Killers: A Genuine Question
Hi all! Survivor main here! This question might sound salty and/or bait-y but I genuinely want to know something! This is not an anti-Killer post, this is not an anti-perk post, this is not meant to provoke anything negative.
Do you enjoy chases? Be honest!
So often I've been seeing Starstruck paired with the terror radius increase perk (which is a clever build!) or the Michael 'Exposed' perk. Those Killers who didn't have that (and most who did) also have Sloppy Butcher.
Now let me clarify something! I've played this game for a long, long time. I understand that a shorter chase means quicker return to applying gen pressure. I'm not asking for reasons behind the tactic, I get it. I've just noticed that at the rank I'm at now chases are like... Not a thing. At all. I'm seeing red rank tier 1 Survivors run for 5-15 seconds max and get downed. And my casual playing self sure isn't doing any better. 🤣 In 23 rounds tonight I saw two Survivors escape and one only got it by a pure chance hatch. Every other one was a very short round 4k with basically no chases.
Chases are my favorite thing about this game, I really love seeing well executed plays where Killers mindgame me and lure me to a hit. Of course I am excited if I manage to outsmart them and escape. But between 7/23 of my rounds tonight being against Bubba, 5 against Spirit (4 who had Stridor), and a surprising amount of Exposed perk, this was personally one of my least enjoyable nights I've had in DbD. Not because anyone was doing anything wrong but because the chase was ending with one hit right out the gate - it was boring.
I know so much of this is because the game railroads even casual or not skilled players into red ranks where people are good and do play seriously, but just... It shocks me how little Killers seem to want to do any kind of chasing.
I'd also love to know what your favorite part of being a Killer is since I rambled a bit about my favorite part of Survivor! 😊Happy gaming, everyone! <3
Comments
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I mean I get what you are saying sorta but the thing is, the killer is trying to catch you and you are trying to avoid that so the longer the chase goes on the worse a killer is doing, it's mutually exclusive.
Now I do agree there is nothing fun about downing a dilly survivor in 3 seconds, like with camping etc I just call that a non-match and sadly those happen for me personally more and more
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The point of a chase is to catch you. Me personally, no... I don't enjoy long drawn out chases. Every second that passes is a ticking clock telling me my chances of winning the match are slipping away. Thus, I'm going to take you out as quickly and efficiently as I can. I'm not going to play Tom & Jerry cartoons with you, take on the role of Wyle E. Coyote for your amusement, or play tag. When I play Killer (I play both roles) I'm already thinking about the next chase, mind game, intercept, or ambush I need to launch even as I'm trying to put you in the ground.
You have to realize that Killers and Survivors have mutually exclusive goals. The longer a chase goes on, the better the odds for every single Survivor getting out alive. Of course Survivors enjoy chases more; that is commonsense. Even when a Survivor is downed, any chase that went 30+ seconds is a serious boost for the team. Thus, while you enjoy chases, most Killers deem them distractions and dangerous to his/her ability to pressure Generators.
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And I definitely do understand not wanting to go on a several minute long chase - like I understand the way the game works. I am just baffled by how short the chases are. I used to be red rank consistently and I don't remember chases being this non-existent, especially not for other players.
When a 'chase' is turning one corner and taking a few steps I just don't see how any of that is fun for either side. Which is why I started this post, because maybe that is fun for Killers! I'm almost exclusively a Survivor so it was worth asking. Thanks for answering!
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My favourite part of the game is the interaction between killer and survivor because it's the only part of the game where your skill actually matters, and the only part of the game that you can constantly learn and improve at. The rare occasions that you get a survivor that's confident in a chase there's always something to pick up on, and then it's up to you if you can pick apart their habits before they do the same to yours. And you have to switch your gameplay up when you're against someone that uses their brain.
So yeah I like chases. Obviously you can't be chasing someone for 60 seconds for each hit or anything, and I will break chase if it's the smart thing to do, but I'd prefer to chase that survivor than regress and control gens, traverse the map, find hiding survivors etc. because that stuff is boring and takes no skill and I'd much rather be in a chase where mine and the survivors skill matters.
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Right you are! And that is definitely why I'm so hopeful for a new matchmaking system eventually (I've been talking about that on here for like over a year though) so that people who are very serious about winning aren't paired with casual gamers.
