Poison Birchnut/"Birchguard"...

[codysgroup]

Also, another thing is that, while Treeguards can only spawn after day 3, you can just run

into a Birchguard on the first day, and in fact you probably most likely will the first time you

play the DLC because they're so common and there's no prior indication that chopping a

birch down is going to summon fourth a colossal swarm of man-eating nuts, before you're

even likely to have a spear on you yet.

I made a new save hopped into the world chopped a tree down and died to a giant, zombie acorn spawning tree that repeatedly stabbed me with thorns and then I died =P

[codysgroup]

It's not 100%, it's 50%, which is fine.

it may be 50% but when you're surrounded by trees and you chop one at least one of those it going to turn into one

[Shoggoth]

it may be 50% but when you're surrounded by trees and you chop one at least one of those it going to turn into one

It's not a 50% chance per tree, it's a 50% chance that any will become angry. In other words, 50% of the time that you chop down a full size birchnut tree, you will not see any angry trees.  The other 50% of the time one or more trees will become angry, depending on how many are around you.

[Shoggoth]

Another thing worth pointing out: you can utilize birchnut trees to help you.  When angry they attack anything they can, including your enemies.  They also will send root spikes to skittish creatures, such as birds, killing them.

[halberdsturgeon]

I fail to see why anyone would bother chopping down birchnuts for any reason. There's always going to be a better way to get wood or food than to bring down an army of poison birchnuts on yourself. They're just taking up space that was previously inhabited by non-insane trees.

[Ridley]

I just use the bell on my birch forest once the trees throw a fit. You can also chop down the trees without problems in winter. As they are designed right now, you are allowed to chop down about 2 trees before being forced to leave. That is enough to last you until you plant pine trees.

 

However, I do think it makes more sense that the trees only get mad during autumn. It gives autumn a non-giant threat and mixes well with the changing of the color in the normal tree's leaves.

[Amkar]

 

lol you took me too literally but this is exactly what i meant. they are not good trees to rely heavily on wood! if your in an autumn biome and night time is approaching and you have no wood. then you have to chop down these crazy trees putting you in a pickle. what I'm saying is that this was well thought out.

 

 

I see what you're saying, but that's not a worthwhile reward for the risk. It makes it just easier to completely ignore their existence altogether. Considering trees are one of the most basic things in the game, this just makes AT LEAST a quarter of the world's trees pointless.

[brummbar7]

As Ridley pointed out, they don't spawn in winter, so that's a safe time.  Even after you spawn them at other times, they de-aggro after a very short time, and then you can come in and cut them them with impunity.  I'm still not sure if that's a bug (hard to keep up with all the posts now that beta is on steam!)  You can get living logs from them so if you're in a pinch and have no TNT or treeguards, then you have a solution.   I think it's good because it makes the autumn biome slightly less attractive as a base, at least until you can transplant a pine forest there.   Whereas before it was a REALLY good base in most cases.

[Zalyn]

Another thing worth pointing out: you can utilize birchnut trees to help you.  When angry they attack anything they can, including your enemies.  They also will send root spikes to skittish creatures, such as birds, killing them.

 

They weren't very helpful with the Rook, who incidentally was the one who pissed them off in the first place... the Demon Nuts all ignored the Rook and chased after me instead.  I think that aggro mechanic should be adjusted since it would be in keeping with the general ecology of the game.

 

[CREU]

That's quite simply not true. They ARE meant to be cut down. They would not be covering 1/4 of my map if they were just for decoration. And making chopping them down summon an army of overpowered tree monsters is not adding excitement and difficulty, it just forces me to limit myself when gathering wood by avoiding a gameplay feature.

Risk should give worthwhile reward. As it is, it quite simply doesn't. In a game basically based around that principle, this is far too risky for a tiny reward.

Yes that is what i been loking to tell by sayng that they are just meaniless nice words AGREED!(sry bad inglish brasilian)

[Biggun777]

I agree completely they need to be nurfed just a little maybe instead of a 50% chance of spawning more like a 5-15% spawn rate so i when i chop down one of these damn trees in the middle of the night on day 3 that i don't instantly get swarmed by 50 of this little bastards that jump on me and ruin mine and little Webbers day (and poor Chester who took the main impact of the assault may god have mercy on his soul). i don't think they need some special reward and i like the idea that they make you think twice about chopping down a birchnut tree but its just way to common and happens way to often. We all know that you need one thing to survive the night and that is light and on day 3 you are most likely going to set up a little fire and you are going to need fuel so you chop this tree and bam instantly screwed.

