Is Hyperfocus Actually Problematic?
WHAT IS THE POINT IN THIS POST?
The whole point in the post is to focus on different points and provide my perspective. Since I know the community is very divided in opinions, and a lot of people like to feed into an "Us VS Them" mentality, this post is going to avoid that entirely, Im not here to belittle or attack a single side, I am here to look perk and arguments brought up for and against the perk (based on what Ive seen online).
That being said, I play both sides, and I dont consider myself to be a main to either side since I avidly play both sides. With a very neutral perspective, I will look at both sides. I know someone will think my opinion is bias, and in a sense, while I do have a neutral perspective, not having some level of bias is completely unavoidable. Anyone who plays this game will have some opinion that differs and there is no "right opinion". Keep this in mind going forward.
WHAT IS HYPERFOCUS?
After hitting a great Skill Check while repairing or healing, this perk gains 1 token, up to 6 tokens. Each token increases the chance of a Skill Check trigger by 4%, the Skill Check cursor speed by 4% and the bonus progression for great Skill Checks by 30% of its base value.
HOW IS IT POTENTIALLY PROBLEMATIC?
Hyperfocus modifies the great Skill Check bonus for generator repairs allowing for 30+ seconds to be cut from generator repair times when paired with Stakeout's great Skill Check bonus. Toolboxes can further make this combo stronger since it increases the chance of triggering a Skill Check.
"HYPERFOCUS ISNT PROBLEMATIC"
"You need to be good at hitting skill checks to gain the benefits of Hyperfocus."
- Hyperfocus can be paired with Stakeout to remove a lot of the risk and skill needed for the perk to have it's usage. Rewarding skill is fine, but other factors always need to be in consideration. And there is no reason to not run Stakeout when Hyperfocus directly benefits from the extra progression anyways.
"You have to waste 15 seconds perk Stakeout token, so you waste an entire minute not doing generators. It isn't practical to get all tokens."
- Stakeout gains tokens whenever you are within the killer's terror radius while not in chase. I think people forget that you still gain tokens passively for a variety of reasons, so you aren't necessarily wasting your time. But at least there is still a setup required at least.
- Just to name some activities... If you are healing a teammate within the terror radius, you will still gain tokens passively. Even cleansing Hex totems or other activities still grant tokens as long as you aren't in chase. And even in chase, sometimes the game makes you leave chase so you gain more progress for Stakeout tokens.
"Whatever Hyperfocus can accomplish, the same can be done with other items and perks."
- Just because something else can do it does not make it anymore acceptable, it only leaves more room for issues, especially when considering how this effect can be stacked with said items and perks mentioned. "Just because ____ can do it means I can do it" is always a poor argument anyways.
"You have to put all your cards on the table for something like this to work."
- Hyperfocused and Stakeout are two perks, you aren't putting everything on the line to get that increased generator progress. Furthermore, even if you do bring a dedicated build for generators, the return versus the investment is not balanced, especially when the investment/entry to be able to do this is lower than before thanks to decreased item prices and cheaper bloodwebs. It's really not that hard to get a strong toolbox nowadays.
"HYPERFOCUS IS PROBLEMATIC"
"Hyperfocus requires no setup to get the reward."
- You still need to build up stacks of Stakeout to get the most out of the perk so there isn't "no setup required" to get the benefits of it. But just because it requires a setup, it most be noted that you aren't entirely useless, but again, at least some setup is required.
"This can be abused by Survive With Friends to make the game incredibly unfair."
- Any argument in regards to how strong something is with SWF always has to consider the fact that SoloQ exists. If you want the game to be balanced around SWF, you need to have SoloQ up to the level of SWF that way it doesn't harm SoloQ directly. Game balance is not as cut and dry as "strong with SWF = nerf" because that would objectively be a horrible idea considering the current state of the game.
IS HYPERFOCUS ACTUALLY PROBLEMATIC?
Yes, but not to the extent everyone thinks. The numbers just need to be toned down slightly, and the effect needs to not work with toolboxes for it to be in a balanced state. I dont want to see the perk completely useless, but I dont want it to be in a state I consider to be unbalanced.
I really feel as if a lot of people went out of their way to try and make this perk seem stronger than it really it. A lot of people also went out of their way to really downplay the strength of the perk itself. And I dont think there will be a conclusion with this that everyone will be happy with as a result, but Im fine with that, since I did my best to look beyond bias as much as possible to provide a conclusion that at least I am happy with.
