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    Design Preview | The Skull Merchant

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    • Member Posts: 7,297

      So after taking some time to think about it, overall I think this is a promising start and is headed in the right direction, but I do think there are a few issues with it or things that could be improved.

      First of all, survivors seeing the Skull Merchant's aura after disabling a drone seems overkill and probably not needed. With current SM, drone hacking doesn't feel very rewarding, but it's not because of the lack of an aura/information, it's because hacked drones don't stay disabled for very long and she can just recall and replace the drone if she's chasing you in that area, so it's not really an effective means of countering her power in a chase especially since placing a drone doesn't slow her down hardly at all. However, this would change with the rework if a hacked drone can't be controlled from afar - thus indirectly making drone hacking more rewarding for survivors, and removing the need for the additional reward in the aura reveal. Trap-based killers inevitably are going to get their traps disabled by survivors - this is fine, but I don't think giving the killer an additional punishment in having their aura shown is necessary, especially given that the timing of drone hacking is at least somewhat in the survivors' control.

      Second, depending on the specifics of how drone controlling/drone propulsion works, I could see this design having an issue similar to Twins where the best way to play the killer is to try to mass slug with the drones, similar to how Victor is known for slugging since he's not able to hook survivors (only Charlotte can). I think drone propulsion is a cool idea if you can avoid this happening though, and it's definitely more interactive than what we have now.

      Third, it wasn't explicitly mentioned in the design preview so I'm not sure if it was removed or not, but whether it's tied to drone deployment or something else, I do think Skull Merchant should keep some level of stealth in her kit. While current Skull Merchant has a lot of problems, this was not one of them, and it does feel like an important part of her identity. She does get Undetectable while controlling a drone from afar (and this is fine - I'm not saying that this should be removed), but it's not really a stealth ability that's actually used for stealth, it's more akin to Singularity being Undetectable while controlling a biopod. Haste/Hindered/Deep Wound being removed is fine, but it would be cool if she was able to retain her stealth aspect in some form, even if it's fairly limited.

    • Member Posts: 1,267

      Pixel hates it, so it already has my seal of approval. But since I'm pretty sure you want more solid feedback than making on of your most problematic content creators (misrepresentation of lore, spreading genuinely DANGEROUS misinformation regarding certain characters [most notably Nurse & Jonah], garbage gameplay takes, and general self-righteous attitude), I'll give what I can.

      Drones 2.0

      This sounds like the old Scouting Mode Drones. I'm assuming Survivors scanned will show up on the Radar, without the obnoxious AoE status circle she had prior (speaking as someone who really enjoyed the first iteration for its Totem defense capabilities, Active Mode is what made her so obnoxious to go against). I like it.

      Drone Control

      There's a lot here to take in. First off, the drones can ACTUALLY BE DRONES! They always looked incredibly stupid just floating in place, when they should have been able to move around from the start. Unless I'm missing something, I don't see what happens when Power runs out, but I'm assuming it either returns to Skully or goes into a cooldown similar to current Hacking. This part I really like.

      What I'm not a fan of is the Drone Propulsion being an attack and removing Lock On/Claw Traps. Which apparently all of the Skully mains who suddenly crawled out of the woodwork agree on. Using the Drones as kamikaze bombs doesn't seem right for her character (and opens up way too many issues with drone strikes, but that's neither here nor there). I like the idea of the Drones being mobile traps that she can reposition remotely. Removing the Haste is probably for the best, as it was incredibly confusing and completely out of both her control and that of the Survivor she's chasing, but turning her into yet another dash killer, while probably fun to use, will just be boring.

      What I would do is keep the Claw Traps, and have her either fire them manually from Drones she's controlling (similar to Singularity, who really shouldn't have been the camera Killer instead of the actual surveillance Killer anyway) or having them automatically attach after a certain Lock On. Not sure how I'd change Claw Traps themselves though.

      Drone Hacking

      Not a fan of the aura reading. There should be some reward for Hacking besides just disabling a Drone, but this isn't it.

      Red Light, Green Light

      This sounds really fun, but unless she gets some other bonus during this time, it's kind of a worse Doctor Blast that hits the whole map. Which is fine, it needs some kind of weakness to make up for that fact, but unless normal walking also triggers it, it lacks real power.

