New electric mechanics may cause some unexpected disasters, and I'm worry about it.

[Blue Tangerine]

  I get it, the new electric shock stun is cool, chain lightning is cool, but when I see that lightning can set "plant" enemies on fire, I feel worried and scared. I hope the devs have noticed this, but if they haven't, I hope my post can remind them.
  Chain lightning caused by electric shock can ignite some enemies, that is a very dangerous mechanic. Although only a few weapons can cause this effect on a few enemies currently, it is still a potential threat.
  Imagine this: a new gamer spawns a few tree guards while cutting down trees, he picks up a Morning Star to fight, the weapon sets a tree guard on fire, and inadvertently generates chain lightning, more enemies are ignited, the fire eventually gets out of control and spreads to his nearby base...
  The same situation happens when facing brightshades invasion, they parasitize farms where full of crops, if they are ignited… everything is ready except the east wind then. Also as we all know, wormwoods often serve as farmers, they are vulnerable to fire. Similarly, Webbers need to be careful, because spider nests and spider glands are flammable,too.
We still don't know how far will this new mechanism go now. Volt Jelly cannot cause these effects,but assuming that in the future, devs plan to allow it to cause such effects, I must remind you all that Volt Jelly's buff cannot be manually terminated by players,  it will be more uncontrollable than Morning Star.
  Finally, I want to say that DST already has enough mechanism related to fire, we have wild fire in summer, lightning in spring, red hounds, etc. Any of them can burn down the base that players have worked hard to build. Adding a new fire mechanism is interesting, but it is also uncontrollable. I think the danger and loss it will cause are most likely to overwhelm the fun it may bring. Please consider it carefully before bringing it to the formal update.

Edit：I saw ppl said that torch can cause these disasters as well,but that's not my point.Normally when one creature/item is on fire,there is a procedure of smoldering before the flames actually spread,which spare players some time to deal with it.However,this procedure is greatly shortened because of the chain lightning,fire can spread wildly within a  second,that's why I said it's uncontrollable and dangerous

Edited July 20, 2025 by Blue Tangerine

[Reiko24]

Just don't use electric weapons against plant enemies. DST and DS always was play around and find out type of game. A newbie will attack something using a morning star and be like "oh no, it ignites plants, i can't use it near my flammable stuff!"

[Milordo]

Ah yes, because 

These never existed and never caused exactly the problems you're worried but x1000 worse, right?

Don't worry it's fine. Be more careful around new players with torches, campfires, fire staff, antlion sinkholes and hounds. Those destroy bases on blind experiences.

[xhyom]

3 hours ago, Reiko24 said:

Just don't use electric weapons against plant enemies. DST and DS always was play around and find out type of game. A newbie will attack something using a morning star and be like "oh no, it ignites plants, i can't use it near my flammable stuff!"

I think the problem is more with Warly's food, there's no way he can vomit the effect lol, but I also think it's completely laughable the chances of you having the food effect active and by chance going to pick up wood and activating a tree guard. But yes, let's learn not to use this weapon for every occasion, can't limit everything Klei will do because technically you can't know in advance about a mechanic before even causing it, less of a 'problem' in a game that is kind of known for not telling you anything in advance and having many uncontrollable uncompromising situations lol

I don't think it would even be a frustrating situation of "I had no way of knowing, this is stupid" when causing a fire since it COULD be possible to assume this beforehand logically and it would be more of a "I should have thought of that"

Edited July 19, 2025 by xhyom

[Uedo]

42 minutes ago, Giga Chet said:

This is a completely new point that's more or less irrelevant to electric mechanics. I'm ashamed to even humor this

And? That's how conversation goes Chet. 

Are we only allowed to say things in a really prescribed way or am I allowed to speak freely? Do you want to maybe share these rules you've got for how you want the conversation to go? Be real.

[Jakepeng99]

6 hours ago, Blue Tangerine said:

Imagine this: a new gamer spawns a few tree guards while cutting down trees, he picks up a Morning Star to fight, the weapon sets a tree guard on fire, and inadvertently generates chain lightning, more enemies are ignited, the fire eventually gets out of control and spreads to his nearby base...

What if they try and fight with a torch because fire beats plant

[Left 4 Sharkb8]

Where is the new player getting a Horning Star from? It requires a boss to be defeated along with volt goat horns.

