We need to figure out a good place for Distortion
Hi, I have an idea for the much hated Jeff Johansen Perk, Distortion. 1st I’d like to start by saying that yes, I am a Distortion Gamer… but I am not a rat as the community calls me. Which is a statement I never truly understood from my side as in I play the game normally, I do gens, I get safe unhooks, I cleanse Hex Totems, and get chased, hooked, escape, and sacrificed like normal survivors. All Distortion does for me is prevent easy tracking, or in the game sense, no actual skill to see me across the map through a wall or bush. Killers have a Perk or Add-on that can literally spark an Aura Reading for anything, and I do mean anything (I won’t go into details.) But being punished or criticized for using Distortion because Killers can bring Perks or Add-ons that make the game (easy mode) is so unfair. I miss and enjoyed the old style of using your eyes and ears to find Survivors. Pools of Blood, Scratch Marks, sounds of pain or breathing, footsteps, and Crows flying away. Old Killer Perks like Blood Hound, Stridor, Whispers, Spies from the Shadows, and old Predator were great back in the old days. The old Dead by Daylight had good tracking but when they introduced Aura Reading it changed the game, and no one complained about BBQ, Nurses Calling, Blood Warden. While these other Perks aren’t Aura Reading Perks they do help in finding Survivors but no one complained about Discordance, Iron Maiden, Tinkerer, Infectious Freight, or Territorial Imperative. And you know why no one complained about those Killer Perks, because Survivors had counter play, while everyone may not have picked up on everything, they could figure it out throughout the trial if they played the game long enough or just new how things worked. Today’s Aura Reading has no counter and while some tell you what’s happening from you randomly screaming and or becoming blind, many don’t. So back to the reason of the discussion, for my take on Distortion with many calling it a rat style gameplay, here is my version…
Start the Trial with 3 Tokens.
Whenever the Killer attempts to read your Aura, Distortion activates and consumes -1 Token, applying the following effects for 8/10/12 seconds:
Blocks your Aura from being read.
Suppresses the creation of your Scratch Marks.
For every 30 seconds spent in chase with a Killer, Distortion recharges +1 Token, up to the starting count.
Distortion does not activate when you are in the Dying State.
For every 60 seconds spent doing Conspicuous Actions while in the Killer’s Terror Radius, Distortion recharges +1 Token, up to the starting count.
Distortion does not activate when you are in the Dying State.
I don’t mind where they are trying to take the Perk with the chases, but the fact is the perk helps new or newer players… but they aren’t going to be that good in chases and prefer to stay as far or hidden from the Killer as possible. What if they made Windows of Opportunity the Perk that can make trash loopers good and good loopers gods only work while being in chase or after 30 seconds of being in chase? while that wouldn’t truly hurt the perk doing chases the Survivors couldn’t always position themselves in safe places before or after chases started.
So by adding the “For every 60 seconds spent doing Conspicuous Actions while in the Killer’s Terror Radius, Distortion recharges +1 Token, up to the starting count.” Survivors who still play the game get rewarded with Tokens, be it takes longer to recharge but it shows that they are actively progressing the game in some way shape or form. And for those who want to get Tokens quicker can simply chase or interact with the killer more. Both players are rewarded and if the player simply is playing like a “rat” and doing nothing to help the teams progression then then get no Tokens after they run out.
Thoughts?
Comments
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Current Predator is literally worse than nothing and old Predator wasn't very useful either. Especially not with perks like Lightweight around.
Bloodhound has never been a good perk either. When a survivor is injured you won't have much of a problem tracking them anyway. Stridor was almost never used for the same reason.
Whispers is nothing that a little game sense won't provide either. You know that someone is in that general area. But if there isn't anyone there, what are you doing on that part of the map? It's redundant information.
Territorial Imperative is one of the worst perks in the game. Survivors don't go into the basement unless you force them and even then it's bad because you're not around to do anything about it. Iron Maiden has never in the history of this game been used for information, has it? You use it on maybe 3 different killers (Bubba, Huntress, Trickster) but not for the info.
