DO NOT NERF SPRINT BURST
First of all, it is not the first time that I see behavior changing perks because of (based on your/their perspective) how much their are over performing over other perks.
I lived to unfortunately see the disastrous patch 6.1.0 that gutted Decisive Strike to 3 seconds to favor Out of Record (with 60 seconds of endurance). The problem with this change was that they literally killed DS (which you could literally be grabbed while vaulting a window) to make another perk that used to be completely irrelevant somehow useful. This artificial change did not in fact addressed the main case of the over performing issue in this game, and it is seems to be repeating again now.
I will save your time, and explain what the main issue with perks in this game is. There are a bunch of if not 80% of all survivor perks being completely trash, or inefficient, or counterproductive to your team, or hard to activate for a mid to useless effect, or has a huge downside for its activation, or is inconsistent with people’s main play style.
Now, back to the patch issue. The reason why people used DS so much back then was because tunneling was and still is a strategy used to force a cheap and easy win in low mmr, and medium mmr. Also, DS was the only defense against that without expecting people to bring borrowed time. DS was overused because it gave a consistent, easy to activate, and safety from tunnel (with the downside of conspicuous actions in place). It was a great trade off 5 second stun and a chance to run away from a tunnel for the price of not doing anything to progress the game until you are relatively safe for 60 seconds. That’s why the perk was useful, because not other perk could provide a consistent and accessible safety against a non counterable strategy. If the killer just ignored the survivor, they would essentially just waste a perk slot that they would have used to generate rushing or healing. Also, you could easily identify a play doing it by jumping in a locker or just going for someone else near gens that you have to patrol.
Today, with the diminished returns, essentially, the developers just killed healing builds (which was essentially one my main play style in this game). This forced players that were used to play in one niche of perks to another niche of perks that they often were not as much used to. I tried new perks combinations with sprint burst and I enjoyed a lot to use the 20 seconds sprint burst build to mess around, but guess what, I still died more times with this build that I escaped. Why? Because I was used with information + Support perks, and even mastering how to use 20 second sprint burst, I could not play properly without information about my surroundings. The trade off that many sensationalistic YouTuber and Twitch streamers fail to see is that sprint burst often requires an entire build around it to be consistent, and can be easily countered by exhaustion perks like that demogorgon perk that makes you exhausted when you touch a gen or the one from vecna that makes you exhausted when disturbing crows. You can be easily countered by just ONE PERK.
Devs, you guys fail to understand that by adding the diminished returns, you basically just double down on the “META” with sprint burst by completely gutting other viable play styles and strategies. Nerfing SB will accomplish nothing other than just serve as a number reducing action while not addressing the real root of the problem in perk performance. For as long as we have unviable, weak, and counterproductive perks and combinations, people will rely only on a few perks to save themselves the trouble.
I hope this helps you guys and everyone in this community to understand that sprint burst is just the tip of the iceberg of a balancing issue with survivor perks.
Comments
They're actually going to be buffing a large number of perks during the upcoming midchapter, some of them directly in response to Diminishing Returns (really hopeful for buffs to Empathic Connection on the healing side. Also Dark Theory. You know what? Buff Parental Guidance while you're at it BHVR, give Yoichi the clean sweep he deserves.) IIRC around 45~ perk updates, shared between roles, with a huge focus on buffs with VERY few nerfs that are entirely focused on perks not affected by DR so much (almost certainly resurgence). Really looking forward to seeing what they choose to buff and update for that patch, theres a lot of perks I think are cool design wise but don't have the right numbers or need small mechanical tweaks.
Thanks a lot for your reply and for being polite. I really appreciate it! I hope they don't nerf Sprint Burst tho, or at least just make it not stack with other haste perks. A 2-second speed bonus seems too much to make it pretty much dead like they did with Decisive Strike back in 6.1.0. I agree with you that healing perks should be buffed to make them viable or to make a build around healing viable.
I will share, if you don't mind, my play style in most games. I play solo all the time, and usually twice a week (job and university). My MMR may be around medium to high (since I have played for 5 years). However, in solo queue, in my matches, my teammates drop like flies most of the time, so I began playing as a full-time healer in most of my matches for the sake of the game lasting a bit longer and for fun as well. After diminishing returns set in, I was literally forced to stop playing my builds and occasionally play Sprint and Lithe. I don't feel that looking only at numbers (like many people getting Sprint Burst) will ever show the full picture of why people are actually picking four perks a lot. Gosh, in a game with Spine Chill only working when a killer has line of sight on you, Team Work perks being absolutely counterproductive, and certain perks literally being dependent on other perks to actually have a mid effect (Orela Perk - aka Rapid Response), it becomes clear why people choose what they chose.
Not all perks need to make a huge thing to actually work and have a decent effect. It is actually tiring to be working around perks when they should, in theory, work for us and our preferred play style. Simplicity and effectiveness are the secret to an ideal perk balance.
I just found an YouTube video showing other points that I have not addressed in my text. For those who are interested to see why nerfing sprint burst is a bad idea.
https://youtu.be/TPYYfGpwR7o?is=9P_8sY0pTuxqUbtMI just got YouTube to quick summary the main points of this video for those who want to save time:
Key takeaways from the discussion:
• Ineffectiveness of the Nerf: The creator uses gameplay footage with AI bots to demonstrate that Sprint Burst is often used minimally (e.g., to reach a nearby loop) rather than being a game-breaking mechanic. They argue that skilled killers can easily play around it, and the perk itself offers only a few seconds of extra chase time (0:51 - 2:00, 10:26 - 10:46).
• Impact on New Players: The creator emphasizes that Sprint Burst is one of the first perks new players acquire. By nerfing it, the developers are making the game more frustrating for beginners, while potentially pushing them toward 'pay-to-win' perks that are considered superior (7:50 - 8:40, 11:05 - 11:20).
• Lack of Accountability: Flvffy critiques the portion of the community that constantly calls for nerfs, suggesting it reflects a 'lack of accountability' among killers who fail to learn how to mind-game or use their killer powers effectively. They argue that developers shouldn't base balance changes on complaints from players who are unwilling to improve (2:24 - 2:40, 6:00 - 6:45, 12:34 - 12:57)
• Meta Shift Concerns: The creator suggests that this change won't stop survivors from using movement-based strategies and will ultimately lead to a worse overall experience for both sides, as it removes a foundational tool without addressing core gameplay issues (4:28 - 5:35, 9:05 - 9:30).
The nerf is minor. The perk will still get value while perks like dramaturgy and smash hit would have more room to shine. The perk only affected non-mobility killers who are already weak so most of the high mmr matches it won't affect at all while also provide room for potential new exhaustion perks in the future. I still believe that perks like languid touch and mindbreaker make those perks useless but I understand that no one want to run same perk every match to counter single perk.
Edit: Pinpointed well. Balanced landing and Lithe should both get 1s less boost as sprint burst.