Possibly Hot Take: I actually like the new crows

Getting crows for actually interacting with a hex totem is dumb, touching hex totems should remove crows even if the interaction isn't complete, but simply running around the map looking for the totem is totally deserved, most hex totems aren't worth spending minutes searching for nor are they such an immediate threat that you can't stop to do a gen if you don't find the totem relatively quickly.

This is such micro-management of gameplay though, at this point you might as well let the bot take over.

Devour is probably the most imminent threat, but the killer has to get several hooks before it even becomes a problem.

Yeah, kinda too late to start looking at that point!

I work gens injured but if I get hit with something like Friends Til the End I'm not gonna sit on a gen and wait for the killer to come get me.

I run Small Game on my basic build for finding hexes. It doesn't take that long, but I have to sprint a lap around the map, and the sound notifications don't give me exact locations so I have to look around, and then I have to fully cleanse it. If I get interrupted by the killer hurtling towards me, or a perk that makes me scream, or Doctor zapping me, or any other potential problem, then there's that. There's also the lengthy cleanse time for Thrill of the Hunt.

You might not think cleansing them is worth it but it's an aspect of the game, and one I like, and people shouldn't be punished for participating in it.

It's a poorly thought out update. It should be more environmental and not just a basic timer. The 10 seconds start should really be 30 seconds to negate the head on/flash save issue. The timer in killer TR is clearly inefficient.

Hiding is important, but hiding too much is straight up a bad play.

Yeah, we basically agree on this.

You are "AFK" when you haven't done an action considered to contributing for 10 seconds. After than it takes 90 seconds to get 3 crows

Yes, I know how the system works. And it functions because it defines what is considered gameplay.

The game doesn't have context to decide what is gameplay or not, it just has a very restrictive list.

And, for the record, "unhooking* does not remove crows. So if unhooking a survivor isn't considered "contributing" then what the hell else are you doing during an unhook? I can understand that unhook spamming isn't what you want, but completing an unhook isn't gameplay? Excuse me?

Currently the system is a little too punishing

Yes to put it mildly.

As for slugging for the 4k, I frankly do not care.

You should.

This is a case where hiding for a decent amount of time is valid gameplay. When there's only one survivor standing, and any number of gens left, the only correct play is to hide for hatch. That's it.

And you have to hide for at least 4 minutes while the 3rd survivor bleeds out. All of that is outside of your control, and specifically in the killers control.

This would be like, if "anti tunnel" didn't disable in end game. "What else are they supposed to do?" And yet, the game is actively punishing the player for making the only valid play.

Slugging for the 4k is the most obvious situation where this system is broken and should be scrapped.

And for the record, you do care, because you are incredibly fixated on the MMR part. If they called hatch a "kill" instead of a "draw", would you give people hatch?

I'm taking about gameplay, you're focused on the extrinsic part (MMR), outside the match entirely. You do care, just that you care about the part that doesn't have anything to do with the match.

You don't know what was happening before that 20 seconds though.

Here's a scenario. I'm in a party and we spawn together. We spend some time emoting and being silly, participating in highly illegal fun that gets our AFK timers going. But, hey, we're risk takers. I have Small Game and there's a hex totem. I head right. Unbeknownst to me, the totem was directly to my left. But off I go around the map, checking totems. I see the killer on the way and slow down, maybe diverting or laying low. By the time I get to the totem I likely have a crow. God help me if Thrill of the Hunt is in play. I also have to pray the killer doesn't come by and hear my crow and realize I'm at their totem, because people tend to take that pretty personally and will likely tunnel me right out. And if I'm interrupted, I'll probably have two crows now.

The game is punishing me for doing a side objective that I enjoy doing and that is a part of the game. As it already was, the game is monotonous. It's even more so now. I want more side objects, not less. I'm now only running Small Game when I'm in parties because they think my totem hunting is funny. In soloq, I'm now running a good toolbox with Built to Last, Streetwise, and Deja Vu. This build allows me to tear through a good two and half gens, what many killers call "gen rushing", even though there's like nothing else to do but gens unless you want punishment. But you're gonna get that punishment anyway because now you're getting slugged cause you did the gens too fast.

This sounds too specific but it's happening to me, someone who never hides for hatch or let's teammates die unaided. I went from someone who never got crows unless I was goofing with the killer (rare now, because it's fun and fun is, again, illegal) to having one or two several times now.

Now imagine you're a new player, you're nervous, you don't understand the mechanics, and you can't even find a gen. You're gonna get totally stomped with crows broadcasting you and you don't even know how to handle chase.