      Overall

      I do think this version of Skull Merchant is much more fun to go against and will probably be pretty fun to play with. This comes from someone who, despite all of his efforts and despite hating literally every aspect of her character from her design to her name to her power on a conceptual level, placed her as his 6th favorite Killer, I'm glad what was an objectively terrible and unhealthy power is being removed, but I do wish she could be more of a mobile trap Killer. It feels more in character for her than just another Dash Killer, but this time from remote drones.

      From a personal perspective, 6/10. However, from a making problematic content creators angry perspective, 25/10.

    • Member Posts: 8
      https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3900637#Comment_3900637

      Literally not true nothing was retained of the previous version of Freddy gameplay wise it plays completely different its why I a former p100 Freddy main quit the killer the stealth anti loop and teleport all play differently its a completely different killer like how Freddy 2.0 is completely different from the original release (blue dress plays nothing like old snares either)

    • Member Posts: 388

      What I like about the proposed changes:

      • Her kit is still focused around tracking. I love the idea of Global Detection Power, and her being an info killer. The more reasons to use and look at the tracker the more unique she will feel to other killers.
      • The removal of hindered, haste, and injury from getting scanned. This will make her much more enjoyable to go against for survivors since she can't counter a tile by just dropping a drone alone.
        • This should be accompanied by an increase strength in information provided when a survivor is detected, ideally by having them tracked on the scanner for a much longer duration. Otherwise stealth drones will be pretty weak.
        • Perhaps have survivors get Claw Trapped when scanned and bring back pallets breaking when a Claw Trapped survivor vaults them? Would be a useful way to keep her power focused on information while still giving her chase strength in the event Drone Propulsion is not used in the final draft.

      Changes or adjustments I would like to see to the proposed changes:

      Drone Propulsion:
      • Survivors hit with Drone Propulsion should also receive Claw Traps. Hitting a survivor which is injured with Drone Propulsion should only apply Deep Wound and a Claw Trap, but not down the survivor. The Claw Traps will provide information and/or debuffs to offset the inability to down survivors.
        • This avoid a likely slugging issue while also making Claw Traps useful and still a part of her kit.
        • Claw Trap can persist until the survivor is downed or be time limited, depends on debuffs applied to Claw Trapped survivors and the strength of add-ons which affect them.
      • Drone Propulsion in general I dislike. I would rather her remain a Information and Trap based killer. There can be no denying that her previous versions were frustrating for survivors but that doesn't mean it is impossible to make her a fun trap killer or that she needs to become like most of the other killers. As many have said, making her another dash killer is unappealing.
      Scanning and Claw Traps:
      • As Scanning a survivor will be much weaker and less of a threat than before, I think a survivor should have to be not moving at all to avoid a scan by the line; crouching and moving should reveal them.
        • I see this as balanced since the stealth drones are much weaker and a survivor getting scanned during chase is not of much use for the killer unlike before. Survivors can already run around the scan lines fairly easily, even more so now that they will be even slower, so some adjustment to compensate all of this I feel is fair.
      • I really would not like to see Claw Traps just completely removed from her kit if possible. I've suggested multiple ways Claw Traps can be used in this new version of her power which I do not believe would be oppressive while still useful. I do hope BHVR can find a way to keep this feature.
      • The removal of Claw Traps and how it would affect Expired Batteries Add-on. This add-on was very nice to use as it gave a weaker version of Lethal Pursuer as an add-on while also making use of her power and using the scanner. Would hate for this add-on's functionality to disappear.

