Why lightborn is problematic

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Comments

  • jeffkillsyou96
    jeffkillsyou96 Member Posts: 249
    edited July 2023

    This is part of what I was trying to say about LB with the learning deficit I would say at most LB is like training wheels for killers but when I see someone in high MMR with LB I just imagine a grown man on an adult bike with training wheels on it still

  • Emeal
    Emeal Member Posts: 5,113

    Yeah and there is one problem with this. 1. You have no data to demonstrate that LB users actually have a leaning deficit. 2. So it seems to only be an assumption that LB users will be bad at that gameplay, but never how much, like how big a problem is it?

  • DavidHypnos
    DavidHypnos Member Posts: 730

    As I said, I don’t agree with the OP, but comparing the two perks is silly and doesn’t help get your point across.

  • Emeal
    Emeal Member Posts: 5,113

    David we had this discussion before on this forum now, evaluating the reason and logic behind perks isn't a comparison of the two perks. I am sorry that you see it as a comparison, but really its about why they are there and I honestly don't understand why I have to defend myself twice being questioned by you.

    Dare I say its an invitation to think about why things are in the game, not a comparison. Again, mentioning two things ISNT always a comparison. But don't worry ill continue to correct you, should you bring the concern of yours to me again.

  • jeffkillsyou96
    jeffkillsyou96 Member Posts: 249

    counters to that too i think you guys are just denying the problem cause you all just wanna make killer as brain dead as possible

  • ReikoMori
    ReikoMori Member Posts: 3,333

    I did read your entire post and responded to the points you made with counter arguments.

    Justifying genrushing because someone uses Lightborn is a weird thing to do. The use of one doesn't really make a difference to the other, teams that actually engage in actual gen rushing were never concerned with whether or not they could get blinds in the first place. Blinds don't get gens done, doing gens gets gens done. If you actually read what I said, I addressed the fact that they should be addressing root causes with reasonable changes that would be healthier for the game. I also said I'd consider a change to Lightborn's function if those were the changes made, but I honestly do not believe Lightborn is problematic. It's not majorly consequential in the majority matches played and often doesn't really aid the killer in a way that "robs" survivors of earned wins.

    Like the only the times I've really felt like Lightborn in anyway was carrying me is when I faced people who wanted blinds so bad that they just refused to really do anything else even though it was very apparent that I couldn't be blinded. When people actually use their heads and realize that Lightborn is in play they use different tactics such as bodyblocks to buy time or corral my movement if a usable pallet is near by. So they more or less still get what they want which is a save cause they were able and willing to adjust to the situation. We have a back and forth engagement whereas flashlights aren't really all that back and forth. It either works or it doesn't and once you learn the non-negotiable animation locks and timing it just becomes a "It just works".

  • jeffkillsyou96
    jeffkillsyou96 Member Posts: 249

    well those were probably noob players who weren't aware what lightborn is good player won't try to blind anymore when they see you running lightborn so they focus on gens then the community complains about gen rushing so again is someones following you for a save then they're not doing gens how is that weird makes sense to me but i feel lightborn has kinda became like unbreakable for survivors cause of the fear aspect of lightborn survivors may not wanna bring flashlights anymore due to lightborn being so absolute i feel the devs should make the blind animation killers go through less eye straining for the playere thats fine but blocking out an entire game mechanic is unfair also theres counters to bodyblocking like i keep saying pay attention to your surroundings

  • ReikoMori
    ReikoMori Member Posts: 3,333

    The community complains about gen rushing, but that has nothing to do with whether or not they are attempting flashlight saves.

    You're trying to stick to different issues together through a causal link that doesn't exist. Getting rid of lightborn isn't suddenly going to add inefficiency to the survivor objective getting done as considering how the optimal way is for everyone to split up and one man gens in most situations you're already dealing with around two people doing gens while the other two are engaged in something else. Also the complaints of "gen rushing" are often not referring to true genrush scenarios, but more of a statement how erratic gen times can as depending on the situation you can cut almost 30 seconds off of 90 second repair. I have entire rant about the lackluster and erratic nature of generators and their timing, but it's not pertinent right now.

