Ruin, Undying, and Meta changes.
I've seen a lot of posts on here talking about how Ruin & Undying, more specifically Ruin, Undying, and Tinkerer, is OP and needs to be nerfed. I play both sides, more of Survivor as of late, but I don't think Ruin and Undying are OP in any way. Then again, this is just my opinion and I'm open to discussion.
For one, the killer not only has to devote two perk slots to the combo, but two perk slots that can be deleted. The one thing I can get behind being too strong is the aura reading - and when they inevitably nerf Undying I hope it's just getting rid of the aura reading aspect. Hell, I wouldn't mind giving it to Hex: Retribution since, imo, that perk is pretty underwhelming.
For one, this combo is completely undone if you break undying first, or even just break the dull totems littered around the map. Secondly, Ruin only works when a killer is pressuring a gen. I'll touch on Tinkerer for a second, something I can understand a bit more. I've gone against this plenty of times and yeah, it can feel pretty frustrating to taken off a gen that was almost done because of Tinkerer, hell it can be way more debilitating than Pop at times, but the Killer can only do one thing at a time. They can't chase two people at once, and if they hard camp a gen then just go do another one.
Another thing I wanna touch on is how important and healthy it is for Meta changes. I feel like we've kinda been stuck in the same meta for a year now, unless your running a niche build. Obviously, a huge point of contention lately has been the PGTW nerf, which I didn't really see anybody complaining about, and why it hasn't happened to DS. I like to think that (hopefully) the Dev's are taking a look at DS and testing out some ideas they just haven't brought out yet. The reason I bring this up is it kinda enforces this new Meta, which I think is good.
I think online games like this need constant Meta changes to keep it fresh - otherwise we're just kinda going against the same types of builds for months and even years. Back when I played Overwatch, which I understand is a completely different game, they tried to enforce Meta changes quite often. It didn't always work, but they at least tried. Now, I don't think we should ever bully the Dev's, none of us know what kind of stuff they're doing internally, but I think this is one of the things they need to do more. It almost seems like they're scared to introduce strong perks, because they know it'll get backlash. Again, I'm all up for discussion as long as it's just that - a respectful discussion.
Comments
I agree that we do need more meta changes like that to keep the game play more fresh.
I personally wouldn't nerf Undying at all as I think it's actually adequately strong enough for the high risk involved. If that's the first totem cleansed you just lost a perk slot for nothing, so it needs to be strong. The vast majority of the games hex perks are not strong enough for being hex's which is why no one runs them.
The counter play for popular hex builds is there anyway, lots of people just refuse to give up one of their meta slots for something like Small Game. For how popular those perks are or even NOED for that matter, you will get good value from it the vast majority of games.
I personally just ignore the hex's entirely, run Soul Guard to take advantage of the situation, and just pump the gens out.
Not to mention this build isn't passive, meaning the killer actually has to be good at pressuring the map to even get good value out of it.
I also fail to see any problem with the Perks. If they were to eliminate the Aura reading aspect, they should put back the ability for Undying to transfer itself. I also play Survivor (Solo most often) and Killer. There is simply a stronger emphasis on doing Bones. A funny, if unintended, consequence, is that NOED is becoming less popular. :)
I think that's a big issue a lot of people have, is it forces them to bring something they don't usually do. But there are so, so many things that just straight up show you where a totem is that I don't really think it's a problem. On the subject of the aura reading, I think it's fine but if it does get a nerf I hope that's all that gets removed. Getting rid of the totem switching idea would make the perk pretty mediocre. Not terrible, but not good either. That's another good point - this meta basically gives anyone with Soul Guard a better version of Unbreakable.
Ah, a fellow survivor stuck in the purgatory of Solo queue. I really don't get why survivor's have such a problem with doing bones, they give a ton of points and take like 15 seconds.
I would say forces them to run something they don't normally use is a strong use of the words. I don't think any of those perks are necessary at all, they just make it easier. Totems in general are pretty easy to find. Even on the harder to find maps they aren't bad as you usually don't even need to "find" them, you just run from room to room listening until you hear the crackling fire sound as the totems are extremely loud. Probably 80% of the time I find totems just because I heard them, not actually saw them.
As I mentioned it's also pretty easy just to ignore the totems entirely and not even waste the time looking.
Exactly. There are four Survivors and only five Totems. If everyone on the team pauses to cleanse one they spot, they vanish pretty quick even when you aren't actively looking for them.
Yeah, I probably should've worded that better. What I think I meant was that a lot of Surivor's just completely ignore dull totems, since it's time not spent in a chase or doing a gen.
There are still so many maps where totems are just completely in the open. I really don't think it's difficult to do bones, but I've seen so many posts calling this combo OP, or the one I've seen a lot, boring.