Disheartening news on Trapper
Not a single killer is this game is far above or below the desired kill rate.
You only citing the kill rate as an argument however, makes me feel you do not understand this killer. People want changes regarding Trapper because of his gameplay. It makes no sense Trapper has to go around the corners (!) of the map to pick up traps and can only set them up after. It is a process that takes multiple minutes resulting in loosing generators (even with Corrupt Intervention, without the game is over before it starts).
The only alternative is an addon (Trapper Sack), which allows you to put down a trap and then it is stuck in place. Most survivor I go up against are on comms so once the surprise is gone, they are kind of useless.
Why is it so hard to tweak a killer to make his gameplay better? Most players have been requesting a change to Trapper for a long time. I thought you were listening to the community? I am not angry, I am disappointed…
Comments
It's funny how they said "we don't take only stats into account when we consider buffs" and then immediately say this
It's also ridiculous to pigeon hole an entire killer his add-ons and perks as the beginner killer. You can buff him and give him nuance and still have more about him to explore for new players. Nothing wrong with that.
Agreed! Trapper is actually a difficult killer to master. You need to have in-depth knowledge on maps to lay down traps successfully. You need to know, how to loop to push survivors into traps.
Well, they said they'd return a simple killer for new players
You do know the post says that there's a small trapper update coming in the future.
Yes, they were referring to the new bear cosmetic with an updated mori.
It says right at the end:
This [Naughty Bear Cosmetic + Mori] will ship later in the year, ALONG WITH A KILLER UPDATE.
Updating Trapper's gameplay to make him more viable does not take away from him being "simple" regarding new players. They keep updating Wraith whom is also an easy killers partially meant for newer players.
I think it's wild to take this post as an indication that they only look at kill rates and thus aren't changing Trapper in any way, when the post outright states the opposite??
First, there is a small update coming. They said they don't want to change him particularly heavily, they don't want to adjust him on a fundamental level, but they do have a small gameplay update coming "along with" the new skin.
Second, the argument they make here is one I'm sympathetic to. The reason they don't want to change him too fundamentally, according to this post, is because he's a simple and easy to learn killer who serves as a great onboarding character for new players. This argument isn't wrong, and I honestly agree with it; his power should remain roughly where it is because he's the face of the game and new players deserve simpler killers to learn the game with.
They did mention stats in this post, probably to remind people that Trapper isn't languishing in complete unplayability, but that's not the only thing they mention here and it's unfair to portray it that way.
Who is asking to change him fundamentally? Read the original post, lol. And a small update...yes, significant improvements are on their way /s
I don't think it's all that unreasonable for them to set expectations this way. There is an update coming, but they don't want to make huge changes to Trapper because the way he works now is good for onboarding new players. That's not an unreasonable response to asking about Trapper.
The kind of things Trapper would need - traps closer to the centre of the map, small speed boosts to some actions, harder to spot traps - would all absolutely count as small updates.
More to the point, though, your original post up there heavily implied that no changes were coming and the kill rate was cited as the reason. That isn't true, so my response stands.
It's an absurd waste to have a whole killer- their model, animations, sound fx, skins and power be pigeonholed into something only for new players. A killer designed to be dropped eventually because their kit doesn't have the latent complexity and nuance to compete at higher levels.
It's not like any changes you that you could give him would make him inaccessible for new players. If you made him start with his traps new players wouldn't spawn in as trapper and trip over all the gosh darn traps he's holding and immediately uninstall. If traps gave deep wounds on a self escape it's not like new players would experience bafflement and just die. Giving him better tools for experienced players in no way precludes him being accessible for new ones. Absolutely inane argument.
I'd imagine that's why they are giving him some small changes!
It would be weird if literally anyone said he couldn't be changed in any way whatsoever because he's good for onboarding new players. Very strange hypothetical indeed.