    I can tell you from my experience Lightborn having existed since basically day one and existing in it's current form since patch 5.0.0 it has no impact on whether players bring flashlights or any other blinding sources into a match. !) Because survivors don't know you have until they fail to blind you and 2)A lot of people who use it still go through the motions of doing camera tilts most of time so it isn't obvious that someone's using until they go for blinds during animation locks. Like for as many of us that use there are there are also far more killers who don't and thus if you're more often going to be able to use flashlight than not use it.

    Now I'm throwing a generalities around because I play on NA East cause that is where live and typically my experience has been that my server is extremely blind heavy so I've never seen or heard about anyone being super dissuaded from bringing flashlights. Also I addressed your statement about paying attention to your surroundings earlier. You can do that and should do that, but that isn't a total shutdown of a situation like bodyblocking. It's very common for people to sprint up and get into your way AFTER you've been very careful to check surroundings. Depending upon what your surroundings at the time and how many people show you can easily find your sorta boxed into pathing that takes more or less either a hook further away than you intended forced to path through an area you typical wouldn't want to like say through a pallet. I've actually had a couple teams where people would obstruct my path enough because DBD is a game where bigger bodies can be weirdly hindered by smaller bodies that I basically got forced into a pallet that threw down early which ended up with me carrying someone and being pinned against the downed pallet.

    At that point you can only really just drop them or have them wiggle off your shoulder. Now that's a edge case that has been super rare for me. Though what is more common is that I scare someone off, check my surroundings and their clear, but the person I need to pick up has moved to a pallet if it nearby or just moved enough that i have to waste time finding them which allows the other team mate to reset. Not complaining about it as that sort of layered point counter point gameplay I enjoy out of DBD. That stuff is genuinely what makes the game enjoyable, personally for me flashlights have never been particularly interesting to me even when I play survivor. I prefer going for body blocks in a limited capacity and I usually do other things like cleanse or boon totems.

  • Pluto_1
    Pluto_1 Member Posts: 337

    Perhaps, but it comes with a hefty sack of satisfaction too.

  • jeffkillsyou96
    jeffkillsyou96 Member Posts: 249

    Well bodyblocking has counters and builds that can stop that though like starstruck MG build and such but there’s nothing you can do about LB

  • ReikoMori
    ReikoMori Member Posts: 3,333

    You realize that the build you're talking about is an investment of at least two perks to deal with one situation right? Starstruck and Mad Grit typically. The only reason that is somewhat reasonable is because Starstruck has a lot of leeway in it's usage, but that's not actually all that great unless you basically dedicate your entire build to it. You can't directly counter Lightborn, but you still subvert its effectiveness by using it against a killer. This requires you to be good at looping though as since the killer gets aura reading when you try to blind them a lot of Lightborn users will over commit to chases with flashlight users as you can actively see where they are going. You can use that to by substantial amount of time for teams to do other things or even come in to draw aggro.

  • jeffkillsyou96
    jeffkillsyou96 Member Posts: 249
  • ReikoMori
    ReikoMori Member Posts: 3,333

    There is no direct counter, which isn't really a thing that's being disputed. Everyone knows there is no 1 for 1 perk counter to Lightborn. What's disputed is if it is as you originally stated unhealthy for the game which we are on opposing sides of. You have soft indirect counters in the form of strategic play.

    There's also no direct counters for a great deal of killer perks, Lightborn's not really a grand exception. Survivors rarely have more than soft counters or temporary counters to killer perks.

  • jeffkillsyou96
    jeffkillsyou96 Member Posts: 249

    What other perks don’t have counters other than lightborn? And yes the perk is unhealthy because on how brain dead the perk is all you do is equip it and you’re safe if vigil made it to where you can never get exposed or suffer and other status then things would be way different wouldn’t it

    even the direct counter to medkits overwhelming presence doesn’t make it to where you can’t heal with medkits they just drain real fast so you can still finish a heal but at cost of more chargers

  • AssortedSorting
    AssortedSorting Member Posts: 1,337


    If Flashlights are useless even when not using Lightborn, why does it matter if Lightborn is being run? What fun do you derive from Flashlights?

    If you’re interested in a less immediately counterable method of rescuing a Survivor from the Killers grasp, why not take Saboteur and/or a Toolbox? Follow the Killer and then when they go to pickup, check out which Hook is closest and sabo it.

