Gameplay/Perk Proposals (Endgame and more)
Cross-posted from my Reddit post:
Just a few quick suggestions to diversify the perk field a bit; to move the game as a whole away from "it's okay, I have [perk]," and a little closer to "good thing I had [perk]"; and maybe make the Endgame feel less like an epilogue and more like the final stage of the trial. Some of these might not work in conjunction with each other, so I'm open to any criticisms you may have! Starting with the biggest changes:
There is always an Obsession, even without any relevant perks. Obsessions are already frequent enough to just go the whole way with it--mostly to discourage the temptation to tunnel without an Obsession. Whether they have it or not, Survivors will usually get the benefit of the doubt in terms of Decisive Strike, but without positive confirmation, the Killer may still try to tempt fate, so nothing is guaranteed.
Exit Gates only progress when the switch is all the way down. I pitched this under a lost username a while back and it went over like a lead balloon, but I still think this is something to consider. You can 99% the gate but you'll have to go through the animation for the last 1%--which means you need to decide whether or not you'll have the time to finish it on your way back. ######### or get off the pot.
Hex: No One Escapes Death - This is just spitting at the wall--an attempt to keep the spirit of the perk while making it feel less like a frustration/cheat for Survivors. Keep Exposed, keep the speed boost--but after a Survivor is hit (revealing NOED to everyone), half of all the hooks in the trial break and remain broken. The remaining hooks are still equidistant from each other, and the Killer is forced to leg it a bit if they want to get their sacrifices. When the totem is cleansed, all of the hooks are repaired, including those that were sabotaged or sacrificed in the meantime. It'll certainly be tougher on certain maps, so it's a bigger gamble.
Adrenaline - Insta-health state, speed boost, healthy after unhook: either pick two, or bump up the Exhaustion to 120/90/60 seconds.
Barbecue & Chili - Does not activate on a kill hook. You got your sacrifice and your bloodpoint token--now do your own dirty work.
Dead Hard - A half-second-or-less activation time between standing still and running. I admit that I've rage-Googled "NERF DEAD HARD" after a particularly brutal outplay, but my only aim here is to slightly lessen the reprieve after a mistake (mindgamed at a loop, failed attempt at immersion) and at least partially discourage BM at the exit gates--the ability to instantly go from zero to sixty is too easy to abuse. Of course, the servers being how they are, this might add frustration to what can already be a frustrating perk--so if it didn't work, I'd happily leave it as is, even if I have to rage-Google every now and again.
Lithe - The 150% speed boost also applies to the time it takes to vault a pallet/window, medium + 50% or fast + 50%; the cooldown applies to this movement, analogous to Balanced Landing.
Mettle of Man - Maybe we can expand the parameters of what constitutes a "Protection Hit"? Seems like I get the score event more often than the token for MoM or WGLF. Either that, or maybe--in addition to ignoring injured-to-dying hits--an Exposed, healthy-to-dying hit gives you Deep Wound instead.
Spine Chill - Only lights up when you're actively working on something, as Terrifying Presence does for Survivors. Bump up the speed reward to compensate.
Hex: Undying - Aura reading only applies to actively cleansing totems--not just passing by them--although the aura remains for X seconds if the Survivor stops cleansing and runs off.