My Suggestion for Wobby's Skill Tree

[Lardee]

In the latest update notes, it was mentioned that Klei's intent is to differentiate Wobby from Beefalo rather than replace them.

 

Well here are three ideas that I think would make instantly make the Wobby skill tree extremely good:

1. Skills that let Wobby swim. 

Right now, the only alternative to sea exploration by boats is really Woodie's weregoose form.  Letting Walter explore the ocean on a fast, maneuverable mount like Wobby would make exploring the ocean so much more fun than using the slow/clunky boats and would allow Walter/Wobby to fill quite a big niche that Beefalo taming cannot.  It would also let Walter do ocean combat completely differently than anyone else giving rise to many unique strategies for different enemies (like Crab King).

The ability to swim would not come without risks as Wobby becoming small or getting attacked while in the water could mean instant drowning. This skill can be further balanced by having Wobby's hunger drain faster while swimming or requiring a special saddle for Wobby.

2. Let other players ride Wobby.

This way, Walter can essentially lend a speed boost to other players and let them explore the map at fast speed while he does something else. A "lock/unlock" system would have to be implemented for Wobby to ensure players don't steal her from Walter. 

Additional skills in this particular tree should include a "two seater" option which will allow both Walter and one other player (maybe even more than one?) to ride Wobby at the same time. This would come in handy especially in the early game when Wobby is by far the best mobility option or when new players spawn in as it will let Walter carry them quickly to base.

Finally, it would be cool if a skill lets Walter send Wobby to a location on the map.  This way Walter doesn't have to physically travel to a person in order to lend Wobby. If someone is on the other side of the map, stuck on lunar island or stranded on a boat, Walter can tell Wobby to go to that location and pick that person up. 

3. Wobby scouting skills

Perhaps a skill where Walter can tell Wobby to run away in a general direction for a certain period of time and come back. After coming back, Walter can "inspect" Wobby to uncover all the fog of war that Wobby traveled to while he was away.

 

I think these, especially the swimming perk, would massively improve the communities reception of Walter's skill tree. Let me know what you think.

[Gashzer]

Let other people ride is very gimmicky and woby scouting is ok but again is too weak in the long term.

The goal for big woby is to have strong unique abilities which make me go "big woby can do this unique thing so I'm not going to use my nightmare saddle ornery beefalo right now". Big woby needs unique late game skills more than early game skills as she is already a decent enough early game alternative to a beefalo.

Swimming is a strong ability but it could also end up being extremely clunky and slow in practice to the point you would rather use a cheap grass boat.

Edit: I'm really against the let other people ride idea. I know what you want gameplay wise, to be able to take new players with you as you travel on your own nightmare saddle ornery beefalo. This completely goes against the lore of the character as this would make big woby benefit others rather than the Walter player who should be riding Woby.

[flamboyant wolf]

I like the idea of taking passangers with you. Swimming might be an interesting addition.

[Jakepeng99]

To be honest, im not much a fan of this ideas. I dont think they fit well.

 

If there was to be a sea exploring mount, it should be exclusive to the grass gator.

[Mysterious box]

4 hours ago, Lardee said:

In the latest update notes, it was mentioned that Klei's intent is to differentiate Wobby from Beefalo rather than replace them.

 

Well here are three ideas that I think would make instantly make the Wobby skill tree extremely good:

1. Skills that let Wobby swim. 

Right now, the only alternative to sea exploration by boats is really Woodie's weregoose form.  Letting Walter explore the ocean on a fast, maneuverable mount like Wobby would make exploring the ocean so much more fun than using the slow/clunky boats and would allow Walter/Wobby to fill quite a big niche that Beefalo taming cannot.  It would also let Walter do ocean combat completely differently than anyone else giving rise to many unique strategies for different enemies (like Crab King).

The ability to swim would not come without risks as Wobby becoming small or getting attacked while in the water could mean instant drowning. This skill can be further balanced by having Wobby's hunger drain faster while swimming or requiring a special saddle for Wobby.

2. Let other players ride Wobby.

This way, Walter can essentially lend a speed boost to other players and let them explore the map at fast speed while he does something else. A "lock/unlock" system would have to be implemented for Wobby to ensure players don't steal her from Walter. 

Additional skills in this particular tree should include a "two seater" option which will allow both Walter and one other player (maybe even more than one?) to ride Wobby at the same time. This would come in handy especially in the early game when Wobby is by far the best mobility option or when new players spawn in as it will let Walter carry them quickly to base.

Finally, it would be cool if a skill lets Walter send Wobby to a location on the map.  This way Walter doesn't have to physically travel to a person in order to lend Wobby. If someone is on the other side of the map, stuck on lunar island or stranded on a boat, Walter can tell Wobby to go to that location and pick that person up. 

3. Wobby scouting skills

Perhaps a skill where Walter can tell Wobby to run away in a general direction for a certain period of time and come back. After coming back, Walter can "inspect" Wobby to uncover all the fog of war that Wobby traveled to while he was away.

 

I think these, especially the swimming perk, would massively improve the communities reception of Walter's skill tree. Let me know what you think.