      Alternative Power Suggestion:

      • I personally would like to see Drone Propulsion ditched and instead have a system when you can send trap drones out to guard Gens, Totems, Chests, etc. (Similar to how Hound Masters can send her dog to a specific gen). These drones would block survivors from interacting with the object until they complete the hacking mini-game. Once a trap drone is hacked, Skull Merchant receives an audio cue; this allows her to try and see where the now missing drone was.
        • This serves 2 purposes. It provides Skull Merchant with information and allows her to use them as traps and info in creative ways as well as giving a little bit of slowdown. It also gives survivors more interactivity with her power without it being oppressive.
        • Failing the mini-game should give a Claw Trap at most; the trap drone is NOT intended to be a way to block interaction progress, just a way slow down survivors and get information as killer.
        • If this is still to weak for a killer power, perhaps after hacking one of these drones have the survivor affected by a short duration speed debuff to all gen, chest and totem interactions (Perhaps done through Claw Traps?). Alternatively, have Claw Traps break pallets again as mentioned above.
    • Member Posts: 446

      Stealth drones (VERY GOOD): these were always a very cool feature and fun as a survivor having to pay attention to the lights coming out of the drone to not get scanned. So is a great decision to put back the Stealth mode.

      Hacking changes (VERY BAD): hacking drones is very very easy, there shouldn't be any reward for survivors. Actually you should increase the minigame steps number from 5 to 7-8, because hacking drones is way too fast.

      Deep wounds, Hindered and Broken effects removal (VERY GOOD): both Skull merchants and survivors would agree that this was very obnoxious.

      Claw traps removal (VERY BAD): they were always a very cool and unic form of tracking so please do not remove them. Claw traps should only reveal survivors location in the radar and no one would complain.

      Changing scan rotation removal (VERY BAD): this is a very cool feature, please do not remove it.

      Controlling drones (GOOD): it would be great to have some way to pilot the drones and make them move around. But not in the way the devs proposed.

      Propulsion, kamikaze drones (VERY BAD): Skull merchant should be a tracking/trap/stealth killer. She doesn't need to be another "I throw something to injure you" type of killer. There's already plenty of killers with damaging projectiles and dashes. This is very unoriginal.

      Red light, green light (NEUTRAL): it sounds cool and fitting with Skull merchant abilities, so why not?

      Here is my rework. Is just basically a mix of the Skull merchant older and newer versions:

      Drones start in Stealth mode. Now you can also deploy them by holding the button and release it to make them fly away (the longer it's hold, the further goes) up to 16m. Now you gain Undetectable by staying inside a drone area for 2s (not near hooked survivors) and lasts 3s once outside. Hacking drones gives claw traps (20s).

      Survivors getting scanned for the first time are tagged with claw traps (40s). Claw traps now only reveal survivors in the radar. Once the battery dies, do the (up, down, left, right) minigame to remove them. Claw trapped survivors getting scanned are revealed by killer instinct and get Exposed for 20s (doesn't reset until the timer run out).

      Hacked drones (white aura)

      Stealth mode (yellow): the area of the effect shown on the ground is invisible for survivors. Survivors inside are revealed in your radar. Laser beam rotation of 90º/s but the drone only shows a small light.

      Scouting mode (red): laser beam and area of effect visible and rotation speed of 120º/s.

      Haste removed. Changing scan rotations puts the power in a 3s cooldown.

    • Member Posts: 3,479
      https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3901435#Comment_3901435

      That would be interesting. 🤔

      I’d like that. In addition to global scan power. It would definitely give her the feeling to survivors of “eyes in the sky” like you are always being watched and hunted down.


      What about her chase potential? Claw trap as you said but they can break pallets like before? I think this would be perfect.

    • Member Posts: 8,372

      Having spent a little more time thinking about this design preview and dissecting the principles behind it, I wanted to give some more detailed feedback than my first post.

      To me, it seems like the goal with Skull Merchant is the following:

      • Streamline her power to something simpler (the design preview says "more intuitive", but what's actually conveyed is changing the power to something literally simpler, not just something easier to understand)
      • Shift the power of drones away from passive traps and towards actively-controlled value
      • Shift SM's power so the bulk of her major value isn't purely chase focused anymore, via the Global Detection Power

      I obviously have my misgivings about these principles, but I'm going to be taking them as absolutely necessary for the sake of my feedback here.

