Nurse and Predator highlights potential positive direction
Predator is fine...
A lot of people called it, it's been swimming in a few threads here and there... Predator is fine with the rework, but it is absolutely broken on Nurse. I've seen a few content creators highlight it already, and the general gist is the same... leave Predator alone... you can't nerf a perk to uselessness just because Nurse exists...
However it is utterly busted on Nurse, and I suspect a change is coming soon, and I would affirm the problem to tackle is Nurse... not Predator.
Suggestion: Blindness on Blink?
Today I caught SupaAlf showcasing it as well. During that video he talks about adding Blindness to Nurse while she is charging a blink and during a blink.
Since blinking on an survivors aura once you have the muscle memory is really easy, Blindness would mean the Nurse still benefita finding survivors with auras, but still has to predict survivor movement to actually score hits, which keeps her unique gameplay fun and engaging for both sides.
I have the clip here:
I really like the idea of this change, this I think would address a lot of the pain points balancing Nurse. Nurse is such an interesting and unique character, with her own unique mind games that are really fun to play against... unless she just perfect blinks on you every time... which is just so problematic with auras...
Possible other changes for accessibility following this nerf?
I don't really want to just nerf Nurse however... doing so makes her even more unaccessible for new and console Nurses than she already is…
However I think this nerf is a solid nerf that potentially opens room for other changes that might make her less obtuse to lower skill/new players.
For example, since Nurse has this kind of bend reality ability, one could lean into this idea more and instead of yanking her camera down to floor have Nurses gaze turn dredge white briefly, but become unable to see survivors (like Spirit) while she recovers as if she has to realign to reality. While learning Nurse this would greatly help new Nurses maintain spatial awareness.
What do people think of this blindness change idea, and what other potential changes to help a newer player play Nurse do you think she would benefit from?
Comments
-
Maybe i'm crazy for that, but isn't 4,4 Nurse with 1 blink is much more balanced than usual one? I don't have strong opinion on that, because I almost don't play her, but these few times I play as and against 4,4 Nurse, it felt much more fair. Maybe even make her so he can blink only in places which she can see and make her addons overhaul based on that.
Btw, love your posts, they are very interesting to read, even if I don't agree with something.3 -
Remember the infamous line: - "Nurse is bottlenecking the game"?
"Everything is broken on Nurse."
4 -
I actually do like Matchbox Nurse a lot, and I'd not at all be upset to see this change personally. The only things that pulls me back from it however are: -
- I would have a hard time justifying to everyone who plays Nurse having the time and effort they put into learning her multi-blinks all being for naught.
- Her being 3.95m/s is such a unique aspect of Nurse that I can't in good conscience get rid of it...
- Having its as a alternative playstyle via an iri is what I feel iri's should be, and I think Nurse' Matchbox add-on is one of the best.
I've also heard people criticise Matchbox Nurse as having to some rather painful zoning potential, where her being 4.4 can put you in lose/lose scenarios... but that's 3rd party info, and I'm not skilled enough to say I can affirm or deny, so take that with a pinch of salt...
Also thank you so much! I very much appreciate people taking the time to read and respond to my guff. 😁
It's always pleasant when people agree with you ans affirm your perspective, but when people disagree, I learn a lot and greatly benefit from the wealth of experience available here, so in a lot of ways I actually prefer to read posts that have the opposing point of view.
I either expand my knowledge to form a better argument, or I sometimes have to compromise, or completely rethink my whole position entirely 😁🤘
1 -
Im agree it makes 2 good things. Make nurse more accebale for beginners and console players. And also make her not so powerfull
0 -
Nearly every healthy or good Perk will be broken on Nurse (remember when Nurse's blink attack was a M1 move and how strong some perks were on her due to this). Predator is an okayish perk. It is very helpful for beginners (which nice, especially because it is a free perk on Wraith) and decent for the average players. However, on Nurse it can be very strong because it is Nurse.
I agree that Nurse should get blindness when charging/using blink attack (or something similar like Spirit has when phasing). With this, her skill ceiling would increase which means she will become much more difficult to learn but that's fair for being the strongest killer in the game. However, if the developers nerf/restrict her strengh, then they could give her some QoL changes to make her easier to learn for beginners.
In my opinion, she should also get some additionally changes like nerfing Heavy Panting Addon and reworking Torn Bookmark. I also woundn't mind to change her like fussy suggested by making her a 4.4 killer with only one blink.
3 -
The Blindness on blink idea is something I've been thinking about for a while and I agree.
You can still use aura perks for info and while not blinking. Just no more blinking directly on top of auras for free hits.
The Heavy Panting addon (30% longer lunge after chain blink) also needs a nerf.
Matchbox Nurse has less counterplay than regular Nurse due to the increased movement speed, since survivors cannot make distance on her anymore while she's walking. Personally, that's not something I'd want to be made basekit. Nurse can be a very interactive killer for both sides as long as auras aren't involved (which the Blindness is intended to address) and Matchbox takes a lot of that away imo.
2 -
Cheers for the explanation! I did tend to do quite well on Matchbox Nurse, but I know it's not her being used to her potential...
