So, Why Are We Nerfing Pinhead?

Pulsar
Pulsar Member Posts: 20,775
edited November 2021 in General Discussions

I think we all know that Engineer's Fang needed some...toning down, shall we say? Like, it was way too good.

But why are we nerfing him. Seriously. This feels like the EXACT same thing that happened with Deathslinger, where BHVR nerfs a "problem" area and then forgets to buff any other part of their kit.

Post edited by Pulsar on
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Comments

  • Leatherface1990
    Leatherface1990 Member Posts: 718

    Nerfing = Balance

    I think we are doing pretty good.

  • Bwsted
    Bwsted Member Posts: 3,452

    Do you mean the other add-on nerfs, or have I missed the memo on something else?

  • RainehDaze
    RainehDaze Member Posts: 2,573

    Since I don't really play anyone consistently but Pinhead, without the addons pressuring the person with the box is nearly impossible in most maps. It turns into a way for the survivors to get you into awful loops, since the spawning mechanics will almost always make it appear far beyond anywhere you can reasonably get to.

    The box will always spawn more than 40m from Pinhead. So, unless you were headed that direction before it was picked up, it's already more than 10m away from where you can get to in 6s. The chains are much faster, but take half a second of time to even pan to the portal and be able to fire, plus the travel time. So, 6s is almost always too little time to do anything except maybe teleport into a jungle gym. It sucks.

  • RainehDaze
    RainehDaze Member Posts: 2,573

    As for the Engineer's Fang nerf, the way it was nerfed seems... well, I'll be honest, overkill? It's going to be easy to injure, but then practically useless for downing or in loops.

  • Madjura
    Madjura Member Posts: 2,450

    Where did you hear about any changes and what exactly are they?

  • Pulsar
    Pulsar Member Posts: 20,775

    Yes, and also what Otz said in his latest video.

    To quote, "Chains will no longer interrupt the Survivor solving the box." I suspect this is referring to the Chains which spawn when the Chain Hunt is active, but I am not sure.

  • RainehDaze
    RainehDaze Member Posts: 2,573
    edited November 2021

    PTB notes.

    IIRC, Engineer's Fang will now spawn one less chain when you hook someone (i.e. if you hit an injured survivor); Iridescent Lament Configuration will now reveal within 24m (it spawns more than 16m away from Survivors, so that basically kills it if they're even slightly spread out; that's more than double the area covered); box-solving time addons have had their effects cut in half (green 4s>2s, yellow 2s>1s). Chatterer's Tooth gets a buff in how long the undetectable lasts.

    Oh boy, forgot about that one. Now there's no penalty for ignoring the box until after the hunt starts/is about to start, since it can't even delay you.

  • RainehDaze
    RainehDaze Member Posts: 2,573

    See... Pinhead teleporting to you is a good thing. It means nobody else is being pressured, if you delayed just a few seconds on solving to get into a good position you've dumped him into a loop staring at a wall (and not you), and (if you're in a good spot), he's now well away from any generators, because chances are it spawned where people aren't: dead areas of the map.

  • Kebek
    Kebek Member Posts: 3,676

    Why change the interaction with hoarder and FD though ? It's the best thing about PH's design imo. A killer who's power is unique and strong enough that running what would normally be quite memey perks for any serious loadout become a good reasonable trade off to increase consistency of his power.

    It's the same for Nemesis and his vaccines or huntress's iron maiden etc.

    Besides you can play around it, hoarder has area of effect so if the killer is close, don't pick up the cube or be able to loop PH for a bit. It's a nice combo that has very unique feeling for him but it's nothing that wins the game instantly by itself and you're giving up 2 perk slots for it.

  • Pulsar
    Pulsar Member Posts: 20,775

    It also takes 45 seconds for the Box to even SPAWN after he teleports, then another 90 for a Chain Hunt.

  • Pulsar
    Pulsar Member Posts: 20,775

    Plus, I thought we hated Killers running Ruin, Undying, PGTW and Corrupt?