      I made an in-depth suggestion here, but I wanted to highlight a few of the specific intents behind what I suggested:

      • My suggestion involves streamlining the effect of drones' beams to just Hindered, making it inherently easier to understand, as well as changing the application of it from any scan to an active power-up where Skull Merchant "electrifies" the beams for a short duration. This also makes the power easier to intuit- the blue (or however it's conveyed) beams and the Claw Traps make you move slower, so avoid those two things. It's much more like Clown in that regard (albeit with actual potent counterplay, lol).
      • As my suggestion also involves the Hindered only coming from an active power-up (or from Claw Trap application), it also allows for Skull Merchant only getting chase value with some kind of active effort. This also shifts her mid-chase counterplay to something more in line with killers like Huntress- a single, high-octane dodge instead of consistent positioning. This should hopefully be more enjoyable for survivor players.
      • By contrast, giving her a Nightfall-esque special mode (as pitched in the dev's design too) allows her to gain more of an edge without overloading survivors in chase with many things to keep track of, and preserves her focus as an intel-and-stealth killer. This should always be her focus, that's who she is as a character and there are a myriad of ways of achieving that even with a full rework.

      Ultimately, despite how many people will call for her being deleted outright with seemingly full sincerity, maintaining who Skull Merchant is should be a priority with any rework. It's not actually a problem for her not to be the most popular kind of killer, it's okay to have killers that serve more niche archetypes. If the problems with her are that she needs a simpler but also more actively-controlled power, there's no reason that fixing those problems should necessitate moving away from her core identity.

      The most important things to maintain for that identity, to me, would be the stealth and info. If she can't be a pure trap killer anymore, that's a blow but it can be mitigated by keeping the rest of her identity intact. Obviously my pitch isn't the only way to do this (and I'm under no illusion getting my idea specifically in the game is realistic lmao), but I wanted to convey what I felt was most important about my suggestion and why I feel it would be better than the design preview here.

    • Member Posts: 1,439

      Ramming drones reminds me too much of playing Vice City as a kid ramming helicopter blades into pedestrians lol

    • Member Posts: 1,859

      I honestly don’t care about skull merchant, but her new abilities seem alright and interesting.

      The thing is her reputation won’t go away all of a sudden and she will always be hatted because of the old times. I would probably not invest into reworking her, because in the end she will keep being hated and it will all be for nothing.

    • Member Posts: 419

      Looking over this design to put it simply these changes are bad to put it lightly. going to use one of the methods another poster has done to try and explain each section starting with

      Hacking changes: that is a very bad change the fact that the mini game is so easy its basically free aura for Survivors theres no Risk at all which is even when worse when you play against SWF (Yes this has to be taken account along with High lvl survivors)

      Propose change: No extra reward for survivors the fact you disable it for a good duration is reward enough, However would propose that hacking mini game has a short time limit to add the panic of hacking succesfully before the timer is up.

      removal of DW, Broken Hinder and Haste: Another bad change in fairness DW can be removed thats fine but i would argue that the Hinder and Haste stays and at the same levels as it was with 2.0 SM (before the guttering) this is SM anti loop without it she is a basic M1 killer which we all know is the weakest form of killer. Also the fact it requires survivors to be scanned 3 times and then getting scanned again justify having Hinder and Haste

      Propose change: Keep Broken Haste & Hinder remove DW

      Controling Drones: i can see the idea behind it but in this day and age of DBD where trials are so fast and there a shrinking amount of tools for killers to slow down the game, the added time to hop into the drone to control it find survivor then hopefully hit the survivor waste to much time that the killer doesnt have but it can be modifiy a bit

      Propose change: when survivor enters the drone area SM can trigger attack mode and drone dash into survivor that enters the area causing damage to survivor this attack mode can only be used if a drone has been in the field for 10 seconds to stop the tatic of summon drone then dash attack straight away so they have to be placed and you push survivors towards those areas.

      red light green light: like the idea want to make a small tweak to it

      Propose change: ties to SM terror radius like the doctor area static but any drones out they create a 48 meter radius around them when this is triggered so instead of map wide its now Killer TR plus drone terror radius

      Overall the 2.0 SM was fine i honestly think it just the hatered that linger for SM that got the undeserve/uneeded guttering but going forward these design changes are overall very bad and should be stopped before any resources are put towards it only thing i would be a welcome addtions is red light green light & my propose change for controlling drones but only if we can revert back to 2.0 SM

    • Member Posts: 414

      This actually sounds like a fun version of Skull Merchant and I might actually play her if her power involves a mix of stealth and shooting drones, kinda like some weird mix of Ghostface, Artist, and Houndmaster!

