The Wendy Effect - A documented observation

[purelove]

We all know what his tolerance rate is and how much work it takes

[quakeszzzz]

Tree seems ok to me. Armor works the wrong way round , and extending 8 min potions to 16min seems pointless, i think the only 3 potions that r used are nightshade and spectre cure all, (vigor mortis prob gets deleted now cause u can just move abi at will) could maybe make the points into buffing the other potions somehow so they have a use.

all in all seems fine imo.   

[Dingle]

3 minutes ago, quakeszzzz said:

Tree seems ok to me. Armor works the wrong way round , and extending 8 min potions to 16min seems pointless, i think the only 3 potions that r used are nightshade and spectre cure all, (vigor mortis prob gets deleted now cause u can just move abi at will) could maybe make the points into buffing the other potions somehow so they have a use.

all in all seems fine imo.   

They're changing the armor to make it so Abigail shares Wendy's head slot armor, when you're wearing it.

[cyjs]

9 minutes ago, quakeszzzz said:

Tree seems ok to me. Armor works the wrong way round , and extending 8 min potions to 16min seems pointless, i think the only 3 potions that r used are nightshade and spectre cure all, (vigor mortis prob gets deleted now cause u can just move abi at will) could maybe make the points into buffing the other potions somehow so they have a use.

all in all seems fine imo.   

Mainly I feel that there are some interesting designs missing, there should be more possibilities，She doesn't need to be strong, she needs to be interesting, because the current skills just enhance the original gameplay.Moon's creativity is okay, but it's actually very weak. It can be understood as a lower-level replacement for Willow's Shadow Fire.Need some changes

[RussoDaFederal]

2 hours ago, loopuleasa said:

I was fascinated the past week to see the strong response to the Wendy skilltree and I wanted to get to understand this phenomena, and after digging for a while and researching I have gathered some observations and theories on why Wendy is held to such a high standard by many players (not just the Chinese community)

 

The Wendy Effect:

Observations that contribute to this effect

1. Wendy is a beginner friendly character, so many players play it first or early, and get to like it
2. Wendy is a non-technical character, so people that are not yet good at fighting can feel safe playing it
3. Wendy is a strong character, so people feel they are better survivors in the game if they choose her
4. Wendy has a high degree of skill expression and interestingness, that keeps players engaged in playing her (as opposed to more straightforward characters like wolfgang, which are strong but boring)
5. Wendy is a precious looking character, and many people grow attached to her personality
6. Wendy is a fragile character, which requires Abigail's help to survive, and that makes the players want to protect her too
7. Wendy is a "duo character" as she is paired with Abigail, and that makes her be comprised of two characters to grow fond of
8. Wendy has a dark humor charm to her character, which resonates with people that share the same style of humor
9. Wendy is a character more in touch with the emotional side of being a human, which resonates with many
10. Wendy is a pessimistic and sad character that tackles serious topics in life (like death of a relative), and that makes her feel real and vulnerable and it helps people cope with the hardships of life

Because of these forces, many Wendy players (mains or not) are VERY personally attached and invested into the story, lore and mechanics of this character, and NOTHING SHORT OF PERFECT can be satisfactory enough.

Many angles are present, and they all compound together to create this powerful emotional resonance.

 

Quite fascinating.

Overall, this is a testament to how well designed Wendy is across the board.

The strong reaction is not a bad thing, it is a signal that people care a lot (about Wendy and this game).

 

Thanks for reading.

You are absolutely right on those statements, I just want to add that when I started playing DST I still remember my reaction when looking at the cast for the first time "wait, she's sitting on a gravestone and there's a crow on her portrait? I'm choosing her" and here I am almost 10 years later still thinking "haha little goth girl made a joke about death, I love this character so much". I also like Wortox, Wickerbottom and Wanda, but none of them compare to Wendy. Her quotes are just the best and I've grown used to the flute.

Edit: I like how Klei is handling her skill tree tho, it's very close to a definitive version and there are already a lot of perks to enjoy. They already addressed most of the issues on their last post, we should just wait for the next update. Now I'm just here to have fun reading weird takes on the forum (yeah I'm THAT bored)

[Gui156]

2 hours ago, loopuleasa said:

I was fascinated the past week to see the strong response to the Wendy skilltree and I wanted to get to understand this phenomena, and after digging for a while and researching I have gathered some observations and theories on why Wendy is held to such a high standard by many players (not just the Chinese community)

 

The Wendy Effect:

Observations that contribute to this effect

1. Wendy is a beginner friendly character, so many players play it first or early, and get to like it
2. Wendy is a non-technical character, so people that are not yet good at fighting can feel safe playing it
3. Wendy is a strong character, so people feel they are better survivors in the game if they choose her
4. Wendy has a high degree of skill expression and interestingness, that keeps players engaged in playing her (as opposed to more straightforward characters like wolfgang, which are strong but boring)
5. Wendy is a precious looking character, and many people grow attached to her personality
6. Wendy is a fragile character, which requires Abigail's help to survive, and that makes the players want to protect her too
7. Wendy is a "duo character" as she is paired with Abigail, and that makes her be comprised of two characters to grow fond of
8. Wendy has a dark humor charm to her character, which resonates with people that share the same style of humor
9. Wendy is a character more in touch with the emotional side of being a human, which resonates with many
10. Wendy is a pessimistic and sad character that tackles serious topics in life (like death of a relative), and that makes her feel real and vulnerable and it helps people cope with the hardships of life

Because of these forces, many Wendy players (mains or not) are VERY personally attached and invested into the story, lore and mechanics of this character, and NOTHING SHORT OF PERFECT can be satisfactory enough.