Discordance is pretty mediocre because survivors have learned to spread on gens. So it mostly won't activate until the last gen. But for that you don't need the perk anymore because you have a pretty good idea what gen they are working on anyway.
Tinkerer was nerfed and is now a better undetectable perk than it is an info perk. You mostly don't need that information because you already know what gens are worked on and with it only working once per gen, the synergy with Pop was limited severely, so that's even less of a reason to use it.
Blood Warden is never used for the info aspect either. If you can't activate the main effect, which is pretty hard because gates are kept at 99%, then you don't get anything out of that information. You come closer, they teabag you for a second and then leave. I can do that without giving up a perk slot for Blood Warden.
Infectious Fright only works as a slugging tool. This has 2 major downsides:
- 1) You have to slug, so you need a killer with a decent chase power to make this perk shine.
- 2) In order for Infectious Fright to do something you already have to find a survivor and down them.
This means, that whenever you actually struggle finding survivors, this perk won't help you.
BBQ suffers from point 2 as well but because it provides information exactly when you want it (right after hooking), I still like it.
It's pretty hard to design a useful info perk that has some sort of requirement and doesn't require you to already have found a survivor. You mostly need information, whenever you struggle finding anyone. So this kind of defeats the purpose.
With that out of the way: I agree that Distortion was overnerfed. The problematic thing about Distortion was that the "rat playstyle" as you call it existed, which entailed that Distortion survivors could avoid getting found altogether by just doing gens and hiding whenever the killer came near. The killer wouldn't have the time to go around looking for them and even then there is a good chance they wouldn't find that survivor still. That also came as an issue to mostly solo queue players because anyone who didn't have Distortion would be found more often and eliminated earlier. If the killer can't find 1-2 survivors then that's 2-4 less hook stages before someone dies.
For that reason I think Distortion should have 4 stacks but only recharge when getting hooked. This would avoid that problem altogether.
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Thank you Xernoton, you have given me to things to talk about, 1st is the perks I mentioned earlier and then the thoughts about your Distortion take.
1st The perks I mentioned earlier, I can go in more depth about them now since you brought them up. I would like to say that all the Perks I was talking about was Old Dead by Daylight and probably around the Chapter 15: Chains of Hate released on March 10th 2020. It came with Gearhead which at the time gave Aura Reading to Survivor doing gens who hit Good Skill Checks. Before this Killers had the Perks I mentioned before and while there weren’t that great and considered bad at the time they were still tracking perks in some way shape or form. Yes you could see moving crows, Scratch Marks, Pools of Blood, hear Survivors breathing and footsteps and sounds of pain, but Blood Hound, Stridor, Whispers, Spies from the Shadows, and old Predator boosted all them thus making it easier but nobody complained as in it still took effort and skill on the Killers and Survivors part. Now Perks like BBQ, Nurses Calling, and Blood Warden, Survivors could tell about BBQ if they were smart so they could counter it. If they were healing and the Killer could find them as if he/she knew they were there and only when healing, they could counter it. Blood Warden til this day Survivors still stay in the Exit Gate so even though most should know their Aura is being read, they still stay in Exit Gate? I’m guessing it’s because it’s not only rare to see but even rarer to pull off. Discordance if the Killer keeps coming back to a gen you doing with someone then yeah you catch on and then counter it. Iron Maiden while not really a tracking perk it still does linger your location and if you heathy and exposed plus it lasted 30 seconds back then, yeah the Killer might come for you. And Tinkerer, I was referring to the Patch 2.1.0 Tinkerer now gives the Killer a noise notification if a Generator is repaired to 85 % and also reduces their Terror Radius to 0 metres for 8/10/12 seconds. While not being Aura based tracking it still provided gen tracking and activated multiple times helping you not only find Survivors but undo their progress, rinse and reuse, repeat. Survivors could counter it, but it was a hassle depending on Killer and teammates. Infectious Freight while good for slugging is still a good information Perk, but it could be countered by Survivors. Territorial Imperative is still a horrible Perk today as well in the past, but if Survivors went into Basement and Killer came down soon knowing exactly where they were… then yeah they knew the Killer had he perk and could counter it.
