Feedback on Wendy's Skill Tree

[Yifei_]

Highlights of the Skill Tree Design

1. "Pipspook"-related skill branch:
   This skill significantly simplifies the process of collecting Mourning Glory, allowing Wendy's Ghostly Elixirs to be used more effectively. It increases the utility and frequency of Ghostly Elixir usage.

2. Creative "Grave Relocation" skill:
   This skill not only enhances players' creativity in base layout design but also allows a more efficient way to locate "Pipspook" and collect "Mourning Glory" without leaving home.

3. New interface for Abigail's Flower:
   The redesign of Abigail's Flower's interface to resemble the Codex Umbra or Ember adds more versatility to Abigail's operation. This design is excellent in concept, though its practical effectiveness requires further testing in real scenarios.

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Areas for Improvement in the Skill Tree Design

Tier 3 Skill in the Lunar Branch: Single-target damage issue

The Lunar Mutation Abigail is described as excelling in single-target damage in its skill description, but its performance in practice is subpar. The extended attack interval of Lunar Abigail prevents the "Vulnerable" debuff from stacking effectively.

Testing with a Dark Sword against a Treeguard revealed that Wendy's total damage output with Lunar Mutation Abigail was even lower than with standard Abigail. This discrepancy becomes even more evident in crowd control situations.

Suggested Fix: Increase Lunar Abigail's attack frequency or extend the duration of the "Vulnerable" debuff to ensure its advantage in single-target damage is realized.

Tier 3 Skill in the Shadow Branch: Low practicality of planar damage

The Shadow skill that triggers planar damage by killing creatures in the inventory is challenging to use in practice:

• Difficult trigger condition: Inventory creatures occupy too much space and are rarely carried around.
• Low skill benefit: The lengthy pre-animation for killing creatures and the short skill duration make it hard to provide meaningful assistance in high-intensity combat.

Practicality Issues with Evil Flower-related Skills

1. Limited impact of the reduced sanity aura: Evil Flowers are already rare in the game, and the negative effects of their aura can be easily mitigated through other means, making this skill lack sufficient practicality.
2. Ineffective petal crafting skill: Petals are abundant in the game, whereas Evil Flowers are rare resources. This skill design seems to lack value.

Conflict Between "Floral Shroud" and Core Character Playstyle

1. The design of "Floral Shroud" conflicts with Wendy's core gameplay logic. During boss fights, Wendy's key strategy is to protect Abigail, but this skill forces Abigail to take more damage, going against players' expectations for the character.
2. The -15% movement speed penalty further reduces the skill's appeal.

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Balance Comparison with Other Characters

When compared to other powerful characters like Wolfgang and Willow, Wendy's combat abilities in the skill tree design appear relatively conservative:

1. Wolfgang: Wolfgang's lunar affinity grants him a 2.6x damage multiplier against shadow creatures, while Wendy only has a 0.75x multiplier, making her damage output significantly weaker.
2. Willow: Bernie has 2600 HP and can be easily repaired (a Sewing Kit fully restores its durability), whereas Abigail has only 600 HP with no defense. If Abigail dies, it takes 2-3 in-game days to fully level her up again.

[lio516]

I couldn't agree with you more