Reworking the early game and the hex totems
Hello everyone, I posted this on reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/deadbydaylight/comments/eo7lhe/reworking_the_early_game_and_the_hex_totems/), mainly as a reflexion/concept, and someone suggested I should post it here too.
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Ladies and Gentlemen, killers and survivors, entities and lower lifeforms, hello to you all
(Disclaimer : I'm at best a mediocre survivor, and an even worse killer. These are some ideas people were throwing in comments, and felt we could discuss it)
(TL:DR; I suggest a totems overhaul to add something to the early game other than right clicking a gen, and a rework on hex perks to go with it)
This last week, I've been thinking about the incoming ruin change, and most importantly about it's current role and use: avoiding gen rush. And some comments read here and there in this subreddit made me think a little bit about it, mostly because of this : people want to avoid gen rush (okay, mostly killers want this), but also do not want to make generator repairs painfully long (okay, mostly survivors want this).
An idea has been formulated multiple times: bringing an early game objective other than generators, something that will make survivors get out of their locker, give them a little bit more "variety" in gameplay and allow the killer to capitalize on their newfound vulnerability. That's not meant to be a "nerf" to survivors, just a tweak in gameplay.
I've seen a few suggestions of "having to find spare tools / the missing piece" to finish / start generators, which would mean each survivor who want to work on gen would have to lose a little bit of time to be able to start working normally. But one guy (sorry, I don't remember your username) suggested providing modifications to the totems... and this is what I want to explore today.
I would, of course, love to ear some feedback on what you think such changes would do to the game, would it be better / worse ? Does it sounds interesting and, whether that's a yes or a no, what would you suggest / tweak to make it even better ? ^_^
And now, on we go to my two small ideas.
1) Linking totems to generators
Currently, there are 7 generators and 5 dull totems across the map, with survivors needing to complete 5 generators. The idea is as follow :
Any generator may be repaired up to 75% (arbitrary number, can be modified for balance purpose, but 75 seems like a good amount. In one minute of mouse clicking, this is likely that at least one totem has been done ^^.)
For each dull totem destroyed, one generator is allowed to go above that limit. If multiple generators are at 75% and a dull totem is destroyed, the "first" one to receive repairs will be the one allowed to go over (if two generators are undergoing repair and hit the threshold at the same time, only one should progress). A visual Cue and the fact that the generator does not progress anymore should be sufficient to tell the survivor that he can't continue working on the generator for now. (Example of possible visual Cue : a "spike" from the entity goes off from the generator, repelling the survivor from it.)
Of course, that means that something must be in place to avoid the killer camping the last totem. A simple possibility being having one or two more totems on the map. If auras of dull totems continue not to be displayed to the killer, he will not know how many dull totems are still intact.
But, as survivors will go across the map, hex totems will be weakened (as survivors are more likely to find them, since looking for totem would be part of the game), which means we need to rework that a little bit.
Here is the second idea...
2) Reworking the Hex Perks
We currently have 7 hex perks, which are perks that light up totems and bring an advantage to the killer as long as the totem is lit. The strength of hex perks is compensated by how fragile they can be. What I propose is to, in general, link hex perks to all totems, weakening it when totems are cleansed. Here is a suggestion for the hex perks rework to go with the small objective change. They would need a true bunch of testing for balance purpose, but I wanted to give some numbers to have some frame of reference rather than a bunch of "slightly", "moderately" and "considerably".
New Status : Hexed
You have been cursed by the killer, which seems to be a really bad idea. Cleansing a totem will cure this status effect, and cleansing the last totem will ensure no one can be hexed anymore.
Survivors and Killers know who is hexed (like for the obsession, everyone knows who the obsession is ^^)
The hexed status has no effect on itself.
These numbers assume the number of totems initially in the trial is 7
Perks descriptions
I will order the perks in three categories :
perks that do not hex players
perks that make survivors become hexed during the game
perks that make survivors start the game hexed
Perks which do not put hexes on survivors
Ruin
This perks starts with 7 tokens. When a totem is cleansed, it loses 1 token.
Generators passively regress over the course of the game. As long as no survivor is working on a generator, it loses 0.05 / 0.1 / 0.15 % of max progress each second for each token.
The base regression rate is 0.3125 % of max progress each second (320 seconds for full regression). Future ruin would regress generators at a rate of 0.3125% / 0.46875% / 0.625% the max progress, or 0 if the totem is found.
This perk would give a max regression of 0.35% (1 totem destroyed to go under ruin rework value), 0.7% (3 totems), 1.05%(3 totems), which is stronger early, but as destroying totems is part of the objective, it should become weaker over the course of the game. This won't be a really good "late game perk" I guess.
