Balancing the game
So, I'm typically one not to complain about balance, and I personally believe that the game in it's current state is more balanced than it's ever been. That being said, I'm not ignorant to the fact that at high level of play, Survivors are stronger than Killers. I have a few ideas that I'd like to share regarding better balancing the game, and I'd like to hear your thoughts and feedback.
1: Weaker killers should be buffed/reworked so they are around the level of Huntress
By this I mean that all killers should have a power that has a high skill cap. Huntress is a killer that has a huge learning curve and rewards a player for the time they spend practising her. This is also the case for other top killers, such as Nurse, Spirit, Billy, Hag, and now, the Demogorgon. All killers other than the ones that have been previously mentioned have fairly limited skill caps, and consequently struggle in higher ranks. Because of this, I believe that some time should be spent buffing/reworking these killers, starting with the weakest of them all (e.g. Leatherface, Doctor, Legion), allowing their powers to reward skilful game-play.
2: A secondary objective to power the gates should be implemented
One of the biggest gripes I have when I play killer is the speed at which games go by, and I know I'm not the only one that feels this way. I believe that another mandatory objective should be implemented, taking place AFTER the generators have been completed. An example of this could be fuses that must be collected and taken to power an individual gate, however I'd be happy with any other ideas. I believe there should requirements for a secondary objective, to ensure that it's balanced and not able to be abused. These requirements are: the killer should not be able to camp the objective, survivors should not be able to grief or abuse the objective mechanics (e.g. collecting a fuse and refusing to power a gate), and it mustn't overly extend the length of the match, or make it possible to take the game hostage.
3: Balance SWF
It's something that's difficult to do, and I really don't like any of the ideas I have. I've decided to share them anyways, but feel free to share your own ideas.
Some ideas: Indicating SWF teammates to the killer in the lobby screen, making SWF teams more susceptible to being dodged / Providing penalties to SWF players for things such as shards or blood points (e.g. You won't earn any level experience while playing SWF) / Maybe punishing the use of coms if it can be proven.
4: Improve matchmaking, particularly for solo survivors
Currently, Rank does not represent the skill of a player, and getting paired with players at your rank does not mean you'll play with players of the same skill level. For survivors, things such as Average Survival Time, Average Escapes per Match, Average Chase Length, and Average Number of Chases Won should be recorded, and survivors with impressive stats in these areas should be paired with other survivors with similar stats. For killers, things such as Average Game Length, Average Kills per Match, Average Chase Length, and Average Number of Chases Won should be recorded, and should be paired with survivors that demonstrate impressive stats in their own categories. This is just an idea, and limitations to this might be the size of the player base, camping and tunneling, the already existing rank system, etc. However, I believe that an effort should be made to match high skill survivors with other high skill survivors and high skill killers.
If you managed to read everything, thank you so much, I know it's quite lengthy. Feel free to critique my ideas, provide constructive feedback, or share your own thoughts.
Comments
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I’m on board with 1 and 4. Two I could support if the killer has to be involved in the objective as well, similar in concept to the lanterns, but better obviously. There needs to be an objective that makes them leave the hook to stop camping/tunneling ...otherwise no, nothing additional should be given to survivors. Increasing kills should not be the goal. Yes gens can go fast sometimes, but so can kills. Balance is 2K. Just nerfing one side only in the base game throws everything out of whack. Longer games requires an addition to both sides.
I understand the SWF issue, number 3, but it is my belief the game is actually not balanced for killer vs 4 solos anymore. That’s clearly advantage killer far more often than not. The game is now balanced more for a solo/SWF hybrid.
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I agree. Swf is a problem, so is genrushing.
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That's fair. The way I perceive it is the secondary objective would provide the killer with an opportunity to get 1-2 kills if they play well during the time it takes for the secondary objective to be completed, but that's assuming that 4 survivors are still alive. So yeah, I could see how it could dramatically skew the kill rate.
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I'm okay with being paid to take a dive.
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Devs already said several yimes that they won't touch swf because people can still try to join together in a solo search
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There is no rational reason for devs to rework existing content to be more satisfying.
There is a definite monetary reason for them to release new content that bandaid fixes problems with old content while pleasing the popcorn munchers.
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The only remotely realistic way to balance SWF at all is the often mentioned buff solos -> buff killers that need it approach.
Applying restrictions is pointless as it'll just annoy casual players and hardcore players (including the "bully squads") would just queue-snipe eachother anyway if they really wanted to. And trying to punish or restrict communication apps in any way is lightyears beyond simply unfeasible, it's an utter waste of resources.
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It depends on what you mean by buffing solos. To buff survivors to make solo play balanced would consequently buff SWF. If you gave benefits to Survivors playing solo, then why would SWF teams not queue-snipe each other to receive those benefits? I do believe certain killers should be buffed, but in balance with what?
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If that was the case then we wouldn't have had a Freddy rework.
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Giving Survivors more info (the info that SWF already have)
Making the character at the down left have a diffrent icon when being chased, healed,
Totem counter (for a perk even)
The less powerfull Kindred as base.
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SWF is likely rarely 4 friends in lobby but I could be wrong. Doesn’t necessarily mean anything though. I SWF often and we are all different skill sets so it doesn’t necessarily mean a win.
I do think something needs to be done about the hatch lock though - putting a timer on it or something. The killer has already killed 3 people and they basically get a guaranteed 4th kill if they have a speed boost of some sort and the gates are close to each other, creating a very short ending game play with very little chance to escape. That, or some killers troll and down you, lead you to the hatch, close it, and then point farm creating an extra long ending game play. It really doesn’t do much to “alleviate” the hatch standoff at all. If anything, it has created MORE of a standoff than anything. Killer waits by the hatch, locks it and gets their kill. Seems to actually get worse the higher up in ranks you get.
Just my opinion.
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