Accepted SCP-173 Balance Changes

[grunger]

What does this suggestion add:
At the risk of making a beginner-level SCP even more frustrating to learn, while taking into account complaints and personal gameplay experience around SCP-173, I put forth the following for consideration:

1. A 2000 horizontal hammer unit restriction (slightly longer than rock hall) on instant-kill targeting. Past 2000 hammer units, SCP-173's right click ability will no longer instantly kill the target, but simply teleport near them. SCP-173 will then have to wait out the teleportation cooldown to teleport again and kill them.
2. The primary attack on the SCP-173 SWEP will now teleport the player to the location they are aiming at. SCP-173 may teleport through fences, glass and other transparent objects as it would with its secondary attack. This primary attack has a 1000 hammer unit range.
3. Due to this new ability, the primary attack is removed and attacking is relegated to the secondary attack exclusively. Right clicking will function identically to the current primary attack, but right clicking after the teleport cooldown has expired will teleport SCP-173 to the nearest viable target, regardless of if they are within range. After left clicking to teleport, a 1 second cooldown is imposed before SCP-173 can attack.

Note that both primary and secondary attack cooldowns are synchronous.

Has something similar been suggested before? If so, why is your suggestion different?:
Many SCP-173 changes have been made (HP, speed, level req., location) but I don't believe that any have sought to change the behaviour of the SWEP itself.

Possible Positives of the suggestion:

1. Fairer Fights: Players, especially at low-population, don't feel as cheated out of an interaction when they are repeatedly killed by SCP-173 without being able to fire a shot. Players have voiced numerous times that they feel frustrated at SCP-173 due to the low effort and high impact that players can achieve in the long winding corridors of HCZ. SCP-173 should remain outstanding at picking off solo targets, but the combination of an instant-kill ability, virtually unlimited range, very little effort, and a long narrow environment make SCP-173 near impossible to take down without numbers.
2. Enhanced Skillset: Higher skill ceiling for SCP-173 players increased by giving it means to flee, as well as imposing legitimate limitations. The skillset of SCP-173 is expanded from simple positioning, to more nuanced strategies such as repositioning to escape a large firing squad and flanking a fleeing target to close the distance without exposing yourself. A sufficiently skilled player may even be able to teleport into a group, and isolate high-value targets (ERT, AA, containment beams) in order to assist the SCPs, while a new player may simply right click into a large group of combatants and die much sooner.

Possible Negatives of the suggestion:

1. Slippery SCP: The primary attack teleport edges into the realm of overpowered, even for such a familiar concept to the SCP. What makes the current iteration of SCP-173 feel somewhat fair is that it must teleport and kill the nearest player, usually at a close range and in the view of combatants. Allowing it the ability to teleport wherever it desires, albeit limiting the range it can do so, may allow it to evade containment indefinitely.
2. Problematic Programming: of course, reworking a SWEP will take a sizeable amount of development time and resources, and in all likelihood will be put on the backburner if the suggestion of this rework is ever to be considered. A lot of mechanics were outlined here, so I wouldn't be surprised if this suggestion was denied based on being virtually impossible implement effectively.

Based on the Positives & Negatives, why should this suggestion be accepted?:
In short, these changes would make SCP-173 feel fair to fight in HCZ and increase the skill needed for a player to thrive playing SCP-173. Enjoyment of the new interactions stems from the the slew of nuanced interactions that can arise, playing mind games to predict the next moves of the SCP-173 player and feeling rewarded for capitalizing on good guesses. SCP-173 will become more autonomous, however, which trades off sheer power for skill. This can be seen as an advantage or disadvantage, but even as an SCP primarily played once by beginners and never again, its a great learning experience for a new player to develop their skillset before moving onto SCPs that aren't as forgiving for bad decisions.

 

[Evil]

-support
173 doesn't need a nerf or a buff, the way it is right now is fine

 

[Meowjam]

+Support
173 may have been nerfed on HP, and speed, but this change will fair make it fair to 173 and players if combatants are under staff at times.

Because oh most cases rn, you would need a lot of people to re contained 173 because of the HP and how OP the swep can be.

 

[Niox]

+Support

 

[Emilia Foddg]

+Major Support
sure, okay
i like it.
i know there's already planned changes regarding how the SWEP targets, but i think these changes synergise comfortably with this and would be an interesting change overall - this would make the first and most iconic SCP one of those 'easy to learn, hard to master' types, as well as further going away from the RNG element of the teleport to more skill-based gameplay, making it and its breaches less predictable overall and encounters will generally be more engaging from both sides of the fight, as well as not really being a buff or a nerf, more of a sidegrade. it's good.

it'll definitely need design tweaks down the road before actually being implemented, but this is just in general, a very good idea and framework.

 

[Verlocity]

Suggestion Approved

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Hi @grunger ,

Thanks for taking the time to make a server suggestion.

Your suggestion will now be locked and marked as accepted.​