Frustrating Skill Checks
Hi all, I do my fair share of great skill checks, and also missed skill checks (1k hours and the 4 o'clocks are still rough sometimes lmao), but nothing in this game frustrates me more than mechanics that are completely out of your control - Generator repair and healing skill checks. Obviously I don't mind interactions having skill checks, but what about the ones that you cannot possibly react to, that serve nothing more than a loud noise notification for the killer and free regression that you as the player have little to no control over?
I'm talking about the skill checks that appear at the same time that you let go of an interaction, you hear the sound at the same time that you let go and it automatically fails. Say you are 99'ing a heal, or 99'ing a generator, or you just simply want to let go early for other reasons (rescue teammate, killer is nearby, etc) and this game has this constant state of paranoia that you don't WANT to let go because if you get one of those badly timed 7% chance skill checks you will automatically miss no matter what because the game said so, and then whatever plan you had is immediately backfired.
What is the solution to this problem? I think ALL normal skill checks should function in the same way as Overcharge skill checks, or if you get a skill check at the end of a heal (the game lets you pass it anyway even if the heal is finished). You can let go freely and still have the chance to hit the skill check. Impossible skill checks are very unhealthy for the game, as they encourage sticking to gens for way too long even when you SHOULD have let go, because you are waiting for "one more skill check" due to you knowing you have a small window of safety to leave after passing it. If all skill checks work like Overcharge we can still let go of a generator or cancel a heal without having to worry that we will possibly alert the killer, and we also still HAVE to pass the skill check, so we can't just let go to avoid doing skillchecks altogether.
People can complain about Dead Hard, Pain res/DMS, tunneling, etc to the end of the day, but I and I am sure many others share my sentiment that this skillcheck problem is an actual serious issue that is long overdue for a fix. I have not met a single player that doesn't get agitated by this on a daily basis.
Edit: "Let go of a generator"
Comments
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You can equip Technician so you don't make the noise for the killer
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Too bad you lose out on even more progress for simply letting go at the wrong time, and waste a perk slot for a broken mechanic, nice meme tho! Definitely gave me a giggle
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Or even ask your friends to run corrective action.
Real talk tho, it is mad annoying when you go to legitimately let go of a gen or killer appears and THAT'S when the skill check pops up.
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Yeah! Even as a killer i will sometimes get free grabs because of these skill checks on gens that were a fingernail away from completion and they cant let go to eat the M1.
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Technician adds a bigger penalty for missing. Why is it not 1% penalty, like Bite the Bucket-- I mean Kick the Bullet?
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Have they fixed Corrective Action yet?
I was next to a survivor repairing a gen (I was not repairing). They failed a skill check, I lost a token, yet the gen still exploded since I was not actively repairing the gen. The perk should either work and cost me a token, or not work and not cost me a token... 🤷♂️
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Don't let go until you complete a skill check.
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Did you miss the part where I said sometimes the sound triggers the exact same time that you let go? You cannot possibly react to this, and it's why people stick to gens UNTIL they get a skill check, which in some cases can cause awful situations, because the game does not give you much choice. Example: someone is hooked and your other teammates are across the map, in an ideal world you could let go and go for rescue immediately, in this game If you let go, the gen might randomly explode at the same time, and the killer switches aggro to you because they know exactly where you are this is out of your control and is more harm than good for the game. If you "don't let go until you complete a skill check" and one never appears, that teammate is as good as dead. The killer has free pressure because of a mechanic that should not exist.
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Huh i didn't realise it was bugged. I never run it lol.
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For those who are confused about what I am talking about, please see this video from 5 months ago created by Otzdarva that highlights the issue with raw data and even shows examples. It's only two minutes long! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjlRqgahTcI
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I have made 2 POSTS about this very issue and no-one seemed to care. Which is very sad. Why don't the survivor or devs care about fixing this? The unfair skill checks are very frustrating and ruin everything for survivors. One thing is missing a skill check because of your own lack of focus or carelessness, but when it's a skill check that cannot be hit due to unfortunate timing, then the survivor(s) suffer due to something out of their control.
