http://dbd.game/killswitch
I think the Map & Key reworks were PERFECT
While everyone's been talking about the new Fog Vials (which I also have been using), I haven't seen too much discussion on the reworks made to the Maps & Keys. I just wanted to say, I think this was a successful item rework.
I know some may disagree, but I think Maps beforehand were very unintuitive. You had to run near many objectives you wanted to track (and there was no feedback from if the objective was track aside from the brief 'Map Scout' score event that popped up) and without add-ons, all the green Map could track was generators. So you either brought a green Map with add-ons to make up for what it lacked, or a Rainbow Map with add-ons to extend.
Keys were also not very well-designed before because they were pretty much feast or famine items: you either brought a Key with no add-ons for the sole purpose of unlocking the Hatch, or you brought a Key with add-ons just to reveal Auras around you, with the only one worth its salt being the Blood Amber. These problems were exacerbated even further by chests; before it was risky to search a Chest because you could pull a Broken Key which, without add-ons, did absolutely nothing.
With the rework, Maps and Keys now serve as AMAZING beginner tools. Even if you bring the worst rarity of either item (or pull them from a Chest), they provide solid aura-reading capabilities without the need to bring their perk counterparts (Windows of Opportunity and Bond respectively).
Comments
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I know some may disagree
That is an understatement.
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Map rework was great. Really consistent now and the add ons are more useful and straight forward.
Haven't used keys but Ill take your word for it
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They are terrible and people who used them are not using anymore
New people will use them for a while and then back to medkits, toolboxes and flashlights
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There's only toolboxes and medkits as worthwhile items now and if I want them why would I bring a key and hope I get a decent one instead of just bringing a good one in the first place?
The ability to open chests in 1 second enables more off-meta Item builds, and anything to encourage people to run perks that aren't hard meta is a good thing, I believe.
Also seeing survivor auras is… quaint? But ultimately not that useful when there's so many things that work better.
Seeing survivor auras is a life-saver in solo queue. You can skip out on bringing info related perks (such as Bond) by just bringing a Key and channeling it whenever you need to look for people.
Also, I think this says more about how problematic Medkits and Toolboxes are than anything else. It's clear that BHVR wants to move in the direction of giving each item only five add-ons (one of each rarity) which is a much healthier design.
Medkits have the issue where most of the other add-ons are pretty meh and only a handful are worth running (additional charges, bonus progression on Great Skill Checks, and syringes + styptics). And with toolboxes, some of them are just straight up garbage. The Engineer's Toolbox and Mechanic's Toolbox are trash; 16 charges of toolbox is laughably bad no matter how high the repair speed is and they are only ever brought by players who either don't know that the Commodious Toolbox is better or players who want to bring a Brand New Part.
But when players DO bring the correct add-ons on the right variations of these items, they are incredibly strong and lead to unhealthy gameplay (shutting down weaker Killers who rely on altruistic healing and normal gen speeds to maintain pressure). Maps and Keys post rework are healthy examples of good item design, even if the items by themselves aren't as objectively strong as the other items currently are.
Ultimately I think this will just lead to more lobby dodging when people realize that they will be going into a 3v1 when they see someone bringing a key.
Maybe this is region-specifc, but here in my NA-East matches not once have I seen people dodge lobbies when people bring Maps OR Keys. I don't think it's as big of a problem as you state here but I'm willing to concede otherwise because I'm sure other regions see it differently.
Maps are still a joke compared to everything else. Windows works far better and them nerfing maps to no longer show totems was horrible decision making because at least showing totems as base was kinda useful for more experienced players.
But the point is that by bringing a Map, you don't have to bring Windows of Opportunity and can use that slot for any other good perk. It's the same logic as saying "Why bring a Med-kit when you can just bring Self Care / Strength in Shadows to heal yourself infinitely?" That's a stupid thing for me or anyone to say because you and I know that the point of bringing a Med-kit is so you can heal yourself WITHOUT having to bring healing perks. It's the same logic.
