The Onryō Rework: Why was the Tape Transport score event removed? [7.1.0 Feedback]
The Problem
Prior to 7.1.0, survivors had three score events associated with interacting with The Onryō's TVs:
- Playback (+300 in the Survival category): Awarded for inserting a Cursed Tape into a TV.
- Tune Out (+100 in the Boldness category): Awarded for disabling a TV against The Onryō.
- Tape Transport (+5 in the Boldness category per 4 seconds): Awarded for carrying Cursed Tapes. The sum of Bloodpoints is given when the survivor inserted the Tape into their target TV.
I was playing against The Onryō earlier today, and realised that since the 7.1.0 update dropped, I've never once seen the Tape Transport score event occur despite transporting many Tapes!
I hopped into a custom game with a friend to do some testing and it would seem that the score event has been removed, meaning the only Bloodpoints survivors gain from interacting with Tapes are Playback and Tune Out. I was hoping that perhaps they'd just changed the activation requirements but it seems not.
Why this doesn't make sense...
Holding onto Tapes is now the correct counterplay to Onryō, but something that a lot of survivors are still not doing! Rewarding a player with more Bloodpoints (by reinstating Tape Transport score events) perhaps would encourage a lot more survivors to adopt the correct playstyle against her, thus eliminating a lot of frustration over teammates refusing to take Tapes.
Post-7.1.0, holding onto Tapes also carries more risk. If you get found with one, The Onryō can quickly deal out +2 stacks of Condemned to you. Whereas before, her finding you would actually delay your Condemnation gain. Therefore, it only makes sense to me that this interaction should be more worthwhile in terms of points than previously -- not less!
I imagine the reasoning behind the removal of the score event was that it is now easier to get both the Playback and Tune Out score events (since you can insert a Tape at any TV), but that is often not the case. The best thing to do against Onryō is to hold onto your Tape as long as you can, not insert as frequently as possible which means these score events don't activate very often during efficient play.
The end result is that you gained more Bloodpoints for playing inefficiently against the old Onryō than you do by playing efficiently agains the new Onryō. It's illogical.
Why I like this score event
Aside from the generic reasons of it rewards the correct playstyle and having more BPs is always welcome, I've always really appreciated the Tape Transport score event because it's a very clever (and thematically fitting) play on words. I have no idea if this was intentional, but I like to think it was:
- You have the obvious meaning of Tape Transport -- you're taking a Tape from one area of the map and moving it elsewhere.
- And you have Tape Transport as a reference to the mechanism used inside a VCR to wrap the magnetic tape around the video head drum: the tape transport mechanism.
So previously, when you inserted a Tape and activated the score event there were two forms of transport actually at play. The VHS Tape as a whole has physically been transported, and upon inserting the tape, the VCR would be using the tape transport mechanism as the first step of playback.
Obviously this is inconsequential to gameplay, but I just think it was neat. It was a great testament to the amount of detail and attention that went into making the Sadako Rising Chapter. It's a huge shame to see it go!
The Solution
I appreciate that survivors are now able to hold onto Tapes much longer than previously due to the removal of passive Condemnation gain which could lead to very large Tape Transport score events. However, I think they should have just altered the score event conditions slightly rather than outright removed it. Noone likes having less Bloodpoints!
Either reinstate the score event with a slightly longer time period (e.g. 8 seconds up from 4), or add a cap as is the case with many other killer-power related score events for survivors (e.g. you can only get a maximum of 1,000 BPs from Snapping Out of It against Doctor).
TL;DR
Prior to 7.1.0, survivors gained more points for interacting with Tapes than they do currently. This change should be reverted. The more Bloodpoints, the merrier!