I can just about play normal Nurse and put up a decent fight, and not usually get smashed on console... but it's really hard work on a pad, so I absolutely knew I wasn't qualified to speak on it really 😅
0 -
This. 👍️
The very nature of Nurse is that she breaks the conventional rules of the game.
Every killer does something interesting and powerful with a select handful of perks. Huntress and Trickster like Iron Maiden, as may Artist once people start diving into lockers to remove crows (like me). Distressing is good on Doctor. Monitor & Abuse can be slick on Hag (RIP Deathslinger 😔).
Remember when people freaked out about Nurse when Awakened Awareness dropped? Where are those people now? Let strong killers have strong perk synergies. It's not wrong. Not every Nurse is going to use it - I rarely face a Nurse anyways, so I don't even know how prominent she is regardless.
2 -
Top third of Killers pick rate based on Nightlight... and I'm not sure what your stance is exactly?
You are right that she breaks conventions of the game... Nurse has her own unique mind games which is a part of her that should be prized. Breaking line of sight, doubling back, or faking doubling back, or moving in unpredictable ways are the counters to Nurse, which you appear to know...
However it appears you alarw saying just let Nurse have perksnthat remove the one element of counterplay left for survivor... happy yo have the debate, but teh two halves of your statement seem to contradict one another 🤔🤔🤔
0 -
The Awakened Awareness Nurse thing never materialized because they nerfed Awakened Awareness after that PTB. That was back when Starstruck still worked with her power which was ridiculously overpowered.
The thing is, Awakened Awareness isn't really that good now because they nerfed it and instead of addressing Nurse (at that time) they nerfed the perk (which was a mistake) and now it gets almost zero use. That's exactly what we should be trying to avoid here. Nerfing Predator would accomplish nothing and wouldn't be addressing the real problem. This is why her blink attacks are special attacks now. It voided Starstruck on her (the one killer Starstruck was a problem on) and kept it untouched for the entire rest of the killer roster. A similar thing needs to happen here. There's nothing wrong with Nurse being unique (actually I like that she exists and that she is different), but auras are too strong with her power and a killer being unique from the rest doesn't justify them having an overpowered perk synergy.
1 -
Im not disagreeing what you're saying, but holy ######### I'd love to face more Nurses instead of Draculas. I think it'd be a fine change to make Nurse not be able to see auras while holding a blink/blinking.
0 -
I would have a hard time justifying to everyone who plays Nurse having the time and effort they put into learning her multi-blinks all being for naught.
Yeah, same, I feel bad for people who put a lot of time in learning something just to see it's gone later. Even SM mains found a lot of gameplay deepness in this character just to see how their time will be multiplied by zero.
I've also heard people criticise Matchbox Nurse as having to some rather painful zoning potential
I don't think so, she clearly has less zoning potential than Huntress, maybe even some other killers. But, once again, maybe I'm wrong bc I'm not Nurse enjoyer, but playing her as 4,4 I don't feel this "crazy zoning potential". She has 1 blink, so you need to be extremely precise with it and use it only on short distance, because get away from one long blink isn't even skill, you just run in different direction as soon as you see her blink, don't even talk about faking your direction or something. So nah, I don't believe she has more zoning potential, than Huntress at least.
I very much appreciate people taking the time to read and respond to my guff.
There is not so much actual reading on forum anyway. 90% of posts are just short complains/suggestions/us vs them, and really good long posts are not getting attention at all, it makes me sad.
I either expand my knowledge to form a better argument, or I sometimes have to compromise, or completely rethink my whole position entirely
Mad respect for that. These are extremely rare skills nowadays, but with people without them I even try not to enter into a discussion, just pointless waste of time in most cases.
2 -
Predator is not fine. It stifles build variety. I used to occasionally run lose the killer builds with stuff like deception, or someone getting a clutch bite the bullet juke out. If they lose chase they know exactly where you are hiding and its not fun.
0 -
I see what you're saying, but Predator is not a good perk (mostly). It kinda has this idea that you're preparing to fail... which is just not good.
Vast majority of the killer roster does not benefit from losing distance on the survivor, and any halfway decent killer is not going to lose players in chase 95% of the time, thus people won't tend to run it because the value isn't there. M1 killers lack the lethality/mobility to capitalise on the aura in most scenarios where they lose chase, and highly mobile killers almost always have better perks they can take instead (and they are even less likely to lose chase).
The only killers you might see it on frequently (other than Nurse) is Wraith since he can end chase at will, and maybe Huntress who may like the aura read if she has to stop for hatchets (though even that is probably not great on her 9 times out of 10).
Other than that, Predator is not a strong perk, so you won't see it unless you're going against lowbies using it as a crutch.
1 -
Fellas, what I'm saying is, that her unpredictability is her greatest - and perhaps even sole - identity. It is what makes Nurse, the Nurse. Remove that and there's no reason for anyone to play her because her best characteristic is destroyed. We can't just keep nerfing every killer every time a single, individual, and at times fringe issue is discovered somewhere within their kit (e.g. why bother removing flashlights' burn effects on Artist's swarming crows? Just, why bother? Why not, not worry about that at all?).
Constant change is what is stifling this game. Live and let live. You don't need to have a hardline, set-in-stone, "employee training manual" counter to every killer.
0
