http://dbd.game/killswitch
Is it time we finally have a serious discussion about nerfing Windows of Opportunity?
In this game, a pallet or a window is basically the only thing a survivor has to hold off the killer in a chase. The whole point of mindgames and looping relies on uncertainty and playing around map RNG. Having a perk that permanently shows the exact location of all these resources 24/7 (with zero cooldowns or conditions) is completely busted.
People always use the excuse: "It's just a beginner perk to learn maps." But if you look at high-MMR lobbies and community stats, that’s just false. Max MMR players run this constantly (it has an insane 30-40% pick rate on sites like Nightlight.gg). They aren't "learning." They're using it to completely turn off their brain regarding spatial awareness, ignore map RNG, and make sure they never get caught in a deadzone left by their teammates.
When everyone in the lobby knows exactly where the safe zones are at all times, the game loses its thrill. The chase stops being interactive and just turns into a boring "Hold W and pre-drop pallet" simulator.
BHVR nerfed Pain Res and Dead Hard specifically because they hit that 30-40% pick rate, saying they wanted "build diversity." So why does Windows of Opportunity get a free pass when it has the exact same usage rate and kills the tension of chases.
It’s time to bring back the old cooldown after a vault/drop, or at least give it a token system.
Comments
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It's a crutch perk, and trust me, this perk is not as powerful as people think. Yes, the information is very useful but once you develop well enough as a survivor it becomes pointless. People only run it because it allows for less thinking in chase, a crutch per se. Windows also doesn't make you good at the game, its merely information, and hence not truly game changing.
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I agree it'll probably get nerfed.
Although my personal bias would prefer it not to be. It basically equalises the information low-to-intermediate players have with high-level players. It also narrows solo Q and SWF a little as SWFs can call burned resources and deadzones.
A token system would be a reasonable compromise. Maybe you get a token for every good skill check, to a maximum of 3, and consume a token when you vault/drop. Maybe start with one token, too, to prevent those less experienced players getting slaughtered in the first chase. I make tokens so easy to replenish in this idea because the problem with Windows, if I'm understanding you correctly, is in its persistence. You're not going to be farming skill checks in chase, so after a maximum of 3 used resources, you're playing without it.
This would hopefully stop brainless chaining like you mention, while not killing the perk off for the people it is likely designed for, those being casual/intermediate players that are still learning or don't want to watch 9 hours of tile breakdowns all at once.-3 -
This and soloq survivors users use it.
Even if I don't use it, let's not think that it's just a situation where people use it because they don't know where pallets are. I've always compared Windows to the killer equivalent of aura reading.
Literally had a Wesker who kicked a gen, I ran away from the gen (with Distortion), and the killer was completely lost. It comes to a point where we call out the auto-pilot gaming in general. If a Wesker cannot find me without a perk lighting me up in red and ignore my scratch marks, that's a skill issue.
I don't care what happens to Windows, as I'll be relatively safe regardless of what they do to it but nerfing Windows will just push people to Five Moves Ahead.
You nerf Five Moves Ahead and it's just getting rid of information tools on the survivor side, I don't know - Windows is something that I do not care for nor do I care if my random is using WOO.
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It should at least go on cool down for 30 seconds at rank 3. Having it on non stop with free info is insane.
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My opinion of the perk is that just made it work only when you are injured as then you really need the info where the windows and pallets are and this way its not on 100% of the match as its information value is way too high it to be on all the time. Still you can have it on the whole match but you need to be injured the whole match.
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The perk mostly helps people as they're learning the game, and with pallets having become a lot more balanced and mindgame-able it's not as useful as it's used to be. Just a great pick for all learning players overall. And considering the learning curve for a randomly generated map, that means a lot of people will be learning for a very long time
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It's always funny how a survivor perk with one of the highest use rates is treated as a perk that only helps new players. Also ignores how the perk is on a dlc character that most new players likely do not have.
Considering we've nerfed perks in the past for being widely use, WoO has been long due to a nerf. But it also doesn't matter because BHVR already released a power crept version of the perk.
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Its also interesting when you can find tons of videos of content creators running the perk and so showing how good it is for even higher levels. Its not just perk for new players its the best information perk in the game that never turns off and tells you where the resources for a survivors are for you to use to make chase last longer.
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it should have a cool down. Free non stop information?
What.
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Here we go again, another one who doesnt understand the value of the perk. It has nothing to do with "turn off their brain". Unless youre first in chase youre completely clueless on which pallets are gone and which are still up. Not having this information is a massive disadvantage for the majority of the game, while the killer has that information at all times.
Changing perks just because of pick rate has never been a thing. Otherwise meta wouldnt exist, escpecially the stale killer meta would have been nerfed a long time ago, but instead they even buffed one of the already most used slowdowns again. So your logic doesnt exist.
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People will tell you that it is a "noob" or "clutch" perk that only helps people that are newer to the game.
And yet i see pro players (Otz, Hens, etc) getting chased into an already used pallet and saying "oh damn they did throw this pallet!!". Ofc that doesn't even happen with WoO.
The perk is powerful as hell.
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its a crutch in the sense that it strictly replaces the need to develop a game skill
if you learn to loop exclusively with windows then youre basically hopeless without it
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I understand that but people keep telling that "only helps noob players, if you have game knowledge it doesnt help you" and that it a blatant lie.
I mean sure, as you say if you always use it since the you start playing for the first times you will not learn the pallet spawn logic as you will probably not try to remember the tiles where they spawn. The same logic applied to perks like Noed not helping you how to play on endgame or some more perks.
However what people do not want to accept is that even pro players dont know at 100% where pallets did spawn. The spawn logic can make the pallet appear on a tile and sometimes it does not appear. And it is a team game so unless you are in a perfectly coordinated swf or you see the the survivor using that pallet, there is no possibility to know if a pallet has been used or not at 100% and this is where WoO comes in. And knowing that can for sure make you win a chase that you were about to lose.
It helps newer players and thats true, but people who say that it has no use outside of that are just lying to themselves.
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