Dead by Daylight is unequivocally the worst game to be a new player in

Title. Between the 20+ minute queue times for low rank killers due to the SWF changes (OhTofu just did an awesome video on it, go check it out to see a more elegant explanation), the next to worthless tutorial that doesn't explain perks, bloodwebs, killer powers, or other major gameplay aspects, and the fact that a new player starts with literally nothing, and has to play a game blind with no perks and next to no explanations, I genuinely don't understand how this game gets any new players. I have personally had 3 friends that were super excited to try the game quit within a week, because the game is so tremendously unfun to a player that's new. I'm trying to get yet another friend into it, because I do genuinely think that it's a great game once you get a head of steam, but thanks to the new SWF changes I can't play with him on my main without him dying in literally 10 seconds to a rank 1 killer. So now I'm contributing to the problem by making a smurf account, solely so I can play with a new friend.


This game needs an offline area for survivors to test killers and perks. The game needs a comprehensive tutorial with killer powers, tile explanations, and examples of perks in action. The game needs a way for new players to rank up survivors other than a cycle of hide-die-repeat until they either understand the game thru beating their head against it or quit. Without new players, this game dies, and as of right now there really isn't a good reason to be a new player in DBD.

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Comments

  • AvisDeene
    AvisDeene Member Posts: 2,396

    I disagree. I started in October and had lots of fun. It wasn’t fun for my teammates when I kept exploding generators, not knowing what skill checks were.

    The game becomes unfun when players do their best to be toxic to the opposite side, and you see more and more of this as you rank up.

  • Mikeasaurus
    Mikeasaurus Member Posts: 2,327

    This is one of the huge reasons I liked having the rank displayed, along with character level. It let me see a new player, and at least then, I could sort of distract killers or help lead to a gen. But you are right in the difficulty for a new player. I tried to get my friend into the game recently and he struggled with the skill checks, and with a killer taking advantage of this, he couldn't take the time to learn properly

  • KnotEnthusiast
    KnotEnthusiast Member Posts: 464

    I agree. But currently killer queue times at rank 20 are hilariously long. I played some killer matches yesterday to get some BP to level survivors, and didn't have a single time when my queue times were less than 15 minutes. To someone who's just starting a game, why would they ever continue if they spend more time waiting for a game than they do playing it? And when they do finally get in a game, have 0 idea how to play the killer they've selected? I played against nurses that didn't know how to blink, wraiths that were confused as to why they couldn't hit me while cloaked, and a legion that called me a hacker for not going down when they hit me in feral frenzy while injured. Hell, no one even knows how to lunge.

  • Waffleyumboy
    Waffleyumboy Member Posts: 7,318

    The queue times are unbearable or the gameplay is impossible. Pick your poison.

  • goat10em
    goat10em Member Posts: 749

    And it's only going to get worse. As they keep making changes to force all survivors into red ranks, new players will never get matches. I don't understand their plan.

  • katoptris
    katoptris Member Posts: 3,150

    You now start out with the three teachable before you couldn't. The tips are provided in the loading screen while you wait for the match to start. Kyf allowed you to play and test out perks with your friends.

  • KnotEnthusiast
    KnotEnthusiast Member Posts: 464

    I don't understand their logic at all. I used to be challenged at rank 1 because I'd be against 4 survivors at my skill level. Now I 4k 90% of my games because I'm against a SWF with a rank 15 because of the grouping changes, or an immersed blendette who doesn't know how to last 10 seconds in a chase that is somehow red ranks because of the reset changes.

  • KnotEnthusiast
    KnotEnthusiast Member Posts: 464

    Three teachables that you can only choose one of, because your perk slots are locked until higher levels, behind a bloodweb the game doesn't tell you how to use. The tips are literally single frame pictures that show a trapper smacking a dwight and hooking him, along with a single line of text that has a barebones description of the killers power. KYF you need at least another player (2 others if you want to learn about unhooks or healing or anything that requires 2 survivors), and you get no BP from it.