Many angles are present, and they all compound together to create this powerful emotional resonance.

 

Quite fascinating.

Overall, this is a testament to how well designed Wendy is across the board.

The strong reaction is not a bad thing, it is a signal that people care a lot (about Wendy and this game).

 

Thanks for reading.

indeed,i think you are a greatful Observer of Psychology…… are you really work for it?

[purelove]

27 minutes ago, quakeszzzz said:

Tree seems ok to me. Armor works the wrong way round , and extending 8 min potions to 16min seems pointless, i think the only 3 potions that r used are nightshade and spectre cure all, (vigor mortis prob gets deleted now cause u can just move abi at will) could maybe make the points into buffing the other potions somehow so they have a use.

all in all seems fine imo.   

Please go to my post and browse through my thoughts, if you can help Wendy players better, please help us, thank you very much

[cyjs]

2 minutes ago, purelove said:

请到我的帖子浏览一下我的想法，如果你能更好地帮助温蒂玩家，请帮助我们，非常感谢

You should emphasize that this is your second version and can be edited.

[Lee Sy]

22 minutes ago, quakeszzzz said:

Armor works the wrong way round

I think so, it changed the fight logic of Wendy, and it may be the most controversial one, the 15% speed reduction is annoying as well. If Wendy could easier protect Abi, that's perfect.

As for most of other skills, useless but interesting, such as crafting tombs, ghost attack after death, decorating the graves…… no help for survive or fight, but nice try.

[purelove]

34 minutes ago, quakeszzzz said:

Tree seems ok to me. Armor works the wrong way round , and extending 8 min potions to 16min seems pointless, i think the only 3 potions that r used are nightshade and spectre cure all, (vigor mortis prob gets deleted now cause u can just move abi at will) could maybe make the points into buffing the other potions somehow so they have a use.

all in all seems fine imo.   

I started a new post.

Reset what was not clear before.

And I try to balance Wendy, so that it has both high difficulty operation and high intensity and low difficulty operation and low intensity. I hope you can have a look, because you can better speak for us, please help Wendy, she should have a better chance to get a wonderful future, rpg mode makes Wendy's fault tolerance lower and lower.

[Blunty_x]

It's natural for people to show resistance toward a change of their preferred and favorite character in the game. The forums went nuts during Wolfs rework. Rabid even. 

 

I can't speak on this new rework as I don't play wendy or even tested the tree or know what skills she now possess  

[HellHeater]

I googled "the wendy effect" to see if it was a thing in another way.

Needless to say I am unable to post it here.

[zzzzzzzzzzz]

You're a good man. I'll follow you

[Jakepeng99]

4 hours ago, loopuleasa said:

I was fascinated the past week to see the strong response to the Wendy skilltree and I wanted to get to understand this phenomena, and after digging for a while and researching I have gathered some observations and theories on why Wendy is held to such a high standard by many players (not just the Chinese community)

 

The Wendy Effect:

Observations that contribute to this effect

1. Wendy is a beginner friendly character, so many players play it first or early, and get to like it
2. Wendy is a non-technical character, so people that are not yet good at fighting can feel safe playing it
3. Wendy is a strong character, so people feel they are better survivors in the game if they choose her
4. Wendy has a high degree of skill expression and interestingness, that keeps players engaged in playing her (as opposed to more straightforward characters like wolfgang, which are strong but boring)
5. Wendy is a precious looking character, and many people grow attached to her personality
6. Wendy is a fragile character, which requires Abigail's help to survive, and that makes the players want to protect her too
7. Wendy is a "duo character" as she is paired with Abigail, and that makes her be comprised of two characters to grow fond of
8. Wendy has a dark humor charm to her character, which resonates with people that share the same style of humor
9. Wendy is a character more in touch with the emotional side of being a human, which resonates with many
10. Wendy is a pessimistic and sad character that tackles serious topics in life (like death of a relative), and that makes her feel real and vulnerable and it helps people cope with the hardships of life

Because of these forces, many Wendy players (mains or not) are VERY personally attached and invested into the story, lore and mechanics of this character, and NOTHING SHORT OF PERFECT can be satisfactory enough.

Many angles are present, and they all compound together to create this powerful emotional resonance.

 

Quite fascinating.

Overall, this is a testament to how well designed Wendy is across the board.

The strong reaction is not a bad thing, it is a signal that people care a lot (about Wendy and this game).

