Competition among survivors
We all know there is this "competition" element in the game, where survivors have to compete with each other for certain goals. On the one hand, it adds some depth to the game, but on the other hand all those aspects ruin teamwork, since we don't only have a survivors vs killer conflict, but also survivor vs survivor competition, which sometimes becomes even more violent than fighting against the killer. Of course everything described here makes sense only in solo queue: in SWF there is no competition whatsoever.
There are several directions of competition:
- Competition for totems - the easiest and least destructive type of competition. Basically it's when two survivors see one totem, but only one can get those sweet 1k points. Usually not a big deal.
- Competition for items - same goes for items in chests. Once again, I haven't seen any drama around this one, but think I should mention this just for the sake of completion.
- Competition for unhooks - now we are getting somewhere. Unhook is +1250 guaranteed and +500 conditional bps, but also needed for emblems and, what is much more important, for those annoying archive challenges. This type of competition often becomes a source of drama. Only one survivor can get the unhook, but everyone wants it. It's a limited resource, demanded by everybody. So what does it lead to? If I, for example, being a soloQ survivor, see someone being hooked, and I want that sweet unhook, I'll have to run there as soon as possible, because otherwise I may be too late for it. If I see or assume another survivor going there too, I must hurry. I must unhook as soon as possible, so that I don't lose the competition and nobody else unhooks the survivor right in my face. This is why rushing the hook is a necessary tactic. Yes, it can be bad for my team, but it's good for me. So I have to do it, following my own benefits in this survivor vs survivor competition. Sometimes toxic survivors getting there first will wait for a teammate to approach the hook just to make the unhook in his face. Sometimes the "losers" will get angry and start throwing pallets and vaulting. Most of the times it leads to unsafe unhooks, that is "farming", because it's better to farm than to give the delicious unhook to your toxic competitor. I think everyone would agree this is bad for the game.
- Competition for the hatch - this is the most dramatic one. Two survivors remain in the trial, some gens are still left to repair. Of course you can't just complete all the gens, open the gates and make two escapes. The game doesn't work this way, unless the killer is a potato. Whatever happens, survivors can achieve one escape at best. What are possible scenarios? 1 - survivors are new and continue fixing the gens. The killer finds one of them and hooks. 1.1 - the second survivors goes for the unhook and exchanges the hook. Now we are back in the same state, that is one survivor is still on the hook, but we have 1 hook state less. Eventually this action will lead to both survivors dying. 1.2 - the last survivor hides and does not go for the hook. He gains the chance to get the hatch. It's the preferable scenario for him. 2 - one survivor continues with the gens, the other one is looking for the hatch, hiding and waiting for his teammate to die. If he succeeds, he escapes, or at least has the chance to escape. This is preferable for him. 3 - both survivors know the rules and start hiding, hoping the killer gets the other one. Now both survivors have the chance for escape, but the one's escape requires the other's death. This is where things get fierce. In this situation survivors may start sandbagging each other in order to escape themselves. If the killer slugs one of them, he will start crawling towards his teammate, so that the killer gets him too. This is the most problematic part of the game.
I would like to know what you guys think about this aspect of the game, and whether it should be changed somehow. The last two points are the most important ones. It could be fixed theoretically by reworking the hatch mechanic (so that the competition between the last 2 survivors is eliminated) and making it possible to make some kind of "cooperative unhook", just like with healing, where everyone can heal an injured person at the same time and share the points. Or should all this be addressed in the first place?
Comments
I personally have never felt like I am in competition with my teammates. It’s often the opposite.
Example: If I go unhook a teammate and I realize they don’t have a medkit. And the killer is coming back so I can’t heal them. I will give them my medkit so they can go heal while I take the aggro.
The chests/totems for me have always been components of the match that are used as “tools” for everyone’s survival.
Simply put, I don’t care enough about those things you listed to feel like I am competing against another teammate. Even when I’m doing challenges for chests, I am happy if I get 2-3… and someone else wants to open others.
That's probably just your experience. I have met a lot of players who think and behave exactly as I described.
Man I only get survivors who try their hardest not to do any of those things you listed. I wish I could get some competition to actually do something in the game.
hmm teammates doing totems? impossible
So you've never played with a survivor who waited for your death so that he could get the hatch?
I don't want to unhook people. I keep running borrowed time and we'll make it only for other people to get the unhook instead of me. I feel like I'm wasting two perk slots and I would be better spending my time working on a gen and simply praying someone else is going for the rescue.
I mean the situation where both of you are alive and off the hook. So the teammate just camps the hatch and waits for the killer to get you. Never happened? Because I've seen people who actively provoked the killer and led him directly to me so that I would die and leave the hatch to them.