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I Don't Care About the Change Made to Ruin HOWEVER

GodDamn_Angela
GodDamn_Angela Member Posts: 2,213
edited January 2020 in General Discussions

I have issues with BHVR's REASONS for the change and the way they presented why Ruin is being changed. Not only that but the fact that a major issue they should have addressed and looked into is only brought up, but not expanded on, and it is never stated as being a reason they looked at the perk. TL;DR at the bottom because this is a little longwinded.

First I would like to state the following:

  1. Ruin was overrated and overused, it was overused for a reason though.
  2. I never use Ruin when I play Killer. And I rarely play Killer.
  3. Ruin needed to be changed but this may have been the wrong way to do it.


Now then, on to the thing:

"Recent data show that Hex: Ruin is used in over 80% of all games in the red ranks, and across the entire userbase it appears in about 45% of all games."

This is in the first paragraph of the Hex: Ruin changes section of the Designer Notes (link at the bottom of this post if you haven't read them yet).

We are informed that recent data has shown a MASSIVE amount of Killers use Ruin in red rank games. Something many of us already knew. It also lets us know that less than half of Killers run it overall, though this would 100% include players who have not unlocked it yet on Killers/at all.

What does this tell Players? That there must be a reason it is used so heavily, especially in high rank games. We can accurately conclude it is for two reasons: 1. Players need something to help reduce how fast Gens are getting completed and 2. Ruin is the easiest of these perks to access/players probably end up relying on it

But! What does this tell BHVR? Apparently nothing as the very next sentence/paragraph is as follows:

"We took a close look at the perk to identify what makes it so frustrating to play against. Three key issues were identified:"

Umm... excuse me? Play against? You were just discussing Killers, why are we talking about Survivors now? Is there a paragraph missing here? How does the amount Killers use it lead you to look at Ruin to identify why it is "frustrating to play against"?

We are told, in a single sentence, they looked into it because there must be a reason it is frustrating to play against. Its confusing sentence and paragraph structure. We were just talking about Killers, not the effect it has on Survivors. State it is frustrating first and then state you looked into it to find out why it is frustrating. @.@


Anyway, let's move onto the issues they identified:

"1. Its punishment of new players or those who can't hit Great Skill Checks. Newer players trying to help veterans with generator repairs tend to make the situation worse rather than better."

So? Not only are they only going to encounter it about 45% of the time, but if this is a reason you are changing it then there are A LOT of things you need to look at (lol).

Hell, to name a few: Stealth Killers, Trying to Pull yourself off Hook, Totems in general, Deep Wounds, RBTs, FLASHLIGHTS.

All of these things are things New Players need to learn about, and fail hard at without knowledge of them making things worse for their team.

"2. The passive nature of the gameplay pressure it provides means that there is a huge amount of potential with very little effort or risk on behalf of The Killer."

It usually gets popped within 2-3 minutes. Also, no risk? Survivors that can hit Great Skill Checks can just ignore it and once it gets popped you are down a perk. No effort? Either the Killer patrols the totem or they don't, both require effort and keeping it alive can be difficult.

"3. Its inconsistency due to the random nature of the appearance interval of skill checks."

This one is confusing. The inconsistency of Ruin makes it frustrating for Survivors how? Skill Checks being random is not a Ruin issue. How does this make it frustrating to play against? Survivors already know Skill Checks are random, Ruin doesn't make them more random.


After this they talk about Gatekeeper. No one used Ruin because of Gatekeeper. Well, maybe some people did but most did not. They used it because they want to slow down Gens and, for many, this Perk was the one they were most comfortable with.

Then they discuss the changes. I don't care about the changes. I never used it and after the changes I still won't. It might be interesting because you won't have to kick gens, since they will regress automatically once everyone stops working on it, but not getting points for kicking Gens (and not being able to use PGTW) is kind of a downer.


As we can see BHVR did not change Ruin because of, or for, Killers. Contrary to what they want us to think with the Gatekeeper changes, changes that needed to happen anyway, because they are acting like Ruin is a major factor when it comes to this Emblem. I have never, not even once, seen or heard someone state that they need Ruin to ensure a high Gatekeeper score.

They made the changes for, and because of, Survivors and this is a scary thing to do. It has been stated before that BHVR makes changes without considering one side (usually Killer), but it was never as blatant as now. No change should be made to benefit one side, no perk should be buffed/nerfed without looking at how it will effect both sides.

You state that it is the one of the most used perk in Red Ranks at 80%. Its probably the most used. But you did not seem to account for this, you only wanted to change it to alleviate frustration on the Survivor side without looking into why Killers are using it so much and looking to address these frustrations.

Also, do not let them fool you. They know this is a nerf and it doesn't matter how they try to spin it but they straight nerfed this perk, one many of us has argued isn't even that good, because some Survivors find it frustrating.

Quote: "... Just a straight-up nerf without considering the consequences for that Emblem wouldn't be a good plan. ..."


BHVR, this looks like favouritism. I am not saying you actually favour Survivors. But you have to admit that this looks pretty bad from most any angle and just feeds the fears many on here have already been spouting for a while.

TL;DR: BHVR made changes to a very popular, and overused Killer perk solely for 3 issues that they state cause frustration for Survivors. They did not make the changes for Killers, and they nerfed it because some Survivors find it frustrating. This is a bad way to go about changes, as all should be done with balance and both sides in mind.

https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/117488/designer-notes-doctor-gatekeeper-hex-ruin


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