Fast Track: The devs need to stop punishing killers for hooking
So, with the new PTB, Fast Track got a change and now whenever a survivor gets hooked, you gain three stacks and if you hit a great skill check on a generator, it removes 2% for each token of the total gen-progress (basically like a BNP can do for comparison).
This is a completely unhealthy and stupid change because it punishes the killer for hooking a survivor by giving survivors less gen-progress but also weaken Jolt/Surge, PainRes, Turn Back the Clock, or Pop Goes the Wesel while survivors get rewarded for doing basically nothing - in fact - doing bad and go down.
Since a few patches, there is a trend that killers get more and more punished for hooking survivors by buffing or introducing new perks like Resurgance, Background Player, Dead Hard, Do No Harm, 70 second hook-timer, or the now 15seconds Endurance that did not nerfed tunnelling but increased the willingness of abusing it for bodyblocking, especially you have DS (put the killer in a lose-lose-situation). Meanwhile, many hook-rewarding perks got nerfed over time (e.g. PainRes, Grim Embrace).
Now, the result of all of these "killer gets punished for hooking" just results in that killers are more willing to slug because this is the best way to avoid punishments that just feel unfair (you don't have to deal with quick heals, aggressive abusing of anti-tunnel-stuff, or faster gens). There were two attempts of reducing slugging (but also tunnelling and camping) and I feel like, you, the devs, still did not understand why killers are more willing to do this, which is because hooking becomes more and more worse. And I know, this is PTB, we are just testing things, nothing is set in stone - all of this is true but it is worrying that you think a Fast Track version like this could be okay for the game.
So, if the new Fast Track hits the live servers, it will lead the metagame and killer-perks into a bigger slugging era because - as I already mentioned - it punishes the killer less for doing good and survivors doing bad. Personally, I wish the game would be more balanced around hooks with slugging, tunnelling, or camping as a nishe aspect that can be used for pressure but with the current dev mindset, I don't see a metagame like this
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it's just flavour for a selfish survivor. it fits yun jins character.
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- It could also have the opposite effect. Maybe you're a good survivor and you're teamed up with a less good survivor... you can't get hooked, while the less good survivor can. Why should you be punished if you're good at the loop and your MMR doesn't work well? At least this perk tries to rebalance certain situations that are (unfairly) unfavorable for some truly talented survivors.
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Doesn't mean the killer should be punished for the mismatch either.
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- Guys, this perk is very similar to the previous one, except it now grants "unregressable" progression stacks. From personal experience, and the use of "fast track" in the game's history, it won't change anything. If a game goes badly for the survivors (and this perk is only valuable if the game goes really badly for the survivors), "fast track" won't change the outcome. Why haven't you ever complained about this perk (which is practically never used) but now you do? There are many more "problematic" perks in the game, or perks that can actually change the outcome of a game without asking anything in return.
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There is a huge difference between adding +1% progress to the generator per token (live version) and removing -2% total-progress per stack (you gain three stacks for a hook) for free (PTB) which also makes many regression perks just weaker and harder for killers do defend generator when the survivors need less progress on them. Also, just because there are other "problematic" perks in the game does not mean it is okay to introduce more to the game, especially when they increase a problem that many players dislike.
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- I'm thinking of perks like "fire up"... in theory the killer should be punished for losing generators, instead this perk rewards the killer who has all the generators completed. Is Fire Up a "strong" perk? No, the game is already going very badly for the killer...and so is Fast Track.
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There is a huge difference between Fire Up and PTB Fast Track, especially when seeing the whole picture that there are many perks and game-designs that punish the killer for hooking. The game should be balanced around hooking but when killers get punished in many different ways for hooking, they will slug even more, which is not a healthy trend and a direction we should go.
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It's still terrible perk. To make some effect your whole team must be nonstop dying, you have to not being chased or tunneled to make it worth and in the end it is at most the same strenght of a perk as it was. Even worse, as you can't save stacks now for late game. You could've pop 25 % of a gen progress instantly simply by ignoring great skillchecks now you have to use it before you bypass 9 tokens because the perk won't get stacks and you waste free progress on gens. It's not a buff, it's a sidegrade same when waving spiders got changed from adding 10 % progress to every gen to decrease progress of every gen. Adding up progress is just not worth of a perk with addition of so many passive regression perks.
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On one hand, I get the point of this post.
On the other hand... Fast Track sucked until now, and the BNP effect is something I hoped would happen.
On the topic of a potential solution, you could make it so unique hooks/first hooks award less tokens than repeated/second/death hooks, so it doesn't punish regular hooking as much. But that could also send it right back into uselessness.
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If your whole team is dying you get something which is slightly better than a BNP. I think you will be fine and not feel punished.
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They should not change this perk too much and I personally enjoy it how it is at the moment in the PTB.
But to address concerns I would also would not be opposed to a rework to heavily punish tunneling to avoid issue of it punishing individual hooks (eg when someone is hooked consecutively, all other survivors gain 9 fast track stacks)
Overall tho I think its a good change to a perk that was honestly trash in the pervious iteration with no reason to use, to being something you may want to put in your build, if changes where to be made I would like it to keep underlying effect.-1 -
The devs don’t want slugging to happen. But when a killer tries to be a good player by not slugging, the devs end up adding this unfair bonus for survivors instead. They also add more penalties and reduce the privileges or bonuses that killers should have received.