    • Member Posts: 65

      Before I get into anything, I want to be clear, I am not fond of SM nor have I ever been. I've always found her kit at almost every stage of her existence to be problematic.

      I have to say this is the laziest re-design of a killer. This re-design is just a variation of Twins. Both idle Victor and the Drones detect survivor movement with the exception of crouch movement. Both Victor and the Drones can be controlled to move around and attack survivors. The only difference is SM can have 5 Drones, the Drones have a time limit for their use, the Drones can move over dropped pallets and window vaults, and the Drones have a 'dash' attack that if they hit a wall or survivor it's a one use attack that will need to deploy another Drone to perform.

      We already have about 1/3 of the killer roster with some form of a 'dash' attack/ability.

      Her most recent version before she got gutted was probably her best version BUT still needed some adjustments. Gaining Haste and applying Hindered for scanning was a bit much esp since the haste also added to the lunge attack range. Getting undetectable for deploying a Drone didn't make sense either esp since she almost has no audio while undetectable while most killers do. Wraith snarls, Myers heavy breathing, Ghostface sounds like bedsheets whipping in the wind, Onryo has a lullaby. Her only form of skill expression was changing the rotation direction of the scan lines which doesn't take a lot of brain cells to do. I know many SM defenders will come in and say "she has plenty of counter play, just dance around the Drone or crouch under it". These 'counters' are NOT feasible while she is CHASING you. She plops a Drone in a spot and that tile is dangerous to stick around. Again SM defenders will say "Trapper and Hag do the same thing" except Trapper and Hag are held STATIONARY for up to 3 seconds to plant their trap while SM still has full movement and speed when deploying a Drone. I have played her at every stage of her changes and she was extremely boring in all of them with the small exception of when she could change direction of the scan lines, I finally had a single braincell activate and not just auto-pilot to make use of such a feature.

      I had an idea for a change to SM from a long, long time ago. No, I don't think it's the best or even the right change, but it is just and idea to put on the table. Idle Drones that detect a survivor build up a Lock On as well as she can control the Drones to move around and manually build up the Lock On. She can switch between Drones to apply the Lock On to multiple survivors. Once Lock On is fully applied, a Claw Trap is attached to the survivor and not only will they be revealed to the portable radar for as long as the Claw Trap is attached, but the Claw Trap will administer 3 toxins in 3 stages to the afflicted survivor. Each administration of a toxin will last until the Claw Trap battery dies but each toxin will only be applied at certain stages of the Claw Trap battery life. Toxin 1 applies at the attachment of the Claw Trap, toxin 2 applies once the Claw Trap battery is 33% drained and toxin 3 applies when the Claw Trap battery is 66% drained. These toxin affects can vary between things like preventing survivors from repairing gens. Apply a small hindered status. When a survivor drops a pallet or vaults a location, they get a de-buff that prevents them from performing a drop pallet/vault for X seconds. Or any other conceived ideas to help chase down a survivor.

      I don't think BHVR's projected change is right for her, but I also haven't given a lot of thought into her myself either. Also I won't listen to the advocates "oh you don't know how she works, she is the most complex thing that has ever been crafted in that last 10 000 years of all humanity, and at my MMR of 3 BILLION she suffers from these issues that she needs buffs for"

    • Member Posts: 10,419

      These proposed changes are really cringe. Let's just ignore that the visual examples for this wannabe triple A game were done in MS paint, with literal stick figures and stuff. I guess the art team was busy with cosmetics. So Skull Merchant's drones don't shoot claw traps or anything out at you, but they still can damage you, and the devs' solution to implementing that was basically the drone headbutting/kamikaze'ing into you, and then it can still fail. What drone, ever, has just flown straight into people as a method of attack, of which a miss will cost them their own life? And they make it seem like she's gonna be simple and fair for survivors to understand. No, even this is too complicated for them, because even her earlier versions were "too much to understand."

