Regarding the design of Oni and future killers
While I don't think Oni is poorly designed, it's very easy to see there is yet another powerbar killer.
My question: Is this going to be the norm from now on? Is the goal to have every killer be a powerbar killer?
We've seen no killers with free use of their powers like old Nurse or even someone like Hag. The closest thing we've come to not being tied to a power bar is Demogorgon with Shred, and Plague with puking (But this is a meh example, since the base power doesn't do anything besides inflict a status effect and her power still has a powerbar mechanic.)
The reason I ask is because from a killer player perspective, any killer that relies on a power bar (even one they have to charge up like Oni does) are essentially all the same killer barring their speed until they use their power. With the older killers this was the opposite, Nurse, Hag, Huntress, Doctor, Wraith, Trapper, Billy, and hell even old Freddy used his power a lot (but was still bad) without having to wait to use it again. They CHOOSE when to use it again based on the situation, and I feel like that is much better gameplay for a killer than just waiting to use their ability at the optimal time and then wait for it to come back and be a regular killer in-between.
This is of course the same grip I have with the changes they did to Nurse. I think it's very clear a lot of the community doesn't like the shackle of a powerbar on a killer that was the model of using their power often and for varied purposes without an artificial limit.
Comments
I don’t really see the big issue with giving Killers power bars besides the fact that it’s hard to see. It’d be nice if it were more in the center of your screen, like each Killer having a unique HUD based on their power. Other than that, there’s no problem here.
Most of the Killers with power bars are the ones with traversal powers, like Freddy’s teleport or Spirit’s haunting, so that it puts cooldowns on abilities like that since it would otherwise be way too strong. Others, such as Shape’s Evil Within or Plague’s Corruption, have power bars to put their strongest abilities on a limit. Nobody likes Infinite Tier 3 Michael.
The main reason for power bars is probably just because Killers’ powers are becoming a lot more complex. With the exception of Hillbilly, most Killers with simple abilities aren’t exactly the strongest of the roster. You get what I mean? Jeez, I wrote an essay.
I see your points, but I counter with there are plenty of killers that have complex actions and playstyles with a simple power they can use whenever.
Take pre-nerf Nurse. You used your power for chases, and for general moving around the map. Both aspects of this could be done in complex ways that add a huge layer of strategy to the game.
Killers that DON'T have powers they can easily use whenever they want must play the looping game the same way as everyone else with a power bar/natural m1 killers.
Part of what makes killer engaging is they are all different and supposed to play differently. But when they're all doing the same things and being used the exact same way except for a few seconds out of the match is that good enough? Sure I understand some map traveling powers and Myers T3 having a powerbar, but they should also have something even if small that they can use when they like. Demogorgon does a decent job of this, being a good example of a hybrid killer.
Also, just working in powerbars limits the freedom and possibilities they can put into the game. I also think there are better/more clever ways to put limits on powers without having to do a hard powerbar. Hag and trap killers are a great example of this too, since they are only limited by an amount and not by time.
I guess the biggest problem I have with the powerbar system is it makes killers homogeneous and exactly like survivors (i.e, skins without any mechanical changes between them) while they're not capable of using their power. That's fine for some amount of killers but we should have way more variety than a powerbar system.