Wilson's Beard: Analysis

[Toros]

What follows is a detailed analysis of Wilson's beard as a perk to describe both a realistic and idealized level of how it may be used.  There will also be an analysis of alternative sources of beard hair and its utility.  I believe based on comments I've seen that the benefits and especially the hair production of Wilson's beard is grossly overestimated.  This impacts perception of character balance as there appears to be roughly two groups:  Those that believe that Wilson is only marginally above Wes due to his beard being his sole perk, and those who feel Wilson is average due to his lack of downsides.

Starting a fresh game in DST, the first decision point occurs at day 5 when Wilson has reached his first stage of beard, which provides 15 insulation (Rabbit earmuffs provide 60, Winter hat 120, Beefalo hat 240).  The player can choose to shave at this point and acquire 1 beard hair while still having a full grown beard for just about the start of winter, as it takes 15 days for the beard to fully grow.  They could instead shave at day 8 when the beard reaches the second stage, providing 3 beard hair, which is still not enough to produce an effigy alone.

If the player reaches day 16 and has not yet shaved, they could shave for the full amount (9) of beard hair, but as the insulation provided by the beard goes from 0/15/45/135 it is really only the last stage that provides significant benefit.  This would not be reached until day 31, only a few days before Winter ends.

 

This means the player can either acquire 9 beard hair and forego insulation benefit for the majority of winter, or can acquire 0-1 beard hair and retain the benefit.  A Wilson then will shave at the start of spring, having acquired 9-10 beard hair in 4 hours and 40 minutes of playtime.  Spring and summer are likely to provide another 13 beard hair as letting the beard grow during the summer is actively detrimental.  This provides a total of 23 beard hair in 9 hours and 20 minutes of playtime.  That's a rate of roughly 1 beard hair every 3 days as a practical matter, which adds up to a total of 7 effigies.  This is probably the most useful way to use the hair as it is a mediocre fuel and the only other recipe that uses it is bernie.  In isolation, this doesn't seem bad considering that it's all passively gained.

 

Unfortunately this is an ability that is directly helpful only in winter, and the slow rate of beard hair needs to be compared with other sources.  For example, beardlords always drop 2 beard hair, so killing one is equivalent to 6 days of Wilson's passive gain.  Shadow splumonkies have a 50% chance of dropping and beardlings have a 20% chance of dropping.  Both of these are relatively weak and low hp enemies and any character can farm them for beard hair.  It's not difficult to match or exceed the rate that Wilson produces the hair, and again hair has very limited uses.

Effigies themselves have some issues as a resurrection method.  Unlike an amulet, it doesn't restore you to life near your body.  It also is vulnerable to fire and destruction by a boss or another player.  For solo players it has clear disadvantages compared to an amulet, and for multiplayer telltale hearts are cheap to make and booster shots aren't very expensive either.  Being revived near your body is probably more desirable.  It's a mid-tier resurrection option which is often out of reach of new players (dying too much to grow beard, unable to effectively farm other sources) yet unnecessary for skilled players who are unlikely to die period, and will likely have an amulet before the end of the first spring.

The other very relevant issue when it comes to Wilson is that his beard is lost on death.  New players are very likely to die before reaching the end of winter, negating Wilson's sole perk.

 

Wilson is considered by many to be the ideal starting character.  For a new player, is 10 beard hair after nearly 5 hours if they survive a reasonable bet or a worthwhile benefit?  I believe a strong argument could be made that Winona provides a better introduction as her perks are not dependent on continuous survival, which is exactly what a new player fails at.  Wigfrid is a popular and reasonable choice as her mid-tier starting gear provides a potent and forgiving introduction to combat in don't starve and encourages swift crockpot prototyping.

 

I hope this has granted you a better understanding of how Wilson's beard works in practice, and how especially new players will struggle to benefit from it.

[JohnWatson]

bbbbutbututbut wilson is THE averagemiddlegroundcentreandabsoluteepitomeofbalanceandperfectequillibrium because hre has ZERO nO null Nothing 0 lack of downdides

[Toast1070]

What about Woodie's beard? Webber's?

