Distortion Is Fine

Well, yes, I'm only looking at that aspect because that's what is being compared.

OTR being an anti-tunnel perk and Shadow Step being a better overall stealth perk is relevant but it's not the thing being directly compared. We're talking about people who want to be able to block auras in their matches, and in that context, Distortion is comparable while still being better. It's better because it's dedicated at doing that one thing, but it's not so much better that it invalidates the aura blocking even existing on the other two perks.

If you want to block auras, specifically, that specific effect, there are reasons to bring any of the three current viable choices now. That includes Distortion, it's still in the running and it's still the best at it. It's just not perfect anymore. That's a good thing, it means players have meaningful choices to make instead of auto-locking the overtuned best in class, while still having the value they'd want to get from each perk.

Y'know, except for Sole Survivor. That's kinda the asterisk on the "there's reasons to consider any aura block perk" take, that one still sucks.

Well, I think it's probably most relevant to take a step back here and remember that Distortion, in its current form, is still the best form of aura blocking. It's a little more niche now, as before it just blocked practically all auras for free with no input from the player, but it still fundamentally serves as the "I just want auras blocked and don't want to think that hard about it" perk.

You have to think a little because token management matters now, but if you just don't want to be revealed by Lethal or you just want to avoid mid-match auras like NTH or BBQ, Distortion does that. I've said this a hundred times in this thread but it really is the most important part: It's just not perfect now.

Distortion is allowed to be good at its job in exchange for not doing anything else. What it's not allowed to be, we must assume, is flawless at it. That seems pretty fair to me.

People drop perks that are perfectly good just because they were nerfed all the time, it doesn't actually mean those perks are bad. You listed two of them; Adrenaline is still a top three survivor perk and Circle of Healing is still very good in its niche, neither of those are garbage perks.

Distortion is the same way. It's still good, it just isn't overtuned anymore, so people are dropping it.

Pickrate does not correlate one-to-one with strength in general.

I've been very consistent about this, it's not contradictory.

Distortion is still the best overall, but it's now more in line with the other tools. There are reasons to consider the other two on the merits of their aura blocking now because they have niches in which they are actually better than Distortion, but those niches are more specific and restricted than Distortion. Before, Distortion was better than them at their niches, because it was flawless and had effectively 100% uptime on the aura blocking effect unless very specific conditions were met.

All of this is in the main post, where I run down the use cases for the specific perks.

Shadow Step is completely viable and has been since it released, it was just overshadowed by another perk covering its niche better and with no setup time.

There are three viable ways of blocking auras in the game right now, so I think the message is more that you should have tools to help against being revealed, but none of them should be so perfect that you never have to be chased if you don't want to. It's also worth mentioning that aura blocking is just as much for making the chase you're currently in more favourable, as it is for hiding from chases outright.

I would (and have, and am, that's what this thread is) argue Distortion is very reliable as long as you have a specific use case for it in mind. The way the game is right now, you do have to think about which auras you want to block and pick your perk accordingly, but once you do that they're all pretty reliable at it.

I can say that, because it is.

"In line with" and "comparable" do not inherently always mean "equal". Distortion isn't equal, it's better, proportionally.

It used to be so much better that there's no point in other aura blocking perks existing, either in terms of the ones we currently have or in any future aura blocking perk. Distortion was perfect, it blocked 100% of auras in most scenarios; why ever bother even considering a different perk even if it has some extra effects? If you want auras blocked, there's a flawless perk right there. OTR skated by because the anti-tunnel is just flat out more valuable than aura blocking, but Shadow Step and Sole Survivor were dead in the water. Granted, SS is just bad, but Shadow Step isn't, it was just massively outclassed by the perfect perk it was in competition with.

Now, though, Distortion is just "very good" at blocking auras, but it has gaps. Gaps that can be covered by other perks, now, but those perks have gaps too, that Distortion would cover. Now there's more of an appropriate spread where Distortion is the best overall but lacks in certain niches, which other perks can pick up the slack for if those niches are what a specific player wants covered the most.

