Ideas/Feedback/Open Discussion
(WARNING - Major brain dump)
There hasn't been a survey as of late, and after that Q&A - I sort of just wanted to dump some feedback/ideas, as I know many of us are not too pleased with some of the answers given.
Some may agree with these ideas/feedback, some may disagree - but, I'd love to hear others feedback and ideas as well.
Going to be breaking this down by Category - first by feedback and then by Ideas. So, if you wish to read my brain dump by category, then skip to the designated spot.
// FEEDBACK //
Transparency
1) There has been more of an attempt of open communication. Both on social media and with the Q&A discussions, but - while their presence has become more visible - the answers given usually leave us with more questions as if avoiding particular details. Many of us want these particular details - I know that not all of us are tech savvy and may not understand the nitty gritty of certain matters (Like conversion of the programming language to C++ to assist in older gen system optimization), but instead of just saying "we need more time" - many of us would love to hear the "Why has this taken this long?" "What difficulties are you facing that are proving this to be a challenge?" This level of transparency doesn't seem to be there quite yet - I appreciate the efforts but it feels as if BHVR just can't accept when they have made a bad decision. Everyone makes mistakes, and the community would probably be much more content if BHVR just simply admitted to particular implementations that simply just are not working.
2) Add-on rework Transparency. There was a question regarding weaker killers being nerfed when they aren't needed to be nerfed. The answer provided to us detailed that Killers at higher MMR, have a higher success rate in kills when utilizing particular add-ons. While yes, I can see how this may be the case with particular killers; but, when there are killers such as Clown - that suffer from map control and has low snow ball potential, nerfing his Flask Bleach add-on, just doesn't seem to make sense. In my mind, these add-ons are used simply because he becomes somewhat add-on reliant to even compete with higher MMR. Even though it's such a small penalty, I would like to hear why add-ons are touched for each individual killer. Review the 5.5.0 PTB notes, and while there are some explanations as to why certain things are reworked, and or adjusted, it feels as if some just are ignored and simply changed just because they think its needed and not overall tackle the problem with the killer itself needing more significant changes.
3) Security. As an avid learner of the cyber world, who's actively trying to enter the Cyber Security field, I was somewhat confused with Patrick's response to the cheat engine and workings on security updates. I know security is a rough thing to handle, but - the company does not need to reveal what specifics have been changed to the cheat engine, as well as remedies to the vulnerabilities. If you look at any sort of App, game application, or any sort of patch - they do not go into details regarding what exactly was changed within the system to combat a particular vulnerability. Simply addressing to the community via patch notes "updated security" in some form would help communicate to the player base that you are actively working on the cheater/hacker plague that is currently on-going. Staying silent does not address whether you are actively working on it when your results are proving otherwise or posing a problem when it has been ongoing for a couple of years
4) I want to point out that - out of all the community managers that have spoken in the Q&As, Peanits was probably my favorite. He understood that the player base wanted answers to pressing matters. When a troll/meme "question" popped up from twitter, he did not really want to stay on that post for too long as it's not what the panel was for. I know these Q&As are quite tense, and even this Q&A, you can see and even feel how stressed Justin, and Patrick looked. Peanits even went as far to try and clarify some of the vague responses that were given by Patrick and Justin. He was paying attention, and for that - I appreciate. So thank you Peanits for trying to get us all answers to our pressing matters.
5) Player surveys. To avoid future mishaps of being asked unnecessary questions/inquiries such as the random Hen gen photo that got upvoted, why not compose questions that are based off the surveys? The surveys give better detail regarding pressing issues that the community is frustrated with. Putting the questions in the hands of the forums and the twitter space, and being the most asked questions will lead to instances where random memes and repeated questions come up. This in turn just points blame at the community saying "Well, this is what you guys upvoted, it was your fault for upvoting these posts". There's no structure to the Q&A - you are all aware as to what is submitted and what the loud issues are. Compose a list of answers from the surveys, otherwise - it does feel like the community is being ignored, and that the surveys don't feel like it has any impact/importance.
6) Timelines. Many of us understand when things just simply don't go into plan. Covid-19has created many complications - but, this does not mean to fully ignore particular promised implementations. Why does it take til a future Q&A to address something that was promised? Something like the console optimization - I don't think we heard anything in detail until this recent Q&A discussing the promised optimization to meet 60 FPS. It was refreshing to hear that the idea/goal was over ambitious. I know that it's constantly being worked on - but, it was as if the team was afraid to provide an apology. Why did we have to constantly cry out about console optimization for years to receive this sort of response? I know this plays into why many things don't want to be revealed to us, because then it may be used as bullets to hold you accountable for promises that were made. If these timelines are made - then shouldn't they be made primary and given high importance, and not keep the community in the dark about them?
Can't think of anything else at the moment, but will comment with additional feedback if any come up
// IDEAS //
Ok so - down to some ideas that have sat in my head for a while. Figure I just use this space to dump them. Some of them may be dumb, but - I've tried my best to try and incorporate everything that is in the game currently to not make things incredibly impossible or take too much time to even roll out.
