Dev update on distortion
I was reading the dev update and I have some issues with the update plan for distortion.
To have it deactive after 1 use and then only reactivate after getting chased with the current system of kills running 4 aura reading perks and 2 aura reading add ons distortion is basically useless now.
You will never get a chance to use distortion now. Game starts with lethal, perk deactivates. Killer hooks with bbq and chilli, you get chased. Perk reactivate. Perk deactivates by another bbq and chilli hook or no where to hide or the new zanshin tactics gets you or the killer is running Franklin's and weave and the whole map has portable uavs as if we are playing cod or the killer is running one of the many other aura reading perks.
The issue with the game is not that distortion is too powerful. It's that it's way too nesacary to survive longer than 5 seconds when the killer has basically permanent wall hacks.
This game has gone from a hide and seek system to how long can you run before you eventually die. There is no surviving anymore. The main part of the game of trying to find survivors has been removed entirely due to aura reading.
If the devs plan on adding more aura reading perks I believe they need to leave distortion as it or if they really want to rework it, add more perks to counter aura reading as it is way too easy now for killers to read auras.
The way the game is going more and more survivors are gonna run gen rush perks and items as this is now the only way to get anything done when the killer can watch what you are doing from start to end through the walls
Comments
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I like the general direction of the perk, however I feel it should be allowed to stack twice since you need 2 separate chases as opposed to current distortion allowing you to stack from one. Like you said the upcoming changes would make the perk ineffective at its job, serving largely as a lethal counter that will help you a bit throughout the match. If the perk could hold 2 tokens while the change to how it gets them is in place, then it would counter lethal pursuer while still having 1 token for a NTH, BBQ, etc. And then you would need to get more tokens for later. But one stack is simply too little.
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The fact that Distortion players hide the entire game and their team-mates die must be the reason why this has changed.
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I see more killers use 4 gen slowdowns than 4 aura perks (exception: Huntress).
Being hidden against Lethal is HUGE, as you are most likely not the first person to get chased. BBQ can be avoided by going into a locker and count to 4 (or 6 with Lethal). Guess what people did when BBQ was meta and Distortion did not exist…
Zanshin is nice for mindgames but not much else, as you need to be around a DROPPED pallet. Usually killers break every significant pallet.
WA+Fraklin's is another story and will be probably nerfed next time. I suggest just testing for the perk at the start of the match and then hide your item in a corner until you need it.
I can only reccomment trying Object, especially now. The perk has been underrated und under-appreciated for years now (since its nerf tbh). True, if you like to hide, this perk is maybe not for you, but as it shows you the killer when they see you, you get a ton of information and they can't mindgame you anymore as well.
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I can assure you, as a Distortion user, in most cases I was the only one actually doing the objectives.
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But yeah, Distortion is now basically useless.
Absolutely gutted it with this change. Aura reading is already way too prevalent, and it's just going to get worse now. One positive at least, every single Distortion user should now be running Off the Record instead so you'll have some protection against tunneling as well.
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My main issue with this change is that it isn't accompanied by buffing other perks to block aura reading. I was really hoping that when they touched on Distortion they would also add aura reading blocking to other "stealthy" perks like Poised, Dance with Me, Deception etc. But they seem to have gone in another direction with Poised so that seems extra unlikely now.
I completely agree the sheer amount of aura reading, especially with how powerful it is in some cases like Weave Attunement like you pointed out, that the Distortion change is an unhealthy one. To me, Distortion's best value was knowing when your aura was being read. 2v8 had a status effect that showed you when you were revealed, and while I don't think I would like that in the main game mode at this point I feel like they need to consider it.
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Well, with the automatic aura-reveal in 2v8 I had a feeling that the default is supposed to be "the killers knows exactly where you are". The Distortion change is in line with that (it basically only counters Lethal now). I for sure don't like that direction but I think it has been made abundantly clear that you're not supposed to be able to hide from the killer if the killer wants to find you.
I could, maybe, get on board with Distortion being this way and having the added affect of notifying you when you aura is revealed; so to make it basically exactly as the 2v8 event. But not even that.