      And only now do the devs comment, "It didn't match DBD's visual design." It's far too late for that, genius. You've already put a thousand cosmetics in the game which complete clash with DBD's traditional visual themes. We have Naughty Bear and those really cringely done Attack On Titan cosmetics, for example. We're getting FNAF soon, and just like how the series has gone, I'm sure it will feature designs marketed to children (as most of the devs are millennial "adult children," so they market to themselves, especially indicative in Tools Of Torment). It coincides with why, in a rated M game, there are almost zero gorey moris. Demogorgon jump on you, chews your head off and spits it out, and then your head is still on your body.

      But anyway, they're not going to get anywhere with these Skull Merchant redesigns. They had 1 chance and blew it, and now the community has eternal hate for this killer. They'd rage quit against her if she lacked a way to damage!

    • Member Posts: 603

      Another thing about her rework:


      The "Red Light, Green Light" part of her power could be more interesting if instead of having the need of the survivors to freeze in place for a few seconds they it was more like "Stand up/sit down" (Vivo/morto for brazilian kids), forcing survivors to move and not move alternately, with random orders - so there is always some kind of a thrill in the minigame.

    • Member Posts: 65

      your analysis fails to take into account that SM dropping a Drone at a tile she is chasing you in makes that tile very unsafe to stay at and now you have a 50/50 choice which both likely leads to taking damage. 1- You stay and loop the tile and risk getting scanned, 2- You leave and risk taking a Basic Attack before reaching another tile. With Trapper and Hag they have to be stationary to set their trap and play a very noticeable audio que that tells you "leave this tile and reach a new one before I catch up to you". I f you return to the tile that was trapped, that's just you making a mistake. The most difficult thing I've ever experience playing SM was not falling asleep playing her

    • Member Posts: 53

      Playing as Skull Merchant should be like watching a master hunter. She'd be as hard to spot as a snake in tall grass, but always there, waiting for the right moment to attack. Her look would mix modern tech and old-schI see Skull Merchant developing into the perfect femme fatale. She'd be so tempting and deadly that players won't be able to resist her. Her game style would be all about being precise and clever, like a serpent dancing with danger.

      Her drones could become like ghost snakes, keep the skulls, maybe snake head project or some skulls could be snake skulls, a really sleek and hinting at something not-so-nice. When she uses them to scan, it's not just a game move; it's like a snake hypnotizing its victim before the final bite of glamour with some snake vibes thrown in, and she'd move like a serpent gliding through the water as she moves now.

      Here's what I think could make this version of her better:

      1. Make the drones look like snakes, but cooler and more dangerous maybe the main one the main drone is a huge snake skull with fangs.
      2. When they scan, it should feel like a snake is about to pounce, not just a robot doing its thing.
      3. Give her a look that's part high-tech, part old-school charm, with some sneaky snake details, we should be able to see her whole face on some DLC, it makes it more personal, so, create skins that show her whole face.
      4. Make her movements as smooth as a snake slithering—super mesmerizing.
      5. When she takes over a drone, it should be like she's whispering commands to a pet snake, and it does whatever she says, he has a closer relationship with her drones, like she knew them before they were skull drones.

      The most important part making it feel like you're dealing with a creature that's both alluring and deadly. Skull Merchant shouldn't just be another character; she should be a seductive force that makes you want to play more. She's a mix of danger and temptation in one cool package, and she needs outfits that align with this theme.

    • Member Posts: 1
      https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/441096/design-preview-the-skull-merchant

      this seems sick as hell and I'm excited to see how they implement and execute this idea! as a skull merchant enjoyer I love this rework!!! <3

    • Member Posts: 4,215
      https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3901975#Comment_3901975

      We don't know if it will be a 50/50 yet. If it works anything like Houndmaster, where nearby survivors get alerted that the killer has switched views with their "pet", and it's one of those irregularrly shaped loops, then the survivor might be able to just change directions and avoid the drone. Have you ever tried to hit a survivor with Houndmaster's dog, at an irregularly shaped loop? It's really awful and unreliable for the killer.

      We also don't know how forgiving the drone's hitbox will be. The drone might be extra terrible at hitting survivors at a loop, because it might collide with the environment if the drone is too close to the loop, and therefore the drone needs to loop widely, with a space between the drone and the loop, and since the drone doesn't move fast like Victor, then looping like this might not work.

