Idea for more engaging generator repair

That is too complicated. Most people who are new or have some kind of disability would struggle with this. Also it would make generators WAY to long. Killers would have an unfair advantage. I agree that the gen repair system needs to be changed in some way but it needs to be in way that won't give the killer a crazy OP advantage in the game.

From a conceptual standpoint, part of the problem with making such big changes at this point is that so much of the game would need to be changed (i.e. perks, maps) that it is incredibly unlikely. But let's throw that out and deal with the idea.

Step 1: Adds a giant amount of randomness to the game. You could find a gas can immediately or have to search the entire map. With generators there is not that much a difference in time to finish between a mid-tier and top-tier player (excluding whether they are using a toolbox or not, which is a different issue).

-this is not a con per se, some people really like randomness in games and is part of the appeal of DBD

Step 2/3: More complexity in generator repair would be a challenge for new players while very easy for experienced players. Right now a player who can hit great skill checks with ease is only gaining a few seconds (again, excluding tool box player). Even relatively new players can hit skill checks pretty consistently. Why does this matter? It would make balancing very difficulty. If newer survivors are taking three to four times as long to finish gens what equivalent challenge could exist for new killers to balance this out?

--we kind of have this problem already with SWF gen rush squads using toolboxes to power through gens far faster than most survivors can manage- that's a big problem with the game's balance that we'd just be amplifying here.

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I think the problem with more complicated/involved elements is that they are going to either swing the game between newer/more experienced survivors and/or create a larger gap between solo and SWF. Adding minigames is a hindrance for newer players and irrelevant for experienced players. Adding more strategic objectives (finding gas) would benefit SWF even more who could call out where the gas is and plan delivery.

As much as the idea of there being "more" to DbD appeals to me, the more I tend to think about it the more I realize it probably wouldn't work. Asymmetrical games probably have to be simplistic by default - the complexity comes from, primarily, the variety of killers and, secondarily, from the clash of different perks and items.

I don't want this to get to complex. Ghostface for example would be very annoying if I had to solve a damn puzzle while working on gens

I like the idea but it needs to be kept simple. DBD gets away with having a lot of complex perks and powers because the base gameplay is relatively simple to pick up, do gens, unhook and heal, don't die. A canaster idea could be cool as an additional objective that forces people to explore and play more of the map, it makes larger maps better for killer as the size now hurts the survivors more too and makes people take more risks.

Despite this there is one big problem which is balance. It's the same issue as changing the killer objective to hooks, the entire game is balance around the core mechanics so even a minor change to them (such as increasing gen time) can require sweeping changes (like half the gen perks needing to be nerfed to compensate), so completely redesign the foundations of the game is going you to require you to also redesign most the game. Maps have to balanced around gas spawns, gen speed modifiers have to be changed around the gen portion taking less time, suddenly high mobility and aggressive killers become much better than slower more defence killers with this change. In a world where DBD 2 comes out and they can redesign the whole game from the ground up yes, this maybe a better way to do it and would be fun to see. But changing the current game like this would requires such a monumental work load that it could never be worth it.