  • gantes
    gantes Member Posts: 1,611

    Far, far FAR from the worst game to get into.

  • katoptris
    katoptris Member Posts: 3,150

    You could just start up a party with other players if you're on console. You did say "new survivors get thrown in without perks" when in reality they choose from the three teachable.

  • goat10em
    goat10em Member Posts: 749

    Name one other game that a new player has to wait 20 to 40 minutes in between every 15 minutes of playing. Hint, there isn't any. Dbd is definitely the worst.

  • gantes
    gantes Member Posts: 1,611

    I did not have problems with queue times when I was new, but that's honestly beside the point.

    The game has decent new player tips, has a softer difficulty curve than a lot of multiplayer games and you can always play with more experienced people to teach you. Literally any MOBA is far worse to get into because of the massive amount of knowledge you need. Any MMO is worse to get into because you need lots of grind to start doing cool stuff. The only popular genre that's easier to get into is probably FPS games. Not to mention the toxicity which is bad on DBD but far worse on other team games when it comes to new players (see older folks trying to get into League of Legends and giving up because they can't understand why their teammates want their family to die). Other than that I'd rather be a new player on DBD any day of the week.

  • goat10em
    goat10em Member Posts: 749
    edited January 2020

    It's not besides the point. The new match making and the game basically funneling all survivors to red ranks means new killers can't get games. My son got a PC for Christmas and was excited to start playing. He literally can't get killer matches in under 20 minutes and has already moved on. Can't get games as a new player definitely outweighs the cool beginner tips they give.


    I agree in general it isn't a bad game for new people and 2 years ago when I started it wasn't bad at all. But the devs have had a lot of time to muck it up since then and they have done an awesome job at it. Honestly just make a new acct and try to play a game as a rank 20 killer. Then ask yourself who in the hell just getting this game would stick around for this?

  • MegaWaffle
    MegaWaffle Member Posts: 4,172

    One of the major things people forget about the SWF changes (or any changes in general) is that we have new players on both sides. For far too long new players wanting to play as killer had the same issue you have now, with groups of friends playing together (some rank 1 or high rank) that wiped the floor with them. It wasn't fun for them either.

    I don't think the new system is great and I'm not arguing that new players don't have a hell of a time with this game but remember new players are not just survivors.

  • Alice_pbg
    Alice_pbg Member Posts: 6,556

    You sound like someone who never tried playing dwarf fortress...

  • humanbeing1704
    humanbeing1704 Member Posts: 8,971

    Damn from the way people are saying this game seems unplayable for new players feel bad):

  • goat10em
    goat10em Member Posts: 749

    New players playing survivor isn't horrible. But new players who want to level up in killer? Honestly they should go play as Jason on f13 because you can at least get games on that piece of crap.

  • VoodooChild
    VoodooChild Member Posts: 319

    The biggest turn off for me was how much DLC there is, on top of expensive cosmetics, on top of a battlepass now. I now have all the characters but Plague, Jane, Jeff and Kate but im still leveling up characters to get teachables and ive been playing for about half a year pretty frequently, and im not even going for all of them! This bloodhunt will hopefully bring me closer to the end of the grinding phase but man i feel like a vet and im still in the same phase as new players

  • premiumRICE
    premiumRICE Member Posts: 798
    edited January 2020

    I think having a ranked and non ranked mode and also custom mode is what this game needs the most

  • KingHEADBUSTER
    KingHEADBUSTER Member Posts: 75

    Campers ruin it for noobs

  • Colton147
    Colton147 Member Posts: 523

    The closest thing for beginner-friendly is Claudette.


    Beginners can't go wrong with Claudette's three perks

  • ABannedCat
    ABannedCat Member Posts: 2,529

    Well, the playbase is at an alltime high according to steamcharts. So somehow Behaviour is doing something right to keep new players.

