Adaptive Generator Repair Timers
Here, I'm going to advocate for an adaptive gen repair time, or rather, generators whose required repair progress changes based on the conditions of the match, and why such a change would be both lore friendly, more fun, and fairer given the current meta and direction of the game.
I propose a baseline value for each generator depending on how far along the match is. All these values assume you're repairing a generator alone.
At 5: 120 seconds.
At 4: 100 seconds.
At 3: 80 seconds. (base speed)
At 2: 60 seconds.
At 1: 30 seconds.
For every dead survivor: -5 seconds from all generator repair time.
Here is why I think the game should function this way:
A) Its faster, technically.
Assuming maximum efficiency, and one generator is done at a time, a match lasts 400 seconds under 80 second intervals of generators. At the base numbers I'm proposing, under the same conditions, a match would last 390 seconds. Its about the same time.
What the benefit is, then, is the fact that the game time is more heavily thrown toward the early game in terms of play time. In the mid and end game, the generators fly faster, but during those first minutes, you'll have plenty of time as any killer to find survivors, down them, set up if you're a set up killer, and so on.
It also benefits survivors because, it is during the max time in the early game that you have the MOST generators to latch on to. Meaning, its easier to split up and complete a generator eventually. There is viable counterplay and the objectives aren't shrinking so quickly as it would under the regular gameplay.
B) Regression perks both get a buff and a nerf.
Most regression perks operate by percent. The most popular perk, Pop Goes The Weasel, regresses a generator by 25%. In the early game, this would hit HARD as that adds up to a whole 30 seconds (essentially like two pops, for reference), but as it gets close and closer to the mid and end game, that effect becomes negligible, as 25% of 30 seconds is only 7.5 seconds of progress.
C) Chases in the early game aren't as damning, but in the end game it becomes more concerning.
The survivor's goal is to power the gates, and much of that rests in the hands of those who can maximize their chase value. It creates interesting decisions on whether you want to preserve all your pallets for the late game or throw them down to make sure you're able to get out of the early game easily. The long timer on the front end of the match justifies the amount of pallets most maps have, and pallets naturally become more of a resource to preserve rather than something you just throw and hold W for.
D) Map design becomes less concerning.
Map design and the layout of maps can make life so much harder for killers. But when the early game gives you time to breathe, it isn't so bad.
People have recommended similar things to slow down the early game; Trial Warmup, for example, was a term thrown around a lot, but the idea was never brought forth. Now, with MMR, this almost feels like a necessity.
Comments
Absolutely not. Especially as long as Ruin and Tinkerer are in their current forms (regress up to 119 seconds of repair). Besides not making sense and gen speeds being fine, repairing generators is already one of the more boring functions as survivor. So you’re prolonging it by up to 40 seconds for each gen at the beginning of the game, and that adds several seconds a killer gets free pressure for no input at all. Typically multiple gens are being repaired at the same time; so suddenly the first one pops, then one that was being worked on for 119 seconds would have only taken 100 seconds? Meaning a survivor wasted about 20 seconds. And so on.
Map design and survivor spawns could be looked at, but not gen speeds.
How would it work if multiple generators are being worked on at the same time?
Example:
Generator 1, 2, and 3 are all being worked on.
Generator 1 is completed while generator 2 is at 90% (108 seconds or so) and generator 3 is at 75% (90 seconds or so).
Does generator 2 automatically pop and therefore generator 3 automatically pops? Otherwise wouldn't this just incentivize ganging up on gens 1 and 2 (reducing the 120/100 second total) before taking advantage of the quick late gens?
I presume generator charges would be increased to 120 and a speed modifier would be added each time one completes
I don't think so.