Best Of

Yeah, All-Kill: Comeback really left an impression on me. This is the second Comeback Chapter I've done, which is basically just a massive Rework of everything found within a Chapter. I did Tools of Torment first, but now it's time for Of Flesh And Mud, the Chapter that brought in The Hag and Ace Visconti… as well as Hexes!

In this post, not only are Hag and Ace getting a little something, something, but the Backwater Swamp and Hexes are also being changed due to this Chapter being the one that introduced them!

This is where I make a change to Totems. It's an attempt to make Hexes a little bit stronger because they're only as strong as the Totem spawns… and they're not good! So, there's now an actual logic to how they spawn to limit the amount of Survivor interactions when it wasn't planned. If you're looking for a Totem, you actually kinda have to go out of your way for it.

Pale Rose

Am I insane for making the Pale Rose 4 floors? Yeah a little bit, but I wanted to expand the boat itself and make it a massive piece of the map. It's now a proper paddle boat, with a massive hole in the hull to allow access from the Lower Swamp and two entrances on the sides from the Upper Swamp, making the "dip" that comes with Backwater Swamp maps a part of the map design itself.

Grim Pantry

Grim Pantry is also getting reworked, and now most of the map is a dock above the swamp floor. I wanted to make Grim Pantry a section of a larger village built above the water line. If you've ever played Left 4 Dead 2, Swamp Fever was in my mind for nearly the entire time I made this rework to Grim Pantry. The Lower Swamp can be accessed from the natural "dips" in the map or from the Docks itself by finding stairs or a drop down.

Hag Rework

This is the main Hag Rework! I went the route of multiple types of Traps along with buffing her to 4.6m/s and adding the ability to directly Curse Survivors. While the main gameplay of placing and teleporting to Phantasm Traps is roughly the same, these new Traps can offer some new gameplay both as and against to make her a lot more interesting.

Hag Add-Ons

What most of the cosmetic changes to these Add-Ons were mainly just making them a part of Lisa's backstory. Her Add-Ons legit are just a bunch of garbage found on the floor of a swamp.

Of Flesh And Mud Perks

Here is an intro to what I've done to Hexes! I've really just changed a majority of their lighting conditions from "Start of the game" to "LITTERALLY ANYTHING ELSE." No more cleansing within the first 30 seconds of a game! You're gonna get actual use outta them without rolling the dice and hoping it spawned in a good place!
Anyway, Devour Hope and Ruin are practically unchanged, although Devour Hope did get a new effect for 4 Tokens, and The Third Seal got a major buff because Blindness by itself is not very strong, especially if the Survivors are either in a SWF or not running any Auras and remember where people are Hooked.

Ace is now a proper gambler! ALL of his Perks are now about gambling! For those eagle-eyed guys out there, yes, I've combined several Perks in this concept! Plunderer's Instinct's main effect is now a part of Ace In The Hole. Why I did this was for simplicity. Both PI and AITH are now very incredible Perks. Open-Handed now has a Lucky Crit mechanic! Its original effects you'll see later on! Up The Ante is now an ever shrinking Skill Check for those who like to play high stakes! Run it with Hyperfocus and you'll be a REAL high roller!

Here are the "Smooshed" Perks. These are Perks that have been combined. Plunderer's, as mentioned, is a part of Ace In The Hole, and its new effect is similar to Human Greed but on Survivor. Eyes Of Belmont has the Aura range increase combined into its original Aura duration increase. Slippery Meat has higher luck and something to do in the Second Stage. Also, yes, it does create Great Skill Check Zones for the Hook!

Hex Perk Changes

First batch! Huntress' Lullaby no longer tells Survivors it's in play! It's for them to figure that out and/or gaslight themselves into figuring it out. Thrill is practically unchanged, but I did edit the Lighting Conditions. NOED has gotten the Rework it desperately needs. It's not fun to get skill issued at the end of a Trial, so now, it's a Perk to make sure those who are on Death's Door actually meet him!

Second batch! Haunted now can activate twice and, because of the amount of Perks I made Light a Dull Totem when the first Gen is finished, it can actually mess with people! Blood Favor is now a combo of its current and previous self, having the longer range of the now and the Basic Attack condition of the old. Undying technically doesn't exist, as it never Lights a Dull Totem, and the Aura reveals are permanent, but the effect itself is very weak. Other than that, it's the exact same, but the Auras may come in clutch every now and then.

Third batch! Retribution grants BOTH Oblivious and the Auras upon cleansing a Hex Totem. Crowd Control has the vault speed increase and besides that, really nothing is different. Pentimento I've given a SIZEABLE buff to! You can now just destroy a Totem if you have no Hex Perks! Trust me, that's HUGE! It makes this Perk not NEED other Perks to function. Oh, and the 180s timer doesn't start the Trial full, it has to be accumulated.

Fourth batch! Buffed Wretched Fate and notably, only the Obsession can actually cleanse the Perk! Face The Darkness is the same, but I lowered the scream countdown and buffed the Aura readings because 2 seconds is nothing! Two Can Play is now INSTANT and Blinds for longer should you wish to destroy the Pallet.

Final batch! Plaything has had its blocked timer increased and I put an emphasis on cleansing Totems that aren't yours. Namely, stop it! Nothing But Misery has an additional 2% of Hindered for 1 second longer… Yeah, nothing happened. Overture Of Doom I reworked. It's not a good Perk whatsoever, and it gets outclassed by both Trail Of Torment and Unforseen. It's now a Stealth Hex with some Aura on the side should Survivors let it marinate for too long. Hive Mind has also been changed because gambling the ENTIRE match for 10% on all Gens is just terrible. Now, it's a proper hive mind! All Gens will regress at the same time!

End

And that's what I've done to Of Flesh And Mud: High Tide! Most of the reason why this is so big is because the Hex Category is a lot fatter than the Teamwork Category. It's kinda funny that two Chapters that introduced new Perk types happened to be some of the weakest in the game's history, but I'll chalk it up to a strange coincidence.

I honestly don't think the complexity to reward ratio is inherently a problem. It can become one such as how Artist/Unknown sometimes feel to play, but Singularity starts feeling like an A tier pretty fast already IMO, even if you aren't completely cracked at him.

I can get behind some of the changes you suggest but don't think I'm behind these two:

Disabled Biopods recover after 35 seconds instead of 45.

The EMP economy can already become oppressive if there's weak links on the team or a Survivor dies, I don't think Survivor counterplay against Biopods should be nerfed like this.

Slightly faster post-teleport recovery, as there are situations where a
successful teleport still doesn't provide enough pressure to secure a
hit.

I think this is part of the appeal of slipstream TP, it's not a ranged attack, you secure hits through understanding the ball and chain logic, when/how you should be using the overclock buff, what distance is worth teleporting for its own sake etc. To my knowledge, most situations where slipstream TP truly isn't enough are ones where the Survivor is burning through a valuable resource or the Killer TP'd at the wrong time. Maybe there's some specific scenario I'm not thinking of that really should be a hit but isn't with current TP recovery, but right now it feels strong enough IMO