New Perk Idea: Howl of the Bountiful
Hello DBD Community, Seryka here!
So my friend swampthing and I were brainstorming new perk ideas for upcoming killers and came up with the realization that chests, within Dead by Daylight, is the only object that survivors can interact with that have no sort of penalty or punishment applied to it (other than unhooking people). Whether its gens or healing, chests can aid survivors in foreseeable ways and they will always profit with the item they obtain from them, with the exception of green keys. So, as a new concept for the game, we came up with a new perk idea that punishes both chest searching and item usage. Feel free to suggest any changes and/or balances to this perk if you feel like its good enough for the game :)
Howl of The Bountiful: The auras of chests are highlighted in white when a survivor is searching through them. When an item is consumed, you let out a scream, revealing your position for 5 seconds and acquiring the exposed status effect for 30/40/50 seconds (Level 1/Level 2/Level 3). Also feel free to rewrite this within a DBD style format.
We're going to explain how it works, in case there was any confusion. The first part is somewhat straightforward. While a chest is being searched, the killer can see the aura for the duration of the search. You cannot see the aura after the search has been completed. The second part is a bit tricky to elaborate, but hold on to your butts. If a survivor brings an item within the lobby into the game, or acquires an item through a chest, as soon as the charges hit 0, the survivor who used the item lets out a scream and they become exposed. It does not apply to a key opening a hatch, but it does apply to anything that consumes charges, including keys that have addons which track auras.
Benefits to Killers / Drawbacks to Survivors:
. Howl of the Bountiful can counter insta heals! Since syringes consume an item completely, the person who uses it on injured survivors, whether to someone else or one self, will become exposed (Although this is very situational, it can come to great use if it works!). It also counters Plunderers Instinct, Ace in the Hole and Pharmacy.
. The perk may confuse solo queue survivors into thinking the killer may have Iron Maiden or Infectious Fright. It can also benefit the game at the start if a survivor searches a chest in the beginning or use a toolbox immediately on a gen.
. Bubba mains seeing a chest being open in their basement like "oh yeah, it's time" 😛
Drawbacks to Killers / Benefits to Survivors:
. When realizing the killer has Howl of The Bountiful, the odds of searching chests may decrease and survivors can use their item to the last charge without completely depleting it.
. With the new auras implemented into the game as of Version 4.1.0 (August 2020), seeing the white auras of chests being searched may be a bit difficult for killers to see. This may be subject to change if the devs decide to revert the auras back to their original form.
These are some key points we thought of during the way. If you have some other ideas, we would definitely be glad to hear them!
We also know that this perk may not seem like a "meta" perk because of its application to looting and item utilization. We thought it would be a pleasant change of pace into this amazing game 😀
Find below the original sketch of the perk image. It's an opened chest with smoke coming out of it that forms a skull.
Thank you everyone for tuning in into our perk idea for any upcoming killers! As survivors mains, both swampthing and I, we realize that killers will struggle against certain items within the game and we recognize the hardship of things like insta heals or purple flashlights. We hope this perk idea reaches a developer and may take this into consideration for a possibly implemented perk for a new killer!
If you have any private questions feel free to add me on Steam and/or Twitter and DM'ing in the links below:
EDIT: Thank you GhoastKween for drawing the finalized perk image in a DBD format! We're very appreciative seeing this community coming together to getting this project out there. All props to her for this amazing artwork! We were also thinking that Level 1 of the perk will be yellow, Level 2 will be green and Level 3 will be purple, as shown below:
Part 2: https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/179914/perk-howl-of-the-bountiful-update
See you in the Fog!
Comments
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like when the charges run out on any item they become exposed? like if they brought 4 tool boxes and used them on the first gen they saw every one would be exposed? you make it sound like your looking for chest interaction dependent ideas but this seems to hard counter items also if this became too prevalent they would just use 99% of their item and stop like they did before the item rework
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Hey zoozoom6!