[Donke60]

51 minutes ago, Toros said:

What follows is a detailed analysis of Wilson's beard as a perk to describe both a realistic and idealized level of how it may be used.  There will also be an analysis of alternative sources of beard hair and its utility.  I believe based on comments I've seen that the benefits and especially the hair production of Wilson's beard is grossly overestimated.  This impacts perception of character balance as there appears to be roughly two groups:  Those that believe that Wilson is only marginally above Wes due to his beard being his sole perk, and those who feel Wilson is average due to his lack of downsides.

Starting a fresh game in DST, the first decision point occurs at day 5 when Wilson has reached his first stage of beard, which provides 15 insulation (Rabbit earmuffs provide 60, Winter hat 120, Beefalo hat 240).  The player can choose to shave at this point and acquire 1 beard hair while still having a full grown beard for just about the start of winter, as it takes 15 days for the beard to fully grow.  They could instead shave at day 8 when the beard reaches the second stage, providing 3 beard hair, which is still not enough to produce an effigy alone.

If the player reaches day 16 and has not yet shaved, they could shave for the full amount (9) of beard hair, but as the insulation provided by the beard goes from 0/15/45/135 it is really only the last stage that provides significant benefit.  This would not be reached until day 31, only a few days before Winter ends.

 

This means the player can either acquire 9 beard hair and forego insulation benefit for the majority of winter, or can acquire 0-1 beard hair and retain the benefit.  A Wilson then will shave at the start of spring, having acquired 9-10 beard hair in 4 hours and 40 minutes of playtime.  Spring and summer are likely to provide another 13 beard hair as letting the beard grow during the summer is actively detrimental.  This provides a total of 23 beard hair in 9 hours and 20 minutes of playtime.  That's a rate of roughly 1 beard hair every 3 days as a practical matter, which adds up to a total of 7 effigies.  This is probably the most useful way to use the hair as it is a mediocre fuel and the only other recipe that uses it is bernie.  In isolation, this doesn't seem bad considering that it's all passively gained.

 

Unfortunately this is an ability that is directly helpful only in winter, and the slow rate of beard hair needs to be compared with other sources.  For example, beardlords always drop 2 beard hair, so killing one is equivalent to 6 days of Wilson's passive gain.  Shadow splumonkies have a 50% chance of dropping and beardlings have a 20% chance of dropping.  Both of these are relatively weak and low hp enemies and any character can farm them for beard hair.  It's not difficult to match or exceed the rate that Wilson produces the hair, and again hair has very limited uses.

Effigies themselves have some issues as a resurrection method.  Unlike an amulet, it doesn't restore you to life near your body.  It also is vulnerable to fire and destruction by a boss or another player.  For solo players it has clear disadvantages compared to an amulet, and for multiplayer telltale hearts are cheap to make and booster shots aren't very expensive either.  Being revived near your body is probably more desirable.  It's a mid-tier resurrection option which is often out of reach of new players (dying too much to grow beard, unable to effectively farm other sources) yet unnecessary for skilled players who are unlikely to die period, and will likely have an amulet before the end of the first spring.

The other very relevant issue when it comes to Wilson is that his beard is lost on death.  New players are very likely to die before reaching the end of winter, negating Wilson's sole perk.

 

Wilson is considered by many to be the ideal starting character.  For a new player, is 10 beard hair after nearly 5 hours if they survive a reasonable bet or a worthwhile benefit?  I believe a strong argument could be made that Winona provides a better introduction as her perks are not dependent on continuous survival, which is exactly what a new player fails at.  Wigfrid is a popular and reasonable choice as her mid-tier starting gear provides a potent and forgiving introduction to combat in don't starve and encourages swift crockpot prototyping.

 

I hope this has granted you a better understanding of how Wilson's beard works in practice, and how especially new players will struggle to benefit from it.

this will all come down to the play who you want fiasco

 

10 minutes ago, Toast1070 said:

Woodie's beard? Webber's?

I'm not too familar with Webber though I belive his full grown beard is 120
and woodie I'm almost certain is 45

[cezarica]

You forgot to mention that when Wilson shaves he gains some sanity, not much but some.

