An idea to make Hex Perks more viable
Just an idea I had, no idea how well it'd actually work but I figured I'd throw it out there anyway:
As we all know, Survivors can often spawn on top of your hex totem. Which means they can remove one of your four perks from the game permanently in exchange for 14 seconds on a totem. (Less with Counterforce). Now, obviously Hex Perks come with some risk -- as they SHOULD. But survivors spawning on top of them is an RNG nightmare that can ruin a game for a killer.
The problem with making it so survivors never spawn within a certain range of a hex totem is that it limits the area in which survivors have to search for those totems to begin with. (Bigger problem with SWF than Solo Queue, I'll admit)
What If, though: The entity protected all hex totems until survivors destroyed 5 statues around the map. There'd be 5 statues, and survivors could see their auras (so no searching for them). Each statue would take ten to fifteen seconds (not sure what'd be balanced) to destroy, and unlike totems would not have their progress reset if chased off. Once all the statues are destroyed, survivors may then be able to cleanse hex totems. That means if they spawn on top of one, they still have to destroy the statues, before going back to destroy the hex totem (if they can remember where it spawned.)
This would create an optional secondary objective (Killers seem to get them all the time for some reason. Not that they really need them. Looking at you breakable walls.) and would allow killers to keep their hexes alive a little bit longer (without being too oppressive)
Again, it's just an idea. I'm sure survivors like being able to break hexes immediately. (The statues would spawn whether there was a hex totem in the trial or not btw). But I feel like it makes the hex perks a little too risky when a survivor can literally spawn on top of one. And they can spawn completely in the open. (Yeah, they can also spawn so hidden nobody can find them, but there are perks that help you find them at least.) I'm sure there's issues with it, but I still felt I'd throw it out there.
Comments
An interwsting concept, but we'd have to see it in action to tell for sure.
Interesting idea, would give them that secondary objective that would be worth playing especially if killers started running DH. My only concern would be how would this effect Undying? Would we leave it so that it still protects the one totem?
Also I liked the idea that I saw someone else suggest a while back of having the killer plant the totem down themselves whenever they wanted to during the game. That way they can be more strategic on when to use them and also the only one to blame for totem locations would be the killer themselves. I mean it's not like survivors don't have more than enough perks to help them find and cleanse totems right?
Its an interessting idea but survivor dont want a secondary objective they show that when they complain about ruin/undying.
I think the suggested time on the secondary objective is a little too steep - making survivors move across the map and spend totem cleansing time destroying 5 new objectives is pretty severe in a game where every second counts. I mean, I'd like more slowdown in this game, match speeds can be absurd, but this would turn already oppressive hex combos even more oppressive (see Ruin/Undying, and Devour Hope's sneak attack effect where survivors don't search for totems until they're in major danger.)
It meshes oddly with the real issue, which is that totem spawns are wildly inconsistent and range from out in the open/right next to survivor objectives, and Where's Waldo levels of diabolical stealth.
When a survivor spots your totem, it's basically done for. Only exception is if the survivor is a solo and you kill them before they can do it or show teammates. You can be guaranteed that as soon as they know where your totem is, they're going to head for it the instant you give them an opportunity. Adding another objective that has to be done adds a flat timer to its lifespan, but that doesn't account for whether this was as the camera was panning while the survivor loaded in, or at a healthy four minutes into the match, or as the killer was bearing down on the team with Devour Hope and nobody else is in a position to cleanse the last two statues across the map, a detour which is going to see those two teammates moried and likely you as well. And for solos especially, it could become very nasty in conjunction with an already well-hidden hex with an unignorable effect (DH, Ruin + Tinkerer)
I would tentatively be down for this as a perk a killer could bring, similar to ToTH or Undying for hex protection, but I'm not keen on it as a base mechanic. Maybe if these statues crumbled over time, like very slowly completing themselves and adding progress to their bar until they straight-up break at X minutes in. Hexes getting wrecked at the very start of the game is a problem, but hexes that last well into the game don't need additional protection.
I think the issue is outside of ruin, devour, and haunted ground most of the perks are terrible, even if they weren't hex totems I don't think anyone would run them.
Blood Favor: Helps survivors by snot letting them throw down pallets when they might otherwise have and wasted the pallet. Also has a ridiculous cooldown. The only time this is good is against power struggle/pallet saves. Which are extremely rare, why dedicate 25% of your loadout to such a rare case?
Crowd Control: This one is decent, but why not just run bamboozle and never have to worry about your perk getting deleted though?
Huntress Lullaby: This is a bad perk. Helps you win harder, does nothing if you are losing/behind all game. Similar in design to devour hope but nowhere near the payoff.
NoED: dumb perk
Retribution/Thrill/Undying: Totem defense meh, I don't think perks like this should exist as it takes 2+ perks at a minimum to take any hex build seriously.
Third Seal: Meme perk. Makes solo life harder and does nothing vs swf
Why do almost all of hex totems function terribly/have almost no good reward? Even if you made the above totems into just normal perks(with the exception of NoED) you probably wouldn't see people run these. Only a few hexes are good, the ones that are good are pretty impressive but so many are garbage. Even if you 'protected' the totems I wouldn't run any of the above unless I'm just running a meme totem build or something.
Or not allowing survivors to destroy HEX totems unless they've completed one Gen, 2 HEX totems then 2 Gens and so on, I mean the Killer very likely loses one Gen in the first minute of the game anyways, because we all know Gen Rushing isn't a thing in this game *wink*
I mean there's four survivors. Each destroys one, and it wouldn't take that much time.