I'm not actually ignoring context here, I'm even acknowledging that Off The Record isn't as susceptible to Distortion being perfect because it is not fundamentally an aura blocking perk. That's the one that still looked good in comparison to Distortion, I've acknowledged this multiple times. It still now has a niche that Distortion isn't quite as good in for aura blocking specifically, but that's less relevant because it occupies a separate design space too.

What I'm saying is that only applies to OTR because OTR is the only one that has a full other niche. Shadow Step and Sole Survivor are both fundamentally aura-blocking stealth perks and they were power crept by Distortion becoming functionally infinite back in 6.1.0.

It's also not just the current perks, the design space for aura blocking as a main component of a perk was completely filled. There could not ever be another aura blocking perk that isn't like OTR in primarily doing something else, because Distortion being the way it was meant no aura blocking effect could ever compare even in a lesser state because Distortion was the perfect aura blocking perk. That's not a good design space, it's not great for balance overall, and it warranted changing.

That's what I mean by "perfect", to be clear. It was perfect at blocking auras, obviously it didn't do anything without aura reading in play.

I also do not care about pick rate in either direction. I don't care how high or low the pick rate of any specific perk is, I care if they are capable of filling their role without undue obstacles— whether that's because they're actually too bad at their job to be reasonably appealing (Sole Survivor) or because they are heavily overshadowed by an overtuned perk in their same niche but with no meaningful downsides (Shadow Step). I am not saying that Distortion needed to be killed or gutted because of its high pick rate, and that's for two reasons: I am celebrating the fact that it WAS NOT killed or gutted but rather was changed in a very healthy way that preserved it being a strong and useful option, and because my complaints are based on design and not popularity. I don't care if people do swap to other perks, I care if they could or have reason to.

It's worth mentioning that Distortion was also a little bit too strong just from a basic balance perspective, too. It wasn't the huge balance issue that some other things end up being, but it's worthy of scrutiny if something is such a fundamentally hard counter that it completely shuts down multiple different options without any downside or requirement. Just to head off any whataboutism from whoever may be reading, yes, this applies to Lightborn too.

So, to sum up: I am judging perks by their own merits. That's how I came to the conclusion that it's good for Distortion to stop crowding out other perks' merits and operate in a healthier niche.

I did already run through that in the main post, but I don't mind repeating it a little bit.

So, generally, there are four sorts of use cases in mind here. There's preventing yourself from being revealed early, there's making certain actions safer to complete without being revealed, there's making chases less risky by blocking mid-chase auras, and there's protecting yourself while you're vulnerable.

Distortion is still the king of stopping you from being revealed early. It stops Lethal Pursuer from activating at the start of the match, and even as late as the first hook or so, you can be safe from aura reading if the killer doesn't have Lethal. Distortion also works against something like Nowhere To Hide or even Undying, random situational auras that also let you avoid them if you know they're there.

When it comes to making certain actions safer - generally referring to generator repair and heals here - Distortion still functions but is somewhat less reliable. That's where Shadow Step comes in, because with a little setup you can have a zone where you're safe from aura reads. Set up Shadow Step near a generator and you can be reasonably sure the killer won't snipe you with BBQ or Friends Til The End, as well as being safe from Nowhere To Hide until the killer snuffs your boon.

Blocking mid-chase auras like I'm All Ears, Predator, and Zanshin Tactics, Distortion and Shadow Step are roughly equal, with Distortion being more reliable due to the lack of range restriction but Shadow Step having an extra effect that helps in that area. Both valid choices, both useful.

For protecting yourself while you're vulnerable, all the perks work, but Off The Record is the best because it's the most potent when you're the most vulnerable. This is slightly cheating because OTR is already an anti-tunnel perk, but some people have legitimately expressed concern about auras leading to tunnelling after the Distortion nerf, so it's worth mentioning.