Thrill of the hunt
This perks starts with 7 tokens. When a totem is cleansed, lose 1 token
For each token, gain 7.14% more blood points for actions in the hunter category (max 50%)
survivor's cleaning speed is reduced by 2.5/3/3.5% for each token
Thrill of the hunt would become a slowdown perk in the grand scheme of the rework. I have reduced the total speed reduction it awards initially (17.5%/21%/24.5% vs 20%/25%/30%), but it also gives information about the number of totem the survivors still need to clean in order to complete generators. Over the course of the game, this perk would make survivors lose 13.72 seconds to cleanse all five totems needed, which is almost what is needed to cleanse another totem (considering the killer doesn't interrupt them, and they are not doing excess totems)
Perks which makes survivors start the game Hexed
Huntress Lullaby
Survivors start the trial hexed
All survivors receive an additional 2/4/6 % penalty for missed skill checks
When you hook a hexed survivor, gain a token
- 1 to 4 Tokens: Time between the Skill Check warning sound and the Skill Check becomes shorter.
- 5 Tokens: No Skill Check warning.
Starting the trial hexed gives away some information about the perk you're running, but the core is basically the same. Survivors will remove their hexed status throughout the trial, which will reduce the number of potential targets to make this perk gain power.
Starting hexed also encourages players to search for totems, which makes them move around the map a little bit more, rather than having one "totem guy" in the team.
Devour Hope
Survivors start the trial hexed
When a hexed Survivor is rescued from a Hook at least 24 meters away, or a hexed survivor rescues another Survivor from a Hook at least 24 meters away Devour Hope receives a Token (max one token for each rescue).
- 2 Tokens: Gain a 0.75/1/1.25 % Haste Status Effect 10 seconds after hooking a Survivor, for a duration of 10 seconds, for each hexed survivor .
- 3 Tokens: hexed Survivors suffer from the Exposed Status Effect.
- 5 Tokens: Grants the ability to kill hexed Survivors by your own hand.
Like Huntress Lullaby, this perks gives information about what you're running and will encourage survivors to get rid of it as soon as possible.
Perks which grant the hexed status effect during the game
No Ed
At the beginning of the trial, three additional totems spawns
When the exit gates are powered, up to one survivor for each totem still intact becomes hexed.
Hexed survivors can't move faster than 100% / 97.5% / 95% of their running speed. This effect is ignored for 5 seconds after the survivor is put into the injured state.
I changed this perk a lot, especially since devour hope will have a lot of synergies with this one, and wanted to make them a good pair rather than an overlap. This is now a perk meant to help in chases (which is nice for a perk named "No one Escape death", with a built in trigger set to hex most survivors at the end of the game, making devour hope really strong if you manage to let some survivors escape during the game. This also come with a slight buff to the survivors early game, as there are more totems on the map, which mean it is easier to find one to unlock generators. And if survivors are attentive, they will be able to tell you're running it as they might notice there are more totems than usual.
The third Seal
Hitting a survivor with a basic attack apply the hexed status effect to the survivor
up to 2/3/4 hexed survivors are affected by the blindness status effect. This effect prioritize the lasts survivors hit by basic attacks
Not much changed here, but it's now a little better as it allows to put survivors in the hexed state, which may help with other perks. It also makes them start with blindness if you run huntress lullaby or devour hope.
Haunted Ground
Shortly after starting to cleans a totem, non hexed survivor will have to perform an umprompted skill check .
Great Skillcheck : nothing happens
Normal Skillcheck : the survivor suffer from the exposed status effect for 20/25/30 seconds and is hexed. Cleansing this totem will not remove the hexed status.
Failure: all survivors suffer from the exposed status effect for 20/25/30 seconds and are hexed. Cleansing this totem will not remove the hexed status.
This will reduce its utility a little bit, as good players are garanteed to be able to land at least a normal skillcheck, exposing only themselves. That being said, as cleansing totems is mandatory, this put a risk on all survivors, and will happen multiple time during the trial, which is why I reduced the time
So, this is what I came up with. I hope it'll be an interesting read and if there are good suggestions in the comments, I'll make sure to include them (with credit) in the post.
And if you've even better ideas, feel free to share ^_^
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Someone (/u/SoapiesSuperFan) had concerns about these changes lowering accessibility towards newer players, which is a fair point. Conveying to newer players (or older players that do not read patch notes) that totems are part of the objective and not a small thing on the side should be part of the reflexion, and apart from updating the HUD in some way (either adding totems to it, or highlighting the generator on the HUD when at least one gen can be progressed to more than the threshold), I've not yet a solution to propose for that. So if you're feeling inspired, feel free to share.
have a nice day
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