http://dbd.game/killswitch
Boons Buff: Different ranges, smallest range takes priority
I was thinking about boons, and one major problem in both creating new boons and balancing them is they're all limited by the 24m range, making some of them pretty useless (Dark Theory is a major front runner), but simultaneously can't be increased due to boons like Circle of Healing and Exponential potentially becoming problematic. This largely comes from the issue that you can equip multiple boons, and they all get placed on one totem…
Creating a mechanism to allow different boon ranges or multiple totems to be booned gets awkward and clumsy pretty quick, so we get stuck with this limitation out of a need to "Keep it simple stupid".
Proposal
So with that in mind, how about allowing boons to have different ranges… but with multiple boons simply make it so the smallest range boon takes priority. This would free up boon ranges to be buffed as needed to make them useful, and give meaningful trade offs to stacking multiple boons…
Overall this gives boons far more wiggle room to be balanced and for new boons to be created, creating a healthy template for boons in general. You CAN make a strong boon with a short range, while also allowing weak boons with a large range, and allows build creativity in managed those respective trade offs.
I'm also thinking Boon: Dark Theory needs an entirely new effect, but that's a discussion for another thread.
Comments
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you can make boon apply at different ranges on 1 totem. it will just look weird because you'll see shadow step icon but no circle healing icon despite being in the boon radius.
I had similar idea with scourge hook perks where lessen scourge used perks get more scourge hooks. Like monstrous shrine gets 6 outside scourge hooks while pain res get 4. lowest one applies if both get equipped.
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Aye, I've queried before regarding just having different boon ranges, I think the main issue is with the chime and blue aura effect. If you have it so it is no longer clear where the boundaries of boons lies it's puts onus on having the pay attention ot the buff symbols. I don't think it's really a problem myself, but it does make trying to communicate "I have Circle of Healing in this boon! Go further in" more difficult in soloQ.
So I figure to get around that limitation and just keep it simple, use the smallest radius. Then there is no ambiguity and confusion.
Regarding scourge hooks, yeah I also like that idea. I still reckon additional scourge hook for Hangman's Trick would be a really nice buff for that perk. Makes its passive more effective, and allows it to support other Scourge Hook perks.
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i think even if you buff boon to 28 meter radius, all of them, they still will be unpopular perks. maybe in 32 meters, they gain a very small amount of traction where they become niche strong if SWF uses 2 boons.
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Indeed, boons are generally not in a good place, but CoH is still a pretty good perk. If I were to take a pop at boon ranges offhand:
- Circle Of Healing - 24m
- Exponential - 32m (I keep umm-ing about it… it can be a bully perk… but a small radius borders on useless for non bully play)
- Illumination - 48m
- Shadow Step - 36m
- Dark Theory - 32m (Though I'd favour a rework, because movement speed is notoriously irritating to balance)
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I am a fan of this or of the idea that for each boon in your loadout, the range of it becomes bigger by lets say 4 meters (so 36 meters max)
On the topic of Dark Theory, I really liked the idea of it being reworked into an Invocation (yes I still have faith in this concept) that would boost all survivors after being completed for the rest of the trial. A Made for This effect you have to actually work for.
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Boons are way better than people give them credit for. I run overzealous/CoH/shadowstep and reassurance and I get a lot of value out of them. Sometimes I switch one to exponential when I get a feeling an Oni is about to crop up.
The problem is that although they're good, they aren't good enough to be an entire side objective. So people waste time trying to find them when they could be doing gens. The correct thing to do is bless totems on your way to other objectives, not at the detriment of those objectives.
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You could fix that by just showing all boon effects next to your perks, but the ones which are not applied because you are too far out are greyed out. In your example Shadowstep would be lit but CoH not, but both would be visible.
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I also like Overzealous for builds such as this. I enjoy running boon builds; the problem is for the boons that require some interaction with the killer to gain value.
The 24m range is so short for shadowstep, dark theory and exponential that the need to stay near them for thw benefit limits your looping options significantly, and can easily be shut down by the killer. As such there isn't really much reason to run them due to that time deficit setting them up, and the lack of portability they provide.
CoH and Illumination avoid this problem because their boosts are survivor centric, and don't require killer interaction for value. Illumination has the problem that it is an effect that isn't too valuable on its own and would benefit from having a much larger radius so as an info perk you can ensure you and your team have a lot of info across a sizable portion of the map.
This basically leaves CoH as the only somewhat viable boon, maybe with shadowstep as a form of Distortion to make it harder for the killer to identify your CoH site.
The rest, fall woefully short. Sadly the range changes alone aren't likely to see them gain value, but it would at least free up another avenue of buffing boons, which they kinda need.
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Actually a pretty awesome idea. Approve this!
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