Killers should have unique survivor objectives
I know that its far fetched but I think this is a huge fix for a lot of complaints of the game. Here is my pitch
Instead of all matches revolve around survivors doing gens to escape. The objective should be more themed toward the killer you're facing. The gen meta can work on specific killers because they can pressure gens properly. Usually high mobility killers. Others are kind of left behind and struggle when compared to them. I think that a unique survivor objective to escape the trial for each killer would both balance out killers and spice up survivor gameplay.
A good example of this is the pig. I think that survivors should be subjected to saw traps to escape the trial. If I had to pick the killer to keep the gen meta it would be Wraith. It both thematically fits him and he has the mobility to pressure them. Freddy could have the survivors making some sort of medication to escape the trial. Also I wouldn't be against a handful of killers sharing similar objectives mechanically. Like plague and nemesis both could have objectives that pertain to fully curing the infection or making a permeant cure for their plague or virus
I could maybe run through each killer and give my idea on a unique objective, but I'd like to hear if you guys have any fun ideas. I'll return to this topic to throw my ideas at the killers later.
Comments
Took me a while to understand what you meant, but I think I get it. Basically replacing gens with unique but mechanically identical main objectives for each killer?
I don't necessarily think it's something that would work in the game, as the ubiquitous nature of gens is something that's fairly essential to learning survivor.
But it's a fun concept to think about.
Hag would probably have more elaborate 'super' totems, that you need to carefully unwind.
Trickster could have tape decks, and you need to rewind all of the tapes to reset them.
Twins would have piles of scrap that you need to rummage through for five keys.
Nemesis and Wesker could have crafting stations where you combine different herbs.
I thought they should do this based on maps rather than killer but I like the idea.
It would be cool IMO if gens in the Yamaoka estates were shrines, and they needed to be polished up, candles lit, trash removed to be properly maintained so the deity they represent would allow you to leave.
I like this idea much better tbh.
Gens would still work on all of the base maps. MacMillan, Coldwind, Autohaven.
Crotus Prenn could have some kind of steampunk generator.
Backwater swamp would have boat engines.
Lerys would have something that fits Doctor more, something with electromagnetic coils.
Then you'd have the more fantastical ones like the Yakaoka shrines, and similar on Red Forest and Eyrie
I agree with the sentiment.
Every killer should warp the normal rules of the game in such a way that survivors should be expected to play differently from one match to the next. For some, that is already the case:
-Plague requires survivors to heal at fountains or remain injured the whole game.
-Pig requires survivors to go off on a mini adventure to find the key to their reverse beartrap
-Pinhead requires one survivor to find and solve the box, potentially subjecting themselves to a case
Now, a lot of those effects are really bad and those killers are very low tier. And this is because survivors, by and large, are of the mindset that "I should be able to just sit on a gen all game and escape every time." And if that sounds like an gross mischaracterization, I'd direct you to Pinhead. His various addons made the Box Hunt part of his power FAR more important for the survivors to do and when (predictably) survivors simply refused to do it and were punished for not playing any differently, the devs gutted his addons.
And that's really the problem here. You COULD make it so that Trapper had infinite new traps on a timer and he could place them remotely and survivors would have to break his supply crates to knock Trapper back to the state he's in currently. But the overwhelming number of current survivors simply wouldn't. They'd keep playing the same way they always have been, slamming gens and ignoring everything else. And when they lost, they'd complain about the killer being OP and demand nerfs. Which they would get, sooner or later.
If you want a second example: consider Undying, which turned Ruin into a secondary objective for survivors, requiring a 2-5 totem hunt to keep generators from regressing if they got forced off. We all know what happened there.
I am convinced that the people who play DbD would rather quit than get a secondary objective of any real significance.
If the game doesn't play out exactly identically every time, no matter what killer they're going up against, survivors will absolutely pitch the mother of all shitfits until the killer side gets nerfed enough for them to go back to their rote repetition.
tl;dr - It WOULD be a good idea, but they won't do it.