Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance Change Needed
Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance was reworked to allow 25% total regression when a unique survivor is hooked on a scourge hook for the first time. I think that the anti-tunnel mechanism is a step in the right direction, but the 25% rework does not address the main issue that came with the announcement of this perk change.
The original perk in and of itself already had the condition of randomly converting 4 normal hooks into scourge hooks. This was put in place to limit the number of times that the perk would be activated, since 15% is a considerable amount of progress.
One of the inconsistencies with this perk is in the arbitrary set up of the scourge hooks. In the best cases, the scourge hooks spawn in a convenient place for the killer; the worst cases, however, result from the hook being too inconvenient for the killer to reach. In short, the perk can be overused in some games, while seeing almost no use in other games. If the concern with the perk is that it can be activated too many times in one game, then this rework did not properly address the concern. The activation frequency in a game is largely due to map design (hook layout) and chance (spawn location), which should be the primary focus to limit over-activation and under-activation of scourge hooks.
This perk rework limits the amount of uses to 4, which significantly reduces the reliability of a perk that was already extremely dependent on chance. On top of that, it only regresses a generator when an unhooked survivor has been hooked. The perk is now extremely situational in usage (knocking down a new survivor, being near a scourge hook, and having a generator that is progressed past 25% progress).
The anti-tunneling feature added to this perk is brilliant, but it seems a little overdone. Instead of needing to hook an unhooked survivor to activate, the perk should be able to activate so long as the same survivor was not hooked in a row. This would force the killer to chase a different survivor to maximize the usage of the perk, while still maintaining the viability of the perk in the event that the last survivor hides from the killer. At the same time, this reduces tunneling, as repeatedly hooking the same survivor on a scourge hook does not provide any regression.
Alongside that suggestion, the perk should not be limited to 4 uses per game, which already requires a scourge hook to activate. The amount of regression should also be reverted back to 15% to provide a fair amount of regression to survivors.
Most regression perks are much weaker now, which provides little help to the killer as generators pop left and right. I believe these changes can help the killer prolong the game slightly to have more time to hook survivors. Doing so will allow the killer to maintain pressure in a game, while simultaneously not having to resort to unpleasant tactics like tunneling to try to win.
Comments
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My issue with PR as of now is that you can get 0% from it. Survivors are at 90% on a gen, you're about to hook, they complete the gen, you hook, next highest gen is at 0% because they were all gen rushing that last gen. Huzzah, killer just got PENALIZED for literally doing their objective - hooking survivors.
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That’s part of the reason why Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance should not be limited by tokens. The value isn’t guaranteed and the conditions that limit it only provide regression value situationally.
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