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This is my thought exactly. Give it two tokens instead of one.
People go on about how distortion gets their teammates killed. But I don't see that as the problem. People should be allowed to play stealth if they want.
My issue is that it shuts down Aura reading on everything but all aura perks. I'm discouraged from running lethal and alien instinct on non-stealth killers because current distortion is infinite aura denial.
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Literally all they had to do, if small number tweaks was too much to ask, was tie token recharge to gen repairs;
Survivors wouldn't be able to hide forever without progressing the objective (and if the Killer finds a gen partially repaired then they know someone is around) in endgame.
This would encourage even stealth players to contribute and assist their teammates.
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I definitely like this better than regenerating during chase
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I guess you were the exception.
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i really like this idea this could've been a good change
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I completely agree. Distortion should have been left alone. Even if a survivor is running Distortion, if a killer has 3+ aura reading perks plus an add on with aura reading (which has been happening A LOT recently), it's been difficult to gain our stacks back even while in chase. Especially if it's against a stealth killer. I main survivor and do use Distortion often. But when I do decide to play killer matches, and I am not good at killer, if I run even 1 aura reading perk it turns my game around and I get a 4k easily. With more experienced killers running multiple aura reading perks it's going to make games so much more unfair with no way to counter them
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because a killer dedicating 75% of their build+an addon slot to auras and distortion just being difficult to get value from was balanced
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You are right. Horrible change.
Will hurt new and normal players the most imo. A good looper don´t care if the killer sees and chases him.
I really don´t like all their aura reading stuff. It is waaaayyyyy to much.
But i guess it is only gonna get worse. Don´t like this direction at all.
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What killer is running this sort of overkill aura build except huntress? You're better served running game stall than aura on 90% of the cast. Especially if you're playing a standard terror radius killer, then you're never going to be able to use up all the distortion tokens.
I just don't understand why people have to make up these exaggerated scenarios to prove their point. When the witch hunt was "haste perks" and I'd have to ask: which haste perks? Then they just stutter and uhm and ah play with your food something something. Like that isn't one of the worst perks in the game. Good on precisely one killer with one specific build.
Now it's aura perks. Guess what? You're only ever going to see three aura perks in your games. NtH, lethal and BBQ unless you're playing vs a huntress or trickster. Then they might have darkness revealed. Maybe. There could be fifty aura perks in the game but most of them are at the level of awakened awareness, so who cares?
Like what aura stuff? Specifically? You can't just wave your hand at an entire suite of perks and say yeah these bad boys are problematic. It'd be like breathlessly posting THESE EXHAUSTION PERKS ARE OUT OF CONTROL after they added smash hit, of all things. Incredibly niche and innocuous perk.
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distortion will be useless, I love that the devs have said “too easy to hide all game” with distortion yet they have changed predator to a 6 second aura reveal if you have the audacity to escape a chase and that ISNT deemed too easy for killers
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Nobody is going to run predator. It's a C tier perk. How often do survivors break chase and you don't know where they are? It's that worth giving up surge, pain res, grim embrace,etc? Of course not. It's a nearly worthless bit of info.
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I’m going to run predator if it’s a 6 second aura reveal aura reveal on escaping a chase
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Why? Typically when a survivor has escaped chase it's because you hit them and they gained distance. You know where they're going. How is that worth a perk slot?
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To be fair, seeing exactly where the Survivor is when breaking chase (which can be accomplished by simply walking for a moment after breaking LOS, it's how good loopers can greatly delay blocking the window of shack against M1 Killers without Bamboozle by walking a moment to reset chase after turning the corner) is insanely valuable on certain Killers and can guarantee hits in certain situations if the Survivor doesn't leave the loop.
Nurse can get a guaranteed hit by knowing exactly where you are, Pyramid Head can do the same, Knight will know exactly where to put his guard to guarantee a Hunt. Any kind of range Killer can pre-emptively line up a shot since they know when the Survivor will cross the corner. Fast Killers know exactly if/when the Survivor ditches the loop and will know exactly where to dash to cut them off etc. The only Killers that don't really benefit that much are M1/low-mobility Killers (Pig, Ghosty, Nemesis to some extent, Trapper etc.) but it can still be useful for knowing when and where the Survivor is going after breaking LOS and waste less time.
