My Idea: Passively De-incentivize Tunneling
Right now tunneling feels like the "efficient" strategy, which is why so many competitive minded killers default to it. The problem is that it makes the game miserable for the tunneled survivor and leaves the rest of the team with less to do. If tunneling is the most rewarded strategy, people will keep doing it.
Endgame Feedback
Instead of always showing "Entity Pleased" when you 4K, make the message reflect how you played. For example:
- If you spread hooks and keep pressure across the whole team → "Entity Satiated" or "Entity Pleased."
- If you tunneled one survivor out early while leaving others untouched → "Entity dishonored" or "Entity Disappointed."
Lessoning blood points if tunneling is detected may also help change the "efficient" view of this playstyle. Perhaps lower or reset their devotion level so they are rewarded less iridescent shards (much more valuable than blood points). Maybe if their behavior actively prevents them from obtaining cosmetics, they'll be more willing to change.
Variety Bonuses and Challenges
- Extra Blood points for consecutive hooks on different survivors.
- Daily or weekly challenges that encourage spreading pressure.
- Survivors who get tunneled out early could receive a small XP or Blood point boost so their match does not feel wasted.
Accolades System
Take inspiration from other games that gave banners and emblems for certain playstyles. Killers could unlock unique cosmetics, charms, or banners for milestones like:
- "Master of the Hunt" → Hook every survivor twice before a kill.
- "Web of Terror" → Get 8 unique hooks in a single match.
- "Entity’s Balance" → Finish a trial with all survivors hooked at least once.
Why This Might Work
Players do not only chase efficiency. They also chase recognition and prestige. If the game signals that spreading pressure is "pleasing the Entity" while tunneling is less honorable, it reframes what counts as a "skilled" win. They are not here to simply kill, they are here to serve the entity. Positive reinforcement such as extra points, accolades, and visible rewards makes balanced play more satisfying, while subtle negative feedback makes tunneling feel cheap. Over time, players naturally adapt to the playstyle that feels both effective and respected.
Now this won't cure tunneling, nothing ever will. Some people are just out for themselves. But I feel like it is a step in the direction as we are not changing gameplay but rather changing the psychology of tunnelers. There will still need to be direct influences in the core gameplay that actively works against tunnelers and protects the tunnels…but the recent PTB failure shows thats a long ways off. This could perhaps create a slow but persistent nudge towards a healthy mutually enjoyable playstyle. It could also be adjusted to change survivor toxicity such as leaving the match early.
Comments
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You're getting downvoted because even words on a screen are "too punishing" for killer.
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Honestly lol. Tunneling is deeply engrained into them any threat or pressure against it is a threat to their very livelihood. Some gamers are in it for themselves and don't care about overall game/community health.
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I have more than 8 million bloodpoints. Do you really think that BPs are so important to me?
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It would be nice to have better visual feedback and rewards based on it.
Simply bring back BBQ and some equal system for survivors to increase BP based on your actions. It would be nice if you could see on portraits if they were hooked or not, or just show hook counter.
I would say old BBQ did very good job at getting killers to chase even fresh hooked survivors.1 -
It's a start. Killer needs to be looked at from a psychological perspective, and I think this is part of that. But you also have to consider the ramifications of that as well. Feeling like the game is throwing the "I'm disappointed in you" message could also ramp up tunneling as a way of lashing out.
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its astounding how people dont see it for what it is. its an elimination game but people complain when they are eliminated.
survivors use the optimal strat to stay alive (looping). is it really fun going in circles? no, but they do it because it works and its efficient. Survivors can travel the map, lose line of sight, hide which is way more fun than the ridiculous comedy sketch of circling a pallet or the shack. "but thats what survivors are supposed to do" fair enough but killers are supposed to kill so dont complain when they kill you. The way its going bhvr should change the name from killers to hookers lmao thats what people want, for the killer to hook all match not actually killing anyone or reducing the number of survivors in the match.
There are perks to counter tunneling just like there are perks to slow gens down for the killer. "but we want to use different perks, not just anti tunnel" fair enough but there are 16 perks spread out between the 4 survivors and many survivor perks not only effect that player but effects the whole team. killer has 4 perks and more often than not the 4 perks are regress perks. You need to work as a team to survive not just rely on your own 4 perks. "But i play solo" thats the issue. If players can win playing solo without efficient team work, what do you think SWF that do have good team work, coms and synergy will be like? They would destroy the killer with ease. Bottom line is, this is a team game. you need team effort to counter tunneling and win.
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Well. If you reread I also suggested that it punishes iridescent shards and devotion, so they would be robbed of the potential to unlock free cosmetics and characters. I said it in the first section labeled "endgame feedback".
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Being passive to tunnelers would not work, the ones who tunnel the most does not care about getting a nice message.
or one million BPS, its nothing.
