The Hidden Problem With The End Game Collapse
Video Version for those who don't like reading: https://youtu.be/ar4sHUsUTpM
https://youtu.be/ar4sHUsUTpMSo patch 2.7 is finally here and with it the end game collapse. Whether the devs will openly admit it or not. the end game collapse as it is was something created to deal with a few fringe issues of late game Dead by daylight.
Part1 Why Is The EGC a Thing
Whether the devs will openly admit it or not. then game collapse as it is was something created to deal with a few fringe issues of late game Dead by daylight.
One of the most egregious examples of this was a particular stalemate between a large streamer known as admiral bahroo and a random stream sniper. Who essentially refused to leave the game and continue to keep bahroo trapped based on an infinite that existed at the time. bahroo went as far as to play other games on stream while waiting for the player to leave. After staying in the game for 3 hours the player was finally caught after making a mistake and was banned by one of the developers of the game for his actions. This event occurred in the game well over two years ago however ever since the devs have been trying to come up with a way to prevent this from happening. Hence the birth of the end-game collapse.
These particular stalemates became far more common on the ptb where the devs first tested Killers having the ability to close the hatch to counter the hatch standoff issue. Where survivors would essentially stall out the game infinitely due to them having few options of actual escape.
part 2 The HIDDEN PROBLEM
This now brings us to the problem with this new end game collapse. The the developers first implemented a counter to the hatch standoff with the killer being able to close the hatch about player test build over a year ago. However in the first iteration of this the major feedback from survivors was it a one-v-one scenario it was nearly impossible to finish a single generator against the patrolling killer to reopen the hatch. After which the developers implemented a change that made it to where when the killer close the hatch both exit gates powered and the survivor could choose to use the exit gates to leave. However, due to the randomness behind how the doors at spawn, it was not uncommon for the survivor to not be able to open a door either before the killer would be able to find and catch them.
So in response to this players would simply choose to do nothing away from the doors and wait for the killers to essentially give up so they would be able to escape rather than risk the impossible task of opening a door on her right in front of the killer in a one-v-one situation.
The hidden problem with the I'm game collapse is that even though the developers created it to prevent survivors from stalling out the game indefinitely, they did not address the reason why players would do so.
Part 3 Examples
Currently in the game there are multiple maps that have strategic high points, that allow Killers to watch both exit planes almost simultaneously. Meaning that if they managed to close the hatch a survivor has no possible chance to be able to open a door before the killer would reach them. This is not accounting for perks such as whispers, or spies from the shadows, among others that already greatly assist with Killers being ever to pinpoint a survivors location.
Killers already have a huge advantage in a one-v-one scenario, which to an extent they should do to the nature that it is a 4v1 game
However this particular Situation The advanage, is so absurdly high that are Robs both players, of any satisfaction or skilled play options.
Essentially what happened to these games is the survivor has two options they can either try for a door, which the only way they would have get it is it the killer simply doesn't pay attention or doesn't care or wait the two minutes to die.
The killers in a situation are given the best scenario of stand, wait and watch both doors or wait 2 minutes for the player to die. Neither have the opportunity to be rewarded for some sort of skilled play or decision. Whether or not a player lives or dies is based entirely on the roll of the dice or the RNG of the map
I know that One versus One situations seems rare however they are far more common at Higher-Ranks,This issue is exacerbated by the fact that the killers that perform best in these scenarios are also more commonly used at These ranks like the nurse or the hillbilly.
Part 4 suggested solutions.
I don't think the in-game collapse is terrible however I feel like some balance changes would need to be made immediately to help keep these end game situations within the fair play.
The first thing I would change is the exit gate timers. Currently it takes 15 seconds to open an exit gate after they are powering without any additional adjustment such as perks. I think that in one v one scenarios this time should be reduced.
A lazy man's way of handling this would be to simply cut the time in half, if in a one-v-one scenario.
Another more interesting option however would be the reduce the timer based on a percentage on how much time was left in the endgame collapse .
They could simply put it to go down a percentage inversely with the End Game timer.