I actually don't know Starstruck's counter - what is it? 😊I don't run meta perks, I just usually play around with unusual builds I come up with, but I'm always interested in knowing gameplay counters.
I think what inspired this post is how short the chases were in my 20+ games tonight. Even with rank 1 Survivors with meta perks. I saw a few that lasted 20+ seconds but I'm not exaggerating when I say I could count those on one hand. I mean I don't even think I had a single match tonight that got close to ten minutes long. Which is impressive, the Killers were really good, but it was like I said where I felt chases weren't even part of the game.
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Thank you for your answer!
Like I said I very much understand the mechanics of the game, the goals, that chases distract from gens, etc. I've been playing this game for years! 😊And I never suggested that the Killer (or Survivors) were there to amuse the other team or owed them anything. I also didn't say that anyone did anything wrong.
I was talking about any chase in general. I don't consider turning a corner on a L or T to get downed in a matter of seconds a chase, so with the emphasis on efficiency to the point of gameplay removal I was merely curious if it was because of a distaste for chases - like in your case it is! That's interesting/cool to know! I think it's less a difference between Killers and Survivors and more a matter of playstyle preferences and rank differences.
Red rank players who are there because they take the game very seriously and hone their skills obviously thinking about the game very differently than someone who doesn't take the game seriously, who in green ranks regularly helps the other Survivors escape then throws themselves onto hook for Killer if they played well, etc. I'm the latter! I just unfortunately am red rank because if you so much as touch a generator or another Survivor you basically pip - which is a balance issue, not a player issue.
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I like spooking survivors (tier 1 Mikey is awesome). Mindgaming is fun, making a prediction and being right. And using the killer's power is one of the more rewarding aspects of playing killer. If a killer's power doesn't feel fun and rewarding (like say Legion), then the killer is a chore.
So, parts of chases are fun. But the parts where I'm trying to catch up to the survivor and close that distance, the parts where I'm having to run around a pile of junk just to get a pallet thrown down so we can move on to the next pile of junk, that stuff isn't enjoyable from the killer's perspective. What's there to like about that? It's a walking sim. For the survivor it's the exhilaration of being chased, but for the killer it's pressure because they're losing time and gens are being worked on. Survivors have three teammates to share the load of chases and gens, but there's only one killer and he is very aware that he can't be in four places at once.
The more time the killer spends chasing one survivor is less time spent chasing the other survivors. Don't be greedy by monopolizing the killer's time: share the fun of being chased with your teammates. 😜
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I'm so glad to know that there are high tier Killers who feel that way! I was honestly feeling a little demoralized to think that I have to wait until the 13th to start going against people with a like minded perspective again while I'm trapped in the red ranks where I don't belong. 🤣
But I absolutely agree! Interactions are the best part of the game - and of course a Killer has to know when to leave a chase. It'd also be really unbalanced/unfair if Survivor perks could drag a chase out to 6 minutes or something as then it's not a chase it's just a time waste. Just like 5 second 'chases' felt really... I don't want to say 'cheap' because no one did anything wrong, it was just boring for my personal perspective. A good balance, a few moments of plays before getting downed or escaping, is what makes this game so fun.
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Spooky Mike is the best Mike! That's one of the most truly unique Killer builds and one of the hardest to survive against. It's the only that actually feels 'scary' to me! Good on you for keeping the horror in the game going.
That's a really interesting perspective! See, I think the piles of junk are the fun part because that's where the mindgames most happen in my experience. I can agree that easy loops are boring though. Or hallway chases, though even the slowest Killer can pretty quickly end a hallway chase. But the plays of figuring out who will go where is where I feel the most adrenaline! Or laughing at myself when I throw the palette down early or might have actually lost the Killer but didn't realize it so I turn the corner like an idiot and bump literally face first into their knives. Those are the fun moments of this game.
Haha well there's nothing to fear anymore! Generosity abounds! At red rank with how I play this game I'm basically just the fourth ornament on a Killer's hook. 😝
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I love long chase as survivor, I hate it as a killer because the longer it lasts, the smaller my chances of victory are.
