Thank you for watching! Or reading the comments. Or w/e. Massive thanks to Akiva for creating the character stills used throughout this video, be sure to give them some love over on insta: instagram.com/akiivaq/ Links to other stuff: 🐦TWITTER: twitter.com/Freddo_Films 💬DISCORD SERVER: discordapp.com/invite/dCVANk9 ☁STEAM GROUP: steamcommunity.com/groups/freddofilms (TH-cam doesn't like links in descriptions which is why everything is here.) Although this video didn't really focus a ton on specific stats, in the case that the video happens to contain any direct misinformation, I will leave a correction and timestamp here. CORRECTIONS: Walter is in fact not the last DLC character, the latest update notes confirm this. Apologies for the misinformation. forums.kleientertainment.com/forums/topic/120111-dst-return-of-them-troubled-waters-now-available
3:07 The central idea behind walter, it seems, is _mobility,_ he has woby, who is both a mount and a storage container, as well as slingshots, which allows him to hit and run, combined with his mobile tent which allows you to relocate a previously stagnant structure type. Through the tent system, he also, like winona, subverts the normal cycle of acquiring a vital resource, for winona it's the tape replacing sewing kits, for Walter it's the tent replacing fur rolls. EDITS: 4:20 One of the core gameplay loops in don't starve is one of compounding advantages, similar to accumulating interest on a bank account. As time drags on, your supply of marble trees should steadily grow, and time can _certainly_ drag on, older servers last for hundreds of days. In any case, the slingshot is most useful in hitting a bit of extra damage to support allies and draw attention away from them, walter should not really fights things alone. 11:05 Warly can do the double speed cooking, too. Because he's a chef. 13:08 I agree about adjusting his combat.
How many times have you guys said ‘last don’t starve character.’ Instead of newest, you guys stay last, for like 3 years I’ve heard you guys refer to the past many as the last survivor. Whoever is deciding (x) survivor is the last one? Because they seem to always be wrong
Characters like Wortox, Wurt, and Wormwood aren't _meant_ to have psychological issues like the rest. They're creatures of the Constant, not humans. They weren't lured here or drawn here, they just live here.
And even then they aren't just stupid, they still have some personal problems like wortox being cursed due to his moral decisions and having to live with it, wormwood being alone in the unknown without a purpose or reason to be there, and wurt i dunno, i guess trying to be like the rest of the merm warriors? Or maybe is the hate they have towards the pigs? To be honest a goat merm having to adapt would have been better in terms of lore but it's still interesting i guess
I feel like the perks are all just to service Walters sanity loss from damage. That’s why he has the tent, gains sanity from trees, uses a ranged weapon, and won’t shut up about the bog monster. The reason clothes won’t restore sanity is just to make sure his sanity loss is still punishing, and that’s it. You could even argue woby is there to help him keep a distance from enemies, since he can use the slingshot on his back. Kinda makes him feel more like a gimmick than a character, though I do enjoy playing as him.
Wilson gaining sanity around science based structures actually sounds kinda cool I really like all the mad scientist archetypes and while Wilson is after all supposed to be the base character I would love if his science had more impact on his gameplay than his *BEARD*
if they make a wilson rework i would make that all the items that needs science machine or alchemy engine to prototype to cost only half resources rounded up, but only after you prototyped the item.
J040PL7 well yeah but we just mean like, something. Like, maybe slight discounts on certain items? And a weak sanity gain around machines. Seems fair for a base character
"Wurt and Wormwood both have trait of being stupid". Well yeah, they're creatures of the constant. Have you see the intelligence of pigmen and merms? LUL
@@o5-9dea39 Honestly I think Wilson could easily get a larger sanity boost when he prototypes an item. It wouldn't be something I would consider significant enough to make his status as a "baseline" character any less, but it would encourage players to prototype *everything* for the sanity boost, meaning they will *try* everything. Perfect for a beginner character.
Wilson should get a +20 sanity when discovering new science (instead of base +15) and winona should get a sanity boost from repairing things. Depending on balanced issues, it could be a +5-10 when her trusty tape is used and +0-5 with other ways.
I was a bit skeptical about watching this because I was excited for Walter, but it was a good critique. I think the most defining part of Walter's playstyle is his fearlessness. It allows you to go places and do things you normally wouldn't and the sanity damage along with health damage works to make you feel like a naive kid who ignores the danger (usually signified by sanity drain auras) until you get hit, which really hurts. I figure that creates an interesting playstyle, but I'm interested to here anyone else's thoughts. You could even make a case, though not a very good one, that tents and sanity from tress encourages you to not stay in your base all the time and instead just camp out in forests, which seems like a good idea sanity-wise until you realize the forest can't save you from hounds. The sling shot really should be more defining though, I agree that it isn't effective enough to make him a proper ranged character
I always saw Walter as a group character. Someone who'd stay on the backlines while other players do the melee damage, hence why he deals less damage, since he's intended for support. That's what I always thought anyway.
@@iji_omu What would be the point of that? I'm not defending Walter, he needs ton of work and re-balancing that's for sure but what you say is basically that you want another Wigfrid or Wolfgang, what's the point of getting new characters then?
Yeah, I tend to always use him early game for full cave exploration. No sanity loss just from existing underground, chipper monologue, speedier with Woby, the cheap tent for when you get to the ruins, and the extra inventory. I think the addition of the allergy and sanity gain from trees is meant to cement that he is a child, and allergies are often seen as something children mostly suffer from, and children can get really obsessed with things they like. I also think theyre unnecessary but I can see what Klei meant. I agree the slingshot is basically useless, I leave it on the floor when he spawns and just kite better.
I like that this video didn't have a hyperbolic clickbait title. You didn't say Walter is a "TERRIBLE" or "GAME-BREAKING" character; just flawed. You acknowledge his good points, and you lay out your issues with him in a calm, rational and constructive manner. Bravo.
His tent is actually rather important for his gameplay by allowing him to regain health and sanity simultaneously death spirals caused by single instances of damage can be pulled out of
I just wish the slingshot fired faster, I'm more likely to get hit by something like a spider or bat in the eon it takes to wind up I'm already in range to get smacked and have to run away. Whereas I feel better off playing in close quarters just getting cheap hits in because I no longer need to worry about the negative sanity drain from mobs. His losing sanity from getting hit actually just promotes more careful kiting imo
If it just fired once every second and maybe had stronger craftable upgrades it'd be great, and if he did less melee damage it would also make sense since he's a kid.
I think how the slingshot should work is that it should deal more damage if the player hold down the attack button to charge up the shot, like pressing the button shot a normal shot at quick speed but holding it should let it deal more damage and make the shot go faster.
6:22 In his official trailer after he befriends woby he shows his Sache of Boy Scout medals, and one of them is a image of a dog, while I don’t think it’s perfectly show in game (maybe he could have a more interesting hound examine to show it) it’s at least something
Most of Walter’s quotes for the hound-based enemies imply that he likes them. (Or the more likely answer, is oblivious to how dangerous they are.) In either sense, I find it interesting.
I kinda wish the delved further into the whole ranged character thing. With him being a child and all, you'd think he'd be weaker in melee combat. Maybe through nerfing his Melee damage and buffing his sling shot (or adding craftable alternatives). They could really incentivise the use of ranged weapons. It does kinda seem like Klei is already expecting Walter to be "the ranged character" with some aspects already leaning to benefit a ranged play style (as you mention in your video), but other areas just seems to completely ignore it. Also, what is the point of Woby? He's kinda just there... He sorta makes Walter an all in one machine, especially with early game. Woby allows Walter to explore the map quickly, similarly to goose woodie and Woby allows Walter to effectively have an early back-pack, similar to Wickerbottom. As of now, Walter is basically an easy mode character for new players based upon his positive perks. However, his negative perks contrast this by making new players struggle in combat even more if they keep getting hit. Encouraging them to avoid combat even more instead of teaching them valuable techniques like kiting and baiting. Overall, Walter is like one of those cheap puzzles you buy, filled with puzzle pieces that just don't fit together.
Before the release of the video i'll say: I was so excited when they announced Walter but when we finally got him I just didnt bother to play him. The only thing I like about him is Woby, I rather fight melee instead of using his range weapon and his sanity mechanics are not of my taste. Still im sure there are people that like him.
After playing with a bit, I never played with the slingshot, but I really liked Woby. He fits into my playstyle as someone who picks up almost everything during any kind of trip, from gathering to post-boss fights. However, I agree that his abilities are spread thin. He's become the Liberty Launcher of *Together* (though the Liberty Launcher has only one downside - crippling downside).
In a group game which is what the game intention is, all charecters have different dynamics. hunting, combat, farming, building, base keeping. It requires the group efforts on the abilities of the characters. Walter is obviously the resource ranger/map scouter. I find him to be useful in delivering items between charecters and bases cause woby is so fast. He is ideal to be picked by younger children or newbies who don't quite understand all the game mechanics but still want to contribute.
The only reason Walter's slingshot isn't faster if that the game was meant for melee damage is the animation was 1 second (still long but slightly game breaking) or 0.5 seconds or 0 second it would break the game as most mobs are mainly melee attacked based so you could stun lock them or do high amounts of damage. Oh and if you lonely just have MORE Walters come and break the game EVEN MORE. Also sorry for the rant.
This is a good point, I never really considered the fact that monsters would not really be able to fight back with a melee-speed cast anim. Even now with the 2-sec anim you can already stunlock certain bosses (klaus/beequeen) by staying just outside of their deaggro radius. (radius before the monster gives up on the fight and leaves) DS' combat has always been melee focussed, making a well-rounded ranged character is always going to be finnicky and hard to balance.
