An idea for Deep Wound

ForTheRNG

Since killer mains keep complaining about Legion's power and BT, along with perks like DH, I think an interesting idea would be to have a survivor that enters Deep Wound get Exhaustion for 30/40/50 seconds depending on add-ons or perk level, meaning they can no longer use any exhaustion perk to keep running. Legion would also end chases faster since survivors would no longer have speed increases. Then again, this whole thing could be completely busted and unbalanced.

Thoughts?

Orion

It's interesting enough for me to want to give it a shot, but I'm not sure how balanced it would be.

GoshJosh

Heck no. Deep wound is fine as is.

Blueberry

I just think Deep Wound should apply Oblivious status until it's removed. Would make players make sure they're in a safer spot before mending.

AhoyWolf

https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/1683271#Comment_1683271

That's a good idea!

Personally tho I want Deep Wounds removed, it's just a bad mechanic...

TWiXT

Personally I believe the biggest problem with deep wound is that since its original version, it's been rendered toothless. Originally, the deep wound timer ticked down constantly unless the survivor was in a chase, and it even ticked down when they were mending but would stop at 1 second to keep them from bleeding out. Because of this, the timer was set at 30 seconds to balance it out and give the survivors enough time to break chase and find a safe position to mend, which was fine, but the mechanic itself became abuseable by killers via "moonwalking" that prevented chases from initiating while still following the survivors, and while this was an unfair advantage, it also justified the 30 second timer, and pausing the timer at 1 second while mending because the Deep wound status was an actual threat.

The current version of deep wound however is no threat at all to survivors. The timer can be paused in place by simply holding the run button while moving, or stopping to mend, which means the only time it ever ticks down is when a survivor is vaulting, walking, pallet dropping, or holding still, which really only ever happens during a chase. In practice this makes it so survivors can take all the time they need to break away and find a suitably safe spot to mend without worry of the deep wound timer, or continue kiting around the killer for as long as possible before getting downed, and it otherwise just becomes a timewasting annoyance to the players.

With how easy it is to pause the timer, and the fact that it can be paused almost indefinitely by mechanics that are entirely in the survivors control, I feel that the 30 second timer on the DW status has become both outdated, and excessive. Currently, a survivor afflicted by DW can go on a lengthy chase and only see about 5 seconds of the total DW timer drop before they are either brought down by the killer, or abandoned and allowed to mend, so aside from the time it takes to mend, and the visual effects of DW darkening their screens, that 5 second loss is of no consequence to them. While I understand completely why DW was changed so it couldn't be abused by the killers, they ended up making it far too lenient and abusable by survivors to the point that its no longer puts any pressure on survivors, much less poses any semblance of a threat.

If I were to change anything about the DW status, it would be to simply shorten the timer to 10 seconds. Doing so would put more urgency on mending, and make DW more of a threat during chases since choosing to slow down, pallet drop, or vault would be more costly to the timer. However, if a killer were to chase a survivor until the DW timer ticked down as their strategy, they'd have to rely on the survivor performing multiple actions that ultimately extend the chase time resulting in a longer chase, so while shortening the timer to 10 seconds will increase the threat of DW, it won't ensure a quick down or make afflicting a survivor with DW a 1 sided oppressive scenario in favor of the killer either. It will however make the chases and the choices survivors make during them much more strategic, and put pressure on the survivors to escape the chase asap instead of simply trying to stall or kite the killer for too long. On top of that, it would make the Legions add-ons that reduce the timer, or cut seconds off of it a unique threat to survivors. For obvious reasons these add-ons would have to be reworked to reflect the new timing so that they aren't OP, but overall this would be an improvement to the DW status.

While reducing the timer to 10 seconds won't make DW an oppressive powerhouse, it will make it more of a threat that ultimately puts pressure on survivors to break away from a chase to mend, and make every choice during a chase while afflicted by DW potentially more costly. This will encourage more strategic play as the survivors are put in a race against time wherein they must do everything in their power to focus on escaping instead of kiting the killer around for too long.

TL;DR - DW's 30 second timer made sense when it couldn't be paused unless a survivor was in a chase, or mending with 1 second left on the timer, but since its changes that allow survivors complete control of when the timer pauses, it's outdated, excessive, and renders the DW status a completely toothless timewasting annoyance rather than a threat survivors have to work around strategically. Proposing to Shorten the DW timer to 10 seconds so that it's more of a threat, but not an OP or oppressive one due to how easy it is for survivors to pause the timer.