The 'side objective' and the Perk tax - a suggestion
I just finished reading a comment by @mizark3 in a topic discussing the balance changes in 6.1 and onward. Well thought out, very elaborate, worth a read.
In it, Mizark made the suggestion of having Deja Vu, instead of granting a persistent, flat bonus to repair speed to the 3-gen, it might work better if it were to stack up slowly over time so long as that 3-gen is maintained. I think it's a very good suggestion, but it also got me thinking that that would still be yet another of those infamous 'band-aid perks' that have been plagueing particularly survivor gameplay for a while now.
I consider those to be a sort of 'perk tax'. These are perks that you're almost obligated to bring along if you want to have a fair shot at playing the game, but they clog up your build and disallow a lot of variety and creativity.
And that's when I came up with something.
For a long time now, players in the community have been thinking that maybe survivors need a little extra side objective so they're not just stuck M1ing. Something that might buy the killer a bit of extra time that is not just adding yet more repair time to gens.
So what if we combined the two problems?
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Here's a quick, off-the-cuff example of how this would work.
New mechanic: Warding Glyphs
During the trial, every survivor spawns a glyph. If they find and interact with this glyph, then for the next 120 seconds, they are warded. Additionally, a new glyph will spawn 120 seconds after the previous glyph was activated.
Warding has the following effects:
1) If a warded survivor is on the hook and the killer stays within X range for Y seconds, the effect is consumed to pause the hook timer for 30 seconds.
2) If a warded survivor is pulled off the hook, warding is consumed. If the survivor is then picked up by the killer within 60 seconds of being pulled off the hook, they are given a very easy skillcheck. Landing this skillcheck stuns the killer for 3 seconds. Performing a conspicuous action will end this effect early.
3) If a warded survivor is downed and fully recovered, and they reach a gen, they can consume the warded effect to attempt to stand up by themselves. This action takes 10 seconds to complete and triggers a loud noise notification 3 seconds before completion.
4) If warded has not been consumed before it runs out, then once the timer expires, the survivor is shown the aura of the three gens that are closest together, and is given a persistent, stacking repair speed boost to those gens, lasting until one of the gens is completed.
This would offer a built-in countermeasure to camping, tunnelling, slugging and 3-genning, but only if the survivor is willing to invest some time in engaging this system instead of doing gens. Specifics can always be adjusted, of course. It could be changed from requiring one glyph activation to three. Or the interaction itself can be changed from a simple glyph to something more complicated.
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For the killer, the system could probably be adjusted to offer certain bonuses intended to give them more breathing space too. The foremost one that springs to my mind is resistance or even immunity to blinding, but it could include things like increasing standard kick regression rate, making the next kick regress more, highlighting auras or making survivors scream, or snuffing a boon even if the killer hasn't found it yet.
Let me know what you think, or if you have any suggestions.
Comments
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Good idea, but the developers said they are aware of a long-term solution for (3 gens)
There are a variety of goals for the survivors, such as (Boon perks - Teamwork perks). create a new goal, and you have to strive for it to get the benefits. But it's Perks that means you must buy characters
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For Killer buffs some basic ideas I've posted in the past are things like basekit NOED as long as no one is dead (the perk can still spawn it with kills though), a Devour Hope styled speed boost post hook that is canceled on chase or special ability to help with map mobility on M1 killers, among other buffs to 'fair' spread the pressure styled gameplay. Arguably the pallet break from the anniversary event might be fine if they have to seek out their own Purple Glyph (sludge trail with aura reveal after a hook) to get only 1 charge (with a cooldown after using it before the Glyph respawns).
I like the warding glyph idea, and to add on to it I'd say maybe be able to visibly give the hooked Survivor your Glyph (maybe hitting a different button during unhook that can be cancelled for Glyph Reassurance, or completed for Glyph DS). That way the Killer can know they will soak a DS if they tunnel, but you gave away yours to your teammate and you could be slugged for pressure or just hooked normally. I would also say if you are slugged, you should be able to interact with the Glyphs, just so you can crawl to both the Glyph and the gen to pick yourself up if you were given that much free time on the ground. Also maybe have the Warding Glyphs function as White Glyphs, to both reuse the mechanic, and allow for Territorial Imperative to not be strictly a meme perk.
A similar sidequest idea I've liked was Green Glyphs found in tomes (available to both sides). They give an increased (doubling?) BP amount per Green gathered, but you have to complete some gens as Surv or hooks as Killer to spawn them, and they get revealed during endgame collapse, (although I'd reveal them during endgame to encourage sticking around for greed giving extra chances at Killer/Survivor interaction, while either side can still open the gate to start the timer). This also helps test bugged totem spots, as you can report Green Glyphs as untouchable when you don't always check totem spots in normal matches.
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