http://dbd.game/killswitch
if skull merchant was so problematic why have no attempts been made to balance her?
I’ve always found this genuinely confusing because there have been no attempts to balance her after her first rework’s PTB? people really just cried loud enough and behavior was just like (fine, we’ll knee cap her.) hell, if they made any attempts to balance her at all after the we probably wouldn’t even be getting this rework. The main culprit was obviously the stacking haste but also the fact that there was no real signal as to when you were safe from a drone beam. fix those two problems and skull merchant would’ve been easier to deal with deal with, but that isn’t what they did they reworked her, did nothing about her for a year, and then proceeded to send her into the depths so that no one would play her. And you know it’s speaking of the rework why a ranged power? Skull merchant’s whole point is to track you down so that she can kill you up close and personal, unless her methods changed I have no clue where the idea for this rework came from. And keep in mind skull merchant can take control of these drones now, you thought og chess merchant was bad well just wait until the rework because this time she doesn’t even need to be there to interrupt you she can just sit on the couch with a bag of Doritos and make the drone to do it for her. And keep in mind there’s like a good chance that no one is going to like this rework OG merchant players aren’t going to like it because their favorite killer was shot in the foot, and got replaced by something else entirely. And people that already didn’t like merchant are still not gonna like merchant. They’re just trying to appeal to some imaginary playerbase they think will just spawn in all because skully got new power and a murdered identity.
Answers
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oh and in case this wasn’t bad enough, they said this rework was going to come out in 2025 and they moved it to 2026 after trickster’s rework, yeah there really is no hope for my favorite killer.
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Yes, it is a terrible situation and I'm really glad this topic is getting a lot of attention in the last few days.
I strongly support a return to Skull Merchant 2.0 because I believe it was a flawless kit. The only reason people disconnected against her was because of the problematic release, it had nothing to do with her power. As long as people stayed in the game:
The match had absolutely zero problems.
She should have stayed that way. The nerf was unnecessary, and the rework is even more so.
Because the design previews, the two we had so far, were so terrible that it is hard to find words to describe it. They don't just look extremely unfun to play as and against, but also they completely erase her identity, which is unacceptable. Skull Merchant shouldn't become another "dashslop" killer, she shouldn't get a ranged M2, she shouldn't get a projectile attack.
The rework goes against the very reasons why people play SM in the first place. If they wanted a projectile killer, or dash, or ranged M2, they wouldn't have picked Skull Merchant in the first place.
I would prefer if she was reverted to 2.0 and adjusted from there, if needed. Best of both worlds, really: SM gets to be who she is, and returns to a state that was never problematic in the first place.
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They posted a rework concept. People responded to the rework concept, and it got scrapped.
To put it bluntly BHVR are still working on a rework but it's really hard for them when every iteration people hate and they have to return back to the drawing board.
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I think what OP is asking, my friend, is why Skull Merchant 2.0 was never properly adjusted.
Why it went from the rework to remove the 3 gen thing straight to massive gutting instead of balance changes like most killers get.
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Ah. Apologies. But I think for similar reasons to what I mentioned, no attempts to balance her reworked design was solely because of potentially community backlash.
- Nobody likes original Skull Merchant because they were boring and stalled games out.
- Nobody liked the reworked design because it was deemed "too annoying" to play against.
- Nobody liked the rework concept because it was deemed "too far from the original design" for people to enjoy.
BHVR is put between a rock and a hard place.
Even if they reworked or buffed Skull Merchant it would not matter because people would hate their design solely as a result of negativity bias (not to say that all complaints are not unwarranted, but negativity bias is where a lot of their hate comes from, keep in mind this is coming from someone who hates Skull Merchant). The 3-Gen Skull Merchant Era has permanently tainted their reception and it will be held over their head for a really long time.
I do hope Skull Merchant does get buffed/reworked or something, as it stands they are the worst Killer in the game, their power is functionally awful and it hardly works half the time because her power has been bugged for literal years and has not been fixed.
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I agree, my dear friend, that the reputation problem is complex.
Unfortunately, Skull Merchant had a problematic release (which I believe had more to do with the meta of the time than her actual power, but that is a discussion for another time) and that, as you've said, is something that many players won't forget anytime soon. Just like OP said, some people will always dislike her, regardless of what is done.
However, I do believe Skull Merchant 2.0, the reworked design, differs from the others. Because there was nothing wrong with her power, nothing that could cause a problem for the game. The negativity bias was responsible for the overwhelming majority of the hate towards this specific iteration of her and that, my friend, I believe gives us the answer we need.
