The Devs have a point...

So watching their new Q&A, I have a better appreciation for their decision to change Hex: Ruin. At first, I was totally against it & did not think it was a good change during the PTB. I did see this as a way to just make things easier & less annoying for survivors (which basically this is still the case whether it was fully intended to be this way). Yes, I still am a believer that gen speeds are an issue in the game at the moment too.

But, in the end Hex: Ruin (the old version, & even the new version a little bit) was nothing more than an inconsistent band-aid fix. It was inconsistent because of the frequency of skill checks & the inability of the perk to remain active for a good portion of time in a good amount of games. It still is a bit inconsistent in that it can be taken out of the game fairly quickly, but now it actually has an effect that is constant as long as the killer can pressure the survivors off of gens. Yes, not all killers can apply this pressure & bigger maps make this more difficult but it seems they are addressing that this is an issue they are looking to resolve as best as possible.

Why there was such an uproar about this change was because of the potential power that old Ruin could have when it did last & had survivors that couldn't hit great skill checks. But if people think about it, this in itself was inconsistent because even if the perk stayed up the players (at high ranks especially) could still work through it with potentially little to no problem. Now new Ruin definitely requires a lot from the killer to be effective, but it is definitely going to be more consistent than it was before. It also won't necessarily reach the power level that it once could've achieved in it's old state given the right circumstances, but it still can be devastating to a team that is not gen aware.

What this will also do is allow the devs to actually see how to combat the issue of gen speed a bit better. Ruin in it's old state really prevented this, as it proved either too strong or too weak (even when it lasted all game). They have finally tore off the band aid & are letting gen times remain the same so that they can try to fix things gradually in a more productive way. Their first attempt at this is going to be a rework to toolboxes to decrease their power a bit. While it sucks that not all of these changes are being rolled out at the same time (which will leave the killer experience to be a bit frustrating for some time), it is better that they do something rather than nothing. It also works better to change Ruin before gen speeds, toolboxes, etc. to see what exactly needs to be fixed on the survivor side of things. It also opens up the killer meta a bit to promote killers trying new builds. Ruin was the DBD killer community's gambling addiction that they just hoped worked in their favor, & if it didn't then they'd still try again just hoping that it actually worked eventually.

Overall, I see the direction they are trying to go in & I think it is a positive one. Yes, their forum post about the Ruin change originally did seem very survivor-sided, but that's just how it all seems when only Ruin is being changed. Eventually, I do think they will make the right decisions to improve the health of this game & restore the balance a bit better. If killer gets too aggravating, just take a break or switch roles or just learn to roll with the punches until a change hopefully comes. Hopefully the changes come sooner than later too because this is not an issue they can afford to let sit in the game for a long period of time before people decide to abandon the game altogether.