A Fix For Dead Man's Switch

BBQ has a range requirement, DMS does not. BBQ has a more predictable activation requirement people can fool if they suspect it, but avoiding DMS that way would require either committing hard to the generator or not touching it at all for thirty seconds. BBQ is just an aura and can be weak to Distortion, DMS would have a scream component as well.

DMS is also not fine. It's not even currently fine, it has one of its annoying synergies right now. I would like to see it changed so those obnoxious synergies aren't looming over it, that seems like the more appropriate response than playing whack-a-mole with whatever people are pairing DMS with this time.

My goal with proposed balance changes is never to make a perk everyone will run. There are plenty of strong or just decent perks nobody runs, and the only things that are adopted by a large majority of players for either role tend to either fall into specific camps (like 'regression' for killer or 'chase' for survivor) or are just flat out broken.

My goal is to make a perk you could use if you wanted, and yes, this perk would absolutely be usable. On its own, absent synergies, this perk would be more useful than current DMS. It's a sidegrade to perks like BBQ and Gearhead, which are both pretty decent. You'd have all three available depending on what info you want, in what way, and for what purpose.

I do not want DMS nerfed because it has synergy with whatever perk you're referring to there and on Doctor. I don't want DMS nerfed at all, I want it reworked. I want it reworked because it's constantly in danger of being elevated to uncounterable status by pairing it with other tools.

Wow, you're aggressive.

So, first of all, this perk would be relatively useful on everyone, information doesn't need to be acted on immediately for it to be valuable.

Second, highlighting 'clear counterplay' when I just laid out that my major problem with the perk is how it's constantly in danger of that counterplay being taken away is very, very silly.

Third, mediocre? I compared it to BBQ and Gearhead, which are far from mediocre. Gearhead is one of the better info perks available right now and BBQ is no slouch.

Those two things aren't mutually exclusive. If the things being said were facts, they'd just be both at once.

Now, let's actually look at this claim here. So you lay out three synergies, and two of them are ones I'd consider problems considering GE + DMS is actually counterable the normal way.

First, the obvious: Currently, for some reason, Pain Res activates at the start of the hook animation and not the end like it used to, so you can't counter this unless you just stop repairing as soon as someone's downed, which is at best an annoying loss of efficiency for no reason.

Moving on, though, let's say that's fixed again and we're back to none of these being problems. Great! DMS is currently fine.

For now.

Until the next one comes along.

Because the current design is always in danger of DMS being upgraded from "Mediocre but fairly designed" to "Quite strong and completely uncounterable without just not repairing to begin with". It's never disgustingly OP, you generally have room to repair safely while chases are happening, but it's always in danger of being boosted to way, way more impact than it's meant to have and with way less counterplay. Perks get changed for less than this already, a perk that forces survivors to do generators way slower even when they're countering it is at least worthy of looking at.

On top of that, DMS isn't good on its own. That's the nail in the coffin, it's a bad perk that gets elevated to unfair impact on a semi-regular basis. It's a problem, and there's no need to pretend it isn't. Nothing's gained from that, people don't even generally use DMS unless they're synergising it with something anyway.

It's better for everyone, killers included, for the perk to be updated to be more consistently useful without that possibility of unfair nonsense lurking around the corner.