Game feels like it's gotten a lot worse these past months

Its a bad idea to chase certain survivors, you will always throw your match if you do that. That doesn't mean you shouldn't, but your only real way to win the chase, which people here call mindgame, is most similar to a coin toss outcome. Which doesn't strike me as game, it strikes me as random. What I find is if the tactics involved in the game don't seem fun at the moment, just ignore them and chase the survivors you want to chase in the loops you want to learn about, with the killer that you like playing. For me, if I know I'm facing a SWF and I don't want to camp 3 gens. I just don't. They can win, I'll chase their designated looper around, and take the occasional swipe at one of their designated generator repair people.

Take all the time in the world to lose the match and focus on the skills you want to build because you like using them. Some of the killers are cool with neat abilities, I find fun in using those, even if they are not competitive in light of what the opponent is allowed to do.

Things have gotten a lil rough for m1 killers in the current meta. The best way around this is to be unpredictable. Survivors expect killers to play a certain way, so when you change up on em it really gets in their head. You're in a chase thats not goin well and you see a surv on the nearby gen? Act like you're chasin past em then at the last second, hit the gen jockey. Down em. Kicked a gen and you know somebodys nearby? Start to walk away then double back quick when you think they're movin on the gen. Works really well if you have cover to break LoS. Be erratic. Force them to make mistakes. Punish overly altruistic players. If they're usin a boon, leave it up. When somebody needs a heal you know exactly where to find em. The old ways don't always work anymore. Think like a survivor and invade their safe spaces. Takes some practice, but it's highly effective against stronger players that are set in their ways.

Trapper with no early slowdown is extremely risky. You literally can't set up and have no power. I used to play that way with Hag, another killer who needs strong setup, and after a while you just can't keep up.

My best advice would be to bring Corrupt or Deadlock (or both) and to web- I mean, heavily trap an area with 3-4 gens to make it difficult getting things done there.

Trapper can have really good games, I know when I'm facing him I become super paranoid for the next 3 games because I never expect it and don't think to watch where I'm running.

That therein lies the problem with DBD. If a killer is incapable of being effective and holding their own, then it goes to show that something needs to change, and that the killer most likely needs a buff.

You're absolutely right that it sucks not being able to play the Killers that you want to play, and sadly the only answer is to play better killers because killer design has gotten a lot better throughout the years, but in the current meta m1 killers are at a huge disadvantage, and something does need to change.

Stop trying to be some kind of killer saint. You don't get any points for that.

Use eruption or CoB (just one at first) if you have them. Maybe both if you're still struggling.

Give yourself a leg up.

Then once you get more confident or better or whatever it is, stop using them.

I run eruption a fair amount (don't own Sadako) but most of the time don't even end up utilizing it.

I never try hard as killer though so I don't think my MMR is that high, my advice may not be worth much.

You should try a few different builds for a few matches and see if anything feels better. Trapper in particular has some weaknesses early game with set up time, and I saw someone mention corrupt intervention to help with that.

You also mentioned long chases. This can happen as a 'basic m1' killer depending on the map and rng, but you can also try chase perks that might help. Bamboozle, blood favor, or even the enduring/spirit fury combo can help with different aspects of chases. Even info perks like I'm all ears can cut down on mind games in certain situations.

I'm also not sure how you're playing trapper exactly, but I do recommend keeping at least one trap in your hand to use in chases. Even if you only 'fake' placing it at a pallet of window, it can get survivors to move on to a potentially weaker area of the map.

Basement is also your friend, though burning a basement offering usually shows your hand to survivors. At least being aware of it's location in case you get an opportunity is always good.

I do ok with trapper, but I play him very little right now. Some games though, if I find a clearly good survivor, I'll chase them for practice. It's not going to win me that match, and I recognize that, but I've gotten better at chasing in general by doing that occasionally. I've also found that the occasional 'practice game' keeps me from tilting as much too, cause I'm consciously practicing and not sweating as hard to outright win the whole match.