Wilson is not a bumbling idiot! Sure, he's egoistic despite his failure as a scientist, but you've seen his abilities here and there, most notably as lore & in events like Gorge & Forge.
Yeah the creators said "He's not a good scientist " but in my opinion he has so much more personality even if we didnt know his origin he is a witty scientist wannabe and he is not dumb and I'm pretty sure he thinks this world as a escape from that harsh world . HE IS THE MAIN CHARACTER OF THE STORY and the true mad scientist.
Sorry for a late response, but everyone seems to forget that Wilson created the Jury-Rigged portal. Sure Maxwell gave him a hand, but it was after Wilson drew a blueprint of the original design, Maxwell just modified it, so all this makes Wilson close to Wagstaff in science.
I think if the Slingshot is buffed to maybe halve the cast time, or maybe buff the damage of all the ammo types then he would be very well designed. Sure the unnecessary perks are odd and pointless, but I think buffing the slingshot would define the character enough that it wouldn't be as necessary. Either way, I'm hoping for a patch eventually
What he fails to mention is the spear only has a higher DPS if you sit there and face tank the enemies hits, which no one does. In reality you swing 2 or 3 times and run away to dodge. If you account for time running back and forth the DPS on the slingshot comes out much better. The slingshot is perfect as it is. It's that oh crap weapon that'll save your butt when you're out of healing and in the middle of a fight. It's not meant to replace high damage weapons. If it was on par with the better weapons it would just remove any challenge from the fights. Why not just give characters a gun that one hit kills anything on the map while we're at it.
@@Squirrel-wz8yb what you, in turn, fail to mention is that the 'T' in DST actually has a meaning. Not everything needs to be useful for solo play. I do agree with you that crafting a ham bat and going melee is much more effective in pretty much every situation. But Walters design seems to be more about being a character for people who like to play with their friends but really do not want to be in the thick of a fight. Which is just fine in my eyes.
@@henningg.1687 But what YOU fail to mention is that some people never play with others and having a character that is flawed in general but more for solo play is bad design. Having the game focused on multiplayer is not an excuse to design a character with not only extremely obvious problems, but problems that can be fixed by just playing with values like the damage he does or the time he takes to attack
I think Walter is a finely made character, most Boy Scouts do learn just about a bunch of random survival stuff and little things while in camp, I think having a bunch of little tricks actually makes him more like a Boy Scout. I think if they made the slingshot fire fast then Walter would be completely crazy, and the slingshot is supposed to combat him losing sanity from taking damage. I think giving woodie sanity from chopping trees and Wilson around science machines would actually benefit the game instead of removing Walters small perks,‘I think the small perks make him really quirky in his design and makes him feel like a Boy Scout.
not that this justifies the perk being there, but the cooking faster perk is actually on warly too. so being a boy scout puts you on the same level as a master chef and a pyromaniac also fun fact: the perk that makes you cook faster is the same perk that allows willow to cook with her lighter. this makes warly and walter the only non-willow characters in the game who can use willow's lighter to pretty much the same extent as her (minus the sanity stuff)
While you do make alot of good points in this video, I think you've missed the entire point of DST's character design. Alot of your points make sense in the context of high-experience, solo play such as cheesing bosses like Bee Queen with complex setups or 'just don't get hit' when fighting certain bosses. When it comes to group play or for new players, Walter makes *alot of sense* character design wise. Using the Bee Queen example - new players probably don't even know about the cheese strategies like that, and if they manage to find them through research a lot of less skilled players wouldn't be able to easily pull those strategies off (The bunnymen strat for bee queen for example is something I could never pull off because I'm not great at farming and gathers mass amounts of resources, and would take multiple seasons to farm everything related). This can be fixed in group fights but then you reach the other problem Group play, at least in my experience, greatly changes how you think about the game. Kiting becomes much harder due to their stun time changing since they make the hit animation more times. Group fights do also incentivise support play - Walters slow chargeup for the ice bullets is negated if he's not the only fighting the boss, and there are other players holding its agro and keeping it in place - making it better then the ice staff because it doesn't drain stamina to use, which is something a lot of new players (or just players that don't like Edgy Rick insanity starts) try to avoid if they can.
Call me weird but I kinda like the random perks of Walter, however I think it's something that should be added to all of the characters. Kind of like the favorite food system, and how that spawned from wurt.
how come I can farm clockworks with gold rounds faster than a spear? you have to remember at range you don't get any hp dammage. sure u can kite but that wastes time which makes slingshot better or sure u can tank and you kill your target faster than with tha slingshot but u get hp dammage. over all just stay away and hold ctrl f than maybe kite if u need but still u kill your target much faster and safer. plus klei increased the range of the slingshot. so you can kite better.
Woody originally had the benefit of gaining sanity by planting pine trees Something that makes me funny is that Wormwood loses sanity if it hurts plants, but he can perfectly regain sanity with a flower hat
Walter's overloading of perks actually does kinda mess with potential future characters. In particular he has a version of every single one of Walani's perks, faster travel speed via a vehicle or mount, resistance to insanity auras, harder to aquire sanity, and not being bothered by wetness, this makes it so if they ever do add Walani to the game she is gonna need to be almost completely reworked.
Personally, walter is my favorite character. Too me, they don't feel like a perk soup, I find there is some cohesion to them. They are really good at keeping sanity, only really loosing a lot of it from taking damage. This partners nicely with their ranged weapon, which can keep them out of danger, keeping their sanity up. They also work really well as support, being able to attack from a range and keeping other players sane, which nicely compliments their other abilities. Sure, they aren't as focused as some other characters, but they aren't as spread out as many say. (Not to mention, they are quite easy, and I suck at the game)
Finally, a video I can link people when I don't want to explain why Walter is a poorly designed character. I do LIKE Walter, and his downside makes him a really fun character for me, but he is a cluster fuck, nothing about his kit feeds into itself like Classic Woodie, Warly, Wolfgang, or Wigfrid. He has a ranged weapon, but no real reason to play ranged (his downside hardly counts), he has a free chester, but requires no upkeep and Walter has no issues with inventory management, and he has two perks for restoring sanity during night, his increased sleep effectiveness + portable tent, and his free sanity regen with his story telling, why does he need both and why is story telling completely free, PLUS standing still near trees, which I would also count as another night perk (since you aren't usually moving much at night). Also 8:24 Avoid Beenis?
He gains sanity for being around trees full stop, you don't have to be standing still to recieve the bonus. But yeah, no proper kit, plus a bunch of random perks, so much missed potential. LOL meant to say 'bee nests'
You are right about the base number of damage on his slingshot, however I feel you are ignoring that if you had a friend fighting the boss you wouldn't have to kite, which greatly increases your damage output.
I think Walter's group role is gatherer/explorer. He has a mount and a Chester from the beginning. Can do long trips to gather supplies for a home-base. His combat role is mounted archer. He can kite mobs and shoot at them with his slingshot. His tent, stories & fearless perks all are meant to strike a balance with his constant sanity drain when hurt.
I really like the new video format! I quite like the more structured approach, and your new little character icon is a nice addition. Regarding the contents of the video itself, you bring up a lot of good points. Walter feels a lot like how Winona did when she was first released: "perk soup and wasted potential". I'm still really bitter the trusty tape doesn't repair armor or weapons and is instead just a reskinned sewing kit. So many cool ideas with Walter, but they feel quite lackluster. I think the obvious fix here is to just decrease the time on Walter's slingshot attacks so his DPS can be on par with other characters-- like this is his specialty, I really don't understand why they had to make it as weak as it is. It already comes with the downsides of eating through resources, being character-specific, and Walter's downsides that encourage a more cautious play style. That's already a pretty hefty list of downsides, yet they decided to add "does horrible damage and leaves you vulnerable while attacking" to the list as well! Klei, I love you guys, but sometimes I can't even begin to understand you.
Not sure if anyone is gonna read this 3 years later, but I agree with this a lot, its been a running theme for DST characters to have a lot of small irrelevant perks and tidbits added especially with the new character reworks and while some are better than others, for me every DS character was always defined by their downside, some of by favourites being Wigfrid who cant eat anything not-meat whatsoever, Warly who can eat only crockpot dishes and different one at that (which is just the best because I love cooking in this game) and Wormwood who cant heal from food, but all of them of course have upsides to fix this, Wig can just kill everything and eat it, Warly gets a crockpot on the go, plus all food is better for him, rarely needing more than 1 dish to fill up either hunger, health or sanity really, and Wormwood while being hard to keep healed up, actually has maybe the best sanity management in the game as a trade of, you can go insane on purpose by chopping a couple trees and be full again by planting a couple seeds, which brings me to oh yeah, he is the God of food production. I used to include Wickerbottom in this who I also like playing a lot, but the downside isnt what it used to be, in single DS you could read books in cost of sanity and not being able to sleep made it quite hard/lengthy to get back effectively. In DST you can just throw out mushroom farms, banana farms and even Lure plant farms to get a HUGE sanity food production with banana pops/shakes giving +33 each and plant jelly a whoping +50 each, definitely thing she should get some other sanity reducing downside, but with charatcters like Wolfgang getting an entire gym of all things, I dont really see it happening.
The trees = Sanity thing doesn't bug me the way it does you. He's a nature lover. That's one reason he became a scout. As for the other questions, yeah, Wilson and Willow getting sanity from being near science and graves, specifically make sense, but Woody is not a nature lover; dude chops trees for a living, so, yeah, he lives in the forest to be close to his work.