[goldfish911]

So- general consensus combined with my opinion seems to be this:

 

Birchnut treeguard spawn rate is too high, too dangerous, too early(for inexperienced players/experienced alike

The trees are safe if chopped when not fully grown/during winter

Birchnutters are mini, unkitable warrior spiders with reduced damage and hp.

Birchnutters are great for killing other things(I found this out when I ran from a birchnut treeguard only to return and find a broken hive.

 

I thought treeguards in general had to do with being careful when chopping trees. And birchnut trees are SO COMMON!!! Of course, spiky trees used to be more rare, but there was no risk from them! 

 

They do need to be nerfed, but I don't know how. A reduced spawn rate would make acorns more useful as a food item a little, but think of how a swarm of birchnut treeguards could be used to defend a base?!

 

[ConeyKrab]

It seems weird for birchnut trees to be designed as an emergency food source with them spanning over a large portion of the world. I don't see how you can say that birch trees weren't designed for wood, I mean, they're trees. Can I get a link to where it's been said that that's their intended purpose?

 

I find myself ignoring them, I've never really used them in a pinch. The spawnrate should be toned down for sure, having a few of them come to life with the falling of a single tree is a bit crazy. If you're unskilled you've got a crazy hoard of relatively difficult enemies; if you're skilled you've got a crazy army and access to a large quantity of valuable resources. The large spawnrate works both ways.

[Tumalu]

>I don't see how you can say that birch trees weren't designed for wood, I mean, they're trees.

 

This is pretty clearly an example of you approaching the situation with the wrong idea. Really, most people seem to not think that birchguards are OP as much as "I want to be able to chop these trees easily, why won't you let me?!". Birchguards themselves aren't really all that dangerous of an enemy (even when you don't expect it the first time, you have time to just run) and having a nice, RELIABLE source of living wood is really really nice if you ask me; totally normal trees will get you a Shadow Manipulator but not much more, and treeguards can be very rare depending on your luck.

 

Plus birchguards being reliably spawnable makes them usable as a niche foodsource, or offense tactic, or other variety of things. And you can cut them in winter, or apparently also if you just chop the small birches?

 

I'd say them being a reliable spawn actually makes birch trees better, you just have to use them correctly. I don't see why they'd need a nerf for being harmful.

[Ragnarok]

I see birchnuts as a source of charcoal.

Occasionally I will cut down large trees that are on their own, for wood and some food, but mainly they are there to burn.

[Amkar]

having a nice, RELIABLE source of living wood is really really nice if you ask me; totally normal trees will get you a Shadow Manipulator but not much more, and treeguards can be very rare depending on your luck.

 

I don't think that's necessarily a good thing. Living logs were always supposed to be a rare resource, completely NOT something with a reliable source. If anything, they were too rare before, which is exactly why they added the Totally Normal Tree. It's non-renewable, giving you enough for the shadow manipulator, but once they're gone, you have no reliable source.

 

Having them too common kinda makes the Totally Normal Tree pointless. 

 

Also, saying they're NOT for wood is approaching the situation wrong. They were first implemented as just normal trees. They were probably thought up as normal trees. The treeguard is an additional aspect of the tree, not the other way around. They should be first and foremost a source of wood with a CHANCE (not a guarantee) of getting a treeguard.

[Tumalu]

Saying the devs probably didn't intend to make them this way from the start is assuming things you don't know. I'unno, this feels like people who hate Mario Sticker Star because it isn't a normal paper mario game; they came expecting Paper Mario so they dislike it because it isn't -> you expect it to be like the trees we already have but it isn't, so you dislike it.

 

I think the birchguard is more useful than it is harmful, considering you can always just chop the even-more-plentiful coniferious trees for wood already. Besides, just making them be a different flavor of coniferious tree seems boring.

 

There's also the part where if the birchguards are more rare there's not much stopping you from just farming birchnuts off them without much risk (even when the guard DOES appear you can just run, so if it was 10% you could still massfarm). At least right now you have to do battle with the birchnut critters, even if they aren't very harmful. (If you're Wendy you can mass kill with abigail, but that's specific)

[tHe_silent_H]

were-beaver woodie loves birchnut tree guards and wishes every tree was one