Please keep things civil if you make a response.
Comments
Did you 4k?
It wasn't me
Also, no they didn't.
Did you even read the replies or even the original post?
It seems rather selfish to say two perks working together might be a problem when killers stack perks all the time.
I literally made a reply stating that I am planning on making a post in regards to regression and generator speed-up, still trying to find the words to use with it since stuff like this is a very sensitive topic. But my general idea, if youd actually care to listen, is that both regression and generator speed-up need nerfs and/or limitations to diversify builds a bit better.
Also feeding into an "Us VS Them" yet again. I made if abundantly clear that I play both sides super evenly, Im not saying anything of this because "Im selfish" or "want easier games", Im saying this because I am actually concerned for game balance.
Survivors need way better perks than what they have. Hyperfocus needs a buff. Why does it reset for finish a gen? Folks on a controller has to have reflexes like a fly to hit!
Hey, guess what, I use controller and play on last-gen Consoles. It's not as terrible as you make it out to be, hitting the first 3-4 great Skill Checks is insanely easy to me personally, the rest I entirely rely on Stakeout though. Because again, remember, I did state that I use Hyperfocus a lot, it's one of the first shareable perks I went for.
When comparing to a similar perk for killer, Save The Best For Last: killers can swing, miss, and still retain their stacks.
Horrible example imo; Save The Best For Last is punished whenever hitting the obsession, you are basically given a single survivor that you arent suppose to go for leaving them more room to do generators and others stuff without restrictions.
Also swinging and missing is it's whole other thing, you are punished by default since the survivors makes distance on the killer for a missed swing. Basekit mechanics meant to punish poor gameplay should not be further punished by a perk... in comparison to Hyperfocus, you are punished for getting off the generator or hitting a good Skill Check, you are not punished by basekit mechanics in that instance.
Survivors are not getting enough reward from it in comparison to killers.
30+ seconds off of a generator. I get that generators are an absolute snoozefest, trust me, Ive done enough generators to where I just turn my brain off while doing them. But 30+ seconds off a generator isnt something to sit here and downplay. Some stuff on both sides are incredibly overtuned and using "well this side has ____, so let us have _____" is a horrible design and balance choice. Just because something might be problematic doesnt mean that having more problematic things to counter it is good balancement, it just leads to more issues in the long run, which is one of my main concerns.
so run a hex?
I think it's funny people consider these builds problematic. If the survivors are dumping 6+ perks into builds that will fall flat against 1/2 of the killers in the roster who cares?
I've used it, and it's nice, but it won't save you in solo Q. 10-15s of gen time is trivial when most games of DBD are won or lost by a landslide
That's an issue with SoloQ more than anything. I do hope SoloQ gets major quality of life.
Also again, I dont think generator speed-up is fine the way it is, nor do I think regression is either; but at the end of the day I comes down to a matter of opinion. Some will agree, some will disagree, some will listen, some will ignore, but the least I can do is provide perspective and insight behind my mindset... that was the whole point in the original post and even my response to Sluzzy.
I just don't see it as an issue. Even as someone who has had the luxury to just sit there in a 40m terror radius and endlessly pound stacks into a gen. If you have this build, you are lacking in other areas. You will either be less potent in a chase, or more susceptible to quickly being eliminated through camping/tunneling.
Dropping 2x perk slots and then praying the killer has a big terror radius and it's a small map isn't a good strategy. It's a meme at best for solo's and only will shine in the hands of a 4 man SWF; who could be running other equally as strong setups
I think that would rely too much on rather the killer tunnels or not. Surprisingly, not everyone does it, I am one of those people. And furthermore people really want camping and tunneling to be pushed into a position where it isnt required and rewarded as much as going for hooks. I wouldnt say things are as simple as "killer can tunnel = perks are fine", because from a realistic sense it opens up the door for both sides to bicker and fight over gameplay styles (regardless of rather one sees them as distasteful or not)...
A lot of this argument relies on poor game balance and frankly we could go on forever about the never ending nuance I guess, "but with this you can do this", "but with that you can do that"... again, a lot of this relies on subjectivity at the end of the day, everyone has their own opinion. I made this very well known in the original post.
