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Suggestion: change Obsession mechanic

OrinNekomata
OrinNekomata Member Posts: 10
in Feedback and Suggestions

Okay, let's take a break from Halloween not-event to discuss gameplay stuff.


I wanted to talk about Obsession or more specifically the chances of becoming Obsession. All my info is taken from DbD-wiki, so don't blame me for mistakes (unless I just completely missed the stuff explaining that, then blame).

I often play with my friends in a 4-man-SWF (yes, you can boo me for that). We're not trying to be a sweaty-tryhard-SWF but we're still SWF. Each one of us has a freedom of choosing their own perks, of course, but 99% of the time there're 3 Decisive Strikes on own team, or 2 Decisive Strikes and 1 Mettle of Man.

And here lies the problem for me personally. For some unknown reason, in around 40% of our games I become an Obsession at the beginning of the game while having no Obsession perks myself and 3 teammates with DS. Probably just a giant several-months-long streak of bad luck, but still.

As you all probably know, if there's at least one Obsession perk (or killer-addon), some random person will become an Obsession at the beginning of the game with players who use Obsession-perks having increased chances of that.

Each statement on a perk (or addon) saying it "increases the odds of being an Obsession" means you're twice as likely to be it. And vice versa, "reduces the odds of being the Obsession" means you're twice as unlikely to be it. (This info is taken from the wiki.) Unfortunately the wiki doesn't have info for the default chances of becoming an Obsession (it's easy to say "well, it's 25% if none of you have DS and killer has Dying Light" for example, which is logical but that doesn't cover all situations). Maybe it means that if you bring DS, OoO, MoM and Sole Survivor you will have 100% chance of being an Obsession.

Most of the time being an Obsession without Obsession-perks doesn't matter. So what if the killer has STBFL or if it's Myers with Judith's Journal addon? So what if your teammates bring DS, killer doesn't know who has it. It doesn't change the game TOO much. Sometimes it can even be beneficial to be an Obsession, like when killer is using Dying Light - he'll ignore you more, you heal faster and don't have any penalties to repair speed. It's the same for people with DS and without it.

But sometimes it's a bad thing. If the killer uses Rancor - you'll get one-shot and killed at the end of the game if you didn't hide in time, and that feels totally unfair. If there're no DS in your team at all and Rancor just chose you at random - sure, that's fair. But when you didn't bring Obsession-perks while other players did and YOU get punished for that? Not so much.

So, my suggestion is: rework the chances of becoming an Obsession.

If there're no Obsession perks at all - make it so you have 0% chances of becoming an Obsession (duh, obviously).

If a killer used an Obsession perk (like Rancor or Dying Light) or addon (like Freddy's Black Box) - everybody has the same 25% chance of becoming an Obsession IF they're not using Obsession perks that increases the odds (also pretty obvious).

If a survivor used an "increased odds" Obsession perk - that's 100% of being an Obsession. So if there's ONE player with DS on your team - he will always be an Obsession. If a killer uses Rancor and there's someone on your team with DS - he will be an Obsession. If there're TWO players with DS - it's 50/50 BETWEEN THEM, two other players still have 0%. If THREE players - 33% still BETWEEN THEM, while the last one has 0%. And if the whole team is using DS - we're back to 25% for everyone. Because let's be honest, the only time a killer can be 100% certain there's no DS - it's when there's no Obsession at all (and that's not counting his own perks).

That being said, there're perks and addons that reduce your chance of becoming Obsession: perks Blood Pact and For The People, and Unique Wedding Ring addon for a key. I can see two ways of changing them.

First, simple way: remove this function from them. This will not really affect For The People (because the point of the perk is to emergency heal other survivor while making yourself an Obsession in a process), but will make Wedding Ring and Blood Pact worse because they rely on a Obsession being someone else and if the game chose you at random - you basically have a dead addon/perk.

Second, harder way: make it still reduce the chances but with a few conditions:

  • If you use other Obsession-perk that makes you 100% an Obsession with these perks - they will have no effect on reducing your chances, you'll still have 100%.
  • If there're NO SURVIVOR Obsession-perks that increase the odds (no DS, no OoO,..), BUT A KILLER HAS ONE (like STBFL) - you will have 0% chance of becoming an Obsession, while other survivors will have increased 33% chance. This will ensure you will not be a "random" Obsession from STBFL, like the addon/perk says, and you will be able to use them in full effect. (Obviously, if four people bring Blood Pact - the Obsession is random.)
  • If there're NO SURVIVOR OR KILLER Obsession-perks that increase the odds (no DS, no Dying Light,...) - Blood Pact perk will CREATE an Obsession for you (33% chance between other survivors) because it needs an Obsession to work; For The People will NOT CREATE an Obsession UNTIL you use it and become an Obsession yourself (similarly to killer-perk Nemesis); and Unique Wedding Ring addon... sorry, but wiki doesn't have info if it creates an Obsession at all or only reduces the chances of being one (and I can't test it now), so... it will only work if there's another Obsession-perk in a match.


And that's my suggestion, thanks for reading.

Comments

  • Kind_Lemon
    Kind_Lemon Member Posts: 2,559

    I don't agree with the design decision that the Obsession mechanic should be repurposed for all these other perks with player-specific effects such as Nemesis, For The People, Blood Pact, etc.

    And for that reason, I don't agree with the "reduction of Obsession chance" function in the first place; I think it should just be removed.