A return to her first design is very unlikely to be accepted, even if 3 genning is now impossible. A full rework that deletes her identity is unacceptable. 2.0 is a compromise: it is fair, causes zero problems for the game and is enjoyable for SM players.
I strongly believe it is the best option.
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I think it was just because of the pressure that the devs went through on Social Media about Skull Merchant. To be fair, the devs were getting flamed hard by almost everyone because of her OG design aka 3 Gen Merchant, so I think to "Ease the Pain" they ended up just reworking her entirely.
However, they should have just wrote out a formal message saying in a nutshell like hey were sorry this was the direction she went, It really wasn't our intentions etc etc….Balance fixes. Done. People would have moved on eventually.
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And the funniest part is that I would’ve been fine with the rework if it kept any of her identity intact, but it just doesn’t
-1 -
Well friend, given my history with killer reworks I'd prefer if she didn't get one.
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My feedback about people's feedback on skull merchant rework — BHVR
Read this, I came with quite decent rework idea as well as keeping her trap/stealth identity.
-1 -
Problem with SM rework was how passive, boring and uninteractive she was. Whole game against Merchant was:
Go into loop, she deploys drone. If you get scanned she get's haste and keep bloodlusting untill you get injured by drone, hit or leave loop. Once you leave loop, if you made it to other one whole scenario repeated if not, you get hit. It was same like old instadrop guard Knight.
History:
- Chess Merchant
- Clown Merchant
- Sad Merchant
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I already mentioned the problem with the stacking haste, with the fact that it was a remnant from her old version and shouldn’t have made it into the rework to begin with
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I don't think her scan drones were anything interesting either. I mentioned her having multiple typles of drones giving her some values.
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They have too much stuff on their plates. The content pace is absolutely brutal.
-1 -
Problematic in term of boring to go against. She was never strong killer.
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The rework they are doing is good news at least, I'd rather they focus on the games health right now like they are honestly. This year has been full of nice changes even if some have had some hiccups. Looking forward to more of Phase 2 and the Rework in 2026.
-2 -
The problem is that they have to dedicate resources to that rework. People don't like the shift from her identity at all, which I kind of understand, because it will be another hybrid with multipower. I honestly think that her 1.0 version with 3 gen limitations that been done would be the best option now, during chess merchant era you could use drone in tile to get undetectable, see survivors on radar and make them exposed. Her add ons were chase related - faster break, vault, pallet destroy… but people sit with her on gens. Version 2.0 was as boring as 3genning Merchant. I still feel that her drones should scout maps on their own and have some lethality. The current Merchan't drones are mostly just short undetectable on demand.
I'm just scared, that it will end like Twins where people won't like it, they will scrap it and she won't be touched for another year. Like I don't complain, Twins been dead for 5 years with one failed attempt to do something about it. She's getting 3rd rework.
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I honestly think that her 1.0 version with 3 gen limitations that been done would be the best option now
I would happily accept that, tbh. With the anti 3-gen mechanic in place things would be okay, I would say.
-2 -
A while ago I talked with someone who still genuinely believed her power exposed. People that didn't know scan lines turned white when you were unscannable. People get double tapped all the time, when even a surface understanding of her power should be able to always prevent that.
You can't balance something if people refuse to understand it. It's like trying to balance Huntress in a world where Survivors refuse to even try breaking line of sight.
-1 -
What is it about Skull Merchant's playstyle that you actually like?
Are you into it for the trap-planning?
Are you into it for the insta down effect?
Are you into it for lastertagging? etc1 -
Not really, you would have rise in totem builds instead, which I would say vere almost equally problematic.
I have played a lot of games using Devour hope on her and it was near impossible to remove.
There was a reason why the whistle addon from Demo was removed, because it basically did same thing.1 -
Trap-planning, map control, lack of unfun mechanics (dashslop, ranged projectiles), stealth and lasertagging.
Now, I know the first version doesn't have lasertagging, but it does have the others. I would personally prefer a return to 2.0, but I can accept 1.0 as well.
Truth be told, my friend, I hadn't thought about Totem builds.
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"why haven't there been any attempts to rework her after the first attempt to rework her" is wild
it's also wrong, since they announced a second attempt to rework her that killer players objected strongly to, and they've already announced they plan on eventually trying to rework her in the future.
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