Further changes I’d make to Spirit
I think Spirit is in a good spot right now but I do think there are some further things that could be done to make her almost perfect. I have some basekit and add on changes here that should make her more interesting for everyone.
PASSIVE PHASING
Alright so starting this all off, I think it’s time to rethink passive phasing as it’s too RNG to consider it an interesting mechanic. Once The Spirit starts a passive phase, the Yamaoka’s Haunting icon on the bottom left changes, letting the user know that The Spirit is passive phasing. This should increase the mind game potential and give players another thing to master about Spirit, which should increase her skill cap even further. Also, this could give the uncommon add on, Juniper Bonsai, more of a use.
GRUNTS OF PAIN
To close the gap between Iron Will users and non-Iron Will users, The Spirit will always hear survivors at 50% grunts of pain while she’s in her power regardless of any perk the survivors or killer has that effect the survivors’ grunts of pain. This should add more consistency as the gap between Iron Will users and non-Iron Will users against Spirit is way too high.
add on changes
Dried Cherry Blossom
- Press the active ability to perform a passive phase. Once a passive phase is performed, The Spirit can’t passive phase for another 3 seconds.
- Currently, Dried Cherry Blossom shows killer instinct when The Spirit is 4 meters away from a survivor in her power, which can be obnoxious for Spirit players that aren’t used to the add on and can be a brain dead add on while being too powerful when you do get used to it. I think it should go back to affecting passive phasing but adding a completely new mechanic, which allows The Spirit to control when passive phasing happens.
Mother-Daughter Ring
- Added effect: decreases The Spirit’s activation charge speed by 10%.
- Mother-Daughter Ring needs a downside that isn’t just scratch mark removal. It isn’t a necessary downside for experienced players and it makes the add on too powerful.
Father’s Glasses
- Blood trails are visible while using Yamaoka’s Haunting.
- This add on used to be in the game but was removed. I think it was a fine iridescent add on and I’d like to see it back in the game.
Senko Hanabi
- Increased the distance to 6 meters (was 4) and the duration to 10 seconds (was 5).
- This add on can be good but the numbers are a bit under tuned. This should give it more potential and make it more worth using.
add ons removed
- Mother’s Glasses
add on rarity changes
- Father’s Glasses to ultra rare
- Wakizashi Saya to rare
- Kintsugi Teacup to very rare
Comments
Eh, that doesn't make passive phasing any more engaging or... useful. You just make one add-on a dud and purple rarity, which is 100% blech. It's 100% "I sure hope that this mind games the other person" which relies on the player making an action based on a visual cue at that point in the first place. If passive phasing actually did something for the Killer, maybe being able to trigger it on demand would matter.
Father's Glasses being UR is pretty overboard--remember, there are people with poor hearing who play Spirit, and removing the current DCB effect would make that more-or-less obligatory. Pink addon just to see blood pools is (and was) excessive.
Passive phasing actually does mess me up at times, but the problem is I know it wasn’t because of the killer player themselves, it was because of RNG. I would like for the user to know when passive phasing happens and for an add on to help control when it happens.
As for DCB, I’m not a fan of it. It removes all counterplay from the survivor side and is kind of brain dead to use when you get used to it. Father’s Glasses isn’t nearly as powerful and unfair, considering the blood can be inconsistent. As for the people that have a hard time hearing, I understand that, which is why I want yo bring back Father’s Glasses. I suppose I could make it a lower rarity than iri, but honestly, I never thought it was a problem at iri, even when Spirit was pre-nerf.
I keep forgetting passive phasing exists since there's no info for it on my end. Does make me wonder if it's helped at any point.
I feel like making those sort of information-based addons too rare, when someone might need them to actually play the character at all, is unfairly penalising. Honestly, I'd probably drop them to like, Green, and boost the regain-power-on-stun to purple? Honestly, you could probably add some sort of Whispers-like one too (rather than buff Senko's tiny range)--rather than negating Iron Will, just add some sort of volume-limited breathing/whispering from Survivors. Still directional, not as obvious as DCB, doesn't require redoing the whole sound system again to negate IW, etc.
