Michael Myers Buff/Tweaking Ideas
It's no secret that Myers is a pretty clunky and outdated Killer. While I don't agree with people who say that he's the worst in the game, I do personally put him at the top of the D tier, and that's more than enough reason to have a look at him to see what we can do to fix him.
To condense my thoughts as much as possible: The core idea of his kit is not only solid gameplay wise, but an excellent translation of the source material, so I don't want to completely rework him. Rather, I'd look to buffing/tweaking various aspects of each Tier to help him feel a little more snappy and responsive, so he can compete with how quickly the game functions these days. With that in mind:
- Tier 1: Either he gets the movement speed penalty removed, OR he gets a full lunge. Currently, Tier 1 is just an active downside and the Undetectable doesn't really do that much to help; I'd rather have Tier 1 be far more reasonable to play the opening of the match in before you try and tier up, should you so choose. Additionally to this change, I'd suggest that it take significantly less Stalk to get up to Tier 2.
- Tier 2: I don't actually think this Tier needs any particular changes, I think it's perfectly reasonable; he's essentially a regular M1 Killer with a lower terror radius, and I think that's perfectly legitimate. The only change I'd suggest is making Tier 3 quicker to get to. Which leads me to...
- Tier 3: This is where my ideas crystalise. I think Tier 3 should be much quicker to get to, but I think it should drain substantially quicker too, so it's more like spikes of adrenaline throughout the "third act" of the match rather than something he pops maybe three times and that, while strong, doesn't really fundamentally change all that much. So, it should be achieved and lost much quicker, and it should have more benefits on top of this- off the top of my head I'd suggest a stun reduction a la Enduring, the ability to just walk through dropped pallets and breakable walls at the cost of slightly reduced movement speed for a second afterwards, and a persistent Killer Instinct notification on anyone you've stalked above 50%.
It should go without saying, but this should also come with a bunch of addon changes- obviously rubbish addons like the "movement speed while stalking" addons should be reworked entirely, and some of his other addons would have to be tweaked to compensate for the upped strength in his basekit. I don't foresee the Tombstone Piece remaining intact with these changes, but the pink Tombstone is probably still fine, that one can still be balanced. Tuft Of Hair may sadly have to go, though...
What do you guys think?
Comments
One thing with Meyers is, like all killers but to an even greater degree, you have to consider balancing him assuming he’s using add-ons since what add-ons he’s using can change his playstyle dramatically. Some greatly increase the speed he can charge up, or he can take a long time to charge but it lasts forever, or he can opt to not be able to get Evil 3 at all and get other bonuses, or he can take a ridiculously long time to charge but be able to kill during a chase. It’s quite a variety, and they’re all playable (albeit some a bit trickier to pull off than others).
So it’s important to consider, I think, how universally increasing his charge up speed would impact those various styles. The main downside to some of them is that they intentionally take a long time to complete. And others are already fairly quick to charge. What happens then when the base speed is increased significantly? Or likewise, if you change how Evil 1 works, how does that impact Evil 1 Scratched Mirror Meyers? Or if you change Evil 2 what happens with Vanity Mirror Meyers?
I’m not saying they can’t tweak his base stats and I have no particular opinion on how good or bad Meyers is in general. All I’m saying is you can’t balance him assuming he’s not running add-ons, you have to assume various possible add-on builds and what may or may not additionally have to be changed there is you change his base stats.
Oh, I agree- as I said, his addons would have to be tweaked in order to compensate for these universal buffs to his base kit, I'm pretty sure every addon would have to have some values adjusted to compensate for it. That was very much included in this idea, friend!
As for the Mirrors, I don't think they'd be too affected? Vanity Mirror would be unchanged and Scratched Mirrors would probably get a buff. If you're really concerned about SM Myers with these changes, the addon could always be tweaked to give whatever downside we removed back as part of the addon conditions- say if you speed up his movement speed in tier one, then Scratched Mirror slows you back down again.
The same goes for all the other addons that promote specific styles- if these changes would break those playstyles, their associated addons can always give him back the old playstyle. I don't think him having some fun addon combos really justifies leaving him to languish at basekit, is the thing- and this is coming from someone who plays and enjoys Myers a lot, I understand the appeal of his addons.
More than anything I just wish tier 1 wasn't as much of a hindrance as it currently can be. You may get an early stalk without someone seeing you and get out of it quickly, or you might not. Undetectable is nice but when you're a 105 killer, it's not worth a whole lot.
I wouldn't be opposed to the idea that getting out of tier 1 only requires around a third of the stalk you need right now, and/or increase tier 1 movement speed as you suggested. I don't even think it would be too much to give him his full lunge and also make him 110 in T1.
Honestly, even if you changed nothing else, I think giving him a full lunge is more than reasonable. It's kind of overkill at the moment.
I agree with you that Myers could use an update, but I feel like he needs a more quick and reliable way out of Tier 1. I like the idea that landing a hit in Tier 1 sets his stalk meter to 99%.
I also think he needs his stalk limit abolished.
I definitely agree that his add-ons need some updates.
I think a combination of requiring less Stalk and making Tier 1 less punishing is a reasonable direction to take him in. No reason not to let Scratch Mirror Myers have a little more fun, right?