2 idea's I think would make opening the hatch balanced and fair along with changes to how it opens
The problem with the current way keys open the hatch
The reason hatch is so unfair when it does get opened are the following;
- It is instant, the second you get to hatch with a key especially if you're not injured you won
- There is no interaction with the killer that allows you to stop survivors from opening the hatch
- Once hatch is found by survivors as a solo you have trouble getting your team to follow you and as a swf you just get there and all escape.
How to fix this?
What hatch needs is a way for all players to find hatch and it needs interaction time to open. This will allow the killer to stop the hatch from being opened and the killer can go after the key holder to at least temporarily stop survivors from escaping this way assuming only one key is brought into the trial.
The basics on how opening the hatch will now work
Before reading ahead know that numbers are subject to change if a value doesn't set right with you it can be changed.
- Hatch will now take at base 12 seconds to open
- Progress on opening the hatch does not save
- The killer can grab you in this interaction
- You no longer immediately jump into the hatch
- If no one has escaped the trial when it is opened with a key then closed the EGC timer doesn't start
This allows the killer to stop the hatch without the time being too short or too long for either side, hatch should not be something you can open in a chase or in just a few seconds near the killer. To make this a little more fair and something that can be changed is survivors not immediately escaping this allows them to help other survivors however this also runs the risk of the killer simply closing the hatch and to make this fair EGC will NOT start if no one escaped as that is basically survivors skipping having to do gens as the killer had to close the hatch. So how do we fairly alert the killer?
Idea 1: DIRECTIONAL audio
The first one and the one that out of the two idea's I will suggest is probably the better one and more realistic is directional audio. Depending of if the second idea to alert the killer is implemented the values will be as follows:
- All players can hear the directional audio of hatch being opened at 20 meters
- The audio is almost constant during the whole 12 second interaction
- If the second idea is not implemented the audio should instead have a range of 40 meters
idea 2: the seal
This idea is pretty basic basically the hatch will have a seal of some sort this can be in the form of bars, magic, the entity whatever the point is you can't open the hatch until this is broken. once it is broken by an interaction it will alert all players by a noise bubble much like a hex totem being cleansed.
- Interaction time to break the seal 6 seconds
- Once broken all players are alerted to its location
- If the seal is not broken and only one survivor is left in the trial the seal will "dissolve" and hatch will still open. This does NOT alert the players of the hatches location
What does this all do?
This provides a way for all players to find hatch mainly the killer and with hatch taking time to open and telling players a survivor is opening it allows survivors to try to help and the killer can try to stop it. I think that both of these idea's should be implemented but if one of the two would be implemented it should be the directional audio. This would make keys fair with how hatch currently spawns as well as how and when you open hatch and provides more interesting gameplay.
Comments
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You're definitely on the right track with some good suggestions. I have some as well, in addition to yours, with some changes/additions:
Below I've listed some potential ideas for changes that could be made in order to make Hatch still useable but less of the easy shortcut way out that it is now. I'll mention now that not ALL of these changes are necessary, but I do think, at minimum, the 4th and 5th points should be considered.
- Opening Hatch takes time, anywhere from 7-15 seconds depending on the key/add-ons used.
- Opening Hatch includes at least 1 difficult skill check that will alert the killer if failed, and have a 40% chance of breaking your Key.
- While opening Hatch, progress resets if the opening action is stopped, and comes with a 15% chance of breaking the Key.
- Only 1 Survivor can escape per key/opening. Each escape is followed by the Hatch slamming shut, making a loud noise.
- No more free escape for the last survivor: If 1 Survivor remains, the aura of the Hatch is revealed to the Killer
These suggestions I think would make for more fair gameplay when it comes to the Hatch. As it is now, it's essentially a free escape, and, a platform for taunting the Killer. Unless I was right on a Survivor's ass as they run to the Hatch, I have never had a single game where Survivors merely opened the Hatch and jumped in, they are ALWAYS there just waiting for me to show up so they can teabag and flashlight spam me before making the jump, and if I don't show up, they vault and slam doors like crazy to get my attention and then jump in. So these suggestions should almost nullify that behavior, and provide the Killer with an ability to defend the Hatch, making Survivors actually have to put in a little effort for their shortcut out of the trial.
Regarding the last suggestion (revealing the hatch aura to the Killer) - I included it because as the last Survivor, the Hatch is already open and waiting for you, so the other 4 suggestions by themselves wouldn't apply, therefore making it a risk-free free escape. I don't really like how that works because the Killer basically did their job killing 3 of you, so it's a win for them, yet the 4th survivor gets to bypass the usual escape method? No, not anymore. Revealing the Hatch aura to the Killer allows the Killer to either rush over there and defend it, or close it, but both choices come with some risk. Obviously, if the Killer is going to camp the Hatch in this case, then the Survivor is free to repair the remaining gens and attempt an escape the normal way. Will the Killer stand by and watch as gens get repaired? Alternately the Killer can just close the Hatch but that's risky as well, especially if the Survivor is near a gate already, possibly waiting for that to happen...
So, though it may seem OP to reveal the Hatch to the Killer, the Survivor is still given a good chance at getting out, perhaps even better than they do now because the Killer may just choose to immediately close it vs having to run around searching for it.
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I want to address the 4th and 5th point first; It seems your forgetting that hatch exists in the first place to give survivors a chance. It is in a way a free escape IF you find it first but as you are the last survivor left with almost no chance of finishing the gens i think this is only fair after all the killer has already won at this point why make it even harder for that one survivor and why just give him the last kill. As for the only one survivor escaping by hatch with keys i have seen that idea a few times but i think it is cheap and that would screw over all players since it would HAVE to activate EGC, this also wouldn't be necessary if hatch can be opened fairly like in my idea.
As for the other points besides opening time skill checks don't matter at all if you expect them and shouldn't have a percent on if it breaks your key it either should or shouldn't but i think that is just unneeded and only hurts new players.
BM'ing isn't a issue and shouldn't be punished it has no effect on the balance of the game unless you include the times it screws over the survivor. I get it can be frustrating but players shouldn't be punished for doing it.
lastly as said it's not a free escape it gives the chance to the last survivor to escape and often they don't escape by hatch as the killer finds it previously and closes it before the survivor can jump in. The argument for the killer already won also goes both ways "why should the last survivor not have a chance when it's the other 3 that died?". Both sides have the same way to find hatch if anything the killer has a higher chance of finding it from chasing survivors and patrolling as well as having a faster move speed. I don't think there is anything wrong with how hatch works when one survivor is left.
Just to clarify im not trying to come off rude it is harsh criticism but hey if you see something wrong with my idea do the same! we have to use criticism to improve our ideas!
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