Sole survivor and Premonition changes
I wanted to give some feedback on the recent Sole Survivor and Premonition changes.
I actually really like the new direction for Sole Survivor. I enjoy the endgame situations where the Killer has slugged the last survivor to try to find them, and Sole Survivor gives me an actual reason to keep trying to survive instead of feeling like the outcome is already decided. I also like that the new version discourages the old playstyle of simply hiding all game while teammates die.
However, I think the current token system has one major problem: you can spend a significant amount of time repairing a generator, get chased away before you finish it, and then another survivor completes that generator. You contributed substantially to the objective, but Sole Survivor gives you no progress because you didn't personally finish it.
I think a simple solution would be to let Sole Survivor gain a token when you either complete a generator OR unhook another survivor. This would still encourage active participation while giving survivors another consistent way to build the perk. It would also fit the idea of rewarding the survivor who is actively contributing throughout the match rather than only rewarding the final few people alive.
I would keep the current Hatch opening mechanic. That's actually my favorite part of the rework. I think the perk is at its most fun when it creates those endgame situations where the Killer has to actually find the last survivor rather than being guaranteed the final kill just because they slugged everyone else.
I also wanted to give some feedback specifically on Premonition.
I understand why the aura reading effect may have been given such a long cooldown. I could see BHVR being concerned that repeatedly revealing the Killer's aura could somewhat recreate the old Object of Obsession experience, where survivors could repeatedly get information about the Killer's location and potentially use that information during gameplay and chases.
Personally, though, I think Premonition would be better if it simply went back to its old identity: a perk that gives you an alert when the Killer is approaching, but with a much shorter cooldown.
I think something around 10 seconds would make much more sense for a perk like Premonition. Its purpose should be giving you an early warning that the Killer is nearby, rather than giving you strong aura information that then requires an extremely long cooldown to balance.
If BHVR wants to keep the new aura reading aspect, I think it would need some kind of restriction during chase so that it cannot essentially function as free Killer tracking around loops. But honestly, my personal preference would be to return Premonition to the old alert-only mechanic and simply give it a short 10 second cooldown.
The current 60 second cooldown feels extremely brutal for a perk whose main purpose is to warn you that the Killer is approaching. With a 10 second cooldown, Premonition could provide that warning consistently throughout the match without needing to provide constant aura information or recreate the concerns associated with the old Object of Obsession.
Comments
Sole Survivor already gains tokens by both completing gens and getting hooked, which both encourage actively participating as well (if you're getting hooked, you're likely getting chased). If you're saying getting unhooks should also count, the devs would have to change how much each token is worth and how many you need for the hatch unlock, because I found it fairly easy to get the 3 tokens already. If you're saying getting unhooks should count instead of getting hooked, I think someone could easily both do gens and get unhooks while letting their team take all the heat. Personally I think the perk is good as is.
For Premonition, if it was put on a 10s cooldown with no aura reading no one would run it, not because of the perk's effect but because the noise notification going off so often would be incredibly annoying. It's a similar reason why no one wanted to run old Small Game. I definitely do think the cooldown should be lowered though, it's brutal for a mediocre effect. If they lowered the cooldown to 40-45s, or even back to 30s, I think it would be in a much better spot.
Yeah, I forgot to mention that you can also get tokens by getting hooked. My issue is that, in my experience, the games where the Hatch mechanic matters the most are often the games where I'm barely able to get gens done because I'm constantly having to go for unhooks. And if I am able to get gens done, I sometimes haven't been hooked enough to get the 3 tokens.
That happens to me pretty often, so the perk can feel really inconsistent in those matches. I'll feel like I did a huge amount for my team, end up being the last survivor alive, and then still can't use the Hatch mechanic because I wasn't able to build enough tokens.
There's also the situation I mentioned where I'll repair a significant portion of a gen but get chased off of it, or I have to leave it to go get an unhook because nobody else is doing it, and then another survivor finishes the gen. They get the completion and I get nothing toward Sole Survivor even though I contributed most of the progress.
That's why I think allowing unhooks to give tokens would make the perk more consistent. I'm not necessarily saying it needs to be easier to get the 3 tokens overall. I just think there should be more than one way to make meaningful progress toward them. The perk isn't particularly oppressive or overpowered, so I don't think rewarding active gameplay through unhooks would be a huge problem. For me, it's more about making the perk reliably reward you for actually playing the game rather than sometimes leaving you completely starved of tokens despite contributing a lot.
As for Premonition, I can definitely understand why some people might find the notification annoying if it went off every 10 seconds, although personally I've never had much of an issue with notification sounds.
With old Small Game, I always thought the main reason people didn't run it was because the perk itself was just pretty weak compared to the alternatives. Detective's Hunch and Counterforce gave you much more useful information and value for a perk slot, so I don't personally think the notification was the main reason people avoided it.