I don't really feel like these increase the value of Woby much letting other players ride her as a skill feels like it'll get about of much use as Wurt's shared swamp turf skill and the Woby scouting skill feels purely like a very early game skill that doesn't offer much considering how much faster than other characters Walter explores the map.

Overall these abilities don't seem to make Woby a interesting alternative to a Beefalo but encourage him to lean even harder into one.

[Lardee]

1 hour ago, Jakepeng99 said:

If there was to be a sea exploring mount, it should be exclusive to the grass gator.

I would agree with this if it was announced that we are getting grass gator sea mounts.  Since I have no idea if that's ever going to happen, I'd rather have a Woby sea mount than none at all.

 

31 minutes ago, Mysterious box said:

I don't really feel like these increase the value of Woby much letting other players ride her as a skill feels like it'll get about of much use as Wurt's shared swamp turf skill and the Woby scouting skill feels purely like a very early game skill that doesn't offer much considering how much faster than other characters Walter explores the map.

Overall these abilities don't seem to make Woby a interesting alternative to a Beefalo but encourage him to lean even harder into one.

Guess it's about personal preference. I've found that giving your team on-demand 30% speed boosts using Wurt's shared swamp turf + dreaded mudslinger combo is really fun. I think skill trees shouldn't just be about making your character better. A significant number of them should be geared towards character synergies that encourages playing and coordinating with your team.

DST is a sandbox game, so the megabase world shouldn't be the only playstyle that ought to be considered. Some people like to do single boss speedruns. A lot of people like to play a 1-3 hr new game either with friends or in a public server.  The beautiful thing about skill trees is that you can pick and choose which ones you want depending on how you play the game. 

And even if you're in a long play, you can always use the florid postern to change your skill tree after you have no use for the previous skills.

 

Finally, Klei said Woby isn't supposed to replace Beefalo. The intent is to make them different enough so that you have an incentive to use both instead of just one or the other.

[Mysterious box]

2 minutes ago, Lardee said:

Guess it's about personal preference. I've found that giving your team on-demand 30% speed boosts using Wurt's shared swamp turf + dreaded mudslinger combo is really fun. I think skill trees shouldn't just be about making your character better. A significant number of them should be geared towards character synergies that encourages playing and coordinating with your team.

DST is a sandbox game, so the megabase world shouldn't be the only playstyle that ought to be considered. Some people like to do single boss speedruns. A lot of people like to play a 1-3 hr new game either with friends or in a public server.  The beautiful thing about skill trees is that you can pick and choose which ones you want depending on how you play the game. 

My issue here is that abilities that solely benefit others should be base kit I'm not saying thet shouldn't exist but you shouldn't have to spend your limited skill points on helping others even if it means you have to work to unlock those support abilities.

6 minutes ago, Lardee said:

Finally, Klei said Woby isn't supposed to replace Beefalo. The intent is to make them different enough so that you have an incentive to use both instead of just one or the other

Well here are my problems with this more directly.

5 hours ago, Lardee said:

2. Let other players ride Wobby.

This is completely unrelated to giving Walter incentive to use Woby because he's not using her at all in this scenario.

5 hours ago, Lardee said:

3. Wobby scouting skills

It's a ability that by design fills the same niche as Woby's movement speed bonus while also becoming completely useless once you explore the map.

 

[Gashzer]

24 minutes ago, Lardee said:

Finally, Klei said Woby isn't supposed to replace Beefalo. The intent is to make them different enough so that you have an incentive to use both instead of just one or the other.

To more accurately interpret what klei meant. Riding big woby should have completely unique strengths that are worth using that riding a beefalo cannot ever replace. What klei didn't mean, is give woby all non-mount related abilities then continue using beefalo as per normal.

Right now the 3 big woby badge skills (agility, support and bravery) can be replaced by simply taming a beefalo. And it will be difficult to max out these skills too making people choose a beefalo over training woby.

The meta right now is all slingshot skills plus tier 1 woby training for the giggles. Then pin fetch and dig badges then forget that woby does things.

[flamboyant wolf]

52 minutes ago, Mysterious box said:

 

This is completely unrelated to giving Walter incentive to use Woby because he's not using her at all in this scenario.

 

I would assume Walter would need to be riding Woby for other players to catch a ride, otherwise it would indeed be kinda unrelated to Walter, plus I wouldn't want people stealing my car ;3

In this case, Walter would be a "taxi driver" of sorts, being able to take people with him, getting around quicker. One could argue this still doesn't benefit Walter himself directly, but I think supportive abilities like these are pretty fun, especially when playing in tightly-knit groups(possible use cases: getting players without good mobility perks/beefalos to the boss arena quicker, to lessen waiting time; taking a pal with you to a distant location, like ruins or a far away spot on the map; picking up new players from spawn[assuming lack of lazy deserter]; just having fun by riding around lol)

It's certainly not a single perk solution to making Woby more unique, nor is it a 100% necessary feature, but I think it could be a fun inclusion, with a few nice applications here and there.

[Jakepeng99]

3 hours ago, Lardee said:

would agree with this if it was announced that we are getting grass gator sea mounts.  Since I have no idea if that's ever going to happen, I'd rather have a Woby sea mount than none at all.

Id rather have grass gator or non at all. And if they did add a grass gator it should be more resitricting.