Killers have had regression perks for ages. Removing all gen perks simply because survivors have Hyperfocus seems like a step towards stale gameplay. There is no point to want perks if nothing can change or help with the objective. Survivors have never had perks to help with gens, the perk they got (forgot the name) that speeds up the gen when others are dying is very very very very bad. At least Hyperfocus is something you can always work for and its effect is negligible. I don't think killers want their regression perks gone, I believe a Tsunami would crash into BHVR headquarters if that happened. It is so ingrained into killers to crutch on regression perks it would be like completely removing all exhaustion perks. At some point, we need to stop talking about balance. A little perfect balance should be sacrificed for fun factor. This is why playing survivor side is unrewarding and stale because there's been so much fun sacrificed fo make it balancing around only a tournament-like SWF can beat killers.
I don't think it is quite 30 seconds. Even if it was, have you read the perk description for Eruption? It actually stalls the survivor for a very long time, 25 seconds PLUS it removes objective progress. More often than not, the survivor will leave the gen and do something unproductive which means Eruption actually stalled the objective progress way more than that.
I thought STBFL is similar since you get stacks for doing your objective but my point is that it doesn't lose stacks for getting a down like Hyperfocus does. I wish it didn't lose all of its stacks for finishing a gen. I don't like survivor perks constantly punishing you for doing well.
For any killer complaining about Hyperfocus, you have Eruption that is even more potent. Killers that are good at getting downs and using gen regression are still overpowered and Hyperfocus will never save a survivor.
The perk isn't problematic on its own, and I don't think the synergy with Stakeout is an issue either. Toolboxes -- maybe.
I've gone against survivors running the combo as killer and noticed gens seemed to go a little quicker than normal, but I can't think of any matches off-hand that I said, "I can't win -- the gen speed is too busted due to the perk" (possibly because my opponents weren't getting the Stakeout tokens and/or hitting the skill checks, or they didn't have souped-up toolboxes to go with it). I've definitely noticed more survivors running the combo now since it's getting more notice from content creators.
I've been running it steadily as a survivor since Day 1, and I'm finding that I actually am getting better at great skill checks (even though I'm running Stakeout, I'm always trying not to use the tokens), so I like the challenge to improve the perk provides. That said, for anyone who thinks gens can't get done quickly, especially with that perk combo and PT and a toolbox or two? My first solo round tonight on Lery's, with my running the combo but none of the other players doing so (though one had a yellow toolbox with a BNP) and me bringing a Commodius, socket swivels and a wire spool, and Prove Thyself, the first gen was done in **34 seconds**, and three gens popped in barely over 2 minutes (with the killer getting a down and a hook in that time, so it wasn't as if they were AFK). The killer DC'ed at that point.
Not every match is going to go like that, however. Before the devs start wielding a nerf hammer on anything, I'd rather them wait and see if matches like that one are the exception and not the norm.
Again, I feel as if you completely ignored what I said yet again. I have mentioned how I want certain aspects of the game changed yet you act like Im only mentioning stuff from the survivor's end of things.
And making the game a lot more balanced doesnt necessarily mean removing the fun from the game, it only means that both sides dont feel punished for aspects of the game outside of their control. I have stated this before, and I will state this again, Im not trying to have perks gutted on either side. I want the game to feel more manageable for both sides, I want people to feel like their actions actually have impact without throwing off the balance entirely or making the other side feel awful as a result.
Overall I disagree with "at some people we need to stop talking about balance". Balance is everything for a game. The game can be balanced and be fun. The game can be unbalanced and still be fun. But there are still situations for both sides in which players feel as if the game is not fun or isnt manageable (tying back to what I mentioned earlier in this post); my goal is to reduce that in the overall broader picture, the original post is one small step in a series of small steps. Realistically you cant reduce it entirely, not everyone is going to be happy, it's just how things are, but the community is full of discord and disdain towards the direction the game is taking, and just like anyone else I am going to voice myself.
And besides, if you go through 95% of player's post history, including your own, there are going to be posts in regards to game balance. You cannot sit here and act like balancement isnt important when it clearly is a touchy subject for most people, including someone like you (yes I have seen a lot of your posts and the stuff you say, Im not saying this as a personal attack, Im just speaking to speak here). I am speaking with my experience to try and make the game better for both sides.
Better put, there are two sides to every coin. Sometimes you land in the middle, sometimes you land on either side. And despite not always hitting the mark, my aim it towards the middle. Where exactly is your aim?
I can't see the problem