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Let's fix Keys finally!
What should we try to do with Keys?
I believe that auras fundamentally are more helpful for new players and SoloQ. Keys are actually good, but should be made more accessible to the players who would benefit more with them!
The fact is if you're in a SWF or are highly skilled enough, keys are not something that is ever gonna offer you a lot of value... however for a newer player, these items are actually very useful. The ability to easily see what your teammates are doing, or quickly spy where a killer is looping/coming from is very useful info.
Why aren't they used?
Keys a number of problems that makes them unappealing to the newer/soloQ players who would actually benefit from them.
- They are only available as green or higher items making them hard to acquire.
- They are inconsistent in their behaviour between rarities, making them awkward to use.
- They are add-on and perk dependent, making them fiddly.
The aim of the rework is to make keys more accessible and generally more useful for newer/soloQ players across the board, and give keys a clear purpose.
The Great Base Key Overhaul
Broken Key - Brown Rarity
- Cannot open the Hatch
- Hatch aura is passively revealed within 12m without using Mind Channel
- Mind Channel reveals the aura of hatch within 24m
- Has 20 charges
Old Crooked Key - Green Rarity
- Can be consumed to open hatch in 8 seconds (no charge requirement)
- Hatch aura is passively revealed within 12m without using Mind Channel
- Mind Channel reveals the aura of hatch within 24m
- Has 10 charges
Dull Key - Purple Rarity
- Can be consumed to open hatch in 1 second (removed charge requirement)
- Hatch aura is passively revealed within 12m without using Mind Channel
- Mind Channel reveals the aura of hatch within 24m
- Has 15 charges
Skeleton Key - Iri Rarity
- Can be consumed to open hatch in 1 second (removed charge requirement)
- Hatch aura is passively revealed within 12m without using Mind Channel
- Mind Channel reveals the aura of hatch within 36m
- Has 20 charges
The Great Key Add-On Overhaul
Prayer Rope - Brown (Unchanged)
- Add 10 charges for the Mind Channel ability.
Scratched Pearl - Brown (was Yellow)
- Increase range of aura reading by 12m.
Eroded Token - Brown (was Yellow)
- Reveals survivor auras within 24m when using the Mind Channel ability.
Prayer Beads - Yellow (Unchanged)
- Adds 15 charges for the Mind Channel ability.
Silver Chain - Yellow (New)
- Reduces time to start Mind Channeling by 40%
Gold Token - Green (Unchanged)
- Reveals survivor auras within 48m when using the Mind Channel ability.
Blood Stone - Green (New)
- Reveals the killers aura with 8m when using the Mind Channel abililty.
- Consumption rate while revealing the killers aura using the Mind Channel ability is increased by 100%.
Milky Glass - Purple (Unchanged)
- When using the key to open a closed Hatch, consume this add-on instead of the key.
Unique Wedding Ring - Purple (Unchanged)
- Reveals the aura of the obsession at all times.
- Reduces chance of becoming the obsession by -100%.
Weaved Ring - Purple (Unchanged)
- Upon death this add-on is consumed instead of the Key.
Blood Amber - Iridescent (was Purple)
- Reveals the killers aura within 24m when using the Mind Channel ability. (Was 32m)
- Consumption rate while revealing the killers aura using the Mind Channel ability is increased by 100%. (Was all uses of the Mind Channel ability)
Discussion Points
The basic hatch auras are there as an appealing option for all levels of play. A newer player may prefer to take a key as a reasonable back up plan for if the game goes south, and for all players, finding a key in a chest is genuinely helpful in trying for a hatch escape.
Now I know what you're thinking, why nerf Skeleton Key when keys aren't popular already? We are buffing the lower keys and then bringing the iri more in line so there isn't such a huge iri jump. The goal here is to make aura reading of the key more common and popular for new players and soloQ, we dont want useful aura reading gated behind an iridescent that newer users can't easily get and are afraid to try. Lowering the differences between rarities gives easier access to a consistent level of aura reading, so would be a more appealing prospect for newer players and soloQ to bring.
Why nerf Blood Amber? Blood Amber tends to be a keys 1 trick, and is a very potent ability for new players vs. newer killers, and the main point here is to stress that the other abilities of the key are actually very good for soloQ. The Blood Stone has been added as a weaker variant; given that we are improving keys generally to be much better for hatch, we want to diminish killercaura reading as the only star of keys. Blood Amber is also a reason the Skeleton Key is getting nerfed as well. The ability to read the killers aura at tiles is strong, but it's also a diminishing returns deal, where once you know checkspots and have the experience, the ability to reveal the killer's aura doesn't really make a difference. As such we are making killer aura reveal less appealing overall, and removing Blood Amber as being keys 1 trick, and pushing other aura reading abilities as the keys focus.
The aim with providing the broken key as a pure aura key in conjunction with the basekit hatch auras is to make keys a viable option to genuinely try and escape. The more rare keys will obviously be more useful after the hatch is closed, but the aura reading helps massively when the hatch is no longer telegraphing its location via sound.
I've added some quality of life aspects to add-ons, such as making the Eroded Token and Scratched Pearl add-ons Brown to give some basic options to make even a Broken key a decent little tool. I've added the Silver Chain as a QoL add-on to make keys less timing reliant for players who want to avoid that.
With these changes I think keys become generally better for newer players to use.
See Also:
Full discussion on the issues with maps and keys here:
Maps sister thread:
Left Behind buff to accompany this set of changes:
Comments
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Why aren't they used?
Keys a number of problems that makes them unappealing to the newer/soloQ players who would actually benefit from them.
- They are only available as green or higher items making them hard to acquire.
- They are inconsistent in their behaviour between rarities, making them awkward to use.
- They are add-on and perk dependent, making them fiddly.
The aim of the rework is to make keys more accessible and generally more useful for newer/soloQ players across the board, and give keys a clear purpose.
none of these reasons are why it is not used. For soloq, a med-kit is infinitely stronger because unlock self-healing action saves so much time in soloq that a key is pathetic value in comparison. For swf, an instant-heal from red syringe is infinity more powerful for chase extension than a key. Even for soloq, an instant heal inside chase for a good looper extends chases by a lot. med-kit outshines key in chase.
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Of course a medkit does better, and a syringe is far superior if you're good enough to use it, but you missed the entire point... we're make keys something more accessible for new payers who cannot loop with that level of efficiency to get value off a red syringe. It is also more importantly for players who DO NOT HAVE surplus' of powerful items and add-ons.
As we've discussed before, auras are not that good if you're a highly experienced player, but they are very useful for newer players.
You even pointed out about hatch in the maps thread... and this version of keys is much more solo friendly, because the key both helps find the hatch AND can unlock it.
The goal here isn't to make maps and keys top of the meta, they will NEVER beat medkits and toolboxes no matter how good you make them, because auras are fundamentally less valuable... but that isn't what we're trying to do, we're trying to make them better for newer and solo players, which this iteration does.
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