In short: What perks are giving you trouble? When do those perks activate? Answering those two questions can help you figure out the best counter pick.

Alright, let's tackle those in order.

So, we'll tackle those first two at once, which is Shadow Step and OTR having second effects. The crucial distinction here is that Shadow Step is primarily an aura block and scratch marks perk, and OTR is primarily an anti-tunnel perk. Shadow Step still had a niche for hiding scratch marks, but that alone doesn't make a complete perk- it's designed around the aura blocking being a main draw as well, and that was outclassed by Distortion having no downsides or restrictions. Shadow Step already has more downsides and restrictions than Distortion, it also being invalidated for a full half of its effects was a bad position for it to be in when it's otherwise a perfectly good perk.

Not that I'm necessarily claiming that is The Reason To Nerf Distortion, to be clear, it's just a positive benefit from the nerf happening. The nerf almost certainly happened purely because Distortion was too effective at its job, the fact that we're in a position where all three perks have a good and viable niche now is a side effect, and a positive one.

Next you talk about pickrate, which I'll glide past because it isn't relevant here. I don't care if people DO pick each perk equally, I care if they COULD. Design space, not popularity.

Your next point is the "nerf-bombing" comment, but that seems to rely heavily on the assertion that Distortion is currently a bad perk, which it isn't. It has several very useful and viable niches, in which it functions pretty damn well. What we actually need from aura blocking perks, new or existing, is the same thing we need from all perks - they need some kind of restriction, downside, or narrow scope in what they effect. Something that just does the job universally with no downsides is only acceptable if the job is particularly narrow in scope, which aura blocking is not.

Next is another pick rate comment, which I've covered. I don't care about that, it isn't part of my argument and never has been. Design space, not popularity. People already only pick a handful of perks and ignore perfectly viable ones, as a whole, and there generally isn't any fixing that, it's inevitable for games with choices to make at all.

For Distortion being questionably balanced, no, I don't have data. I have reasons and explanations, though, which are just as important from BHVR's perspective and the only important things from our perspective as players having a debate.

We're on a more salient point that probably should've been raised earlier with the assertion that aura reading is too oppressive, but I'm not sure I agree with that statement. Certainly if there were no tools for defending against it, the number of aura perks in the game would probably be too high even if most of the individual perks are well balanced, but there are tools to defend against it - both in the sense that you can stop your aura being read entirely, and in the sense that you can react afterwards. In the latter case, there's hiding after being revealed if you know it happened (not universally applicable, but a good few perks have tells), or just being in an undesirable position to chase. Players have options, they just still actually have to deal with their opponent's tools, which is pretty reasonable.

Finally, for the second to last point - as I covered the final point a bit more in detail above - you're falling into the trap of assuming that stats trump all when it comes to balance changes. They don't. Something can absolutely warrant changing without hitting an excess of pickrate or escape rate, and that's happened multiple times in the past. There's so much more that goes into balancing a live service game than a linear scale of too strong or too weak.

Two things:

1: I'm not sure why you're bringing up the supposed downsides of hiding all game or encouraging the killer to go after your teammates. I never brought up the former as a plus or a minus at all, and the latter is going to be true of all aura blocking. All I'm saying is that Shadow Step functions as a viable tool for hiding your aura if you want to do specific generators or complete heals in a specific part of the map without being revealed, that's all.

2: I meant that me bringing up OTR is cheating a little bit because it already functions in this area regardless of its aura reading. There's nothing substantially wrong with the perk itself and it definitely isn't cheating to run it, if that's what you thought I meant.

Okay, so, couple things I want to clarify. These aren't necessarily tied one to one with the order of your points, but I'll still number them for ease of reading.

1: First, the pickrate issue. So, there are a hundred things that go into a perk's pickrate which aren't necessarily the perk's strength or design space, and plenty of good perks don't get picked for a variety of reasons. These aren't always even the perk's restrictions- sometimes perks are less played because they're part of less popular chapters and fewer people actually own them, or because they started out bad and never lost the reputation.