 

Also, I'd imagine these hypothetical people would just... Learn to be more careful? Maybe not use electricity against plants?

[viblym]

16 minutes ago, Left 4 Sharkb8 said:

Where is the new player getting a Horning Star from? It requires a boss to be defeated along with volt goat horns.

 

Also, I'd imagine these hypothetical people would just... Learn to be more careful? Maybe not use electricity against plants?

I know what you're going for but:
- There is a Morning Star setpiece
- You do not have to kill a boss to craft it

[reddocc]

Only if klei adds the rose bush hounds as part of hound waves in spring. They could even drop leafy meat and petals instead of the stage play props

[Left 4 Sharkb8]

Just now, viblym said:

I know what you're going for but:
- There is a Morning Star setpiece
- You do not have to kill a boss to craft it

Sorry, I come from a universe where they also require Down Feathers.

Wait there's a setpiece??? I straight up have never seen that one. Marvelous.

 

But yeah I don't really think setting an enemy on fire is gonna be the end of the world. I think it's a cute interaction that does little in the way of really harming anyone while also adding a few new gameplay scenarios, mainly for Wormwood. Electrical damage is a pretty rare and often expensive thing, so generally the people handling it will have half a mind to not just mindlessly attack plant creatures with it.

[Reiko24]

54 minutes ago, Jakepeng99 said:

What if they try and fight with a torch because fire beats plant

I did that with treeguards XD

[Milordo]

58 minutes ago, Uedo said:

And? That's how conversation goes Chet. 

Are we only allowed to say things in a really prescribed way or am I allowed to speak freely? Do you want to maybe share these rules you've got for how you want the conversation to go? Be real.

Lmao, it has all been shadow-banned. I was going to put some reaction but it gave me errors.

25 minutes ago, Left 4 Sharkb8 said:

Where is the new player getting a Horning Star from? It requires a boss to be defeated along with volt goat horns.

 

Also, I'd imagine these hypothetical people would just... Learn to be more careful? Maybe not use electricity against plants?

Not only that, new people will never approach these things --> therefore it's something for normal medium players to found, which are now far more experienced and knowledgeable of Don't Starve "trolliness". Trust me, I know it very well about it, you can't find another one in these forums more experience than me on this.

40 minutes ago, Jakepeng99 said:

What if they try and fight with a torch because fire beats plant

ALSO THIS ^^^ You know how many times new players think on Treeguards "hmmnnn I think torches OR/AND axes are super effective against them!" and then die miserably? 

6 minutes ago, Reiko24 said:

I did that with treeguards XD

Exactly 6 minutes before I was finishing the post. . . . . . .

 

 

 

Lol

[lowercase skye]

Personally I just find it annoying that as Wigfrid I'll need to carry around a second weapon in the endgame specifically for brightshades. With treeguards it doesn't matter, but brightshades spawn directly in your base at an incredibly high rate. I'll need to carry around a second weapon, and the repair kits for that second weapon, just so I can kill a mob with the same difficulty as ever, because the weapon I'd been using for the past 2 years will now immediately burn down my entire base in the process. Every other character gets a huge convenience once rifts are open and repairable weapons are introduced, and can save inventory slots they'd previously use for crafting materials, but Wigfrid instead now gets an anti-convenience where she needs extra inventory slots to hold another weapon specifically for killing one singular mob. Nothing got harder or more challenging, it just got significantly more annoying.

[DVGMedia]

My main thoughts are kind of similar to the new celestial crown.  We are finally getting things that are dangerous again! 
the player has to think about what to use now instead of just going with the the same choice for everything.  

 

[Maxil20]

I personally don't think it's a bad thing to happen on items like the morning star, given it's literally an uncontrollable ball of energy you are swinging around, but I really feel some things shouldn't have it, especially signature character specific weapons. It feels bad that a character's weapon That Specifically Can Only Be Held By This Character has an innate downside that actively discourages you from using your Said Signature Weapon and instead to just use one of the non signature weapons for everyday combat.

I feel it would be better if there were tags for "controlled" and "uncontrolled" electricity, since I think it is a concept that is pretty neat, but I don't think every electric source should have innate downsides to the point of setting plants and the like on fire, even if in turn it would mean you wouldn't get things like the chain effect on controlled sources.

[Blue Tangerine]

5 hours ago, Milordo said:

Ah yes, because 

These never existed and never caused exactly the problems you're worried but x1000 worse, right?

