The Skull Merchant Design Preview Is Not Good...

I understand many of us on the forums don't like to use our brains, especially my fellow Skull Merchant haters, but these changes are not it lol.

No killer absolutely needs to sacrifice their identity for the sake of the game's balance. The Skull Merchant at her core is a trapper, able to survey the area and apply Lock-On and Claw Traps, and somehow this proposed rework removes pretty much all of that.

I understand the need to cut the bloat from her kit so that players are always pretty clear on what's actually happening when she's using her power, as well as the desire to make her a more appealing killer to the wider playerbase— but these changes don't merely address the core issues, but takes a torch to the entire design in ways that are either completely misguided or absolute overkill.

I proposed a Skull Merchant Re-Rework back when SM 2.0 first dropped, and many of the points I made and proposed changes hold true, and so borrowing from both that and the design preview changes, I know we can make Skull Merchant more widely appealing, while also simplifying her design and retaining her core identity, all without taking her in the aggressively boring direction of just another dash killer. Here's what I'd tweak:

DRONES 2.0

• Retain the scan lines and visual detection radius.

Simply put, there's no real reason to change this. Are people really asking for this to be removed? Because the excuse that it "clashes w/ DBD's visual design" does not sound like a serious reason at all for Dead By Daylight of all games lol. The game literally has daylight maps when the survivors aren't dead yet smh my head. The current iteration is straightforward enough in its design, and the proposed changes from the design preview needlessly obfuscate it, which runs counter to one of the main goals for the rework in the first place.

• Retain the Lock-On and Claw Trap mechanics.

These mechanics have been part of Skull Merchant's kit since day one, so removing them both serves to confuse the same casual players this rework is supposed to appeal to whilst alienating her existing playerbase.

• Survivors now become fully locked on after being scanned once. Survivors locked on to by the drone that are scanned again receive a Claw Trap and take damage (Deep Wound if already injured). Survivors no longer become broken upon being Claw Trapped.

These changes elevate Skull Merchant's chase potential and streamline her core interactions, removing some of the bloat such as needing three stacks for a Claw Trap and one of the many status effects she currently applies, ensuring players have an easier time assessing the threat of each drone without the need to diminish Merchant's strength further.

• The Skull Merchant can quickly propel a drone 15 meters in a straight line directly to a Claw Trapped survivor, dealing one health state of damage. Drones emit a bright red light when a Claw Trapped survivor is within its radius.

This retains the core idea from the design preview of allowing her Drones to directly deal damage, without need to sacrifice the other parts of her kit that players enjoyed. Additionally, endangered survivors should be able to quickly assess and understand the current threat of the drone.

• The Skull Merchant can assume control of Active Drones, going Undetectable for the duration. Power is shared between all drones.

Power being shared between all drones just serves to add complexity where it is unneeded, and more for players to keep track of when the aim is quite the opposite.

DRONE HACKING

• The inputs for drone hacking are briefly flashed before disappearing. Players must repeat the inputs in the correct sequence to complete the hack. Completing the hack removes Claw Traps instantly. Failing the hack refreshes the duration of the Claw Trap and notifies The Skull Merchant w/ Killer Instinct.

This adds at least a little bit of a challenge for the hack, and an actual tangible risk w/ extending trap durations and notifying the killer.

GDP

• The Global Detection Power detects all survivors walking, sprinting and performing actions. Survivors that are crouching and crouch walking are not detected.

Survivors should be able to counter this outside of just doing nothing, so crouching should be allowed to get around this part of the power, similar to The Hag.

Hope this finds the right people. Skull Merchant fans, I'm praying for you lol.