Key and breakable wall rework idea - doors that can be opened, closed, and locked.

cyniChris
cyniChris Member Posts: 207
edited January 2021 in Feedback and Suggestions

I think the majority of players can agree that breakable walls, while a neat concept, have been implemented poorly, and given that keys are a hot topic for reworks (especially after the mori change), how about we kill two birds with one stone?


Breakable walls Doors:

In place of all (or at least most) current breakable walls are now closed doors. Survivors can open/close them either slowly and quietly, or barge through them/slam them shut. Killers can also open them by walking through them, with a quick animation that doesn't slow their momentum.

When on one side of a closed door, a survivor can hold the interact button (M1/RB/R1) for 1 second to hold the door shut, which will prevent the killer from simply barging through it. However, the killer can break the door the same way as they would a pallet, causing the survivor to stagger and become hindered for 5 seconds (I would have gone with injured/deep wound here but I think that would be unfair). The survivor can stop holding the door at any time by tapping the interact button, but if they're holding the door at any point during the break animation, they still suffer the effects.


Keys and locking doors:

Keys, in addition to previous aura-reading capabilities, can now be used to lock or unlock closed doors at the cost of 5 charges. This animation can be interrupted by the killer by attacking/grabbing if they're on the same side as the survivor, or if they start to break the door down. Locking a door will render it unable to be opened by anyone, meaning the killer will have to break it down, similar to a pallet. This is exactly the same as the current breakable walls. Importantly, the killer will have no way of knowing if a door is locked or not until they attempt to walk through it.

Killers who use their power to break pallets will still be able to do so with locked doors. A Hillbilly with LoPro Chains will still be very dangerous here! Future killer addon changes/additions could also affect this. I'd love to see Demogorgon able to Shred these doors and hit the poor survivor on the other side, for example.


The Hatch:

Much like the doors, the hatch can be opened by using 5 charges of the key. The animation can be interrupted by the killer (attack/grab), much like locking/unlocking a door. This prevents using a key right in the killer's face to escape. The hatch should remain open for 5 seconds instead of the current 30, leaving other survivors with much less time to escape, which prevents edge-case scenarios where all 4 survivors escape in the killer's face.


Key changes:

  • Broken Key Damaged Key: 5 charges. Can lock/unlock slowly (5 seconds). When it runs out of charges, the key breaks in the lock, consuming it and rendering the lock unable to be used. Cannot be used on the hatch.
  • Dull Key: 10 charges. Can lock/unlock normally (3.5 seconds). The key is not consumed when it runs out of charges, but is rendered useless (ie; you can't use it to open the hatch without charges). The key is consumed when opening the hatch.
  • Skeleton Key: 15 charges. Can lock/unlock quickly (2 seconds). They key is not consumed when it runs out of charges, but can still be used on the hatch. The key is consumed when opening the hatch.


Addons:

  • Scratched Pearl (common): Moderately increases (+8 metres) aura-reading range.
  • Eroded Token (common): Reveals survivors' auras within a range of 20 metres. 1 charge = 1 second.
  • Prayer Rope (uncommon): Adds 5 charges. Stacks.
  • Milky Glass (uncommon): Considerably increases (+16 metres) aura-reading range.
  • Gold Token (rare): Reveals survivors' auras within a range of 32 metres. 1 charge = 1 second.
  • Prayer Beads (rare): Adds 10 charges. Stacks.
  • Blood Amber (very rare): Reveals the killer's aura within a range of 24 metres. 1 charge = 0.5 seconds.
  • Weaved Ring (very rare): When the key is used to lock a door or open the hatch, all survivors see the aura of the door/hatch for 5 seconds. Stacks.
  • Unique Wedding Ring (ultra rare): Reveals the obsession's aura at all times and reduces your odds of becoming the obsession. When the key is used to lock a door or open the hatch, the obsession sees the aura of the door/hatch for 2 seconds. Stacks.

I wanted to retain the key's aura reading, as it's still very useful. Nerfs to base aura-reading range can be made up for with the second range addon. Removing the ability to keep the key when opening the hatch or dying seems much fairer, as well - White Wards exist for keeping them! Lastly, I changed some rarities based on the power of the new effects. I'm no expert, so I'm sure some numbers could be tweaked.


I feel like this idea fits really well with the horror theme and will add some extra tension to chases:

  • Slamming doors behind you buys a second or two to break line of sight.
  • If a teammate is on the side you're running to while you're injured, they can hold the door or lock it to buy you time to escape the chase.
  • If you're repairing a generator close to a door and see the killer coming, you can close it, hold/lock it, and buy yourself and/or your teammate(s) a few seconds to finish repairs.
  • Most importantly, it doesn't create infinite loops with mandatory wall breaks like we currently have on some maps.


Any further suggestions/constructive criticism would be welcomed! Thanks for reading!