I wanted to give 1 small change idea to each skill tree that exists right now that imo will improve how it feels in some way.
Wilson: Torch Longevity and range 3 could also give a small buff (perhaps equivalent to the t1 buff) to magiluminescene, lanterns, and perhaps even dwarf stars. I assume a lot of people think that these skills are unworkable, but I actually like the torch buff and find it quite useful for the first few days, I just wish the skills had a bit more staying power so giving a slight broader reward to getting all 3 in a path would be nice.
Willow: Hungry Lighter should be moved to be part of Willow's base kit. I think this because I feel like the lighter tree eats up so many skill points that it's really hard to make a good build around Bernie without sacrificing important lighter skills. Also, I noticed with a friend new to the game that they basically couldn't engage with new Willow's main gimmick for the first half of Autumn since it takes 2 skills before you can start getting embers.
Wolfgang: Personally I think Wolfgang's tree is the weakest in the game, and I attribute a lot of that to him not really having a lot to work with. I'm of the opinion that Wolfgang should get a new skill tree, but while he doesn't have one, I think the best band-aid is to give him a really easy to implement new skill that makes mightiness drain over time slower while above 100, either as a prereq to push the limits 1 or gym mastery. This would give a better use to mighty gyms, since I think they're pretty ignored for the most part due to how fast dumbbells are.
Woodie: Arguably the best tree in the game, Woodie's tree gave him the viability he needed to use his transformations more often and really define him as a character. My only criticism with the tree is that you can't customize his tree very much, so I would suggest not restricting were-form 2 and 3 skills to their prerequisites (though unlocking mastery would still require all 3 prerequisite skills to be unlocked). This would substantially increase the amount of combinations players can come up with and would make Woodie's tree actually feel like picking from a list of perks to make your playstyle.
Wigfrid: The biggest criticism I've seen for Wigfrid's tree is how her affinities are very weak. All they do is give her songs that let her do a tiny 5% extra damage to the correct alignment. I think the best solution would be to not just buff the damage, but diversify the two as well. Dark Lament could grant 10% movement speed, and Enlightened Lullaby could grant 10 planar defense and sleep resistance. That would make them distinct from each other as well as very strong songs in Wigfrid's collection. Perhaps too strong, though this is less about the balance and more about the idea.
Winona: Winona is the only character with a tree that I haven't played, so I don't think it's fair for me to propose something here.
Wortox: Wortox's tree frustrates me because I feel like it really could have been so much more. For the time being, since I'm only talking about small changes, I'd suggest that Lunar Swindler instantly unlock the recipes for turfs found on Lunar Island and the grotto, and give Wortox enlightenment effects while standing on those turfs. A lot of Wortox players base on the Lunar Island to get away from insanity, so I think providing this QoL would be good for generally the less used of the two affinities. For Shadow Harvester, I would let the effects granted to the Shadow Reaper also grant a weaker AoE damage to the Dark Sword and Shadow Maul. The former because I think that affinities should have some representation pre-rift, and the latter because I think encouraging weapon variety is a good thing.
Wormwood: I actually like Wormwood's tree so the only thing I'd want is the ability to grow grass tufts. I'd merge the berry bush crafting skills to make room for a Grass Tuft Crafting skill. This is a pretty pointless idea, sure, but if there's gonna be a way to make grass tufts renewable, I think Wormwood is probably the way. If somebody in the replies who plays Wormwood a lot has some genuine criticisms, I'm very interested to hear it.
Wurt: While I would love for Wurt to be able to swim in her amphibian tree, that's probably a bit much of an ask. Instead, can Sensible Swamp Fighter get some secondary ability? In my experience there's generally no point to use it. I'd like to see Sensible Swamp Fighter also make merms automatically aggro on non-herd enemies hostile to the player like batilisks and mosquitos. That'd be more "sensible" to me. (and this might be a little bit of a soft complaint from my Wurt world where I may have based a little too close to a cave hole and the merms would NOT help me out until I got hit)
Walter: Probably the most balanced skill tree of them all, Walter has two weak skills in my opinion and I'll comment on the biggest problem. The ammo pouch is a really weak item. Its problem is that it's usually never going to be more efficient to hold an ammo pouch than hold the crafting materials for your ammo. Since ammo crafts quickly with the ammo smith skill, there's pretty much no reason to get the ammo pouch considering all of Walter's great other skills. I would buff the ammo pouch to hold 10 or 12 slots instead of just 6.
Anyways if you agree let me know if you disagree also let me know and if you have an idea for Winona (or if you think she's perfect as-is) I'd love to hear it. If you think this post is entirely stupid make sure to write "Wow, just wow, the state of the DST forums in 2025, ladies and gentlemen. It's genuinely despicable that a person could say such things."