Originally this perk idea was meant to only deal with items taken from chests. However, in a normal game, only three chests spawn and there's no guarantee that survivors will even search them or use the items from them. This meant that the perk would be completely useless and probably wouldn't appeal to anyone and therefore never be used. In order to counter that, we put out the idea that the exposed status effect would also apply to any items brought into the match in the same way that killers may bring Franklin's to counter keys or Lightborn to counter flashlights. There are also options to change up which killer you play to counter medkits (like by playing Plague). This is just another option for killers.
So yes, if, as a killer, you are loading into a lobby and see all four survivors have toolboxes, you could choose to run Howl of the Bountiful. If all four survivors work on one gen and they all use their toolboxes, they would all be exposed. Depending on the mobility of the killer being played, they may not even be able to maximize on the exposed status effect on all survivors. It's a risk that survivors would be taking by all using their toolboxes together on a gen right at the start of the match. As far as I know, there's no possible counter to this from a killer's perspective. Sure, they could run Corrupt Intervention, but if the survivors are determined to work together with their toolboxes, they could all just move to another gen.
I think the purpose of any new perk is to change the way decisions are made within the game. If you know you're in a lobby in which every survivor is bringing an item, maybe spread out the use of those items until you're able to deduce whether or not the killer is running Howl of the Bountiful. Survivors using 99% of their item is a fair counter to this perk. If survivors choose to 99% their items, the perk still functions for information gathering whenever a chest is being searched. If survivors choose not to search a chest or fully use their items, it is essentially useless. That doesn't mean this wouldn't still be a good idea though to be implemented into the game. Many perks are easily made useless (e.g. cleansing Hex: Ruin in the first 30 seconds of the match, running Blood Warden but killing all survivors before Endgame Collapse is even initiated, etc.)
Do you have any suggestions for changes to the perk? There are definitely other options such as survivors suffering from the Oblivious status effect while searching a chest, being exposed after searching a chest, etc. Having a solely chest-dependent perk is difficult to encourage the use of since there are so few chests on the map and there's no guarantee a killer would be able to make it to a chest in time to capitalize on killer-sided benefits from only searching chests.
Thanks for your feedback!
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oh i see. well if its not a hex perk and only niche you would need a huge upside. probably more than just exposed for 50 seconds. that being said this synergizes with some current meme builds extremely well ie.
dont touch my chest build: leatherface with cut coin(one chest spawn 100% chance of it being in a basement) franklin's, insidious and territorial imperative while standing in the corner of the basement with insidious on until the chest is searched.
basement camping demo: demogorgan with territorial imperative and a portal on the basement stairs to make anyone down there oblivious and tele a couple seconds later to get what is likely a free hit or even a down and basement hook but your perk would make this a guarantee if it procs when the chest is finished being searched or when it is touched or maybe oblivious starts when touched and exposed when finished?
if you want to balance your perk to make it implementable you need to nail down what its purpose is first you seem to switch back and forth between hard item counter and anti chest search/chest item perk you need to nail down which it is because it would be too op if it is both with current exposed effect.
all in all i like this idea but needs refining and since it is your co-idea at least nail down what its use from a killer's perspective is, is it a counter if so to what?
i had an idea while writing this what if it was a 50 second exposed when a 4th item has been over 60% of its charges have been used and it highlighted when chests outside the basement are being searched?
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👍️👍️
Post edited by Seryka on0 -
Hey zoozoom6!
