Player thoughts on Beta Walter

[UnkemptLee]

Okay so I typically play characters like Wolfgang or WX. I try to branch out and try other characters, especially when they get a skilltree update.

So, I tried Walter this time around and here are my thoughts.

The best way I can describe Walter right now, is he feels like when an MMO has gotten late-game power creep, and the Devs try to add mid-level/stage content.

A lot of times while I was playing him I would say, "Why would I do this? Why would I not just do x or play y?"

Some specific scenarios: I was trying to kill Shadow Pieces using his Slingshot while riding Woby. I'm not perfect at the fight so I'd get hit by the T3 Rook and I'd get knocked off, then have to slowly wait for Walter to get back up, just to shoot his low amount of damage. The whole time I'm thinking, "Why would I not just play a normal character, with melee, do more damage, and not get punished as much for getting hit?" 

And before you say "Well Woby has that new skill that you can train him to not knock you off as fast when you get hit!" to which I say, why would I not just play a melee character and tame a beefalo? Woby takes an exuberant amount of time to train up all of his skills only for him to be Marginally better than a Beefalo... in speed (Because in case some of you don't know, Woby cannot attack).

Do you get what I mean by mid-game content in an MMO with late-game power creep? He's outclassed on Arrival. The game isn't suffering from insane power-creep, but the other characters can already do what he does (Damage wise and Woby/Beefalo wise) but better.

The reason why "Walter has about the same pick-rate as Wes" is because the typical player isn't going to go "Why would I pick Wolfgang and do 136 damage a swing, when I can play Walter and do 51 damage per shot at a slower speed than just swinging!"

Personally I think, if we're already locked into the Woby/Slingshot tree, the Woby training time needs to be MUCH shorter to outclass a Beefalo. And (I saw some people suggest this already) we need the secondary/special ammo types to do more. I saw someone post something about DoT/Poison/Bleed, which would be nice, but the Dev's already made that with (I think) the pure horror rounds. And if I'm understanding this correctly they made it so the DoT gets cancelled if any other form of damage is received (Please correct me if I'm wrong on this). DoT + His normal damage from rounds would help bridge the gap a bit from the damage he's doing vs melee. This will encourage players to build the upgrade to his slingshot to be able to do the DoT secondary shot, and continue shooting with his normal shots, which I think is a great direction. And quickly saying, Pure horror should NOT be the first available instance of this option that is way too late for people to want to use Walter.

 

Let me know what you guys think, as they asked for input on Walter and this is mine,

Thank you for reading.

[Theukon-dos]

Honestly? You're absolutely right eith the ""Mid-game content in a powercrept MMO" analogy. But that's why I love his skill tree so much. 

 

No bloat, no comediacally overblown abilities or damage values, no perks that only feel like they where tacked on because the tree needed more content and the only real justification for it is "Well It would make sense of they could do [thing]. Just a plain, simple skill tree that expands on Walter's core kit and makes him actually good at the things he does.

 

As for the "why" though, the Slingshot is one of-if not the most unique weapon in the game. Even moreso now that it can be modified. So actually using it makes fighting with him take on an entirely different dynamic than just about any other character.

 

On top of that, while the damage may be low, the advantage that range gives can not be understated. Walter's ability to keep enemies at a distance while pelting them with pellets is incredibly powerful. Especially now that he doesn't need to be richer than Fort Nox to actually use his Slingshot consistently. Enemies in DST are really bad at dealing with players that don't have to approach them. Shadow rook might be one of the few exceptions, but the vast majority of mobs and even bosses can be easily camped out with Woby or a Beefalo and killed with basically no risk to the player.

[UnkemptLee]

5 minutes ago, Theukon-dos said:

Honestly? You're absolutely right eith the ""Mid-game content in a powercrept MMO" analogy. But that's why I love his skill tree so much. 

No bloat, no comediacally overblown abilities or damage values, no perks that only feel like they where tacked on because the tree needed more content and the only real justification for it is "Well It would make sense of they could do [thing]. Just a plain, simple skill tree that expands on Walter's core kit and makes him actually good at the things he does.

As for the "why" though, the Slingshot is one of-if not the most unique weapon in the game. Even moreso now that it can be modified. So actually using it makes fighting with him take on an entirely different dynamic than just about any other character.

I absolutely understand the want for a more streamlined kit/skill tree, however the problem with that is Walter is not one of the characters that should be getting a streamlined skill-tree. The Dev's talked about this in a recent stream where characters like Wendy who have a strong identity and decent kit in the game, should get a small QoL skill-tree. Walter however, suffers from one of the lowest pick-rates in the game. Now we could talk all day about what we personally would like, but for all intents an purposes, Walter has an alternate playstyle that no one else has.

The problem is, his playstyle is tedious as all hell to the common player.

I agree with the ranged sentiments and how powerful that is, as well as the tightrope required to balance that. However the work required for him to be able to use that playstyle, as well as the resources required, compare to a character just building a Hambat and out-dps'ing him, cannot be understated as well. The dev's specifically mentioned his pickrate is around the same as Wes, which is the bottom of the barrel, so something about him is not hitting the mark with the playerbase.

So as much as we'd like to sit here and say "Well we don't want his damage to be equal or greater to the typical melee character, that would invalidate melee characters!" The reality is no one is going to play a character who can't do these things. The point I made about the DoT + Ranged damage is a decent fix in my eyes.

I feel it needs to be said, we tend to lose perspective of what new/earlyish players want to do when playing the game, which is feel like they are doing good in the game. If you hand a new player Walters slingshot and they fire a Stone round, they are going to most likely think one of two things: "This character sucks!" or "Okay that ammo sucks how do I get better ammo?". And even if they choose the latter, they'll find the peak of all their hard work is still heavily outshined by most other characters swinging mid-level weapons.