Don't worry it's fine. Be more careful around new players with torches, campfires, fire staff, antlion sinkholes and hounds. Those destroy bases on blind experiences.

The problem is not torch or campfire ,it's  CHAIN lightning. These are different because normal fire spread has a procedure of smolder while fire caused by CHAIN lightning doesn't.Chain lightning ignites any plant enemies with a single touch.

Also,could you stop this  sarcasm? It's  not helpful for communication and I find it very rude.

[Guille6785]

1 hour ago, Left 4 Sharkb8 said:

Wait there's a setpiece??? I straight up have never seen that one. Marvelous.

 

[SilverSpoon]

34 minutes ago, lowercase skye said:

Personally I just find it annoying that as Wigfrid I'll need to carry around a second weapon in the endgame specifically for brightshades.

I just tested it, and the Elding Spear is only dash attacks cause shock or fire. Normal attack don't cause fire.(also charged)

That said, I think it should have some kind of player flow to prevent a beginner who doesn't know from burning down the whole base.

[lowercase skye]

9 minutes ago, SilverSpoon said:

I just tested it, and the Elding Spear is only dash attacks cause shock or fire. Normal attack don't cause fire.(also charged)

Wow okay, my bad, I fell victim to trusting a forum description of new content. Yeah this is totally entirely fine, I'll just have to remember not to dash through them. Thank you for testing it and sharing those results!

[Milordo]

Just now, Blue Tangerine said:

The problem is not torch or campfire ,it's  CHAIN lightning. These are different because normal fire spread has a procedure of smolder while fire caused by CHAIN lightning doesn't.Chain lightning ignites any plant enemies with a single touch.

Also,could you stop this  sarcasm? It's  not helpful for communication and I find it very rude.

First, chill. I'm sorry if you find it rude but I never said it in a mean way. Don't take it too seriously. 

Second of all, you literally said and created this post because of new players, which is very super duper important, because it undermines and destroy everything you're saying and I and others already said more on this before, so you can go re-read it. Then I'll remember you igniting enemies of course doesn't smolder because they're enemies, not structures. You know what also does this? Fire staff, Willow, and many other things, even campfires and torches. 

As of now, this is not a problem at all, and it depends on you the player, managing the space and place of where enemies are being "chain-lightning". Don't worry. 

[Blue Tangerine]

20 minutes ago, Milordo said:

First, chill. I'm sorry if you find it rude but I never said it in a mean way. Don't take it too seriously. 

Second of all, you literally said and created this post because of new players, which is very super duper important, because it undermines and destroy everything you're saying and I and others already said more on this before, so you can go re-read it. Then I'll remember you igniting enemies of course doesn't smolder because they're enemies, not structures. You know what also does this? Fire staff, Willow, and many other things, even campfires and torches. 

As of now, this is not a problem at all, and it depends on you the player, managing the space and place of where enemies are being "chain-lightning". Don't worry. 

Geez,I never said immediately ignite a enemy is the problem,torch,willow,fire staff ,they can do the same,I know.The problem is CHAIN lightning which may cause a group of enemies to burn immediately,before this beta,such group ignitions only happen when willow use her skills,and her flames are controllable for most of  time,that's the difference.

 

Edited July 19, 2025 by Blue Tangerine

[Cassielu]

I think there's no problem with this. It's very controllable, just don't use electric weapon.

[SilverSpoon]

1 hour ago, lowercase skye said:

Wow okay, my bad, I fell victim to trusting a forum description of new content. Yeah this is totally entirely fine, I'll just have to remember not to dash through them. Thank you for testing it and sharing those results!

I'm Sorry. After further testing, I have confirmed that Elding Spear's normal attack can electrocuted or ignites only wet targets. Brightshade will get wet if it rains, so it could cause a fire.

[Edible Coal]

what are the chances of a new player using a eletric weapon and 10 tree guard super close to your base.....

[SilverSpoon]

30 minutes ago, Edible Coal said:

what are the chances of a new player using a eletric weapon and 10 tree guard super close to your base.....

Tree guard is unlikely, but Lure plant is reasonable. It is possible for a Lure Plant to catch fire due to electric chain when Hound Wave etc.  Another problem is that if a Lure Plant burns out, it will be reduced to ashes instead Fleshy Bulb.

Edited July 20, 2025 by SilverSpoon