I enjoy mindgames as killer but if it takes too long to catch survivor, the time is ticking in their favour and its making me stressed out lol
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I enjoy chases. I don´t enjoy running in circles like Benny Hill.
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Downing someone fast is fun for the killer. If any killer here tells you they enjoy being looped for 3 hours they are lying. The sooner you end a chase the better you are, you just won something and even got rewarded, it's a nice feeling.
And even in the remote case downing someone in 3 seconds was not fun, it's still a hell of a lot more fun than getting gen rushed and t-bagged at the exit.
So if you want longer chases have your team afk. I have no problem with 3 hour chases when there are just 2 survivors left because I know the other one is just camping the hatch.
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It is long, drawn out chases I don't care for, i.e. those that have a forgone conclusion but we have to do the ritual dance. Tragic Solitude already covered this but I'll try to frame it from my own perspective. I'm going to catch you. Very rarely does anyone get away from me if I decide I want them. It is only a matter of how bad I want them versus some other objective or opportunity that comes up. In the days when I didn't know anything, that chase could go for five Generators. Today, if I want you, I'm going to have you inside of thirty seconds as a point of pride. So if I KNOW I'm going to get you, it is only a matter of how much resources I'm going to put into the endeavor, it becomes more about resource management and less about a chase. Does that make sense?
My favorite Killer, and the one I play most of the time, is Spooky Myers (Scratched Mirror). He doesn't chase, or rather he shouldn't chase. He intercepts. He ambushes. At most he herds you, but always breaks off quickly because it simply isn't in his best interest to chase you at a 105% speed. He is all about the mind game, and how long it takes the Survivors to figure out what they are facing. The longer I can keep them thinking it is a normal Myers, the better. In fact, I like taking Spooky outside and often forgo Map Offerings. Why? I like a challenge; I like the con. I actually do quite well against Red Rank Survivors outdoors, but I am being sneaky. I am pretending to be the Maniac for as long as I can keep up the charade.
A chase, or more precisely looping, is a ritualistic dance once the participants know all the basics. Jungle Gyms are handled a specific way, the shack is handled a specific way, corners are a deathtrap and so on. There are safe pallets and unsafe pallets. Everything has a specific answer and at a certain level of play we all know those answers. The hunt, by comparison, does interest me. I like grabbing people off Generators and during rescues. I like mind games, not in the looping, but in the moments after where they think they have escaped me but I've gone around the long way using my Terror Radius as cover so they still think I'm behind them. I like dropping from above and making people jump. The hunt is fun, the chase is like paperwork. The hunt isn't a sure thing, but to be quite honest, the chase pretty much has a reliable end result.
Red Rank play is my favorite. Most people don't say that, but I'm glad to be here. Dead by Daylight started throwing me to the Reds (as a Killer) the second I hit Green. Apparently, the game thought I was ready for the show. I wasn't of course, but it is a matter of adapt or die, sink or swim. I like my matches hard fought, what others call sweaty. I want my matches in contention, in serious doubt. A victory where the outcome was never in doubt is worthless, hollow. Does this make sense? I hate quitters and people who suicide on the hook with every ounce of my being because they destroy the match. Are they going to cost me a Pip or points? Hell no, I'm going to take it all out of the remaining three (unless they all quit too). It might require me to stretch the game unnaturally, but I still have the resources to break even. Fortunately, the quitters are bit further and far between in the Red Ranks. I know I seem like I'm off on a tangent, but I assure you there is a point and it has to do with your original question.
The best chases, those that I enjoy, are going to outside the norm, ones in doubt. I only get that from the crazy, cavalier Loopers who know no fear. I want the Survivors who are so good that I have to consider playing rattlesnake mean. For me, shallow though it may sound, it is about the big picture chase, not of an individual but the puzzle of all of them together.
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I love chases, but I also enjoy downing survivors. I run Starstruck Doctor sometimes; usually it's a channel point request by a viewer. How much use I get out of it all depends on whether the survivors play smart or if they don't.
I am not a killer main - I play 50/50 because it really does make you a better survivor/killer if you play both sides.
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- Do you enjoy the only engaging part of the game
duh. Problem is the map design seems to go out of it’s way to prevent them from happening.