    • Member Posts: 1

      as a newer skull merchant i like that she plays like other trap killers of setting up a zone and being able to hold areas of interest. but looking at videos like The Grandmaste's guild to skull merchant (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKzn0G9bM3Y) i see she has a lot of tech and cool things she can do. i feel this rework kills her identity as a trap killer with tracking ability .

      I love the drone having 2 beams i can see a lot of cool traps i could set up however i dont like the idea of the drone being a roomba with c4 attached.The power will ether devolve to being a chase power like artist or twins or hardcore gen guarding witch isn't fun to play as or vs.

    • Member Posts: 517
      edited March 30

      When she released i ended up liking her enough that i bought all her cosmetics (to this day). And managed to get around 250 anniversary cakes on her, before realising how the playerbase didn't enjoy playing against her old version. Rework happened people still didnt enjoy playing against it and ive been waiting for a time where she isnt hated.

      One reoccuring thing in every one of her versions so far, including this one, is "placing drones". At first they were too defensive, then they were quite offensive, and now with this change they will be both. For example imagine singularity being able to damage players with their camera pods, when placed around generators/loops etc. It would be quite annoying to deal with drones depending on how accurate/easy to control they are, as i doubt placing victors all over the map to pounce on you at any time would help players to finally enjoy playing against her.

    • Member Posts: 22

      ok but what about chucky? you guys made him perfect back in 2023 and now you've all decided to make him terrible :( feels like all the money spent for nothing..

    • Member Posts: 223

      TLDR at the bottom

      The good

      Global detection: makes her less reliant on survivors going into specific areas to get information- If a survivor is near a drone during this, they are stuck in a catch 22 and get caught.

      The drone changes: being able to move traps without waiting for two animations just to place it slightly to the left is great for time efficiency. Them being able to damage survivors also creates an immediate threat for pressure instead of just a passive application that eventually makes you "win chase". The increased stealth of the scan lines is also helpful to more easily surprise survivors, which is important since a trap killer that is remotely balanced has their traps as the make or break portion of the kit (AKA, the traps are how you win, not just picking the character).

      The uncertain

      Global Detection: We do not know how often or how long the ability will be active. We do not know if interacting also counts as "standing still" (interacting is the most common survivor action, if you count that as "standing still" they will be invisible 9 times out of 10. This also applies to crouching since it's so easy it might as well be the default movement of the game for how often it is used).

      Drone changes: The battery mechanic will be the main restriction on your ability to close in and lock down survivors. Since moving them takes power, requires you to stop controlling the killer, and doesn't do anything to prevent them being hacked once you finish- how fast they can move under your control will be an extremely deciding factor on if this approach is helpful or just wasted time on a bad mechanic.

      The Bad

      Global Detection: Being able to Crouch to ignore a map wide ability means the power will be useless almost every time.

      Drones: If damage and detection is all the drones provide, then they are only useful when you AREN'T near them.You have to be the one controlling them to do the attack and their detection is most likely only going to catch a survivor who is already hiding from global detection. This means your best chance to catch a survivor is when global detection is up (see the uncertain section) or for a survivor to get caught unaware while you aren't preoccupied with someone else (better players could multitask hopefully, but that increases the killer difficulty if it becomes a requirement). These are very strict conditions for something that many perks can do, making the drones situational at best.

      Hacking: Without an increase in the danger from a failed hack, this makes survivors simply more easily equipped to Declaw her of the only damage she has not relying on basic attacks.

      My thoughts

      Overall Skull merchant has 2 means of detection, both of which have glaring weaknesses, that will make them only useful when used together as is described. Her only lethality option relies on you being far away, negating the potential for an additional hit because it is also destroyed. Detection has no real threat beyond being seen, which isn't as useful for trap killers who are meant to make certain areas dangerous and lead survivors there instead of simply chasing. She has nowhere near the personal threat to force survivors anywhere beyond "away from the traps", which defeats their purpose of detecting people with them. Even with hacking: The survivors only risk being seen and a single health state at worst, the killer risks losing their means of control and damage at that spot. That sounds like a bargain for a survivor looking for an edge, and a bad deal for any killer wanting a chance to win.

