Perks meta is no longer a problem.
I've seen plenty of people still wine about the usage of meta perks on both sides. I've also seen people still recommend meta perks (such as adrenaline, deliverance, off the record, etc.) in various builds, but let me put a problem up: Are these perks still meta, or is it just a lingering effect of a long-time dominance over survivors and killers picks?
I will try to be as objective as I can be even though I am a killer main I still play survivor plenty of times. Now starting with killer "meta perks":
-Pain resonance: This perk can be the only real problematic perk that still exists, in my opinion, this is indeed a meta perk that can even destroy coordinated teams. It can almost add an entire generator repair time to the trial making it almost 6 instead of 5. It also helps you focus on chases instead of kicking gens. Just because it discourages tunneling it doesn't mean the perk is not a problem for the trials.
-Pop goes the weasel: The major downside of this perk is the fact that you have to manually regress generators and with the introduction of a kicking limit this perk is not as reliable and as problematic as once was. It also regresses 20% of the current progression meaning that for getting as much value as possible the generator needs to be almost repaired, and it doesn't even take a lot of time to repair the generator to its previous percentage. It condones a more chess-like gameplay which can be quite disadvantageous nowadays.
-Corrupt intervention: One down is all it takes. I don't need to clarify further, it is still a great perk, but it does not bring as much value as it seems. It's punishing to get an early down and that's kinda weird, and if you don't get an early down survivors can still linger around the rest of the unblocked gens.
-Grim embrace: Excellent synergy with Pain resonance, the only problem being that only the 4h token brings value to the perk. Sure it brings some value but by the time you finish the next chase, the perk can be already long gone. If pain resonance is not in play and you are unfortunate to trigger the 4th token in the late game you now have some already greatly repaired gens that you cannot regress nor protect since you would end up wasting time.
-No way out: This is a strong perk that can help you in the end game if you end up getting there. The only problem would be if survivors don't engage in chases and end up hiding until the gates are unblocked.
-Deadlock: Unpopular opinion: It was never a problem, now it's even less. Pretty weak especially if the survivors are not repairing multiple gens at a time and that would be just wasteful on your part of the loadout, and pretty weak if the survivors do repair multiple gens at a time meaning you have 20 seconds to go and kick a gen that will end up being repaired in less than 10 seconds.
-Pentimento and Plaything: Me personally I don't even cleanse my plaything because most killers are noisy while nearby, and even if I do and the killer puts a pentimento up I just go and cleanse it right away making the killer waste 2 perk slots just for him to go back and forth across the map to rekindle totems (that end up cleansed in 10 seconds max).
Survivor perks:
-Adrenaline: Oh the almighty perk that puts fear in all killers. It's hard to get enough value for it imo :). Now imagine this: First you have to reach the end game, something that happens in just 50% of the games, now you gotta be injured to get the healing effect (if you are in deep wound then shucks), you gotta be in chase to get the speed value that comes with it (if you want a perk to run fast from the last gen to the gates just pick up sprint burst :/ ), or even better to be downed while the last gen is getting popped and the killer slugged you. See how niche it is? 90% of the games you get little to no value from it because it's very situational.
-Sprint burst: Most survivors don't know how to use it end of story.
-Resurgence: Very good sometimes and not quite enough sometimes. If the killer tunnels you then you get nothing, if the killer hits you after being unhooked then you get nothing. I know that sometimes this doesn't happen but for a perk that activates only twice the odds are against you.
-Deliverance: God forbid you get hooked first, and if you do manage to activate it and unhook yourself throughout the trial you just got yourself a free ticket to tunnel city. Now excuse me if you also want to bring another 2 anti-tunneling perks just to extend the inevitable for 30 seconds. You need 3 perks just for this one to work and that is nuts.
-Decisive strike: It's up for 60 seconds, and you can't do conspicuous actions. So you gotta roam around the map doing absolutely nothing in hopes that the killer falls for your mischievous little plan to jump in a locker to force the killer's hand (you're cooked if it's a blight or nurse, the perk saves you 5 seconds max).
-Off the record: Same thing, can't do conspicuous actions just so you get 90 seconds of endurance. Is it actually worth it? no. You do get free distortion and iron 2 times throughout the trial but it's seriously very underwhelming. Just get dead hard and you can use it whenever, but keep in mind that it's harder to use.
SO IN CONCLUSION! No, meta is not metaing anymore and we have to finally let go. We can finally use more fun perks and more interesting perks without selling the trials and we still linger on this little trauma that meta once was. Be free to use anything because we finally have the option to!….
(Items on the other hand oh my god someone save us)
Comments
-
They never were a problem, in my opinion.
Sure, some perks were a bit too strong and needed changes, but it has always been okay to have a meta in DBD. it is very hard to make every perk equal in terms of strength and impact, some of them will always be better than others and I think that is okay.
Though I'm not really a fan of what we ended up with, killer meta in particular. Nothing will ever be as fun and healthy for the game as Ruin + BBQ was.
0 -
The problem with perk meta is that it exists the way it is because meta perks are the band aid perks to the most common and glaring issues with the gameplay on both sides or work smoothly with the commonly accepted / liked gameplay.
That fact leads to the meta being borderline immune to any meaningful nerfs and any attempts to deviate from it either dont work out or create such hostile and unhealthy gameplay, devs have no choice but to go back, making the game stale again.
Any time we have new meta it's either same kind of perks with same gameplay fulfilling the same role (DS → OTR; pop → pain res) or the meta is forced by perks being overbuffed beyond reason (overbrine; eruption) which promptly gets fixed because the gameplay forced meta promotes is rejected.
4
