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The recent OoO rework proposal, and why I think mine is better

There's no question that BHVR's recent proposed Object of Obsession rework (Proposed OoO) is a major improvement over the Current OoO. That said, after reading all the comments in this forum from both Killers and Survivors, I think there are still a lot of problems Proposed OoO wouldn't fix, and new ones it would create. After considering these comments, the theme and intent of the perk, why the perk can currently be abused, and what legitimate (non-abusive) ways Survivors currently use the perk... I've come up with my own proposal for an OoO rework (My OoO).

I'll detail my rationale below, but first, here's what I propose:

After escaping a chase, a supernatural bond links you to the Killer. Your Auras are revealed to each other for 5 seconds, and you become the Obsession.

While you are the Obsession, when you look in the Killer's direction, your link will reveal your Auras to each other for 5 seconds.

Aura reading can only be triggered once every 40/35/30 seconds.

When you are hooked, you cease to be the Obsession.

Reduces the odds of being the Obsession.


The Rationale for My OoO

I think we all know the main problem with Current OoO is SWF abusing it to have a constant LoJack on the Killer. The flipside of this is a big downside for Survivors: Killers hate it because of how much it is abused, and tend to camp & tunnel anyone who runs it. This is what results in Current OoO being mostly un-fun for both sides.

There are other uses for Current OoO that are less objectionable. Some Survivors (whether solo or not) run Current OoO to get the Killer's attention and act as a distraction. Solos sometimes use it to keep a general idea of where the Killer is, without actively calling out every play to teammates. So the goal of a rework should be to support these other uses, while eliminating SWF abuse, as well as the resulting camping & tunneling of all OoO users.

For the most part, My OoO hews much closer to Current OoO than Proposed OoO does. It's not dependent on Killer perks and it still triggers by looking toward the Killer, instead of automatically on a timer, so the Survivor retains a fair bit of control over it.

However, while it retains much of the concept and flavor of Current OoO, My OoO brings a couple significant new limitations:

  1. Like many other perks, there is now a condition to trigger it: You must first escape a chase, or otherwise become the Obsession. (The counterintuitive decision to reduce the odds of being the Obsession at game start means that most of the time, you won't just get this for free.)
  2. Introducing a cool down on the Aura reading is a simple but effective means of preventing the perk from being abused. At ~30 seconds (numbers could be tweaked of course), this will still give the Survivor Aura reading on the Killer more often than any other perk in the game. However, that's also a long enough window between readings that the Killer can move quite a distance unobserved, ensuring that most of the time, Survivors still can't be entirely sure where they are.

Current OoO is intended to be a high risk, high reward perk that gives the Survivor a strong ability at the cost of encouraging the Killer to chase that person, but for a number of reasons, it doesn't really work out that way. In practice, Survivors often run Current OoO because they want to be chased in order to act as a distraction... but Killers often don't just chase that Survivor, they camp & tunnel to eliminate Current OoO from the match at any cost.

My OoO embraces the idea of OoO being a perk used, in part, to distract the Killer and get chased. This is why you earn the Aura reading by escaping chase... Which also immediately shows the Killer your Aura, encouraging them to resume chasing you.

But because being the Obsession is a requirement for Aura reading, and because of the unique new trait of removing Obsession when you're hooked, getting caught and hooked means you lose Aura reading until you next manage to escape chase. (Or otherwise become the Obsession again. Obviously this would synergize with Decisive Strike, but Killers can choose to play around that.) This means the Survivor running My OoO gets punished for losing a chase, and it also means this perk no longer gives the Killer an incentive to camp and tunnel. (After My OoO is hooked, the threat to the Killer is eliminated... for a while, at least.)

My OoO vs. Proposed OoO

After reading all the comments in this forum from both Killers and Survivors, I think there are still a lot of problems Proposed OoO wouldn't fix, and new ones it would create. Proposed OoO would be too much of a jack-of-all-trades, it hard counters too many different Killer perks, and could still be highly abusable depending what perks the Killer is running. That sucks from the Killer side, but from the Survivor side, it's also too dependent on factors that are completely outside your control, mainly the Killer's perk selections and RNG.

