Wes Skill Tree Suggestions

[Donzilbert]

I play a large amount of Wes. I would not say that I am good at Wes, or even good at DST in general, but I would say that I play a large amount of Wes. His character design, his animations, and his skins are all great, and I love the difficulty of the character. Wes's initial rework was one of my favorites. I get a real sense of satisfaction when killing a boss or getting myself out of a sticky situation as Wes. So much so that I often feel a bit let down when I do something as another character. Sure, I killed Dragonfly as So-and-so, but wouldn't it have felt better to do it as Wes? His skill tree should add some flavor and a few unique things, but it should not make him inherently better at any tasks or combat.

Advanced Balloonomancy (Alignments):
Shadow Balloonomancy - Wes channels the power of shadows into an Ancient Fuelweaver shaped balloon. The balloon creates a small area of darkness around it, day or night. Anyone holding this balloon long enough gets a chance to meet the Queen. Unlocked by defeating Ancient Fuelweaver. 
[this serves nearly no purpose but is funny. Depending on the night radius, it may have a niche use to have a bunnyman not run back to his house or even keep a reanimated skeleton alive a bit into the day. I acknowledge that there's trolling potential to craft this next to someone AFK and let Charlie kill them, but you can do similar by dropping some grass and lighting it with a torch, so I think it's fine.]

Lunar Balloonomancy - Wes captures lunar energy into this Celestial Champion shaped balloon. Anyone holding it has Lunacy instead of Sanity. Popping the balloon creates a small area of light for a few seconds. Unlocked by defeating Celestial Champion. [I say holding it instead of standing near it because I think that if it were an aura, you could stand on top of it to negate dark swords or boss auras, and it would be too strong.]

Balloon Skills:
DUAL WIELDING: Wes (and Wes alone) can hold TWO balloons in his hand slot. (Speedy balloons will not stack. cannot hold a balloon and anything other than another balloon. no weapon, cane, lantern, etc.) [I'm thinking that when he has a balloon in hand, another small hand slot pops up similar to the deep sea fishing rod interface. I would love for him to hold one in each hand, but if the coding is not easy or if it looks too goofy, just two in one hand slightly offset by each other would be cool too.]

Practiced hands. Consecutive balloons crafted in a short time window craft increasingly faster but cost 1 additional sanity each. (Similar to Winona's old perk). Prereq for dual wielding

Hardy Balloons: balloons have +1 health. Prereq for dual wielding

Mime Skills:
Increased Vocabulary. Wes learns several new pantomimes. (adds to the random pantomimes that he does when inspecting)

Method Acting. Wes learns a unique pantomime for each Survivor. (when inspecting a fellow survivor, Wes will do a unique pantomime: Thumb through a book for Wickerbottom, stroke a beard for Wilson, swing an axe for Woodie, scowl for Maxwell, etc.)

Silent Step. Wes is able to approach sleeping creatures without waking them. (MacTusk hounds, Koalaphants, etc.) [as a joke his footstep sound effect volume could be reduced, but this might be a pain to code, and fully turning it off would probably be too unsettling] 

Everyone's Entertainer. Friendly Non-player characters and other survivors' unique followers will react when Wes pantomimes to them. (Pearl, Pig King, Queen of Moon Quay, Woby, Abigail, Lucy, Wagstaff Don't Starve and Charlie will wave, nod, or otherwise interact when inspected by Wes if they are not doing something else more important)[I might have missed a few]

Luck Skills:
Hounded. Each hound wave has +1 gem hound targeting Wes. This hound always drops a gem when killed. 

Fumbling Forester. Every chop of a tree has a 0.5% chance for a pinecone to fall on Wes's head for 1 damage. (this cone doesn't impact the number that the tree drops at the end, so technically Wes can gather more pinecones per tree than average, slightly making up for the slower chopping). [maybe add a .1% chance for it to be a bird instead, so that birds have an additional way to spawn in Lights Out][maybe the 1 damage is negated by Woodie's hardwood helmet]

QOL: 
Potentially change the pile-o-balloons to function similarly to the codex umbra. this isn't really necessary, but it makes carrying the balloons around feel a little more impactful. Also, this could let you choose specific balloons, maybe unlocking a balloon for each boss the first time you kill them, then being able to craft that one on demand.

Invisible Wall/Gate skins

Invisible Firepit skin

Invisible chair skin

Some of my suggestions do require unique art assets or animations to be created. So, I fully understand that these may be off the table. Instead of a Fuelweaver shaped balloon, maybe just a regular circular balloon with a shadowy aura. 

I love the devs at Klei, and I trust that they'll make a fantastic skill tree for Wes. As previously said, the Wes rework is one of my favorites. I'm not trying to claim that I know better that Klei or than anyone else on the forums. I'm hoping that Klei likes some of the suggestions and incorporates them into the skill tree, combined, broken apart, and supplemented however they see fit. I'm also hoping that some other folks here will weigh in on our favorite mime's future and what skills he may have amassed from his thousands of deaths in The Constant.