DEVS please, stop ignoring this awful frustrating "mechanic". Do something about it.
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I'm saying, don't let go until you've completed a skillcheck. Skillchecks don't appear immediately after another.
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I'm well aware of this, and i have pointed out the flaw with that mentality, sometimes you do not have a choice but to let go and it forces a bad situation anyway due to the mechanic. See again : sometimes skillchecks don't appear for several seconds, this can sometimes take up to 30 seconds or more without a single skillcheck. Your teammate could die on hook in this time of waiting for a skillcheck, or a friend comes by "i need a hit!" "sorry man, didnt get a skill check yet" are you seeing the problems with this? This "don't let go" does not work in every situation and it's why there needs to be a change. It only works if you and your team are completely safe and for whatever reason you want to let go of the generator, in which case, why would you do that? If you're not on a gen you are likely not contributing to the win.
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Well, I promise that I care :) It is unfortunate that it has gone on for this long, it is an unhealthy game mechanic and needs to go.
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Completely agreed. I got these every other match and it’s just annoying..
And actually baffling how they have this mechanic for Overcharge already implemented even though it would make more sense if it wasn’t possible to hit that skillcheck just by tapping the gen.. (though yeah I guess it’s not exactly the same as Overcharge is a guaranteed skillcheck at an exact timing..)
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I did not say immediately anywhere in my example, but yes, you are absolutely right. However though, this is still not addressing the issue that regardless of when you leave the generator it can explode causing the killer to come towards you (most likely) cutting you off from the rescue or forcing a trade scenario. They know where you are coming from, and they can assume where you are going.
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"Immediately" in this example is not an implication of "as soon as they are hooked" it is implied as a "as soon as you want to". Apologies for the misunderstanding.
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Good you didn't play in the old days where we had 3 o'clock skill checks. Those were a nightmare.
Those got removed pretty quickly around Myers or Hag release.
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I never said it doesn't work, I'm saying I do this but it doesn't work in every situation, and there is a handful of situations where this mechanic on it's own can literally throw a game. I even listed examples in my original post. I don't know why you guys think I am disagreeing with you? Yes, you can wait for a skill check and you wont have this problem, but you can't wait for a skill check in every single situation, and in those situations where you cannot wait and the surprise skillcheck makes the generator instant kaboom, this mechanic can sway the outcome of a game. Even as killer there are situations where you get free grabs off 99'd gens due to the survivor trying to complete it, but getting a skill check right before they want to let go. Either the generator explodes because they let go and it loses 10% progress on a 99'd gen, or they get grabbed off of it and unless someone else was there too the gen is not finished. Ever see a 99'd gen get kicked by CoB/Overcharge, and how badly that survivor gets tilted because they want to finish it but can't?
I'm saying the mechanic punishes people for trying to make the right/optimal call in certain circumstances, with something they cannot control, and this should not be the case. It's a purely luck based mechanic that nobody has asked for.
Again, I literally do wait for skill checks in most cases, but the problem is that you cannot always wait, and the game should not punish you for those times that you cannot.
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I agree, changing skill checks to work like Overcharge so that you have to hit it to prevent a setback while preventing automatic let go failure sounds reasonable. I can't see it affecting game balance much overall, and such a change would be more fair.
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1 survivor dead. Jake was in chase with his last hook. I and YunJin were on last Gen.
Gen was 95%, I leave Gen to go for Gate, Jake downed and being carried to hook.
Gen skillcheck right the moment I leave, Gen progression 85%. We could not complete the last Gen, I also die after, YunJin got the hatch.
1 extra kill because of a single skill check
Killer could easily get 3-4K if tunneling. So I dont complain about dying, but the skill check.
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Literally just make it radius based perk like Leader, Prove Thyself and Streetwise. Would change nothing at all, honestly.