  • TuckzysGayMeng
    TuckzysGayMeng Member Posts: 72

    You start the game. With nothing... you work to get your rewards. You want good stuff? Play the game and unlock it. You’re not going to be given everything for free when people have spent thousands of hours playing.

    same as Call of Duty. You don’t get a gun. With everything on it. You level up the weapon by using it. You level up your level. By playing the game.

    if you’re going to get everything just for buying the game, then there really isn’t much point in playing.

    the game is nothing but grind. You get your points. You level up. You get rewards. You use your rewards in game. But hey ######### it. Let’s just have rewards for nothing and bring them into the game not having to do a single thing to get them.

    they have made it easier over the years for new players. You used to get NOTHING. But now at least you start off with the characters own personal perks. Which I feel like they should change to make everyone’s teachable perks be at least level 3 at all times. It doesn’t make much sense that people who are the expert of something. Doesn’t even know how to do it well. That’s probably my only complaint about being a new player.

    everything else is rather fair. Just buy the game around the 13th for rank reset and there will be more players in the brown ranks.

  • Accullla
    Accullla Member Posts: 984

    I agree with most of what you're saying, apart from creating the smurf account. Not because of the ethics of it, but because I believe the biggest problem for new players are the queue times. If you swf with them on your main account they'll get quicker lobbies and actually get to play the game. Granted, it will be tough in the beginning, but my personal opinion is that having to sit in a queue is more off-putting than playing with people above your skill level.

  • whammigobambam
    whammigobambam Member Posts: 1,201
  • PistolTimb
    PistolTimb Member Posts: 1,413

    Survivors are rarely good or coordinated at rank 20

  • Endstille
    Endstille Member Posts: 2,246

    Just watched the video from OhtoFu, gotta give it to him, not knowing and drawing conclusions.

    MM is bugged, bhvr went on vacation and will look at it. Also when I started as a noob, I had to play the game in peak times to have somewhat okay waiting times. That SWF change wasn't in it back then and you had to wait as well as noob.

    DbD is by far not the most unfriendly game for newcomers. There are so many games out there that teach you nada and require you to do so much work because so little is explained from the game itself. https://purgegamers.true.io/g/dota-2-guide/#welcome-to-dota-you-suck

  • DepressedClownMain
    DepressedClownMain Member Posts: 924

    You havent played Destiny 2

  • Aceonfire
    Aceonfire Member Posts: 304
    edited January 2020

    Sounds like you just played survivor. Try waiting in queue for 30-60 minutes or getting matched up against rank 1 super-toxic 4 man SWF's in one of your first few games as killer.

    Then by all means, you saying I disagree might mean something.

  • Boss
    Boss Member Posts: 13,614

    @SpaceCoconut and i actually talked about this, how the game sells actually very well according to Steam's best-selling games of 2019, but that the Steam records show no signs of the player count steadily rising, which can mean that people quickly tune out again.

    There's probably also people who bought it long ago and at some point just stop, but with sales that high, there's gotta be more than just long-time players quitting.

  • Without a doubt it is.

    There are a bunch of us furries who play close private games though a couple times a week if those have any interest to you, good friendly calm place to learn things about the game. Judging from your name there is a chance this might interest you but who knows for sure xD

  • Eninya
    Eninya Member Posts: 1,256

    I started during a time when survivors were OP. Pre-nerf Exhaustion, Instant Flashlights, pallet vacuum, infinites (in some places), faster generators, less killer spread, a lot of pre-reworks for perks, especially in the case of Self Care.

    However, I also played a lot against pre-nerf Freddy.

    Nowadays, it's much, much worse. For whatever reason, Ruin has lost favor, which helps newer survivors in particular, but killers are ungodly powerful compared to what they were due to all of the nerfs survivors have gotten. Gameplay never really got "better" for it; it just made the power balance swing more severe.

  • SnakeSound222
    SnakeSound222 Member Posts: 4,467

    When it comes to the ranking system, I don't think they test out their changes very much or think about the future consequences. They probably just test the updated ranking system out for a few minutes and think "Yeah, it's ok, this can be released". I'm really curious about what their plans are for when gray and yellow ranks eventually become a wasteland.

