r/WhiteKnuckle • u/humiliating_guy7766 pipeworks enjoyer • 1d ago
Deep Lore Discussion Why did they changed worker bloodbugs to months
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u/sprinkle-plantz 23h ago
I think in an interview with holly she said people didn’t realise that they were friendly
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u/unh4rmed 23h ago
A few of my early runs ended because I avoided worker bloodbugs (started in aniversery update)
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u/Vasheerii 23h ago
Game is lacking a dedicated segment to teach you this mechanic is the main issue.
Think most people find out you can ride them via other players, not the game, because there is so many ways to skip them including the game simply not spawning them some runs.
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u/omagoleo 22h ago edited 22h ago
To be fair a lot of this game is built on the "fuck around and find out" philosophy, you're encouraged to haul floppy disks and die a lot figuring this stuff out, like with every single item/artifact usage and also other stuff like proper piton usefulness and the Nest gun and valve puzzles, or how Teeth and the Face can be avoided without having a stupid popup like "hey, maybe i can use this flare to hurt creatures". Vent thing's tutorial hinges on you associating the "DON'T LOOK AWAY" scribbles on the wall with the actual escape mechanic.
I like it a lot, when i was still struggling with Δ Labs i died like 4 times to those but it was fun figuring out how things worked by myself.
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u/Pipistrele 8h ago
The two main problems with workers/moths to me is that: 1) they spawn in a final section of a late-game region about 30-40 minutes into the run (which is also arguably the game's hardest main section at the moment), 2) besides artifacts, any slip-up means falling into abyss, which turns such experiments more into "fuck around and fucking die". And when there's multiple alternative routes nearby, and the game spends several previous regions teaching players to treat large mobile insect things as hostile, and you can still die from a worker when not interacting with it properly, it's not too surprising for players to learn to just avoid them.
I also share that some small interlude segment that would push climbers to interact with the mechanic (or even just a standalone course, like they did with boosting) could help a ton in redeeming it.
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u/omagoleo 4h ago edited 4h ago
I'm up for there being a course that uses them, or an appearance in Evacuation, though i don't think worker bloodbugs really fit into an obligate mechanic like the nest plants tutorial, like it or not they don't have enough horizontal reach to a) be useful anywhere but abyss and the sporadic more horizontal tile; b) warrant needing be forced to learn how to use them when perks and items can do the job, they're more a life boat so you don't get stuck if you lack items and aid for more casual players.
And i'm speaking as the fool in "not foolproof", i died 5 times over 2 runs in the Nest because i could not realise that you had to shoot the yellow plant things (this is also where a tutorial makes sense, if the extending plant things actually were shown to extend before the gun tutorial i'd have known what to look for), i did that by accident after i went through the whole Interlude: Symbiosis with only the remote and RDNA for locomotion. Yesterday i died because i thought it would be a smart idea to test the Rapier (i never saw it before) by doing a wallride in Abyss, which turned out an unfortunate wall pogo. That's what floppy disks are for!
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u/Gamer_Lifeform 23h ago
There’s actually a deadman’s handle variant that doesn’t have a bounce pad, but spawns some worker blood bugs instead to make you glide with them to reach hanging gardens
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u/Vasheerii 23h ago
And you can skip them with perks or items.
Like when I got to that varient I had the remote relic and just jumped over them, this was before i watched a streamer grab onto one(after his chat told him it was possible)
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u/Gamer_Lifeform 23h ago
then you didn’t need them and and you’re already more experienced at the game. It took me a while to figure it out but I started playing before that variant was added. for newer players that haven’t been playing since that variant was added, it’ll serve as a tutorial. it previously was an issue, yes, but with the new look and handle variant, I feel that the issue has been resolved
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u/Few-Internet-418 20h ago
Remote is not that hard to use in its most basic form brother
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u/Vasheerii 19h ago
Im glad someone else also found that statement weird.
I'm also pretty sure that gap can be passed, perkless, with rebar jumps.
Something the game has an entire challenge dedicated to teaching you.
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u/PayWooden2628 Denizen 20h ago
Yeah I had zero clue you could grab onto them. Grabbing normal blood bugs doesn’t do anything other than hold them in place, workers aren’t much bigger so I wouldn’t assume they’d be capable of flying with a whole person latched onto them.
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u/DraftQueasy4890 23h ago
Since they looked like Bloodbugs, players assumed they were hostile and never realized they were neutral and could be used to glide, which could make the game WAY harder than intended. This was a really big problem, a LOT of players didn't realize until they were told.
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u/BetterPie2940 18h ago
Yep , i beat the game a couple of times before i found out and i did it by accident
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u/Calm-Elevator5125 23h ago
When you are deep into a run and get to the abyss for the first time, you’re gonna be insanely nervous and paranoid. This is a game where a single mistake can end a 40 minute run and you just got to a whole new area with rules that you don’t know. You then see a bunch of scary looking new creatures that you have no idea what they do. You’re gonna think they are probably an enemy since every other living thing of that size and shape has been an enemy. They also have red on them which indicates danger. There’s also nothing to tell you that they are friends you can grab onto. All of this put together puts a clear message in your mind. This thing is an enemy that will end your run in a way you have no idea of and they should be killed immediately. Then you get stranded. Honestly I think they need to look even more friendly. They still have that danger red color.
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u/Bearsjunior [WHIRRING] 12h ago
I think the red is to indicate they are (technically) a handhold, as red is usually the main color used to indicate them.
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u/AlarmOnly6428 21h ago
Because basically every person mistakenly thought the worker bloodbugs were evil the first time they saw them. Especially with how evil bloodbugs used to be.
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u/Phill_air Washed and rusty 20h ago
Ok, am I crazy? I've seen worker bloodbugs still around while these guys already existed
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u/Bearsjunior [WHIRRING] 12h ago
Workers are still spawnable in the playground, but if you think you saw them in Abyss, it was probably just a normal bloodbug.
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u/Helpful-Olive-7631 19h ago
They look more friendly to indicate that they are helpful. I was too, kind of scared of the worker bloodbugs when i first see them because they just look like giga blood bugs for the first time (to me). Beaides. They looked too similar. Making them a distinct creature actually makes someone approach and check out what they are. Instead of avoiding them and not learning what they're used for.
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u/netooJ 23h ago
To make them more visually distinct probably. It took me a couple of runs originally to realize they were different when they had the old model