Thoughts on Wendy's Skill Tree

[Maoty]

Wendy's biggest feature is Abigail, with her exclusive items being the Elixir that enhances Abigail and the Ashes Box that accelerates Abigail’s growth. The Elixir is tied to the "small scares" mechanic, which appears near graveyards. Klei has worked on these elements and integrated them into the current skill tree. However, the current skill tree has not addressed Wendy's gameplay issues, which leaves me dissatisfied. In fact, the current skill tree gives me the impression that Wendy is about killing small animals, picking on the weak, and is somewhat of a selfish character who shifts pain away from herself. Below are my thoughts:

1. Abigail still struggles with survivability in boss fights
Wendy is a character deeply tied to Abigail, with her strength lying in fighting small mobs and her weakness in boss fights where Abigail is likely to die. Without Abigail, Wendy has no resource-gathering advantages or team contributions (perhaps the Ashes Box recovery to sanity counts as a contribution). She becomes essentially a weaker version of Wilson, with only 0.75x damage. Therefore, Wendy is highly reliant on Abigail. However, the current skill tree does little to improve Abigail’s survivability. Aside from the 600 shield from the Ashes Box after a 10-minute idle, which doesn't last long against bosses and can't be healed back with items, Abigail’s survivability remains weak. The 600 shield is insufficient against bosses, and the shield can only be refreshed by leaving Abigail near the Ashes Box. This setup forces Wendy to stay near the Ashes Box, which is inconvenient and doesn't help much in combat.
I hope Klei can strengthen Abigail's survivability, perhaps by allowing Wendy to take damage for Abigail (similar to the "Cloak of the Dead" from Don't Starve), or by allowing Abigail to stay close to Wendy in a "possessed" state, so both can dodge boss attacks together.

2. Abigail's Moonlight form switch is very inconvenient
The Moonlight form of Abigail can only be switched during a full moon or new moon, which is quite inconvenient. The Moonlight Abigail has a specialized single-target attack, making her suitable for boss fights, but the normal Abigail has the advantage of group damage. The 10-day switching cooldown is frustrating, and if you miss the time window, you’ll have to wait another 20 days.
I hope Klei can add other ways to change forms, such as using the Elixir or a command.

3. Why is Tomb Moving Exclusive to Wendy?
Why is moving graves something only Wendy can do? What makes her special in this regard? Is she from a family of tomb guardians? I hope Klei could allow all players to move graves and create tombstones.

4. Allow Abigail to Use Multiple Elixirs
I hope the skill tree could be adjusted to let Abigail use multiple Elixirs at once.

5. Merge Fear and Haunting Abilities
Abigail's Haunting ability causes creatures to fear, but the fear mechanic and Haunting ability should be combined. Currently, Abigail's Haunting has a cooldown, which is slower than the player's ghost haunting speed. I hope Klei could make Abigail’s Haunting a group fear ability instead.

6. More interaction between the sisters
From a character development standpoint, I hope there could be more interactions between Wendy and Abigail. For example, Wendy could take damage on behalf of Abigail. Once Abigail reaches max level, she could sacrifice herself to block a fatal blow for Wendy, which would better reflect their deep sisterly bond.

7. Wendy's character image
In my opinion, Wortox’s skill tree design is excellent, not only because most skills revolve around souls, but because each skill is useful, and the two development paths—“Good Boy” and “Naughty” have a certain narrative depth. In contrast, Wendy's skill tree seems to be all over the place, lacking focus. It could be more thoughtful, like allowing Wendy to become more cheerful or more reclusive. For example:
Cheerful path: Wendy and Abigail accept the reality of being separated by life and death; play games with small scares for more Mourning Glory; Abigail can use multiple Elixirs at once; the demand for Mourning Glory increases; more games with small scares (more cheerful).
Reclusive path: Wendy continues to try resurrecting Abigail; it’s easier to find Mourning Glory through small scares; Wendy’s alchemy improves, allowing for more Elixirs at once; the need for games with small scares decreases (more reclusive). Perhaps, in order to save Abigail, Wendy might even learn shadow magic, just like her uncle Maxwell.

8. Not Everyone Wants to Switch Characters
Some might argue that if you want to fight, you should play other characters, or that Wendy isn’t a combat character and is only suitable for beginners. However, I want to say that not everyone likes to switch characters. After a lot of character swapping, one might feel disconnected, like “Who am I?” I don’t think it’s unreasonable to want Klei to improve Wendy’s quality of life, especially regarding her struggle in boss fights and dealing with shadow monsters. I like Wendy because of her character design, and I hope Klei can fix her weakness in boss fights through the skill tree.

I speculate that Klei might be planning to update the skill tree for Christmas. Given the tight timeline, they may not have enough time to completely redo Wendy's skill tree and will have to make only simple numerical adjustments. However, this would just turn Wendy into a boring, numbers-based character. Can’t Klei just delay Wendy’s update? Although I have many hopes, I might soon have to face the cold reality.