It's not a meta perk by any means but it's not trash either and can be very strong with certain Killers. And while nuked Distortion can protect you from this, the Survivor will be left completely vulnerable to whatever other aura perk the Killer has, making it essentially worthless for hiding.
Tying gen progress to token recharge would remove Survivors ratting around and being useless (the only problematic part about it is player-dependent) while still making the perk accomplish it's purpose if the Survivor actually contributes and isn't just hiding all game.
Edit after Dev update: Welp, looks like Distortion is going in the trash bin. Getting token back in chase makes the perk almost worthless for newcomers/casuals that aren't good in chase (ya know, the ones who used it the most) but still decent on cracked loopers. Even on the other side it's now ######### because it's a perk that will be much more effective against weaker/slower/M1 Killers than the powerhouses since their chases tend to be longer. Yet another perk that got nuked because people whined. If it had been tied to gen repair it would have been perfect but I guess they needed to make people shut up somehow.
Post edited by Skillfulstone on2 -
As an active distortion user (mainly to use for information and not the hiding), I definitely look forward to this change. However, I did expect them to make the token recharging only happen during chases, and not a 1 token system that recharges after a chase ends.
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It doesn't recharge after a chase ends.
It only recharges when starting a chase. Which makes it a direct counter to new Predator and I'm All Ears but almost entirely worthless outside of chase.
While people ratting around and not helping was an issue, tying Distortion to starting chases will merely throw it into the trash bin like most perks after a nerf and not fix the issue. People will still rat and be useless, only difference is that they'll stay in lockers more instead of stealthing around and risking the Killer stumbling upon them.
For the vast majority of the playerbase, basically every chases will end with them on a hook. Distortion will have 3 uses max for most players while better loopers might get more uses. Yet another perk that people will just replace with a gen-speed perk and lower perk variety again.
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I just say remove all aura perks/add ons. Every single one! There is no point- killers can see scratch marks, pools of blood and hear grunts of pain. Survivors can see the killer and when someone is in a chase and if that survivor gets downed the location of the killer that way. Auras are hand outs and ruining the game. I don’t even run the perk distortion that often but having 6 ways of seeing auras is kinda insane tbh (4perks and 2 add ons) I get there are perks survivors can run to disable scratch marks after getting injured and pools of blood, but still, get some skill instead of relying on aura perks. And guess what if survivors bring said perks you won’t have to worry about gen rushing perks
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Ah, the natural conclusion of the aura bad sentiment. Makes a lot of sense if you think about it.
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If someone is shift teching then knowing where they are when it activates doesn't matter. They've already broken chase and reset the entity blocker and gotten what they wanted. And like, how often does that happen? It's exceedingly rare.
Nurse can't figure into any perk discussion. Sorry. She's not even playing the same game as everybody else. Don't care.
So pyramid Head is hitting someone, losing chase and LoS and then..... hitting them with his power? During a six second window? It'll take most of that duration to catch back up with them. Is that worth more than a game stall perk? Ha.
Knights one I actually play. Empty perk slot on him. You can't see auras while drawing a hunt line. So you'd hit them, lose chase, see their aura and then it'd vanish when you went to draw the path. You know what doesn't vanish and you'd end up using anyway? Blood pools. You use those to track survivors in power.
Who's a long range killer? Huntress? Trickster? Unknown? For any of that to be fruitful they'd need LoS and for the survivor to be in range during the aura read or directly after. That's an awful lot of stuff having to line up for a whole ass perk slot to maybe get value.
Like yeah does predator do what's on the tin? Sure. It'll definitely show you an aura when the thing happens. Is that useful? Can be. Is it useful enough to take over something that consistently does stuff? Haha. Of course not. I'd put money on the usage rate barely increasing.
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Ah, thanks for the correction. I suppose that makes it technically helpful in a chase, but still, I'm surprised they just didn't keep the tokens and only have them charge up during chases (and not instantly - you want longer chases to get rewarded with more tokens).