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shhhh. we dont use logic round these parts. we only utilized emotionally charged hyperbole and bias.
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I really like the idea of the entity just judging you for doing things. Makes me wish there was a way for the entity or someone attuned with the entity (like its version of the mouth of Sauron) to comment on things throughout the match. Hell, that could be part of the tutorial system if they'd like to help players learn on the fly.
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optimal is fine if its not too op. brand new part was too op and when it was at its strongest the kill rate was still below 60% so it made sense to nerf it. looping, tunneling sort of optimal play is fine because they are not too op. it remains 40/60. if optimal play shifted that too far then no it wouldnt be ok. is playing optimally fun? maybe not for the losing side but thats part of having a game with a win/loss criteria.
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i agree tunneling is op on those killers but thats the killers that are op not the tunneling. so nerf the killers or buff the rest of the roster to keep them in line with the top killers. but nerfing tunneling across the board which effects every single killer including the ones that are already struggling isnt the way to go. tunneling as it is allows people to play weaker killers and stand a chance. nerf it without major buffs to certain killers will force everyone to play the same top tier killers. as survivor i know i will get fed up very quickly of constant nurse and blights. there are counters to being tunneled, people have countered it many times when i tunnel them and i have countered it many times when its done to me. if there was no counterplay kill rates would be well above 60%
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you cant say "i play trapper and i dont need to tunnel" and expect everyone else to be able to do the same. i have 45% escape rate and have no issues with tunneling killers. they can and have been countered and i dont use any anti tunneling perks, i go in with a gen build. so because i do ok against tunneling killers others should do ok too based on your "i can do it so can you" mindset. you make it sound like tunneling is actually an automatic win but if this was the case killers would have far above 60% kill rate. its not an automatic win at all and the numbers show it. if killers rates were above 60% i can understand that tunneling is op and unnecessary but the fact kill rates are 60% WITH tunneling suggests its not as op as many claim it is.
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If they cant say "i play trapper and don't need to tunnel" per your counter-argument to it. then you cannot use your survivor escape rate. if their personal accounts are invalid to you, then you must except that your personal accounts are invalid as well. You also need to take into account that the kill rate is not only skewed by tunneling, but also nice and friendly killers who go in to goof off and allow people to escape regularly. Also to my knowledge there is no recent official kill rate percentage. The one people usually go for (nightlight) only tracks those players who are registered to it, and frankly, I have yet to meet anyone who is registered on there. Stats and win rate aside. The reason tunneling is a problem and is under attack is its inherently unhealthy gameplay and mass toxicity that it creates. It is by no means healthy for the game community. Keeping it for the sake of "but i cant perform otherwise" is not a good argument. You can adjust balance to make the game effective for non-tunnelers, as it already is for froggy and myself. You CAN nerf or remove certain behavior and make other in game adjustments to compensate. The pro-tunnel argument is essentially just being afraid that you cannot win without tunneling.
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like i said certain killers are op when combined with tunneling so many of the winstreaks are with high tier killers. and the reason you dont get such streaks as survivor is because the escape rate is 40% by design. they are supposed to lose more than they win. besides the fact that these people with win streaks are outliers, they dont represent the average player. i know kill rates are not completely accurate because some survivors just go next if they get a map they dont like or they go next because their swf friend was killed first and they want to join another match together or friendly killers let people escape or let them get the hatch. but according the the devs and the way they monitor the stats, they want 40/60 which is whats currently at. i would love to see the numbers after a few weeks of tunneling being nerfed to the ground, both kill rates and player count. i would switch to survivor main in a heartbeat and never touch killer or just quit the game.
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im all for being able to pick up wins without tunneling, im just saying as the game currently is, tunneling is needed for myself and others. if they buff the weaker killers so i dont need to tunnel then great. but thats why the changes they proposed was nowhere near the ball park of whats needed. not even close. it would have killed the killer role in its tracks. i honestly dont see an issue with tunneling being unhealthy. its part of what makes it an elimination game which is what i like about the game as killer and survivor. they are making the games faster paced with these speed killers and regress perk nerfs and aura reading everywhere to get people into the action, into chases. killers need to be able to keep up, if bhvr can work that out great. but i dont see it happening without changing the core of the game
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but killers do lose from time to time, with the exception of a few outliers that have unusual win streaks most killers lose from time to time. bhvr needs to be very careful because they have that 40/60 they were after. they need to tread very carefully to maintain it after making a such a huge change to the game which is why i honestly dont see tunneling changing. it either remains as is or they remove it and spend the next few years trying rebalance the game after killing the killer role. look how long it took them to balance the game to what its at now. i could be wrong but time will tell
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well bhvr track record dont fill me with much confidence with balancing anything. im still waiting on these afk crows and anti hiding they said would do for phase 1 of operation health lol. if they cant get that right then i dread what they will do with tunneling.
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