Complete Character Revision Discussion

[IDKDude]

I'm really having a hard time agreeing with this post, not because of the balance changes but because of balancing DST characters in general.  If these changes were implemented then sure, the meta would change, but is that really what the game needs? I've never seen a server filled only with the "Trifecta" or "Meta" and "OP" characters.  Sure, some are obviously better than others, but there still stands a variety of character picks within public servers.  It's very hard to balance characters so that each one is as appealing as the next.  Some cater to newer players, like Wigfrid or Wendy, while others take more knowledge and experience to play to their full potential, such as the "Trifecta" characters of Wolfgang, WX-78, and Wickerbottom.  It's just when you go past the threshold of being able to reliably survive that the better characters really stand out.  However, I believe that just because some characters are meta doesn't mean you have to follow them.  If you enjoy an easy and laid back experience, then by all means pick what you believe to be "OP".  If you're up for a challenge, then pick one that isn't overly buffed, or even set certain rules for yourself that you have to play with.

This isn't PvP, it's PvE.  Just because some characters are better doesn't mean you need to choose them to be a better survivor than someone else.  If DST was PvP based (Which it isn't), then character balancing would be a much larger problem, but as it is PvE, we can choose our own difficulty, regardless of what other people pick for characters.  People aren't "Pubstomping" the survival aspect of public servers, like where you would see in PvP games when there is a OP Meta.  Think, what will we gain if people are forced into different characters because every character got overhauled?  The difficulty spectrum would shrink drastically within characters, but any veteran who played Wes would still be able to thrive by himself, and as Wes is considered the most challenging character, any other would be more effective than him.  The only thing we would "gain" is the loss of easy mode, which was by choice in the character selection screen anyways.

Overall, I believe character balance in a PvE game is not as important as creating interesting and fun character mechanics.  I'm sure most people have felt the immense satisfaction of killing 20+ spiders or bees with a single abigail AoE attack, or insta-growing a huge batch of crops.  Is DST meant to be challenging? Yes.  Does picking OP characters allow that? No.  Is picking Wes and solo-basing in the Atrium challenging? Yes.  Do characters need buffs and nerfs to make them more interesting and enjoyable? Yes.  Do they all need to revolve around the Wilson-standard of balance? No.  Certain Characters deserve buffs and nerfs, but not in the way you've shown.  

[Captain_Rage]

Willow doesn't possess heat resistance, from what I know. She has a fire resistance and a delay for taking fire damage.

The freezing is not so much a nerf but a flawed design. Willow can't enter the ruins or hardly farm nightmare fuel. In the summer/autumn you have no idea when you suddenly start freezing and take damage if it is because of her sanity or wetness or temperature. This is only confusing.

Please, Klei, remedy this. Make Willow enjoyable once again. Willow's overall concept is very nice and she's a fun character to play but the random freezing is simply detrimental (there is no real way of off-setting it either; not like the other disadvantages for the other characters).

I agree that DST should not be subject for hardcore balancing. The characters were established in Don't Starve and mostly received only minor tweaks for DST, as mentioned in the previous post. Willow got a big overhaul, however, and now she is locked out from a big portion of the game in its current state.

If you are extremely determined you can probably try to solo the ruins with Willow, but the challenge will in big parts only consist of going through ridiculous amounts of preparations just to be able not to die instantly from a broken mechanic, since the ruins require you to toggle your sanity in a hazardous environment. That is extremly lame.

[asdrub43l]

9 hours ago, Sketched_Philo said:

>Pigmen can be fed monster meat directly by most characters(not Webber) to turn them into Werepigs and guarantee pig skin drops from them. Webber has to go across hoops to get a pigman to eat the four pieces of monster meat(pigmen have a delay between food consumption).

@Sketched_Philo yo you don't have to drop mm on the ground and wait for mr piggie to go 'ME HUNGRY!'. You can feed him like any other char. Dodge a hit, feed, dodge repeat.

 

--- Also, Ingward, i liked you better when you were just watching over New Londo :^)

 

 

[voyager156]

The Curator your proposed changes would just made characters extremely boring - I hope this is some troll joke...

As Astroknot wrote: "If these changes were to get added I would stop playing." Yeah, not only You...

[Mr.Tarunio]

12 hours ago, The Curator said:

The change of minions is suggested

is this a suggestion thread then? ;> @ImDaMisterL sing to the beat and shuffle this thread if it is a suggestion topic.

[TheKingDedede]

I just thought I'd act as a second friendly reminder to everyone. Usually, threads like these can get derailed fast, but I trust that everyone can stay on-topic.

For reference sake, here are the Etiquette Standards in a spoiler:

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[Destros09]

Can we just get @nome to confirm we aren't going to get any more character balance changes and stop the endless supply of nerf wigfred, wx, and Wolfgang post

[Mr.Tarunio]

7 minutes ago, Destros09 said:

Can we just get @nome to confirm we aren't going to get any more character balance changes and stop the endless supply of nerf wigfred, wx, and Wolfgang post

same, all charcters are unique, not easy are hard mode.

[Rellimarual]

19 minutes ago, Destros09 said:

Can we just get @nome to confirm we aren't going to get any more character balance changes and stop the endless supply of nerf wigfred, wx, and Wolfgang post

Please oh please oh please! No disrespect to sincere Willow and Woody fans who seem to have a legitimate beef with how those characters have been altered, although I have never played as either and don't quite get it. But there's no sign that the devs plan to make any substantive changes to characters that were established before the current beta. I get that some people do enjoy jawing on and on about how they, with their superior if totally untested game design skilllz, would do it so much better. But I often wish there were a cracker barrel subforum where backseat driver types could go on and on about stuff that is never going to happen among themselves without cropping up in my "next unread" queue.

[Rellimarual]

On consideration, I guess the Suggestions subforum is just such a place? If devs did confirm that they have no major character revisions planned then moderators could move all the "X must be nerfed!' threads there where they will not bore the rest of us.