PTB and "_The Clown_"

Allivan

First and foremost, thanks for releasing the PTB! It's a great idea to let the masses test your product so you can fine tune it before the actual release. Without further adieu here is what I think.

After playing 5 matches with The Clown over the last couple days, (taking time to really enjoy his gameplay and figure out an effective playstyle) I wanted to post my thoughts and maybe see if we can improve the next Chapter somewhat.

Yesterday my 3 games were 2k, 4k, 2k. I was using green add-ons. Today my games were 0k, 0k. I was using a mix of ultra rare and green add-ons. People are adapting to this killer already (which was going to happen).

First things first. Move Speed. Right off the bat I noticed this killer was slower than most. I understand that it fits his aesthetic to be slower in general, however some things need to be taken in consideration when making a slower killer.
-Patrolling
---When patrolling, if a killer has a slow Move Speed, they need something that will help them either get from point A to point B, or be strong enough to make their presence count when lumbering from area to area. Being that The Clown has no method of patrolling effectively other than walking, I would expect that his power would make up for that. It Doesn't.
-Power
---Limited to 4 uses prior to a reload that takes about 5 seconds AND slows you even more than he already crawls I was hoping for something that, upon landing an actual hit with his power, would be game changing in The Chase. The minute slow of 10-15% for 1.5 seconds is not enough to cripple survivors, and even with some add-ons you are required to use multiple bottles to make the effect worthwhile. If you can't manage to down the survivor within those 4(5) uses, it turns into a loopfest, and you will most likely lose.
-Perks
---I can't argue that his perks aren't useful to some degree, however that can be said of many other killer perks, so I can't use them in this discussion. I will stick to his CORE weaknesses.

So overall, he seems like a quirky killer, somewhat out of place with his power and, although it looked good on paper, in actual use he's overall pretty weak. He's fun to play, but if I can't kill people, what's the appeal? Nobody will want to play The Clown unless he is buffed, and will go to other, more powerful slow-moving killers. (Huntress, Nurse, Hag)

My idea's for buffs would either be...
A. increase the intoxication effect from his power from 1.5 - 4 seconds. The reason is that because the slow is as weak as it is, touching the gas needs to be more than a minor inconvenience and more of an "I don't wanna touch that S***" kinda thing.
or B. Keep the 1.5 second intoxication effect but have the blind make the screen white (flashlight blind anyone?) and increase the slow to 50%+.

The power needs to be meaningful if it takes forever to actually catch people. I just don't see him being viable if his power is as weak as it is. It doesn't do damage nor is it a game changer.

Let me know how you feel about The Clown and if these changes would be good! Thanks for reading!

MrDrakanator

I think your buff suggestions are great,and I fully agree that his power is too weak. People have been saying "Oh he's great at stopping looping and making you go to places you don't want too" no he's not. His poision does jack ######### at base, and not much more with add-ons so it doesn't bother me to step in it

RSB

His movement sped is the same while running, but he is slower when he throws, or charges the throw. But I agree with the rest of the post, he needs a buff, or we will have another Freddy.

Allivan

@MrDrakanator said:
I think your buff suggestions are great,and I fully agree that his power is too weak. People have been saying "Oh he's great at stopping looping and making you go to places you don't want too" no he's not. His poision does jack ######### at base, and not much more with add-ons so it doesn't bother me to step in it

This is why I think it would be appropriate to buff his power a little more. It feels weak, and someone mentioned Horvath had said something along the lines of "But the survivor's debuffs are reapplied constantly while he/she is within the cloud, and the 1.5 seconds lingers AFTER they exit the cloud". That statement is negligible at best. No survivor, not Rank 1, 15, or even a brand new 20 will stand in something that's supposedly toxic/poisonous. The natural reaction is to run out of it and from the killer.

It would be very smart for the dev team to just flat out TEST THESE KINDS OF CHANGES IN THE PTB. Buff the slow massively for a day, test the feedback. Make the intoxication into a flashlight blind, see how it effects gameplay. If it's not fun or is imbalanced, change it back. The beauty of a PTB is that you can test all sorts of outlandish buffs/debuffs and have no worries, it isn't the live version.

Visionmaker

@Allivan said:
This is why I think it would be appropriate to buff his power a little more. It feels weak, and someone mentioned Horvath had said something along the lines of "But the survivor's debuffs are reapplied constantly while he/she is within the cloud, and the 1.5 seconds lingers AFTER they exit the cloud". That statement is negligible at best. No survivor, not Rank 1, 15, or even a brand new 20 will stand in something that's supposedly toxic/poisonous. The natural reaction is to run out of it and from the killer.

Posters were asking for a 0.5s increase for a total of 2.0s. The time a survivor has debuffed is often a total of 2.0s duration if momentarily in the gas cloud. That is why the dev pointed out that the debuff lingering mechanic.

Even if a player tries to leave instantly, more likely than not they will stay in it for at least 0.5s.