My take on Fixing the Winona tree

[Helenar]

So there's been a lot of discussion regarding the Winona skill tree, and I get the idea that people like some of the concepts from the tree, but not the execution and overall structure. Disabling the use of Winona tech has sparked great outrage, as people want Winona to not be a swap character, but also want to use her cats as other survivors. 

I think these struggling interests can be met in the middle, and while doing that improve the layout of the skill tree.

I personally think the problem with the skilltree is that it doubles down too much on Winona's structures, while not giving Winona as a character any perks to her specifically. Upgrades to catapults are tied to the cats themselves, not to Winona. Wormholes get rerouted and then Winona has nothing to do with them anymore. Wagstaff structures get built, and then they persist in the world with the same functionality. Klei's solution to this has been to disable all of nona's structures for anybody but her. I think this is a mistake.

I think a better option would be to have all of the tech be functional for everybody, but be much more powerful when a Winona is operating them. Somewhere in the branch, there would be an unlock and beyond that upgrades that affect only Winona. 

For the cats, I'd propose making base weaker than they currently are, so you could kills hounds and farm with them, but not take on bosses as any character. Then Winona could improve them with her remote, or with the fuel she is able to put in the gem/gemerators. Any character could put nitra or gems into them, but fueling them with nightmare fuel or moonglass makes them more powerful, and post rift stuff can skyrocket them. The remote can then be used for faster shooting and planar strikes.

For the Wagstaff tech, I'd propose having an unlock, and then an upgrade to make them more powerful when nona is handling them, e.g. teleporting her much farther. Also, please give me a thumper, I love that thing.

As for the structure of the skilltree, I absolutely adore her being able to dip into both affinities, but committing to one. I think Klei should lean into this more, and less into stat upgrades. Instead of having upgrades to generator efficiency, have the different fuels be more efficient. Instead of giving the cats more aoe, give certain fuels that trait. This makes everything much more interactive and fun. Also, I don't mind having a few skills that are mandatory. Every tree has this, the only reason people are throwing a fuss about this is that Klei was kinda vague about it in the livestream combined with general dissatisfacion for the skilltree.

Klei has made some excellent skilltrees, and Winona needs one more than most. The wormwood one was kinda controversial during the beta, and Klei developed that one into a masterpiece, which is definitely one of my favourites. I believe that with some restructuring, Klei can absolutely make Winona's tree excellent aswell. 

[Sir Noel]

1 minute ago, Helenar said:

Also, I don't mind having a few skills that are mandatory. Every tree has this, the only reason people are throwing a fuss about this is that Klei was kinda vague about it in the livestream combined with general dissatisfacion for the skilltree.

It's not that the skills themselves are bad, but the fact that almost all her skills are either skills like these or number buffs. Third shelf is only one that grants unique affects like upgrading generators or the shadow/lunar perks. I would have liked to seen more unique things like maybe new machines or gadgets, or mechanics that are intrinsic to her like her crafting speed.

I think making catapults like this would be a good compromise if Klei wishes to keep catapults Winona-centric, but people can still use them for farms.

[Helenar]

4 minutes ago, Sir Noel said:

It's not that the skills themselves are bad, but the fact that almost all her skills are either skills like these or number buffs. Third shelf is only one that grants unique affects like upgrading generators or the shadow/lunar perks. I would have liked to seen more unique things like maybe new machines or gadgets, or mechanics that are intrinsic to her like her crafting speed.

I think making catapults like this would be a good compromise if Klei wishes to keep catapults Winona-centric, but people can still use them for farms.

Yeah I absolutely agree. The skills I was referring to were dismantling cats and  the remote, the stuff on the bottom row. Willow has that, Wormwood has that. I just don't think it's that big of an issue to have entry skills, but pure stat increases I dislike aswell.