Survivalist is very Underwhelming

[Blow-Ya-Mind]

So I just got Survivalist to level 25 I find the entire perk is very lacking. Why would anyone pick this perk over the true perk there trying to mimic is beyond me, its not even fun to play, the entire perk needs a rework. For example I just finished getting Swat to level 25 before I started levelling Survivalist, the MP7 SMG has a mag size of 60 at level 25, but the Survivalist only gets a 30 round mag at level 25, the P90 SMG has a mag size of 100 at level 25, but the Survivalist only gets a 50 round mag at level 25, it's the same for any weapon you pick it's just inferior to the perk it was designed for.

Survivalist should have some kind of a buff he can give the team to make him unique, like, when in proximity to him your health would auto regenerate and give him a resupply type perk like once a round you can get an armour kit of him that gives you 50 armour, he's called Survivalist so something like this would help your team to survive.

Here's a few ideas to improve the perks.

Perks tier one, Firebug, Field Medic and Berserker don't get a reload speed bonus Why not?

Add Field Medic to Tactical Reload, and Firebug to Heavy Weapons Training.

Then add a reload speed for Berserker in tier two Melee Expert so it would read, Increase melee attack speed 15%, increase reload speed with perk weapons, (this would be the same as the tier reload speed bonus) inflict 10% more damage, and move 25% faster when using any melee weapon.

Tier three Ammo Vest should be
Increase mag size by (add a number here%) Carry up to 15% more ammo for all weapons and your grenade becomes a healing grenade
Tier three Weapon Harness should be.
Increase mag size by (add a number here%) Increase carrying capacity by 5 and your grenade becomes a Molotov cocktail.

 

[Aleflippy]

Well... I agree with you mate. A lot of players agree with you. But Tripwire doesn't seem to make it a priority... They said they are "reworking the perk" along with the field medic, but we've yet to see some news about that!

 

[Jorick]

Well... I agree with you mate. A lot of players agree with you. But Tripwire doesn't seem to make it a priority... They said they are "reworking the perk" along with the field medic, but we've yet to see some news about that!

https://trello.com/b/ZOwMRlcW/killing-floor-2-community-issue-roadmap

They're planning the solution, and as it's mostly changing some stats, the implementation should be rather fast, unless they're also designing survivalist weapons for the next update. I think it'll be coming in August, but that's just some speculation.

 

[oldmidget]

i think a cool perk skill choice for survivalist would be bonuses to single wielded pistols. seems perfect for a class thats supposed to mix and match perk weapons.

plus the single pistol animations are amazing for deag and 1911. shame nobody gets to see them as much.

 

[Aleflippy]

i think a cool perk skill choice for survivalist would be bonuses to single wielded pistols. seems perfect for a class thats supposed to mix and match perk weapons.

plus the single pistol animations are amazing for deag and 1911. shame nobody gets to see them as much.

Well, I mostly take singles as off-perk weapons. They are easier to aim with,cheaper and weight less... Of course, that count only for the deagle or .500 as they pack quite a punch.

 

[oldmidget]

Well, I mostly take singles as off-perk weapons. They are easier to aim with,cheaper and weight less... Of course, that count only for the deagle or .500 as they pack quite a punch.

1911 4 lyfe!

 

[infntnub]

I wouldn't say Survivalist is underwhelming - it's just not what a lot of players expected when they were envisioning it.

It's one of the more fun perks to play IMO (at least up to SUI).

The skills are OK when compared to what other perks are working with I think. I would, however, work on some of the passives as indicated in the OP. Global reload speed increases for all perks, instead of a perk skill, would be great. I also think (assuming the maximum increase to damage remains 15%) that the perk should have a passive speed increase instead of a perk skill. However, if TWI feels one way to improve the perk would be to increase this maximum damage you can throw the speed increase idea out.. as I think that may be borderline too good.

Survivalist is already a solid choice depending on your team composition though, regardless. If I join a game and see a Medic, Zerk, and a Demo already present it's my go to choice regardless of what my other 2 teammates are doing.

My current 'go to' loadout is this:

HZ12
RPG
Med Pistol

You can obviously choose something else over my preferred shotgun, but I was excited to see this added as I was a big fan of the HSG in the first game (although the boomstick obviously offers better spike damage - but shouldn't be needed if your team has a zerk and demo already).

All I'm hoping to accomplish is help control trash (HZ12), help the demo put down groups of fleshpounds (RPG), and keep our medic healed while he/she is busy healing my teammates - mainly the zerk.

My preferred skill choices:
R
L
L
L
L

If I derp around on Hard I'll usually still run my katana/rpg and swap level 10 skill over to the right for the melee damage and speed.

Overall, I think it's a really fun perk to play. It's interesting having multiple responsibilities to your team.

 

[Watcher-45]

I think to make the survivalist more unique they need to take away all perks that funnel it down into a specific weapon set.

Take the very first perk (I'm only a lvl 8 Sur BTW), I can choose between reloading the automatic weapons faster or reloading the heavy weapons faster.
If you look at the weapons to the left I can't see ANY reason why this would be desirable over the base perks for those weapons. Gunslinger gets a huge damage and mobility boost, commando has the stalker and health-bar sight plus perks that allow him to hold more ammo, SWAT has the tanky armor bonuses, the mag size bonus, and an increased ammo bonus. As much as I'd like to run a SCAR and 1911 and have a more realistic loadout, it's just not really practical. I'd much rather have a SCAR and Stoner, or a Kriss, P90, and MP5, or 500s, Deagles, and 1911s...
To the right makes more sense to me. You can run the Railgun and a shotgun so you have a really effective long range weapon and a really effective short range weapon, otherwise as support you're pretty dedicated to being up close and as sharp you're pretty dedicated to long range.
But you still don't get the great perks that come with those classes like the shotgun penetration or the sniper bonuses.

The next perks I don't get at all. Bonus to medic is ok I guess for healing yourself, but the class on the whole is crippled when it comes to melee compared to the Berzerker, so I would absolutely NOT pick melee expert. The bonus to run speed is the only advantage there. Maybe useful in HOE in the early waves, but I think ultimately you'd be finishing the match with the medic perk.

And the next ones force you to change grenades. What if I don't want a healing grenade and instead want a damaging grenade? Ok, molotov. But now I don't have a high damaging grenade, I have a supporting type grenade. Why is this necessary? I don't want an AOE/DOT grenade, I want an explosive? Oh well, I guess I'll go medic since it can actually heal me and just get an M79. I'm using the heavy weapons perk anyway...



Here's what I'd do. Truly make the Survivalist the jack of all trades and master of none. Make each skill pretty universal.

lvl5: Increase mag size 50% / Elite reload
lvl10: Increase armor 25% / Increase movement + weapon switch speed 10%
lvl15: Armor blocks bloat bile / armor blocks clot grab
lvl20: Increase ammo carrying capacity 25% / increase weight carrying capacity by 5
lvl25: Fire in near real time / increase all incap effects 100%

Something like that... Either way, it strikes me as a good kit for soloing and a sub-par kit for team-play...

 

[flashn00b]

IMHO, i think the melee bonuses should be something that the Survivalist always gets at Level 10, similarly to how Zerker always gets melee attack speed regardless of choosing Vampire or Butcher. Perhaps this would be better Level 10 skills?

Mad Doctor: Increases syringe recharge and potency by 25%. Also increases melee damage and attack speed by 10% and 15% respectively, and run 25% faster with melee weapons.
CQB Training: Increase weapon damage and melee attack speed by 10 and 15% respectively. Also move 25% faster when using any melee weapon.



Also, those molotovs need to go in favour of Support's Frag grenades.