Trapper QoL Buffs
The suite of changes that the Trapper received recently were an amazing start that leave him in a much, much better place, but I believe that we can just push him the last few inches into being in an extremely solid position. Due to the fundamental way he's designed, he's never going to be a top tier killer, and I think that's fine; I just want him to be performing at the best his current design can allow him to.
So, with that in mind, here are my suggestions:
- Traps should all spawn on the same side of the map as him. Now, that's not to say that they should all be in a tight radius around him, but one of the Trapper's biggest flaws is that he's a setup killer who isn't allowed to start setting up his power in its entirety until he's gone on a scavenger hunt to all corners of the map. To remedy this, bear traps should spawn on the same half of the map as him, probably concentrated more towards the centre- but none should spawn on the other side of the map, as the situations where you'd even end up picking those up are fairly niche and simply already holding a trap will give you the same benefit.
- Disarming a bear trap shouldn't be a guarantee. When you free yourself from a trap after you're stepped in it, there's a one in six chance of freeing yourself the first time. I think something similar should apply to disarming as well- I don't know that using the exact same numbers are freeing yourself would be good, that might be too strong, but part of Trapper's problem is that his bear traps are really, really easy to undo, on top of it not being a guarantee that a survivor's going to ever see or interact with one at all, whether it's to step in it or to disarm it. Adding a little more permanence to a specific trap spot and discouraging survivors from attempting to disarm in his face would be a good change, in my opinion.
- Traps should no longer be revealed by Maps, but they should be revealed by Flashlights. I know that Maps are not a useful item even as they are, but it's still unfair for them to specifically hard counter Trapper and nobody else. How to fix Maps is a different discussion, but for now, I think bear traps should gleam when a flashlight is shining on them, so that survivors can more quickly scout out for traps and deal with them if the Trapper isn't immediately on top of them. Potentially there could be a lingering aura for a second after the flashlight stops shining on them, but I don't know how necessary that is.
With these few small changes, I think the Trapper could basically be left as he is for a good while in terms of his basekit. As I said above, he's still not going to be top tier, but it'll help him not feel quite as bullied by things completely out of his control, and put how well you perform a little less down to chance and even more to do with your own prediction and smart trap placements.
Additionally, while his addon overhaul was extremely good overall, I do think there are a few problem areas there too. No bullet points for this one, since I can get through it pretty quickly- there's no reason for his Mangled addon and his Haemorrhage addon to be separated, I'd like to see them both combined onto the yellow-rarity addon to give him room for an extra green. I think the Bear Oil addon should silence your leaning-down noise as well as the actual trap sounds, as well. Lastly, I would like to see some update to trap darkening to accommodate for the more light-themed maps and the maps with less dark grass; maybe the Tar Bottle could be renamed, and instead colour a trap appropriately for the map? Dark for most, sandy for the new map and Coldwind, more iced-over for Ormond... things like that.
That's it! Those are my Trapper thoughts. I'm curious to hear what other people think!
Comments
I promise I’m not disagreeing just to disagree, but no on all fronts. Here’s why: