We need to talk about Keys
Keys were first introduced with Hatch as a way to leave the game early. Hatch used to spawn earlier in the match when more than one survivor still stood. Survivors could potentially all escape within seconds of the last generator finishing. Since then, the Hatch only spawns when there is one aspiring survivor against the blood-lust killer. You can still use the Key on the Black Lock, but the chances are low. Between surviving long enough to be the last survivor and actually finding the hatch when it's no longer making noise, all on a time limit, it becomes an uphill battle for survivors to even attempt. Hence, why keys have lost their incentive. Seeing as this upcoming mid-chapter seems to be centered around rattling the meta by adding more incentives towards other perks, perhaps we could add more drive towards keys.
There are a few ways we could address this, but I think the best way we could, would be to create more unique Add-ons for the keys. We could even entirely replace Keys but I'll talk about that more later. Keys have Add-ons similar to perks like Bond, why not just add a few more perks to it? Obviously, I'm not saying "DEAD HARD KEYS" but rather something more niche like Distortion key. You'd have one token that would be consumed on use and the killer wouldn't see your aura for a few seconds. Nothing broken. You could still bring the Key for Hatch, but it wouldn't be the main use anymore.
You could also entirely replace keys. Get rid of opening the Hatch entirely and focus completely on being able to run unique, niche perks for a limited time. I think this would open up the possibilities MUCH further and could bring on more exciting gameplay. Ridding the key to the hatch mechanic could also mean the hatch is more 50/50. Either you get there or you don't. Not you get there but the survivor might have a key and gets out anyways because you checked the gates.
The point is, I don't see keys anymore. I get why I don't see keys anymore and it's because they need a change. In my opinion, they need a complete rework that doesn't focus on the key to the hatch mechanic and rather just the add-ons.
Comments
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I couldn't agree more! I don't even register, that there are keys anymore. The point is completely invalidated, because the main purpose of opening the hatch was wrecked.
The second reason people often bringed keys was because of aura reading, especially the one that uncovered the killer. I think, that addon is one of the strongest ones for a reason, but if keys don't have their number one practicality, it annihilates the whole point. Motivating people to use keys more often, while still perserving the right to unlock the hatch (because I don't see the point having that withdrawn, since it's no longer required to be altered).
I can see more pros than cons, and I genuinely think that involving keys more is going to be wonderful.
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I have an idea. What if there was a keyhole under the gate lever? Keys other than the broken key could increase gate opening speed similar to using a toolbox on a generator. Some add ons can increase this speed or grant efficiency bonuses. Keys wouldn't be oppressive like they were before hatch rework (especially in SWFs) and they would still serve a purpose of escaping the trial with up to 3 allies or alone in a quicker way. I think running a key with resilience and wake up would make for some super fun "last minute hero" builds and if the killer knows the last survivor has a key and both of them are thinking "It's closed... are they going for gate or hatch?" Will be a lot of fun prediction and strategy for both sides.
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I skip keys and key addons when I go through the bloodweb. Survivors gave feedback to the developers about keys being useless when the nerf happened but the developers didn't listen.
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I think that would be really cool to see tbh. It would at the very least give us SOMETHING
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HONESTLY! It's getting ridiculous imo
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