts and suggestions on the WX-78 rework.

[TheKingDedede]

My thoughts on the WX-78 rework beta.
 

Spoiler

So the beta for the WX rework has come out, and in my opinion the character has become a lot more interesting. WX is now capable of giving themselves body modifications via circuits (Appearing moreso like fuses to me personally) that they can craft by scanning specific mobs and using specific resources. The Bio Scanalyzer (A flying contraption that takes one Silk and one Electrical Doodad to make) makes beeping noises in your inventory when in range of a mob that it can scan. It'll give you a new resource to use when crafting the new cicuits and it seems to reset its memory of scanned mobs at the end of each day.

Using a newly added electricity management system (I say new despite overcharging being a thing for a very long time), when their electricity/charge reaches a certain level, their plugged-in circuits give them access to new perks. The perks, for the most part, are pretty fun and help the character become even more unique. You only have a few slots for their new circuits, but you can remove them using the Circuit Extractor, which you spawn with and has inifinite uses.

Some of the new perks are fun and break up the huge benefits from being overcharged into perks that you can now attempt to hold on to forever, but helps in making WX a bit more balanced. WX's speed buff, small light radius and being warm when overcharged are now perks you can make without having to pester a Wickerbottom or Maxwell to read 'The End is Nigh!' on you (Or hope you get lucky with lightning strikes). You can also charge yourself with Winona's generators, but currently only the one that accepts Nitre for refuels works while the G.E.M.erator seems bugged at the moment.

I find the space management gimmick fine. You only get six slots to work with, and the new circuits have differing pin counts, so if something has four pins, you'll lose four slots and have two left to work with. You get some freedom to choose what perks you want, but you'll have to sacrifice slot space and the potential to have a different perk, which encourages players to swap out circuits/perks regularly. Also, you'll have to manage either sacrificing stat boosts that were once granted to the old version of WX when they ate gears to gain perks, or forgo ther perks to gain increased stat boosts.

Not all perks are made equal, however. One of the perks that come to mind is the circuit that allows you to give off a small light radius when charged, the Illumination Circuit. It isn't too useful when Mining Hats and Lanterns exist, and seems to encourage players huddling near you for light. However, this circuit perk is overshadowed by one of WX's other circuits, which gives them a Moggles nightvision perk. In comparison to the Illumination Circuit, which takes five slots, the Optoelectronic Circuit only takes four and gives you, potentially, an infinite Moggles effect that activates when midday rolls around. Being able to negate the night and roam about without worrying about Charlie seems pretty good.

I also appreciate WX's new Thermal and Refrigerant Cicuits. The Thermal Circuit turns WX into a walking Scale Furnace, just not as strong and makes them great for moving about with your teammates during Winter, making them great for keeping Thermal Stones warm. The Refrigerant Circuit makes WX turn (even) cold(er), making them great for Summer. For reference, both circuits have three pins.
 

Some suggestions for the rework.
 

Spoiler

-WX has the Circuit Extractor that allows them to remove their installed circuits, but it removes all installed circuits at once. When a circuit is removed, it also takes away the amount of charges equal to its pin count. Maybe rework the tool slightly so that, when using it, you can choose which circuits to remove specifically. I do understand why it removes all circuits at the moment, though. Every time a circuit is removed, it loses 25% durability. When circuits break, it encourages players to keep using the Bio Scanalyer to keep gaining Bio Scans for more circuits.

-Maybe allow WX to slightly upgrade their circuit box? Nothing crazy, but have them use rare resources to upgrade their circuit box to allow maybe 10 slots total. If they die, they lose the newly acquired upgrade slots and are not refunded the materials used to upgrade the circuit box. Maybe have gears be used when upgrading their circuit box? Just some ideas.

-Maybe give back their ability to upgrade their stats via Gears, but not to the extent that was present before. Reduce the stat buffs to a reasonable level, maybe +5 to each stat for each gea, but only to a maximum of +50 for each stat. I'd argue that it wouldn't overshadow the new circuits and still keeps the old gimmick of gear upgrades intact.

-The Bio Scanalyzer is slow and has trouble keeping up with WX, even when they're at their base speed. Maybe up its speed. Also, to unlock some of the circuits, you need to scan the bosses, and they can move pretty fast out of your range if you're not paying attention (i.e. DragonFly or Bearger). Maybe buff the scan speed or movement speed of the scanner. This thing can be juked by a measly Butterfly at its current stage.

-Maybe a use for Frazzled Wires? It could tie in to the earlier suggestion of upgrading the Circuit Box.

Final Thoughts
 

Spoiler

Overall, the rework is shaping up to help make WX-78 incredibly unique. A new perks and stats system that helps them stand out from the other Survivors, but it doesn't make them broken or a must-pick character. I like the execution of the circuits system and while it could use a few tweaks, it works and I'm excited to see how players use WX-78 in future games. I'd  personally like to see some tweaks to their upgrade system and some other tweaks, but overall, a fun execution for their rework.

Pardon the spoiler boxes, I wanted to break this up without completely overloading people who wished to read this thread.

[-Nick-]

I really love this update so far. Its something i really hoped for and came true.

I only have some problems with it however. Some circuits have questionable balance to them. Especially the Illumination circuit and chorus box circuit.

The Illumination circuit takes up the entire fuse box and is more expensive than the cheaper and less space taking Optoelectronic circuit. I just cant see the Illumination circuit ever being used at all. I can see it being better if it only took 3 or even 2 slots with a smaller light radius.

The Chorus box circuit is really nice, but it takes too many slots for an item you would use only a small amount, it taking up more slots also makes it draim more charge, so swapping it in and out is wasteful. The music effect doesn't even make followers follow you. It's like a worse one one band with the follower trait removed.

I think it should be atmost 2 or 1 circuit. It would help with switching it in and out when you just want to do some farming will quick. One slot is preferred since i actually like listening ro the music. It should def have a little switch you can use to change the music too.

 

[blacknight7890]

Haven't tried the update yet, can you discharge a lightning rod to gain extra power?

[-Nick-]

4 minutes ago, blacknight7890 said:

Haven't tried the update yet, can you discharge a lightning rod to gain extra power?

Yes indeed. Im so happy about that.

[Theukon-dos]

I think the punishment for pulling circuits is a bit much. You loose 25% of their durability, all charge that the circuits where taking up, *and* you can't choose which circuits you want to pull. Despite the modular nature of WX, this heavily encourages players to have a single loadout that they never swap from.

 

Some of the modules could also use some balance tweaks. The light module costs more than the night vision module despite being an objectively better option in most scenarios. And the tune module has waaaay to low of a sanity aura to be practical.

 

Would also like if there where more one-plug circuits, just for a bit more build variety.