New Killer Negativity

Admittedly, not a huge fan of that myself, yeah.

every killer gets hated on to some extent. this killer is exactly what one would expect predator to play like tbh. the only variation that might have existed? thermal vision that is on a cooldown meter, but who honestly would enjoy that?

It takes a lot to actually stand up to some of the more exciting licensed releases like meyers and ghostface. even freddy - who gets trash talked all the time now - was considered amazing.

A lot of this is just you not liking her on a subjective level, like basically everything in the aesthetics field, so I'll focus on the things on this list that are more of an attempt at objective critique. I'm also gonna gloss over most of the really minor stuff that could be fixed from PTB to live, like her slightly janky grab and her admittedly kind of over the top walk cycle.

• M1 killer. Okay? People, I think, kind of overstate how much "M1 Killer" actually exists as a coherent archetype, when "M1 Killer" covers everyone from Trapper to Pinhead, and those two aren't in the same stratosphere of strength or the same ballpark of how they actually play. Killer designs that aren't an M2 chase ability is not a flaw, it's actually quite important to have that kind of variety.
• The camping/area denial point. I'm not sure where camping comes in since neither Knight nor Skull Merchant can use their power to camp, but for area denial- the thing people hate about Knight is when he drops his power at a loop and forces the survivor to leave. Skull Merchant can't really do that, what she can do currently is defend generators but even that she doesn't do very well since, y'know, she's weak. Nobody's denying she's weak, that isn't the point, plenty of PTB killers are weak.
• Speaking of, "her power is weak" is nothing, that's not an argument. So many PTB killers' powers are weak, and every PTB killer in recent memory has been buffed between PTB and live release.
• The one point I partially agree with comes here, which is that Background Player is a questionably designed perk. While I see what its use is meant to be, I also worry that it might incentivise tunnelling if it isn't used smartly, which, let's face it, it won't be a lot of the time. That is a concern, but trying to make out that the chapter is objectively bad because it has one badly designed perk out of nine is a bit of a stretch.
• Other chapters have had two survivors. If it wasn't a problem then, it isn't a problem now.
• All chapters take time and resources away from other things. Since this one isn't an objective failure and just one you personally don't like, that's more of a broad commentary on the current pipeline of chapter releases than it is a criticism of this specific one- and one I agree with! I think they should slow down production. But, that doesn't specifically relate to this chapter.

In short, I'm not seeing much evidence that this is an objectively bad chapter, so much as one that some loud people don't like. The same was true of All-Kill, and nobody could reasonably call that a failure of a chapter.

Ive been playing since Clown.

This is the first time I've heard anyone gripe about the design.

Killer power/abilities? Most def (people said the Spirit should have old Prayer Beads as basekits! entitled KiLLaH MaiNz).

But this Killer is just lazy and lackluster.

I hope the community starts calling her Kris.

Even tho he is awfully wrong about her lore, her backstory is awfull, its as bland as it gets, tricker looks goffy as hell but his lore shows his psycopathic nature and his development as a seria killer, her lore has her development in one line of text which says she enjoyed killing one man with the claw(they don't even explain where the tech cane from or if she made it or anything), also they could have taked such a good approach describing hiw she enjoyed taking thr skulls of her victims and using them in their drones but they didn't, its a very lazy lore from a lot of perspectives.

Also even her model is mediocre, its literally trickster.

Actually true, I was searching for thr vidro that overlaps their face models but it seems tricksters model was used to made hers but not a straight up copy paste, in that regard you are right.

He's the only that's gotten hate tho.

Since Kpop-Prince, it's been...

Nemmy

Pinhead

Crow Lady

Ring girl

Dredge

Wesker

Knight...

I'm not sure where the cold feedback for any of those Killers... except that there are no crows in Argentina LOL!

It's still another example of a killer getting a frosty entrance that they don't deserve, same as Skull Merchant. A lot of the visual complaints are like, literally exactly the same, so people clearly learned nothing from All-Kill's inclusion in DBD.

Side note, the "no crows in south america" thing really bugs me as a complaint. Like, yeah, I wonder if maybe some extradimensional entity that uses crows as symbolism and messengers was watching her or something...

If you wanna be reductive and read it through the worst possible lens because you don't like her, sure.

The only similarity they have is their eye shape, and even that is a little off as SM’s eyes are angled differently. It makes no sense to use the facial structure of a male to model a female character unless they’re siblings. We know behavior can be lazy, but claiming they look alike comes off as nit-picky and makes it seem like you’re itching for things to complain about.

You're framing her lore that way even though it's inaccurate because you dislike her, is my point.

You're inclined to criticise every element as harshly as possible because you don't like her, too, hence you being harsh on every other element of her in this post- though, kudos for picking a killer to wrongly associate her with that people don't normally pick, I think you're the first person I've seen call her like Hag. That almost makes sense, honestly, it's way closer than Knight which is a really baffling association.