Fact that I’m saying that old DbD had Tracking and Aura Reading but the Survivors could counter them if they knew what was happening, not saying if they were good or bad but no one ever complained about the Perks and Distortion wasn’t over used to counter them.
2nd Your take on Distortion having 4 Tokens at the start of the Trail but only regaining a Token once hooked. So the Survivor could only gain 2 Tokens back max over the course of the match? Would they immediately gained the Token once hook or would it apply over time? Would they gain a Token immediately then gain a Token over time if the Killer was camping? If so I believe the Idea has some backbone, still a nerf though but hey how about this as an added feature, when the Survivor is rescued off hook, with an active Distortion, there is no noise cue for killer, silent unhook?
Thoughts?
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Hey I have an idea… might be a hot take but take a look
Start the Trial with 3 Tokens.
Whenever the Killer attempts to read your Aura, Distortion activates and consumes -1 Token, applying the following effects for 9/11/13 seconds:
Blocks your Aura from being read.
Suppresses the creation of your Scratch Marks.
For every 30 seconds spent in chase with a Killer, Distortion recharges +1 Token, up to the starting count.
For every 60 seconds spent doing Conspicuous Actions while in the Killer’s Terror Radius, Distortion recharges +1 Token, up to the starting count.
For every 90 seconds spent doing Conspicuous Actions outside the Killer’s Terror Radius, Distortion recharges +1 Token, up to the starting count.
Distortion does not activate when you are in the Dying State.
I thought about this and wondered if this was too much to balance, and while it would be I believe it should be doable as they have other Perks with complex layouts as well. I feel this is still rewarding to the players who still play the game but don’t overdo it with the recharge rate while also still punishing the players who don’t play the game as intended. Basically the closer and more active you are with the Killer the more Tokens and quicker recharge rate is, but the further and less active you are the less and possibly no Token are given. Also I gave the timer a 1 second increase across the board, not much but it’s a small buff.
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The reasons why nobody at the time complained about these perks are quite simply because 1) most of them weren't used (Tinkerer and Discordance were meta but the others would never be seen) and 2) because most of them were so weak that there really wasn't any point in complaining abou them.
That would be like complaining about No Mither because it allows survivors to pick themselves up an infinite number of times (well, at least until they bleed out).
Spies From The Shadow is still a useful perk. It's not as good as Nowhere To Hide but I wouldn't sleep on it. The difference between this perk and many others is that it's almost never used. People haven't talked about Knockout for years even though it is a very unhealthy perk. But as long as nobody uses it, the issue is non existent to most players.
The point about Iron Maiden and Blood Warden was that the information you get is so bad that it you could take it away and the perk would functionally be the same. Survivors won't complain because a killer perk is too weak and vice versa. Mostly, that is. There are some people that play both sides enough to have an interest in such things even though it doesn't affect their prefered role but they are the exception.
Tinkerer was nerfed about 2 years ago and I remember that there were at least some complaints regarding its pick rate. If there was ever an issue with the information I do not remember. One reason why Tinkerer wouldn't be as much of an issue is as you pointed out, that survivors know when it is in play and it also doesn't show them but the gen. To be honest, I would like it if they brought that Version of Tinkerer back. It was never an issue to me but I accepted it as part of the meta shake up.
With a bit of basid human deduction you can also conclude that a killer has Lethal Pursuer, Nowhere To Hide and Friends Til The End, which are the 3 most used info perks we haven't talked about yet, according to Nightlight.
