Distortion Isn’t OP, But It Has Issues
Perks. DBD is full of them, go figure. And obviously some perks are better than others, which results in a meta forming… and I’m stuck here question how Distortion of all perks managed to become “meta”.
Realistically, Distortion counters Aura Reading, which while some people pin as “Aura Reading being too prevalent”, Aura Reading is not necessarily the most meta thing to run considering how Slowdown has been the forefront of Killer meta for years.
So why is Distortion used so much? Aura Reading lets Killers get into chases and apply pressure much easier, Survivors who are not as good at chase (or prefer to have more control over when and where they get chased) will run Distortion.
Tbh, Distortion isn’t even that strong of a perk, all things considered… but it does have it’s own set of issues.
Distortion suffers the same issues as Left Behind and Sole Survivor; it enables Survivors to play really passive and let their team die.
I find that in most of my matches Distortion acts as a Killer perk as my teammates who got queued into my match (since matchmaking prioritizes time over quality) will just hide, not contribute to the team, and let the team die (probably escape through hatch as well).
Words cannot express how annoying and frustrating it is to deal with.
I know people will say “but I run Distortion and I don’t do this” which, good on you, thanks for that, but not everyone is like that, and it does not change the fact that this play style is really enabled by this perk (and other perks).
My proposition is reworking all three perks to help enforce a support role, maybe their effects can be gained by taking Protection Hits and Safe Unhooks while getting a better effect to reward the efforts of doing so (e.g. longer immunity to Aura Reading and more tokens perk Safe Unhook or Protection Hit); ideally not affecting people who help the team but providing no value to players who want to throw anyone under the bus.
Comments
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Gut tunneling first. Distortion is the best tool against it for Solo'Q. Sorry about your experiences, but it isn't mine so I can't get on board. Not to mention the 'lone wolf' playstyle is just as viable as tunneling itself. Survivors are just plagued with issues, aren't they? Wish they'd get some BHVR killer treatment!
edit: This sounds a lot more aggressive than I wanted. Apologies. I can't put thoughts into words at the moment :/
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Distortion isn't meta. Complaining about Distortion is though.
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Off The Record blocks Aura Reading… I don’t know how people constantly forget that?
Also I think “X is an issue,” “nerf Y first” gets us nowhere, especially when core issues with the game take years for BHVR to address, just look at how long it took the anti-camp mechanic to actually be added (also not bashing BHVR either, game development takes time, it’s not as cut and dry as people make it out to be).
Multiple things can be an issue. Multiple things can be addressed (rather it be together or separate).
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I can agree with this. But comparatively, the issues posed here to not scratch the importance of dealing with Tunneling currently, at least imo.
I'd like these concerns to be addressed as well, but there is a priority list, and this isn't at the top.
Still, I'd be curious how big an issue you feel this is, so I know where you are with this.
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I don’t think it’s a massive issue, but I still feel as if it is worth talking about since it is an issue with the game nonetheless.
Obviously other things SHOULD take priority, but core mechanic changes with the game are harder for BHVR to make since it’s really easy to polarize the community and/or make things too favored in a particular side (e.g. the effects from adding 10 charges to Generators).
TLDR; although I would prefer other aspect to be changed first, Distortion (and other perks like it) would be easier and less polarizing for the community to change.
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Distortion is a perk that gets your teammates killed, especially in solo queue.
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Understood. Agree to disagree. Perks will always need to be changed, it will never be otherwise. Player retention and game health are deteriorating. I can't keep friends playing. Others can't either. The killer meta atm is poisoning the game and I'd rather see it addressed first.
Ideally, they'd do both and do it well. But...
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Survivors are going to play selfishly no matter what. It's not a Distortion problem. I've used both Empathic and Better Together and sometimes I feel like people use the information to sandbag.
To add, I don't think it's fair to assume intent and say it needs balancing because of that assumption. Bad gameplay or game sense shouldn't be a reason to nerf a perk.
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I played too many solo Q to realize a dead game when I see it and start planning ahead. When there is 4-5 gens still up and everyone is at their 2nd hook or dead... yea I am playing to survive not for the teams benefit anymore.
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My issue isnt even from the Killer end of things.
If I play Killer and want to run Aura Reading, I just use Gearhead since Gearhead eats through Distortion tokens. Again, the perk isnt even that strong since it is 100% counterable as Killer.
