POLL: Which character without a skill tree are you most excited and curious about?

[GamePlayer42]

22 minutes ago, Mr Giggio said:

We have already a very low amount of options/ synergy and support between characters and the very few you guys take it as a "me thing". I'm not against Wicker getting stuff that is her own. Taking away this interactions tho does nothing to benefit the char.

yeah i think you make a fair point, she could definitely use things that are specific to her rather than taking away from character interaction, only problem is balance really and i think maxwell even pre skilltree is very very overinflated with his power and i think that wickers books only contribute more to that

[Dr. Safety]

Shadow aligned Wickerbottom should be able to read the codex for increased sanity costs. Speaking as a former Maxwell main

[Edible Coal]

25 minutes ago, Dr. Safety said:

Shadow aligned Wickerbottom should be able to read the codex for increased sanity costs. Speaking as a former Maxwell main

that is a ( pardon me saying this ) rather simpleton idea, the two book mage users clearly need to set themselves apart rather then cannibalize on each other tool kits....

[Mysterious box]

2 hours ago, Mr Giggio said:

If you want some voice, even tho you will just reply and reply and refuse to get a point because this is  a novel I saw many times, here it goes:

Support characters don't make it bad, what makes it bad is the character that supports being resume to that.

Cutting the support makes it less interesting. If Warly couldn't share recipes it makes him less strong. The fact only Max and Wurt can read but ALSO has other perks has nothing to do with what Wicker is lacking. Blaming and wanting to take away is just greedy, selfish *** that got a lot of push back for a reason

 

This is far from a equal comparsion especially when Wickerbottom clearly isn't meant to be a support role she just has some abilities that can support.

However let's address the Warly part of that. A lot of people have said in the past that Warly has the same thing as Wickerbottom but there's many key differences. When you build her bookcase and books she's no longer needed in the feedback loop unless something happens to the books or bookcase this would be like if you played an mmo and after the healer cast heal once the mage could use it for the rest of the game but more efficiently and at that point why would you use the healer ever again?

Now one might say well Warly is the same but his deal isn't yes everyone can use the food he makes but he still needs to make that food. Next people will bring up that you could mass produce the food thus eliminating Warly but not only is that tedious unless you've reached a point where his dishes probably aren't worth the effort but you will still eventually need to go back you are increasing the workload to use his dishes and even then you still need him. Wickerbottom isn't needed from the moment she crafts her last book she's just an inferior Maxwell at that point.

Support characters only work when the support they offer doesn't cut them from the gameplay loop which is exactly what Wickerbottom's does.

While I'm debunking bad potential arguments let's address another no Wickerbottom isn't a boring character how enjoyable a character is has nothing to do with the problem Maxwell posses to her. He asks the question why play Wickerbottom when you can play Wickerbottom+ and the answer to that can't just be well it's clearly just that she's boring as we've seen people lose their crap over characters coming too close to replacing what their characters do best so why should Wickerbottom's entire identity being directly stolen be considered not a big deal?

Also Wurt reading her books doesn't take away from Wickerbottom because she does it in her own unique way Maxwell just takes her powers and calls it a day.

[Mr Giggio]

46 minutes ago, gaymime said:

also, so you don't think i am biased; i play maxwell sometimes i NEVER play wicker. i have no interest in wicker and will continue to infrequently play maxwell.

I do both too and play solo in most cases and the fact Wicker can do stuff almost same pace as Maxwell (at least the shadow arc) for me makes me feel like people don't start with her as often because can struggle more with content but she is totally doable and again, I hope her skill tree come to be the best we have so far I wish a lot of shine but I can't stand this "other touching books bad" argument.

8 minutes ago, Mysterious box said:

when Wickerbottom clearly isn't meant to be a support role

 How u went to this conclusion tho

[Mysterious box]

1 hour ago, Mr Giggio said:

We have already a very low amount of options/ synergy and support between characters and the very few you guys take it as a "me thing". I'm not against Wicker getting stuff that is her own. Taking away this interactions tho does nothing to benefit the char.

Books are her thing that's literally her job before and after the constant this is like giving away Wanda's clocks and going man I wish Wanda had something that actually belonged to her.

Also lack of synergy? Are we playing the same game? Warly+ everyone, Wortox+Weremoose or Wormwood. Wurt's clever disguse allowing wortox and webber to be netrual to and recruit bunnymen. Wx providing infinite light, heating, cooling etc. This is just to name a few and none of them replace the character's main gimmick to synergize.

