Stealth is unrewarded

notlonely

Just as I see a new wave of users trying to motivate survivors to play stealthy, the game doesn't at all.

Even though I'm not a P3 Claudette main, I still enjoy playing in a stealthy way using perks as Calm Spirit, Iron Will, Fixated and Lightweight. When I was in lower ranks, I even managed to survive some games without even getting chased once. Problem? Playing stealthy implies you need to move unnoticed (unless you're going against Nurse). Many times moving to the corners of the map is useful while the killer looks for you near the generator. If you evade the killer once, or maybe twice, they will start to look much more closer. Although you do waste their time, you actually barely get any points if you're not being chased.

For example, a few days ago I was attempting Adept Zarina. The Bubba I went against wasn't really a pro gamer, and he fell for my Red Herring tricks every time, and I managed to only get chased once. What followed me getting the achievement was a depip, because the game can't know if I actually do anything to the killer. Same thing happened to me a couple times back when I was an Urban Evasion gamer.

In conclusion; the game doesn't actually reward stealth, at least less far than a succesful chase. Not to also count the mANY salty killers that just outright call people with this types of playstyles scaredycats. Stealth is viable, but it won't be anyone's main strategy without the support of many people.

notlonely

@EvilJoshy said:

I feel the problem with stealth is the objective of the survivors. The faster you finish those gens the better your chances of escaping. Sadly that means running around. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy stealth. Whenever I play skyrim my sneak skill is always the first to hit lvl 100. I feel stealth has it's place in DBD but it has 3 main problems.

1: The community gives it a bad rep. When you hear stealth you think a P3 Blendette that's crouched in a corner. UE'ing everywhere and not doing gens. There's nothing wrong with using UE to get around but if the killer is occupied you can throw stealth out the window and start running to the nearest gen. Most survivors look down on stealth and often hate message new survivors who try to actually avoid being seen. This causes the new players to think they need to run everywhere.

2: Stealth is like most hex perks for killer. High risk and low reward. Minus a few exceptions(Devour Hope) When a chase begins, losing a killer through stealth is very difficult against decent killers. If it works it's amazing. However if it doesn't work the killer gets a free hit. If your bleeding there's almost no point in trying to stealth. You can bring perks like dance with me, q&q or iron will but that's like bringing toth to protect ruin. Your doubling down. If it doesn't work your at an even greater disadvantage. You could have instead brought 2nd chance perks. Which I feel are too many and too powerful. There's also the killer to consider. If it's someone with a one shot, like bubba, billy, Oni, I don't even try to stealth them. If they find me crouched behind debris it's a free chainsaw.

3: Pallet looping is just so damn good at wasting time. Stealth "might" work. Pallet looping "will" work. Even if your caught, a decent looper can waste enough of the killer's time for the team to repair gens. If a stealthy player manages to lose the killer. Then the killer will go back to patrolling gens and probably find someone else. If the killer is busy chasing someone for 1 min then the rest of the team is practically free from harm to repair the gens.

The issue with pallet looping is that the meta killers right now are good thanks to their ability to deny loops. Spirit, Nurse or Freddy can make loops shorter and get kills faster, also Hag (pls nerf hag) can literally shut down an entire area of the map so yeah that's basically it. Stealth is better agaisnt these killers and I'd love to be able to use that mechanic more.

GlamourousLeviathan

I actually like when survivors play stealthy, it feels more realistic than when they act bold. It makes me feel like I'm in a hide and seek game, which is one of the things that made me buy the game. IMO the game should reward stealth and individuality more than boldness and altruism for immersion purposes.