Jason was well-executed, but the potential nerfs are concerning.
I have started hearing people, fog whisperers included, saying Jason needs a nerf. And although I don't entirely agree with that claim, I really hope that he isn't gutted were the nerfs to come finally.
First of all, I do think we need time to properly asess the reality of Jason overall so we can come up with solid conclussions. His kill rates and pick rates as of now are, of course, overinflated and may not provide an idyllic scenario to reach conclussions. Plus, people on both ends of the spectrum need time to get used to The Slasher.
With that said, after playing many matches with him when the queue allowed for it, I found a killer that feels fun, dynamic, interesting, fair. Heck, my killer anxiety is in an all-time low thanks to Jason because he is enjoyable to play as. His map traversal is decent, and the detection of Omnipresent Evil does have a counter that survivors are learning to use. His projectile is satisfying even when you miss, and allows for high skill expression while also having a fair skill floor since it is easy to get the gist of it, especially when having played deathslinger.
Playing against him is entertaining, always being on edge and hearing the sound cues to know when he winds up his projectile so as to dodge it. His Omnipresent Evil feels immersive and the counter is easy to execute (just crouch). In chase, he's a 4.4 and it is noticeable. On small loops I have both suffered and made others suffer due to this.
With that said, I am concerned that this becomes a scenario in which the killer is gutted. Jason is fun and allows to do plenty of things, and right now, mistakes and underperformance do feel as the player's mistakes and not the game doing them dirty due to bad stats. I don't wish for a chucky scenario to be repeated, in which his kit is nerfed more than necessary (removing both manual pallet and window scampers when the latter was alright, especially without testing said latter in a PTB). I get the go-to nerf would be removing the haste after jumpscaring, and that I wouldn't mind at all because it does not feel like an integral part of his kit but does feel game-changing to an extent without properly being earned.
But any nerfs outside of that would be detrimental to a character that already feels pretty balanced on release. And I hope that, as I said before, if a nerf comes, only applies to this.
Comments
I'm in the camp that his counterplay takes longer to pick up than his gameplay loop. I don't think he's OP, but he definitely power creeps some other killers.
You essentially get to choose who he finds and where he finds them as a survivor. You can deliberately bait him by staying on a gen while he's in OE if you know you've got a strong set of tiles to work with, or if you have no hooks while the rest of your team has plenty.
Jason can ignore you to try and tunnel or go for a better target, but the better target can just crouch walk until OE passes, usually because Jason is forced to take an unfavourable chase or lose a gen.
Jason games are going to take longer. They require a more methodical approach from survivors instead of focusing entirely on efficiency at all costs. It makes him unique.
Nerfing him too quickly might remove a unique, team-based way of dealing with a killer from the game and I'm not for that.
I think the problem with him right now is he checks harder than most killers whether the survivors are all on the same page.
Up to this point, we have many killers that qualify as "solo Q stompers". Jason is definetly one, but what you said.
With good coordination, he can be figured out and countered with ease, but patience is needed for that to happen as well.