Personally, I do not have any expectations, maybe a hope for something cool. But it just isn't in any way.

You know why I criticize every element of her so harshly? Because every element of her is complete and utter trash.

Aesthetically, she looks stupid. Between the generic tomboy look, the failed attempt at edge, and the obvious emphasis on sex appeal, she truly looks more like she belongs in Fortnite than DBD. All the minor details are boring, too. Her mori is boring, her music is boring, her animations are boring. Her face is a copy-paste of Trickster's with minor tweaks—hell, she's even wearing his necklaces.

Gameplay-wise, she's the most bland and underwhelming killer I've seen. She's a trapping killer, like Trapper or Hag, only her traps do diddly squat. Zilch. Absolutely bloody nothing. They're so basic and ineffectual that not only is she incredibly weak, arguably the weakest killer, but there's absolutely zero depth to her power. All her power is, is free tracking, with no means to capitalize on the information you're given. All you can do is put them down in areas that a killer with absolutely no lethality or mobility has any hope of pressuring—so, three gens. Your power is the perk Surveillance.

I've already voiced my discontent with her lore. I genuinely feel like "the Girlboss" would be more fitting than "the Skull Merchant" at this point.

All of these poorly-done aspects of her are completely inconducive to each other, as well. Why is she called the Skull Merchant? Because she read it in her dad's manga? Completely ignoring how stupid that is, if she did take inspiration from this Skull Merchant character, then she ought to be acting out in a way that's worthy of a title such as "the Skull Merchant." Where's the part when she sells skulls? What about her power reflects her being a Skull Merchant? The skulls taped to her drones? Is that it? Where's the "Merchant" part? Is it because she's a ruthless corporate overlord? Then what part of her power reflects that she's a ruthless corporate overlord? Where did she learn to build the drones and the go-go gadget extendo claw she uses in-game? Why does she look the way she does? What about her look reflects her corporate ruthlessness or her merciless hunting? Why is she wearing half of a gas mask? Why is her gas mask BEDAZZLED?

Everything about this killer feels rushed at best and lazy at worst. It SCREAMS "filler content." And this isn't even getting into the survivor side of this update, because believe me, I have a few things to say about the new perks.

In order:

• Her aesthetic, if we actually pull back and look at it, is: from the neck down, she's wearing a jumpsuit and she has a big mechanical knife weapon attached to her arm. So far, we're on some pretty standard slasher stuff, a little bit more out there than something like Jason but pretty reasonable. From the neck up, she's wearing a gas mask (still standard stuff), with one eye exposed (interesting flair, not functional but killer designs don't have to be 100% functional) that is studded with rhinestones (the one potential incongruous element, but not by much). Nothing objectionable until that very last part.
• She wears a mask possibly to hide her identity while hunting, and because she took inspiration from her father's manga. It's a gas mask because she took visual inspiration from stories her father wrote (presumably). It's studded with rhinestones because she's rich and therefore prefers gaudy, tasteless displays of her wealth. It's fine to not like it, but the reasons it's there are either obvious, or not hard to intuit a possible reason for.
• The thing is, while she is a trap killer, Trapper and Hag aren't actually her closest analogues. Her closest analogue, and even it's pretty far away because she's a surprisingly unique killer, would be Doctor; mapwide tracking. If you truly can't see the value of mapwide tracking, consistent stealth, and the occasional pressure of an instadown, I don't really know what to tell you. Just to head it off- I know she doesn't currently do that, but we're talking about her core design here, not her current strength.
• BHVR have at best a mixed track record here. Trickster, Wesker, and Nemesis all had great changes from PTB to live and even further in subsequent patches- to the point that Trickster especially went from borderline unplayable to actually pretty solid overall. Knight took a little longer but got some okay changes when they came. Sadako is the best example of a killer that was weak on PTB and weak on live, but it's not as though she got nothing.
• None of those things are required to be in the base lore, though? I'm not arguing that it wouldn't have been better to shift some of the focus away from her early life to put some focus on where she acquired her gear, but the part that's important is just that she's rich enough to have it. This is, at worst, a gap to be filled in by a tome. It's also not unique- a lot of the lore paragraphs are kinda paced weird, it's a problem I've noticed in other killers' lore too.
• The name is still such a reach of a complaint, who even cares? We had this exact same supposed 'problem' with Trickster, another killer whose name is made more flashy than functional and ties into his lore rather than his power or appearance. This just flatly isn't something to get heated about, it's a minor annoyance at its very worst. It's okay for a killer to have a fun, campy name that doesn't make sense until you read the lore instead of a flat and boring functional one that just conveys what they do.
• So I said I wasn't going to re-cover the lore thing, but if you'll bring it up again I will. That is, flatly, not why she kills people. It is why she styled her gear and appearance the way she does, but she kills people at first to further her corporate agenda, and then later just for sport. She's the rich person who hunts human beings, it's a very established horror concept. The Most Dangerous Game, if you need a clear example.

