Let's talk about Reiko's Watch
We never heard from the developers what the reasoning for nerfing Reiko's Watch was and I was really hoping that we'd learn more about that reasoning in today's developer notes. Alas! Still nothing.
I was initially super excited for the upcoming Nic Cage patch (still can't believe they got him!) but my mood on the patch soured when I saw the changes they had planned for Sadako. The cooldown on Projection was one of the biggest dampeners on my mood, but they've at least made a small, still-not-enough step back on that one in today's developer notes, so I'll leave that aside.
Instead, I'll focus on one of the craziest parts of today's developer notes: the lack of any updates to Sadako's addon pass.
This was sort of baffling to me, since the nerf to Reiko's Watch is probably one of the most bizarre, out-of-left-field, anti-fun changes I've seen them do in recent memory. Sadako was one of the funnest killers to play for me because her aesthetics are so on-point and it's fun to be a spooky ghost, even if she was absolutely awful in chase. She at least had Reiko's Watch for demanifestation mindgames. Many say that Sadako lacks a chase power since she lacks the anti-loop of Artist and Knight and the freedom of movement enjoyed by Wesker and Blight; she doesn't even have an exposed portion in her kit to help her in chases. But she did have a chase power: she could force 50/50s at some loops with Reiko's Watch.
With the upcoming nerf to basekit Demanifestation no longer benefiting from bloodlust or from being in chase, Sadako no longer has a chase power. It was not 'overpowered' in its previous state like her Iridescent Videotape was, nor did it promote unfun styles of play (slugging) like the old Ring Drawing. On the contrary, it strengthened and enabled the funnest part of her kit for both sides: the chase.
So I'd like to know: What is behind the nerf to Reiko's Watch? Did BHVR think she was overperforming on those fun maps like Garden of Joy? is it because BHVR now prefers the novels to the movies and wants to erase Reiko from our memories?
Comments
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They did to reikos watch what they did to Marvin’s blood. The addon was used to much and they think it means op so they nerfed the number
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Yeah, this addon really didn't need a nerf.
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I’d love to hear more about this too… been actively looking for some kind of Dev explanations and there’s nothing to be found. I didn’t realize the Devs choose to rôle-play North Korea when it came to communicating with a it’s player base..
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it had a higher usage rate than her other addons so they nerfed it lol. there's literally no other rationale other than that. they didn't look at how the addon actually performs or anything like that or ask if maybe other addons could be made better. you're asking for an answer that doesn't exist.
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It seems like they are pretending that the Add-on changes don't exist. In the initial notes they just alluded to add-ons being changed, but nothing specific. And then in the PTB release notes, they didn't even mention them at all, where they would usually give you the details about the changed times and percentages.
And now they don't even mention them at all in this DEV update either.
It's like they are embarrassed of what they've done for some reason, and know people hate it and are just choosing to ignore it.
I wonder if they were traumatized by the backlash they got against the Billy add-on nerfs.
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This seems likely! Fortunately, we know that this goes against Michael's claim from 2 months ago that the team also looks at design intent and community feedback. Looking forward to opening a dialogue with BHVR on the issue of Reiko's Watch!
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Yep, I do think there are many of us who want to hear more about the thought process that went behind the nerf!
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Excel sheet says it was used a lot so nerf it is the way, not giving Sadako other usefull addons.
Just imagine that Blight addons are not nerfed because all of them are good so every addon is used at some point.
Sames with Marvins blood for Nemesis and Engraving for Hilbilly. Excel sheet says this one are used a lot that means OP not that other addons are bad.
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I agree that it's likely they're looking at a spreadsheet somewhere. Would love to hear more from the balance team about what that spreadsheet looks like! What's Reiko's Watch's usage %? What's its win %? What percentage of loops in each game does she win due to Reiko's Watch? Would be great to see these numbers on our end!
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Because Reikos was overpreforming in *EXCEL SPREADSHEET*, so they nerfed it for *EXCEL SPREADSHEET*
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I think it will still work just not as good on like the temple, borgo ect
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Terrible change. Her changes look awful in general but this one is such a slap in the face.
It was the "i'm playing a spooky ghost - this is kinda fun but she's still an F tier killer" addon. It was more fun than good and you ran it when you didn't have condemn addons because every other addon is trash tier.
Meanwhile, we still have tomestone myers. We still have compound 33 blight. Still have pinky finger clown. Still have all sorts of addons that are way more impactful and on way stronger killers to boot but oh no Sadako might mindgame someone at an unsafe pallet once in a blue moon better nerf that.....
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Yep!
It's the same "logic" behind BHVR destroying Ruin/Undying + Pop and introducing the disastrous gen-kick meta.
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Personally I don't think the add-on had any good advantage and got a nerf somehow.
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So now that she's out and we've had the chance to play her, I think my original impressions are confirmed: She's super super strong against uncoordinated teams to the point of being oppressive. Absolutely feast-or-famine matchups because against good survivors who can loop she's more miserable to play as than she used to be. I've tried some games with the nerfed Reiko's and... it's really hard to tell what it's doing. Really need to do a lot of testing to see if this addon is even worth running now.
I'd gladly take a nerf to her the parts of her kit that the rework have made oppressive (the global condemn) somehow in exchange for getting the fun part of her (Reiko's) back.
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To expand on this: I think it would be really healthy to put a cooldown on the infliction of global Condemned from Projection (say, 30 seconds) which would be separate from her Projection cooldown. Her pressure on uncoordinated teams is absurd strictly because of the new global nature of Condemned, so this would make her more balanced.
But her chase is still among the worst in the game, so give the missing extra invisibility duration from the nerfed Reiko's Watch to her basekit; Possibly also make Old Newspaper basekit!
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Its only been a couple days. Everyone will quickly figure out to just grab a tape first thing and always be holding one and Sadako will be quite bad once again.
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I don't know about you but survivors are already taking tapes in a good 1/3 of my games or so. She still feels incredibly strong in those games because most survivors can't loop so it's trivial to catch tape holders.
That aside, I'm not sure what your statement has to do with Reiko's? If anything you should be wanting a buff to her if you think she's weak.
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