Good Nuance VS Bad Nuance. A tale of two killers
First I would like to say that I really enjoy that recent killers have a lot going on. Some have been more successful than others, but pretty much since Legion came out all the killers and reworks have a higher degree of complexity than the previous killers. There are a lot of subtle details to them that make them unique. It takes a little while to learn those small difference or nuances.
What I would like to put a spotlight on are the two most recent killers. Demogorgon and Oni. Demogorgon is a killer that I would refer to as a good example. There is a lot going on there. More than what a player who watched a couple youtube videos or played a couple games as it would gather. Both the leap attack and portals each have a lot subtle learning curves. And learning them feels good. Like the first time you leap 10 feet past a survivor you'll feel pretty silly, but you'll be much more conscientious about when you use your leaps. As you hone in on exactly how far you'll leap compared to how long you've been charging the attack and how wide your attack is compared to how far a survivor can juke during a leap, you feel a sense of accomplishment.
The same goes for Demogorgon's portals. You have a limited number of them and there are a lot of little details that you really need to understand to make full use of them. I remember when I first started playing with Demogorgon I was in a situation with 2 survivors left and 1 gen remaining. Easy. I'll just put a portal at each gen and hold my charge attack to see if they get near them. Pop goes the last gen! "What?! How'd that happen, I thought I would get a killer instinct notification!" Then I learn that survivors can't see or interact with a portal until it's used and I don't get any notifications either. That changes everything! So now I start activating all my portals. Well crap. The survivors just break them and I waste the whole game running around making and using portals. Well that doesn't work. So then I get the bright idea to put an active portal down as bait and an unused portal nearby to use when they break it! Eureka! Man that feels good when it works. I've just learned lots of little tricks with portals and it feels good.
That brings us to The Oni. He has a lot going on too. He's like the DBD version of pac-man. Running around gobbling up balls until he gets a power up. Just like all the recent killers there are a lot of nuances to learn. How the orbs work. When you are better off just letting a survivor run around injured vs downing and hooking. But most of the nuances come with his rage mode. This is the part that makes me feel bad. As I use the demon dash more and more, I've picked up on how to properly control him. You really need to use both joysticks to strafe and turn as you go. But then your camera is constantly shifting around, up and down. And it's like "I get it", but I don't feel good about it.
And then there is the Demon Strike. God what a mess this attack is. The main thing to learn with this is that you don't need to charge the attack very long for it to be a one shot attack. It's like a fraction of a second. And that is really the main thing to learn. Get used to finding the absolute minimum you need to charge before it's lethal. Every millisecond you charge longer then necessary makes the attack more unwieldy. And learning that feels bad. It's both counter-intuitive and frustrating. A player would naturally think that the longer I charge something the more powerful it becomes. And it just isn't the case.
What I hope for going forward is for the learning curve to feel good again. For example with Oni if the camera was "smart" when using Demon Dash that would go a long way. If it was a fixed ideal angle except when going up and down terrain at which point the camera would automatically go up or down, that would feel good. And when using the Demon Strike if the killer fully charges the attack and there was an an area of effect attack from the impact that would feel good. Then the learning curve is even longer and more rewarding.
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