Announced Onryō changes - thanks BHVR! (not sarcasm)
During yesterday's live stream, it was announced that the Sadako rework planned for early 2024 will aim to make her play more similarly to her pre-rework iteration.
Despite the current version of Sadako being less map-dependant and easier to get good results with, a lot of the little things that made pre-rework Onryō fun to play as got lost with the update, as me and a lot of Sadako mains often stated on the forums during the PTB times - and some of the new changes put her in a particular spot where she can decimate lesser experienced teams and have her power completely deleted by squads that know proper counterplay. I do think the changes from the Cage PTB to live were great, but ultimately new Sadako still has some problems that are rooted in the gameplay changes themselves.
While the first iteration of Sadako definitely needed some good buffs (namely in TV cooldown numbers) and a few add-on changes, I and a lot of other pre-rework Onryō mains are extremely excited about this news, both because this means her engaging gameplay loop she used to have will finally come back, and because it's yet another sign that BHVR is constantly listening to the community, even willing to go back on recently made significant changes. With the way the game is being updated and taken care of this year (in general and not just in regard to this character ofc), I believe it really deserves the Steam Labor of Love prize and hope it'll get it. Thanks for this announcement, I can't wait to see the next Sadako rework!
(and thanks for the pig update announcement, I hope she gets a crouch/ambush buff :D)
Comments
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Couldn’t agree more with this. Sadako went from my main to something that depresses me when I play her, bc I miss the old version of her so much. Having a slightly stronger version of her original self with her problematic addons changed would be the dream.
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My guess is that lower MMR survivors still aren’t grabbing tapes early, and are just waiting until high condemn stacks, which is giving Sadako inflated win rates, because the current condemn mechanic isn’t intuitive at all to lower MMR survivors. The previous condemn mechanic was way more beginner friendly, because outside of a very specific build, survivors could usually just ignore the condemn mechanic entirely.
Pig has a much easier to understand “condemn” mechanic, with a timer that constantly ticks down when active, and the understanding that it might take a few boxes to unlock the trap, so people should start going to the boxes early if possible.
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Oh for sure, I agree that a lot of less experienced survivors wait until it's too late to cleanse Condemn, while the best move is to get a tape as soon as TVs turn on. The current Condemn system is not too intuitive and it's a bit confusing even for those who know her movie lore.
However I do think the fact that survivors ignoring old Sadako's Condemn mechanic entirely (which was a problem, this shouldn't happen) is not 100% related to them having a better understanding; the previous Condemn mechanic was weak (and that's why they ignored it entirely usually) but pretty intuitive as it was much more lore accurate. Sadako teleports next to you - you get a stack, definitely not a good thing. Holding the cursed tape is making those stacks increase even more, this is also pretty bad.
I think ultimately the problem with pre-rework Sadako was that her TV cooldown numbers were way too long, to a point where (without a specific build or the Sadako player playing specifically to get Condemn) picking up a tape just had way more cons than pros and it was just better to not do it. Sadako not having a lot of chase capabilities also made it preferable for good survivors to just get in a chase rather than wasting time with TVs.
Buffing those old TV cooldown numbers, consequently making the Condemn-spread-through-teleport more dangerous, could possibly be the solution: making the power as intuitive as it used to be but also motivating survivors to pick up tapes this time around.
I believe the current "demanifested Sadako doesn't get stunned" thing could also be another good addition to old Sadako's kit.
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