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I think Distortion should be nerfed.

OrangeBear
OrangeBear Member Posts: 2,861
edited January 7 in Feedback and Suggestions

From a killer player perspective.

  • Distortion tokens are too plentiful and you practically cannot stop them from recharging.
  • Distortion essentially nullifies all killer aura reading add-ons and items.
  • Not only does it nullify aura reading. It counter attacks the use of aura reading with it's 10 seconds of hidden scratch marks. It is easier to find a survivor with distortion if you had no aura reading at all.
  • In addition. Distortion allows you to figure out what the killers loadout is by connecting the trigger to the relevant perk and add-on. This ruins the element of surprise. For example, you can determine that the killer has blood warden by going to the exit gate. You will lose a token if they do. The only other perk that allows you to do this kinda thing is object of obsession but that comes with significant risk. I just don't think it's fair that you can use a perk that hides your aura to potentially reveal the killers entire loadout.

Why i think it should be changed :

  • Personally this perk has made me abandon all aura reading items completely for the reasons i mentioned. I think this just goes to show it's doing it's job too effectively. Therefore nerfing it would increase perk variety for me at least.
  • Makes other scratch mark hiding options like Lightweight and other aura reading related perks like Off The Record more appealing for survivors.

How i think it should be changed :

  • Make it so that the perk reduces the effectiveness of aura reading rather than turning it into a counter attack. One suggestion i have for this is to make it so it intermittently hides your aura instead of completely.
  • Change the recharge condition to something that the killer can stop, like completing generators, unhooking survivors, getting stunned etc.
  • Remove the ability for distortion to allow you to reveal the killer loadout. I just think it's an unfitting bonus and would be more interesting if it was it's own perk, like some kind of detective related perk.

Comments

  • Orthane
    Orthane Member Posts: 436

    Just remove the initial Tokens, and allow a max of 4 instead of 3 that you gain while being chased. This will eradicate the annoying players who just hide all game while using it and effectively make it a soft anti-tunnel perk in a way.

  • OrangeBear
    OrangeBear Member Posts: 2,861

    I guess we are just going to have to disagree. I believe survivor should not have the choice of doing those things you mentioned.

    Also from what i am understanding you are saying distortion is only to a problem for those who use aura reliant and i disagree. I can notice distortion even when i am using one aura item and based on my experience i've decided i am better of not running aura reading at all because of the scratch mark part of distortion and the frequency that i am seeing it.

    b) I would love a perk that mostly adds QoL to SoloQ; if your aura gets read you are informed about it, and so are your teamies

    This isn't "quality of life" it's a major advantage and isn't so relevant to solo q. SWF would use it.

    You seem to believe distortion should be better and expanded upon.

    So yeah i guess we are just going to have to disagree since we seem to have opposite opinion on this.

  • Orthane
    Orthane Member Posts: 436

    I think they should remove the initial tokens, and instead allow you to gain a max of 4 that generate every 20 seconds while in chase with the killer. This will get rid of the hiding playstyle Distortion users seem to go with a lot and reward players for being chased. Making it a soft anti-tunnel perk in a way.

  • jonifire
    jonifire Member Posts: 1,437
    edited January 7

    I think it is fine. Making other perks better like lightweight better would be nice.

  • OrangeBear
    OrangeBear Member Posts: 2,861

    Lightweight can't really be any better without being broken imo. It already reduces scratch mark duration from 10 to 5. Then makes spacing more inconsistent. I think people just don't use it because you can't see the difference it makes from the killer point of view at the same time.

  • jonifire
    jonifire Member Posts: 1,437

    I can‘t tell the difference and how much it does. Mostly it feels like the killer finds me anyway.

  • Steakdabait
    Steakdabait Member Posts: 1,294

    Should be reworked not directly nerfed imo. The stealth perk needs to not recharge from being stealthy

  • Seraphor
    Seraphor Member Posts: 9,429
    edited January 7

    I don't think Distortion is a big probelmn but I do remember thinking Distortion never needed to be buffed. You point out that Distortion has futher depth in that it informs you precisely which aura perks the killer has, so even when you've depleted it's tokens, you can still evade aura reading as you'll know when you need to jump in a locker.

    So the one thing I will agree with is that tokens are probably regained a bit too easily. I've been using it a bit recently and now I think about it, I've been using it brainlessly. While pre-buff I would use it to identify aura perks and use that info once the tokens are gone, I've found that now I just equip it and ignore it most of the time, until I run out of tokens.

