Balancing By Addressing DBD Fundamentals
Right now I don't think anyone will disagree that there are massive issues with the balance in the game. There are some players who enjoy this imbalance, but that doesn't change its existence. These issues are present through all ranks and while not easy to address, they can be addressed, not by adding new perks or abilities, but by attending to the two fundamental problems.
- Generator Speed: Between Repair Speed perks like Prove Thyself, the bonus from Toolboxes, and the simple fact that two survivors can easily complete a generator in under a minute without any boons, I think we can all agree that Generators are currently much too easy to do.
- Killer Efficacy: Right now the discrepancy between Killers is vast because the ultimate factor of whether or not a Killer can succeed is not based on the Killer's Power but is instead based entirely on their ability to pressure Survivors off of Generators, and some Killers (Spirit, Nurse, Doctor, Nightmare) are simply better at this than others (Leatherface, Plague, Demogorgon, etc...)
I will present solutions to both of these, although I'm sure this will experience massive pushback from the Survivor side because it will certainly make the game more difficult for that side. Frankly, though, and this is speaking as someone who plays survivor, it is far too easy to meet the Survivor-side objectives of the game when compared to the difficulty of meeting the Killer-side objectives. I honestly think these changes will be far more dynamic and more fun to play.
- Generator Speed Fix: Two changes can be made here, I will first summarise then go into detail. First is to make repairing the generator a two-stage endeavor. Second is to change the nature of coop repair.
- First off, this will not change the TIME required to repair a Generator, the time remains the same. The two-stage Generator repair will begin with all Generators covered in a 'Corrupt Intervention'-like visual effect. The Survivors have to pull the Entity's claws from the Generator and this will consist of the first 50% of the Generator's progress. If the Survivors stop working on that Generator, the claws will begin to regain purchase on the Generator, slowly reversing progress as if it were in Damaged state. As a point of order: Once a Generator is past the fifty percent point, it cannot be seized by the Entity again during that game (barring potential effects of perks).
- This will have the dual effect of providing a new mechanic to play off of with perks that I will suggest near the end of this, and give slower or less pressuring Killers a more even playing field because it gives them a Hex: Ruin-like effect by default, albeit a very slow one.
- The change to coop repair should increase the likelihood of Skill Checks, and very slightly reduce the size of Skill Checks, based on number of Survivors working on the Generator, but eliminate the possibility of Great skill checks. This represents the fact that you are working with someone but you're both doing different things and you have to work around one another. (Obviously this could be mitigated by Perks like Technician or Stake-Out).
- This change will slightly mitigate the vast advantage that Survivors get from coop repair, highlight the strength of underused Survivor perks, and make the actual 'Repair' goal something the Survivor player has to pay more attention to. It will also give more blood points if you're working coop by dint of there being more skill checks.
- First off, this will not change the TIME required to repair a Generator, the time remains the same. The two-stage Generator repair will begin with all Generators covered in a 'Corrupt Intervention'-like visual effect. The Survivors have to pull the Entity's claws from the Generator and this will consist of the first 50% of the Generator's progress. If the Survivors stop working on that Generator, the claws will begin to regain purchase on the Generator, slowly reversing progress as if it were in Damaged state. As a point of order: Once a Generator is past the fifty percent point, it cannot be seized by the Entity again during that game (barring potential effects of perks).
- Killer Efficacy: Once again, two changes can be made here, I will summarise and then go into detail. The first is to add an effect to the Heartbeat to allow creation of light map pressure regardless of Killer choice. The second is to alter a number of perks to synergise with the Generator Speed Fix changes that will allow lower-pressure Killers to take advantage of their power more effectively.
- Right now, the Heartbeat only serves to alert Survivors to the Killer's presence. In the very low ranks this can act as a deterrent, but Survivor players quickly learn to simply ignore the Killer unless they themselves are being chased. The change should add the effect of Unnerving Presence automatically to all Killer Heartbeats, creating a native penalty to working on Generators right in front of the Killer.
- This, combined with the change to Skill Checks on coop work, will encourage Survivors to respect the Killer's presence, while being true to the 'fear and terror' theme a Killer should inspire. Talented Survivor Players can still make progress on their Generators, but it does increase the risk, as it should.
- Several Perks will need to be changed to synergise with the Speed Fix, most obviously: Corrupt Intervention, Thrilling Tremors, Dead Man's Switch, and Unnerving Presence.
- Corrupt Intervention: 2/3/4 random Generators on the Map are cursed with the Entity's grip. The entity maintains its grip on the cursed Generators even after the Second Stage repair point is reached, and progress will regress regardless of the Generator's repair level.
- Thrilling Tremors: When a Killer picks up a Survivor, any Generators on the map that are in the Second Stage which are not being worked on are grabbed by the Entity, adding 6/12/18 seconds of 'First Stage' progress to that Generator.
