Perk Limitation Suggestion (again)

Beaburd

The previous thread was removed for pending approval. I'm recreating this thread because the last time I had this pending approval issue, which was a week ago, my thread never re-emerged.

Note: There are two similar but different ideas in this suggestion thread, but both work towards implementing the same concept, which is limiting strong/meta perk usage. Suggestion #2 would probably be the preferred system, I imagine.

Note 2: Any and all numbers are arbitrary and for example only, they should be adjusted as required.

Suggestion:

1. Make each of the survivors' and killers' strongest perks level 40 teachables, and restrict access to level 40 teachables in builds to a limit of one.

Example: If I take Self Care as a survivor, I cannot take Sprint Burst. If I take Nurse's Calling as a killer, I cannot take Make Your Choice.

2. Allocate a ranking of usefulness to perks, and assign a value between 1-5 depending on how good/useful that perk is relative to others. Then, give each player a certain number of 'perk points' they can allocate towards their build and have them customize their build however they want within the given limit.

Example: If players are given 10 perk points to allocate, and Self Care/Sprint Burst cost 5 points each, survivors could take both at the sacrifice of two other perks or be forced to choose lower rated perks to fill their build.

Why:

I am suggesting this system for two reasons:

1. There is no perk variety lately, especially for survivors (going on 2+ years with the same meta). People take the best perks and use them repeatedly to obtain the best results. This makes games stale, boring, and rather frustrating at times too.

2. The most common meta perks for survivors are, honestly, strong enough to be character-specific abilities. Self Care, Sprint Burst, and Decisive Strike especially are free, unconditional abilities that significantly increase their independence and survivability.

Both of these problems are further compounded by the fact that they have been allowed to persist for 2+ years without deterrence, creating a new standard of expectations from your player base. Where heavy nerfs to each of these perks will be met with overwhelming resistance, my suggestion aims to control these strengths in a more passive way by extending the same limitations to killers.

Other Benefits:

• It's impossible to make all perks as strong as Self Care, Sprint Burst, and Decisive Strike for survivors. It's also impossible to make perks as useful as BBQ and Chili for Killers. That doesn't mean current and future lesser-valued perks shouldn't be used though, and this system would promote their use by allowing a limited number of those strongest perks to be selected. This should substantially increase perk variety by making people choose between strong and weak perks alike.
• If the perk point system was adopted, it could also potentially be used as a way to balance SWF by reducing the number of perk points depending on how many SWF members join a lobby.

Potential Problems:

For suggestion #1, some level 40 perks are not as strong as others, like Ace in the Hole compared to Self Care, or Blood Warden compared to Ruin. In that case, every perk that's supposed to be strong would need to be buffed until they're all OP in their own way to encourage their use depending on your desired playstyle. This would not affect the suggestion with the perk point system however, as each perk would be judged individually rather than based on its teachable level.

This potential problem can actually be a benefit in that it allows more avenues for creative and powerful perks without actually breaking the game. After all, it won't matter how many OP perks there are if you're limited in the amount you can use. Perk diversity won't be skewed either as long as each OP perk is made to be comparable in strength. Other lesser-valued perks would only have to be balanced with their respective tier as well, making their balance more managable.

Nos37

Edit: Nevermind, I see it under Other Benefits now.

Beaburd

@Nos37 said:
What do you think about balancing SWF by removing 1 perk point for every member beyond the 1st?

• 2 members have 9 perk points
• 3 members have 8 points
• 4 members have 7

Thanks for re-posting, I was actually about to leave a note that the SWF balancing idea via the perk-point system was from another user that posted in the previous thread before it was removed.

I think it has great potential that I never thought of honestly! I added it to the other benefits section. I would not mind seeing that personally.

Also:
Credit to another user (Techn0) for pointing out a potential flaw in the lvl 40 teachable limitation system. Yes, other perks would have to be buffed to be competitive with other lvl 40 perks. Like Ace in the Hole vs Self care.

holywhitetrash

the elite skill system (suggestion 1) seems kind of neat i for sure dont want the devs assigning values to all the perks like your second suggestion would require cause we all know they cant be trusted

and i am pretty sure remember me is freddy's best perk not blood warden