    Some people say it should only regain tokens when not in a chase, but I actually think it should be the opposite. I think tokens should only recharge while in chase. This would reward you for engaging with the killer with stealth capability later in the game, and in practice would be a sort of anti-tunnel effect, as you'll likely have regained tokens by the time you get hooked then unhooked.

    This would prevent Distortion users perpetually evading the killer all game without ever getting hooked, but wouldn't completely nerf the prk into the ground.

  • OrangeBear
    OrangeBear Member Posts: 2,861

    Discussions on what things people think are overpowered are not going to stop. It's necessary for the future development of live service games and dbd is one.

    I am not asking people to stop using it... i am making a suggestion to the developers.

    I use whatever stuff i want including distortion and then just adapt when changes come and i encourage others to do the same.

  • Unequalmitten86
    Unequalmitten86 Member Posts: 331

    The thing with distortion it works with only one person like calm spirit. If you're next to someone who isn't running it, it's useless. Sounds like OP climbed the ranks by doing the minimum and is now finding what the strong SWF's are doing. It's easy to destroy soloq players, even 2 SWF's it's those 4 person SWF'S that are well coordinated and you actually need to work for your wins as killer.

  • OrangeBear
    OrangeBear Member Posts: 2,861

    Not necessarily because distortion still hides the player that uses it. The scratch marks allows you to disperse from the player that got revealed near you and killer will have no idea there was another player there.

    Sounds like OP climbed the ranks by doing the minimum

    I don't know how you would come to that conclusion.

    The rest of what you are saying is SWF is better than Solo, i don't think this is relevant to the discussion.

    I just think distortion should be nerfed because it makes me not want to run aura reading items anymore. The main concern is that it badly affects perk variety because a large portion of killer items is aura reading.

  • OrangeBear
    OrangeBear Member Posts: 2,861

    Aura reading perks don't give you wall hacks all the time. They have many limitations.

    Which is why i think it's excessive that distortion not only essentially nullifies them but causes them to become a disadvantage because of it hiding scratch marks.

    Also, according to nightlight, distortion is currently the 10th most used survivor perk. with 9.12% usage rate. I think it's used more than people think.

  • Ariel_Starshine
    Ariel_Starshine Member Posts: 937

    Yep, this happens to me all the time. If I'm healing someone and it goes off, I'm found. If I'm on a generator with someone and it goes off, they come and find me. And that's fine, I like taking chase.

    If killer isn't using aura perks, it's a wasted perk slot.

    It's useful if we've lost and I'm the last alive I guess, I get a few seconds to find the hatch lol yippy skippy. Sometimes when they kick the gen they can't find me.

    It gives me info on what the killer is running. If they run BBQ I can get in a locker. It's a decent counter to Chuckys perk too.

    Tbh the best killers I go against oddly run no aura perks, those are the fun ones! Very skilled and fun to loop with. Idk, just my experiences.

    Leave it alone, all my favorite non meta perks already been turned into dog water, just leave this one alone.

  • TSQuint
    TSQuint Member Posts: 88

    No, it's not. If the amount of unnecessary changes hadn't been made like they have at this point, you'd be correct. However, in this instance, you're not. It's begging the developers to change something to make it easier for you to win. That's not inviting a discussion.

  • TSQuint
    TSQuint Member Posts: 88

    This is exactly right. OP is trying to use the guise of forum discussion to hope to continue to coast.

  • Yoshirama
    Yoshirama Member Posts: 404

    Becuase Lethal Pursuer and BBQ are top 5th and 6th

    If you want to nerf distortion, then nerf all those aura reading perks

  • OrangeBear
    OrangeBear Member Posts: 2,861

    I can track fine without aura. I want distortion changed because i find that they are worse than useless right now because of distortion. I don't need them but i would like to use aura items, which is huge portion of killer items.

  • OrangeBear
    OrangeBear Member Posts: 2,861

    I'm not begging. I'm making a reasonable suggestion. A discussion is being had here and you are just making up your own narrative.

  • PyramidFootLicker
    PyramidFootLicker Member Posts: 107

    Just run gearhead or undying omg or any other killer perk that can reveal survivors without the need for aura reading or play legion or aura plague and Oni or all seeing wraith if you HAVE to have auras. Distortion is countered by so much and you can track very easily without needing auras all generators are always revealed to you which is the prime objective anyway regardless of how much a survivor hides.