I think Walter is ok, but he fells to me like just extra damage impute in groups of people; Wolfgang hits, Walter shoots. But for a singel player, a solo plathrough, he is just like the worst charecter of all of the other charecter, everyone is better than he. That said, I think he is fine, but he is onlly a team charecter, or a challenge charecter, where you have wes if you whant to play a "challenge", or world setings and mods like Uncompromising. Walter is cute though!
@@mr.j410 Listen, it was only an opinion, an opinion that is 4 months old... I realy don't care now, I have school and exams now, not Walter and DST in mind. Klei created diferent charecters, because every player is diferent. If you think Walter is the charecter for you, then good for you.
I like Walter He feels like a return to the old formula, where they made characters with actual personalities, instead of walking and talking abilities like WInona and Wanda....
Do you think the DS community can never be satisfied? There seems to always be many things that people dislike with the characters. Or is it just people criticising a game they love?
I mean I feel like klei doesn’t have any vision with dst where they went from meaningful late game content to event updates to making shipwrecked but worse. It’s just all over the place. I suspect that they keep updating the game because people keep buying skins. Anyway my rant is over dst was pretty good in the beginning but they just don’t have any long term plan and it makes me sad :(
@@badfrad1754 Klei is a team of 40 people , this 40 people Have to deal with 11 games , each game needs general fixes and updates after all , there also an community forum , they need to be active and take care of them , each game has an community each comunity wants an update for their respective game , you cant ignore on all games and focus only on 1 , these 40 people also have lives and maybe family ...
Here are my suggestions for Walter:I definitely agree that Walter has too many perks. They should remove the tree sanity gain and cooking faster perks. They should lower the attach speed of the slingshot and make Walter attack slower melee. Attacking slower would make sense since he’s very fond of monsters so he’d likely try to kill them slower so he could get to know them better. Slow down rounds should slow down mobs for longer and do it for 1/2 rather than 1/3 normal speed. Freeze rounds will be fixed with the higher attack speed. Poop pellets should deagro all mobs of the same type close to the mob shot at. Cursed rounds should deal a bit more damage. Woby should last for 5 days rather than 3 and be faster. Her buck timer should still be reduced after being initially reworked. Her container ability is alright. I think that’s it. Thanks for reading I guess.
i personally find worm wood a bit boring, i love the character idea belive me, but ww was made to just stay at base, seriously make worm wood feel like its more of a plant, make it so that worm wood could eat plant based items like logs or boards to increase his defense, or eat some petals to increase bloom cycle, or maybe eat some stingers so that ww could have the effect of bramble husk, or better yet make it so that stingers can repair it, hell make it so that worm wood could produce twigs or grass for emergency scenarios like your rushing ruins and have no twigs, pr maybe even befriend tree guards to fight for you, or even make it so that worm wood could root into the ground and use it to heal, or probably my favorite idea make it so that at stage 3 bloom form make it so that worm wood could craft a lure plant for 100 hp, its very pricey but seriously they are so rare and its not like worm wood can just make 10 of them cause you would literlly tear off the top of your head basiclly and would get rid of bloom form if you dont like the hunger drain
Unless it was stated by Devs some where I doubt this is the final DLC character, it was stated there would be 4 of them the last three have all been priced and share a few similarity's so I doubt Walter is the fourth one
Well he is a "DLC character" as stated in this post of Klei devs forums.kleientertainment.com/forums/topic/118568-dont-starve-together-may-qol-update/?tab=comments#comment-1337055
while i agree for the most part I believe he's meant to be a scout letteraily to explore for people he has an extra 9 storage he can heal on the fly and he can shoot smaller stuff for recorceses
eh. I agree that he doesn't have a coherent playstyle and that's a bad thing but a few tidbits about your video I think Walters slingshot isn't meant to be used on bosses, and is more of a help against annoying enemies that run away(Koalefant, birds etc) I feel like his whole don't get hit or you lose sanity is meant to make it so he doesn't tank at all, and having to wear the pioneering hat is there so chest slot armors are used more. Overall I think the problem is that Klei has less and less to work with, because at some point you run out of playstyles and well this happens. Also, could you make more positive videos praising Klei? Because I think they've done an amazing job with this game and only posting negative things about their efforts to make this game more interesting isn't what they deserve. kind of how cinemasins also now does cinemawins
on the topic of the slingshot - i agree; to me it seems that people tend to expect it to be an entirely alternative combat method on its own rather than a neat additional perk that can help every now and then, which is why they end up being disappointed with it. imo it wouldn't make much sense to have ranged (or any other damage type for that matter) as an alternative main damage class anyway because it would be hard to achieve any such thing sustainably because, yknow, the characters have nothing more than a basic outdoor environment and their fists, along with a little bit of eldritch magic unless they go through an industrial revolution of their own, there aren't gonna be guns or whatever to match the viability of the existing melee stuff
Even if walter's slingshot was intended to take care of grunt mobs instead of bosses, I still believe Walter would be much more enjoyable if it was more of a general replacement for melee. Not tanking is interesting, because that is somewhat unique. I don't think I made it very clear in the video, but I do like that downside a lot. It's definitely potential for him to be more ranged-focused, and even in it's current state makes combat a fair bit more interesting. Maybe it's a bit arrogant of me to suggest such a fundamental change to a character on no basis other than supposition, but still, I do think it would make him a lot better.
@@FreddoFilms Holy crap you relied :D! About making a more ranged focused character, I feel like there a bit to many problems with that, because with ranged damage you have to be very careful to not make it so overpowered the game becomes boring but not underpowered so people won't just use melee. Dst's current ranged mechanics are quiet good I think, blow darts are hard to acquire enmasse and ice and fire staves don't do enough damage to make them combat viable but they still have their uses. If they do add a range focused character, maybe make it so that combat is easy, but other survival things are harder. Or maybe a pacifist who hates killing and looses sanity when killing something but gets strong ranged weapons. Overall I think the main issue with a mainly ranged character is balancing and the boredom factor of pressing f for while for things to die, without worrying about anything. Other than that I agree completely
I actually figured Walter was for players who had....trouble staying alive in dst. He's a perk soup but many of those perks seem to be geared toward someone like me who really mostly wants to play dst as farm cook sim where ingredients want to eat me just as much I want to eat them. Basically, not very good, but still want to play, but stubborn about not installing those op mod character.
@MarshGamingPlayz he is very multiplayer favored, I think. Not in he is beneficial to others (a la warly) but for someone who isn't too good at combat to play and still help in said combat with others.
What if, hear me out, they let him fire two shots per slingshot casting animation... That way, you still have to kite, but it actually makes the damage worth it 🤔
Great content, great opinions, little-to-no bias, but also great music. Literally the only other Windows96 fan I’ve ever besides me seen outside his comments section
i would really like it tho if every character had a "comfort" where they gained sanity by being near something. like you said with wilson, or woodie, or wurt, or webber near spiders, or warly near crockpots, etc.
would be cool if they went further into the survivalist aspect like he'd have more use from dirt-common items, or be able to reach his 100% combat efficiency in a couple of days
Some changes i think would make walter much better: -Make him weaker, so melee weapons aren't as viable. -Give him the option to craft either a ergonomic slingshot or a sturdy slingshot, both adding the following perks respectively: Decreases time between shots by half, but reduce projectile damage by 5. Increases projectile damage by 15 and projectile effectiveness by 50%(example: freezing pebbles freeze for 50% longer). Both slingshots would have limited uses, maybe the ergonomic slingshot having 50 uses and the sturdy slingshot 100. -Decrease his cooking effectiveness so it's still faster than most charactes, but doesn't take as quickly as willow. -Replacethe sanity around trees buff with a set sanity gain when shooting the slingshot and hitting your target, somewhere around 5-10 sanity should be good.
Walter was supposed to be a glass cannon. He gets hit, he loses tons of sanity, which is much harder to regain without a Tam O Shanter or risking collecting honey from bee boxes (though a Walking Cane neglects that risk) He has a low health stat to promote this glass cannon playstyle. Woby is there to give Walter mobility and allow him to stay at a distance. All of his utility pellets are focused on keeping enemies away from him, be it by deaggroing them, slowing them, or freezing them. But since his slingshot and ridable Woby both feel more like a disadvantage to use than an advantage, he ends up being a glass cannon that's all glass, but no cannon. The developers seemed to try to patch this by giving Walter other ways to deal with sanity: The portable tent, the sanity regen by trees, the pine tree pioneer hat, etc. They effectively put band-aids on the underlying problem.
Hamlet was completely different to DS in tone, which is why its characters were notably sillier than normal. I don't think DST should be treated the same because it's meant to be a continuation of the original story (although it is losing a lot of the original charm and style IMO)
@@FreddoFilms that's fair I agree that DS is kinda loosing it's dark tone for a more fairytale/fantasy esc tone although I think the aporkalypse was a great contrast to hamlet's generally cheery tone I personally want wilba in DST because I LOVED using her wer-form
I feel like you took what could be positive. And turned it into a negative? ‘The freeze round while using one round to freeze an enemy is still weaker then the ice staff because it does damage but I can just run away from a hound attack instead of freezing then with one round and having an extra 5 seconds to get away at the cost of a 2 second cast’
I think simply adjusting some of Walters stats would make him better. Give him 100 Health, .75 damage, and multiply damage from all shots from his gun by 1.5. That way he's worse up close, and his gun actually hurts to get hit by now.