We are currently reviewing all opinions on it with our friends on steam and discord, as well as yours, and we noticed that basement builds would be very useful with this perk being implemented into the game! It's still an ongoing process to clean and polish the actual perk itself and it's utilization, but so far we have received positive feedback about it! Comments like yours really aid us along the way, so hopefully more people can provide constructive criticism and maybe a Developer or Moderator can tune in and suggest balances to this idea 😀
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np keep em coming
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If that perk is gonna be added I think there should be item addons (purple exclusively) that prevent you from using the last charge in an item. Like you deplete the item but when it drops to zero the addon burns and keeps you from screaming/being exposed, in much the same way a white ward will protect you from losing items. Also think that there should be a radius on the detection of auras for searching chests. Make it respectably large (like 30/35/40? Idk the exact scaling of the distances) but not the whole map. Also had a different idea for the name Ark of the Covenant
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I don't think I would personally use a purple addon just to avoid using the last charge of my item when I could just as easily stop using my item right before it runs out. To others in this forum, is this something you would want to see? I don't feel like this perk would be widely used in the first place and the concept of an addon that would only be useful in a scenario in which this perk is used seems like a very niche idea. Would there be any other uses for this addon that I'm not thinking of? Are there any addons in the game currently that actively counter only one perk? I don't know, it just seems like an expensive option that wouldn't come in handy except in very specific situations.
A radius on the detection of auras while searching chests could be good. I'm also not familiar with the scaling, especially since some maps are so small and others are so large.
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Also, for anyone who is interested in progressing this project even further, we would like anyone who has good artistic abilities to enhance our perk image that I drew to show a more Dead by Daylight style, with colorization and everything. You could also draw a new image to see how it could fit the idea. Feel free to leave a comment or DM me using the steam link I addressed in the original post. 😀
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You guys put a lot of thought into this from start to finish. I think it is definitely a great asset to have for dbd killer perks. It would add more variety to the game and I think that's what is truly missing.
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Hey Amayzy!
Thanks for the support. Me and swampthing put in a lot of effort trying to come up with something that seemed different to today's dbd gameplay standards. We understand that it may not seem something that a lot of people will use, but a change of pace is always welcomed within our community, or so I hope. Comments like yours push us to keep furthering this idea into something recognizable, as well as providing a different outlook in terms of killer perks towards the fan base! 🙏
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The scream/exposed status for depleting ANY item seems rather powerful. Maybe split it by perk tier, so that at T1 only brown and yellow items are affected, at T2 brown yellow and green, and only at T3 are all item rarities affected? Either way, great ideas! The game definitely needs a bit more variety, and item play is a great place to look for that! Keep it up!
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Great Idea! But Up The Ante don't incrase the chances of getting a better item, the luck variant only applies to hooks and bear traps.
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This is a great idea that we hadn't thought of! I think this is definitely a good option. Maybe we could do this instead of increasing the exposed status effect duration. Thanks for your feedback!
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Hey Pior_Morte!
Geez for the longest time I thought Up the Ante affected the luck within chests, in order to get rarer items, when in fact it didn't??? Wow. This is actually one of those brain fart moments you have within the game, since I have more that 1k hours in the game. But thanks for teaching me that! And also, thanks for the support. We appreciate every bit of it!
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Yeah everyone thought that until the devs say in a livestream that it didn't, they should make that more clear to the players.
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UPDATE: Swampthing and I will be posting another sub-thread to update our current perk idea. This will include any fixes and/or changes done to the perk with open-minded comments suggesting new ideas! We will also be talking about this perk's synergy with other perks, addons and offerings, including which killers would be good to use it with!
If you're interested in reading it, check out this link for more information: https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/179914/perk-howl-of-the-bountiful-update
Enjoy!
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Hey DBD Community!
Me and Swampthing are super grateful for all of you who tuned in to read our new perk concept! We just hit 1000 views and we couldn't be more appreciative about those who reached out to us with your support and tweaks to this perk! We can't wait for the day a Developer or Moderator decides to view and/or comment. That is currently our dream right now! Again, thanks you so much and have fun whilst playing your matches.
See you in the Fog!
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I feel like this would fit a Pirate themed killer the most but cool none theless
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That seems like a cool concept! We haven't thought about that, but it would be very fitting for a pirate-themed killer.
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Hey everyone!
It's been a while since we were last here, but now we're back on track! Any suggestions and/or comments regarding any perk changes to this concept would be greatly appreciated!
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As a rank 20 claud plunderers instinct is all i have please don't take this away from me.😢
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