2v8 V8 Feedback & Hopes for V9
I played 311 matches in V8, 107 as Killer and 204 as Survivor. I only played 53 in V7 but TBH I do not remember why I touched that one less. Regardless, I think V9 was pretty good compared to 2v8's iterations as a whole. However, there's still a lot of stuff I hope changes so with this post I was just going to go over what I'd like to see adjusted. I am going to go through issues by severity, so the first topic will be the one I feel like needs to be addressed the most urgently.
Escapist
The speed boost basically locks weaker killers out of chasing survivors who have it. The fact it's a full Sprint Burst on a button press makes it far stronger even than old Dead Hard was. It's available too often, especially considering how low the Exhaustion is for when there are multiple Escapists in communication with each other. I understand the rework to Escapist was to make their active ability more impactful, but this is too impactful. Personally, I would prefer that the speed boost effect be reverted and the class given a new Active ability in the form of Chemical Trap/Bada Bing Bada Boom letting them trap pallets and/or windows. Alternatively, just nerf a selection of the Haste effect, Haste duration, Exhaustion duration or active ability cooldown.
Oni
8.6's changes brought a really bad shift in Oni's gameplay, IMO. There really isn't any counterplay to him while he's in his power anymore besides hopping locker to force a pick and cancel it. I only played Oni 11 times during the 2v8 and I had a ~63% kill rate with him in those games according to the official stats tracker. I purposefully avoided playing him because he makes it too easy. This is compounded in 2v8 because he's been granted a huge amount of buffs while benefitting from the mode itself more than basically any other killer included (now that Legion is gone). Personally, I'd love it if he was reverted to his pre-8.6 self but I doubt that is a possibility.
As such, I think at least in 2v8 what needs to be looked at his Innate Skill. I believe that Oni shouldn't receive any benefits to Blood Fury mode at all, and effects like 15% Speed are far too much. Rather, I think the focus for his Innate Skill should just be to ease blood collection. This would allow Onis both good and bad keep his power up, but whether he's getting downs with it be based on their own performance and not just by having his best add-on effects. This also means that the additional penalty for getting downs should be removed. Ideally I would like to see how Oni performs in an iteration where his Innate Skill reads as such:
- Decreases the Demon Dash activation time by 10%.
- Increases the range in which Blood Orbs are collected to 12 meters.
- Increases your Movement Speed while in Absorption Mode by 1.1m/s (Blackened Toenail + Bloody Sash)
- Increases the aura reading range of Blood Orbs in the environment by 5 meters (Rotting Rope + Child's Wooden Sword)
- Increases the floating speed of Blood Orbs towards you when in absorption mode by +4m/s (Paper Lantern)
Cracked Sakazuki and Ink Lion are also both options for trying as they make playing as Oni feel much faster without giving him a boost to his already insane lethality while in power. The movement speed and turning rate are just too much in a target rich environment where he's already going to excel.
Nemesis
2 zombies were too few. 4 zombies are too many. If only there were some middle ground we could find for this…
The Maps (but mostly RPD)
I've noticed that while maps get added every iteration… they're not great additions. Since it's introduction RPD has been the biggest issue to me as practically every game in it has at least one survivor hit second stage or die on hooks. And it's primarily due to how bottle necked the map is through the Main Hall. I believe this could be completely remedied by making two changes to the map:
- Add a passage between the Interrogation Room and the western exterior gate spawn, or potentially extend it to the eastern gate spawn. Nothing else needs to be added here, no pallets or windows.
- This would allow survivors to traverse East to West without having to pass through the Main Hall, which often would require going through a chase.
- This would also open a new avenue for patrolling gates for killers, allowing quick passage between the two exit gates without taking the steps.
- Connect the Reception Room to the front exterior exit with a broken wall.
- This would allow for movement between the front courtyard without passing through the Main Hall. This could even be a short drop so the movement is from the exterior to the interior only or vice versa.
Shack only maps should also just be removed. They are very boring. I'd also like to see better layouts for maps like Greenville so the unique aspects of them aren't sidelined similar to how Azarov's Resting Place was reshaped (which I like).
The Catch-Up Mechanic
I would like to see this rebalanced to discourage tunneling and slow down the early game. Currently, getting early downs means that you're almost guaranteed to lose a few gens plus any excess progress still benefiting before those pop. I believe this could be alleviated without changing the overall generator speed by weighting it towards second and third hooks.
So, example numbers because I couldn't find exact information, but instead of 2.5% faster per hook state it would be 1% faster for a first hook, +2% faster for a second hook and +4.5% faster for a sacrifice. Still 7.5% total.
Deathslinger
The buffs were… okay? They were pretty unexciting. I played him only 15 times, and had a 65% team kill rate according to the official stats tracker. So it went okay, but I still heavily preferred Huntress over him. My hot take is still to give him Iridescent Coin. Since it only triggers off 12m+ shots it wouldn't affect his typical anti-loop shots and would just be a reward for landing more difficult shots to hit and reel in. The counterplay to Iri Coin would be to bodyblock for the Exposed survivor, and 2v8 has twice as many teammates who could potentially do so. It would give him a niche as an instant down ranged killer, conditions permitting. It would help him address his real problem of being slow and nonthreatening more than just lowered cooldowns and reloads.
Executioner
Of the games I recorded, I saw Pyramid head only 6 times. Compared to other short ranged killers he's clunkier to use and easier to loop so he just isn't a popular pick. IMO, this could be addressed by giving him some of the more interesting add-ons that he got last time he received changes: Iridescent Seal of Metatron (or at least the extra range for drawing trails part, downside probably not needed) and Lead Ring itself. Make him a sniper. It'll give him a niche and let him try to benefit from the excessive aura reading in the mode. I know I've suggested two Iris for Deathslinger and PH but they're among the weaker, less picked killers AND we already have precedence for giving a killer an Iri effect with Huntress getting Puttee.
Stuff I Liked
Ironworks and Temple are both good additions to the maps, they have very unique main buildings and the layouts of the maps are actually pretty good.
I hadn't played much with the V7 Killer Class changes, and I enjoyed all of those. Brute's new kick trap was really fun, and both Fearmonger and Enforcer felt impactful. Enforcer's long term aura reveal was also really useful. Shadow was my favorite before and still is, but not by as much.
The anti-camp manual cage movement is a great addition and mitigates a lot of frustrating scenarios from previous iterations.
That Legion isn't back and never will be.
And that's kind of it. I hope we get to see 2v8 again soon. It's definitely a great break from the state of the rest of the game.
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