I loved the video and agree with your points. However, I think that Walter is a character made specifically for newer players (hence the focus on not getting hit, gaining sanity for being around common objects, having a decent ranged weapons, etc.). I remember introducing my new friend to Walter. And although we could agree he was kind of just a mess of perks. My friend was glad being able to stay out of fights and put much more importance on kiting rather than tanking due to the sanity loss (which is a very good habit for newer players to learn, in my opinion.)
I feel like your points are very vaild; I haven't played with him yet but I might soon enough just too see what you're talking about. Also I really wonder why they haven't made a cave based character yet. I mean sure Webber kinda fits that, but he's not really designed specifically for the caves and he does have low sanity, and can't even befriend bunnymen.
Some of your arguments tend to be so subjective as to have no meaning. "he gains sanity around trees, who fucking cares". People who enjoy playing a character that's in tune with nature do, it's an endearing trait to have, alongside his dog companion that he seems to have a real bond with. Everything about him screams scout, and small things like being alergic to bees, having a dog, feeling more confident around trees and using a slingshot have an impact on making this character feel real.
Issue is these perks do not contribute to playstyle. They're there for flavour and that's it. Other newer characters might have that issue but not to such a degree as Walter.
I suggest not using the character stills you used in the video because that takes away from the backgrounds which are nice to watch. The lower hunger drain from sleeping I guess makes up for his lower hunger and makes sleeping more viable I guess.
Wurt isn't stupid, she's just been raised by idiots... and is also a child... she is one of 3 characters able to read wickerbottom's books, but she still chews on random things like Wanda's clocks, marble beans, ect. She is the leading political figure of her people, building houses and appointing kings and warriors for her people, even though she is very naïve and doesn't yet understand much of the world being introduced to her, as her teachers were unreliable and stupid due to the curse inflicted upon them. She is trying to bring her people up out of the mud, and doesn't even remember a time before the curse.
Walter:I can't get hit or I will be insane (sad dog) Wormwood: I dig and replant so I can have sanity and I don't care if I get hit bc I have 37 healing slave (big Chad dog)
Walter is the beginner support character he is to help the player learn how to kite and help the team with sanity around the fire pit and building tents for the team that are more effective
I think of Wormwood as low key depressed. He wants to befriend everyone and comes off as weird. Playing solo, he has to kill some plants and that sucks.
i have been looking at the different ammo and got ideas to balance the sling shot rounds pebbles: deal 50 damage per shot (meaning 25 damage compared to melee) it is the weakest but most common Golden rounds: do 60 damage but decrease attack intevrul to last 1.5 seconds rather then 2 (60 % 1.5 = 40 CtM) do less damage then expected for an upgrade but shoot faster so it balances out the damage. marbles: they do 100 damage (which means 50 CtM) the avrage heavy hitter now much more on par with the tentacle spike poop pellets: do no damage but cover enemies in shit for 5 seconds but makes any hit do 1.5 damage (marbles do 150 gold do 90 and pebbles do 75 damage per shot) "kill them with humiliation!" reminds me of Jerate freeze rounds: stay the same, see no point in revamping them. Slow rounds: instead of slowing enemy movement they shall slow down the enemies attack speed for 3 seconds making them more useful for juking the enemies when they get too close they also now do no damage Cursed rounds: fire a shot that does 100 base damage, when hitting a target it has a 50% chance to spawn a shadow tentacle which acts exactly like the tentacles in the swamp, comming out fast and doing 25 damage per hit while hitting the area twice (which makes up 50 damage (CtM) by the shot itself and another possible 50 by the tentacle attacks) thing i should mention: if you look at the stats of melee weapons you see that the damage CtM is still slightly lower (pebbles being much lower in DPS then their melee counterparts the spear, gold rounds have 2.5 DPS less then their respective the bat bat, marble rounds doing 1 less point of DPS then the tenticle spike and cursed round depending on luck to do more damage then the shadow blade) this is in order to think of the extra safty you have from it being a ranged weapon
Although im absurdly late, i'd say that Walter is more of a character for exploring and collecting items rather than for combat, i mean yeah, he has an slingshot, but then he also spawns with a chester that also is a beefalo mount, and can craft a tent that allows him to just pass through the night without worries, and he's inmune to dusk/night sanity drain, when you think about it it does make sense, this is also proven by the fact that his slingshot is awkwardly slow and Woby litteraly throwing Walter off if damaged, and i'd say that well, due to all he has to offer, his gameplay is a bit more of a "avoid fighting if posible" gameplay and that his main role is explore and find, although i do agree some of his perks/drawbacks are unnecesary, gaining sanity with trees? recieving 10 extra damage by bees? quite pointless
You know what i agree with your points some features of Walter need to be removede because they don t acctulay are usefull or are forgetabale like the less hunger drained wile sleeping he kinde need a rework to be more of a sport type range character that can work solo and i know i might get hate for this but wobby aka chester/beefalo needs a kinde of rework to like the first one being while your rising wobby if you get hit use dosen't throw you in the ground like a broken doll and for walter remove perks that do nothing special for the playstyle and actualy improve wooby and the sling shot aka the main abileties
Worst part about Woby is that they didn't have to add her at all. She doesn't fit and frankly, Walter could've been more cohesive if she wasn't added. However now that she is in the game, there's no way to remove her without making everyone mad
In my view Walter is a character designed for newer players, since newer players avoid fighting and getting insane. The campfire story telling perk is also perfect for them since new players mostly build campfires instead of torches when night time comes.
New players get hit, a lot. This well send them insane, they will then get hit by the shadow creatures and die. The inclusion of a drastic insanity-based perk makes walter anything but a character for new players.
@@FreddoFilms I don't know about the new players you play with, but the new players i play with just sits in a camp fire and eats all the food in the ice box. When the hounds come they either jump in the caves or the wormhole.
Good format dude; I absolutely forgot about the tree and hunger perks, they indeed should just buff the perks that make the character, that slingshot and ammo for starters Also: #bringwarbucksback , our boy needs to come back home
I feel like making Walter fire his slingshot faster (maybe twice as fast?) would help a LOT, it would make his dps higher, stuff like freeze rounds harder to hit, ect. Of course, that wouldn't fix everything, more damage/cheaper rounds (like freeze rounds needing ice instead or something) would help too.
Thank you for watching! Or reading the comments. Or w/e.
Massive thanks to Akiva for creating the character stills used throughout this video, be sure to give them some love over on insta:
instagram.com/akiivaq/
Links to other stuff:
🐦TWITTER: twitter.com/Freddo_Films
💬DISCORD SERVER: discordapp.com/invite/dCVANk9
☁STEAM GROUP: steamcommunity.com/groups/freddofilms
(TH-cam doesn't like links in descriptions which is why everything is here.)
Although this video didn't really focus a ton on specific stats, in the case that the video happens to contain any direct misinformation, I will leave a correction and timestamp here.
CORRECTIONS:
Walter is in fact not the last DLC character, the latest update notes confirm this. Apologies for the misinformation.
forums.kleientertainment.com/forums/topic/120111-dst-return-of-them-troubled-waters-now-available
3:07
The central idea behind walter, it seems, is _mobility,_ he has woby, who is both a mount and a storage container, as well as slingshots, which allows him to hit and run, combined with his mobile tent which allows you to relocate a previously stagnant structure type.
Through the tent system, he also, like winona, subverts the normal cycle of acquiring a vital resource, for winona it's the tape replacing sewing kits, for Walter it's the tent replacing fur rolls.
EDITS:
4:20
One of the core gameplay loops in don't starve is one of compounding advantages, similar to accumulating interest on a bank account.
As time drags on, your supply of marble trees should steadily grow, and time can _certainly_ drag on, older servers last for hundreds of days.
In any case, the slingshot is most useful in hitting a bit of extra damage to support allies and draw attention away from them, walter should not really fights things alone.
11:05
Warly can do the double speed cooking, too. Because he's a chef.
13:08
I agree about adjusting his combat.
U know warly cooks faster on fires too?
What's that boss healthbar mod you use?
final charachter eh?
How many times have you guys said ‘last don’t starve character.’ Instead of newest, you guys stay last, for like 3 years I’ve heard you guys refer to the past many as the last survivor. Whoever is deciding (x) survivor is the last one? Because they seem to always be wrong
Characters like Wortox, Wurt, and Wormwood aren't _meant_ to have psychological issues like the rest.
They're creatures of the Constant, not humans. They weren't lured here or drawn here, they just live here.
yea, asking about what their issue is is like asking what a merm's or a krampus's issue with the constant is, they are just there, living
And even then they aren't just stupid, they still have some personal problems like wortox being cursed due to his moral decisions and having to live with it, wormwood being alone in the unknown without a purpose or reason to be there, and wurt i dunno, i guess trying to be like the rest of the merm warriors? Or maybe is the hate they have towards the pigs? To be honest a goat merm having to adapt would have been better in terms of lore but it's still interesting i guess
facts no printer
@@omeletttte wurt is trying to "reclaim merm glory" or smth like that
Wortox isn't from the constant because when he examines the ancient gateway he says he hopped through it
The real perk soup was the friends we made along the way
The absolute god
I feel like the perks are all just to service Walters sanity loss from damage. That’s why he has the tent, gains sanity from trees, uses a ranged weapon, and won’t shut up about the bog monster. The reason clothes won’t restore sanity is just to make sure his sanity loss is still punishing, and that’s it. You could even argue woby is there to help him keep a distance from enemies, since he can use the slingshot on his back. Kinda makes him feel more like a gimmick than a character, though I do enjoy playing as him.
wrong
Walters real perk was the friends he made along the way
lol
Wilson gaining sanity around science based structures actually sounds kinda cool
I really like all the mad scientist archetypes and while Wilson is after all supposed to be the base character I would love if his science had more impact on his gameplay than his *BEARD*
Yeah like, I think Wilson needs SOMETHING else.
if they make a wilson rework i would make that all the items that needs science machine or alchemy engine to prototype to cost only half resources rounded up, but only after you prototyped the item.