  • CaulDrohn
    CaulDrohn Member Posts: 1,596

    You know what? Fine, remove Lightborn, but then ALSO reduce the angle from which you can be blinded. I know how to avoid being blinded, but the times they manage to blind me, its nearly always from OUTSIDE MY POV! I don't even SEE the one blinding me on my screen, but still the blind comes through. That is the stupidest thing regarding blinds in this game. And thats exactly why I will run Lightborn with two or more flashies, to not fall victim to such bullshit blinds.

  • jeffkillsyou96
    jeffkillsyou96 Member Posts: 249

    I don’t mind lightborn being a counter to flashlights it’s just can’t be an absolute counter I feel it should start with tokens and work similar to distortion

  • ReikoMori
    ReikoMori Member Posts: 3,333

    Most killer TR based perks

    Beast of Prey

    Coup De Grace

    Blood Warden

    Brutal Strength

    Perks that block windows

    Basically every gen regression perk that isn't tied to a scourge hook or hex totem

    Trap Totems because they exist to be destroyed to begin with so all the perks that help survivors with totems only aid the killer in getting what they want.

    Perks that affect attack and action speeds.

    Literally almost every killer perk is designed to not have a direct 1 to 1 perk counters.

    The few that exist are non trap hex totems, perks that inflict exhaustion as Vigil exists to counteract them specifically, but it isn't a hard counter. Aura reading perks are temporarily counted by Distortion when the game doesn't just eat the tokens.

    Most killer perks aren't designed to have full out counters on the survivor side instead opting for soft counter perks or player derived counterplay strategies.

    Also the direct counter to medkits honestly isn't overwhelming presence these days. It's Sloppy Butcher though both perks are really only soft counters to medkits rather than making them completely non viable. Killer perks are more targeted on single aspects and thus are made somewhat strong to reflect that limited usability scope.

  • Steakdabait
    Steakdabait Member Posts: 1,275

    Lightborn is pretty bad game design imo, there shouldn't be a perk that outright removes a game mechanic like that but i honestly don't use flashlights enough to be upset about it

  • jeffkillsyou96
    jeffkillsyou96 Member Posts: 249

    um no

    Beast of prey: just because the red stain is removed during bloodlust doesn’t make killers unloopable or invisible might harder but just gotta mind game efficiency and once killer is out of BL it’s gone

    Most TR perks: get out the terror radius or use your eyes

    Coup: an extended Lunge still doesn’t guarantee hits and this perk is limited to at most 10 tokens

    BW: doesn’t last forever outlast it/play stealthy

    BS: counterplay isn’t really needed don’t just stand there or t bag when you get a stun or throw a pallet and saving a few secs on breaking breaking stuff doesn’t guarantee you’ll catch a survivor or give you any edge

    perks that block windows: can be outlasted it’s not like they’re blocked for the whole trial

    gen regression perks not tied to hex or hook: do the gens before they go off and also gen regression perks don’t make gens impossible to complete

    trap totems: can be outlasted plus vigil helps

    perks that effect attack and action speed: just because you have faster attack and action speeds doesn’t mean you’re invincible or makes it impossible to do anything that effects that speed

    I think you’re not understanding what I mean

    should it be harder to counter killers as survivor? Yes but should it be impossible? No and lightborn shouldn’t be an acceptation

    all the perks you mentioned have certain degrees of counterplay or counterplay isn’t even needed like with BS or any passive boost cause they don’t effect how others play just

    counterplay doesn’t necessarily have to be this perk counters another it can just be other factors such as in general playing better and outsmarting the killer or using more resources to get the same effect and lightborn has none of that and even sloppy butcher can be counter with healspeed perks

  • Iron_Cutlass
    Iron_Cutlass Member Posts: 3,234

    Lightborn is a bad perk.

    I literally see no issue in complaining since that perk slot is wasted by using it.

  • ReikoMori
    ReikoMori Member Posts: 3,333

    I was specific in the way I wrote my response, you're in a hurry to disagree with me while I did make it clear that most killer perks do not have direct 1 to 1 PERK counters and that the design of killer perks is focused around allowing for soft counters, counters that reduce the effect or temporarily block it but not permanently, and player derived counterplay strategies.

    You're showing me that you read things, but don't comprehend them in full or you're skimming what I write, but not actually paying any attention.

