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#1 SM opinion on the Skull Merchant design preview (20k lock-on downs, mained since day 1)

Vindruva
Vindruva Member Posts: 29
edited March 25 in Feedback and Suggestions

I would like to share my opinions about the SM design preview. The idea of crashing into survivors with your drones feels really anticlimactic and the rotation mechanic being gone is a huge hit to what most of her mains loved about her. Losing clawtraps is also a shame.

For the first issue I suggest that instead of dashing with your drones, you charge up for a fraction of a second and fire a static beam into them. This attack could then apply a clawtrap to the survivor, so we can still use the radar in chase to see them. We SM mains really don't want her to be a dash killer, as she's never been one and there's an overabundance of them in the game compared to other killer archetypes.

As for rotation being gone, I don't know what can be done to preserve it. Maybe you could give the option to rotate stealth drones to ensure that survivors get hit by them? Or this could be the way of applying clawtraps, just something to keep at least a tiny bit of her old identity and gameplay flow.

The red light green light minigame seems fun, but it all depends on the numbers. If it's like a doctor static blast, where it takes effect only at a single point in time, then it's going to be terrible, but if there's like a 15 second window where survivors can't run, that could be interesting.

The hacking changes can't go through. Even though it was stated they're supposed to make it more high risk-high reward, it's simply not true. Unless you give SM the ability to take control of a drone that's in the middle of being hacked (similar to the Unknown being able to teleport to hallucinations that are being dispelled), this change will provide no extra benefits to the killer, while the aura reveal is a huge benefit to the survivors. After all, nobody ever fails the hacking minigame, unless they're interrupted or a brand new player who doesn't understand what's going on.

This rework has a few issues. She's going to have the same struggles as twins, like being unplayable on forgotten ruins and being severely hindered if someone jumps into a locker. Anti-slug perks will also disproportionately her more than other killers, while if the survivors aren't prepared with them, they're going to get obliterated

I understand the need to make her a bit more conventional for the sake of community acceptance, but this rework is not it. It removes a lot of gameplay complexity and nuance that I and many SM players loved, only to appeal to survivors who are going to hate her anyway simply for being Skull Merchant.

Comments

  • Rigbeta
    Rigbeta Member Posts: 292
    edited March 25
    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/441138/1-sm-opinion-on-the-skull-merchant-design-preview-20k-lock-on-downs-mained-since-day-1

    Yeah The proposed changes just completely remove most of what we all have aclimated to and gives us a new character. Someone mentioned it before in their own post but this is a rework for survivors, not for The Skull Merchant Mains.

    IIt Completely changes the flow of her game play style while removing the mounting danger, the lore design, and the rewards she gains for setup.

    The fact she would be losing so many mechanics at once is staggering. It's kind of like that Twins Ptb that had proposed removing the ailment they introduced, "Incapacitated" as well as Charlotte's Killer Instinct. It just isn't right.

    I really hope the devs see all these posts.

  • Marmot24
    Marmot24 Unconfirmed, Member Posts: 1

    As a survivor main I have to agree with you. Although I understand some survivors saying she's pain in the ass to play against I don't think that learning counterplays is that tough, especially after the rework. She doesn't need a full rework to feel better to play against, just some number tweaks to make her power less spammable, but more rewarding. Also I don't think making all the killers in the game similar to each other or just making them a hybrid of several killers is a good strategy for the future. This game needs unique killers like Skull Merchant. That's the part that makes the gameplay diverse and fun to play.