WX-78 Refresh Suggestions/Partial Analysis

[Scypham]

So the refresh has been out for a little under a day now, I feel like enough time has passed and I've fiddled with enough things where I can give some suggestions now and have it not be because 'woah new shiny thing'. So here's my overly long take on it. 

With regards to the circuits themselves, the main two I'd have some issues with would be Dronemaster and Chorusbox.

Dronemaster at the moment is the Super Process Circuit, except it's 3 prongs, requires jellybeans which entails killing Bee Queen (scanning too but that's fine since pan flutes exist if need be), and all it does on top of the Super Process Circuit's perks (75 max sanity and +2 sanity a minute) is give you 1 hp about every 15 seconds, for a total of 32 hp per day (Side note because I know someone might say something about this: you can get royal jelly from Klaus for jellybeans but let's be honest, Klaus gets used as an exception case for these sorts of things alot and it always just amounts to relying on a once an in-game year loot box and saying that's as valid of a way as the more direct route).
Now you can stack Dronemaster onto itself for 64 hp a day but, ultimately if you can kill Bee Queen, which is the expectation here, you more than likely have the resources necessary to heal as you please and as a result the strength of this passive healing wouldn't be significant enough to feel as though you shouldn't. I think potential routes to take with it could be: 1. Making it 2 prongs instead of 3, 2. Increasing the strength of the health regen so it's more noticeable, 3. Combining it with the gastroexpansion circuit and providing an hp buff as well to make it an all round stat buff and helping to maintain each stat in a minor way (I still think the hp regen should at least be slightly faster in this case too), though likely increasing the prongs in that last suggestion, maybe (preferably not but, I can see why one would do so for this).

With regards to the Chorusbox circuit, I like the concept alot. The only problem is while the tending effect is nice, it's probably one of the niche-er things to do and outside of it the sanity aura is around 2.8+ a minute, which sounds nice until you realise people would have to hug WX to really feel it. It is stronger than the super processing circuit's sanity regen, which is nice, but it's not strong enough to warrant using it for more than a few seconds for tending, and even then the circuit system incentivises being more mindful with your circuits so it feels counterproductive to have one that doesn't have a decent effect for long term use, especially when it's 3 prong.
Possible (separate) changes that could help it: 1. Making it a 1 prong circuit and putting a cap on the sanity gain from it, 2. Making the regen and the aura stronger, with the aura in particular being even stronger, or 3. Making it have a one man band effect but limiting the number of followers it attracts. 

The Optoelectronic circuit, people have been talking about it being too accessible since you can easily get it on day 1, whereas the Illumination circuit is much harder to find but it's a more limited field of range in exchange for providing light to nearby players. It's....in a weird spot in my opinion.
I think the best possible route might be to change the recipe so instead of requiring a Moleworm, it'd be a Glowberry. Now there's an issue there with depth worms being used for unlocking the illumination circuit, but I think it being used for Optoelectronic alongside Moleworms would be fine instead (could make Fireflies scannable for the illumination circuit as well, on that note).

Finally with circuits, the Gastroexpansion circuit needs a thick fur to craft, while giving 75 extra hunger and making the rate at which WX's hunger drains 85% (and it's stackable). I think a thick fur makes it too undesirable to make and making it require a Slurper pelt (a drop from a mob you can scan to unlock it) would be much more accessible. Also worth noting that Slurper pelts, despite being more accessible than Thick Fur, have only 1 crafting recipe as well. So it could use some love. 

With regards to prongs, at the moment it's a bit unfortunate that you can't really have 5 prong circuits, because they're essentially the same as 6 prong ones. There's only one 1 prong circuit (the Hardy Circuit) which adds 50 max hp. Now that's nothing awful but it does feel like a consolation prize if that's the only thing you could theoretically equip with a 5 prong circuit, and I think that lack of options is what also hurts potentially buffing stuff to be much stronger while also increasing its prong size (it makes sense but at the same time, the lack of options would make it seem not worth it when looking at 2 and 3 prong circuits). Not to say there should be enough 1 prong options to make it plentiful to mix and match, but it would be good to have 2 or 3 minor effects you can achieve with 1 prong circuits so you still have options in the event of a 5 prong one. 1 prong circuits would also just be nice to add to 2 and 3 prong circuit builds as well. 

Lastly, Wx's stats at the moment are 150 hp, 200 sanity, and 150 hunger. The sanity got increased during the beta and they now have the base stats all characters do. Back when DS first came out, they started with 100 of each which was then changed to 150 of each in DST. Most people are used to this and I can understand changing it isn't needed, but it's worth noting that they started off with 100 of each and upgraded their stats over time and now they can just do that or completely choose to ignore their circuits and just be a vanilla character who doesn't like rain and thinks stale and spoiled food is fine.
Not to say they need a big downside either, having small ones are fine, and it's for that reason I think that tuning the values to 100 each again, or even 125 each, could be good (also from a lore perspective given the new compendium entry, WX was a failed experiment and I assume it's because they had flaws in their system and that's why they're modifying themselves to be perfect now, because Wagstaff and [REDACTED] didn't want to push it too far. So them having below average stats as a flaw makes sense].


Thaaat wraps up my current suggestions for the refresh. For now. Thanks for reading!

[Left 4 Sharkb8]

God I want the 1-prong chorusbox so bad

[Bombobbit]

3 minutes ago, Left 4 Sharkbai said:

God I want the 1-prong chorusbox so bad

Me too, i want to hear some tunes while walking without using my entire prong system.

[Yeah_No]

Slurper pelts being used for more than just belt of hunger would make me so happy - so many more people would actually WANT to find slurpers. 

[Copyafriend]

14 minutes ago, Scypham said:
Dronemaster 

dronemaster
Combining it with the gastroexpansion circuit and providing an hp buff as well to make it an all round stat buff and helping to maintain each stat in a minor way (I still think the hp regen should at least be slightly faster in this case too), though likely increasing the prongs in that last suggestion, maybe (preferably not but, I can see why one would do so for this).
 

I think this is the best option for the dronemaster. Maybe just have it be minor improvements to all stats, then its worth the three. I hadn’t considered the value of a minor boost to all stats, and this could be a good way to achieve it. The regen itself is fairly weak, but if i get some basic stat boosts with it, i can easily see it being more worthwhile. I dont think it needs more slots though.

[Losparkeros]

39 minutes ago, Scypham said:

Not to say they need a big downside either, having small ones are fine, and it's for that reason I think that tuning the values to 100 each again, or even 125 each

That's why I would opt for circuits working as specialization tool rather than overall upgrade - make your WX stronger in one aspect, weaker in other way (so you can imagine modules more like "power rerouting tools" - from armor to legs etc.). Scrapping or at least decreasing power level cooldown could also be done then - it only works as handicap for implementing changes. Increasing circuit durability could help as well.

In the end people who wouldn't want to play around with circuits (or rush for them) have still decent character overall, while others would have WX tailored to their playstyle.

Of course it would require changing how modules work - Dronemaster could increase your metabolism instead (giving stronger health and sanity regen while consuming more hunger points until your stats are full) for example, but I think this could give more diverse utility builds between players rather than main build for everyone where having circuits = strong and lack of them = weak.