A Better Set Of Skull Merchant Tweaks

jesterkind

I know it's premature to really make this kind of post until the PTB feedback section is up, but the dev update has inspired me to really drill down on what's wrong with those sets of changes for Merchant, and the most constructive way to do that is to provide a workable, healthy alternative.

So, we're operating within BHVR's intention here, in just alleviating her issues until a rework happens later on down the line. I actually don't have an issue with this at all, this is a perfectly reasonable tactic, the problem is that only one of BHVR's changes actually revolves around Skull Merchant's current problems and the rest simply dismantle her entire power from the ground up.

First, we'll take a look at the flat nerfs I'd give her. There are two I have in mind, and the one we'll be keeping from BHVR's dev update:

• Remove Deep Wound from her kit. Straight to the point with the most objective nerf that I have, I don't see why Merchant has Deep Wound, nor do I see what it actually provides for her. It's just an annoyance that disables specific survivor perks she doesn't even struggle to deal with anyway. Get rid of it.
• Address the degree to which drones can overlap. A little bit of overlap is fine, and likely necessary for her power not being deeply annoying to use, but you can currently get quite a bit of overlap which can be really obnoxious on indoor maps. Reigning that in can address real pain points with this killer's power.
• Drones start in Active mode. I liked this change, and I feel it'd do a lot to help her counterplay be more obvious and intuitive. Ideally I'd like to see it only apply to drones deployed mid-chase, but BHVR's proposed (and single, very mild) buff to make drone beams invisible beyond a certain distance is a fine replacement.

Those are the flat nerfs, and they largely revolve around fairly minor annoyances. The real meat of the issues Skull Merchant currently has is the severe lack of information survivors are given for making decisions with, especially when it comes to those who are trying to learn her counterplay without going to sources outside the game like the wiki to do it. With that in mind, everything else I'm going to pitch has the aim of making it more clear to survivors what's going on in a trial.

• Drone rotation now causes a unique sound effect to play. I'm thinking like, a nice mechanical "beep" sound, some kind of digital chirping. Drone rotation is an effect I'm willing to bet a lot of players don't even know exists, and in theory it could absolutely catch players out who are actually trying in earnest to counter Merchant's power. Giving them a head's up doesn't change what drone rotation brings to the table for the killer, but it gives more information to work with for the survivor. Even if you're caught off guard once, the killer's established this is something they'll do, and so you can try to avoid it pre-emptively… if you know it's happening.
• Deactivated drones now start to flash and beep before reactivating. Similar idea here. Most players know that her drones reactivate, but do they know how long it takes? Do they know how long is left on the timer before a drone they're currently running towards arms itself and they run straight into a beam? Giving them a few seconds of head's up allows better decisionmaking without altering the strength of her drones.
• Survivors being scanned causes their Lock On bar to turn red for as long as they're on the Skull Merchant's scanner. This is a big one. Skull Merchant's Haste is something a lot of people know about, but how long does it last? Without looking it up, could you tell me? Even if you specifically, dear reader, know the answer to that question… a lot of people don't. This would also go some way to clueing survivors in when their "beloved" solo queue teammate trips a drone and gives Merchant Haste, letting them know to start playing loops more conservatively. This limits the obnoxiousness and perceived unfairness/unpredictability of the Haste without removing it, which you obviously shouldn't do, it's what makes her power interactive because otherwise there's no reason to dodge drone beams.
• Give Skull Merchant louder footsteps. This one's an olive branch. I don't have the issues with her stealth that a lot of people do, and it's always bugged me that people talk about her lack of an audio cue as though that's the only way to balance stealth, but I do agree that her stealth is currently Quite Good. Limiting its power would be a nice way to preserve it as an option without removing it from her kit entirely while also making it less annoying to face. You could also achieve this with shorter stealth duration after a drone, maybe do a reverse of the normal thing and give the addon more power while weakening the basekit, but this would probably be the safer option.
• Have drone beams move slower on startup. I'm a little unsure about this one, hence leaving it for last, but the goal here would be to weaken Skull Merchant dropping stuff at loops and "forcing" survivors to run away. This problem isn't as bad as it is on, say, Artist, or nearly as bad as it used to be on Knight, due to Merchant's power being counterable within a lot of loops even when placed like this, but it'd help survivors make snap decisions about whether it's worth playing the loop or not if they're less immediately in danger of the beam. Most uncertain about this one, might not work out as I envision. Numbers would need to be monitored carefully either way, hence me not providing any here.

If these were the changes Merchant ends up getting, you wouldn't even have to give her any compensation buffs, since the meat of them just enhances her current gameplay loop rather than actually weakening her overall power— which, I cannot stress enough, is her current problem. The fact that her current gameplay design is inaccessible is the issue, not that it doesn't have counterplay. It does, it's just that the lack of clear information and telegraphing makes interacting with her more of an obnoxious knowledge check than a series of skill-based outplays for a good amount of players.

That's all I got for now. Thanks for reading, and have a great day, everyone.

SoGo

These sound decent.