Thanks for taking the time to read this long-winded post about a character who cannot talk for himself. 

[Yuuko]

1 hour ago, Donzilbert said:

Advanced Balloonomancy (Alignments):
Shadow Balloonomancy - Wes channels the power of shadows into an Ancient Fuelweaver shaped balloon. The balloon creates a small area of darkness around it, day or night. Anyone holding this balloon long enough gets a chance to meet the Queen. Unlocked by defeating Ancient Fuelweaver. 
[this serves nearly no purpose but is funny. Depending on the night radius, it may have a niche use to have a bunnyman not run back to his house or even keep a reanimated skeleton alive a bit into the day. I acknowledge that there's trolling potential to craft this next to someone AFK and let Charlie kill them, but you can do similar by dropping some grass and lighting it with a torch, so I think it's fine.]

 

HAX you want to let Wes collect presents at any time of day?  OP!!!

[Donzilbert]

10 minutes ago, Shosuko said:

HAX you want to let Wes collect presents at any time of day?  OP!!!

Oh that's a good point. Free healing any time of day with a fur roll too. Maybe too good.

[Dr.Webber]

I know this isn’t Wes related but here’s my ideas on Webbers skill tree 

 

[Just Mactusk]

[Antynomity]

2 hours ago, Dr.Webber said:

snip

I love going on off-topic threads advertising mine directly without saying anything of value on the topic of the thread im advertising in!

[Dr.Webber]

25 minutes ago, Antynomity said:

I love going on off-topic threads advertising mine directly without saying anything of value on the topic of the thread im advertising in!

Ok fair enough i like the ideas maybe add a little bit beneficial ballon creations and maybe give him the ability to mime defensive walls in to existence I can’t really think of any other good mime materializing things but you could do more with that I also think it would be awesome if he could make living balloons they would be the mobs there shaped like but loyal to Wes die with one hit and possible less damage 

[Antynomity]

1 minute ago, Dr.Webber said:

Ok fair enough i like the ideas maybe add a little bit beneficial ballon creations and maybe give him the ability to mime defensive walls in to existence I can’t really think of any other good mime materializing things but you could do more with that I also think it would be awesome if he could make living balloons they would be the mobs there shaped like but loyal to Wes die with one hit and possible less damage 

balloon walls

[Dr.Webber]

9 minutes ago, Antynomity said:

balloon walls

Awesome 

[Brago-sama]

I like the luck skills. Things or events that seem like misfortune but can be a boon if you're prepared/know what to do. It very much fits Wes lore wise.

[Mike23Ua]

I’m gonna show you guys a few pictures.. and then how about you tell ME what kind of skill Wes should gain in his skill Tree?

The first one- This fool is trying to “Fly” with a Tiny Umbrella as far back as Solo DS.

The Second image..

This Fool has Sealed himself into a Helium Balloon and gotten trapped floating around in there..

And Third Image: (this one’s actually super super recent with DS 10 Year anniversary)

 

Left corner he is visibly seen floating above the ground by holding a stack of his balloons.

Conclusion: Wes should get Short distance flight ability (for use traveling over gaps of land on surface or in caves..) Maybe the Duration can last only a couple seconds, but it’s mainly just to cross small gaps and rivers.

I don’t think it’s fair to hold Wes back as the useless challenge character, and while I don’t think he’s getting a Balloon Battle Mech… it would be a crime to NOT get a hover ability with a stack of balloons or sealing himself up inside one giant one.

[Antynomity]

4 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

snip

Honestly having one cool ability for him wouldn't hurt, you lose a lot of time as him chopping, mining, fighting etc just because youre slower with the two former and weaker with the third latter one, I'd love to just not have to find a crossing because a one tile gap magically makes my character unable to jump meanwhile you can jump from land to a boat just fine.

Though he SHOULD stay as the 'challenge' character, that's what he was always supposed to be.

[Dr. Safety]

Would it be too OP to have a balloon that allows him to place one inventory slot worth of something in it, choose a location on the map, and a couple days later have that balloon gently float down to that location with that item?

I know he's the funny "haha useless character is useless" joke, but his downsides are big enough that I think some niche but unique upsides are allowed. Would be good to send things back to base that you get from exploring but don't want to carry back. 

Edit: also add this balloon, and give us pantomimed football helmets & backpacks please

[Donzilbert]

I like these suggestions. The gap jump could be a new balloon that allows you to float above the ground, water, cave abyss gaps, etc. but reduces your move speed to the same as carrying a marble statue. 

Balloon with an inventory slot is also an awesome idea. Maybe to float to base on it's own, maybe to chain to other balloons and make a long train if balloons following Wes carrying one thing each. They have the technology with the boat magnets. This might be a lag fest, though.