@@lazaromora8263 wilson is a failed stupid stupid scientist wich survival skill are pathetic
and i think it will stay that way for a long time
he's the base character as you said, you cant give anything too crazy to the base character because people will turn to him for simplicity.
J040PL7 well yeah but we just mean like, something. Like, maybe slight discounts on certain items? And a weak sanity gain around machines. Seems fair for a base character
"Wurt and Wormwood both have trait of being stupid". Well yeah, they're creatures of the constant.
Have you see the intelligence of pigmen and merms? LUL
wormwood isn't a fucking pig
he was trying to make a point lmao
@@ghostleemann955 the plants aren't that much smarter than the pigs
@@reburg9374 there's no proof
@@ghostleemann955 why are you getting so mad about wormwood being dumb??
being honest wilson SHOULD get sanity when around science structures the same should be applied with winona too
Wilson is supposed to be default, that’s what klei intended for him
@@o5-9dea39 Honestly I think Wilson could easily get a larger sanity boost when he prototypes an item. It wouldn't be something I would consider significant enough to make his status as a "baseline" character any less, but it would encourage players to prototype *everything* for the sanity boost, meaning they will *try* everything. Perfect for a beginner character.
Wilson should get a +20 sanity when discovering new science (instead of base +15) and winona should get a sanity boost from repairing things. Depending on balanced issues, it could be a +5-10 when her trusty tape is used and +0-5 with other ways.
Wilson deserves more
he already gets sanity from prototyping stuff
I was a bit skeptical about watching this because I was excited for Walter, but it was a good critique. I think the most defining part of Walter's playstyle is his fearlessness. It allows you to go places and do things you normally wouldn't and the sanity damage along with health damage works to make you feel like a naive kid who ignores the danger (usually signified by sanity drain auras) until you get hit, which really hurts. I figure that creates an interesting playstyle, but I'm interested to here anyone else's thoughts. You could even make a case, though not a very good one, that tents and sanity from tress encourages you to not stay in your base all the time and instead just camp out in forests, which seems like a good idea sanity-wise until you realize the forest can't save you from hounds. The sling shot really should be more defining though, I agree that it isn't effective enough to make him a proper ranged character
Yes. Nightmare cycle is not a big problem for Walter aside from the clockworks and nightmares that can be easily avoided.
I always saw Walter as a group character. Someone who'd stay on the backlines while other players do the melee damage, hence why he deals less damage, since he's intended for support. That's what I always thought anyway.
And sanity gain at night
i mean, he could help the team even more by doing more damage with a basic weapon
@@iji_omu What would be the point of that? I'm not defending Walter, he needs ton of work and re-balancing that's for sure but what you say is basically that you want another Wigfrid or Wolfgang, what's the point of getting new characters then?
@@JeffGranja27 what is the point of using a sling shot when an axe does more DPS?
@@iji_omu You don't neet to kite.
I know he is flawed - but is still really like playing him - chill and an extra backpack
Yeah, I tend to always use him early game for full cave exploration. No sanity loss just from existing underground, chipper monologue, speedier with Woby, the cheap tent for when you get to the ruins, and the extra inventory. I think the addition of the allergy and sanity gain from trees is meant to cement that he is a child, and allergies are often seen as something children mostly suffer from, and children can get really obsessed with things they like. I also think theyre unnecessary but I can see what Klei meant. I agree the slingshot is basically useless, I leave it on the floor when he spawns and just kite better.
I like that this video didn't have a hyperbolic clickbait title. You didn't say Walter is a "TERRIBLE" or "GAME-BREAKING" character; just flawed. You acknowledge his good points, and you lay out your issues with him in a calm, rational and constructive manner. Bravo.
His tent is actually rather important for his gameplay by allowing him to regain health and sanity simultaneously death spirals caused by single instances of damage can be pulled out of
Watch the entire video.
Wish I would've thought of that. I always forget to sleep in this game.
I just wish the slingshot fired faster, I'm more likely to get hit by something like a spider or bat in the eon it takes to wind up I'm already in range to get smacked and have to run away. Whereas I feel better off playing in close quarters just getting cheap hits in because I no longer need to worry about the negative sanity drain from mobs. His losing sanity from getting hit actually just promotes more careful kiting imo
If it just fired once every second and maybe had stronger craftable upgrades it'd be great, and if he did less melee damage it would also make sense since he's a kid.
@@monkydance2880 wendy already has that down side tho
That’s why I only use it for rabbits and koalephants
I think how the slingshot should work is that it should deal more damage if the player hold down the attack button to charge up the shot, like pressing the button shot a normal shot at quick speed but holding it should let it deal more damage and make the shot go faster.
6:22
In his official trailer after he befriends woby he shows his Sache of Boy Scout medals, and one of them is a image of a dog, while I don’t think it’s perfectly show in game (maybe he could have a more interesting hound examine to show it) it’s at least something
Most of Walter’s quotes for the hound-based enemies imply that he likes them. (Or the more likely answer, is oblivious to how dangerous they are.) In either sense, I find it interesting.
Taming hounds?
One year too late I know, but 9:42 and 11:28 pretty much sums up why this perk is just sort of random
The only child in the game? What about Wendy and Webber? Heck, even Wurt and Wormwood count as kids and Willow is a very young adult.
willow is like in her 20s
But willow is an orphan
I kinda wish the delved further into the whole ranged character thing. With him being a child and all, you'd think he'd be weaker in melee combat. Maybe through nerfing his Melee damage and buffing his sling shot (or adding craftable alternatives). They could really incentivise the use of ranged weapons. It does kinda seem like Klei is already expecting Walter to be "the ranged character" with some aspects already leaning to benefit a ranged play style (as you mention in your video), but other areas just seems to completely ignore it.
Also, what is the point of Woby? He's kinda just there...
He sorta makes Walter an all in one machine, especially with early game.
Woby allows Walter to explore the map quickly, similarly to goose woodie and Woby allows Walter to effectively have an early back-pack, similar to Wickerbottom.
As of now, Walter is basically an easy mode character for new players based upon his positive perks. However, his negative perks contrast this by making new players struggle in combat even more if they keep getting hit. Encouraging them to avoid combat even more instead of teaching them valuable techniques like kiting and baiting.
Overall, Walter is like one of those cheap puzzles you buy, filled with puzzle pieces that just don't fit together.
oh my god, I need to try something: keeping f pressed down and changing ammos, does it work? Can I use poop and marbles?
Before the release of the video i'll say: I was so excited when they announced Walter but when we finally got him I just didnt bother to play him. The only thing I like about him is Woby, I rather fight melee instead of using his range weapon and his sanity mechanics are not of my taste. Still im sure there are people that like him.
I feel Walter isnt bad, he just is meant for a different type of play than any other character by a far larger margin than any other
After playing with a bit, I never played with the slingshot, but I really liked Woby. He fits into my playstyle as someone who picks up almost everything during any kind of trip, from gathering to post-boss fights. However, I agree that his abilities are spread thin. He's become the Liberty Launcher of *Together* (though the Liberty Launcher has only one downside - crippling downside).
@@ratituee true or else there's no point of using him if those ranged weapons don't even helped.
In a group game which is what the game intention is, all charecters have different dynamics. hunting, combat, farming, building, base keeping. It requires the group efforts on the abilities of the characters. Walter is obviously the resource ranger/map scouter. I find him to be useful in delivering items between charecters and bases cause woby is so fast. He is ideal to be picked by younger children or newbies who don't quite understand all the game mechanics but still want to contribute.
Smart
How to fix him: vive walter an buff system in the form of badges
"he likes being around trees,who f*cking cares?"
*I almost choke on my water.*
-Sobs in Wormwood-
The only reason Walter's slingshot isn't faster if that the game was meant for melee damage is the animation was 1 second (still long but slightly game breaking) or 0.5 seconds or 0 second it would break the game as most mobs are mainly melee attacked based so you could stun lock them or do high amounts of damage. Oh and if you lonely just have MORE Walters come and break the game EVEN MORE. Also sorry for the rant.
This is a good point, I never really considered the fact that monsters would not really be able to fight back with a melee-speed cast anim. Even now with the 2-sec anim you can already stunlock certain bosses (klaus/beequeen) by staying just outside of their deaggro radius. (radius before the monster gives up on the fight and leaves)
DS' combat has always been melee focussed, making a well-rounded ranged character is always going to be finnicky and hard to balance.
Wilson is not a bumbling idiot! Sure, he's egoistic despite his failure as a scientist, but you've seen his abilities here and there, most notably as lore & in events like Gorge & Forge.
Yeah the creators said "He's not a good scientist " but in my opinion he has so much more personality even if we didnt know his origin he is a witty scientist wannabe and he is not dumb and I'm pretty sure he thinks this world as a escape from that harsh world . HE IS THE MAIN CHARACTER OF THE STORY and the true mad scientist.
@@olaslkoyun4050
Hes much better an intrepid explorer & adventurer than a scientist. Who else could have defeated the Shadow king?
