Solo Q is not impossible, but it needs help
I am not surprised with the exaggerated complaints some people are posting, especially here on the forums. To be fair, there are enough killer mains that also like to exaggerate like crazy on these forums, regarding how bad they have it. So of course it's to be expected that the same would happen after such a patch, but on the survivor side. Especially right after the patch dropped.
The claim that killer is now easy mode in particular is a bit ridiculous in my opinion. If you go against good survivor teams, even if you are good with killer, you are still up for a challenge. BUT, killers now have a better fighting back chance, and that in and of itself is a great thing. More killers will now surely be viable, just by playing fair and normal, and that is great. This is one of the things this game really needed.
But with that said, I can 100% understand the frustrations people are having, especially solo queue survivors. Killers got all kinds of nice buffs, but survivors got nothing but a 5 second endurance and haste status effect, which doesn't do anything in way too many situations, because it can be waited out.
The big problem with this new update is not that killers got buffed. It's the fact that survivors didn't receive any buffs as compensation. Hell, camping even got buffed, which is just beyond terrible.
So in the following, I will list all changes I think need to happen, so that survivor players can also keep enjoying the game perfectly, and so killer queue times don't continue to grow, but become better again.
Camping nerfs:
- Increase the hook phase duration from 60 seconds to 70-75 seconds: In order to have camping as effective as before the patch, the hook phase duration would have to be increased to 67,5 seconds. So increasing it to 70-75 seconds would be very reasonable, and is definitely a must in my eyes. After that, especially if killers receive other improvements in the future, this duration could further be increased if necessary.
- Remove hook grabs: An outdated mechanic that makes camping too effective, and is harsher against solo survivors than swf survivors, because swf survivors can coordinate a body block better.
- Decrease the unhooking duration from 1,5 seconds to 1,2 seconds: Killers have had their M1 attack cooldown reduced by 0,3 seconds, so the time to unhook a survivor should receive the same treatement.
Tunneling nerfs:
- Increase the duration of the Endurance and Haste status effect from 5 seconds to 10 seconds, and survivors now have their grunts of pain silenced during those 10 seconds: Another much needed buff to help survivors out, giving them an actual, proper counter to tunneling at base. Especially now that endurance effects can't stack, this should definitely happen.
- For every dead survivor, every remaining survivor should receive 8% increased repair and healing speed: This would simply make killing a survivor early not quite as advantagous. Still advantagous, but not quite as much. This however should start with low values in my opinion, and then be increased in the future if it further needs to be.
Action Speed buff and debuff caps
This game really needs caps to stacking action speed buff and debuff effects. Right now, these effects can stack up to extremely high numbers, which is ridiculous. Obviously, single effects that exceed these stacks should still work, but they also shouldn't then stack with other such effects.
For action speed debuffs, I think 30% would be good as a cap. With 30% less repair speed, a gen still takes 128 seconds alone. And I have no idea who wants to sit on a gen for 130+ seconds.
Stacking action speed buffs should probably cap at 100%. This is one change that doesn't favor survivor, but I might as well add it to here.
Solo Queue buffs (maybe with other killer buffs):
I can see why many people want kindred at basekit, but I can also see why the devs don't want to add such an impactful aura reading ability into survivors basekit. I am pro kindred basekit, but I would also not mind other forms of solo queue buffs. The survivor icons that tell every survivor what a survivor is doing would go such a long way for example.
An icon for repairing a gen, one for running, one for being chased, and maybe even a range indicator for how far each survivor is to the closest hooked survivor.
A ping system would also be fantastic, at least one that lets you ping when you are going for a save, to let other survivors know that you are going for the save. Though a general ping system would be awesome as well. Been playing a lot of VHS, and whenever I play DBD I immediately yearn for such a ping system.
These changes might also require some more killer buffs in form of map balancing and low tier killer buffs, but that could be seen then. I do think that killers won't need any more baseline buffs however.
Perk changes:
Thanatophobia:
- Rework it to have fixed values for every injured, downed or hooked survivor: 1 Survivor: 6%; 2 Survivors: 10%; 3 Survivors: 13%; 4 Survivors: 16%
Eruption:
- Decrease the incapacitated status effect duration from 15/20/25 seconds to 8/10/12 seconds, and increase the regression from 10 to 12 %
Scourge Hook: Gift of Pain:
- Reduce the action speed debuffs after being healed from 10/13/16 % to 10/12/14 %
Hex: Pentimento:
- Reduce all action speed debuffs from 20/25/30 % to 18/20/22 %
Dead Man's Switch:
- The perk's timer no longer starts after it activates when hooking a survivor, instead it starts once the first gen is blocked
- Decrease the timer duration from 35/40/45 seconds to 20/22/25 seconds. (This will make the perk more consistent among all killers. It should be just as good for killers with lower map pressure, but less oppressive on killers with a lot of map pressure, especially Artist).
Deadlock:
- Starts with 0 tokens. Gain a token for every survivor you hook for the first time. Everytime a generator is repaired, and Deadlock has at least one token, one token is consumed, and the generator with the most progress is blocked for 35/40/45 seconds.