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just because a chase is short doesn't mean a chase isn't enjoyable, this is like saying that I must not like chases cause I like to play billy or bubba or something
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Unless leading the chase, no. Satisfaction is securing the down by quickly outmaneuvering the Survivor or boxing them into a mistake. Chase is tedious especially when with every pallet comes a self proclaimed "god" teabagging like they just delivered a pimp slap.
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I enjoy chase if i play a killer that is fun in chase : Demo, Spirit, Nurse, Doctor.
If i'm playing Wraith or Oni or Myers, then i won't have any fun in chase because, either their playstyle isn't about chase (Wraith) or they are not build for chase (Oni/Myers are build up power and have nothing for them in chase)
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Hmmmm let me put it this way. Chases can be fun, if short, no other real way to put it. Like if there's a gen inside an LT wall or inside main building maybe something like that, and chase is over, win or loose in like 30ish seconds, due to mistakes made by either side, that's ok.
IF however it's down to 3-4 gens, and those gens are out in the open but BETWEEN 2-3 strong tiles and a survivor SB's away to narnia the second he catches of a wiff of a heartbeat, just so a survivor can run in from the oposite direction to tag the gen, that's fubar.
Like i had a game the other day wich i tunelled a Jane cos key (yes i know it's a bad idea was pretty much goofing around, lost, badly) by the time she was on deathhook, in the final chase this woman pretty much ran around the enitre map with me like we went from her starting gen, around the edge, into shack, into Crotus penn main building, looped outside along the other edge, into a jungle gym and back to the initial gen for the down.
Basically what i'm saying is mindgames fun, Hold W meta baaaaad.
There's also some cough loops (bloody abominations really) that are so stupidly safe i wouldn't call em a chase. Haddonfield basement house comes to mind... also House of Pain on Haddonfield and Badham. Pale rose can be painfull depending on what other little tile is around it, stuff like that. Basially anything with a strong window loop. Cos those are in infinite resource.
I was wondering if it's a good idea to have some boarded up windows around the map that either need a toolbox or just an interactions to quietly remove in 10-15 seconds, it wouldn't make a loud notifications but it'd make like a chest searching sound from up close and survivors can chose to fast / medium vault them but if not cleared before hand they take a health state of damge (or deep wounds, like couldn't down them)
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There's two sides to this and both of them are about how unbalanced (not in terms of wich side is more powerful but in terms of the game contradicting itself) and how random the game is. To me a Survivors objective is Survive, there's no need for Gens to be a thing in game and Killers objective is chasing, capturing and hooking survivors not Gen defense. DbD isn't a Tower (Gen) defense game in concept but it plays like one for some reason.
Short chases suck for survivors but are essential to killers because the whole process is time consuming for killers but the problem isn't the chase being time consuming itself is the fact that killer has to interfere with Survivors objective. Survivors can escape without ever engaging the killer, won't happen frequently but it's a possible scenario.
Long chases are only possible by player mistake, wich are fair since those happen in both sides, or unbalanced maps wich have loops that will be artificial time wasters that killer has to break the pallet or wall.
Killers want to stop gens as much as possible and any Survivor wants to finish gens ASAP, especially the ones being chased want the remaining Survivors to finish them ASAP, so as is the game isn't about killer survivor interaction in terms of chasing and escaping but in terms of who is controlling gens. Again we're in a Horror tthemed Survival game disputting Gens instead of actual Survival in a Horror themed game.
There's a quick fix to these issues, remove gens and make the game all about chases, this removes the time constraints for killers, removes a huge balance issue and allows for better map design, allowing for longer chases to happen without killers feeling desperate, if a chase is proving to difficult the killer can go after someone else. Killers would be better tunned for chases allowing for more counterplay. All this would mean a huge radical change in the game but 5 years of Gens kinda warrant a change in gameplay loop especially since Gens are the main component of problems for both sides.