  • jeffkillsyou96
    jeffkillsyou96 Member Posts: 249
  • DavidHypnos
    DavidHypnos Member Posts: 730

    You can attempt to sidestep to make me look foolish, but your original comment was definitely drawing a comparison. You brought up Windows being an incentive to not learn to plan an escape route as a comparison to the OP stating that Lightborn incentivized killers to not learn to avoid blinds.

    From the dictionary: comparison - A consideration or estimate of the similarities or dissimilarities between two things or people.

    In your case: comparing how two different perks that do different things may both be used as a crutch (or a way to avoid getting better at something in the game.)

    If you were, indeed, attempting to question why something exists then you still drew a comparison by using the Lightborn argument as a bridge to discuss a similarity between two dissimilar things.

  • ReikoMori
    ReikoMori Member Posts: 3,333

    I told you that earlier as well.

    Lightborn gives a killer aura reading after a blind attempt on the survivor who attempted to blind them. While you can't fully counter Lightborn you can use the info it provides to the killer together with your own looping abilities to make a killer over invest in a chase. People who use Lightborn often make the mistake of over committing to a chase due to the fact they have aura reading. If you are a strong looper then you can prey on that psychological investment by drawing out chases.

    Another soft counter is Distortion because what you're countering is the active portion of the power, aura reading.

    That's both a player derived counter strategy and perk based soft counter.

  • jeffkillsyou96
    jeffkillsyou96 Member Posts: 249
    edited July 2023

    But that’s not counterplay at all seeing how that depends on if the killer wants to chase or not you are just in denial cause you want to keep your ne skill required perk

    counterplay are methods I can use to bypass or reduce the effectiveness of a perk

    distortion may prevent the aura reading but nothing stops he whole not being to blind the killer part and that’s not good for the game

  • ReikoMori
    ReikoMori Member Posts: 3,333

    That's a form of counterplay, but counterplay can be also be a layered mental exercise. You are limiting the effectiveness of a perk when you do what I described. The counter to Lightborn is extending chase as long as possible, but the killer can play smartly and not over commit just because they can track the target especially if they are constantly setting them up for blinds by being aggressive with pallet drops at loop. If the killer doesn't over commit then the situation resets to a neutral state. You've escaped chase and are now free to heal, do gens, do bones.

    Nothing gives you back the ability to blind and I'm telling you that is okay. Blinds aren't that deep and Lightborn isn't bad for the game. It's also not a "no skill" perk, Lightborn isn't the deciding factor of any game in DBD. It's a handicap more than anything because a killer has to give a slot that could have been used for infinitely more impactful and game changing perks.

    We've been at this literally all day. All I have left to say is you don't have to like that the perk functions the way it does, but from a purely objective balance perspective Lightborn isn't doing any harm or diminishing the value of flashlights on a large scale. You're going to be hard pressed to find anyone who would say Lightborn is problematic in a way that needs major changing because for what it does do it isn't actually used that much.

  • Emeal
    Emeal Member Posts: 5,113

    I'm not trying to make you look foolish, that is all your own doing by pretending you know what Im saying better than I.

    I don't know how to cut this out better for you than the following:

    You brought up Windows being an incentive to not learn to plan an escape route as a comparison to the OP stating that Lightborn incentivized killers to not learn to avoid blinds.

    Not at all, I need to do a comparison for it to be a comparison (its sorta in the name), but there is no evaluation of their qualities that being differences or similarities. It isnt a consideration or an estimate either. Its is what is called, an identification.

    What that part of the comment is an example of another perk, and yes its definitely two things, it isnt a comparison yet until I start comparing them. However you will notice Im not speaking of which ones are better or worse. Im just identifying it.

    Im pinpointing a quality they have. So I can do a comparison??? No, that is irrelevant to my discussion, which is why I dont actually start comparing them. Instead I continue with questioning for further evidence and asking towards the reason for both of them.

    You might say, isnt that a comparison of the two? No it isnt cause I am not doing any evaluation, contrast, collation, juxtaposition, differentiation, weighing up or balancing between the two. If it was then sentences like would be comparisons.

    • "Grab the boxes"
    • "Where are you guy's mother?"

