My Thoughts On All of The Upcoming Changes
Now, I know I am a little late to this, but I don't have all the time in the world, so.... yeah.
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CLOWN REWORK:
Kicking things off with The Clown's power change: it could be way better. He got a new throwable that has the ability to aid survivors. The devs tried to justify this addition by saying "it would be used to get survivors to move where you want them to." No, it'll just provide them an opportunity to get away from a dead zone or specific loop. One thing I am excited about, however, is whether PWYF will be viable on him. Since the antidote speeds up players by 10%, PWYF can combo to make Clown move at 140%.
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UI/HUD CHANGES:
The HUD is easily the largest change coming to the game, so let's hop into that.
Character Portraits: I don't like this at all. Sure, it may help with discerning players in solo queue, but considering how popular characters like Kate and Meg are, I'm certain there will still be problems. I also don't like how the icons will flash red instead of showing an injured icon. This might make it difficult to tell if someone is injured depending on the map.
Hook Counter and Progress: The survivor version of this is great, but the killer one is so-so. I do like how you now have a way of knowing how many hooks you've gotten in a match, but it can also remind you of how poorly you are doing at the same time. I feel this will encourage more killers to DC if they look at the counter to see 2 slivers filled-in with 1 gen left.
UI Scale Options: This is a good addition, but I want an option that allows us to rearrange the HUD. Right now it looks like the mess that is the mobile HUD.
Other Changes: The new message below the EGC timer is nice, but the gen counter being at the top is incredibly annoying. The add-on icons look extremely large. I could just be going insane, but they look larger, and if that's the case, then I hope the icons will be smaller if two add-ons are equipped.
Something I Want: The option to revert to the original UI.
The new UI is just incredibly disorganized and ugly. I'd stay with the old UI if given the option.
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SURVIVOR LOCOMOTION ANIMATION UPDATE:
The new animations really do look great... for the most part. I'm a fan of pretty much everything aside from the new walking animations and the injured animations. The steps from walking just seem so heavy and exaggerated like a final boss. The new way survivors run while injured just doesn't look nice. I like how they will occasionally sort of stumble, but the rest of the time doesn't look great.
The idle animation looks nice.
I am happy that we can use flashlights while crouched now. This may have already been a feature as I don't really use them, but the last time I tried to crouch and flash, I just stood up.
The new crawling animation looks amazing. I really like how the survivor moves forward by using their elbows to drag themself along.
The animations from being downed look more cartoonish than realistic if you ask me. Instead of falling forward, you get thrown 2 feet away. The new recovery animation looks really good, but I hope it doesn't prevent you from moving right away.
Lastly, I can confirm that moonwalking and teabagging are intact. The devs showed that both do still work.
Personally-with all these changes-I can't wait to get new healing and sabotage animations.
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MATCHMAKING:
MMR is coming back. Here is hoping that we aren't going to get brand new players vs a rank 1 killer.
Rank rewards seem kind of dumb. I think ranks should now be removed and replaced by your MMR score. Also, I'm incredibly disappointed that ranks are getting rewards before devotion.
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MAPS:
The 2 maps that were chosen are perfect. One survivor sided map and one killer sided map. The asylum needs the main building changed completely, and The Game is just safe pallet after safe pallet, but with so many dead ends and barely any windows at all. The basement is a nightmare too. Speaking of which, I would like to see the basement get changed to match the map.
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MISC:
The Wraith's True Invisibility: This is good, but I think the range should favor the Wraith more. Unchanged when within 12 meters; somewhat visible between 12 and 20 meters; invisible past 20 meters.
The Trapper's New Escape Mechanic: It kind of works. People who would always get out of traps on their first try will have a harder time, but it favors every other survivor. It's a buff and a nerf. With his addon pass, it better not take like 9-10 tries for a high chance to escape though.
Deep Wound Adjustments: Cool, but why not allow us to mend before we have to snap-out?
Streamer Mode: This isn't in the game, nor was it mentioned, but adding this could really benefit a lot of streamers. Tru3, Puppers, JRM, etc. They could all benefit from it. Tru3 has even asked for it to be added.
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PERKS:
Diversion, Fixated, Iron Maiden, and Second Wind are all good.
Undying: I don't agree with any of the Undying changes. Here is what I think it should do.
- Every Hex perk should be transferrable once unless not enough dull totems remain on the map.
- You shouldn't lose or keep all of your tokens. The totem has been cleansed, and therefore it should lose half of its tokens.
- This should be swapped. Only Hex totems should reveal a survivor's aura.
Open Handed: I'm happy that Ace is having one of his perks buffed, and for solo queue. This combined with Kindred, Windows, Bond, or even Better Together will be powerful.
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The One Thing You Have All Been Waiting For:
Keys will be... keys aren't getting any changes? Oh... well... bye then.
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I have a lot to do, so sorry that I can't go through the whole thing and read it for any errors.
Comments
I really think we should wait until the PTB to judge the Clown changes, mind you that there have been very few killer releases and changes that initially got a good response from the community and most of these were accepted through time.
Also I would like to add that "An ability that can aid survivors" is most abilities in the game if you think about it: Spirit's phase removes vision so they can trick you, Pig's crouch slows you down so they can make distance if they see you before you see them, Blight's rush reduces your cornering a ton which let's survivors just circle an object and dodge it etc... but none of these actually make these abilities bad, some are even very strong despite them. Like these Clown's ability could benefit survivors if used wrongly, but most of the time it won't if the Clown player know s what they are doing, but again lets just wait and see.
Nothing is for certain yet. I'm sure tweaks will come to the HUD as streamers and players relay their feedback on that as well, but with the Clown, his power directly aids survivors. Spirit, Blight, and Pig indirectly help the survivor by hindering themselves, but Clown hinders himself by directly helping the survivor.