woby I want to talk about Woby

[Mysterious box]

So I want to start this by saying I really love what we got in the reworked skill tree but more than that I want to focus on how this changes how the players will view Walter and Woby and forgive me if I presume too much but pre skill tree the interactions between Walter and Woby were somewhat flat she was a slightly unique beefalo and that was about it. In the initial build she got more things to do but her role largely remained the same. However all that changed in the current version of Woby and I'm not just talking about what she can do. Walter actively communicates with Woby making Woby feel more like a living creature and Walter feel far more fleshed out as a character perhaps more than any who came before him. When he starts working he'll directly ask Woby to assist and while Woby is collecting things he'll give her compliments every so often. There's even dialogue for when you pet her as well as tell her to stay and come all of these with multiple dialogue variants I really want to thank the devs for taking so much time for these interactions even if most might not even think much about them they mean a lot to me and my experience!

That being said speaking of what Woby can do now she feels like a true extension of the player now from the moment she spawns in to even later into the world your actions will revolve around her constant support from helping you pick up items, assisting in work related tasks, preserving food, keeping you warm, speedy travel, and storage of your items. Woby's side of the skill tree finally accomplishes making you feel like your playing as Walter and Woby rather than Walter with slightly unique beefalo. Sorry if this was rambly I just wanted to get my thoughts on this out there.

[Chewabacca]

You're so right. Before the closest thing we had to interaction was the "pet" button, which was cute enough but the sort of thing that gets used once and is then forgotten. Otherwise, we had Woby running in the corner and cowering when Walter shoots at birds, which just made me feel like a jerk. That's still there now, but there's so much more that I don't have to be numb to my videogame dog's suffering. The greatest thing about the upgraded fetch, extra resource harvesting, and the help with mining & chopping isn't just the mechanical effects but the way they make Woby feel like a partner. Also yeah, the quotes are great, I'm thankful that we get Walter being nice to his dog now. I didn't know that there are special quotes for petting her now, I gotta check that out.

I think the devs are being really clever with building up this relationship with Woby too because sure you can still go for a beefalo for the buffer, but a lot of players aren't going to want to go for a beefalo even outside of all of Woby's upsides because they'll have an emotional connection to Woby that will make focusing on a beefalo instead of her feel weird.

[gaymime]

as a habitual woby petter i approve of this message!

[Jakepeng99]

Im stealing your picture for something.

[BrixGoBrrr]

3 hours ago, Chewabacca said:

........... but a lot of players aren't going to want to go for a beefalo even outside of all of Woby's upsides because they'll have an emotional connection to Woby that will make focusing on a beefalo instead of her feel weird.

Mmhmm yes, can confirm this phenomenon, bc when I tried switching to other characters for their skilltrees I missed Woby way too unreasonably much! 

[linabagel]

5 hours ago, Mysterious box said:

That being said speaking of what Woby can do now she feels like a true extension of the player now from the moment she spawns in to even later into the world your actions will revolve around her constant support from helping you pick up items, assisting in work related tasks, preserving food, keeping you warm, speedy travel, and storage of your items.

I agree, I like woby's changes. woby's changes expand the number of creatures in the Wizarding World (not just bosses), it also enriches the play of "characters" and "followers", the content is more interesting than Wendy and Wurt.

[Debruh]

I get sad when she's cowering tbh. She does finally feel like something you could get a bit emotionally connected to, like Abby or Bernie.