    Clearly you can talk about quality that two or more objects have without it being a comparison, which I think is clearly the case when I said it and then asked a follow up question with identification. However even when corrected by me, the person who made the point, I thought up the thought, you still come back telling me its a comparison, like what's the goal here, telling me what I think?

    You honestly don't and you don't want to take a correction when I give you one.

  • jeffkillsyou96
    jeffkillsyou96 Member Posts: 249
    edited July 2023

    well I never heard of lightborn being a distraction but I’ll take your word on it I guess but in all I guess but LB is kinda like training wheels for someone learning killer I just feel people grow to dependent on it then expect the game to revolve around them

  • CaulDrohn
    CaulDrohn Member Posts: 1,596

    Funny that you mention Distortion, which itself is an absolute counter to Lethal Pursuers initial aura.

    Honestly, I find it a bit hypocritical to complain about Lightborn disabling the use of an OPTIONAL item, when survivors can totally deny certain killers their power. Most notably with Plague (not cleansing), but also with Trapper (calling out traps to disarm), Hag (aggressively triggering traps), Singularity (EMPs). You would say it's smart play, and comes with tradeoffs (being broken the whole time against perk). But thats also with lightborn: When you struggle against blinds, it may be smart to equip LB to have a better chance altogether. And it takes away one perk slot (tradeoff).

    I don't think a token approach would work, btw. Esp with a M1 killer on maps with super safe pallets (the game), which you have to break, survivors would make you lose tokens extremely fast, possibly to a point were you don't have any tokens left for pickup. But pickup is the situation where you need it the most.

  • UndeddJester
    UndeddJester Member Posts: 3,254

    I do see where the OP is coming from. I'm equal Killer/Survivor. The fact this perk just straights eliminates flashlights, flashbangs and firecrackers from the game is not the best.

    Looking at the history of Lightborn, it did used to be a resistance and reduced blind duration that got progressively buffed over time to full on immunity.

    This I understand was largely due to big issues with bully squads, and back in the day the pickup animations were longer, and you didn't need to wait for the killer to stand up, just blinding them during pickup was enough for the save.

    I don't think the pre immunity variant of Lightborn would be bad now that pickups are faster and saves must be on standup. Just the fact you mess with the timing makes a flashlight save much harder to pull off.

    If other sources of blind still happened but with the reduced blind time, would also mean firecrackers, flash grenade and the Gen Trap could still do something vs. This perk, and since they are far more positionally dependent they would be fair I feel.

  • DavidHypnos
    DavidHypnos Member Posts: 730

    Comparison is clearly just a bigger word than you believe.

  • Espshiva
    Espshiva Member Posts: 19

    Lightborn is fine, it's is a completely match changing perk, that forces survivors to think of other strategies i.e Sabotage, body block these are still perfectly able to stop a hook, personally it is one of my favourite perks when playing killer, also most killers don't actually run it but as a survivor you have to think quick.

  • Emeal
    Emeal Member Posts: 5,113

    If you wanna define everything as a comparison, you enjoy yourself, Keep me out of private notions.

  • appleas
    appleas Member Posts: 1,126
    edited July 2023

    Not sure why Lightborn is an issue, the Killer is essentially sacrificing a perk slot to counter an item. If it causes a “learning deficit”, that’s on them and not you, why do you care?

    Even if the majority of the playerbase uses Lightborn and are “garbage”, they aren’t breaking the rules of the game by equipping the perk, if anything it feels more like you’re upset about getting countered by the perk and are trying to gaslight players into not using it.

    If people want to be bad at the game, let them be. Who are you to judge?

  • jeffkillsyou96
    jeffkillsyou96 Member Posts: 249

    Well I just feel it’s killers who get destroyed nearly every game cause they have LB equipped and not an efficient perk/build and I feel their voices are being heard more than actual good players

    I don’t care what perks you use but I just feel if you’re not good at both roles then your opinions should be invalid and LB is one of those key perks that if I see someone use then they shouldn’t be taken seriously

    I just feel the game is revolving around bad players and it’s not good for the game

  • Ripley
    Ripley Member Posts: 866
    edited July 2023

    Players have been complaining about the blinding animation for years. It hasn't been changed. But I'd also point out the way it is often used by teams to bully killers with bodyblocking etc. Lightborn is just good self-care.