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A prime example of trying to make the right play only to get destroyed by an unlucky skillcheck timing, and still these people say "just wait bro" as if that solves this glaring issue which can definitely turn the tides of games like it did for you. Could you have stayed on the gen? Sure, but the right play was to leave and prep the door, until the game decided it actually wasn't with a 7% chance. BHVR let's remove this 7% chance please.
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At least then your team would know you have it
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"eQUiP tEChnICiaN"
"DOn't LeT gO uNTil yoU COmplEte A sKiLl cHEcK."
It's a shame that people don't even bother to read your post in full. I don't think they got your point. This is the first meaningful post I've read here in a long time. I absolutely agree with you.
People prefer to complain about 3 gens, so such topics are unfortunately lost. I feel u.
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as far as i can remember, the devs said somewhere here in this forum (the search is bad!) the random skillchecks if you let go a gen / heal is a is a wanted feature and they will not change it.
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Well they can and should reconsider this.
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There should be more grabs like this.
Letting go for one split second whilst doing the gen in the Killer's face in order to avoid the grab that penalises sitting on the gen in the Killer's face is just an obnoxiously trivial dodge.
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I’ve been playing since 2018 and I’m convinced this ######### is intentional- no one can persuade me otherwise. It has only got progressively worse over the past 3 years, with this last update making it even MORE prevalent than ever before. This bullshit is not by chance-it’s by design. It happens waaaay too often for too many players, and this was not the case in the late 2010’s. It’s very ######### annoying and a cheap mechanic.
Either remove it or just make it whenever a survivor lets go of a gen for any reason, it explodes. Then make it crystal clear in the next set of patch notes.
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My point exactly
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No, I agree with you, and arguing is not my intention, I only seek to point out that I am well aware of this solution in most cases but that it does not solve the actual issue I am trying to point out, which are situations out of your control that are wildly influenced by this feature of the game, unfortunately the 1% side is unhealthy and should not be a part of the game, even if there is a "counter" for a majority of cases of the 7% curse. I appreciate your comments and do not seek any malice in my replies.
I hope we can all agree and that the devs can reconsider that this change is absolutely necessary, nobody likes a gameplay mechanic that is nothing but frustrating, there is never a point where this random explosion is a positive influence in gameplay experience for the survivor, even though it benefits the killer whenever it happens. Sometimes there's "nothing we can do" in situations, but that should never apply to skillchecks, this is the exact opposite of a "skill issue", it's a forced mechanic, but it can be forced on us in a healthier way that gives us the chance to react. I don't want to have to cope with a mechanic that is nothing but negative in every circumstance that I see it happen.
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So, are you insinuating that this mechanic is a positive experience because of how it benefits the killer?
The survivors are using something they have control over, and are eating an injury to finish their objective. Unless it's the last generator and they smack you with an Adrenaline you will get your down quickly after and have free pressure. the surprise skillchecks are something neither side has control over, that is the problem with it. The killer did not earn that skillcheck, it was handed to them on a silver platter by game design, it's in no way an outplay or something to be proud of. If I'm a killer and I see this happen in front of me I will feel absolutely dirty just witnessing it, because I know how that shifts the mental in a game. 99ing is also a very viable strategy that is used commonly in every single game in some form or another, including 99ing a heal for resilience value. Why is this person punished for letting go at the most strategical timing?
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No, I'm saying that getting off the gen for 1s to take an M1 instead of a grab so you can finish the gen shouldn't be a thing. You're on the gen and the Killer is literally behind you. The entire point of the grab is that you shouldn't be doing actions when the Killer is right next to you.
This isn't like hook grabs where there's a good argument for why they shouldn't be a thing, it's just nakedly playing greedily.
It shouldn't be a triviality to trade an injury for an entire generator completing.
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so true
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Okay, but committing to conspicuous actions is a healthy feature of the game, whether you like it or not. You as the killer can kick the generator when they let go, or wait for them to tap again before a grab. You CAN counter this as a killer, even if you don't succeed every time.