Anyway, since we are talking about new players I think it's safe to assume they won't be getting a Beefalo Hat, Puffy Vest or Hibearnation Vest any time soon cos requires some know how, so let's assume at best that they would be getting a Winter Hat.

Fun fact: Puffy Vest or Hibearnation Vest + Beefalo Hat + Magnificent Beard + fully charged Thermal Stone = roughly 2 days of walking around without freezing at all!

Wilson's Magnificent Beard has 135 insualtion points, Webber's Silky Smooth Beard has 101.25 insulation points and Woodie's beard has just 45 insualtion points.

[Toros]

6 minutes ago, Donke60 said:

this will all come down to the play who you want fiasco

 

I'm not too familar with Webber though I belive his full grown beard is 120
and woodie I'm almost certain is 45

Everyone can and should play who they want, but I find people rate Wilson too highly as being good for new players, and overestimate how helpful the beard actually is in practice.  If anything this should encourage people to let new players play a more diverse set of characters because if you die a lot like most people do when starting to play Wilson has no perks.

17 minutes ago, Toast1070 said:

What about Woodie's beard? Webber's?

Webber gains 75% of the insulation of Wilson (101.25 at max) and reaches full beard after 9 days vs 15 for Wilson.

He also drops silk which while far less rare than beard hair has a lot more uses.  For webber specifically he probably won't care about the extra silk since spider wars will cover all his needs, but shaving and upgrading your starting nest right away can be helpful.

Woodie has the equivalent to a tier 2 beard, which is 45 insulation.  That's worse even than rabbit earmuffs and the random 60 insulation some clothing has.

Max insulation is normally 480, Woodie's max is 525, Webber's is 581, and Wilson's is 615.

[landromat]

18 minutes ago, JohnWatson said:

bbbbutbututbut wilson is THE averagemiddlegroundcentreandabsoluteepitomeofbalanceandperfectequillibrium because hre has ZERO nO null Nothing 0 lack of downdides

Winona lack of downsides

Wilson's beard needs regular shaving on summer

[Donke60]

3 minutes ago, Toros said:

Max insulation is normally 480, Woodie's max is 525, Webber's is 581, and Wilson's is 615.

and Warly has zero #beardlessbeardbro

[Toros]

11 minutes ago, cezarica said:

You forgot to mention that when Wilson shaves he gains some sanity, not much but some.

Anyway, since we are talking about new players I think it's safe to assume they won't be getting a Beefalo Hat, Puffy Vest or Hibearnation Vest any time soon cos requires some know how, so let's assume at best that they would be getting a Winter Hat.

Fun fact: Puffy Vest or Hibearnation Vest + Beefalo Hat + Magnificent Beard + fully charged Thermal Stone = roughly 2 days of walking around without freezing at all!

Wilson's Magnificent Beard has 135 insualtion points, Webber's Silky Smooth Beard has 101.25 insulation points and Woodie's beard has just 45 insualtion points.

By my estimation Wilson will shave once in fall, once in winter, twice in spring and three times in summer normally.

That is 70 sanity in 9 hours and 20 min, or 0.125 sanity per minute.

The total benefit from shaving averages out to one point of sanity per day which is why I didn't mention it.

@Donke60 Warly has a cool goatee, but truthfully anything less than a stage three beard is difficult to tell if it even is having an effect.

[Donke60]

20 minutes ago, cezarica said:

u forgot to mention that when Wilson shaves he gains some sanity, not much but some

if we are going to the top of the noob iceberg I'd alssume they would die once before they reach winter

 

35 minutes ago, cezarica said:

You forgot to mention that when Wilson shaves he gains some sanity, not much but some.

Anyway, since we are talking about new players I think it's safe to assume they won't be getting a Beefalo Hat, Puffy Vest or Hibearnation Vest any time soon cos requires some know how, so let's assume at best that they would be getting a Winter Hat.

Fun fact: Puffy Vest or Hibearnation Vest + Beefalo Hat + Magnificent Beard + fully charged Thermal Stone = roughly 2 days of walking around without freezing at all!

Wilson's Magnificent Beard has 135 insualtion points, Webber's Silky Smooth Beard has 101.25 insulation points and Woodie's beard has just 45 insualtion points.