And idea i've already expressed here in another topic and in some youtube channels is to have a game mode that is time limited where all 5 players rotate between Survivor and Killer in quick rounds of Surviving and killing. You pick a Survivor and build and a Killer and build, we're all thrown into the map and we're all in 3 minute matches where Killer tries to hook as manny Survivors as possible where being hooked means you die, there's no way to get 12 hooks in 3 minutes so getting hooked means certain death, this puts pressure on the killer to get as manny kills as possible in 3 minutes. When the 3 mins end the round is over and roles switch to another player being the killer of their choosing with the build of their choosing. This gives everyone a chance at killing and surviving multiple times facing multiple killers. The map resets every round so everyone gets the same resources.
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It's biased for me. If I get a hard chase that will last long I'll admit that the survivor is better than me and give up because patrolling the gens is important. If the team is bad or I don't play the game seriously then I'll try my hardest to keep up.
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Long chases? Hell, no. Short or normal chases, yes.
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Well, I believe I do enjoy chases... to a certain degree. There is nothing wrong with a short or a normal chase, those are fun and interactive for both sides, but long chases are very costly for the killer and should be avoided. And in Red Ranks, this is not that easy to do.
This is one of the reasons why Old Freddy was my favourite killer. When played right, you did not chase people with him until you were ready, and in my opinion this is so much better than running around the same pallet over and over again.
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Personally, this is why I wished there was an official 1v1 mode. Sure, right now you can have a 1v1 with your friend in a custom lobby but it's not exactly organized, let alone fair (The maps are still designed for 4 survivors in mind so any prolonged 1v1 will always be unfair unless you're playing Nurse or Spirit). As such, an official 1v1 mode where the map is specifically designed for 1v1s would be great. The chase is the most enjoyable aspect of the game but it's hard to enjoy as Killer when you're bogged down with so many other things. In a 1v1, if a Survivor made a fair outplay I'd probably think 'Damn, they're good. Fair play'. However, in a normal 4v1 where I have to worry about 3 other survivors, how many gens there are left and how I need to defend them, are they doing my hex? etc. Suddenly my reaction to a good play goes to '#########, THEY'RE GOOD. I'VE WASTED 30+ SECONDS AND HAVE NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IT. I guess I'm gonna lose 3 gens now'.
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I enjoy chases in general, yes.
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Well, chases are what I find the most fun in this game, also as killer (don't care about sacrifices too much) so I don't use perks with exposed effect, in fact you'll probably hear me groan tonight if two of the three new killer perks inflict Exposed. In my killer mindset, exposed survivors = half the chases = half the fun.
As survivor I don't mind it too much as long as there's still some counterplay, as with Starstruck (for example) you just see and hear the killer and can avoid him.
When it's getting boring for me as survivor is when exposed/instadowns are combined with the other thing that the devs love to build increasingly into the game to make it spicier which is the Undetectable status. Had a game against a Myers with extended T3 and several Undetectable perks (I remember Trail of Torment, Tinkerer) on Lerys. I don't think there was a single interesting chase in this game, you'd just stumble randomly into this guy around a corner and were lying on your nose the next second before there was any chance to react. Similar with Tinkerer and instadown killers on maps where gens are positioned so that you can't watch your surroundings and suddenly have an instadown killer next to you and absolutely no opportunity to react, particularly as the gen noises are louder than the remaining killer groans that could alert you. Maybe it's just me though, or I'm just tired of it because it happened so many games just yesterday.
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Chase in general are great moments but,
when there is a gap of skills betwen the two players, it's become more like a chore than everything else.
I prefer chasing the survivor with the same skill level as me rather than the one I will down in 2 seconds or the one that I will chase for 10 minutes.
Just like other game, the fun part is fun when the skills of the players are close.
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For the most part yes I enjoy chases but I also play devour a lot. Because I still get to do those chases the survivors can stop it and I can still win by getting quick downs. It's more of a " Ok sport you had your fun now If you would be so kind as to DIE". Its the best of both worlds y'know.
Also my favorite thing about the game is the rush of getting a good survivor team (preferably in my rank range Purple) and each one of us is playing the game as hard as possible the chases are good the gens kinda of fly but not enough to end the game in seconds and both of us outplay each other left and right. Now I don't get these matches often but when I do get them I live for it.
Also Docs laugh love that.
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I enjoy securing the down. Most chases are repettitive, we loop this loop until a mind game works, the pallet is used, windows blocked or a hit happens. Then we repeat this for every other chase.
