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The Stridor change highlights BHVR's inability to create proper balance changes
It's fairly easy to see why Stridor, an otherwise non-problematic and niche perk was changed to be countered by Iron Will, no longer countering it. It's a band-aid Spirit nerf.
This is going to be slight conjecture, but knowing how the devs identify their targets for balance changes, statistics of Stridor probably showed a clear correlation: Stridor's usage had an inflated kill rate when ran on Spirit, and the kill rate was disproportionate for player's running her with and without Stridor. So, balancing based off of kill rate and pick rate statistics, the devs decide to nerf the perk and not the killer.
In the grand scheme of things, this change isn't too impactful or meaningful, but does highlight BHVR's inability to balance this game, once again balancing based off of statistics and not top-end or overall player feedback.
Comments
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It was probably changed so that BTB could work like it’s supposed to
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Yeah the stridor change is dumb. Why should a survivor perk ever trump a killer perk? I mean it totally nullifies it. Where as the oak offerings you would need 4 survivor offerings to match the single offering from the killer. So i'm not sure why this is different. The only time I have used stridor is on Freddy to try out the new swing chains, and that was super niche. I don't even use stridor on spirit. So with this change, stridor is just another perk that you never want to see on almost anyone. Just another great perk to find on the fun bloodweb grind along with overwhelming presence, dead mans switch, and cruel limits
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In the grand scheme of things, this change isn't too impactful or meaningful, but does highlight BHVR's inability to balance this game, once again balancing based off of statistics and not top-end or overall player feedback.
The overall player feedback, judging by these forums, was: "Stridor Spirit OP". Or at least too easy for the power it brings to the table. This change plays off of that, except that it's fairly ineffectual unless the survivor is running Iron Will.
I mean it totally nullifies it.
It doesn't.
Where as the oak offerings you would need 4 survivor offerings to match the single offering from the killer.
And this is exactly why it doesn't work that way. Because much like you need 4 map offerings to cancel out that one ward, you need four Iron Wills to cancel out a Stridor.
Just because Nea brought Iron Will doesn't mean Jane isn't still squealing. Which also raises the point that the issue you bring up with Iron Will nullifying Stridor is even -more- valid when reversed in the old situation. One Iron Will now won't completely nullify Stridor, but it used to be that one Stridor would completely nullify up to four Iron Wills.
Overall, the only way either of these two perks now ends up doing literally nothing is if all four survivors bring Iron Will, as opposed to what it used to be, where all Iron Wills were completely nullified by one Stridor. Overall, I think this feels fairer all around, as it's unlikely either side will completely lose a perk due to rock-paper-scissors match-up.
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If you were around for the infinites that you could run on Haddonfield, you’ll know they took the easy route by nerfing the perk Balanced Landing. Saves them time and money.
This is no different for Stridor. Ignored the main problems but changed it enough so it doesn’t require time and effort to properly fix.
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To be fair, Spirit really just needs an add-on pass before anything, and Stridor made her a lot easier for free, so it makes sense to change that first and go from there. (Because, let's be real, compared to no Stridor Spirit, Stridor Spirit with good add-ons is super easy mode. At least a Spirit without Stridor has to track using sound.)
Plus, imho, Iron Will isn't in a bad place, and the issues surrounding it are something every Killer faces, and needs to be addressed- it was just more blatant versus Spirit. (Because Iron Will can bug out and will take away all of your sounds, like breathing and footsteps, instead of just your grunts of pain. But, again, lots of sound bugs.)
Idk, I really like this change. It makes Spirits who don't want to really learn some of the more harder aspects of Spirit- especially verses Iron Will- struggle and be forced to either learn or move on, and it doesn't really change or destroy the meta for anyone. (While hopefully allowing Iron Will to be talked about enough to also recieve the change it needs- taking away grunts of pain only, and not things like footsteps. AKA: the perk doing what it's supposed to do, but not more then it should like it currently does.)
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I don't think Stridor should have ever worked with Iron Will. The point of Iron Will is to conceal your noise, why does the killer get to completely counter that by their perk? Nowhere in the perk description for Stridor does it say "works with Iron Will".
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"Why should a survivor perk ever trump a killer perk?"
Like Calm Spirit against Infetious Fright?
LIke Quick and Quiet against I'm All Ears?
LIke Distortion / Off the Record against BBQ or Nurses (albeit max three times for the former)?
You see, that's a non-argument, bc we already have that situation with other perks. Why is it ok for the other perks to completely counter killer perks, but not ok with Iron Will trumping Stridor? Just because Iron Will is meta ans Stridor is not?
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Furthermore, does no one complaining now remember the numerous threads where someone wondered why Iron Will would not work against stridor, since it should remove any injured sounds? The current additive approach is just not INTUITIVE, it's not what you would expect when reading the perk description. They upcoming change will correct that, so Iron Will will work exactly as expected. Try to see it more like an consistency change.
Sure, Iron Will will be buffed by that change. I think we can all agree that at least the breathing noises should not be muted as well. So Stridor could still help you find injured survivors bc of their louter breathing. That would be another required change for consistency.
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I never used Stridor on Spirit on serious matches, never used it on actual killer builds either, still 4 Killing every day, can't see any reason to complain about a nerf on such a meaningless perk...
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I feel that a perk designed to counter sound should not be countered by sound. Call of Duty is the only other game I know of where for whatever reason, they decided to allow such a backwards interaction.
Maybe they could buff Stridor in a different way, they probably should. But making it counter its counter was inherently stupid.
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Personally as someone who runs Iron Will 24/7, I like this change. It makes mindgaming the Spirit much more easier.
I'm still not a fan of her personally, but at least I wouldn't feel like I got hit with cheap shots now if I have means to screw her over.
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I mean... In their defence I saw a bunch of threads on here all asking for this Stridor nerf. If there's anyone to blame, then it's probably the people demanding for a plasterfix, rather than an actual one.
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I'm not complaining about Stridor. It really only sees usage on Spirit. Like I said, this is a band-aid nerf to take away one of her most powerful tools when she is far too problematic in her own right with or without it.
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Doesn't make sense to give Survivors audio priority. Killer is more dependant on audio for tracking where Survivors have numerous warnings
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