 

Thanks for reading.

I opened the post then some voics started speaking tk me.

3 hours ago, Sapientis said:

She's also young, innocent and protected by a dead sister (supernatural force which she can see and interact with), so she resonates well with the popular anime archetype.

I wish thinking the same thing, but it felt wrong to say Wendy looks like an anime character.

[Echsrick]

if wolfgang is a strong character (wich he is) and got a skill tree of not realy interesting, then wendy, who alsol is a rather strong character in her own right sould alsol get a skill tree that is...well...less interesting i would say....MEANWHILE WALTER, the character alot of people say is weak got a skill tree that seems...not too interesting? like there soo many ammo type skills wich seem to do all the same thing....and wilsons torch skills....dont even get started with that

[W0l0l0]

Probably an unpopular opinion: Wendy usually has the personality of a wet cloth, and I reckon people like her because of her appearance and easy play style more. 

Now WX and Willow, thats what I call personality.

[ShadowDuelist]

About the Don Gianni Tournament, I saw it all more than once (it was great btw, all the players were) and I agree that it's a good example that Wendy can be on par of much stronger characters, but generally speaking it would seem that everyone is underestimating Quakezz performance. If you pay attention to the details of the performance, ever since the very few minutes it started I was at home like "DUDE, DUDE OMG LOOK AT WENDY".
I think if Quakezzz would have played a stronger character, he would have won by even a larger advantage. He probably would have won by playing Wilson tbh (a low performing character), his performance was too crisp and solid on a large number of things that are probably out of scope to discuss here: resource management, time management, high results with very low resource investment, problem solving, performance under the stress of a live tournament, etc. It's probably not ideal to be using that as the standard of "what all Wendy players should be able to do" IMO.

I think Wendy is in a good spot, and with "Wendy is strong" the devs meant is that it's a decently overall balanced character that doesn't need many new things to increase its power a lot like maybe Walter needs, or Winona needed at its time. The sheer numbers of people playing Wendy kinda back this up as well.

It would be up to debate if the new things she is getting are "fun" enough for the average Wendy players or to attract new players alike, but people should consider that probably the most important part in terms of balance is how relevant she can be in a post rifts world.

I'd look further into fine tuning of the affinity powers, and the petals shroud skill mostly to keep abigail alive (something that is not how it works now, but is being worked on) mostly against super strong planar damage dealing enemies.

 

[Echsrick]

honestly i wish we only would gotten 2 character skill trees this time, that is wortox and walter only.....wendy just stealing the spot light for the 2 more in need...its realy sad

[arubaro]

3 hours ago, HowlVoid said:

I do empathize with Wendy players, since I had a similar reaction to Wormwood. 

I must of been on here writing post after post every day lol. Sorry klei

Dont be sorry, our boy still has an entire branch filled with situational plant recipes 

[Evelo]

6 hours ago, loopuleasa said:

many people grow attached to her personality

Oh hey that's me!

@HowlVoid You and me both, we got him into a relatively comfortable spot though. Nothing is perfect and it could use changing but it is much better than v1. Hope the Wendy fans can get that too.

[WenericMember]

I feel like we're getting to the point where more people are psychoanalyzing people who play Wendy & her overall strength than giving feedback to her skill tree.

[roboiviv]

What are you talking about?

Almost every "point" you make applies to like 5 other characters as well.

There is no excuse for constantly shitting on the developers who, mind you, seem actually interested in creating a well liked and fun game.
I don't know if DST-players are spoiled from not having played other games, with actually shitty devs or why some people think its okay to criticize Klei like mad for mostly petty reasons.
 

Your post sounds like an excuse for people to be toxic on this forum.

[Sapientis]

6 hours ago, HowlVoid said:

I do empathize with Wendy players, since I had a similar reaction to Wormwood. 

I must of been on here writing post after post every day lol. Sorry klei

But we did get what we wanted, so it was worth it

Spoiler

We managed to get one branch almost totally remade and the tree redesigned.

 

I also remember what was happening during Wickerbottom refresh...

Willow skilltree was also pretty crazy.

[gaymime]

5 hours ago, Jakepeng99 said:

I opened the post then some voics started speaking tk me.

I wish thinking the same thing, but it felt wrong to say Wendy looks like an anime character.

well she is a very young blonde girl with thin limbs and pale skin who has magical abilities. she really does meet the requirement for being an anime character outside of not being from an actual anime x''D

4 hours ago, W0l0l0 said:

Probably an unpopular opinion: Wendy usually has the personality of a wet cloth, and I reckon people like her because of her appearance and easy play style more. 

Now WX and Willow, thats what I call personality.

willow and wx have four characters worth of personality between the two of them x''D

[WenericMember]

Just now, gaymime said:

well she is a very young blonde girl with thin limbs and pale skin who has magical abilities. she really does meet the requirement for being an anime character outside of not being from an actual anime x''D

Maybe the reason we don't have a don't starve cartoon starring wilson, is because they're working on a don't starve anime starring Wendy.