[Question] Why walter's slingshot so slow? Anyone has a good theory behind this particular design choice?

[mr. brj]

I like the idea of giving Walter more utility instead of a significant combat buff. Some AoE stuff would be nice, similar to the Napsack or Warly's spice bombs from the ReForged. Maybe those could be crafted using a mosquito sack and an additional item.

But please, increase Walter's attack speed just a little bit.

[Waoling]

Why do everyone want Walter slingshot speed to increase?

[Dr. Safety]

23 minutes ago, Waoling said:

Why do everyone want Walter slingshot speed to increase?

Because it's a garbage weapon for a range oriented character.

Honestly just increase the fire rate, maybe even the range, but don't let the ammo stun enemies and it should be alright. That way he still has to kite, it's just a different kind of kiting. Rather than counting the hits you do before you run away, you see wait until the mob gets close and then run

[Waoling]

1 minute ago, Dr. Safety said:

Snip

Well, then increase Walter perception so he can snipe enemy from far away and the enemy might not even see you.

[ALCRD]

1 hour ago, Waoling said:

Because it realistic, have you try using a slingshot?

Have you seen actually skilled person using a slingshot? 

[Waoling]

Just now, ALCRD said:

Have you seen actually skilled person using a slingshot? 

Do you think Walter is skilled at slingshot?

[ALCRD]

1 minute ago, Waoling said:

Do you think Walter is skilled at slingshot?

I hope so since its his signature weapon..

Would be embarrassing if he wasn't. 

[Waoling]

3 minutes ago, ALCRD said:

I hope so since its his signature weapon..

Would be embarrassing if he wasn't. 

He had to aim and put the ammo on the slingshot, it take time to do that it not slow it just real life, if he was holding some sort of automatic weapon I would have agree.

[ALCRD]

9 minutes ago, Waoling said:

He had to aim and put the ammo on the slingshot, it take time to do that it not slow it just real life, if he was holding some sort of automatic weapon I would have agree.

You can rapid "reload" (shoot faster than Walter can) while keeping on target with a slingshot people did that irl even with wooden slingshots so no it's not unrealistic.

You hold handful of pebbles with your offhand not pull single one everytime from your pockets.

Thats what loading ammo ingame into a slingshot signifies.

[Memetan]

I said this many times... Make Walter shoot his slingshot faster while he is riding Wobby to make some synergy betting his perks and a good reason to ride Wobby in battles.

1 hour ago, mr. brj said:

I like the idea of giving Walter more utility instead of a significant combat buff. Some AoE stuff would be nice, similar to the Napsack or Warly's spice bombs from the ReForged. Maybe those could be crafted using a mosquito sack and an additional item.

And yes his ammo with side effects are not good right now, maybe adding an AoE effect will fix then.

[Cloakingsumo198]

Walter should either get a QuickDraw mechanic where when he switches to his slingshot his first shot comes out faster.

It would make it a better combo tool for debuffs or damage.

Or if he could shoot multiple projectiles at a time either to increase his damage or for a small multi-hit attack would be cool 

Spoiler

Slingshots are pretty deadly small hard projectiles flying at high speeds hurt alot.

 

[loopuleasa]

Real Klei reason: This was the first real ranged character option, so devs were really conservative on introducing it. It was safer to make the slingshot underpowered than overpowered.

[ShadowDuelist]

*COUGHS*

[Keller Max]

Or just buff his character.

Like: Walter's sanity no longer drops when being damaged. Only negative sanity drain when his hp not full.

150 Hunger please. This little ***** is constantly crying for food.

Yey! Walter is playable now! His slingshot is now an additional tool in his disposal, and he can do as good as other characters.

[Cloakingsumo198]

1 minute ago, Keller Max said:

Or just buff his character.

Like: Walter's sanity no longer drops when being damaged. Only negative sanity drain when his hp not full.

150 Hunger please. This little ***** is constantly crying for food.

Yey! Walter is playable now! His slingshot is now an additional tool in his disposal, and he can do as good as other characters.

No I want a strong range weapon

[Keller Max]

1 minute ago, Cloakingsumo198 said:

No I want a strong range weapon

ME TOO!!! But they will never give it to us((((((

[Waoling]

Make him see more and hear me out here the slingshot got more range.

[HowlVoid]

Walter can't shoot fast because canonically he has brain damage.

[Waoling]

He just a kid give him a break.

[ALCRD]

5 hours ago, Keller Max said:

I tell you! To make walter fun to use, his slingshot should be a skillshot. And he should be able to charge shots for more range and and more damage. But also be able to spam it for short ranged fast attacks, in case he needs to ministan something.

