Off the Record has two unintended design consequences
- The new OTR buff has an issue that can be exploited. SWFs could easily just pick the same character skin, and once they get hooked, they just turn into decoys. They just need one person on a gen off in the distance, and the other 3 just running around looping and drawing the killer away. The problem here is, the killer won't even know which person is protected for 80 seconds. It's even worst if all of them are running OTR. Imagine chasing a survivor through loops, wasting time, then nope, they are immune, then it's a continued chase, but another survivor with the same skin comes up, he's immune to, then another comes. You end up having 3 survivors just running around doing nothing but entirely wasting your time, and absolutely nothing is accomplished. That's NINE health states you have to chew through. Even if you down one and hook them, they will just get unhooked and join the looping session again for another up to 80 seconds. This is all happening while one survivor is safe repairing gens. Even if you ran over to the gen they were working on, you'd still lose track who is who. You have a 1/4 chance of even guessing the correct survivor to go after. One just goes back and progressing while the others run around like a chicken with their head cut off. If Off The Record is going live like this, there needs to at least be an indicator that they are protected, because hey, isn't the whole point, according to the new description, is to "making it purely for evading the Killer after being unhooked." If it's meant to keep from being targeted by the killer, then some sort of indicator "you can't touch this" would do just that. Either that, or reduce the 80 seconds significantly. 30 seconds is MORE than enough time to run off and break away from a killer. If you have a killer that's literally chasing someone for 80 seconds, it's a survivor's match, anyway.
- It turns attacking any survivor you've hooked in the past 80 seconds into a guessing game. a LOT can happen in 80 seconds, so you have no idea if hitting a survivor will even accomplish anything. They could be repairing recently, or maybe not. Who knows? You have to go chasing off some random survivor enduring looping, killer shack, and finally when you get a hit in, nope. You will never, ever know if it's even worth the time attacking a survivor unless you literally see them doing a conspicuous action. It turns a tactical game into a guessing game every attack. The moment you actually managed to hook someone, it's back to a guessing game again.
Comments
I heard someone mention the idea of the killer seeing which survivors have the Endurance status effect with a white glow/aura/outline.
That would be good.....but I don't think it should trigger for endurance situations with the addon that gives you endurance for a few seconds. Wouldn't be able to "trick" a killer if it was announced you're immune.
The change would make it a Dead Hard on demand, buying them a window of safety to reach more safety, instead of it being the hidden health state it is now.
The problem is, most players don't use endurance to reach safety. They use it to bodyblock or try running around risk-free for flashlight saves or attempt at tauning you into chasing them down if you don't realize they have endurance.
Prime example of how players use Endurance:
https://www.reddit.com/r/deadbydaylight/comments/vld9io/please_stop_trying_to_make_me_tunnel_you_off_hook/
Just remember that a conspicuous action will disable OTR. You really think they’re going to stand around all day to tank a hit with it, while being unable to repair gens or do anything else to progress the game? It’s way more appealing to be healed up and continue doing gens. It will punish tunneling while not allowing the survivor to complete any objectives, which is a good thing.
The only adjustment I think it needs is disablement in the end game. At least the endurance aspect.
Yes, that's exactly what they'll be doing. We know this because what's the FIRST thing someone does when getting unhooked with BT? They don't retreat. They know they are getting a free pass and stick around for flashlight blinds or bodyblocking. They don't simply just run away (at least at higher MMR).
What they are going to do is have the gen pushers, but anyone unhooked, they get a free pass, so they'll be running around doing whatever they can to get the killer's attention on them and away from people working on gens (the opposite of what the new perk description says). They know if they get the killer's attention, they will just run them around for a few minutes laughing their butt off because they know the killer doesn't have a chance at actually downing them since they have 3 health states hidden. It'll get even worse when you have a SWF who all run the same skin to really make things confusing. It'll just become a guessing game who has endurance and who you should be chasing. Running around getting looped, ends up they had endurance the entire time, all while gens are getting pushed elsewhere. It's completely opposite of the intention of endurance - to ESCAPE the killer and be an anti-tunnel method. On the contrary, this 80 second endurance is something survivors will WANT to get the killer's attention on, because if you can waste the killer's time for 80 seconds, especially when mixing in multiple people with Off The Record swapping in and out, your team is getting gens done.
At the moment, it's been a minute since you hooked someone. You see them. You've had other hooks in the meantime and some chases, but they are in a gen area. You go after them and game as usual. After the changes go into effect, it's been a minute since you hooked someone. You see them. You've had other hooks in the meantime and some chases, but they are in the gen area. Hmm, SHOULD you go after them? It's a 50\50 chance that it's a complete waste of your time, because they may be "storing" their endurance just to waste your time. You'll never know unless you go through the chase! Awww, sucks for you.....they had endurance the WHOLE time, and guess what, they just finished another gen.
I agree and maybe disable it once they are healed since from what I understand if they get healed by another survivor that's not a conspicuous action and they'll still have the effect.
That would be fair as well!
Survivors will spend the entirety of the endgame waiting inside the exit Gates just to teabag, I'm pretty sure they have no problem body blocking or running around trying to get your attention lol
But yes, it does need to disabled in the endgame.
Why though? I think it's not bad for survivors to have some better chances with certain perks to escape. A killer has a fair chance of getting a 4K, survivors should have a fair chance of getting a 4-man escape.
The only change Off the Record needs is also deactivating when getting fully healed, otherwise it could be used for bodyblocking too effectively.
A survivor shouldn't get a guaranteed escape in the end game just because they have one perk equipped. Seems to me the reason they nerfed Decisive Strike to not activate after the fifth generator is repaired anymore. Don't see why the same logic isn't being applied to Off The Record.
A killer has no more generators to patrol, it's unreasonable to expect them to go for the other survivors in the end game (presumably all healed up by the time they go for the unhook). The other survivors can still help by tanking hits, using flashlights, toolboxes, other altruistic perks, etc. 80 seconds of endurance in the end game is essentially uncounterable.
Neither killers nor survivors are entitled to all or nothing games. I feel this would lessen the gap between matches like that.
I'm fairly confident at the very LEAST that OTR will be disabled in the end game collapse, as there's no more "progressing the match" actions beyond that point. Besides, it's a guaranteed escape...which is the reasoning behind DS disabling in the endgame collapse.
That being said, BHVR still doesn't seem to understand that survivors don't use endurance to get away from the killer but instead use it to put offensive pressure on the killer with flashlights and bodyblocking. That very much concerns a fair amount of players. However, my post focuses on the unintended consequences at turning the game into guesswork.
Absolutely. Have you never played vs. four identical bunny fengs?
Don't think so!