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Would probably be a good idea.
If you really think about it - do you think it would be bad for the game if there was NO aura reading at all? I don´t.
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Sure, but take away the killer terror radius completely so that survivors don't get an early warning to hide before the killer can even get line of sight. Survivors already enjoy a third person view vs. Killers limited first person view, so they have no need for an early warning system. That seems to be fair.
Regarding the Distortion update, as others have said, it does feel like 2 stacks is a fair and reasonable buff to the perk in its current state.
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You have your opinions what is good or bad and what people don´t run or should run or not.
Maybe you just can acknowledge that other players may have completely different experiences in game.
Also if you are in high MMR the game changes a lot in a many ways.
I play pretty casual and started end 2019 before Pyramid Head came out. I play both sides.
This game has not changed very much in some aspects but very much in other aspects.
I am no fan of aura reading (which i see pretty often in my matches), of the ugly white endurance hits and of the less fog but brighter maps.
Back in the days you had way less perks - and very thought out perks imo. Every surv and killer had perks that complement each other and made sense for that character.
In recent years that changed a lot for the worse. Due to their release schedule they bring perks that make no real sense, destroyed old perks that also don´t make sense for the char anymore and don´t complement the original perks anymore.
Therefor they added these ugly endurance hits because DH was nerfed. DH made total sense for David. It would still be better today only that you should not be able to use it as often.
Now it seems they are getting on the more aura reading trend.
But why? This game was a dark horror game with a strong killer where you of course should hide from.
Now you have some forum people constantly crying that only chases are fun and gens are boring. And you should be in chase all the time. I don´t share this opinion.
In reality most players are not Ayrun or JRM or Grasshopper and loop the killer for eternity. Most players i see go down fast.
And so we will see more Huntresses or Nurses etc. with full aura builds stomping even more.
And people will simply use it because they know there is no distortion anymore.
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Yeah but the killer still has powers, is faster and stronger.
This is how it was originally designed. And this was a very good design choice.
Aura reading was very very limited in the beginning - rightfully so.
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The killer is faster in a straight line, but not so much on loops, and in regards to stronger, the killer is outnumbered 4 to 1.
Unfortunately what you are describing is how the game was originally designed vs. what it became.... and what it became was an accidental byproduct of the fact killer have a larger hitbox and thus can't get around terrain as quickly.
Looping and the mind games associated with it have become the primary mechanic the game is built around, and is a mechanic sorely lacking in many other games that have attempted to copy DBDs success. It evolved away from hiding and stelath, and looping became the entire point of the game.
Aura perks aid with that, and while I do appreciate stealth since that is the more authentic horror experience, DBD wouldn't have found anywhere near the success it has if looping wasn't the primary focus of the game.
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You are right with that.
But not long ago both still worked in game.
It seems that they walk more and more away from stealth. Also a lot of techs and tricks get removed to simplify the game overall. I think this is sad.
Players who can´t loop are getting stomped. And these are often new players → bad game experience → not playing longer → no new players.
It was obvious that something like that would happen. We get 4 chapters with at least 6 perks - or more. Now often altered perks of another existing perk.
In reality we have enough perks and the power creep is more detrimental.
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Well, how well it worked is debatable, DBD has had some wildly broken things in it throughout its history, and you could say its simpler, but it's being compared to the wild west, where both sides were in a constant arms race of which side could come up with the more broken combos...
Usually that was survivor side, which is why nerfs have tended to be heavier to survivor perks/items than killer perks. Fundamentally the survivor has to be weaker than the killer in the 1vs1 for the game to function, and this was not the case in number of cases for old DBD.
I will admit though there are a lot of aura perks for killer. I'm not too thrilled about the Predator and Zanshin changes making them ywt ANOTHER set of aura perks. It's all getting a little bit samey... but overall I feel the game is for the most part reasonably fair with nothing outright broken on either side.
Some people prefer the old school mad cap busted nonsense you could pull back in the day, but a lot old DBD would sink like a lead balloon with it's larger modern player base (MFT being a shining example).
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