  • JustAnotherNewbie
    JustAnotherNewbie Member Posts: 1,941

    I don't understand your point claiming Lightborn allows survivors to have fun. The fun part (at least for me) is not clicking my flashlight at killer, it's actually getting some use of it from saving a teammate or blinding the killer at a specific pallet that it's advantageous. Lightborn does not allow either of those things, unless you think survivors find flashing lights entertaining.

    Is they fun attempting to blind the killer and being confused on why it's not working? That argument is just weird, ngl.


    The rest about the visual part of being blinded I can understand being annoying, causing headaches etc.

  • ReikoMori
    ReikoMori Member Posts: 3,333

    I look at the game like this, if something I'm doing doesn't work when it should just don't worry about it. Like if I try to blind someone at a pallet and they don't react the way I expect I can assess that either I messed up the blind or they can't be blinded. Now I know I can mess up blind timing on saves, but I can't really do that on most other animation locks. The only thing a killer has that can prevent blinds is Lightborn and I understand how lightborn works. So for me, I am aware that now I'm being wallhacked and thus rather than be upset about my flashlight being useless I see it as game where I can mess with the killer.

    My blinds don't pose a threat, but I can be aggressive in getting them to waste time chasing me because they can see my aura meaning I'm easier to keep track of. I also don't place a huge value of trying to save as many pallets as possible so I drop them very readily so the killer needs to deal with it unless they have a power that trumps pallets. I mainly play killer and I feel I have a good idea of how the average killer player's gonna respond to situations so when I play survivor I tend to do things that I know will make killers chase me longer than they should. So when I encounter lightborn as a survivor I don't find it a problem, but just an easier way to draw the killer into a bad extended chase.

    Getting blinds and saves are fun, but if it isn't possible I don't suddenly not have fun because there is more ways to get value outside of the primary function.

  • RogueVsMetaGaming
    RogueVsMetaGaming Member Posts: 14

    I'm sorry but if I see a lobby with 3 or 4 flashlights, I throw on lightborn because that tells me you're just there to attempt to repeatedly blind me over and over and over. The first time I make a mistake on where I'm picking up or a survivor runs into an open area, you're all there just blinding the killer over and over. That's trolling and harassing the killer at that point and I'd rather not give you that opportunity.

  • jeffkillsyou96
    jeffkillsyou96 Member Posts: 249

    well that’s on you as a player for real use common sense

    if a survivor is running into the open and you know everyone has a flashlight where do you think everyone’s at picking daisies

    and the whole this and that is “toxic” rather it be flashlights or saboing to morimyers/moris or even instadowns is being confused with fun

    do I feel there should be some skill vs reward for these things yes

    but to label it all as toxic and change everything to where we’re revolving the game around garbage players because they do know how to play is just baffling to me because it’s taking away a lot of the fun from the game by doing this and LB is a prime example of it to many killers were crying about flashlights so they buffed LB to what it is now

  • appleas
    appleas Member Posts: 1,126

    Well, the game is being balanced around the casual bad player, so there isn’t any incentive to get better because any expression of skill is just going to be invalidated via complains anyway.

  • appleas
    appleas Member Posts: 1,126

    The signs of devs deciding to make things easier for everyone and lowering the ceiling for skillful play have already being obvious for sometime.

    I would argue that prior to the flashlight changes, I would still try to dodge flashlights without Lightborn because it was harder to get the timing right and dodging it felt good. These days because it’s so much easier to land a blind, running Lightborn is just a better option. Looking at walls when picking up survivors is fine and all, but sometimes the map doesn’t allow for that luxury

  • Meepy13
    Meepy13 Member Posts: 109

    No matter what people say there's always a possibility flashlight saves are 100% unavoidable.

    There are many times where checking everywhere would simply take too long or you don't know what perks are running and they can get in flashlight save range faster then expected, you could be pressed for time so you don't have time to check and there could be no walls nearby, locker checking is just a long animation and you could be surrounded by them, there's probably some other examples that I can't think of rn.

    I'm not saying run lightborn, unavoidable saves are pretty rare, but it's certainly not a skill issue

    Sorry if this comment is horrible to read I've re organized it a bunch lol

  • Espshiva
    Espshiva Member Posts: 19

    And how many times do you actually get a good sabo if your not running a swf, im not nor have i said saboing was abad thing i would rather have a savo than a flash light save