I really don’t understand it.
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Are we forgetting we have many on hook reward perks on killer side, like turn back, Pop, Pain Resonance, Gift of Pain, Dead Mans Switch, Grim Embrace?
Heck we have Dead lock for when a survivor finishes a gen, and I'm sure other bonuses as well we aren't thinking of.
We even have a killer designed around punishing gens being done (Pig, oh and Unknown also has an addon)
Don't forget Terminus and NOED, not that I have a problem at all with these.
There is no punishment here, it's just perks/powers, people still do their objectives.0 -
You ignore the point while explaining the point: when the killer spreads hooks, they get punished because Fast Track becomes stronger. It's the logic that a gameplay the devs and community want to see is what punishes the killer on top of other things (weaker regression perks, dealing with other hooking punishment, or the already existing issue of gen-speed).
You can still use the stacks strategy by like putting them on a difficult to do gen or to use it finish a gen immediately before the killer can deny it.
Weaving Spiders has a big downside and time investment while Fast Track has nothing of it and can be used on multiple survivors. Meanwhile we have Specialist that is only good on one person but also requires some effort. Also PainRes, Pop, Jolt, and TBTC are high in usage and get weaken by a perk that gives free value for doing bad/playing a want to see gameplay.
I would rather see a version that punishes the killer for actually tunneling than this version that punishes the killer for regular hooking, especially when spreading hooks. This perk can be used on multiple survivors alongside strong toolboxes and other gen-speed stuff for free while weakening common regression perks that require effort from the killer.
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Pop, PainRes, and TBTC get nerfed by things that reduce the total progress of generators. Gift of Pain is an unreliable perk due to possible bad hook spawns.
Sure we have perks that can puish the other side for doing well bur that doesn't mean it is okay to introduce more perks like these. In addition, survivors can play around Deadlock by either finishing gens one by one or leave one safe at 99%. Blocking perks (like Grim or DMS) also have the drawback that they only block the gen but a gen that is at 80%, is still at 80% after the blocking time.
Pig's power is also something survivors can use to their advantages by not popping a generator too soon to not put the teammate in danger. Unknown's addon has an insane downside and is not worth the slot for never having Hallucinations.
NOED is still an unhealthy perk while the ones how use Terminus have a endgame plan. Both perks are also time limited or require something.
As I said before, the issue is the whole picture that the devs and community want a game around hooking but do anything to punish killers for hooking, especially spreading hooks and that in such a free and unfair way. This results in slugging or tunneling even harder because anything else gets punished or feels underwhelming in terms of rewarding.
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They aren't unhealthy perks though, it's a risk to run these perks over other ones at times
Like I get what you are saying, but it's very much an over reaction, in what case is Fast Track better than hyperfocus/stake out, like tell me that lol1 -
Just because we have something problems in the game does not mean it is okay to introduce more things like this. Hyperfocus and Stake Out is an unhealthy and strong combination but it has some problems: The average player does not like it because it is a bit too difficult for them, especially when you have to play on low fps. Then, it gets kinda checked by the fact that PainRes + DMS is a very common combination and this alone forces survivors often to let go of the generator, which interrupts the stacks. Some killers like Nurse, Billy or Ghoul kinda force to let go of the generator early, so if you let go "just in case", you lose the progress.
Now, Fast Track is much easier to use because getting tokens happens automatically (no effort requiered besides hitting one great skill check) and the lost total progress weakens the mentioned regression perks. If your gen gets hit by PainRes, it does less damage - unlike in case of Hyperforcus + Stake Out -, it is one perkslot instead of two and therefore easy to equip (more than one survivor can use it - this and the no effort make it already better than Specialist which is basically the same). The killer can also defend a gen that loses progress, which ruins the earned Hyperfocus progress but the Fast Track one, is never lost. This also makes it easier to get a more important/dangerous gen get done because the tokens stay on this and every other teammate can do the gen quick when the killer is gone.
However, the point is not "just better", it is also being unhealthy for the game and the direction the game goes, ignoring that and being okay with the consequences we get is just a mistake, but I guess if players are gonna be happy with more tunnelling and slugging, then okay.
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Forum bug - disregard this comment.
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Gens are already so fast at a rate that is unhealthy for any kind of m1 no mobility killer. We need to stop adding perks that make doing gens faster. Otherwise, anything but high mobility killers are going to go extinct. I dont think ANYone wants to just see nurse and blight every match.
Stop - making - gens - go - faster. It's not that complicated. We can already get gens done in roughly 20 seconds, and now a perk gives permanent gen progression that can't be removed by the killer even if that gen regressed and is untouched - that's a permanent loss of regression on gens with the option of putting all of it on a single gen. Almost every chapter comes with some way to make gens even faster. That's how we are already down to roughly 20 seconds to complete gens, and it gets worse and worse.
On top of that, we have yet another perk that heavily encourages killers to slug. Why is BHVR so obsessed with the idea of hooking being a punishable action? Why is BHVR so dead set in trying to get killers to just slug?
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