1) Hex: Mania - When a survivor is hooked, then unhooked - the survivor becomes cursed with the manic state. A survivor must find a dull totem (or be downed into the dying state), to transfer the cursed manic state to the dull totem. The longer the survivor stays manic, effects such as increased heavy breathing, panting/crying/mumbling, louder grunts of pain, and occasional screaming revealing your location, as well as making skills checks gradually more difficult to hit - become to increase. Survivors in the manic state are unable to heal other survivors (you can heal yourself, as well as do all other actions, just not heal other survivors). If a survivor cleanses/boons a hexed totem that was cursed with mania, that survivor then obtains Hex: Mania. I'm aware this isn't a strong perk but - adds some interesting new effects that can potentially be used for future perk/gameplay actions.
2) Different game modes, but randomized. This one is a little tough, I'm not going to provide any particular idea to what the game mode should be, but a way to possibly include a new mode without having to select that particular game mode. Have said game mode(s) be random, this way survivors will have to always be keeping different perks in mind. When you load into a game, you may load into the standard game mode, or a new mode. Just how Overwatch has either Capture the flag maps or transport maps masked as different game modes. Patrick "teased" that they are working on something and its still being play tested. But, this will help avoid splitting the queue times into two separate modes, when its just combined into one and survivors are having to strategize for both the main mode and a potential spawn to the new mode. Though - this opens up something that could lead to problems, where perks may need to have dual roles - as perks may now need additional effects that relate to the new game mode.
3) Perk Tier/Prestige implementation - I've sat on this idea for a bit, and have not really heard many discuss this. But, why not tie Prestige level to the Perk tier? For survivors who have not prestiged - they only have access to tier 1 perks. This shortens the grind of leveling up in the blood web, allows more access to different perks to spawn and experimentation of perks for the newer player base. This incentivizes players to want to prestige to level 2 + 3 to have access to the higher tiers. And as you prestige a character - a bloodpoint multiplier is given. Ex: Prestige 1 = 1.1x bloodpoints, prestige 2 = 1.2x bloodpoints, prestige 3 = 1.3x for those characters. Now since you'll be able to obtain tier 3 perks at prestige 2, I'll leave ideas for any additional benefits for prestige 3 as an open discussion. (Cause I can't think of anything else at this moment.
4) Killer/Survivor bonuses based on their need. This has been mentioned before, but doesn't seem to have been addressed in Q&As. Why not give a bonus to killers or survivors to fill particular roles? We know that there is a killer shortage, and so why not give bonuses to players who decide to fill that role? We all want blood points, wouldn't this help tackle two issues at once?
5) Show who are SWF players. Overwatch remedied this by creating a link to their player icon nodes, which helps communicate to solo survivors that they are either playing with multiple solos or a group. This at least gives solo players a small bit of confidence that communication is being had at least by one party. I know some swfs are bad but, anything to help the solo experience is welcomed.
6) Potential Event side objective? Something that I thought of that seemed fun but poses some difficulties that I am unable to figure out how to balance appropriately. Capture the flag (side bonus/objective). At the start of the game, a random energy source will spawn. If a survivor finds this energy source, their character will start to glow red. Survivors who have this energy source emitting will be given a target on their back, as escaping with the source will give a bonus of bloodpoints (Maybe 5k?). If the sourced survivor gets hooked, that source dims and gets transferred to the killer. A survivor can only remove the source from the killer if they are stunned, or blinded.
7) New game mechanic - Call of the Entity. Once a particular amount of time has passed, a glowing beam will spawn randomly in the map. This beam is cast by the entity to support survivors - but with penalties. A survivor can stand under the beam to absorb the entities offering, doing so - the survivor is permanently in the broken status effect. But heals others faster, recovers from exhaustion faster, opens gates faster. This can be tinkered around a bit. Where a survivor can stand under the entities beam and receive random penalties with random buffs at the risk of becoming permanently broken. Which adds to the RNG aspect that this game has.
Well - if you read all of this.... then thank you for your time lol.
Most of us that are angry just want to be heard. We're angry because we love the game and want to see the game reach a state where it's playable. I want to see this game grow. But - with the direction and decisions made recently to this game, I've been growing more and more worried.
I'm not even sure any dev would read this - but, all I can say is that I at least tried.
Comments
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I'd like to laser focus in on feedback number 3 for a moment, the one about the cyber security.
I find it strange that you ask them to simply say "updated security" in patch notes, when... they did? That's literally in the PTB's patch notes- specifically, the one that everyone is bemoaning for having nothing in it, despite containing very crucial things like this and many others. Feedback and criticism is all well and good, but they deserve credit for actually doing the things that people want- and since they did very much do this thing, I wanted to highlight it so it could be acknowledged!
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This was an oversight of mine as I did not include the recent PTB details on that portion. Had honestly forgotten about it - thank you for bringing it up.
If you reference previous patch notes - (I only skimmed over the past 7 patch notes after your reply), not including this recent PTB, there's absolutely no mention of security optimization.
I am glad they have made an effort to mention that in the most recent PTB patch notes, which shows they are tackling the issue - but, my point still is that staying silent doesn't necessarily help alleviate community uproar. Let's hope they continue down this path.
Also - I am not upset with the most recent patch. Granted it's not the most exciting patch, but it does address a lot of the bugs that are well known with the game, especially the nurse. Don't agree why some members are upset with the PTB patch, as it's exactly what we have been asking for, game health.
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