I think this is why I like fake pallet Freddy, it makes it feel less repettitive if I did my prep work, and it feels like I out played them via preparation.
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Sort of half and half here. I remember while playing as Trapper (yellow rank) I was chasing a Yui for almost a full minute. I was slowly gaining distance on her through a safe loop and saw her running towards my open trap (thinking, 'Yes! she's going to drop the pallet and get caught anyway. Finally!)
She dead harded right past my trap and ended up on the other side of the pallet, safe and sound.
I just stopped for at least a good second because a well timed dead hard happens so little in my matches and I was surprised to see it happen.
I think I nodded at her then and went to go find someone else.
Really shouldn't have committed to that chase. XD Turns out she was red rank.
So yeah, I do enjoy a good chase.
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I know this is stupid, but I laugh uncontrollably of how that I think the stridor spirit will hear a injured Claudette and how she gets downed. I don't know why that I imagine that and how it's even fricking funny.
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Honestly, no. Mindgames are fun, a medium 45-second chase is fun, but being run around good tiles, getting the pallet to drop, having the survivor run to another strong tile, repeating the process - it's not fun. If I could solely commit to the survivor, it'd be fine, and I don't mind these chases at all when they're the last one left or EGC is up, but the stress of knowing that I need to catch them before they waste any more of my time or I'll lose the game, and that I often have to abandon them having traded well over a minute for a couple of pallets and nothing else, ruins it for me.
It's difficult to enjoy a long, skillful chase with a survivor when your house is on fire in multiple places and the chase is preventing you from putting any of them out. Killer is all about time management and you don't have time to enjoy a good chase where the survivor can, through skill or resources, evade you for several minutes.
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Sadly, the objectives of the game for both sides are built around minimizing the most fun aspect.
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There is literally no excuse for a survivor, injured, exposed or otherwise, to be downed in 15 seconds unless it's a Spirit or Blight in an open field (even Nurse can't counter the W key that quickly). That is insanity.
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I enjoy chases, but I enjoy winning a lot more, so I find I generally have more fun when chases are short but still include mind-gaming and mechanical challenge.
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So true. I don't want a sweaty comp team but I also don't want a bunch of 8-ranks.
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I enjoy the chase, but I also realize if I want to get anywhere I have to find ways to make chases shorter. Otherwise I lose, and then survivors crouch at me at the exit gates. If I down you, hook you, and then go and down someone else quicker, I build pressure. Eventually I get someone out of the game, and once it's down to about 2 survivors, I can go on chases for as long as I want.
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I enjoy chases, but not when they go on for longer than 45 seconds. Any longer than that and I'm basically forced to break the chase and try to find someone who won't loop me for another two gens.
It's already been said by pretty much every other reply, but chases are the real meat of the game. The issue is that survivors tend to just not want to engage with the game for some reason, so genrushing and hyper-stealth builds aren't that uncommon.
Chases are also easily one of the most frustrating things in the game, because whenever you start doing one objective as killer, you neglect the other (gen pressure). So basically, you have to be in multiple places at once or be significantly better than the survivor you're chasing so that the chase ends quickly. Not great game design. If it was about managing the two goals, that would be fine, but neither of them are really in your control at any point.
Survivors have more agency than the killer for some reason...
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Personally I like the chase, running around, doing mind games and trying to bait the survivors to go a certain direction. It's fun. The problem is that as a killer, I know that the longer I spend chasing one person then that's more time the survivors have to pop gens. In the time it takes to do one good long chase, survivors can easily blow through two or three gens depending on their add-ons, perks, and coordination.
So are long chases fun? Yes. Love them. But are they beneficial for me as a killer if I want to win? No, not by a long shot.
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Rather than tag everyone who responded since my last post I just want to say thank you for the responses!
I really love to learn about the Killer's perspective since I really don't play Killer and when I do it's humiliatingly bad (as opposed to Survivor which is often comically bad 😅). Seeing things that were reoccurring, like 30-45 seconds being the ideal chase, was the kind of information I was looking for!
Happy gaming (and chasing!) to you all! <3
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Long chases lead to the killer losing and losing even quicker without regression perks...also most loopers like to tbag and clicky click at higher ranks and killers would rather ignore those chases and rightfully so
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