Also, showing Totems basekit just for bringing an item and nothing else (the old Rainbow Map) was absurd. Hex builds were already not preferred by a lot of Killers because of how common it was that someone would find and cleanse the totems before any value could be had, and as a result, if you saw a Survivor bring a map, you knew they were most definitely going to see your Totems (because previously Maps were borderline useless for anything else). Now that you have to bring an add-on (which you already had to do with the old green rarity Map, it was called "Red Twine" and it was a yellow rarity add-on), I anecdotally find that more Killers in my matches run Hex builds compared to before.
TL:DR; They only seem weak because the other Survivor items are very strong in comparison. They are examples of good design and I think it's commendable that they turned what were usually pretty useless items into very much usable items with more digestible add-ons.
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I can't agree more. Not only amazing for begginers, but they have strong options for veterans as well. And blood amber finally isn't braindead wallhack on button, but still very strong is W in my book.
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You mean the items no one uses cause they're still useless? Ever since the Hatch change years ago that made it to where the Hatch only spawns when it's down to the last Survivor (which frankly needs to change - it either needs to spawn the moment it's down to the last Survivor instead of waiting until the animation is complete or it needs to spawn when there's two Survivors left, since 2v1 is typically unwinnable in most scenarios), neither the keys nor the maps have had any point to them. They should just be removed and replaced with items that Survivors can actually use.
Not like that'll happen, though, BHVR doesn't care about the Survivor role, so they'd just do what they've done to the Fog Vial and nerfed whatever they give Survivors into the ground just because Killers complain about the item.
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Dude, you calling rainbow maps absurd just shows how totally out of touch you are. No offense but you are a joke of a player and I feel ashamed that I spent this long typing out a response before I realized how deluded you are.
I don't understand this point? When I say it was absurd, I don't mean they were overpowered. I mean that by design it was just "green Map with all the add-ons basekit", which was bad design because in no situation would you ever want to run the old green Map when the Rainbow Map did everything it did but better and for longer. I don't think it makes me "deluded" to recognize that? Plus, it's not like it was that good at finding totems. By the time you were close enough to track the Totem, you could usually find it already. The new Sharpened Flint add-on for the Maps is way more useful at finding Totems; you just click once and you see every Totem nearby.
Also, no offense taken. For what it's worth, I thought your response was worth typing and had many valid points. By no means am I saying Maps and Keys ever going to provide as much utility as Medkits and Toolboxes (because the ability to heal yourself and repair faster is infinitely stronger than aura-reading ever will be), I'm just saying this rework took Maps and Keys from borderline useless to having an actual solid use case (even if it's mostly aimed at beginners), which is a good thing I believe.-3 -
They got nerfed. Not sure how that makes them
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They were not great before and now they're worse.
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Keys got very obviously buffed. Not sure why people say they got nerfed, only Blood Amber did.
Maps, on the other hand.... They are useful for beginners, but after 100 hours you don't need them.
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You know what I was gonna make a snarky comment here but I actually respect your response here.
Thank you :D I always appreciate having these sorts of discussions and I really respect your responses as well. I mainly made this thread to attract perspectives like yours so I'm actually very grateful that you took the time out of your day to have this back-and-forth with me.
Also the flint add-on is still a major nerf. I don't need more than like two seconds to see a totem and now there's a hard limit compared to being able to use the map many times by feathering it.
Agreed 100%. The fundamental change to the way Maps are used (consuming singular-use charges to read auras for a limited time instead of using continuous charges to read auras at your own pace) is very interesting to me, because it made feathering worse and overall makes them less versatile to use, but also makes them extremely beginner friendly. If I had to modify my original stance on the topic, I'd say this rework succeeded at lowering the skill ceiling and skill floor of using these items. They now provide much more base value for far less effort, but also provide much less potential value than they could have before no matter the effort.
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