Pyramid Head, and the disturbing trend with killer powers
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Pyramid Head's ranged attack is problematic from a gameplay and fun perspective, both for killer and survivor. As a killer, it is rarely optimal to actually use it due to the huge audio/visual telegraphs and the severe punishment for missing. As a survivor, you are given an often binary choice: take the window/drop the pallet and get hit with the shockwave, or keep running and get M1'd. There is nothing skill based about this interaction because the ranged attack has a huge telegraph and little to no flick. It either gets used or it doesn't.
This highlights what it is in my opinion a very disturbing trend in killer powers within the last year. Simply put, the game is being dumbed down. Most of the killers released within the last year have one of two problems: they simply require you to "do the thing" without any real knowledge of the game itself or mechanical skill, or their power is so punishing with such little upside that it's better used as a zoning tool.
Freddy doesn't need to know how to run a tile when he can snare bomb it. Doc doesn't need to know how to run a tile when he can shock repeatedly. Demo's shred can be good, but you often get hits by not actually using it at all, and missing is worse than the alternative. Deathslinger is usually the same as Demo in that regard. And Pyramid Head is the worst of them all in terms of power reward vs punishment.
Braindead killer powers or unskillful killer powers simply aren't fun for either side. Whenever the question is asked of which killer people enjoy playing against the most, Nurse, Billy, and Huntress are often near the top. Why? Those are SKILLFUL killers, both to play as and against. It's ok for a killer to be powerful when there is an actual skilled interaction going on between the killer and survivor. Making reads on a Nurse but ultimately losing in a few seconds is fun compared to being snare spammed by a Freddy because the Nurse actually had to put time and effort into something and there was counterplay available to the survivor in the moment.
When you dumb down the killer powers, put a hard skill ceiling on the power, and limit the killer's upside, the whole game suffers.
Comments
I'm not saying killer is easy, and I'm not doubting your inherent skill with a killer. I could care less about rank (I've removed the part in my previous post that seems to have drawn your attention to rank), and the only reason I mentioned it was to point out that according to the game's standards I could do well. I think I got 2 kills every game, and the game thought that was enough to rank me up *shrug*. I'm not even touting my ability above yours, which probably isn't even the case anyway.
Again, I never once said Doc was easy; I only said his power required no skill, and I thought that it was understood that this statement applied once a player understood how to play the game. Regardless, I don't like playing Doc any more since his changes mainly because of the chase music but also because of how constricted and simple (not the good kind of simple) his power feels. I run loops as a M1 killer, and I shock in places to make sure that the survivor can't drop the pallet or has to drop the pallet early. Doing his static blast isn't satisfying in the slightest to me, and so I have no more fun playing him than an uncloaked Wraith, per se (in fact I have less fun bc chase music).
When I compare and contrast Doc to an uncloaked Wraith, it's to demonstrate how closely Doc can behave in chases to a killer stripped of any special abilities. You don't have any substance behind your statement of this comparison/contrast between Doc and Wraith implies I have zero understanding, so I have no way of knowing what your mind is thinking to say something that is both harmful to a constructive discussion and detrimental to people thinking you understand how Doctor works.
@DudeDelicious that second statement applies to any killer (maybe except Nurse and Hillbilly on occasion?), so that skill you mention is the skill required to play the game effectively as killer and is not specific to Doc. Doc has some extra tools to waste survivors' time, but putting them into usage is simple and doesn't require additional skill past a killer's existing skill. Shock survivors whenever there are props nearby in a chase and you wouldn't be able to get a hit from just M1 killer tactics, and use static blast when a killer has no info on survivors or has been unable to apply sufficient pressure. That's all anyone needs to know, and that's not hard to remember or do in a match.
this game isnt competitive and probably never will be
Pyramid Head can still be looped, faked out, and gen rushed. Just like any of the other killer with "braindead powers".
I don't know about Deathslinger, but i don't think PH is braindead.
He's a very lethal killer, but he has no map mobility.
You don't beat him by being better at looping than him, you beat him by playing smarter and stealthy.
Either way, there's still plenty of room to outplay him in a loop, but you have to read him, just like he has to read you.
My attentiin came to rank BECAUSE you said his power requires no skill. Thats just 100% false, and if thats true then everyone, including you, should be able to pick him up and get to rank 1 with him. That was my only point, I was touting my own skill as killer in anyway.
Ah, then, yes, I do believe that every killer capable of getting to rank one with Wraith/Bubba/etc. (no powerful add-ons) is able to get to rank 1 with Doc (no powerful add-ons). It's just a difference in powers, and switching to Doc's current power does not require any significant amount of skill past game sense developed from any other killer that shares his movement speed (or not).
I enjoy playing against Nurse.
Who the hell doesn't?
pyramid head needs to be 110% speed if he can counter windows loops like huntress and deathslinger . Also tighten his wave attack width