    People hiding in DBD especially on lockers which block aura reading has been a thing long before distortion was around as well.

  • Ethromel
    Ethromel Member Posts: 176

    Distortion is not as powerful as you make it seem. As a killer player myself most of you rely on aura reading far too much with very little skill displayed. Killers have far too many options already as it is) to overcome just about everything that survivors can do. The matching mechanic is already set so the algorithm matches survivors with killers that have perks that will trump the survivor's loadout. If you have Sprint Burst, you will be pitted against an exhaustion killer using Mindbreaker/fearmonger. Survivor has distortion on so the killer makes them scream.

    It isn't Distortion that's the problem. It's the lack of imagination and resourcefulness exhibited by players. Everybody wants to have Lethal Pursuer in their loadout because they fail to know the inner workings of how the game positions survivors. You all want that headstart to survivors before they start working gens. This is a player problem, not a perk problem.

    So let's not act like you don't have the advantage in most cases. You sound like you just want it all. Killers don't need anything else. The players using them need to get better. Most of the community can't play, and the autonomy at the killer's disposal to be nice or not, or to play well or not is more often than not a survivor's only saving grace even against some SWFs.

    Think about it: You're complaining that YOU can't see the survivors through walls and objects so you can have a cake-walk match. I bet you 3 out of 4 of your killer load-outs are aura-reading perks because you may be a lazy killer. The majority of the community is like this and this is what makes for weak killers that have to resort to tunneling, camping, and cheap perks like opening lockers to make surrounding survivors scream. Let's not forget that if a player uses NO MITHER the killer is notified that this perk is being used. Is that unfair? A killer knows a survivor is using Light Weight. Is that unfair?

    This game is all about giving out information to the players. It's a pay-to-win game. This is why the featured popular cameo characters have perks that are better and behind a paywall. There are also only 4 slots for perks on all survivors so what if they have to waste one of their slots on Distortion? There is always something else the killer has to overcome this minor disadvantage.

  • Ethromel
    Ethromel Member Posts: 176

    Aura reading ruined this game, to begin with.

  • OrangeBear
    OrangeBear Member Posts: 2,861
    edited January 9

    Yet another commenter who throws their disrespectful assumptions out as fact.

     The matching mechanic is already set so the algorithm matches survivors with killers that have perks that will trump the survivor's loadout

    No it isn't.

    Everybody wants to have Lethal Pursuer in their loadout because they fail to know the inner workings of how the game positions survivors. You all want that headstart to survivors before they start working gens. 

    It's random where survivors spawn. And of course we want a perk to actually do something instead of being completely nullified and turned into a disadvantage!

    So let's not act like you don't have the advantage in most cases. You sound like you just want it all. Killers don't need anything else. The players using them need to get better. Most of the community can't play, and the autonomy at the killer's disposal to be nice or not, or to play well or not is more often than not a survivor's only saving grace even against some SWFs.

    Don't agree with any of that.

    Think about it: You're complaining that YOU can't see the survivors through walls and objects so you can have a cake-walk match.

    No i didn't. I'm complaing that distortion nullifies a large portion of killer items and even punishes you for bringing them. My loadouts aren't aura reading anymore because distortion comes out on top and i wish it wasn't like that so that's why i made this post.

     Let's not forget that if a player uses NO MITHER the killer is notified that this perk is being used. Is that unfair? A killer knows a survivor is using Light Weight. Is that unfair?

    Killers are designed to have more information about the survivors than the other way around. This starts in the lobby when you can see what items they have i think it's fine.

    Killers don't actually have any perks that HARD counter survivor perks like distortion does to aura reading. Fearmonger arguably makes it easier 99 things like sprint burst. Killer counters just make it less effective and harder to use and distortion should be the same.

    You keep saying aura reading makes everything easy and it doesn't. Aura reading helps you find survivors, it doesn't help you catch the survivors and it doesn't stop the survivors from doing anything.

  • OrangeBear
    OrangeBear Member Posts: 2,861
    edited January 9

    Gearhead and Undying both reveal survivor auras. Aura plague doesn't counter distortion, neither does that oni add-on, neither does that purple add-on for wraith.

    "Distortion is countered by so much" No, if a survivor has distortion, you can't bypass the perk and read their aura anyways. This is exactly the problem i have with it. If you know a survivor has distortion, you won't be able to read their aura.

    I never complained about survivors hiding in lockers to hide their aura.