Borrowed Time:
- Decrease the additional endurance and haste status effect duration from +10 seconds to +7 seconds (If the basekit endurance and haste status effect are increased to 10 seconds, this perk will need it's extra duration reduced a bit)
Decisive Strike:
- Increase the stun duration back to 5 seconds (an absolute must)
Self Care:
- Increase the self healing speed back to 50% healing speed
These are all the survivor favored changes that I think the game will need, sooner than later. Now please note these are all just changes to help make the survivor experience more enjoyable as well, now with killers haven gotten a bunch of nice buffs that make their experience more enjoyable and viable.
But that doesn't mean I want all of these changes without any further buffs to killers. There are non slowdown perks on the killers side I would love to see buffed for example. Might make a list on that at some point.
I also think that the very survivor sided maps need to be looked at, and low tier killers also still need some buffs in the future.
But these changes here, in particular the nerfs to camping and tunneling, are the changes I think need to happen next.
And then the solo queue buffs hopefully alongside some map improvements for killers, and low tier killer buffs. Or first solo queue buffs, and then nerfs to camping and tunneling.
Comments
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I read the whole thing and the problem isn't around the endurance, the perks or the nerfs to them. You need to fix this at its source and the source is the sacrifice system, pyramid head has a good anti-camp thing within his power, I feel like instead of patching a problem with perks, adding endurance and making certain anti-tunnel/anti-camp stronger, how about they just rework the hook system?
The problem with endurance is survivors won't use it to run away, they'll just body block you so they can avoid a trade/injure on another survivor cause you get something nice and then they do that and then its back to square 1. You could say just to make them have no collision right? guess what? they'll stand on the unhooker so you can't do anything without these dudes just abusing the whole feature.
Perk nerfs/buffs seem fine, its just I don't want a dude off the record bodyblocking me and hitting me with a 5 second ds stun when I down him.
The gen 8% seems like a small amount, I can tell you comfortably that overzealous is terrifying on 1 survivor, imagine that on 3.
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Eruption:
- Decrease the incapacitated status effect duration from 15/20/25 seconds to 8/10/12 seconds, and increase the regression from 10 to 12 %
Making a perk worse than its original version is a great idea.
"Reduce the action speed debuffs after being healed from 10/13/16 % to 10/12/14 %"
What's the problem with not being healed at all?
"Hex: Pentimento:
- Reduce all action speed debuffs from 20/25/30 % to 18/20/22 %"
What is the problem not to break the totem, but to bless (boon)?
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I still want to see non-obsession survivors get mini-tentacles around their portrait like the obsession, so solo-queue survivors know who is in chase just like SWFs do. Before and balance changes are made again.
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Ah, I see you want to put killers back to square one. A brilliant idea.
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Now when it comes to bodyblocking with Endurance, I personally just don't see the big deal. If the unhooked survivor throws themselves in your face, you just go for them and down them, and not pick them up, in the worst case scenario. Though in my killer experience, you can often just ignore them. So I have never had much of a problem with that.
And if this also discourages killers to stay at hooks, I am all for it.
Maybe, instead of increasing the endurance status effect duration, they can also just give survivors a 5 second Sprint Burst, of 150% movement speed. That would also help survivors get away from the killer, but I just fear that would be an anti-tunnel measure that new players couldn't use as effectively, because they are more likely to get stuck somewhere with the high speed boost. Though maybe it would still work.
However, I definitely wouldn't mind them reworking the hook system, so that camping might not even be a thing at all anymore. I would love that, but I also think it's incredibly unlikely that BHVR will rework such a fundamental system, especially with all the other stuff they still have planned.
So I think the best they can do is nerf camping and tunneling more noticeably. Especially camping. It wouldn't be impossible to camp, but increasing the hook phase duration, and removing hook grabs would go a very long way.
Also, I very much disagree that Overzealous is very strong. Gens take 83,3 seconds with an 8% repair speed buff, and more importantly, it would only happen when one survivor is dead. Which right now always pretty much guarantees that the killer will win, unless survivors are at 1 gen maybe. Or 2 gens if they play very, very well, but even then it's already incredibly unlikely for survivors to still win.
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How? How exactly would this put killers back to square one?
All these changes would do is nerf camping and tunneling, the two cheapest strategies I have ever seen in a video game, and nerf some of the slowdown perks that are just too much at the moment. Even after the nerfs, gens with these slowdown perks would still take longer than they used to pre patch. Just right now, some slowdown perks, especially Thana and Pentimento, are too strong.
Gens now take 90 seconds, that's a noticeable buff. Slowdown perks shouldn't be as strong as some of them are currently. Killers shouldn't rely on stacking slowdown perks like crazy, and to get to that point, the oppressive slowdown perks need to be nerfed, so that other perk options become more attractive in comparison. Obviously there are also enough killer perks that could need some buffs as well.
I am getting the feeling people like you want to keep these long, juicy killer queue times. Is waiting in lobbies really that fun to you?
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100% agree. That is one of the most obvious changes the devs could do to help solo queue. And I don't see how that would be a lot of work either.
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