I also don't really agree that 30 to 45 seconds would be enough for Premonition. I personally think even 30 seconds is still pretty long for a perk whose main purpose is simply warning you that the Killer is approaching. My preference would still be something around 10 seconds, especially if Premonition doesn't provide aura reading during an active chase.
I think the important distinction is that I'm not necessarily saying the aura reading version should have a 10 second cooldown. If the aura reading is considered too strong to have that frequently, then I'd rather remove or restrict that aspect and let Premonition return to being a simple warning perk with a very short cooldown. That way it can be consistently useful without giving survivors constant Killer aura information during chases.
I see your point with Sole Survivor, I can see how it might be difficult to activate when it matters. I'm not sure how they would balance it with unhooks though, as they are much easier to get than a gen pop and there are up to 6 points in the match where you can get one. So they wouldn't really be able to leave the max and minimum numbers the same and subsequently the percentage per token would have to change as well. It would be a more consistent that way though.
With Premonition, personally I think the aura is a good change that gives you a more solid idea of where the killer is coming from, but honestly I think I forgot it can't be activated in chase and because of that, I think you're right that even something like a 40s would be too long of a cooldown with this simple but comfy effect. I still think the sound might get a bit annoying at 10s, and also because I'd like to keep the aura reading I think that could give aura too often in certain scenarios, but I think the cooldown could easily be changed to 20s. That way it is an all around buff, the perk does what it did before but with aura, and the cooldown is lower. It could be a genuinely useful perk.
They gave Premonition aura because complaints of it being not usable for certain group of people but still I would say its not really even a buff to show the aura. It will tell you of course where the killer is now accurately when before you needed to deduce it. I have not played PTB and would be curious that it will still give the alert of undetectable killer like it did before even if it will not show their aura. If they removed that they basically destroyed the only detection perk that could detect undetectable killers.
Premonition is a perk I've been using a fair amount recently and I was quite excited to read about the buff. But the 60 second cooldown does seem a bit long for how often it currently triggers in a trial, which risks making it less useful than the current version (even with the extra aura reading) because it may be in cooldown for when you really need it. And if it doesn't reveal the aura of undetectable Killers (I assume it doesn't), it's actually a nerf to the perk because it will now trigger less often.
So I'm not sure how I feel about the "improved" version. I would prefer it to stay as it was or for the cooldown to be 45 seconds (which seems like a fair compromise, as aura reading is a more powerful effect against most of the Killer roster).
Or if we could keep the 30 second cooldown for the audio cue and have the secondary aura read effect remain at 60 seconds, that would be fine too (perhaps the aura element could be token based so that players know which part of the perk is active. That said, maybe that would complicate what's meant to be a simple perk with a simple effect too much).
I believe that even if the killer is Undetectable, you will still receive the notification, you just won't get aura reading. It's almost better info that way, as you can deduce that they are Undetectable nearby and possibly coming at you. I do believe that the cooldown could afford to be much lower though.
I maybe didn't explain it well before but yeah, that's what I was getting at. It would have pretty much the same functionality as the current version against stealth Killers, except now with double the cooldown time (so that's a nerf, imo).
I get the audio cue many times in a trial. Most of the time it's a false alert and the Killer isn't actually coming my way at all, so it kind of needs to have a shortish cooldown (or slightly shorter range) or else it won't be able to warn me when they actually do come my way.
Yeah, I understand that adding unhooks could make the 3 tokens easier to get, and the token values or requirements could always be adjusted if needed. I'm just not too concerned about the balancing side of it because I think Sole Survivor is already pretty mid even at full stacks. The faster gate opening is nice, but I don't think it's overpowered, and being able to open the Hatch yourself isn't really overpowered either since the Killer has basically already won by the time that situation happens.
My main point is just that unhooks fit the new design of the perk. The old Sole Survivor rewarded you for letting your teammates die, while the new version is clearly trying to reward active participation. If I'm constantly going for unhooks and keeping my team alive, I think that should count toward a perk that's specifically been changed to reward actually playing the game.
I agree. You still get notified with undetectable killers with this new version but you don't see their aura which is fine. but the 60 second cooldown just makes running it not really worth it at all. Even with the old version of the perk, I always thought the 30 second cooldown was still pretty brutal. I really believe the way to make the perk it's best is to give it a 10 or 15 second cooldown and if the aura reading is considered to be too strong to have a short cooldown like that, then they should remove it and add a visual and audio cue like maybe the edges of your screen blurs for a second while the audio cue happens or something like that. I was enjoying premonition not too long ago but decided to not run it anymore because of the 30 second cooldown, this 60 second cooldown kind of completely killed it for me.
I think giving a visual like a blur around the edges of the screen as the audio cue went off or a red line on the top of your screen when it goes off wouldve been better since I'm pretty sure they added this long cooldown because arua reading can be controversial. And yeah it still gives you an audio cue when an undetectable killer comes near but the 60 second cooldown is a very brutal nerf imo.