Opinions on Woodie for medium-level players

[Queron81]

I don't see a problem with Woodie. Chop as much trees as you can, turn into Werebeaver, chop one tree after another, turn back to Woodie, plant trees till your sanity is full, and then... just start again chopping trees if you want. With Woodie none of the other players have to chop trees ever again

[TheKingofSquirrels]

4 minutes ago, Queron81 said:

I don't see a problem with Woodie. Chop as much trees as you can, turn into Werebeaver, chop one tree after another, turn back to Woodie, plant trees till your sanity is full, and then... just start again chopping trees if you want. With Woodie none of the other players have to chop trees ever again

Or you can just get Maxwell and be triple as effective...

[Toros]

9 minutes ago, TheKingofSquirrels said:

Or you can just get Maxwell and be triple as effective...

The relationship between Maxwell and Woodie is very similar to the one between Wolfgang and Wigfrid in terms of mechanical power.  If we're saying anyone who isn't the best at anything is useless 8/12 characters are useless.

[Queron81]

But Werebeaver is faster than the shadow puppets.

[TheKingofSquirrels]

26 minutes ago, Toros said:

The relationship between Maxwell and Woodie is very similar to the one between Wolfgang and Wigfrid in terms of mechanical power.  If we're saying anyone who isn't the best at anything is useless 8/12 characters are useless.

Fair enough. 

1 hour ago, Toros said:

If you're trying to say that Woodie could use a buff and has poor design philosophy, I agree 100%.  Werebeaver being so limited in use is a huge wasted opportunity.  I get why they changed him from DS as there are logistical concerns and his werebeaver form in singleplayer is absurdly powerful, but they left Wx, Wolfgang, Wickerbottom alone and they were as OP or more in singleplayer + SW.

I actually don't play Woodie without transforming, I cycle his forms to refill the log meter without consuming wood and just plant pinecones after (or I play my Woodie mod that buffs Werebeaver in numerous ways).

Woodie's design sucks but if you mostly stay in human form he's actually pretty ok.  If Maxwell didn't exist he'd be the fastest wood gatherer, and is surprisingly good at ruins rushing.  He's also the best at winter starts and joining servers where the starting area is devoid of flint.  Which is why I keep saying that calling him useless is unreasonable.  Either your definition of useless affects at least 1/3 of the characters, or Woodie is below average but has niche uses.

So when I said he was useless, I am specifically referring to the Werebeaver, which is I argue is the most important part of his character.

The rest of what you said, I agree.

[Toros]

2 hours ago, TheKingofSquirrels said:

Fair enough. 

So when I said he was useless, I am specifically referring to the Werebeaver, which is I argue is the most important part of his character.

The rest of what you said, I agree.

Well, Woodie has two, maybe three character themes if you think “canadian lumberjack” counts as one or two, with the second/third being that he’s a werebeaver.

I personally am not super fond of his singleplayer implementation in SW either, but it’s more generally useful without a doubt.

What sort of changes would you make to werebeaver to make it more satisfying?

In the mod that I put together werebeaver blends some singleplayer and DST features.

Damage and damage resist are both the same as singleplayer (including log meter being a second health bar for werebeaver), and Woodie doesn’t lose log meter over time (only via chopping and eating grass - grass because his examine quote says he’s allergic and it allows you to force a transformation).

Werebeaver can plant pinecones and eat veggies (to allow sustainable forestry without human form as well as to heal as a werebeaver - beavers are herbivores) and the -90/min sanity drain is reduced to 0.

[Cellby]

1 hour ago, Toros said:

What sort of changes would you make to werebeaver to make it more satisfying?

In the mod that I put together werebeaver blends some singleplayer and DST features.

Can you link the mod? I'd like to check it out.

Despite Woodie being my favourite character in terms of character design, I didn't enjoy playing him the one or two times I gave him a try. You need to change your playstyle quite drastically to play him well, while in other characters you can hop from one to the other without too much "stress" about uncontrollable aspects.

I really like the 0 sanity drain concept. He is marketed as a "wood gathering" character, but Maxwell can do the same job and arguably better. There should be an incentive for Woodies to keep chopping wood without viewing the Werebeaver as an unwanted form. However, I do support some form of sanity drain if he could do a lot of damage like Wigfrid for a time or something; Maxwell's heavy sanity drain while he has the shadow armour on plays similarly.

[Toros]

17 hours ago, Cellby said:

Can you link the mod? I'd like to check it out.

Despite Woodie being my favourite character in terms of character design, I didn't enjoy playing him the one or two times I gave him a try. You need to change your playstyle quite drastically to play him well, while in other characters you can hop from one to the other without too much "stress" about uncontrollable aspects.

I really like the 0 sanity drain concept. He is marketed as a "wood gathering" character, but Maxwell can do the same job and arguably better. There should be an incentive for Woodies to keep chopping wood without viewing the Werebeaver as an unwanted form. However, I do support some form of sanity drain if he could do a lot of damage like Wigfrid for a time or something; Maxwell's heavy sanity drain while he has the shadow armour on plays similarly.

The name of the mod on the steam workshop is Woodie: Stranger Newer Powers, though I’m confused at your mention of Wigfrid and Maxwell.  Wigfrid has just a 25% damage boost, and Max loses the least sanity over time from shadow armor (he has 6.66/min regen, the armor drains 10/min.)

[Cellby]

1 hour ago, Toros said:

The name of the mod on the steam workshop is Woodie: Stranger Newer Powers, though I’m confused at your mention of Wigfrid and Maxwell.  Wigfrid has just a 25% damage boost, and Max loses the least sanity over time from shadow armor (he has 6.66/min regen, the armor drains 10/min.)

What's there to be confused about? I'm just talking about how other characters play into the game, not about implementing other characters' exact stats and putting it into Woodie – thus all the vague language I used when I was describing it. Besides Wigfrid with a battle spear is pretty much the same as a tentacle spike, which I see you have added into the mod. That's what I'm talking about for "a lot of damage" already, I'm not talking about any sort of godmode. That wouldn't be fun.

Thanks for the mod. I'll try it out when I can start up my server again.