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Skull Merchant Discussion REUPLOAD

Rigbeta
Rigbeta Member Posts: 292
edited March 31 in Feedback and Suggestions

(Reuploaded due to the inherent negativity of the comment section in the last one, thank you mods!)

I have nothing against Piloting Drones to move them to a new location remotely, my problem is turning the Drone into a perspective-based attack akin to the other Dash/Projectile Killers instead of focusing on The Skull Merchant's actual playstyle.

There is already so many Killers that utilize the playstyle being purported by this change; just because the design concept has a sliver of the intel does NOT make it interesting or compelling to us Skull Merchant Mains who have been playing her since the beginning or recently; we like

her playstyle as a Trap-Based character and enjoy the mounting dangers of the Drones' scans, we like having Stealth to get spicy sneak-ups, and we like getting actual benefits for successful and intelligent activation/use of our kit.

All the complaints are coming from people who refuse to go against something that frankly does not exist in the game anymore. Quite literally I STILL see people saying that "Skull Merchant getting passive gen control is broken" despite her Scan Lines LITERALLY not effecting stationary targets, or refuse to learn the mechanics that are both obvious OR readily available on the Killer's page.

Worse yet, these people have shown a severe lack of empathy towards the players who feel actual distress at the loss of their character's identity and playstyle; Survivors don't have this type of issue unless their favorite character gets a facial rework. All of their mechanics are universal, whereas a Killer IS their mechanics and their Playstyle.

Her drones give off a sound, they have a visible scan line, and have to be used within 5 seconds of placement to get Haste, AND have to scan a survivor 3 times to get the Claw Trap. There is Killers in this game that gain immediate benefits for their power, with far less planning and far less stakes. And yet The Skull Merchant is somehow the issue.

My suggestions are simple:

1. Make Claw Traps Expose Survivors instead of breaking them.
This would mean that the Survivor won't have to heal once the trap expires, forces the Skull Merchant to track with her Radar instead of blood pools/grunts of pain if the survivor is slippery enough, and actually grants additional need for the Skull Merchant to be physically present to make full use of the pressure of the Claw Trap.

2. The Skull Merchant can control a Drone remotely, but it cannot "Dive Bomb" a Survivor.
Instead, you can try to manually Claw Trap the Survivor to avoid the 3 Scan process. Missing a Claw Trap Tag can result in the Drone losing Energy and temporarily becoming available for a Hack from the Survivor. This would result in her being unable to down with her Drones like the Design Concept seems to be pushing, and maintain her focus as an intel-gathering, Stealth utilizing, trap type character without making her a dash killer.

3. Do not give Survivors free intel with The Skull Merchant's Aura.
Not in the game yet, but that is just a god awful nerf that no one wants. It's already damning that she loses her power to the Hack. The Survivor does not need an additional reward.

4. Rotating A Scan Line removes the Skull Merchant's Ability to Recall or Remotely Move a Drone for a short cooldown.
Just a sort of bonus to gameplay I guess, it might quell some squabbling.

5. Maybe make it so that Hacked Drones cannot be recalled at all.
Rather the Skull merchant must wait for the Drone to become available but can manually collect it if she's physically nearby.

I love this Killer, I love playing her even now in her current state, and I don't want to see her transformed into what ostensibly is a new Killer. This Character has a unique style of play, and fulfills a function that is lacking in the department of Area Control characters.

There needs to be more emphasis on differing playstyles in DBD, because right now, everyone just expects that the one build they use and the one playstyle they have will be the only skills they need to develop.

Diversity in the roster is extremely important to keep this game fresh and interesting.

The new Design Concept/preview could be a different character all together (With tweaks) I even saw that post about the Phantasm creator being interested, and that would be huge and more thematic to the Sentinels and Undead-Dwarf-Minions from that movie.