Perk Counters Are Not Legitimate
Let's look at all the things that a Killer must account for when making his perk build:
- Gen Speed and Items/Addons involving that.
- Healing and Perks/Items/Addons involving that.
- Flashlights and Items/Addons involving that.
- Aura Reading on objectives and Perks/Items/Addons involving that.
- Aura Reading on yourself and Perks involving that.
- Endgame Exit Gates
- Hatch play (which has no counters besides getting there first) and Perks/Items/Addons involving that.
- Chests
- Pallets and Vault Points and Perks/Items/Addons involving that.
- Chase durations and Perks that involve that.
- Hex Totem protection (If applicable) and Perks involving that.
Are we seeing a little problem? A Killer must address ALL of these in his build or risk disaster, with a measly four perk slots.
Meanwhile, a survivor team has a total of four perk slots PER PERSON in which they can address all of these with ease.
The amount of pressure a Killer has to utilize to comb around all these things during a match is near sadistic to the player.
Game can be damn fun when it works but its even more frustrating when I can't address at least a portion of these things (which is vital for my success) without severely lacking in the areas.
That's why I think so many people abandon weaker perks like Mad Grit or Beast of Prey. They address too little of the match way too late.
I recall @Peanits saying that they wanted to design perks around particular play styles but for people to actually take heed to those play styles, the other aspects of the game need to be somewhat manageable in their own right. And combined with the quickness of gen progression in a match, the unbelievable pressure a Killer is put under to be as efficient as possible, and the innumerable perks he has to be concerned about, direct counters with perks are unreliable, and thus illegitimate.
If the Killer should be concerned with 16 other perks in a match, these weaker perks need a big buff. Corrupt Intervention and Ruin were so popular because of their immediate effects on match length. Corrupt put pressure on early and hard. Ruin did the same, and soaked up time. This says something about the state of the game, not the perks being used; things are going too quick with too many variables, and Killers need a way to attend to these easier without being handed the win.
I get it's asymmetrical. Not every game is going to flow like clockwork. But it's current state has me convinced that a proper game is more rare than an unfair game.
Comments
Perk counters are not legitimate, but it's an issue more applicable to solo Survivor than Killer.
- Gen Speed and Items/Addons involving that.
- Healing and Perks/Items/Addons involving that.
- Flashlights and Items/Addons involving that.
- Aura Reading on objectives and Perks/Items/Addons involving that.
- Aura Reading on yourself and Perks involving that.
- Endgame Exit Gates
- Hatch play (which has no counters besides getting there first) and Perks/Items/Addons involving that.
- Chests
- Pallets and Vault Points and Perks/Items/Addons involving that.
- Chase durations and Perks that involve that.
- Hex Totem protection (If applicable) and Perks involving that.
Replace Hex Totem protection with Hex Totem destruction and these are all Survivor problems that all have associated perks.
There are no perks for chests or Hatch as Killer and anyone can see their Objective auras as base kit whenever they pick someone up.
Killers need to keep track of a LOT of information, but perks aren't necessary for that. It's just stuff you need to keep track of.
I'm not saying Killer is easy, just that the things that are troubling for Killer aren't solved by Killer perks. Perks assist, sometimes quite a lot, but they're never necessary.
Survivor on the other hand has plenty of troubles that are 'solvable' through perks.
Tunnelling requires DS or BT to counter; slugging needs Unbreakable, Flip Flop, or No Mither; healing alone isn't possible without Inner Strength, Self-Care, or a medkit; finding pallets that haven't been wasted by teammates is Alert or Windows of Opportunity; searching for totems that aren't in an open field is Detective's Hunch or Small Game; finding 3 gens is Deja Vu; finding Hatch is Left Behind; finding Gates is Wake Up!; avoiding stealthy Killers is Spine Chill or Premonition; etc.
In a SWF this is a non issue because you have 3 reliable teammates who can make plenty of these perks redundant. But as a Solo Survivor if you don't have the applicable perk you're just out of luck.
The root of these problems all stemmed from SWFs. I played all this when it was first introduced.
But it's a part of the game now. We have to accept that. As such, we have to balance around it. We can't pretend it doesn't exist. We've been doing that for four years.
Sure, solo surv is hard. But they still got the option to find some friends to play with. I can't alleviate that pressure as Killer.