1 hour ago, Mr Giggio said:

Taking away this interactions tho does nothing to benefit the char.

Except give them a unique role on a team.

3 minutes ago, Mr Giggio said:

How u went to this conclusion tho

I'm more interested in how you reached the idea that she is a support role? Is Wurt a support role? Is Wigfrid what makes her a support role by your standards?

[flamboyant wolf]

15 minutes ago, Mr Giggio said:

 How u went to this conclusion tho

While I think both Warly and Wickerbottom could be classified as a "support role", as they both "support" the team in their own ways, I will not get lost in the semantics, and adress specifically your assertion that Wickerbottom's abilities being able to be used by Maxwell is just her being a "supportive character".

Let's take look at Warly and Wickerbottom, or more specifically, the perks they "share" with others.

1. Warly can make special dishes and spices that can provide benefits/buffs on consumption. Any other player can eat the dish made/spiced by Warly and benefit from it, so what intention can we see behind Warly's design? Well, I think it'd be quite fair to say the intent here is to be able to aid/buff yourself and your friends, quite simple and straightforward. 

2. Wickerbottom can make books, which she can read for various special effects. Maxwell can read those books as well. Maxwell is the only other character who can read Wickerbottom's books for their special effects, which leads to the question, what is the intent behind Wickerbottom's character anyway? If she was meant to be a character who makes the books other characters can use and benefit from independently, like Warly and his dishes, then surely they would be usable by everyone, yeah? But it is only Maxwell, so then, was the intention of Wickerbottom's design to simply be an extension to Maxwell specifically? obviously no, that'd simply be bad game design. So it is fair to conclude that Wickerbottom's abilities were designed with the intent of her being the one to use the books.

But does that mean Wickerbottom is meant to be the only one to benefit from her perks? Well, let's compare the books to Warly's dishes once again. While the dishes provide their benefits only to the one who ate them, books apply the effect on: 1) The area around the caster; 2) The caster and other players around them; 3) The world/shard as a whole. Take note of how none of the books need to be read by another player for them to benefit from/be affected by them. This is what I meant when I said earlier in this post that she can be classified as being a "support role", she indeed can provide support to other players, down to directly affecting them(drying off and changing temperature,  giving prototyping charges), or the world around them(rain/moon phase). 

So, to conclude, Maxwell being able to read Wickerbottom's books has nothing to do with her being a supportive character or not, and removing this ability from him does not detract from Wickerbottom's ability to aid&support other players. 

[YouKnowWho142]

6 hours ago, Mr Giggio said:

We have already a very low amount of options/ synergy and support between characters and the very few you guys take it as a "me thing". I'm not against Wicker getting stuff that is her own. Taking away this interactions tho does nothing to benefit the char.

I don't really like this argument. Being able to use each other's perks isn't a character synergy, it's just stealing each other's perks. A proper synergy is something like Wortox's healing pairing well with Wormwood's living logs, or even in this case Wickerbottom being able to quickly grow Wormwood's crops. These are things that neither character can do alone but prop up each other when combined. I also believe that both characters need to be present and exist for it to be a proper synergy. In this case, Maxwell's ability to use Wickerbottom's books with effectively zero downsides only detracts from Wickerbottom's identity since Wickerbottom does not need to be present for this interaction to happen.

The sort of compromise I've always imagined was that, while Maxwell can still use Wickerbottom's books, books can only recharge in a bookcase if there is a Wickerbottom present, or as an extreme option make the bookcase only accessible to Wickerbottom. This would give Wickerbottom a unique edge over Maxwell since, although Maxwell can still use her books, he cannot effectively recharge them himself. It means a Wickerbottom would still need to be present for Maxwell to utilize the most out of her books instead of relegating her to an inferior version of herself the moment her books are crafted, and this would help partially fix this "synergy" issue.

I'm sure her skill tree will help with quite a few things as well, just look at Winona.

Edited 1 hour ago by YouKnowWho142

[brednas7]

On 4/22/2026 at 12:54 AM, Nikki Darks said:

The fix is as easy as removing Maxwell's reading tag that lets him read her books... The only reason they haven't is because Maxwell players are very vocal and QUITE against the idea of not being able to use another character's skills without having to play them. 

Can't we just make books lose more durability when Maxwell reads it? If it becomes far less convenient for Maxwell to read Wickerbottom's books, then Wickerbottom becomes the better choose to use her own books.