A killer perk idea

Steafanmc

So was thinking of a new perk for killers to help their totems last longer. The perk would be called "lights out" and what it does is hide the light on hex totems so survivors don't know which totems are the hex totems and have to do totems to find the hex totems.

lights out Hex perk
when this hex is destroyed all hidden he totems will no longer be hidden
(yellow) level 1: 1 hex totem will be hidden from the survivors
(green) level 2: 2 hex totems will be hidden from the survivors
(purple) level 3: 3 hex totems will be hidden from the survivors

I really think this will help totems last longer, help make totems fun to use and have people make killer builds based around hex totems more usable.

TithiYT

Great idea!

FoggyDownpour

I feel like this should be default. It's so easy for me most of the time to find and cleanse hex totems, not know which was which could easily add time to the game

The_Daydreamer

Question: Does it just remove the burning effect? So if I think I destroy a dull totem, cause it doesnt burn, it could be a Hex: Totem?
So it could be easily countert by destroy everything I can see?

Even tho if this would be the case, I would support the Idea.

AlwaysInAGoodShape

I've suggested a somewhat similar feature, but not in the form of a perk.

The main problem with the current Hex Totems is:
PROBLEM
1. Random Totem spawns can screw over the killer by being placed in an open area or next to a Generator, rendering the perk useless.
2. Random Survivor routing can pay off greatly by stumbling on a Hex Totem that hasn't even been used yet.

THE PURPOSE OF HEX TOTEMS
The idea, which I think we can all agree, behind Hex totems is that they are perks that are stronger than permanent perks, but should be destructible once the survivors are confronted with it's consequences.

POSSIBLE FIX
Fixing an issue with Hex totems through perks is a bad Idea in my opinion. Such design flaws should be tackled differently. My proposal looks somewhat similar to yours:

1. When you run a Hex perk, the Hex ties itself to a Dull totem.
2. The candle of a Hex totem will ONLY burn whenever in the radius of the killer.

With this mechanic, you don't know if you're wasting time by doing a dull totem, so you might pass it, as the killer might not even have a Hex totem equipped at all. Once you become aware of a Hex perk's presence, THEN you will have an incentive to cleanse the totems. If the survivors cleanse the totems anyways, then they might just have wasted valuable time on something that achieves nothing.

This solves the problem of Bad Totem spawns, and random survivor pathing.

IF THAT WASN'T ENOUGH ALREADY
You can make it so that "totems depreciate in strength".
The time it takes to cleanse a Dull&Hex totem (you wouldn't be able to tell the difference without the killers terror radius) will slowly decrease overtime to a capped minimum. This will incentivise players to not randomly work on Dull Totems at the start, as they are rewarded for doing it later, when the Cleanse Time is reduced.

For Details on how that'd work:
CODE
float cleanseTime; //Time it takes a survivor to cleanse a totem.
float minCleanseTime; //The minimal time it should be allowed to take to cleanse a totem.
float maxCleanseTime; //The time it should take for a totem to be cleansed at the exact start of the match.
float differenceTime; //contains the value of MaxCleanseTime - MinCleanseTime.
float totemGameDuration; //amount of seconds it should take before you reach minCleanseTime.

FunctionCalledAtTheStartOfTheMatch()
{
maxCleanseTime = 25;
minCleanseTime = 10;
differenceTime = maxCleanseTime - minCleanseTime;
cleanseTime = maxCleanseTime;
totemGameDuration = 600 //in seconds, thus 10 minutes.
}

FunctionCalledPerFrame()
{
ChangeCleanseTime();
}

ChangeCleanseTime()
{
if(cleanseTime > minCleanseTime)
{
cleanseTime = cleanseTime - differenceTime/totemGameDuration * deltaTime;
}
}

Now use the value of cleanseTime at the moment the survivor starts working on a totem and you're set.

Mystoc

i like this the survivors know the hex still exists but can't spot it and you have to waste a perk slot to delay it

what i don't like is the RNG of it if they find the real hex and destroy it first, this fake decoy totem ends up being useless

Saint_Ukraine

I think this is a great idea, and it would definitely strengthen perks like Devour Hope and Huntress Lullaby, which require tokens in order to be used to their full potential.