...They weren't responding to you...?

They were responding to me, who was responding to a user named BenOfMilam. Is that an alt of yours or something?

• We've gone over the aesthetic and there's nothing really new here, so we'll skip this point. Though, for the record, you seem to have a really limiting view of what a horror villain must look like.
• Sure, maybe hiding her identity wasn't it- in hindsight, I think it's far more that she wears a mask because she's a horror villain and them wearing masks is a very accepted trope. Either way, it's not out of place for her to be wearing a mask, and despite how "goofy" you think the manga thing is, it's still there and it's still not actually a problem because you don't like it.
• Nothing really to add to the power thing. The point of her is pretty clearly that her traps give information and stealth, and it's only her current balance that prevents that from being an acceptable power, not the core design. Nothing new to respond to here.
• I genuinely don't know what you mean by parts of this point, sorry. I don't want to derail into talking about whatever you mean by the Nemesis point or into pointing out that Trickster and Huntress aren't that alike because that's not the point here, so, I suppose I'll just waive that point for simplicity.
• It's a direct response to your point about her lore not explaining her drones and other specific details, what do you mean what does it have to do with anything?
• Okay, but, you just said "it doesn't tie into her lore, it's just in her lore". Like, do I even need to say more about that? There is one thing I'd like to add, though, which is that it plays into her background extremely heavily. Even setting aside that her father was a manga artist... her father was Japanese, and her mother is Brazilian. Two countries for which manga is a pretty big deal. That's why it's there to begin with.
• You'd almost have a point there, except that explicitly, the stalking and contemplation of awful harm started when she was young, when her father was still around, and when the stories she was reading from her father were far more lighthearted. So, it was her inclination to stalk that led her to her first murder, and then she took inspiration from her father's (later) works. That's textual. There's also a clear difference between "making your own connections" and just, intuiting details that aren't spoonfed to you.

her power is ltierally a bunch of information perks mixed together. i guarantee if it wasnt for the exposed bonus, which is barely useful, she would be at about the same strength of a ptb ghostface (actually powerless). there's a reason why information perks aren't meta. you dont really need perks to tell you that survivors are going to be on generators, and many other powers have ways to use them for information.

if this killer could somehow teleport like hag does to a drone when a survivor is spotted, then she could do something and profit off the power, but then she'd literally just be hag with less traps at 115% speed.

you could play ghostface and expose mid-chase to do the same thing the new killer does but faster and better.

I'm surprised this is aimed at me considering I haven't been saying... any of this?

I'm not trying to gatekeep feedback and I'm certainly not saying you have to wait until after the PTB to criticise, that would be an insane thing to say. I think you may be conflating a few different topics here- when I talk about PTB to live changes, it is in the context of explaining why Skull Merchant's power is not fundamentally broken. There are changes she could get between PTB and live that would fix the problems she's got, because it isn't an element of her core design that's causing the problems she has- she's just too weak. Your comparison to Trickster actually supports this- he wasn't fundamentally changed from PTB to live, because he didn't need to be. He got a suite of buffs that took him from borderline unplayable, to pretty solid. The same could happen to Skull Merchant, and plenty of people - myself included - have been giving and encouraging feedback to make that happen, because that's what the PTB feedback is for.

You're right that time doesn't make any difference here whatsoever. You don't need to wait until her release, or any arbitrary timeframe after, to see that her core concept is absolutely workable and could absolutely be buffed up to work properly without a full rework. That is my point.

Similarly, when I say that things are subjective, it's... when they're subjective? You know, things like her appearance, where the only objective thing you can say about it is that it's serviceable. Whether you think it's good or bad is subjective, it isn't objectively amazing and it isn't objectively a glaring mess, that's a matter of personal opinion. When I bring up that it's a matter of personal opinion, it's to point out that "her aesthetic sucks" is not an indication that this chapter is a failure, because it is just a subjective opinion. People said the same thing about Trickster, and I'm pretty sure I remember reading that All-Kill is one of BHVR's most popular and successful chapters.

Personally speaking, I do not blindly praise or criticise anything. I do enjoy playing devil's advocate sometimes, but here, I don't need to.

She is Trapper, and her traps might provide you information and thats it

your list of aesthetics are blatantly false, and subjective.

Her face:

Her wall break is quite obviously not Nemesis'. I'm sorry but this is hilariously obvious from the survivor PoV.

Her walk is too slow. It's not out of place, it's too slow, so that it looks she's gliding.

Criticism is fine, but please make it based on reality.