Or they could just have a flat amount of time removed based on every end game reminder during the end game collapse.
for example if you try opening the door within the first 30 seconds of the collapse it would take 15 seconds however if you tried opening the door during the second 30 seconds of the EGC it would take 11 to 12 seconds, if you try to open the door at during the second half of the engine collapse it would take 8 to 9 seconds and if you tried opening the door within the last 30 seconds of the end-game collapse it would only take five to six seconds.
This change would award the survivor for being able to elude the Killer during the end game collapse and would make the door times closer to something that is reasonable for a survivor in a 1v1 scenario.
Inversely this would also incentivize the killer to make an attempt to search out and find the survivor as opposed to simply just watching their escape routes. due to the fact that the longer it takes them to find the survivor the easier it is for the survivor to escape. this to also becomes a risk reward for them because yes they could simply watch the door is to ensure that they see them as soon as they try to escape. But the longer they wait again the easier it would be for the survivor to make said escape.
another thing that I would like to entertain the idea of is having the Hatch re-open on a timer. This can be done at any end game markers however I feel like the healthiest ways for this to be done, would be one of these three scenarios. One at every end game update, meaning every 30 seconds, 2 halfway between the end of the end game collapse meaning one minute after the endgame collapses has begun, or three during the last 30 seconds or basically the final endgame collapse reminder.
My reason for this is during the entire game the killer is responsible for always patrolling are protecting at least three objectives. even when survivors are working on the last generator there are always three options for the killer to have to protect. I feel like by giving Killers a simple either or makes it too easy for a killer to simply be able to lock down both objectives. Having that Hatch as a third option at some point would increase the killers patrol radius thus making it more likely and possible for a survivor to be able to slip in the cracks. And again this is a risk-reward, the killer knows exactly knows exactly where the hatch is if he’s started endgame, if the hatch opens they can simply re close it before the survivor jumps in it. however this means the killer would have to mitigate time to choose to be at the hatch as opposed to being at either was the doors. Giving the survivor a much-needed window to actually open the doors. now the killer can forgo this option simply leave the hatch for the last 30 seconds and assume the survivor will more than likely make a play for the doors. this makes the game more a game of rock-paper-scissors as opposed to a simple coin flip as to whether or not the killer finds the survivor.
There have been talks about other options for the survivors well like for example having a dull key spawn in any chest even open chest at the start of the endgame collapse so the survivor has the option to find a key to reopen the hatch. I don't hate this idea but I feel as if it makes it a little less consistent I am would also give the killer a lot more things they would have to protect, to the point of being the killer would have to protect both doors the hatch and essential 3 chest versus one player. And from the survivor side, they would have to, search 3 chest and find the hatch in 2 minutes , anyone whos ran plunder’s Instinct can tell you how unrealistic that is
TLDR in closing.
I understand the need for the endgame collapse. One they needed to do something to shake up the game and two end game has been an issue since this game came out.
And although this is clearly not a rush to fix, because of the lack of ulterior balance updates it feels like a rush fix. There's a lot of new pretty colors that come with endgame collapse but realistically it doesn't change anything from when ptb hatch closing a year ago.
Whether it's reducing the time to open the door, creating situations where the hatch will reopen periodically, or some combination of the two. Something should be done to rebalance this one-on-one situation.
I mainly speak for this because as a high-ranked player this is something I deal with more often than not. And I feel as if this issue is not addressed promptly it will just become another, thing that exacerbates other issues with the game such as Deranking, smurfing and player retention.
Comments
Is @prayer_survivor for real?
Their posts are so troll-ish and nonsensical its hard to even tell if they are serious. Orion is blatantly correct yet they still argue. @.@
Anyway I only 100% play Survivor and I disagree completely with the OP.
Now that EGC has been out for awhile and I've had the chance to play both sides, I agree with it still being extremely killer-sided still. I think it's a little unfair that the killer can just shut the hatch while survivors have the jumping animation. I guess I always pictured it being a first one to click wins kinda thing, but it feels like the closing animation takes priority.
As a killer main, I support this as long as killer can see the hatch's aura after stomping it, like a generator. After all, at that point it's a point of defence and should be treated as such.