On paper that sounds cool but on other hand ... Stardew Valley did same exact thing for slingshots and it's bad oh my GOD it's sooo bad. If not for explosive pellets that clear out boulders faster than mining slingshot would be never used in that game.

Idk it depends how it would be executed for DST.

[Lokena]

3 minutes ago, Keller Max said:

Like: Walter's sanity no longer drops when being damaged. Only negative sanity drain when his hp not full.

I don't know about hunger, but don't touch this one. This is a good drawback, considering that this is the only thing from which he can lose his sanity, like, at all. Especially if you know how not to get hit. And it will become easier to fight without damage if his range weapon becomes better. 

Yes, it can put you in a risky position sometimes if you accidentally forget your armor and get into a random fight, but from what I hear on the forum, people regularly whine about the lack of danger, uncompromise, and how losing sanity doesn't affect anything, because everyone is too good at fighting nightmares. A character for whom a small mistake can dramatically ruin the situation and make you think how to deal with it, forces you to be good in battle, or fight not directly - an interesting one. I remember him being advertised as a character for beginners, but I don't think that's the case. Beginners get into trouble all the time, while this character is demanding on the ability to avoid unnecessary dangers and quickly manage sudden loss of sanity and health. 

If he loses this feature, his immunity to negative auras will suddenly become OP, whereas his ranged weapon will become even more useless than it is now, because he will suddenly lose any reason not to use melee and just tank like everyone else. And that's not how this character was conceived. This flaw of his is good because it matches his design "attack from a distance and don't get hurt". So the problem is not that this disadvantage is too severe, but that the range weapons are not polished enough to be an attractive main strategy.

[Hornete]

2 hours ago, Lokena said:

[snip]

It's one of my favourite downsides in the game... If the sanity downside gets removed I likely won't play Walter as much as I do now. It's a nice flip on the sanity mechanics of the game.

[Cloakingsumo198]

I like the sanity mechanic because I stay sane longer most of the time because of it.

[Mysterious box]

The thing that really sucks about the slingshot in my opinion is there's no unique advantages to it aside from cheese methods even his bird farming can be done cheaper by Wurt and Webber merms are fast enough to punch birds before they take off and spiders have shooters. Alot of what the slingshot does is just done better by other things and if he doesn't get better special ammos or a faster slingshot he'd probably be better off losing the slingshot all together and having it replaced by a more impactful perk. I kind of feel like woby needs touched up as well as there's not really any reason for Walter to ride Woby over a beefalo since year of the beef his downsides make riding Woby dangerous in combat and a beefalo not only shields him from his downside but can attack itself as well. All that being said I still find it fun to just play Walter so there's that.

8 minutes ago, Hornete said:

It's one of my favourite downsides in the game... If the sanity downside gets removed I likely won't play Walter as much as I do now. It's a nice flip on the sanity mechanics of the game.

My only problem with his downside and lowered stats is they were done at least in my mind to compensate his powerful ranged combat gameplay but they forgot the "power" in that ranged gameplay.

2 hours ago, Lokena said:

If he loses this feature, his immunity to negative auras will suddenly become OP, whereas his ranged weapon will become even more useless than it is now, because he will suddenly lose any reason not to use melee and just tank like everyone else. And that's not how this character was conceived. This flaw of his is good because it matches his design "attack from a distance and don't get hurt". So the problem is not that this disadvantage is too severe, but that the range weapons are not polished enough to be an attractive main strategy.

The immunity to negative auras would become op and need to be removed but Walter can still tank just fine if you use his hat with armor you can tank quite alot of damage before going insane and even then you can use sanity food to make this even more of a non issue. In his current state there's still not really a incentive to not use melee unless you have no armors and weapons in the early days or are just not very good at combat.(but at that point the hypothetical player likely would have picked Wendy or Wigfrid instead.

[HowlVoid]

Ok, here's my idea:

Add a timing mechanic were there is a shorter and shorter window to time a button press to quicken the slingshot.

When Walter starts to shoot the slingshot there will be a short window (indicated by a shine in his eye) where if you press the attack button again he will shoot sooner. Consecutive shoots will have an even quicker arriving and smaller window "shine" that will severely punish the player if they get the timing wrong. Timing it wrong will cause a long animation where Walter fumbles his ammo, he picks it off the ground and places it back in his backpack/pocket. The average player will feasibly get 2-3 shots out with decent practice.

Spoiler

Klei could further balance this by increasing the sanity damage he takes only during the fumble animation.

Example of "shine"