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Climbing in this game punishes you - possible solutions

gantes
gantes Member Posts: 1,611
in General Discussions

Yes, no one wants to hear about matchmaking and ranks anymore. But I still feel like I need to rant.

I know this game's ranking system is merely a matchmaking tool and most people know that rank doesn't mean much. But that's exactly the problem.

Being punished for ranking up is simply bizarre. I've never seen any other game like this. As survivor, you can be punished in two ways:

  1. if you climb without actually being good, which happens quite a lot in this system, you're going to get matched against killers that are way better than you. You get stomped.
  2. If you climb while being good, it feels especially crappy to have potato teammates deciding your fate for you. Like running the killer around for ages and the game not progressing at all because people can't hit ruin skill checks or dying on first hook.

As killer, you also suffer in two distinct, extremely unfun ways:

  1. If you climb without being good, which most definitely can happen as killer too, you're getting roflstomped.
  2. Even if you're good, there's still the possibility that you go against horrible survivors and have no fun stomping everyone and having multiple DCs because you down people too fast. Also there's always the fact that fighting 4 survivors who are coordinated and efficient can be extremely frustrating if you're playing a mediocre killer.

When I first started playing the game, a long time ago, I thought it was very weird that people deranked in this game. Now I kinda understand.

I think some steps need to be taken to address this:

  1. FIX. KILLER. EMBLEMS. It makes no sense whatsoever that I can double pip as Legion by merely existing and struggle to single pip as Billy after slaughtering everyone. I feel like defending gens (gatekeeper) and applying pressure (malicious) can stay as they're important skills for a killer, but everything needs fine tuning, as not all killers play equal (credits to @ScottJund as he has mentioned similar things in his videos).
  2. On that same note, stop punishing killers for doing well. I agree with the camping penalty, that's fine, but a 4K should always, ALWAYS be at least a single pip (except for moris but I'm hoping they'll get changed soon). It makes no sense being punished for doing your objective, that's just counterintuitive.
  3. For survivor, I think it's a bit more nuanced , considering you can escape without doing anything. But I feel you should at least safety pip when you escape.
  4. Running the killer around should be more rewarded, being downed fast should be more punishing. No matter how you like to play the game, that's the biggest indicator of a good survivor. Someone who dies but occupied the killer's time the entire game should absolutely be more rewarded than people who do gens and hide. I'm not saying "punish stealth" or anything like that, completing objectives should still be rewarded, but getting chased for the entirety of the game should always be a pip imo. Everyone in red ranks should be able to last an acceptable amount of time in chases. Even if you like being stealthy, you should be decent at chases to be at high ranks.
  5. (addendum to 4: if possible, pallet efficiency should be rewarded too. Even a mediocre survivor can run a killer around for a somewhat long time if they just drop all pallets, but then the rest of the team is toast).

And then, when that's settled, ranked rewards. They incentivize people to play well. I know this game isn't a good competitive game, but some people still enjoy getting better, and making ranks mean something makes the game miles better for those people. It doesn't even need to be big rewards. Anything that gives a sense of accomplishment would make players more eager to play well and climb.

Having an accurate ranking system that rewards players for being good also gives you more reliable data, which can be used to balance the game accordingly. It also makes the game experience better for lesser players. It's no fun getting stomped because your opponent was clearly on another level.

On another note, I'm pretty convinced DBD has enough of a playerbase to divide games between normal and ranked. Hell, Smite has less than half the players and manages to keep many different game modes. But that's a discussion for another day.

Comments

  • BigTimeGamer
    BigTimeGamer Member Posts: 1,752

    The lack of rank rewards is honestly astounding, they were fine with adding tome and rift rewards before rewarding the people who get higher ranks

    Even just an X amount of BP based on the rank you end at would be SOMETHING