  • Mat_Sella
    Mat_Sella Member Posts: 3,554

    I literally cant play with friends that are trying to get into it, as all the killers are red ranks, and my friends have yet to leave Rank 16, and would pretty much only play this game with me anyways.

    So they're either forced to play alone to get anywhere near a fair match, but hate the fact that I cant be playing with them

    OR

    They play with me, and we try to have fun together, but the killer outright stomping my friends who don't yet have the knowledge to fight back against the killer will cause them to not want to play after so many matches

  • NuclearBurrito
    NuclearBurrito Member Posts: 6,807

    Exaduration much. Only 1 game in existence can possibly be the worst game for noobs. No matter how bad this game is, I'm certain another game somewhere somewhen is much worse.

    Like dwarf fortress for example. You have to install mods just to see what the hell is going on.

  • ALostPuppy
    ALostPuppy Member Posts: 3,398

    You clearly haven't played any fighting games on PC, or rather fighting games on PC that have no crossplay support.

  • Lanterns
    Lanterns Member Posts: 83

    There's a lot of grinding but I'm not sure I'd change that. It's pretty rewarding imo when you slowly start to win and unlock more stuff.

    Killer queue was bad at lower levels for me though. Waiting times need a look.

  • Tisfine
    Tisfine Member Posts: 148

    Best time to play as a new player.

    I don't know about other region but queue time has gotten better in my area, Blood web is a less of a damn grind and there's the tome to help with blood points.

    Killers are way diverse now, You don't see Nurse, Spirit and Billy/Freddy every match anymore.

  • The_Meh_Teh
    The_Meh_Teh Member Posts: 136

    I disagree. I just started and I'm already pretty good. I have two prestige characters. I don't have much of an issue with matchmaking either. Pretty easy to dive into. The tutorial was helpful.

  • Atrushan88
    Atrushan88 Member Posts: 2,092
    edited January 2020

    I honestly think you should allow him to play with you on your main. If he was playing at rank 20 killers literally camp their first victim every single game. This is what drives players away but the devs see this as a "strategy". Also he would die in the first 10 seconds regardless because at rank 20, you spawn, the killer finds you instantly, and then you don't know how to do anything so you're downed and hooked, then camped because it's rank 20. At higher ranks at least he'd hopefully get some sort of breathing room. Not that all higher ranked killers are much better. In addition he'll get better faster and be able to smash through the ranks.

  • Carpemortum
    Carpemortum Member Posts: 4,506

    League of legends is far worse.

    New? Too bad, you're roasted for not already knowing how to play.

    "In learning"

    "Get the ######### out you're useless"


    Or god forbid you're not BRAND new, the ######### talking g is 1000× worse.

    Then your team refuses to help you and still blames you, and gets the enemy team to report you.


    Mixed with 100+ learnable champions....


    Its absolutely the worst game to be new in AND the most toxic community.


    DBD isnt that bad yet.

  • CLAUDETTEINABUSH
    CLAUDETTEINABUSH Member Posts: 2,210

    I believe you are a console player because on PC it's really fun. Once you get an understanding of the whole situation then you can start to climb. Imo lol is a nightmare to start on your own. So imo lol is worst

  • Mr_K
    Mr_K Member Posts: 9,184

    Last Year is out.

    Go play that and tell us how it went.

  • oxygen
    oxygen Member Posts: 3,311

    It's not that bad in my opinion.

    I totally agree that a training area would be nice though. Just some generators, immobile survivor bots and hooks would by itself be nice to just get used to controls and practice stuff like nurse blinks and hatchet throws. Perhaps a killer bot constantly swinging to get yourself injured as survivor if you want to test healing speeds, bonuses and so on.

    Doesn't have to be anything super complex or configurable, would be nice anyway.

  • Snitz
    Snitz Member Posts: 97

    Yep, and then they release statistics that make killers look overpowered.