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"you just simply want to let go early for other reasons (rescue teammate, killer is nearby, etc) and this game has this constant state of paranoia that you don't WANT to let go because if you get one of those badly timed 7% chance skill checks you will automatically miss no matter what because the game said so, and then whatever plan you had is immediately backfired."
Its meant to be scary and risky to do things in DBD. That's why they call it survival horror.
Its horrifying.
Shouldn't you be glad that the game can instill that kind of paranoid fear about even stopping a task. It mean DBD is doing its job instilling a great sense of fear and consequence like a great horror experience should.
I'd say you are looking at this the wrong way and should appreciate that this game can still make you feel scared and/or paranoid.
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"Horrifying" is not the word I would use to describe it at all, there's nothing scary about it. The "paranoia" is not an actual fear, it's not wanting to get screwed over by something out of your control.
By asking for this to be changed due to it being *unhealthy game design* is not because we don't want to be scared, it's because we don't want to get cucked by a mechanic in situations where this is absolutely nothing we can do about it. I don't want to assume you are a killer main just based on your profile picture and how you are talking about this frustrating mechanic being intended to be "scary", but you talk as if you have never experienced this. Cancelling an interaction to benefit your team should not have an invisible risk attached to it. I'm not "scared" when i try to 99 my teammate's heal and the game makes me miss a skillcheck the exact frame that I let go, I'm just plain annoyed and frustrated that we now have to waste further time for trying to make the optimal play.
Stop defending this mechanic as if it's something positive, it is not.
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Stop defending this mechanic as if it's something positive, it is not.
I think it is. Unpredictability is an important aspect of this game and things would be way more boring without it, I'd prefer dynamic chaos over static consistency. The devs are right to keep it in the game for this reason. Besides, missing a skillcheck isn't really that big of a deal most of the time.
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The skill checks are unpredictable already. I'm not asking for them to be removed, I'm asking for you to still have the chance to pass them even if you let go of the interaction. Being forced into a 10% regression randomly is not fun, interactive, or healthy game design.
"most of the time" it is not yes, you are right about that, but the problem is that this can literally turn the tides of a game, I'm not sure how many times I have to keep saying that I am not talking about the 93% you can do something about, I'm talking about the 7% that you can't. When my gen explodes or my heal automatically regresses I am not saying "Yay this is fun dynamic chaos that makes me enjoy a horror game!" and neither are any other survivors I play with on comms. We are saying "omg i left my 80% gen after not having a single skillcheck pop up for 60 seconds before going to rescue the teammate that had 20 seconds left before second stage and it immediately exploded and now the killer kicked it with call of brine overcharge, im back at the 80d gen which is now 50 but he's patrolling the area ". This is not fun. You wait for the skillcheck and your teammate potentially loses another hook stage, you leave and it explodes. Yes I know it doesn't ALWAYS happen, but the problem is that it happens at all, this is my focus. I do not care about the times where it has no impact, I care about the times that it does, and then the impact is major.
You should be able to leave and still pass the skillcheck.
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I cannot believe this thread exists 1.
I cannot believe this thread was met with anything but a laugh from the general DBD audience 2.
I cannot believe there are people who agree that RNG shouldn’t have an impact on survivor gameplay… I’m not even going there, not gonna make it one of those threads, we all know that is a ridiculous ask, right?
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Thanks for your contribution. No, what we ask for is most certainly not ridiculous, but you are welcome to have your opinion, just like we can have ours. I play both sides constantly and can guarantee the RNG that killers face is not the same as this single feature that survivors suffer from, regardless of how out of your control it feels. See killer mains with massive win streaks for example who wont lose just because of "bad RNG". Even a competitive player can get smacked with a skillcheck at the exact time they let go. How is this healthy? Killers still have control over how they play, what killer they play, how they use their powers etc and they can bring offerings if they don't like/want to play certain maps. I'm not one to complain about most features of the game because I honestly quite enjoy it on both sides even when it can be frustrating sometimes, but there's a difference between RNG you can control and RNG you cannot. We are asking for the RNG that you cannot control to be replaced with a replacement feature that is not only already in the game, but works consistently (overcharge skillchecks). If you do not agree, you are welcome to go elsewhere instead of saying this thread is "laughable".
