An Analytical Rant About Playstyles

Milkymalk

This is feedback but as well a general plea to the players, which is why I'm posting it here.

I've been around the game since before the first DLC and recently started playing again after more than a 6 months break. Taking a step back from the game gave me some insight into what makes the game now different from the game back then. I don't mean the massive amounts of bugs that have been fixed since the release (good job!), but how players gaining understanding of the mechanics and map elements changed the style of play.

When the game was new, survivors had to hide. Break line of sight, sneak away in a direction the killer doesn't expect, maybe sneakily jump into a locker. If you had Sprint Burst, you could outrun the killer for a short time and get more time to look for a way to actually escape. I remember the thrill each time I ducked away behind some cover, hoping that I am overlooked.

Now, most experienced survivors don't even TRY any more to lose the killer. They try to annoy him so much that he loses interest, or to cost him as much time as possible while the rest of their team rushes generators. They loop around a pallet 3-4 times, throw it down, and run to the next pallet.
Now don't get me wrong: I'm not complaining about players using this strategy (well yes I am, but that's not the point of this thread). I'm complaining that the game works in such a way that this is apparently the BEST strategy (or experienced players wouldn't use it).

I remember the summer event when some generators had a bonus attached to them (points for the event). This gave the generators a certain priority and while it didn't add anything to the gameplay itself if you finished the BBQ generators first, it gave the game some dynamics. You COULD finish the game with the non-BBQ generators, but you would lose the bonus then. So you tried to get those done first. It was more interesting to have an incentive to pick your targets carefully instead of just taking what came your way.
Choosing between running in circles until the game is over and walking away hoping to find a different survivor who doesn't loop you is not a fun choice; it's the coice between plague and cholera. Either way, you are forced to admit defeat.

Why am I telling this? Because I think that change, and choices, make the game more interesting. I remember a study that I heard of during economics classes: In a factory, the management changed the light to brighter and checked its effect on productivity. The result was a higher productivity, which went back to standard over time. Then they lowered the light level again and again, the productivity went up for a short time. Change generates motivation.

The devs proved they realized this when they removed infinites and blocked abused windows. So I am pleading to do two things to the game:
1) Add a similar mechanic to pallets like with the windows - maybe auto-drop them after a survivor passes them 2-3 times in a short timespan, and to make up for this:
2) Add an incentive to actually vanish out of sight from the killer instead of kiting him until he gives up the chase. Give survivors a REASON to not loop.

I am actually really, really bad at looping and try to break line of sight and slip out of the chase even today. And you know what? It works! It's more risky than pallet looping and wasting time, but it's also more rewarding to me, personally. And it leaves the killer with a "Huh? Where did he go? This is witchcraft!" instead of a "Oh great, I'm going to run in circles for the next minute, yay." Now you might say, "If you are bad at looping then it obviously takes skill to do it". Yes, I agree. But not everything that takes skill is fun for both sides. It also takes skill to get away from the killer by hiding from him during a chase, and this is a much more dynamic situation. Nobody looks in lockers anymore except for the huntress, which is a result of nobody hiding in there anymore.

Thank you for your time.