Ocean QoL beta review

[Mortalbane]

Ocean
Great. A lot of added QoL stuff was much needed, and all done well.
Otters would need more time spent with them, but seem fine. Look cute too.
Fish food buff is nice, though it would require more playtime to test if fishing is now worth it.
New setpieces and fishing out treasure chests is always welcome.
Repairable salt lick <3

Trees
Useful and good looking. Nice effect on night vision.
But very confusing growth conditions and long timers. Are they bugged?
It seems that you need to plant them at random, then wait to see which tree it is, somehow guess its needs, then replant into proper turf. Then wonder why they are still not growing. Without Wormwood telling their needs, seems like an overly confusing mechanic for regular players.
Also, tree jam should be taken into account.

Crab
It's now easier, so for the regular players it's a good change.
It seems that he will still be killed using purple gems as the main offering.
I'm not a boss enjoyer (cuz dst fighting system is poor), so i'll leave this section for the boss rushers.

Winona
All catapult, generators and spotlight buffs are great. Paying a skill point for +5% increase is not.
Sleep mode and portability should be base kit. I guess transporting catapults is mainly done with telebrella (i mean portasol), and tedious otherwise.
Hot light needs some visual indication, like different light color.
Darkness immunity - why? We can't see anything in the dark.
Again the mirror design for lunar/shadow planar stuff, which is meh.
Rose bridge, revival, wormhole destination changing? Imo those skills don't fit the character or the kit.
Winona looks like a woman who can make her own bridge. Actually same goes for Wagstaff's gadgets - idk why all of them are locked behind affinity, and why Winona couldn't make any of her own.
Speaking of bridges, it is a thing that shouldn't be exclusive to a character. We need drawbridges, so that they won't interfere with boat movement.
All those gadgets are great. But packed together, all in one affinity. Which has a whole minigame made for it. Two minigames - locating, and the puzzle. I know there are situations when one skill branch offers a broad horizon for skills, while the other one makes your brain explode trying to come up with ideas. I faced it when i was making my WW rework. But i tried to keep things even, and succeeded, while it seems Klei were like "nah who cares. Systems shmystems balance shmalance" =)
Telebrella needs some range buff btw.
I like the visual skill tree look with those wires, but skill layout is confusing for no reason.

 

Wurt
Wetness - perks themselves seem fine, though condensing is a thing, as always. But currently there are not much reliable ways to stay wet. Consider adding self-watering with watering can, letting Wurt swim, or at least wash herself in a pond. And tbh wetness also feels like base kit (except wetness armor), and skills could only enhance that.
Mosquitoes... I get it that Itchcraft is a super name. It really is. But it isn't worth adding useless stuff. Also, aren't you guys irritated by the sound of mosquito wings? I don't want to use the bomb even if it would be great.
Fertilizers? No. Farmerms? Yes please.
Healing merms one by one? No. At least AoE. Better yet - some regeneration via a totem or the king.
Sisturn for merm respawn? I guess, but why. Better slap that regen onto it, or smth else, like easier recruiting, or whatever.
Share speed on marsh? Not sure it's that useful to pay a point, not to say that her speed probably comes from her feet, not from knowledge. What comes from knowledge and should be shared with others is tentacles location.
King hunger 3 skills. I sense a condense.
King's quests are nice, though from what i saw they make merms too op.
Tools and armory nice. But again some but. Where hoes and fishing rods/spears? We need that, not simply becoming a lesser Maxwell. Why make separate tiers and art, when they are so easily skipped. Make each skill/structure do separate thing, like fishermerms, farmerms, lumbermerms and minemerms. Please for the love of Merm King do it.
You've said on the stream that you'll have "merm civilization" skills, so me and a lot of others expected a separate branch with that name, expanding that merm-city theme. Not having it is super disappointing.
Lunar affinity is great (as always, duh). Yet another mirror design. Also feels like those terrain types need more visual indication.

That's all for now, though i probably forgot to mention some things

 

Some suggestions

Winona
Replace fillers in skill tree with some love for the rest of her kit.
Let her trusty tape repair weapons and armor. I mean who fixes clothes with duct tape in the first place.
She has some hunger mechanics. I don't like them, but there could be some fun stuff, better than +5%.
How about making better tools? Like Wigfrid's battle spear, which she can give to teammates. Make better metal tools from gold, including the golden hammer - which last longer and require less swings.
How about skill which gives you 100% resources back after hammering buildings?

Wurt
Make a fishing spear, like fishermerms in SW have. So that you instantly catch a fish in the pond.
Warpaint for Wurt and merm guards with different effects.
This one's a bit crazy, but why not. Make tribal dance rituals with merms, activated by a totem with offerings, with some music and stuff. Could be used to summon rain for example..

[Jakepeng99]

9 minutes ago, Mortalbane said:

King's quests are nice, though from what i saw they make merms too op.

Yeah, the 25% damage reduction (that works on wurt) and the 100% damage dodge are too much along with the critical strikes and 50% reduction helmets

10 minutes ago, Mortalbane said:

Also feels like those terrain types need more visual indication.

I agree

 Make the turf look different.

[Creatorofswamps]

9 minutes ago, Jakepeng99 said:

Yeah, the 25% damage reduction

Does it work on wurt?? This is extremely cool!

[marshyds]

Even 15 shadow aligned guard merms, fully boosted, with armor, can knock down CC to phase 3 with 11,000 health now

[Mortalbane]

Edited to add some suggestions