I guess that is true. Maybe that Father’s Glasses can be a green add on, Kintsugi Teacup can stay iridescent, Katana Tsuba can move up to purple, and Wakizashi Saya can stay at purple. What do you think about this?
Thanks for bringing this up btw.
I think I'd rather move up the Uchiwa than the Katana Tsuba, but otherwise, sounds good.
Well, I'd miss being able to have lazy games with MDR+DCB, though. 😄
The passive phasing icon,the 50% grunts of pain, return of Father's Glasses, and Senko Hanabi changes all make sense.
The changes to M/D Ring and Dried Cherry Blossom are unnecessary and sound extremely unfun. Not everyone mains Spirit so these add-ons for the majority of players aren't OP.
Ok but you can say the same thing about Nurse. Nurse doesn’t have that many masters but the ones that are masters completely break the whole game. That’s not good balance. Spirit’s MDR + DCB is arguably on that level.
50% sound just hurts people with hearing issues or who can't afford an expensive audio setup
I like the idea of making passive phasing more interactive, although I'm not sure how useful it would be. I never get thrown off by passive phasing much as a survivor, though maybe it would happen more with your version of cherry blossom, idk. It'd be something I'd be interested to try out at least, especially since I'm not a fan of the current cherry blossom either.
For grunts of pain, yeah, that's definitely one way to fix that. I still think IW shouldn't cause survivors to not need to breathe, but that's another topic.
MDR nerf and senko hanabi buff makes sense. Another idea for MDR is make it like current cherry blossom where it immediately removes all scratch marks once you start phasing, rather than only preventing you from seeing new ones like it does now (yeah, those two addons don't work the same way with that, it's weird).
As for father's glasses, meh. I never felt like that addon had a lot of counterplay other than not getting injured. If I was going to re-add it though, I would take away it making bloodstains brighter like it used to (I don't think the game ever mentioned that, but it does that while in phase).
Worth noting, since her addon pass, I have yet to see anybody get any value whatsoever out of mother's glasses. Tbh it's late so I'm tired and can't think of an interesting way to change that addon right now but it needs something. I also don't see people use wakizashi saya at all.
Passive phasing definitely needs tuning. My idea was that you get a blue'ish screen everytime a passive phase happens, and make it more consistent (activates every 3 seconds).
Grunts of Pain I am not sure. I like changing my playstyle mid match depending on if Survivors have IW or not. Doing short phases or doing long precise phases, ending with a Grudge hit as soon as I leave the Haunting Mode.
DCB definitely needs changing. Like you said, it feels very disorientating if you don't use it but extremely overpowered if you rely on it.
MDR needs a nerf. I love using the Add-on because who doesn't love zooming over the map, but it's just to powerful. Tbh, I'd nerf it to 25 % instead of 40 % (Yakuyoke combo movement speed) as it would still feel very strong and it would make the actual Yakuyoke/MDR combo not completely ridiculous.
Mothers Glasses needs changes. I personally don't like Fathers Glasses since it removes what makes her skillful (using ears and prediction) but I understand it since it's needed for people with hearing disabimlities. But the devs removed it so I don't think they'll bring it back.
Everything else seems fine.
If the game was competitive or balanced around high level players then I would 100% agree. However, this is DbD. The balance in this game is centered almost entirely around average and below average players. This causes both sides to have things that are out of balance at the top. But that's the nature of a casual asymmetrical game.
As a side note, dried cherry blossom gives people with hearing disabilities a chance to play her well. I think that should be considered when proposing changes to it.
I don’t understand how DCB helps people with hearing disabilities when you have to listen for killer instinct. Father’s Glasses was way better for them and is much more fair than DCB.
Killer Instinct has a visual que as well. And while I personally prefer Father's Glasses, it only works after they're injured.
I'd wager a very loud BADUMP BADUMP is also better for poor hearing than the rest of Spirit's kit.