My issue stems from how it affects my matches as Survivor, they are often not chased, never contribute in altruistic actions, and hide a huge portion of the match.
Yes players will play like that, it's bound to happen.
But you also have to consider the fact that these perks help enable this playstyle and make it worse to deal with as Survivor. Distortion specifically has the same issue that the other "sandbag" perks suffer from, they work from your being thrown under the bus and/or have a passive effect that hardly has to be earned.
To put it bluntly, I dont want Distortion's gimmick of preventing Aura Reading to be nerfed, perks like Off The Record and B: Shadow Step do the same thing and that aspect I have no problem with. I just want Distortion to reward a more active role in the team instead of rewarding a passive role.
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Once again survivors playing passive slow gen is a legit strat especially if the game is in shambles due to early Kills and no real chance to complete all gens. Also Distort has to be recharged via terror radius.
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- Distortion is used by by good, helpful teammates because Nurse is ultra strong when using intel perks. A lot of good players use Distortion and Calm Spirit with two 2nd chance perks like DS and Off The Record. This counters Aura builds and Ultimate Weapon. Huntress, Wesker, Cenobite, Oni and Blight are also up there with Aura and UW common usage. So you can see why people do use Distortion as a pseudo-meta perk.
-- Sadly it's also used by selfish players who are happy to be the only Survivor that wins the match while the others lose and the Killer gets a 3k. I wouldn't give that any reason at all for it to be nerfed though. It was barely used before it got buffed because 3 tokens and never getting them back was useless essentially.
The way it works now is really good. Considering, just because the aura isn't revealed, doesn't mean the Killer can't use game sense to predict or guess where a Survivor could be based on the context of the match. Changing it to be gained from actions like protecting or unhooking will make strong players even stronger, imagine using 2 of your 4 perks as killer and suddenly just because someone gets an unhook you cannot see any of those two because of off the record and a new longer lasting aura immunity from the rescuers Distortion. Or the scenario where a selfish player farms the rescue with zero intention of helping take agro from the unhooked Survivor and is now safe from detection while the other gets tunneled.
It's fine the way it is.
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I honestly almost never see the perk. For me it's like one in every fifteen to twenty matches, and when I do see it the survivor is just playing normally. There are trashbag teammates that don't contribute to the match and just let everyone die, but it's so rare I don't feel the devs really need to address it. It's not like there isn't a plethora of other ways survivors can screw over their teammates.
If the devs decide to change it then fine. But it shouldn't be done in a way that makes aura builds stronger. There needs to be a counter to something like a full aura reading Nurse. Tying token regeneration to gen progress or healing wouldn't be a terrible idea. It might even make token regeneration faster, whilst ensuring that the survivor is doing something constructive.
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Distortion became meta because:
- You can recharge it.
- There's simply too many aura reading perks to play around.
Back in the day the rules were "get in a locker when someone gets hooked" and "don't heal in the terror radius." Now, every time a player scratches themselves there's a perk to reveal their aura. Distortion gives me the peace of mind that I'm not CONSTANTLY being revealed to the killer, and it's a good perk because of that.
Just the other day I had a game where we stomped a Nurse because she was relying on perks like Nowhere to Hide, and the 4 solos in the game all had Distortion. She had ABYSMAL game knowledge to find us, and when her perks to see us at all times were turned off, she couldn't find anyone.
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Whenever I'm in a group on comms I'll run Distortion and kinda be the scout of the team. I'll warn my team about Leathal Persurer so they can defend themselves better at the start of the trial. I'll tick off the killer's aura build as I learn it and relay their perks to the team, calling out Nurses or BBQ or whatever is in play.
Since I'm not fantastic in chase it does help me evade some, especially against one of Blight's old add-ons and the all seeing Wraith build for instance. But Distortion better suits my scout role. That's how I use this perk.
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If it didn't gain tokens perks in chase it'd be fine
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This isn't true. Distortion actually makes tunneling worse. You may not be targeted but someone else will. And when the killer can't find 1-2 survivors anyway because they have Distortion, then why not simply tunnel one of the others? This grants them the time to keep looking for the 2 with Distortion and since they mostly won't show themselves, it happens even when the killer doesn't deliberately tunnel.
If I can only find 2 survivors, then you bet someone will die at 5 hooks max.