@@lorenzpacis3249 İf Wilson wasnt there there would be no DST
Sorry for a late response, but everyone seems to forget that Wilson created the Jury-Rigged portal. Sure Maxwell gave him a hand, but it was after Wilson drew a blueprint of the original design, Maxwell just modified it, so all this makes Wilson close to Wagstaff in science.
"he gains sanity from trees" so do i walter, so do i
I couldn't believe that video has 15 minutes. Felt like 5. I liked it a lot. Thanks!
if the animated avatar crosses their arms, you instantly die
I think if the Slingshot is buffed to maybe halve the cast time, or maybe buff the damage of all the ammo types then he would be very well designed. Sure the unnecessary perks are odd and pointless, but I think buffing the slingshot would define the character enough that it wouldn't be as necessary. Either way, I'm hoping for a patch eventually
I think he should have more damage with ranged weapons so blow darts aren't completely useless with walter
What he fails to mention is the spear only has a higher DPS if you sit there and face tank the enemies hits, which no one does. In reality you swing 2 or 3 times and run away to dodge. If you account for time running back and forth the DPS on the slingshot comes out much better. The slingshot is perfect as it is. It's that oh crap weapon that'll save your butt when you're out of healing and in the middle of a fight. It's not meant to replace high damage weapons. If it was on par with the better weapons it would just remove any challenge from the fights. Why not just give characters a gun that one hit kills anything on the map while we're at it.
@@Squirrel-wz8yb what you, in turn, fail to mention is that the 'T' in DST actually has a meaning. Not everything needs to be useful for solo play.
I do agree with you that crafting a ham bat and going melee is much more effective in pretty much every situation. But Walters design seems to be more about being a character for people who like to play with their friends but really do not want to be in the thick of a fight. Which is just fine in my eyes.
@@henningg.1687 But what YOU fail to mention is that some people never play with others and having a character that is flawed in general but more for solo play is bad design.
Having the game focused on multiplayer is not an excuse to design a character with not only extremely obvious problems, but problems that can be fixed by just playing with values like the damage he does or the time he takes to attack
@@omeletttte Some characters are more suitable for some purposes, others for others. And preferences differ. So what?
I want somebody with a gun, a paranoid person with a gun, ammo of gold, 6 ammo in the slot at a time,
They also have the option to end it all
I miss Warbucks
Sounds very sensitive sanity wise, i like the idea
I think Walter is a finely made character, most Boy Scouts do learn just about a bunch of random survival stuff and little things while in camp, I think having a bunch of little tricks actually makes him more like a Boy Scout. I think if they made the slingshot fire fast then Walter would be completely crazy, and the slingshot is supposed to combat him losing sanity from taking damage. I think giving woodie sanity from chopping trees and Wilson around science machines would actually benefit the game instead of removing Walters small perks,‘I think the small perks make him really quirky in his design and makes him feel like a Boy Scout.
not that this justifies the perk being there, but the cooking faster perk is actually on warly too. so being a boy scout puts you on the same level as a master chef and a pyromaniac
also fun fact: the perk that makes you cook faster is the same perk that allows willow to cook with her lighter. this makes warly and walter the only non-willow characters in the game who can use willow's lighter to pretty much the same extent as her (minus the sanity stuff)
How do you know he's the last "promised character" They promised 4 DLC characters and he's no DLC, he's a free for all just like Winona and Warly.
Suddenly, Wanda
While you do make alot of good points in this video, I think you've missed the entire point of DST's character design. Alot of your points make sense in the context of high-experience, solo play such as cheesing bosses like Bee Queen with complex setups or 'just don't get hit' when fighting certain bosses. When it comes to group play or for new players, Walter makes *alot of sense* character design wise.
Using the Bee Queen example - new players probably don't even know about the cheese strategies like that, and if they manage to find them through research a lot of less skilled players wouldn't be able to easily pull those strategies off (The bunnymen strat for bee queen for example is something I could never pull off because I'm not great at farming and gathers mass amounts of resources, and would take multiple seasons to farm everything related). This can be fixed in group fights but then you reach the other problem
Group play, at least in my experience, greatly changes how you think about the game. Kiting becomes much harder due to their stun time changing since they make the hit animation more times. Group fights do also incentivise support play - Walters slow chargeup for the ice bullets is negated if he's not the only fighting the boss, and there are other players holding its agro and keeping it in place - making it better then the ice staff because it doesn't drain stamina to use, which is something a lot of new players (or just players that don't like Edgy Rick insanity starts) try to avoid if they can.
Call me weird but I kinda like the random perks of Walter, however I think it's something that should be added to all of the characters. Kind of like the favorite food system, and how that spawned from wurt.
how come I can farm clockworks with gold rounds faster than a spear? you have to remember at range you don't get any hp dammage. sure u can kite but that wastes time which makes slingshot better or sure u can tank and you kill your target faster than with tha slingshot but u get hp dammage. over all just stay away and hold ctrl f than maybe kite if u need but still u kill your target much faster and safer. plus klei increased the range of the slingshot. so you can kite better.
Woody originally had the benefit of gaining sanity by planting pine trees
Something that makes me funny is that Wormwood loses sanity if it hurts plants, but he can perfectly regain sanity with a flower hat
walter's fear mechanic is meant to push players to using the slingshot instead of going in head-on
Walter's overloading of perks actually does kinda mess with potential future characters. In particular he has a version of every single one of Walani's perks, faster travel speed via a vehicle or mount, resistance to insanity auras, harder to aquire sanity, and not being bothered by wetness, this makes it so if they ever do add Walani to the game she is gonna need to be almost completely reworked.
I am pretty sure they said Walter is the last character dst is gonna get
@@lukelblitz3627 well that was lie
Personally, walter is my favorite character. Too me, they don't feel like a perk soup, I find there is some cohesion to them. They are really good at keeping sanity, only really loosing a lot of it from taking damage. This partners nicely with their ranged weapon, which can keep them out of danger, keeping their sanity up. They also work really well as support, being able to attack from a range and keeping other players sane, which nicely compliments their other abilities. Sure, they aren't as focused as some other characters, but they aren't as spread out as many say. (Not to mention, they are quite easy, and I suck at the game)
Finally, a video I can link people when I don't want to explain why Walter is a poorly designed character. I do LIKE Walter, and his downside makes him a really fun character for me, but he is a cluster fuck, nothing about his kit feeds into itself like Classic Woodie, Warly, Wolfgang, or Wigfrid.
He has a ranged weapon, but no real reason to play ranged (his downside hardly counts), he has a free chester, but requires no upkeep and Walter has no issues with inventory management, and he has two perks for restoring sanity during night, his increased sleep effectiveness + portable tent, and his free sanity regen with his story telling, why does he need both and why is story telling completely free, PLUS standing still near trees, which I would also count as another night perk (since you aren't usually moving much at night).
Also 8:24 Avoid Beenis?
He gains sanity for being around trees full stop, you don't have to be standing still to recieve the bonus.
But yeah, no proper kit, plus a bunch of random perks, so much missed potential.
LOL meant to say 'bee nests'
@@FreddoFilms Freudian slip? lmao
You are right about the base number of damage on his slingshot, however I feel you are ignoring that if you had a friend fighting the boss you wouldn't have to kite, which greatly increases your damage output.
I think Walter's group role is gatherer/explorer. He has a mount and a Chester from the beginning. Can do long trips to gather supplies for a home-base. His combat role is mounted archer. He can kite mobs and shoot at them with his slingshot. His tent, stories & fearless perks all are meant to strike a balance with his constant sanity drain when hurt.
"a worrying lack of fear"
is that not just children?
But... isn’t every character flawed?
by flawed he means terrible
MRclean is god
Smartass
@@neoneoelfinstone2190 its true
Neo Neoelfinstone no..? It’s a company mascot
I really like the new video format! I quite like the more structured approach, and your new little character icon is a nice addition.
Regarding the contents of the video itself, you bring up a lot of good points. Walter feels a lot like how Winona did when she was first released: "perk soup and wasted potential". I'm still really bitter the trusty tape doesn't repair armor or weapons and is instead just a reskinned sewing kit. So many cool ideas with Walter, but they feel quite lackluster.
I think the obvious fix here is to just decrease the time on Walter's slingshot attacks so his DPS can be on par with other characters-- like this is his specialty, I really don't understand why they had to make it as weak as it is. It already comes with the downsides of eating through resources, being character-specific, and Walter's downsides that encourage a more cautious play style. That's already a pretty hefty list of downsides, yet they decided to add "does horrible damage and leaves you vulnerable while attacking" to the list as well!
Klei, I love you guys, but sometimes I can't even begin to understand you.
Not sure if anyone is gonna read this 3 years later, but I agree with this a lot, its been a running theme for DST characters to have a lot of small irrelevant perks and tidbits added especially with the new character reworks and while some are better than others, for me every DS character was always defined by their downside, some of by favourites being Wigfrid who cant eat anything not-meat whatsoever, Warly who can eat only crockpot dishes and different one at that (which is just the best because I love cooking in this game) and Wormwood who cant heal from food, but all of them of course have upsides to fix this, Wig can just kill everything and eat it, Warly gets a crockpot on the go, plus all food is better for him, rarely needing more than 1 dish to fill up either hunger, health or sanity really, and Wormwood while being hard to keep healed up, actually has maybe the best sanity management in the game as a trade of, you can go insane on purpose by chopping a couple trees and be full again by planting a couple seeds, which brings me to oh yeah, he is the God of food production. I used to include Wickerbottom in this who I also like playing a lot, but the downside isnt what it used to be, in single DS you could read books in cost of sanity and not being able to sleep made it quite hard/lengthy to get back effectively. In DST you can just throw out mushroom farms, banana farms and even Lure plant farms to get a HUGE sanity food production with banana pops/shakes giving +33 each and plant jelly a whoping +50 each, definitely thing she should get some other sanity reducing downside, but with charatcters like Wolfgang getting an entire gym of all things, I dont really see it happening.
