The Judgement Curve SHOULD be fixed
The devs have been experimenting with The Judgement curve, both in Zealous as well in Non-Zealous. Originally, when they invented the idea of Exile, they felt like they didn't have enough incentives to actually make the killer choose it over hooking. Because of that, they have made it a mission to make Zealous beneficial. And I completely understand that goal.
However, I wanna make the case that doing that through adjusting the curve would be a wrong decision. Here's why;
ABOUT THE CURVE:
The curve versus the radius of the beam actually creates a very healthy interaction between balance from close-range to long ranged. Technically, the higher the curve versus the smaller radius makes the ability stronger closeranged relatively to long ranged. The curve actually allows the beam to be thinner while still being balanced, and less oppressive long ranged. However, there is a big issue.
Assuming a certain radius of the beam, there is only 1 value for the curve, that we could consider "truly fair".
But what is fairness?
Let's look for example at Henry (Vecna 2). He places a circle that will then detonate with a delay. Assuming a particular detonation delay, there is only really 1 closely knitted range of values where we could consider the ability "fair". If the radius would be bigger, it would basically mean that a good henry would be able to land all his shots, and there'd be nothing a survivor could do about it. Similarly, if the radius was too small, then the perfect survivors would always be able to react to the ability and be guaranteed to dodge it. Therefore, the perfect value would be somewhere in the middle, pushing both the superhuman reaction time and ability of both players to the maximum to help determine who ends up winning the hit or the dodge.
Now we understand what fairness looks like, what about The Judgement? Now we have a problem on our hands. Because just like Henry, there is only 1 particular value for the curve, (assuming a particular radius), that we could consider fair. But unlike Henry, we now have the Devs, deeply motivated to help encourage Exile committed to splitting this aspect of the killer into multiple values. That is very problematic.
THE RIGHT VALUES
So what are the right values?
For The Judgement to be fun and interactive for both sides, where both get to properly display their skills, assuming mastery for both parties, the values of The Judgement's Beam should be +10% and 0.3s permanently. Zealous and Non Zealous.
Anything below that will turn that stage into a growing gamble, which isn't enjoyable for neither sides, and anything above it gears towards unfair, where 0.5s and 0.6s already is completely inside the unfair category.
So the first step to perfecting The Judgement as a perfectly designed killer, we need to let go of the idea of using Exile/Zealous for changing the Beams size and curvature.
THE DEVS ORIGINAL GOAL
So how then , should we incentivize exiling survivors? And do we even have to?
Exiling alone, is already a strength, though it may be a wrong assumption that we should want to make this killer into one that never hooks. Being able to exile when afraid of a flashlight or pallet save is already plenty of an incentive for many scenarios. And it's perfectly fine for it to exist as a hybrid.
However, assuming we conclude that we do want to incentivize exiling; The shorter cooldowns are already a good step in the right direction.
2 Other great ways is by helping The Judgement in areas where she is weak; Map mobility and Lack of Vision.
So how can we implement those aspects in unison with her concept? I won't be going on them here in detail, but she could have any ability linked to:
- Map mobility
- Teleporting (descending from the skies)
- Visibility (Like placing an aura circle)
As a result of being zealous
CONCLUSION:
We really need to get the Devs out of the mindset of wanting to use the curve as part of the zealous mechanic, and get the curve to a fair level where both sides can always display their skills fairly against the power. This way we can create a Judgement that is both fun to play as, as well as fun to play against.
For a healthy Judgement we need an ability that is healthy at all times, and if we're looking for additional exile incentives, we'll have to get our creativity up just this once more. But as for her main power, we should aim for a standard 0.3s +10% size. That way, The Judgement versus survivors will always be a true display of skill, where both parties push their abilities to the max to gain the upperhand.
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