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Does it matter at that point? Killer already knows where you are. Killer is just going to kick it anyways.
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"Don't let go until you've completed a skill check" yeah it does, they will get grabbed, your words, not mine.
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Yes, these are the worst. People have been asking for awhile to have these looked at. The Overcharge-esque skill check would definitely be preferable.
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I know you're a nice person and you're trying to help. So I'll try to explain briefly what moved me to the comment.
The OP already suggested a very good solution for these skill checks in his first post. (overcharge treatment) He also mentioned that these skill checks "encourage sticking to gens for way too long".
Why should you now suggest a strategy (DOn't LeT gO uNTil yoU COmplEte A sKiLl cHEcK) that does not solve the problem and that OP already knows and practices?
This worst case scenario, that you can't finish a gen because of a skill check (let go at 99% before the killer grabs you) and therefore loses, rarely happens. True. But it should NEVER happen.
So we should all stick together and ask for a change.
I know there are bigger problems in DBD than unfair skill checks (e.g. the missing panda onesie for Feng Min). Nevertheless, one should also demand small QoL changes that do not require a great deal of effort.
When people write here that they just sit on the gen (possibly waiting up to 50 seconds for a skill check) and that mostly works for them, then the devs think that no change is necessary.
So Ill go on to push it.
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10% is a sizeable chunk, and it can happen in sequence. If two survivors let go of a gen and both of them get this triggering, that's 1/5th of a whole gen gone for no reason.
One friend of mine had it happen three times in a short span because they were trying to let go of the gen to heal me, got sucked back onto the gen (One interact button, yay!), then it broke again when they let go, then later, when the killer showed up, it broke again when she let go.
That's 30% gen regression through no fault of hers.
Whole-ass killer perks are not as impactful as this dumb mechanic.
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I think the short answer is, Yes, it is a problem.
It isn’t a big problem and doesn’t impact games much because most games are a snowball one way or another. There are so many other bigger problems with the game and the devs only have so much bandwidth. A half ass solution would be worse than a good one.
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This, and in my other posts I forgot to mention Pain Resonance/DMS as another source of this issue, the issue often does come up where you go to let go of the gen because someone is being hooked and it double explodes because of the RNG skillcheck + pain res explosion. Pain res plus this mechanic is over a quarter of a generator gone, even though you attempted to make the right play (letting go before they get hooked) And then that quarter progress lost becomes even more if the killer is also running DMS, which they usually do if they are running Pain Res. We can't just "wait for a skillcheck" if we are trying to counter another mechanic.
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I don't have an issue with people providing solutions to the issue in a majority of cases, but as Bartlaus pointed out I am aware and do practice this solution already, whenever it is possible - my entire post is about the situations where you can't practice this solution because of how situations line up in the game. Sometimes you just have to let go, being told "just don't let go" is absolutely dismissive to the issue I am trying to point out, and if you do practice this in EVERY situation of the game, it would most certainly do more harm than good.
Again, I am not trying to argue with you here, but you and many others are constantly shifting your focus away from the issue that I have spent this entire thread trying to highlight. The solution you guys are providing is not a solution to the problem I am talking about.
I 100% agree that this solution works in most cases of any interaction involving skillchecks, but my problem is that it is only "most" cases when it should be "all" or, if my suggestion is followed through, "never", because that would solve it as a whole. And that is why I have suggested a change. I appreciate your feedback, I just wish it was more widely understood what I am actually pointing out.
Edit: or, if my suggestion is followed through, "never", because that would solve it as a whole.
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