Most noob problems I see are food shortage and the deerclops

 

[Captain_Rage]

3 hours ago, Toast1070 said:

What about Woodie's beard? Webber's?

What about Wolfgang's moustache? What about it?

 

It is nice.

 

It is very nice.

 

 

That's about it.

[MondayNight]

If we rightly assume newbies will die at least once in first autumn, then Wilson is just stock without cons. Winona builds 2x faster and has those tapes (not very useful, but still), so it should rank higher in stock area (also 1 free-pass from grue is most newbie-friendly). Then we have all the other characters with cons, thus being a bit less helpful for a new player than stock ones - sure you can argue that "some cons cannot even be considered really cons and can be easily by-passed", but that's just your advanced mindset; for newbies a con is a con, a lazy-leg and just that. Could help them learn better... or could make them wanna quit game (that already has a steep learning curve). And then there's Wes... why is this one even mentioned as a pick for noobs?! Why someone can even think of placing it in similar category with stocks (Wilson, Winona)?! Wes is a sure-bet for newbies to quit (again if you argue "hard mode" is a good way for players to advance quicker or the like... that's just your advanced-player mindset; think in therms of "I didn't knew I even needed a torch for the night"). Thus Wilson and Winona are nice picks for newbies, most forgiving ones, 0 cons.

[Toast1070]

6 hours ago, Captain_Rage said:

What about Wolfgang's moustache? What about it?

 

It is nice.

 

It is very nice.

 

 

That's about it.

My question was about the insulation of the beards, but yes, you do have a point.

[Rellimarual]

When I first saw how long this was, I assumed it was one of those parody posts.

[HamBatter]

So we should recommend Winona to new players and ask them to do all the refining.

[Toros]

39 minutes ago, HamBatter said:

So we should recommend Winona to new players and ask them to do all the refining.

Basically, yes.  If they play Wilson his beard doesn't produce hair quickly enough to be a good source, and they'll die and lose it anyway.

If you're going to help teach them the basics that's fine, but otherwise you can have them contribute to the group in ways that are relatively simple.

[cezarica]

I get it that Willow and Webber have low sanity to say the least, Wendy has damage multiplier nerf but relies on her sister as the damage dealer, Max has low HP but has his minions to do his bidding, Wolfgang has hunger "issues", Wigfried needs to eat only meat products, Wes is for advanced players to say the least with Wolfgang's hunger and Wendy's damage multiplier and finally but not the last Woodie with his "curse" aren't "good" options for a new players, but why not suggest picking WX or Wickerbottom for instance?

Wickerbottom not good cos she can't sleep and doesn't like spoiled food? Another reason to pick WX.

[Starlogy]

5 hours ago, cezarica said:

Wickerbottom not good cos she can't sleep and doesn't like spoiled food? Another reason to pick WX.

Thing is tho, I've met people who HATE playing WX just because, according to them, he's just boring. They don't like his character, and his abilities don't justify playing him. He has nothing fun about him, in all honesty.

[Spaartan]

2 minutes ago, StarmanNess said:

Thing is tho, I've met people who HATE playing WX just because, according to them, he's just boring. They don't like his character, and his abilities don't justify playing him. He has nothing fun about him, in all honesty.

I

2 minutes ago, StarmanNess said:

Thing is tho, I've met people who HATE playing WX just because, according to them, he's just boring. They don't like his character, and his abilities don't justify playing him. He has nothing fun about him, in all honesty.

agree

2 minutes ago, StarmanNess said:

Thing is tho, I've met people who HATE playing WX just because, according to them, he's just boring. They don't like his character, and his abilities don't justify playing him. He has nothing fun about him, in all honesty.

His buffs are interesting but in-game they get boring extremely fast. Also, he has no backstory, (as of now) which means less lore for us! Take for example Wendy, has extremely depressing quotes that tell the story behind her and her sister (don't forget the William Carter puzzles(to an extent(we are pretty sure about it by now))). Now take a look at WX, the only quote (that I know of) that gives us an idea of his backstory is this: "MOTHER?" when examining an alchemy engine. 

[TheKingDedede]

@Spaartan, could you do something about your triple post?