  • Kebek
    Kebek Member Posts: 3,676

    Exactly, if anything we need more of this.

    Every killer has some perk that synergise really well with them and this is one of the most unique power interactions out there.

  • Crowman
    Crowman Member Posts: 9,395

    Honestly I've never understood the hate for Hoarder or Franklins. Hoarder is not as good as people assume it is and I bet the people complaining about it haven't played many games using Hoarder. Maps that survivors are likely going to throw offerings to go to are big enough that the box can be picked up out of range and picking up the box while pinhead is animation locked is still an option.

    Not to mention if people are picking up the box and instantly solving it, the hoarder notification isn't doing anything for you.

  • Pulsar
    Pulsar Member Posts: 20,775

    Chains definitely aren't easy to land on PC, definitely difficult on Console too.

    I don't think that justifies the strength of Engineer's Fang, but they are skill shots.

  • Rogue11
    Rogue11 Member Posts: 1,410

    They shouldn't change him yet. Give survivors time to adapt to some of the preferred tactics of Pinhead players.

    Guess it's going back to wraith, blight, nurse, and camping bubba for my survivor matches....

    Or I'll just play something else since escape-based matchmaking is terrible and my survivor queues are longer than the actual matches.

  • lauraa
    lauraa Member Posts: 3,195

    Give it time, people will eventually start to complain about his synergy with Lethal Pursuer and demand more nerfs

  • RainehDaze
    RainehDaze Member Posts: 2,573

    What's particularly frustrating about these nerfs is that the main thing the non-Fang addons did is give Pinhead some measure of control over his own ability. Without time to get to whoever is holding the box (by time-extension and chain interruptions and the survivor not finding it until the hunt starts), the way it works can be summed up as "do survivors forget to do the box or invite a teleport into an open field?"

    Except for having a very good idea where everyone is when it's time for the box to spawn, this shunts his effective 1v4 power completely into the control of the survivors.

  • Viamont
    Viamont Member Posts: 304

    Because they prefer to listen to the mayority of the low level player base and make sure they can deal with killers easily rather than make a decent competitive balance. Most inteligent groups balance the games around mid/high to high levels as theres where things get serious, DS was nerfed because low level people couldnt deal to learn to counter him, same for the anti loop killers, the great mayority of survivors just want to deal with every single killer in the same exact way, the sad part is that the devs listen to that side more than they should. Just look at how they butchered wraith and DS

  • k0reant3a
    k0reant3a Member Posts: 139

    They really should buff his other add ons so he has variety 🤷🏻‍♂️

  • AtraXis
    AtraXis Member Posts: 78

    I think the exact opposite. I actually find them really easy to hit, it's like casting a nurse blink. As long as you're on top of the survivor it's not really possible for them to dodge. As for Fang, I'd say this can give way to many easy hits, which can be a real game changer. It's like if huntress could hit you through anything. I would prefer if there was some kind of range requirement to get a hit with the chains, rather than a free first hit without any drawbacks.

  • StarLost
    StarLost Member Posts: 8,077

    Yerp.

    The weirdest thing - Fang wasn't even nerfed all that hard. It escaped mildly singed.

    The 'faster hunts' and 'longer solve' addons were incinerated and the iri Box nerf...why?

    The answer seems to be that BHVR are going off gross kill rates, meaning that it's about him being troublesome for newer players without any regards for high MMR viability.

    By which logic - Nurse needs one hell of a buff.

  • SunsetSherbet
    SunsetSherbet Member Posts: 1,607

    Survivors didn't want to learn how to deal with constant box hunting, so behavior is effectively removing him from the game. I think it's funny they shot their reputation via NFT's to get pinhead in and now they're killing him in under 3 months

  • RainehDaze
    RainehDaze Member Posts: 2,573

    I mean, they didn't do anything about the part of Fang that people could want nerfed, they just decided to make the rest of his kit more potato instead. Like, you might balance the kill rates, but does anyone really enjoy the way this has changed???

  • StarLost
    StarLost Member Posts: 8,077

    It depends on the map and the survivors in question. People that just hold W in the middle of the Serengeti - yeah. Easy chains.