What I want here, what I'm saying is good in this specific scenario, is for a player who isn't being swayed by any external influences to look at the available perks and have good reason to potentially pick any of them, depending on what exactly they want. That doesn't mean an equal number of players will pick different perks, one is probably going to end up picked more often because players love to optimise and follow trends (and separately most players aren't actually interested in crafting builds + evaluating perks neutrally, they just slap on whatever seems strongest), but that each perk could be used.

There are two things that might stand in the way of a perk fitting this criteria, and it's lucky we're talking about aura blocking because both of them have applied in the past. The first is the perk just flat out not being good enough to warrant picking over its competition. For aura blocking, that's Sole Survivor. That perk does see some use, there are people in this thread arguing in favour of it, but it's just fundamentally less accessible and impactful than the competition.

The second reason is if the perk itself is fine, but it's heavily outclassed by something that does too much. That's where Shadow Step was, and why Off The Record was never picked for its aura blocking effects. Now that Distortion is no longer flawless, they all - except for Sole Survivor - have viable niches. Before, you'd only be evaluating them on their secondary effects because Distortion made their aura blocking obsolete, and that's why a lot of people think Shadow Step is bad when it really isn't.

One of those niches is probably going to be the most popular one. Right now, it's probably going to be OTR, assuming the drama doesn't pass and everyone just quietly puts Distortion back into their builds. That's fine. As long as an unbiased player can look at all the perks and think "yeah, I could use any of these depending on my build", that's a perfectly acceptable spot. Pickrate has absolutely nothing to do with this because pickrate does not inherently reflect the situation I'm talking about.

2: Next I want to talk about Botany Knowledge, because it's a reasonably good example of what I'm talking about in this regard!

So, what does Botany do? Fundamentally, it exists to increase your healing speed. That's pretty broad, so are there any restrictions and conditions that go on this effect?

Yes! There's objectively one, and I'd argue there's sort of a second.

The first, objective restriction is that it decreases your efficiency on medkits. This is a meaningful downside that exists to stop the perk from getting out of hand, which is especially true when we remember that it was given this restriction while medkits themselves were massively overtuned, and Botany itself increased your efficiency on medkits. That's a restriction and condition that goes on the broad effect.

The second one, the more arguable one, is the percentage of healing speed. 50% is high, but it's not the highest in the game- and the highest healing speeds in the game right now go on perks with more restrictions and conditions, like We'll Make It and Circle of Healing. We can see from this that limiting the effectiveness of the perk is a form of condition and restriction that can be used to balance something broad. This is easier to see in something percentage based like Botany, but Distortion's stacks actually being meaningful now is another example of that.

Don't get me wrong, Botany Knowledge is not restricted by very much and that's why it's one of the best survivor perks in the game, but your example of an unrestricted, unconditional effect actually does have restrictions and conditions.

3: I suppose the last thing I should mention is to repeat that the supposed power creep of aura reading is not axing stealth as a tactic, because there are tools that counter it.

It's also worth mentioning that aura reading isn't thaaaaaaat popular? The last official stats we got from February only have two aura reading perks in the top ten, both of which Distortion comfortably counter and one of which you don't even need to use tokens on once you know it's in place - that being Lethal Pursuer and BBQ and Chili. While we shouldn't be citing Nightlight with the same weight as the official stats, looking over there just adds Nowhere To Hide into the top ten, which once again is a perk that Distortion can counter + you can start countering without using tokens once you know about it. That perk is a little overtuned, though, nerfing that would be entirely appropriate.

There's always a risk you'll run into other perks, of course, you might get caught out by any number of things you decided not to build against - I always seem to run into hex builds only when I take off my totem perks, personally - but it's hardly an overbearing and oppressive presence in every single match.