Object of Obsession

Slashstreetboy

Object of Obsession has been a hot topic for the longest time. Recently, the awareness regarding balance problems this perk brings have increased, which is very much appreciated.

There aren´t too many instances in which Object is run (reflected in the statistics). We have players going for their adept Laurie, solo Survivors who either want to improve their chase game or troll the Killer, and SWF teams.

The first two instances of use do not pose much of a problem. They are usually solo players, hence they cannot utilise the perks full potential. Their relative inexperience in using the perk tends to get them killed more often than without it (reflected in the statistics).

The explanation for this lies not only in the fact that their position can be accidentally given away (or willingly for the 2nd group of users) but more so in the fact that Killers feel obligated to eliminate the Object ASAP. Killers have to assume the Object is in a team, if they don´t, they risk experiencing the perks oppressive nature to its full extend, which leads us to the last group of users.

In an experienced SWF group the value of the perk skyrockets. I´ll list a few of the benefits that do not show up in the statistics :

The Killer and their spawn position are immediately identified at the start of a match. If the Killer is not visible from the get-go, it´s a Myers or a Wraith. Despite them being undetectable, their general location can still be determined by paying attention to the perk icon lighting up while looking in a specific direction. This allows the whole team to negate any element of suprise a stealth Killer has(usually their only strength), so the Killer is at a massive disadvantage right from the start.

The team will instantly be able to split up on gens in the most efficient way, since the position of the Killer is known by all Survivors at all times. This enables a very efficient playstyle that the vast majority of the roster is not equipped to deal with.

Pressuring gens becomes very difficult for the Killer since the team will always know long beforehand which gen the Killer is moving towards, either preventing a chase completely or giving the Survivor a massive headstart to reach the most advantageous position to get chased from. Very good teams will even call out if the Killer is trying to pull a move like moonwalking at a jungle gym, further increasing their disadvantage.

Freddy due to making Survivors oblivious throughout the trial is especially hindered in chases due to him being visible at all times, removing any possibility of mindgaming (a neccessity against experienced Survivors).

Setup Killers, especially Trapper, propably suffer the most from Object in SWF. Every trap they place down is known by the whole team with no possibility of preventing this. Object hard-counters them, rendering them almost powerless, which is extremely oppressive and unfun.

These are some of the benefits. Let´s take a look at the cost. For one, it takes up a perk slot, which isn´t exactly a high price to pay given the amount of benefits it provides.

Secondly, it gives away the Objects position to the Killer if the user wishes to do so (this is important, since I feel pointing out that Killers have absolutely no input or viable counterplay options whatsoever is significant).

In theory, this may seem like a disadvantage, and it is against certain Killers (good Nurses or Spirits for example, since they have good mobility AND lethality in their kit, feats that most Killers do not have). A good Object in a team will not show themselves deliberately, they will either always be in a very strong looping setup or fool the Killer and hide themselves from them.

This puts the Killer in a lose-lose situation: If they ignore the Object, their every move is known by the whole team at all times. If they don´t ignore the Object and decide to go for them they will have to take on a very difficult chase, usually requiring the Killer to traverse the map first and then starting a chase the Object will have planned out beforehand(in case the Object does not hide, which is easy when every step the Killer takes is visible). This gives the rest of the team ample time to do several generators uncontested.

All of the above mentioned aspects are not reflected in the statistics. What they do tell us is that Killers are forced to eliminate the Object or their chances of having a good match or even winning it are drastically reduced if they don´t.

Now take all this and imagine the team uses more than one Object. Nothing stops them from doing so other than having a sense of decency and fair play.

I hope this short summary helps spark awareness that not every problem in DBD is neccessarily reflected in escape rates.

So how could this issue be resolved? In my opinion, there are four possibilities.

1) Rework Object to do something different entirely. Going from a DEVs statements in the recent stream this seems unlikely, apparently there is an indestructible determination to force OoO to have synergy with Sole Survivor.

2) Make the perk more difficult to use. This could be done several ways. For example, it could work based off a token system, tokens gained through time being chased. This would prevent the extremely unfair advantages the perk holds over stealth and setup Killers at the start of a match.

It could have limited use with a cooldown. Personally, I´d find 3/4/5 seconds reveal with a 60 second cooldown appropriate.

3) Balance it by adding meaningful downsides to it. As of now, there is next to zero risk in running this perk in a SWF. My suggestions would be that the user is a) Instantly Moriable when downed, b) Only needs to be hooked once c) suffers from the Exposed status effect d) Suffers 10% hindered throughout the match e) 30% reduced action speed on everything f) Aura is visible by the Killer at all times

4) Disable Object in SWF. This might set a precedent you want to avoid, but in my opinion it´s neccessary to do so in its current state

Ideally, I´d like to see a mix of several of these.

Please reconsider your stance on Object of Obsession. Take a look at the community feedback, the feedback of content creators and Fog Whisperers, and don´t limit your decision making to escape rates only - they don´t show the whole picture.

Yours truly,

Slashstreetboy