- Dead Man's Switch: After Hooking the Obsession, Dead Man's Switch activates for the next 35/40/45 seconds. While activated, any survivor that stops repairing a generator before it is fully repaired causes The Entity to strike the Generator regressing 10%/15%/20% Progress and causing a Generator Explosion.
- Unnerving Presence: While in the Killers Terror Radius, Good Skill Checks regress the Generator by 0.5%, Great Skill Checks do nothing.
- Right now, the Heartbeat only serves to alert Survivors to the Killer's presence. In the very low ranks this can act as a deterrent, but Survivor players quickly learn to simply ignore the Killer unless they themselves are being chased. The change should add the effect of Unnerving Presence automatically to all Killer Heartbeats, creating a native penalty to working on Generators right in front of the Killer.
I'm sure these suggestions will experience massive blowback from the Survivor-main community with Dead by Daylight. To them I will say this: Bear in mind that none of these changes alter the amount of time needed to complete a Generator. There are plenty of games where Generators are completed within minutes of the game's start. All these changes really do is create more moving parts for the Killer side to interact with. If the Killer is not tactical and careful, these changes will do nothing for them.
As an aside, I also wish to advocate for the total removal of Moris. I do not believe that Moris serve to encourage any kind of gameplay, it simply hamstrings the fun of the game by encouraging tunneling and camping behaviour which is counter to how a Killer should be effectively played. I think the only time a Mori should be available is once all Five Stacks of Devour Hope are acquired, as that requires work and gameplay, and it should be available to use on the final Survivor as per the Cypress Mori, that way it's just a fun reward for a 4k that the Killer would have gotten anyway.
Comments
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I like it most of the ideas, but I have been called a dirty killer main more times than I can count. I like the idea of the Entity being more involved, but it raises some questions... like how would Ruin, Surge, and Surveillance behave with the changes? Is there a way to go back past 50%? Unnerving would essentially become old Ruin again.
On top of this you completely miss the problem of keys. It does not matter how many gens they get if there is one key in the match. It allows them to escape even if the hatch is closed.
Removing Moris is another issue, as they are something used to balance out Keys and SWFs. You can't just remove one without the other. I would agree with making the requirements different for a red mori: That everyone needs to be hooked before you can use it, but removing them carelessly would be a bad idea.
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i agree with almost everything except Dead Mans Switch, reduce the regression
voted up ur post! :)
great idea, would love to see this even as survivor
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Regarding regressing past 50%, I'm also on the fence about that. I'm not sure if it would fair to put the Generator back in the Entity's claws as that might be too oppressive, so allow regression back feels like it might be problematic. That's something I think would have to be tested in PTB rather than theorised on.
Regarding perks: Surge is a garbage perk that can only ever really see marginal use on Stealth killers, the whole perk is in dire need of a rework, so that's a different discussion. Ruin could stay as is, speeding up the Entity's reclamation of First-Stage Generators and regressing Second-Stage ones. Surveillance could also stay the same, allowing the Killer to keep track of Second-Stage Generators more closely, and making it more a clutch mid-game vision perk. Unnerving isn't old Ruin because it's only in the radius of the Killer's Heartbeat, this makes it more of tool to force Survivors to respect the Killers presence, but it also means that a good Survivor would try to lead the Killer away from active Generators. In turn this would make Perks like Bond or Better Together more valuable as it would tell the Survivor where to avoid leading the Killer so their Unnerving Presence doesn't sabotage their teammates.
That's the difference between Ruin and my version of Unnerving Presence; the former was just an uninteractive nuisance, the latter is something that demands the Killers and Survivors alike play in a certain way.
Lastly, I'm honestly on the fence about keys. One of the reasons being that, yes, it does have the same issue of bypassing the objective that Mori's do, but in light of the changes I'm proposing, I genuinely believe it would balance out at the Green and higher ranks, and at Yellow to Brown ranks the players are rarely skilled enough to take advantage of a keys power beyond allowing a single player to randomly escape occasionally. My only concession would be to make it so only one person can escape with a key.
I had Dead Man's Switch that high because it's a hyper-specific perk. It can only activate under stringent circumstances. It seems like a lot but you have to think of how difficult it would be for the Killer to activate that perk with any kind of consistency, and give the perk a level of power and influence equal to how difficult it is to execute.
Creating a build that can consistently make use of Switch, for instance, would require two Perks minimum (Nemesis & Switch) and a willingness to be regularly stunned. You also have to catch that specific Survivor which is entirely reliant on the Killer's skill. Nothing I've outlined above has in anyway affected how effectively any Killer can win chases, only allowed a buffer for Killers who lack automatic map pressure.
Thank you both for your input though, I appreciate the thought and the time.
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