Nowhere To Hide can be countered by not trying to hide when the killer approaches and instead running away, which isn't too different from what many survivors already do. Also, the killer has to kick a gen, so they would know someone was around there anyway, which means that it really only helps against survivors that hide in close proximity to that gen. Friends Til The End can be countered in pretty much the same way as BBQ and Lethal Pursuer is not supposed to be countered. That might sound like bad design but if you take the perk at face value, you'll find that the main thing it does is give start the game quicker. The killer won't have to guess where the survivors spawned, which really only is an issue on maps like Haddonfield that have weird and unpredictable spawns. It's a one and done (other than the secondary effect, which is neat but not a big deal either).
So I disagree that the complaints about info perks overall are due to a lack of counterplay but because of overexposure. It's the same as with slowdown perks. Arguably they aren't that strong anymore but it's not fun when you have to play against the same perks pretty much every match. I role my eyes at Lithe and SB too even though both of them are fine in terms of strength.
My idea for Distortion was to restore all tokens on hook but your idea is even better. You could start with 3 stacks and have a limit of 5. When you are hooked you restore 2 or 3 stacks and every 20 seconds you spend on that hook, you gain an additional token. That would make it stronger against camping killers too.
Edit: I overlooked your second post, sorry.
I don't like the idea of a survivor being able to actively avoid getting chased throughout the entire match. That's why I think hooks should be the only way to restore stacks.
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Okay, I think I veered too far from where I wanted in this discussion, while yes Nowhere to Hide can be countered… if or by the time most Survivors figure it out is probably around the second time the Survivor is found. Friends Til the End lets you know so yes you can counter it in a way. I wasn't trying to go in depth about the Perks of today because there are plenty that do strange actions and the Killer gets rewarded with Aura Reading. There is no Counter to Lethal Pursuer as you’ve said even though even with Distortion you still run the chance of being caught, lol. The statement of all the perks I mentioned before were in some way shape or form a way to help track, see, or to know where Survivors are or would be. Doesn’t matter if they we good or bad at the time they were still there, they could be used and they could be countered. Yes if a Killer downed a No Mither player and didn’t pick them up within 32 seconds then yes the Survivor would run away… which still has counter from the Killers. Knock Out while is annoying you are correct, it’s not used enough to be a problem so no one really complains about it… but plenty of Killers run Aura Readings, not all but plenty. But to have an argument about Distortion users because it takes away from their many perks abilities. Why do Survivors have to “Get good” while Killers can open a locker, kick a gen, break a pallet or breakable wall, Survivors get an unhook, etc… the list goes on.
The discussion about Distortion hiding your Aura from the perks I mentioned before is so small it didn’t boost its usage, now BHVR at one point added a Token to Distortion because of all the massive and easy amounts of Aura Reading Killers was getting. Then they gave back 3 Tokens but at a recharge rate of 30 seconds while in Killers Terror Radius why… because of the huge list of perks that could show Aura Readings. Then they nerf the perk while also making two strong Aura Reading Perks in the same patch??? What???
Now Survivors have 3 Perks outside of Distortion that can hide their Aura, but they are not as good as Distortion as they require a prerequisite.
Sole Survivor
Boon: Shadow Step
Off the Record
These 3 perks and Distortion are the only 4 Survivor Perks that Hide Aura, but sadly they are also the only ones that have counter play; Distortion’s counter play is just using your Aura Reading Perks until the Survivor’s Tokens run out (which is bad counter play but the tokens aren’t unlimited.)
But Killers have Aura Reading for just about anything, they have 29 Perks that provide Aura Reading… and that’s not including the Killer Add-ons.
Simply load into a match, Aura seen (Lethal Pursuer).
Killer carrying a Survivor in the Dying State, Aura seen (Awakened Awareness and Scourge Hook: Hangman’s Trick).
Killer hooks a Survivor, Aura seen (BBQ & Chill, Alien Instinct, Friends ‘til the End, and Grimm Embrace).
Survivor unhooks Survivors, Aura Seen (Scourge Hook: Floods of Rage).
