So far, Willow, Woodie and Wormwood got some good and interesting skills, while Wolfgang, Wigfrid and poor Wilson... not so much.
(i decided to elaborate and provide arguments why i think some trees are good, and some aren't. It can be found below)
The story continues, with Winona looking extremely good, and Wurt looking like a mosquito that will again get slapped with a slipper of zero popularity.
Winona had her main problems fixed, which already is enough for her to see play. And on top of that she got some neat stuff.
Also nice to see that i've guessed at least one thing - socketing different gems into the generator leads to different effects =)
But even though i didn't see any other things that i wanted for Winona (like tool making or repairing tools/weapons with duct tape instead of clothes), i'm not worried for her at all.
Wurt, on the other hand... Like, nothing shown was good. Nothing but the Merm King working between shards now, but that i consider a fix.
Wurt's skills are like first shown Wormwood skills, when fruit flies attacked him instead of farm plants. I mean, great, but.. why?
Klei takes mosquitoes - the least interesting, least powerful, and most annoying thing in the swamp - and makes not one skill with them, but a whole branch. The sound alone is a neigh vote for using mosquitoes.
That remodeled Wendy's sisturn for merm spawning, is it needed? And if so, could it instead be a big totem, that affects all the merms, and not just in small radius.
Fertilizers made out of mosquitoes? You know what would help Wurt grow vegetables? A merm farmer.
Some Wurt suggestions
I see the two mentioned big branches as Feral and Civilized.
Feral would let Wurt embrace the fierce merm nature, make her a better warrior, better fishermerm, utilize that mentioned amphibious stuff. Maybe one mosquito skill, but perhaps one is too much. Maybe, add armor made out of tentacle spots, or different warpaint for different effects?
This branch could and should encourage living in the swamp, away from others.
Civilized, as the name implies, would instead focus on bringing merms into the society. Make fishermerms and farmerms, repair those dilapidated wild merm homes, make merms non-aggro towards players. Read books to merms.
Imagine a farmerm hut that you can build in a regular non-swamp base, and the farmerm would till the soil for you. No more hoes, no more asking Wormwood to plant. Simply amazing!
Or choose the path of war - make a few personal merm guards, arm them with tentacle spikes, build a totem that increases their respawn time. Healing them individually? Add mermedic? No thanks, why not just add some regeneration via that totem, not too strong, and be done with it.
Also, i think that that any Merm King related skills actually belong in the Feral branch. Cuz he is a lazy and demanding tyrant, much like the Pig King. And in Civilized i think that Wurt herself should be viewed as the leader, and those merm guards would be loyal to her.
Good skill trees (in my opinion)
1. Woodie
Has something to chose from in wereforms (at least between moose and beaver), has useful skills for early game, cheesy but kinda fun treeguards, and his affinities compliment the character.
2. Wormwood
Has some fun and useful skills in affinities, tries to provide variety for different playstyles.
3. Willow
Definitely brought back the forgotten character, and people seem to enjoy playing her. Though i personally don't enjoy her that much, i can see myself playing her.
Are those trees ideal? Well, depends on who you ask. For me no - if i would go in detail about every skill, i'd end up reworking most of the trees.
But at least they are fun, they do a better job at giving variety, new things they add don't feel out of place.
Bad skill trees (in my opinion)
1. Wigfrid
She already had early game equipment, why not add those perks to that, why add new stuff which is only a little bit better (without skills i mean).
Why throw the basic spear and shield out of the window, instead of upgrading them into the new items?
Shield as the only weapon, because DS equipment system couldn't find a way to use two hands? Couldn't make a single item that gives both weapon and shield when equipped? This is just meh. Also shield cooldown feels too long for me to be useful.
Wigfrid is literally the last character who needs a beefalo. Not to mention that we still can't see their hp, and the taming process still is very long and can be easily ruined.
Super lazy affinities.
What i would do for Wigfrid:
- since she can make those helmets for pigs, i'd make a Battle Commander branch. Lead a pig army, buff them with songs, have fun. Like, what they tried to do with Wolfgang, but fitting the character and the kit, and also complete and viable
- explore her hunting, since she loves meat so much. Perks for decreasing the required number of tracks or to better see them, higher chances of finding rare prey instead of koalefants, and of course throwing spears.
- maybe further exploring her hunting and equipment crafting to make equipment from all sorts of worthy beasts. Like weapons and armor made out of loot from hounds, worms, tallbirds, and so on - and from bosses too.
2. Wolfgang
You play Wolfgang to be Mighty and stay Mighty. Skills that punish that and reward being puny are bad. It's like making skills for Wendy that require to unsummon Abigail - who needs that?
His skill tree is only damage, damage and damage. There is so much room to explore variety, like making him a better tank rather than damage dealer, or being a true coach and buffing your teammates, or getting even better at chores and having higher stack size for items. But what was explored is out of place and lame, and nobody picks that.
Tried to fix the useless gym, but failed.
Also lazy affinities.
In my concept for Wolfgang, in addition to mentioned things, i reworked his mightiness to not require a separate indicator and to make it a little bit more useful. Also had better gym concept, and dumbbells replaced with a barbell, which could be used as a slow but mighty weapon with AoE.
3. Poor Wilson
Oh, the guy was so scammed with those skill trees. Like, having to spend seven skills on a torch, so that said torch is still worse than the lantern (which you can acquire on day 1).
In DST nothing indicates that he is a "starting character", and nothing justifies him having such an awful tree. I mean, if others had similar trees, it wouldn't be awful. But they don't.
Also storing food in the beard is gross. Same genius-level idea as to add dead children into the game for Wendy.
In my rework Wilson is a true alchemist, and beside transmutating stuff he can make alchemical goop, which is highly flammable. So, this goop can be applied to torches (and given to allies), thrown at monsters to increase the fire damage they take, and used as a very good fuel. Like, one skill that is better that Wilson's whole branch.
He had elixirs with fun effects, such as ability for anyone to grow a beard, or the one that can make a crop to instantly turn into giant.
The other branch was about pseudoscience, dabbling in the stuff you get from the ruins.
And all Wilson's creations and elixirs could misfire or backfire, to create the feeling of being a mad scientist.
Are my trees better than Klei's? Not necessarily. They just show that all skill trees should suit the characters and expand them in the right directions, while also trying to be fun, have variety and meaningful skills. Having more that one viable builds, and no dead skills.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Edited by Mortalbane
