I'd love to see the player statistics and player time statistics of the various characters to see who gets and doesn't get play, but let's talk about Willow, again. I know, I know. It's been done a lot, maybe even to death, but if you don't want to read ANOTHER thread about Willow, GOOD NEWS! There's other threads! I know, WEIRD! You can just ignore this one. It is actually possible, I know. I've done it!
Anyhow, so, Willow is broken. By now we all know her abilities and weaknesses, and she's boring sauce. Sorry, she is, so, no long arguments for or against (at least for now), let's just get to the brass tacks.
1) "Has a sweet lighter."
Give Willow her Lighter back. Willow should start the game with Willow's Lighter in her inventory. It should have no durability. It should restore her sanity at +10 Sanity/Min (edit: as she was in DS). If Willow drops her lighter and a character other than Willow picks it up (or if the Willow that picks it up already has a Willow's Lighter), it becomes a normal torch. If Willow has no Lighter, when the player makes a Torch or picks up a torch, it magically becomes Willow's Lighter. (also, no cooking on a Lighter, that's just stupid...)
2) "Immune to fire damage."
Give Willow her Fire Immunity back. Willow should have 100% immunity to fire. Fire is a rare damage source that makes the immunity an extremely niche power, and requires a lot of time and investment in order to leverage (ie: fire farms). The Firefly fight is the only fight where her fire immunity could give Willow's player any real advantage, otherwise fire is a very dangerous weapon, because it tends to destroy loot.
3) "Lights fires when nervous."
Give Willow her Pyromania back. Willow should set random fires when low on Sanity. I know, this is desperately unpopular, but hear me out here. One, fire mechanics in DST are a LOT different than they were in DS. Fires spread slowly, and provide a lot of time for players to get out of the way or fight fires, if they want. Tech like Fling-o-matics help protect bases and other critical resources from fires, so her negative is manageable...
4) I honestly don't care what you do with Bernie the Bear. Dump it. Keep it. Whatever...
Okay, that's what I'm asking, what I'm offering...
1) Willow's Lighter. To get the Lighter, maybe, like Wigfrid won't eat anything but meat, Willow won't use Torches. So if the player wants a light source better than her Lighter, they'll have to make a Mining Hat or a Lantern, but torches are just out for Willow. Also @ZorrerTheZmith suggested that torches should burn out faster when Willow is using them. Maybe torches burn brighter, but lots faster for Willow, making her infinite Lighter much more efficient for her?
2) Willow's Fire Immunity. Maybe, Willow takes Sanity damage from cold, making Winter harder, or wet, making Spring and rain significantly harder. Alternatively, because this could create problems with her Pyromania, she gets slower when cold or wet, but this could replace her pyromania fire setting.
3) Willow's Pyromania. Maybe Willow's Flames are cold, rather than hot. Maybe rather than spreading, she merely burns things that are valuable, not merely flammable, causing it to break into Ash, Charcoal, and maybe component gold or gems, obviously fewer than were necessary to replace whatever she burned. Perhaps the fire she starts at low Sanity is a black flame that sprouts shadow crawlers, etc. Maybe she sets alot of endothermic fires that cool her down, but don't spread. There's a lot of alternatives, but she needs to "start fires". A pyromaniac that doesn't start fires is like a kleptomaniac that doesn't steal. It's NORMAL.
4) Bernie, again, I don't care. I really don't like the Bernie thing, but I'm indifferent.
Basically, the long of it is this: Willow sucks.
1) She doesn't do anything that anyone else can't do. Wigfrid and Wolfgang are the undisputed power combat characters. Wickerbottom and Maxwell are the best utility characters. Even Wendy is great at farming spiders.
2) Willow's Lighter is QUICKLY obsolete. Crockpots make vastly better food than cooking on her Lighter, and Firepits are a day 3-4 thing. The materials needed to make her Lighter are more valuable for other things, Torches are too easy to make and a better light source. By the time materials (gold) are disposable to make a replacement Lighter, the Lantern and Miner Hat both provide VASTLY superior and are easily refuelable. The ONLY advantage Willow's Lighter has is Sanity maintenance, and it does so badly. Remove its durability.
3) Fire Immunity is part of what made "The Firestarter" unique. Giving her "fire resistance" is like giving away a new used car on a game show. "Well, it's new to you, right!" just isn't the same. Don't Thrift Shop me, bro.
4) Willow's pyromania is a challenge. I get it. It's unpopular in a group play setting. Characters like Wigfrid's only downside is technically an upside for everyone else (one less person eating from the farms). But, once again, having a pyromaniac that doesn't actually set fires isn't a pyromaniac. It's kind of necessary to pyromania. You can't call Willow "The Firestarter" if she doesn't actually start any fires. Fix it.
5) Also, I'd still like to see a "Classic Characters" option in the Server settings, that allows hosts and players play DST with the original DS style characters.
#MakeWillowGreatAgain
-Fist-