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You assume the 'team' is the perspective. Solo'Q is just that: Solo'Q. Its gonna be different with solo'Q and SWF, but I mostly Solo, so for me, Distortion does as I said. If others get tunneled due to that, then the killer is just trying to move the reasoning, but its still them who tunneled.
HOw can it be the survivors fault the killer made a DECISION to tunnel? Its still on them. But no reason to go further into this.
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HOw can it be the survivors fault the killer made a DECISION to tunnel?
How can it be the killer's fault the survivors made the decision to gen rush? This goes both ways. We are not talking about a 1v1 here but a 1v4. Any mistakes you make, will be exploited by your oppenent. And if you want to take yourself out of the equation, then that means, that the killer has 1 less target to focus on.
Distortion screws your team. I can see how for the person running it, that may not be an issue (although I disagree with that attitude) but let's not pretend that isn't the case. The payoff you get is literally that someone else will have to take the chase for you. The killer will not run around the map, ignoring the others, until they find the Distortion gamer and they have no obligation to do so.
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stopped at 'genrush." Its been said time and time again, its not even the same thing. Keep your inept comparison.
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You say you stopped reading at genrush. No wonder you don't get the point I actually made. Because the point was not about gen rushing but about bad decisions and mistakes being exploited by your opponent in a PvP game.
It's fine though. You have no interest in this discussion, so I'll leave it at that.
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I mentioned nothing of genrush. But when someone arguing against a survivor perk, genrushing cant help but be brought in. Its like the hail mary of trying to justify an argumentative point. But its a bad point, and there is no discussion to be had with it in the.... discussion.
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Xernoton was talking about one dead at 5 hooks, how is that actually tunneling? Of course for those 2 survivors without distortion it will feel like it, but the killer is really not to blame here. What is the killer supposed to do? Ignore those 2 players, not use the aura perks they equipped? Go search for a survivor who might be hiding in a bush at the edge of the map?
Ever heard about mental gymnastics?
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I have! :)
Im not sure what you're asking. we were discussing distortion and his point of it making tunneling worse. I acknowledged that and said I'd still bring it as I'm a solo'Q player. Yes, I agree. Of course those survivors without it might feel the attention and heat. How is that pertinent? He tried to link a killer tunneling to survivors genrushing, which is just void of comparative truths.
Buuuuuut I dont want mods to lock this. Enjoy your games! :)
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Uhm no, there was no mentioning of genrush so far, that comes later in this thread. We are still talking about how survivors without distortion are getting "tunneled" and it's the killers fault.
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I've not been talking about that. The killer will naturally go for someone they can see if they can't see anyone else, even if that survivor was the most recent unhook. If I hooked someone, and went back after the unhook and couldn't find the unhooker... or ANYONE else but the one who was hooked, is it tunneling? This is where perspective comes in. I feel a logical mind would say no, its just the rng of the match. I wouldnt expect a killer to just ignore me while looking for someone else if I'm literally the only one he can find.Others would probably not agree, and just beat 'tunneling!' claim into the ground despite circumstance. Humans being humans.
What I wouldn't accept is the killer trying to frame it as a reasoning of anything but rng. I didn't try to tunnel in my example. But the survivor(s) would still claim as such, simply because its convenient. Even if they understood the situation, I would still be called a tunneler. So in essence, killers are kind of stuck and get more flack than is probably called for. But the community makes it what it is due to.... humans being humans.
Hope that clears my view a bit. Not a positive view of humans being humans, but anyway! Now, jumping forward, trying to link your choice to tunnel to something like genrushing is bad form. Anyone with 100+hours likely knows the term tunneling, genrushing, etc, so in the rare cases people are ignorant of these things, eh, I guess it happens! More rng from our lady Entity.
I appreciate you being civil! :) Can I clear anything else up from my position? This felt very much like a conversation and not a us vs them! Ty @Hermit
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I can live with that, yes. But I never connected tunneling to genrush, but that's propably because the thread went on for too long.
Also, definately no us vs. them here, no worries. I've been playing this game since nurse release on both sides, although the usual BM made me switch to survivor a lot more ;)
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Somehow when I'm running the killer I always seem to stumble on my teammates who are running distortion+calm spirit.
Unrelated, I think bond is a really cool perk when playing solo :D
(seriously though immersed teammates who refuse to advance the objectives deserve wet socks).
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