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Lightborn, Mad Grit, Blocked Interactibles: Cancelling Gameplay

Raccaine
Raccaine Member Posts: 18
in General Discussions

Something I've been thinking about in game design for quite a while is mechanics that take countering other mechanics to an extreme end by straight up deleting their existence or relevance. Overall, while a necessary evil in some games, they can often reduce the depth of the game. Thankfully, there's very few of these in Dead by Daylight currently, and those that are there are generally unviable.

One of the most egregious examples of this is the current mechanics of the Lightborn perk. You can debate the viability of this perk as much as you want, but unless the Killer is Hag or Wraith, equipping Lightborn makes flashlights a completely cosmetic mechanic. Even worse, it punishes Survivors for even trying the first time by revealing their position for the next 6-10 seconds. I do not see how the inclusion of this perk genuinely increases the quality of the game, because no matter how uncommon of an equip this perk is, it makes matches where an entire item type becomes entirely irrelevant. It doesn't add a new penalty like Nemesis, it doesn't simply reduce its presence in a match like Overwhelming Presence, it deletes the entire blinding mechanic.

Then we have another perk, Mad Grit. In all its meme-perk quality, it barely gets used for any reason other than funny animation quirks, but at the end of the day it still brutally counters one specific strategy, which is less egregious than cancelling an equippable mechanic, but noneoftheless it does nothing but remove an option Survivors have and punishes them if they don't realize this perk is in play yet. It takes an interesting, debatably fun strategy Survivors can use that's risky, into a no-upside throw tactic. How is this expanding player options?

To finish this post off with something that's actually viable and relevant to most players, let's talk about the blocking mechanic. Now, this is one that while technically cancelling gameplay, can still be done right due to it being a neutral cancellation with most objects. I'm very happy with perks such as Repressed Alliance (even if it could use a few number adjustments), or Bamboozle. These perks are readable, and while still cancelling some things, they are in visible, strict locations that you will very, very likely know of before you try and engage with what it affects, and doesn't punish you for not knowing about its presence. I'm very glad these perks are included, because they make the game more fun... then there's Corrupt Intervention. I can't deny its necessity for some Killers on some maps. Trying to Myers on Mother's Dwelling without it might be one of the most frustrating experiences in the game. But it's such a blunt, un-engaging perk that it at the end of the day just removes 3 generators from the game for the first 2 minutes of a match. The only redeeming factor about this is that it usually makes chases happen faster but that's very subtle compared to the giant sign of "Hey, nobody can interact with these Generators outside of detecting them. There will be no gameplay about these Generators for the first portion of this match."

I personally don't like perks like these existing on principle, even if some are more relevant than others. Apologies if this was wordy or pretentious, first post here and I don't know the etiquette very well LOL.

I'm very interested in hearing other people's opinions on these kinds of perks (or sometimes add-ons... looking at you Venomous Concoction).

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