      The killer fails to embody the game play of characters like Trapper and Hag, while also not being good enough at detection or stealth to claim those as strong suits either. Her design feels like the gutting of what she is meant to be, while also not providing enough to help her become whatever it is that you tried to make her.

      You wanted her to have her ear to the ground constantly, but made it impossible from how restrictive the global detection is with the easily avoided nature of her drones. Her Mechanics seem to do nothing to actually deter survivors from just ignoring her and working on generators when the global power isn't forcing them to wait and do nothing, making it even less engaging and fun to go against. Her ability to actually hurt survivors is simply throwing a drone at them and hoping you can find them again before they heal. Trapper at least would keep the survivor stuck for a second or so, and he'd actually benefit from placing his traps if only for the speed boost to help him set up faster and get to actually killing.

      Her limitations come with not enough lethality, her Perception is has nothing in terms of presence, and her design is without reward for any dedication.

      TLDR

      Red light green light is too easy to avoid to have the same mechanics as dredge's nightfall. Drones have two opposing objectives/interactions, making both avenues of approach skull merchant could take worse and less effective for it. She has no way to actually take advantage of the information she gains without losing a drone for it, or even any means to easily find or reach them again when she does give up a drone. She also cannot efficiently deal with more than one survivor at a time, meaning she creates areas easily ignored or avoided as escape becomes even more guaranteed.

      Suggestions

      1: Make the detection need to build and with anything that isn't running (walking, crouching, and doing nothing where interacting is also treated as walking) increase the time until survivors become detected rather than immune. lockers could reduce their detection slowly to give time for another strategic movement, or just be a safe haven to ride the duration out.

      2: While detected by the green light/red light mechanic, survivors should be more vulnerable. Either they are exposed while detected, or Skull Merchant applies deep wound to them under the same conditions.

      3: Drones keep some of the changes mentioned in the preview post, except the drone does not apply the global detection effect. Instead they should gain the ability to increase the rate of detection build up for anyone caught by them for a short time during the global detection. People who hide in lockers after wards have to wait until the effect goes away to begin losing their detection amount, but don't gain any more while inside even near a drone (preferably by "boosting" their detection a tier. For example standing still boosted to walking, and to running if already walking. Running into a drone while the global detection ability is active should just be instant, because at that point they aren't even trying to hide or play it safe).

      4: The drone harming the survivor counts as either a special attack or basic attack depending on if they are hit while detected.

      5: A failed hack or being in range while detected, causes the drone to automatically follow the survivor, using less battery than if skull merchant were in control, but being unable to attack until Skull merchant takes over to land the blow after a short animation (this animation would not play if the drone weren't following someone, it can be seen by the survivor). Windows and pallet stunning could block and destroy the drone while it follows them. The Drone would stay closer than the maximum distance it can "dash" while controlled by skull merchant, but no closer than 5-7 M.

      6: Make hacking mini games have a short time limit, and make that survivor immune to the drone's detection rate increase until the end of the next global detection.

      Reasons for suggestions

      1: This will force survivors to respect the ability while it is active, allow them to act normally when it isn't, provide counter play and new utility for lockers, and gives the skull merchant more consistent information.

      2: This allows Skull Merchant to be enough of a threat during the global detection to scare survivors away or towards whatever they feel necessary, without making her such a threat that she is unapproachable even without it. It also provided enough reason for survivors to actually engage with avoiding the power, instead of just getting out of dodge before the killer arrives.

      3: The synergy with the drones and global detection were good and interesting mechanically, the only issue was it became required to gain any significant utility from the power. Now the power gains MORE utility when they are used in tandem, without negating the locker counter play. Having the ability to injure survivors with the drones also means they can still be a threat without global detection, but not a death sentence- context and timing will matter.

      4: When not being detected, it affects a survivor as normal- a trouble but no big deal. When they are detected it's just another tool the Skull Merchant uses to finish you.

      5&6: this balances out the risk of hacking a drone compared to the reward of knowing exactly where the killer is, while also granting additional counter play against the global detection that is fair to the killer. A survivor getting caught or failing a hack now have a need to quickly negate the threat, and grant the skull merchant a chance to punish their failure without a guarantee the survivor gets hit.

    • Member Posts: 37

      I like this, the only thing i would change is the removel of Red light Green light.

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