Killer kicks a Generator, Aura seen (Nowhere to Hide).
Survivors Healing themselves or other Survivors, Aura seen (A Nurse’s Calling).
Survivors complete a Generator (Bitter Murmur and Rancor).
Survivors being in the Exit Gate, Aura seen (Blood Warden).
Killer Searching a Locker, Aura seen (Darkness Revealed).
Survivor in the Dying State, Aura seen (Deerstalker).
Survivor enters Dying State while other Survivors working on Generators, Aura Seen (Eruption).
Survivors are working on Generators and hitting good Skill Checks, Aura seen (Gearhead).
Survivors being near a Dull Totem, Aura seen (Hex: Undying).
Survivor Blessing or Cleansing a Dull or Hex Totem, Aura seen (Hex: Retribution).
Killer simply Injuring a Survivor, Aura seen after 25 seconds (Hex: Face the Darkness).
Survivors near unopened Chest, Aura see (Human Greed).
Survivors near dropped items, Aura seen (Weave of Attunement).
Survivor enters the Basement, Aura see (Territorial Imperative).
Survivor Stuns or Blinds the Killer, Aura seen (Nemesis).
Survivor tries to blind the Killer, Aura seen (Lightborn).
Survivor Fast Vaults a Window or Pallet, Aura seen (I’m All Ears).
Survivor drops a Pallet, Aura seen (Zanshin Tactics).
Survivor escapes chase, Aura seen (Predator).
Killer Snuffing Boon Totems, Aura seen (Shattered Hope).
To nerf one perk while all these others exist in the game is silly and completely one sided as the Killer can bring up to 6 different effects that provide Aura Reading completely counter Distortion in the 1st 36 seconds of the match. And while yes Survivors do have Perks, Items and Add-ons that allow them to see the Killer, it’s nowhere near as impactful and mostly tends to them doing nothing to help the match.
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Ah yes, hangman's trick. Noted oppressive perk. I know that when I combine that with territorial imperative it's just free wins. Survivors are helpless before my ability to see them go into the basement on a cooldown and if they happen to be near a scourge hook boy howdy are they in trouble.
Jokes aside your post does the opposite of what you're trying to illustrate. All it shows is that killers only have a handful of actual decent aura reading perks and having a single perk that requires no input from anyone counter all of them, indefinitely is problematic. You could list notable oppressive and commonly seen perks like shattered hope and awakened awareness all day long, but it doesn't mean anything because killers only have four perk slots.
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Hello Ohyakno, I’m not sure what you were trying to accomplish here, making jokes about Scourge Hook; Hangman’s Trick, Territorial Imperative, Shattered Hope, and Awakened Awareness. You either aren’t a player of DbD, have no real hours in the game, or play little to none of either side; but with that being said I wish to have serious debates and not childish banter. 29 Perks is hardly a small handful and that is still not including the Add-ons like I mentioned and while I don’t want or need more Aura blocking Perks on Survivor side, nerfing the only good one while not buffing the others is a bad choice. And honestly, the build you mentioned, go try it out, as long as you are decent at Killer I’m sure you will have easy wins. 4 Perks that hide vs 29 and still going up that show Aura… I’m sure the next killer in 2 months will have at least one Aura Reading Perk and 3 Add-ons. Cry me the river on why Survivors need skill… but killers don’t. Go play Call of Duty and not complain about Wall Hacks, they may be cheating but Wall Hacks is still Wall Hacks.
At least give me a thought of the Distortion discussion or if you could change it.
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My favourite part is how they buffed Diversion(pebble perk) which only really worked if you could hide your aura.
Now the killer can watch your aura while you throw pebbles lol.
2 dead perks.
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Hi Likechips, that is not how Diversion works, your Aura is not shown when throwing the pebble. Also I would love if Diversion sent the pebble 21 meters instead of 20, small buff. But no Diversion is in the best place it's ever been and I'm sure it won't be receiving anymore buffs, at least not for a very very long time.
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