The trees = Sanity thing doesn't bug me the way it does you. He's a nature lover. That's one reason he became a scout. As for the other questions, yeah, Wilson and Willow getting sanity from being near science and graves, specifically make sense, but Woody is not a nature lover; dude chops trees for a living, so, yeah, he lives in the forest to be close to his work.
I think Walter is ok, but he fells to me like just extra damage impute in groups of people; Wolfgang hits, Walter shoots. But for a singel player, a solo plathrough, he is just like the worst charecter of all of the other charecter, everyone is better than he. That said, I think he is fine, but he is onlly a team charecter, or a challenge charecter, where you have wes if you whant to play a "challenge", or world setings and mods like Uncompromising. Walter is cute though!
IMO he's not bad in single player, since you have a beefalo and chester right away
Day 180 solo with Walter. Hes great I love him
@@mr.j410 Listen, it was only an opinion, an opinion that is 4 months old... I realy don't care now, I have school and exams now, not Walter and DST in mind. Klei created diferent charecters, because every player is diferent. If you think Walter is the charecter for you, then good for you.
I like Walter
He feels like a return to the old formula, where they made characters with actual personalities, instead of walking and talking abilities like WInona and Wanda....
Do you think the DS community can never be satisfied? There seems to always be many things that people dislike with the characters.
Or is it just people criticising a game they love?
I mean I feel like klei doesn’t have any vision with dst where they went from meaningful late game content to event updates to making shipwrecked but worse. It’s just all over the place. I suspect that they keep updating the game because people keep buying skins. Anyway my rant is over dst was pretty good in the beginning but they just don’t have any long term plan and it makes me sad :(
nigga this character is shit
Latter.
I'm complaining about the game all the time because I love it and want it to be better, not because I hate it or want it to fail.
@@badfrad1754 Klei is a team of 40 people , this 40 people Have to deal with 11 games , each game needs general fixes and updates after all , there also an community forum , they need to be active and take care of them , each game has an community each comunity wants an update for their respective game , you cant ignore on all games and focus only on 1 , these 40 people also have lives and maybe family ...
XGeorgeX this is a weak response. They don’t have to have a big team to have a vision for the game
nothing beats having 10 walters all spamming normal pellets at misery toadstool ngl
"the final character added to DST" *wanda laughs*
Here are my suggestions for Walter:I definitely agree that Walter has too many perks. They should remove the tree sanity gain and cooking faster perks. They should lower the attach speed of the slingshot and make Walter attack slower melee. Attacking slower would make sense since he’s very fond of monsters so he’d likely try to kill them slower so he could get to know them better. Slow down rounds should slow down mobs for longer and do it for 1/2 rather than 1/3 normal speed. Freeze rounds will be fixed with the higher attack speed. Poop pellets should deagro all mobs of the same type close to the mob shot at. Cursed rounds should deal a bit more damage. Woby should last for 5 days rather than 3 and be faster. Her buck timer should still be reduced after being initially reworked. Her container ability is alright. I think that’s it. Thanks for reading I guess.
i personally find worm wood a bit boring, i love the character idea belive me, but ww was made to just stay at base, seriously make worm wood feel like its more of a plant, make it so that worm wood could eat plant based items like logs or boards to increase his defense, or eat some petals to increase bloom cycle, or maybe eat some stingers so that ww could have the effect of bramble husk, or better yet make it so that stingers can repair it, hell make it so that worm wood could produce twigs or grass for emergency scenarios like your rushing ruins and have no twigs, pr maybe even befriend tree guards to fight for you, or even make it so that worm wood could root into the ground and use it to heal, or probably my favorite idea make it so that at stage 3 bloom form make it so that worm wood could craft a lure plant for 100 hp, its very pricey but seriously they are so rare and its not like worm wood can just make 10 of them cause you would literlly tear off the top of your head basiclly and would get rid of bloom form if you dont like the hunger drain
I think Walter is meant to be more beginner-friendly but also sort of a glass cannon, while being a strong supporting character for co-op
Unless it was stated by Devs some where I doubt this is the final DLC character, it was stated there would be 4 of them the last three have all been priced and share a few similarity's so I doubt Walter is the fourth one
Well he is a "DLC character" as stated in this post of Klei devs
forums.kleientertainment.com/forums/topic/118568-dont-starve-together-may-qol-update/?tab=comments#comment-1337055
It's unlikely for him to be the last character, he's also not the last DLC character because he came free (like Warly)
Dude, Walter’s a literal certified animal-caring scout. Did you even see the badge? Of course Woby loves him.
Walter is so adorable and I love him conceptually but yeah in terms of gameplay he is kind of a mess
while i agree for the most part I believe he's meant to be a scout letteraily to explore for people he has an extra 9 storage he can heal on the fly and he can shoot smaller stuff for recorceses
i feel like a lot of these things don't bother people who really just like the lore
"Final survivor" 😆
Klei: *John Cena meme* "Are you sure about that?"
eh.
I agree that he doesn't have a coherent playstyle and that's a bad thing but a few tidbits about your video
I think Walters slingshot isn't meant to be used on bosses, and is more of a help against annoying enemies that run away(Koalefant, birds etc)
I feel like his whole don't get hit or you lose sanity is meant to make it so he doesn't tank at all, and having to wear the pioneering hat is there so chest slot armors are used more.
Overall I think the problem is that Klei has less and less to work with, because at some point you run out of playstyles and well this happens.
Also, could you make more positive videos praising Klei? Because I think they've done an amazing job with this game and only posting negative things about their efforts to make this game more interesting isn't what they deserve.
kind of how cinemasins also now does cinemawins
on the topic of the slingshot - i agree; to me it seems that people tend to expect it to be an entirely alternative combat method on its own rather than a neat additional perk that can help every now and then, which is why they end up being disappointed with it. imo it wouldn't make much sense to have ranged (or any other damage type for that matter) as an alternative main damage class anyway because it would be hard to achieve any such thing sustainably because, yknow, the characters have nothing more than a basic outdoor environment and their fists, along with a little bit of eldritch magic
unless they go through an industrial revolution of their own, there aren't gonna be guns or whatever to match the viability of the existing melee stuff
Even if walter's slingshot was intended to take care of grunt mobs instead of bosses, I still believe Walter would be much more enjoyable if it was more of a general replacement for melee. Not tanking is interesting, because that is somewhat unique. I don't think I made it very clear in the video, but I do like that downside a lot. It's definitely potential for him to be more ranged-focused, and even in it's current state makes combat a fair bit more interesting.
Maybe it's a bit arrogant of me to suggest such a fundamental change to a character on no basis other than supposition, but still, I do think it would make him a lot better.
@@FreddoFilms Holy crap you relied :D!
About making a more ranged focused character, I feel like there a bit to many problems with that, because with ranged damage you have to be very careful to not make it so overpowered the game becomes boring but not underpowered so people won't just use melee.
Dst's current ranged mechanics are quiet good I think, blow darts are hard to acquire enmasse and ice and fire staves don't do enough damage to make them combat viable but they still have their uses.
If they do add a range focused character, maybe make it so that combat is easy, but other survival things are harder. Or maybe a pacifist who hates killing and looses sanity when killing something but gets strong ranged weapons.
Overall I think the main issue with a mainly ranged character is balancing and the boredom factor of pressing f for while for things to die, without worrying about anything.
Other than that I agree completely
@@FreddoFilms Oh and also with all this criticizing I forgot to mention that the video quality is amazing! Great work there!
I actually figured Walter was for players who had....trouble staying alive in dst. He's a perk soup but many of those perks seem to be geared toward someone like me who really mostly wants to play dst as farm cook sim where ingredients want to eat me just as much I want to eat them. Basically, not very good, but still want to play, but stubborn about not installing those op mod character.
@MarshGamingPlayz he is very multiplayer favored, I think. Not in he is beneficial to others (a la warly) but for someone who isn't too good at combat to play and still help in said combat with others.
Walter likes being in the woods because he’s a Boy Scout, it makes sense
"final survivor"
in another timeline, they got warbucks
I’d like to thank you for putting in the different sections of the video. (I don’t know what they’re called)
What if, hear me out, they let him fire two shots per slingshot casting animation... That way, you still have to kite, but it actually makes the damage worth it 🤔
Great content, great opinions, little-to-no bias, but also great music. Literally the only other Windows96 fan I’ve ever besides me seen outside his comments section
dude I thought I was the only one, win96 is the shit
i would really like it tho if every character had a "comfort" where they gained sanity by being near something. like you said with wilson, or woodie, or wurt, or webber near spiders, or warly near crockpots, etc.
wurt gains sanity if she holds a fish
would be cool if they went further into the survivalist aspect
like he'd have more use from dirt-common items, or be able to reach his 100% combat efficiency in a couple of days
Some changes i think would make walter much better:
-Make him weaker, so melee weapons aren't as viable.
-Give him the option to craft either a ergonomic slingshot or a sturdy slingshot, both adding the following perks respectively:
Decreases time between shots by half, but reduce projectile damage by 5.
Increases projectile damage by 15 and projectile effectiveness by 50%(example: freezing pebbles freeze for 50% longer).