  • OrangeBear
    OrangeBear Member Posts: 2,861
    edited January 9

    I think you are using the perk incorrectly to be honest. You're obviously going to be found if you are with someone when it goes off, because they will see the person that's not revealed and then they will see you. If you run as soon as you counter something like BBQ and chili the killer won't know that you were there.

    If the killer isn't using aura reading that is still information you wouldn't get if you didn't have it. Aura reading is very abundant and popular also so if the killer isn't aura reading then maybe it's because they decided like me that distortion comes out on top anyways and it's not worth using.

    Distortion is meta it is top 10 most used perk.

  • PyramidFootLicker
    PyramidFootLicker Member Posts: 107

    What??? Oni and Plague with aura builds absolutely SHRED distortion have you not event played them? Gearhead alone too and undying RIPS through tokens before a survivor can finish a single totem, aura plague triggers the perk every time a survivor vomits and with healing shut down it's already that much easy tracking them because they need to go around the map to fountains away from the killer or risk being punished.


    To add to this, All seeing Wraith and Meyers scratched mirror or rather both these killers without aura reading make it a dead perk anyway because their terror radius is so infrequent that charging the damn thing is near impossible against a good stealth killer hell Onryu too isn't bothered by distortion. Artist can toss her crows artist and Legion both don't need to worry about distortion along with doctor because their kit isn't countered by it at all, Dredge too. These are all examples from the top of my head of killers and perks that just trivialise distortion. There are a slew of killer perks too that track as well without the need for aura reading. Just run whispers if you're worried about your terror radius charging the perk.

  • OrangeBear
    OrangeBear Member Posts: 2,861

    They really don't. Small terror radius doesn't matter because the perk charges in chase. Whispers is not a good counter, you can't make progress without a survivor being in your terror radius.

  • PyramidFootLicker
    PyramidFootLicker Member Posts: 107
    edited January 10

    Then you must really suck at chases, like REALLY suck if whole stacks are being regenerated in chase with a stealth killer, but you're in chase anyway so distortion at that point doesn't matter

  • OrangeBear
    OrangeBear Member Posts: 2,861

    It's the other way around. If a survivor cannot last more than 30 seconds in chase then they are the ones who are playing bad. Only way to get such short chases is nurse or blight or whatever

  • Halloulle
    Halloulle Member Posts: 1,354

    Ah. I think I have a better understanding where your dead-set-ness on Distortion(players) being an issue comes from.


    What you describe as the "incorrect" way to play with Distortion is not at all incorrect. Your proposed playstyle with Distortion is the egoistical, non-altruistic, rat-like playstyle; same category as playing for hatch the second survs don't have a massive headstart and refusing to hook trade or bodyblock for a death hook surv while you're fresh etc. pp.

    More often than not letting yourself be found via a non-Distortion user is the right play, especially when you are healthy; e.g. if that non-Distortion user isn't healed up yet and would be down way too fast. - You know what is coming and you know where it's coming from. Distortion allows you to be in the perfect position to e.g. bodyblock for the injured survivor - or better yet: run toward the killer to take chase. Chances are they go for the uninjured surv they have eyes on instead of the injured one who is who knows where.

  • OrangeBear
    OrangeBear Member Posts: 2,861
    edited January 10

    I think it's incorrect because that commenter is complaining they are still getting found with distortion and i am saying that's happening because if they stick with team mates that is going to happen, i think they are not using it correctly for the purpose they want.

    There isn't a "right" way to play the game, devs have validated lone wolf playstyles, you're disrespectful by insulting that.

  • Rick1998
    Rick1998 Member Posts: 290

    I didn't have the time to read everything . However one thing i never understood is why distorsion gets tokens while in chase . That to me just solidifies that the killer will neber get to use any auras perks on you. Just remove that and i'd be fine with it .

  • Ethromel
    Ethromel Member Posts: 176

    I don't even consider this a challenging debate. The fact that you believe that killers SHOULD even inherently know where the survivor is on the map in, and of itself, tells me all I need to know about your mentality.

    Ghostface for example is so broken that practically having a "Spider-sense" that does NOT allow a survivor to look at him without revealing their hiding spot makes him unreasonably unfair. Stealth that can cancel out aura-reading for survivors (not that survivors should have it either), speed, close hooks, "three-gening", etc. You name it the killer can do it.

    So no... I don't think my statements are just a fact. They're a KNOWING, and apparently, you don't know.

  • OrangeBear
    OrangeBear Member Posts: 2,861