Do people just not understand Skull merchant?
Been seeing some recent discourse about new Skull merchant from the RPD clip and general discussion here and on reddit and I'm just honestly dumbfounded about how people just don't understand her power. Like it's completely fair not to like her power (Though I'd take 10 SM before 1 knight tbh) but at least learn what it does before complaining about her being unfair.
In regards to the RPD clip sure that injure is pretty much unavoidable but pretty much every chase or even M1 killer should get a free hit there assuming they don't massively misplay. Artist and knight for example could do that just as easily.
Like there's people who don't know drone beams can be avoided by crouching or standing still and some people even think she can still lockdown a 3 gen till the server closes (She's pretty much a worse plague when it comes to that now as drones can be disabled while puke can't)
Obviously i don't think she's perfect atm but she'll never be in a good state when people don't actually figure out what she does in the first place and just complain (Hell her 70% kill rate is probably due to hook suicides).
I don't really play SM anymore but it's kind of hilarious how unwilling people are to learn how to play against her and just give up instead
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If people wanna play the most miserable Killer ever released, then they are free to do so.
If other people in the match would rather find something slightly more enjoyable; they are free to do so.
She's so poorly designed that it's painful. Hopefully after Twins, they'll give her a proper rework, new power and everything.
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She's definitely not the most fun but how is she any worse than knight or artist? Her power get her a free injure and a potentially easier second down alongside some info. You can play around her power at loops more so than a knight or artist.
Reworking her again would honestly be a waste off time and take away from killers like freddy who need it more
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While there are some common ways to counter SM/"rules" to follow in a match against her, I don't blame anyone who considers doing so and then decides they rather nope out of the match.
And that being said; depending on how the stack situation looks, there are quite a number of bs hits (also due to ping, I understand that, but at least for me, that doesn't change how I feel about bs hits.)
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One of the big problems with SM, at least in my region, is that the immature troll type players gravitate to her as they know she is already hated. They play her in the most toxic and unfun ways intentionally and almost every match I have played has been like this.
Do I understand her power? Honestly... no, not really. Do I want to? Also, no not really.
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Personally i don't care if people DC against her but the problem i have is people Dcing because they think she's too strong while literally not understanding what she does
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Admittedly, I haven't been on the forums much lately so I don't exactly know how the current discourse. - But at least from my live matches I can tell that a number of people do know what to do about her but really don't want to do it. In vc it's easy enough to identify by the deep sigh and the "let's just go next". But even in SoloQ people do the pointing at the questionable area, looking in the sky and shaking their head to indicate that they really don't want to deal with the bs. And other SoloQs tend to agree by doing the same.
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I mean i'd rather a toxic SM instead of a toxic nurse or blight tbh. And again unwillingness to learn her power is what is leading to her high kill rate which is leading to a lot of the hatred against her as people see her as too strong when she really isn't
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Hello, my dear friend! Always good to see ya here :)
I still think the RPD clip isn't really proof of anything. As you've said, any killer could have gotten an easy hit there. The recent thread about it had this same discussion, but it got out of control.
I've been playing a lot of Skull Merchant myself and I've played against survivors who knew what to do against her. Vastly different than playing against people who give up immediately, of course.
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Honestly that's where my confusion kinda comes from. Like yeah she's a bit boring but people aren't dcing on mass vs knight or artist who in my opinion have even less actual gameplay involved
A lot of it comes from the old merchant who didn't do anything besides 3 gen. Many people just assume she's still the same and just ignore trying to learn the new one and leave the game
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What does she do? SM gets every tool and status effect under the sun including hindered and haste. The haste part btw is especially egregious when a mate screws you over from across the map. Thing is with Artist someone can step into the bird(/lightburn them, does that still work?), Knight someone can take aggro of the guard. Artist and Knight also slow themselves down when using power while SM continues to run at you with full speed possibly more. You cannot disarm the drone standing right next to SM and the drone sits there until called back unlike crows or guards. She effortlessly sets up her map while denying loops, getting free hits while pallet stunned and being really ######### annoying.
"M1 killer should get a free hit there assuming they don't massively misplay". She took the pallet to the face AND got the hit. Is getting getting pallet stunned at this pallet not a "[massive] misplay"?
The whole "avoid drone beams" git gud thing is also completely out in the window when the SM figures out she can overlap drones by 40% or so and gets a good map for it. Nevermind avoiding beams in chase.
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Honestly I will take a toxic Nurse or Blight any time, at least there is the possibility of some fun chases (without hindered effects) and it will be over quick if they are really good.
I have had probably one single fun SM match since she was released but I have had a lot of fun matches vs Nurse or Blight
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Yeah there's many clips of SM getting injuries in strong loops pretty much for free (Which again other killers can do) but having the RPD clip take over discussion is hilarious since it's literally means nothing when every single other killer can get a free hit there
Like i totally understand not liking her power but surely if they hate SM knight and artist should be DC worthy too since they are essentially the same gameplay loop with even stronger antiloop
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It's kinda the choice between two unfun things; get the 3gen kind and it's just annoying. Get that sTacKs one and it's full of bs.
As for Knight and Artist: I don't see nearly as many of them. But as for Artist you can still play your own little mini game with getting rid of crows and if you're lucky you have a multi-story situation. And Knight... I see about as many people noping out against him as I see noping out against SM. - But at least given the forums situation I agree; kinda curious that people havve SM on their radar and not Knight.
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As for the M1 point Skull merchant can afford to get stunned there which doesn't necessarily mean she got outplayed because the drone is there.