    Indoor maps or in maps with lots of jungle-gyms? Chains break almost instantly and they are off.

    Survivors that know how to juke chains (very much like juking Nurse, actually) - oh man can this be difficult to deal with. Sometimes you can fool them by faking it though and gain distance.

    He's a really cool killer, he just needs help somewhere in his kit to offset the nerfs.

  • lauraa
    lauraa Member Posts: 3,195

    I think Chatterers is decent as it is but, I'm curious to see if the Stealth will even be remotely useful after the buff. I liked pairing it with Toeture Pillar or Iri Box, both of which are being nerfed :/

  • Labrac
    Labrac Applicant Posts: 1,285

    Because hur dur kill rate too gud

  • Stryker
    Stryker Member Posts: 220
    edited November 2021

    if behaviour can't nerf SWF or improve SoloQ, then they're optiong to nerff killers so much, that even soloQ will be able to harrass every killer.

    Post edited by Stryker on
  • lauraa
    lauraa Member Posts: 3,195

    It's really sad how allergic BJVR is towards SWF when we all know PC players use discord and consoles have Party Chat anyway, so nerfing SWF sounds incredibly idiotic to me.

    It seems like a no brainer we should buff Solo Q so we can get more engaging and demanding killers like Pinhead.

    I dont even buy the argument about communication barriers in Europe, even with massive communication barriers people will find a way to communicate in a basic manner. I played MMOs when I was 12 and there were BRs everywhere, I picked up barebones Portuguese lingo rather quick.

  • Gamedozer7
    Gamedozer7 Member Posts: 2,657

    Serious question why do people think EF is to strong? Its an iri which means it should be strong it can only injure and not down,it add 50% on your animation after using your chains, I belive it only spawns 2 chains on injured. Thats a lot of downside to be able to get an injury from a distance.

  • IronKnight55
    IronKnight55 Member Posts: 2,933

    The addons that made it take longer to solve the box needed the changes 100%. It was just too much when paired with hoarder/franklins (especially on small maps). It shouldn't be possible to keep chain hunt going all game. Most unfun thing I've played against in this game. I'm fine with the other changes as well.

  • Jplanas98
    Jplanas98 Member Posts: 532

    Because the Devs clearly know what's best for this game. (Sarcasm)

  • Pulsar
    Pulsar Member Posts: 20,775

    So, you'd agree that we need to buff his base power now.

    He literally takes the skill of Nurse for the reward of Clown.

  • IronKnight55
    IronKnight55 Member Posts: 2,933

    Pinhead is one of the killers I main, so I wouldn't mind a buff. I feel like he is pretty balanced tho.

  • WeenieDog
    WeenieDog Member Posts: 2,184

    I kind of thought it was because of console button mapping making break chains override throwing down pallets.

  • Pulsar
    Pulsar Member Posts: 20,775

    I put a significant amount of time into him and his Possessed Chains are garbage.

    His real power is Chain Hunt, which was just nerfed. If you aren't getting it to proc reliably, Pinhead is only just above Clown tier.

  • SunsetSherbet
    SunsetSherbet Member Posts: 1,607

    So...delete the character because behavior can't do programming a first year student could do? How about like, hire a competent developer to fix it?

  • dspaceman20
    dspaceman20 Member Posts: 4,699

    I don't think he should have been nerfed too hard. The only thing that I thought should go was the chains attacking you while solving the box. It was extremely irritating and coupled that with slowdown addons made it not possible to solve without him teleporting to you.

    They also should change the teleporting exploit.

    Other then that he was a fine strong but fair killer.

  • Pulsar
    Pulsar Member Posts: 20,775

    What teleporting exploit? The one where he can touch the button near the end and it makes them stuck in place?

  • Pulsar
    Pulsar Member Posts: 20,775
    edited November 2021

    That was fixed, I'm pretty sure.

    EDIT: Yep, 5.3.0 hotfix.


  • dspaceman20
    dspaceman20 Member Posts: 4,699