Issues I see with Proposed OoO (and how/why I think My OoO solves them):

  • If the Killer runs no Aura reading perks and you aren't the Obsession, Proposed OoO does literally nothing. It becomes a wasted perk slot, and the Survivor has no recourse to change this. (Unless they run specific other perks, or get lucky and the Killer does, etc., but that's way too high of a requirement just to turn on a perk.) (My OoO is not based on Killer Aura reading so it is not dependent on Killer perks, and a way to become the Obsession and activate Aura reading is a core part of its intended game play.)
  • Putting the Aura reveal on an automatic timer takes control of the Survivor's perk out of their hands. (My OoO triggers Aura reading when they look toward the Killer, so the Survivor's ability remains under the Survivor's control, as it should be.)
  • BBQ is probably far and away the most common Killer Aura reading perk, but when someone gets hooked, you already know where the Killer is without a perk. You confirm BBQ and may get an idea which direction the Killer is heading after hooking... That gives you something, but not much. (My OoO isn't based on Killer perks at all, so the Survivor can choose to use it when they will get the most benefit from it.)
  • If the Killer runs Hex: Undying, you can saunter up to any Dull Totem... over and over... and effectively turn Proposed OoO back into Current OoO. (My OoO isn't based on Killer perks at all, so this isn't an issue. The cool down prevents it from being abused like Current OoO can be.)
  • If the Killer runs I'm All Ears, which is basically only useful for mind-gaming during loops, Proposed OoO would hard counter it with no limitations. (Though Q&Q already does this, Q&Q doesn't impact nearly as many other perks as Proposed OoO would.) (My OoO isn't based on Killer perks at all, so it doesn't really hard counter any.)
  • If the Killer runs A Nurse's Calling, this would give the Survivor with Proposed OoO a warning, but not till the Killer already saw their location... That seems fair to me, if anything even a bit weak for the Survivor. But if the Survivor stays injured and has Self-Care or a med kit... They almost have Current OoO – except now it works repeatedly during looping, which could make it even more game-breaking than Current OoO. (My OoO could be used during a chase, and probably often would be. However, the cool down spreads out its uses enough that the Survivor should gain only a momentary advantage and only get to use it maybe once during any given chase, making it similar to I'm All Ears. If this became a problem, it could be restricted to outside Terror Radius, but I'm hoping that wouldn't become necessary.)

Proposed OoO has two distinct parts: The "aura-for-aura" ability, and the "timer reveal." Clearly the "aura-for-aura" ability would not be sufficient by itself (because not all Killers run aura perks). However, since it becomes OP when combined with certain Killer perks, the obvious solution would be putting it on a cool down... but that wouldn't mesh well with the "timer reveal."

I think we should further consider how this compares to other perks that let a Survivor see the Killer's aura. There aren't many, and none of them give info as often as the "timer reveal" would, nor as often as the "aura-for-aura" could (again, depending on Killer build). I think this suggests that either one of these abilities is strong enough to anchor a perk on their own. Considering the potential strength of each one, and the issues with meshing a cool down discussed above, I believe that these abilities should not be combined in a single perk.

In short, Proposed OoO can do literally nothing, or be game-breakingly OP like Current OoO, or anywhere in between, depending on the Killer's build and RNG. And I don't think that can be fixed with minor tweaks to Proposed OoO. We need a different approach to reworking OoO than what BHVR proposed.

Personally, I kinda like mine.

Comments

  • rororoxor
    rororoxor Member Posts: 182
    edited February 2021

    Not a bad idea, but when it comes down to it, there's a bunch of ways they could've reworked the perk, and they just happened to go along with their own idea, albeit it needing a few tweaks here and there. Yours' seems perfectly valid though. Though I do think making perks specifically to counter other perks is usually bad design.

  • Milo
    Milo Member Posts: 7,383
    • If the Killer runs no Aura reading perks and you aren't the Obsession, Proposed OoO does literally nothing.

    And that's okay. Distortion already does this. It doesn't do anything unless the killer runs a perk. MANY perks can do nothing, if the killer decides to even unintentionally.