Lightburning doesn't work on artist anymore making her anti loop have no actual counterplay assuming the artist is halfway decent. Taking aggro still gives the knight pressure with 2 survivors off gens so It's not a huge loss for him time wise
The thing with merchant is she can't down with her power becoming a worse clown afterwards. So long as you play safe and predrop she still has a struggle in finishing off the kill which is something knight and artist don't share. At the RPD loop SM can get a free injury but if you are already it's played normally. Fr knight and artist it's just a free down
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I still think it was all because of the hate train around Skull Merchant. If that RPD clip had any other killer it wouldn't have caused such outrage.
I understand not liking her power, but I dislike when people DC only because they dislike the killer. I think Wesker's power is horribly designed, but it isn't fair for me to abandon my teammates. It is not their fault I don't like the killer.
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Yeah i get that point. Like i've never DCed on principal against a killer (Old spirit was a close one though ngl) as i think doing so kinda dumb when you are queuing into the game knowing you can face any killer. Might as well just play it out for your teammates
People seem to want skull merchant to be the 'hated by everyone' killer so they have a punching bag tbh. Absolutely fair in her old form but now i don't get it.
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I agree completely.
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said it before. will say it again.
people are blindly hating, and I stopped pretending to care about their baby rage.
It doesn't matter how fair she is, they won't see it. they are blind by hate.
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Nice tautology. The drone exists which means she got outplayed. Good discussion. Totally disregarding this is the point of contention. You already confessed to strawmanning in this thread so no surprise here.
Pressure on two survs is better than one dead and if it isn't the big one the banner spawns quite quickly. Run around one piece of clutter and back to it, done, next guard. Keeping a mate alive for them to make it to another tile/allow them to play the pallet is not huge, ok, seems disingenuous to me.
Otherwise people know what to expect and. Artist anti-loop counter is have someone run into the bird. It's not great, does not always work, cannot even be expected in SoloQ but it's there. SM gives the illusion you can actually do something about it and then you get told to learn how to play when you find yourself in the middle of 4 drones. She gets one free dissolution with her power if you can force it.
You can keep bringing up killers to compare her to but that does not change that her power is intransparent (haste), unintuitive (claw trap pallet break), and evidently too annoying (your "struggle in finishing off the kill" => 3genning all day every day) regardless if you understand her power. At least you get to judge people as ignorant on an internet forum so all is good.
Btw there is a difference between giving up and refusing to play.
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There is a difference between giving up and refusing to play. The refusing is by not logging into the game or a match. The giving up is from loading in then dc’ing or giving up on hook.
If your mentality is at this point just take a break. The game is fun for the rest of the community.
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The problem with SM has, and always will be, her lack of any meaningful counterplay. Artist can be dodged, pyramid head can be dodged, you can pick up the banner against knight, also a teammate can tank for you for each of these killers. You cannot dodge sm. You can crouch the laser, in which case you will be rewarded with another laser to crouch literally 3 seconds later due to how fast her drone scans around. Teammates also cant tank lasers for you. You get hit by the power after some time no matter what if the SM has a working mouse. Uncounterable powers like this are ten times worse than strong but interactive powers. Feels horrible to play against no matter how weak they might be. Yes, you can express your skill as SM. You can aim your laser so that it hits the survivor fast instead of after a full rotation. You can have great gamesense and keep track of scans on survs, and play accordingly. But as a survivor, the counterplay is to just drop pallets and hold W, and maybe stop completely in chase once or twice, no matter the skill level of the merchant. Your skill is irrelevant as survivor in chase. Even nurse lets you play around with LOS, and clown you can set up hit tanks for. SM completely removes skill expression, and I hate it.
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There are people opting out of plague and clown matches because it makes them motion sick or whatever, not to mention old spirit, starstruck nurse, knockout. I disagree with the notion that everyone leaving a match early is giving up for you to be looked down upon. Maybe that one psychologist is right and this game is all about humiliation.
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I agree that leaving due to the game effecting them physically, like the clown intoxication, is valid. Also it is giving up. It is not about being looked down upon that is bad it’s ruining the game for the other 4 people. It is not a jab at the individual specifically for leaving just that they do so without considering what they are doing to the other players.
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Giving up generally has a negative connotation as far as I am aware and the guilt trip at the end of your post reinforces this. Getting out as soon as you hear the killer's TR is different from doing an entire chase, watching 2 gens getting finished and then offing yourself on hook. The latter has everyone else invested the former ends before it even begins.
edit: And you judging clown intoxication a valid reason to leave is exceptionally generous of you.
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I see you want to hear it’s ok to give up. If that is your thought process I just stated you might need a break. It’s ok to do so it can give you clarity.
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I think this one big point. I'm doing a gen under a drone. The drone is activated but I'm safe. Only the last percent..
Mate is running into the beam: "Hi! What's up?" *Beep Beep Beep* 😒
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Some people just do not care about the finer points of concepts.
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Some people just want to be told it’s ok.
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Because that's her only playstyle.
There are fun ways to play Knight and Artist. Well, more fun in Knight's case. You can play Sniper Knight with CTA and you can go for cross maps with Artist. There are alternatives.
Not so much with SM. Place power at area, Survivors must leave area or die. Take hit, hold W.
Also, this is nothing about you, but almost every SM I've played against has been horrifically toxic. The Killer seems to attract the WORST elements.
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This is just the community's mindset for everything. People are too quick to give up against anything they don't like that they refuse to learn how to play against them, because they just want to "gg next"
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