Both slingshots would have limited uses, maybe the ergonomic slingshot having 50 uses and the sturdy slingshot 100.
-Decrease his cooking effectiveness so it's still faster than most charactes, but doesn't take as quickly as willow.
-Replacethe sanity around trees buff with a set sanity gain when shooting the slingshot and hitting your target, somewhere around 5-10 sanity should be good.
Walter was supposed to be a glass cannon. He gets hit, he loses tons of sanity, which is much harder to regain without a Tam O Shanter or risking collecting honey from bee boxes (though a Walking Cane neglects that risk)
He has a low health stat to promote this glass cannon playstyle. Woby is there to give Walter mobility and allow him to stay at a distance. All of his utility pellets are focused on keeping enemies away from him, be it by deaggroing them, slowing them, or freezing them.
But since his slingshot and ridable Woby both feel more like a disadvantage to use than an advantage, he ends up being a glass cannon that's all glass, but no cannon.
The developers seemed to try to patch this by giving Walter other ways to deal with sanity: The portable tent, the sanity regen by trees, the pine tree pioneer hat, etc. They effectively put band-aids on the underlying problem.
As someone who likes Walter I can agree with most of this
I think if they lowered his melee damage and doubled his slingshot damage he’d be very effective despite the current shortcomings
"Walters upbeat attitude contrasts don't starves previous cast of Moody characters"
Wilba: *am I a joke to you*
Hamlet was completely different to DS in tone, which is why its characters were notably sillier than normal.
I don't think DST should be treated the same because it's meant to be a continuation of the original story (although it is losing a lot of the original charm and style IMO)
@@FreddoFilms that's fair I agree that DS is kinda loosing it's dark tone for a more fairytale/fantasy esc tone although I think the aporkalypse was a great contrast to hamlet's generally cheery tone I personally want wilba in DST because I LOVED using her wer-form
I feel like you took what could be positive. And turned it into a negative? ‘The freeze round while using one round to freeze an enemy is still weaker then the ice staff because it does damage but I can just run away from a hound attack instead of freezing then with one round and having an extra 5 seconds to get away at the cost of a 2 second cast’
I think simply adjusting some of Walters stats would make him better. Give him 100 Health, .75 damage, and multiply damage from all shots from his gun by 1.5. That way he's worse up close, and his gun actually hurts to get hit by now.
I loved the video and agree with your points. However, I think that Walter is a character made specifically for newer players (hence the focus on not getting hit, gaining sanity for being around common objects, having a decent ranged weapons, etc.). I remember introducing my new friend to Walter. And although we could agree he was kind of just a mess of perks. My friend was glad being able to stay out of fights and put much more importance on kiting rather than tanking due to the sanity loss (which is a very good habit for newer players to learn, in my opinion.)
I feel like your points are very vaild; I haven't played with him yet but I might soon enough just too see what you're talking about. Also I really wonder why they haven't made a cave based character yet. I mean sure Webber kinda fits that, but he's not really designed specifically for the caves and he does have low sanity, and can't even befriend bunnymen.
i think you need to examine his lore more. he seems to know woodie from before entering the constant
Some of your arguments tend to be so subjective as to have no meaning. "he gains sanity around trees, who fucking cares". People who enjoy playing a character that's in tune with nature do, it's an endearing trait to have, alongside his dog companion that he seems to have a real bond with. Everything about him screams scout, and small things like being alergic to bees, having a dog, feeling more confident around trees and using a slingshot have an impact on making this character feel real.
Issue is these perks do not contribute to playstyle. They're there for flavour and that's it. Other newer characters might have that issue but not to such a degree as Walter.
I suggest not using the character stills you used in the video because that takes away from the backgrounds which are nice to watch. The lower hunger drain from sleeping I guess makes up for his lower hunger and makes sleeping more viable I guess.
I feel like he is the "prepared a little for everything" character. Combat, work, support, etc...but he's not *amazing* at everything.
Wurt isn't stupid, she's just been raised by idiots... and is also a child... she is one of 3 characters able to read wickerbottom's books, but she still chews on random things like Wanda's clocks, marble beans, ect. She is the leading political figure of her people, building houses and appointing kings and warriors for her people, even though she is very naïve and doesn't yet understand much of the world being introduced to her, as her teachers were unreliable and stupid due to the curse inflicted upon them. She is trying to bring her people up out of the mud, and doesn't even remember a time before the curse.
“Final survivor”
Final survivor
Walter:I can't get hit or I will be insane (sad dog)
Wormwood: I dig and replant so I can have sanity and I don't care if I get hit bc I have 37 healing slave (big Chad dog)
Walter is the beginner support character he is to help the player learn how to kite and help the team with sanity around the fire pit and building tents for the team that are more effective
he doesn't teach you how to kite, he teaches you how to stand far away and hold down F
I think of Wormwood as low key depressed. He wants to befriend everyone and comes off as weird. Playing solo, he has to kill some plants and that sucks.
i have been looking at the different ammo and got ideas to balance the sling shot rounds
pebbles: deal 50 damage per shot (meaning 25 damage compared to melee) it is the weakest but most common
Golden rounds: do 60 damage but decrease attack intevrul to last 1.5 seconds rather then 2 (60 % 1.5 = 40 CtM)
do less damage then expected for an upgrade but shoot faster so it balances out the damage.
marbles: they do 100 damage (which means 50 CtM)
the avrage heavy hitter now much more on par with the tentacle spike
poop pellets: do no damage but cover enemies in shit for 5 seconds but makes any hit do 1.5 damage (marbles do 150 gold do 90 and pebbles do 75 damage per shot)
"kill them with humiliation!" reminds me of Jerate
freeze rounds: stay the same, see no point in revamping them.
Slow rounds: instead of slowing enemy movement they shall slow down the enemies attack speed for 3 seconds making them more useful for juking the enemies when they get too close
they also now do no damage
Cursed rounds: fire a shot that does 100 base damage, when hitting a target it has a 50% chance to spawn a shadow tentacle which acts exactly like the tentacles in the swamp, comming out fast and doing 25 damage per hit while hitting the area twice (which makes up 50 damage (CtM) by the shot itself and another possible 50 by the tentacle attacks)
thing i should mention: if you look at the stats of melee weapons you see that the damage CtM is still slightly lower (pebbles being much lower in DPS then their melee counterparts the spear, gold rounds have 2.5 DPS less then their respective the bat bat, marble rounds doing 1 less point of DPS then the tenticle spike and cursed round depending on luck to do more damage then the shadow blade)
this is in order to think of the extra safty you have from it being a ranged weapon
what do you think?
Winona is the same way. She has a weaker debuff then Walter has. She is just Wilson with a new crafting tab.
I like the use of character stills it really helps fill up space
I SAW THE NOTIFICATION BUT STILL MISSED IT I'M SO SORRY!
but i didnt miss the point, wilson but better - the beard. thanks Freddo!
np, maybe you'll catch the next one :)
Although im absurdly late, i'd say that Walter is more of a character for exploring and collecting items rather than for combat, i mean yeah, he has an slingshot, but then he also spawns with a chester that also is a beefalo mount, and can craft a tent that allows him to just pass through the night without worries, and he's inmune to dusk/night sanity drain, when you think about it it does make sense, this is also proven by the fact that his slingshot is awkwardly slow and Woby litteraly throwing Walter off if damaged, and i'd say that well, due to all he has to offer, his gameplay is a bit more of a "avoid fighting if posible" gameplay and that his main role is explore and find, although i do agree some of his perks/drawbacks are unnecesary, gaining sanity with trees? recieving 10 extra damage by bees? quite pointless
You know what i agree with your points some features of Walter need to be removede because they don t acctulay are usefull or are forgetabale like the less hunger drained wile sleeping he kinde need a rework to be more of a sport type range character that can work solo and i know i might get hate for this but wobby aka chester/beefalo needs a kinde of rework to like the first one being while your rising wobby if you get hit use dosen't throw you in the ground like a broken doll and for walter remove perks that do nothing special for the playstyle and actualy improve wooby and the sling shot aka the main abileties
Worst part about Woby is that they didn't have to add her at all. She doesn't fit and frankly, Walter could've been more cohesive if she wasn't added. However now that she is in the game, there's no way to remove her without making everyone mad
In my view Walter is a character designed for newer players, since newer players avoid fighting and getting insane. The campfire story telling perk is also perfect for them since new players mostly build campfires instead of torches when night time comes.
New players get hit, a lot. This well send them insane, they will then get hit by the shadow creatures and die.
The inclusion of a drastic insanity-based perk makes walter anything but a character for new players.
@@FreddoFilms I don't know about the new players you play with, but the new players i play with just sits in a camp fire and eats all the food in the ice box. When the hounds come they either jump in the caves or the wormhole.
I like all these little things about him, they feel nice to me
The more I watch videos about the shortcomings of DST's game design, the more I feel sad about what could have been.
now there is an another ranged character so my hopes of wheeler coming to don't stave together is gone
😔✊
Good format dude; I absolutely forgot about the tree and hunger perks, they indeed should just buff the perks that make the character, that slingshot and ammo for starters
Also: #bringwarbucksback
, our boy needs to come back home
I feel like making Walter fire his slingshot faster (maybe twice as fast?) would help a LOT, it would make his dps higher, stuff like freeze rounds harder to hit, ect. Of course, that wouldn't fix everything, more damage/cheaper rounds (like freeze rounds needing ice instead or something) would help too.
My boi wormwood isn't stupid, he is literally a child. same as wurt.