Myers Changes
As a huge fan of the Halloween franchise, I think the DEVs did a great job at capturing the overall theme in Myers power. Great sound effects, in general good aesthetics design and many things that made him unique.
The Shape is one of DBDs oldest Killers and the first licensed Killer. Many people, myself included, are convinced that he´s due for an update into the modern era of DBD.
The main complaints that are being tossed around revolve around the following aspects:
-Power creep
-Low Tier Killer
-Low skill cap
-Outdated and flawed addons
Power Creep
Back when the Shape was introduced to DBD he brought several things into the game that were unique about him. Power up mechanics, stalking as a ressource, instant-downing ambush and a stealth alternative to the Wraith. He also used to be immune to any detection perk, a valuable asset he lost with the introduction of the Undetectable status effect.
Over the years, he has been surpassed in every single of these aspects by other Killers. Both the Plague and the Oni have vastly stronger "modes" than him, making the Shape a less attractive choice in this regard. All three have their power comparably easy available, yet the weakest of them has also a hard cap to it.
The Ghostface has tremendously superior stealth and stalking capabilities, outshining Myers in every way about these. Being Undetectable trumps a reduced TR, his stalk does not have a hard cap and is not hindered by a range penalty.
Low Tier Killer
Among the more experienced playerbase it´s widely acknowledged that Myers can not compete with most Killers in terms of power. Despite the aforementioned better options for the playstyles he offers, he also suffers from certain weaknesses that prevent him from being one of the better Killers. Namely:
-No mobility
-Slow startup
-Weak chase
-No map pressure
-No slowdown
Not all of these downsides need to be addressed of course. I think we can all agree that not every Killer needs a heavily overloaded kit like Freddy or the Pig.
I´d like to add that these weaknesses only ever come into play when versing competent Survivors. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the playerbase can not be placed in this category, resulting in an inflated Kill/Escape ratio. Every Killer is overpowered against "potato" Survivors because they fail to use the tools they´re given in a skillful manner.
Low skill cap
In his current form, the Shape does not offer many oppurtunities for high skill plays. He´s what the people like to call "M1 Killer", the most skillful things one can do that are unique about him are finding a decent angle to stalk from and to use the lack of collision while stalking to attempt and bypass a bodyblock. Dedicated Server issues aside, the stalking mechanic is bland and easy. If I had to guess, he is purposefully designed to be very easy to master because he´s one of the most popular horror icons of all time, and is therefore used to attract new players. New players need Killers that are easy to pick up and do decently well with. Advanced players deserve a little more though.
Outdated and flawed addons
Despite the lack of changes to his power, here is where the age of the Shape shows. Some addons have unneccessary downsides, some have illogical value distributions across rarities, some are extremely weak while certain addons are borderline overpowered.
In general the addons were done in a greatly inspired way considering they were implemented at the very beginning of DBDs life cycle. In my opinion, there is a significant number of changes and reworks that should be done about them. Myers is also one of two Killers that don´t fit the regular number and distribution of addons.
My Suggestions
Power
-"Evil" inside Survivors should regenerate. In today´s standards, the hard cap on Myers power feels unjustified, especially compared to other Killers (see above). To prevent this feature from being unreasonably abusable and not to punish teammates for the mistakes of another Survivor too much, the regeneration could happen at a rather slow rate. 1 point every 45 seconds seems reasonable.
-Tier up mechanic (like Oni´s). This would allow for more tactical uses of his power. For example: The Shape could fill his gauge in tier 1 but decide not to tier up immediately to go for a sneaky swing or a grab while still retaining the option to tier up. As of today, it´s always one or the other, never both, which limits his versatility. It would also lessen the frustration about "dedicated" failed grabs which usually leave him with nothing but an emtpy gauge and a Survivor that is now on high alert, denying him the tier up.
-Evil Within tier 1 movement speed should be buffed to 4.4 (110%). This feature would help to alleviate his lack of mobility, map pressure and his slow start. The current hindrance that is tier 1 is one of the major causes for his lackluster performance compared to most of the Killer roster. His lunge could remain as weak as it is now to balance it. Since he would still be outstandingly weak in chase in this form it can´t reasonably be argued that this would be overpowered.
-Evil Within 3 needs something more. What I would suggest is a 5% movement speed buff for 5 seconds when tiering up as well as a short period of becoming undetectable after the duration of Evil Within 3 ends, maybe 15 seconds. These changes fit well thematically, add a layer of skill to his kit and are moderate buffs.
-Range penalty for stalking should be lessened by at least 33%, preferably 50%. Just a quality of life change, it should feel more rewarding successfully sneaking up on Survivors and finding a good angle to stalk them from. It´s too punishing in it´s current form.
Addons
With the changes to his ressource in mind, there could be several adjustments to many addons.
-Judiths Tombstone: +5 seconds of stalk required
-Tombstone Piece: +10 seconds of stalk required
-Fragrant Tuft of Hair: +5 seconds of stalk required
The remaining parts of the "Hair" family of addons (Lock of Hair, Hair Bow Hair Brush. Blond Hair) could remain as they are with the stalk changes in mind. Otherwise, their value should be reassessed. Due to the hard cap, none of them are valuable compared to the Hair Bow.
Scratched Mirror: Since Myers now moves at 4.4m/s (110%) the aura reading range should be nerfed to 24m.
Vanity Mirror: Remove the movement speed penalty. Since equipping this addon removes the strongest asset from Myers this seems like an unjustified downside.
The remaining parts of the "Mirror" family of addons (Mirror Shard, Glass Fragment, Reflective Fragment) should be fine if they got another 1-2 seconds of aura reading added on to them.
"Jewelry" family of addons: They are bad, plain and simple. They have no impact whatsoever on gameplay, making them redundant. Movement speed while stalking is barely faster than standing still, with or without them (a flaw they share with Ghostaces sister addons). I suggest giving them new effects.
With the changes to the power in mind, they could affect the "speed boost" from tiering up or the duration of Undetectable after tier 3 ends.
Dead Rabbit should be a common addon, freeing up a slot for a new Uncommon addon, making the Shapes addon distribution align with the other Killers.
New Uncommon Addon: Knife Handle - Slightly increases the lunge of Evil Within 2.
On a side note, as a fan: In every movie other than the Rob Zombie remakes, Myers is 6 feet tall. For a game, it makes sense to enlargen him a bit to make him appear more threatening, but being close to 10 feet is too much. Please make him a bit shorter, this would also help him in terms of gameplay, especially versus stretched resolution gamers that are currently impossible to sneak up on, undetectable or not.
Edit: If and when you decide to update Myers, please reconsider Dying Light. The other Shape teachables are fine, but this one has too many downsides for it´s effect. I suggest the following:
-All Survivors are affected by the slowdown, but only non-obsession hooks grant stacks. Currently, most of the time only 2 Survivors are affected by the perk (Obsession unaffected and doesn´t grant stacks, hence preferably not chased, so 1 non-obsession is being chased while 2 other Survivors suffer from the slowdown)
-Remove the action speed buff to the Obsession
-Effect persists after the Obsession is killed or sacrificed
This concludes my suggestions for Myers changes. Thanks for reading!
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