Idea for a slight rework of the hunt mechanics
As someone who is probably average as both killer and survivor. In my opinion, the whole dynamic of chases in this game is slightly flawed in terms of how they are “structured”.
For the purpose of this argument, I will break down chases into the following stages:
1. Scouting - The killer has not found a survivor and is currently scouting generators or other points.
2. Chasing – The killer has found a survivor and is currently chasing them down.
3. Hunting – The killer has lost sight of their prey and is attempting to re-acquire them, this leads back into Stage 2 if a survivor is found or moves to Stage 4.
4. Searching- The killer has completely lost track of their prey and is now searching for fresh tracks or searching nearby lockers / hiding spots.
This cycle repeats until the survivor is downed / hooked.
The problem I have is with Stages 2 & 3.
With the killers moving either 10% or 15% faster than sprinting survivors, killers can always catch up to their target by just following scratch marks during a chase (and even more so with bloodlust). Now, given that “useable” scratch marks last for roughly 7 seconds, this means survivors have roughly 6 seconds to stop leaving a trail and try to hide.
The problem with this is that when a killer reaches the end of the scratch marks, they know you must be nearby, and to give an idea of how close, we can do the math. According to the DBD wiki, running speed is 4m/s, crouching (no Urban Evasion) is 1.13m/s and walking is 2.26m/s. This means that in those 6 seconds, which is the longest scratch mark time (barring Predator), you will only be able to move up to 13m away using any combination of crouching and walking to evade the killer and not leave any new scratches.
The main point about this is, as you may have noticed, is of course; scratch marks could use a change. Now the survivor extremist would say “Remove all scratch marks, they suck…” but let’s try and think of way to make them more balanced in a way that improves the gameplay.
Right now, killers who lose visual sight of the survivor, but still are considered in a chase, mindlessly follow scratch marks until they see their target. I propose that a survivor does not leave any sprinting scratch marks while in a chase but instead have an increase in the noise their running footsteps make. Killers would have to rely more so on the directional audio of footsteps, which some may say will make chases longer and worse, but again let’s examine it. If a survivor stuns you or runs round a corner, you don’t need to follow the scratch marks because you can HEAR where they are going.
This would give survivors who can break visual contact, by either stunning or jukes, a bit more time to try and break the chase and hide.
Now if in the event that this favors one side of the other we can break it down further.
If it gives the killer too much of an advantage (given the current state of killers I do not know if such a thing is possible) then the audio increase can be altered or have it act in a similar way as Bloodlust, whereby the footsteps of the survivor get progressively louder as the chase goes on.
If it favors the survivors too much, then we can adjust Bloodlust to be a lesser speed with a linear increase rather than a large speed increase in regular intervals. So instead of being at base speed and then gaining the +4.8m/s of Bloodlust 1 after 15 seconds, the killer gets progressively faster during the 15 seconds up to a speed of +4m/s.
This would make looping harder for survivors as they would need to take into account the killer closing the loop quicker over time.
If you have made it to end here then thank you and allow me to share with you a fun DBD fact:
The fastest possible generator repair time, not including great skill checks or BNP, is 6.8 seconds in a very rare circumstance.
4 injured survivors all equipped with Engineer Toolboxes (Socket Swivel & Clean Rag) and the Resilience, Leadership, Prove Thyself and Spine Chill working on a 4 sided generator with the killer looking at them… have fun trying to re-create that in a pub match!
Comments
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If you factor in other survivors it quickly feels flawed to me. Their footsteps would sound identical, so how do you distinguish the ones you are looking for, rather than going for the guy trying to block and hinder you?
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@Mercury said:
If you factor in other survivors it quickly feels flawed to me. Their footsteps would sound identical, so how do you distinguish the ones you are looking for, rather than going for the guy trying to block and hinder you?OK, you have made an interesting point and I will try to answer it the best I can.
If we think of a common scenario when a killer finds two guys on a single generator; killer is within let's say 15 m, sees them, both survivors run different ways (like most do) and the killer chooses one.
Imagine maybe a meter that each survivor has which fills up more if that survivor is on the killer's screen, this meter represents the audio footstep levels.
When a killer first enters a chase (so not already in a chase), any survivors on the killers screen receive increased footstep volume. The survivor the killer chooses to focus on will slowly build up the audio meter while the other survivors who are not being chased have their footsteps decrease in volume. Now the audio meter can act in a similar way to how Bloodlust builds and lessens, whereby if the survivor is out of sight, their is a delay for how long the effect remains active, giving the killer time to re-engage.
Any other survivors who attempt to block/hinder the killer (who is already in a chase) won't receive the audio increase (unless the killer then chooses to focus on then, at which point the audio builds up for the survivor(s)).
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this game has deaf players , not to mention the shear number of audio glitches and bugs this game experiences
i for instance would probably be unable to play killer on red forest with this change , because quite often on that map as soon as somebody finishes a gen my audio freaks out and this very loud unending noise starts and stays until i leave the post game lobby
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Scratchmarks are not as accutate as noises, so the killer is taking a risk by following the marks. You also forgot to factor in the things that the killer is slower at which gives survivors more ground. Vaulting windows and breaking pallets. As for hideing and juking, lithe and windows of oppourtunity combined with quick and quiet. You really have to pick your stealth build, altruism build, farming or gen completion build. If you dont want to be found and want to break chases, your build should be
Urban Evasion
Lithe
Windows of Oppourtunity
Quick and Quiet0
