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Killer Free Will (Agency)

I saw a few more threads and the normal demands of nerf this, punish this, when are you getting rid of this scattered throughout the Forum. You all know the terms: Camping, Tunneling, Slugging, and the Mori. The vocal and demanding all insist these must go or be somehow punished to keep the Killers from ever daring to do them. So I want to address what is REALLY being asked by all these people, whether they understand it or not. In effect, they don't want Player Killers. They want to fight Bots.

If we remove every single choice from the Killer, except for chasing and looping with you, what agency are you leaving them? I comment on it in one of these other threads, that the vocal and demanding would see all our Killers reduced to being PacMan, albeit with a scary Skin. Killers employ all sorts of different strategies and which ones they use and WHEN is part of the puzzle. Those are the choices they get to make. Without these other tactics to call on when appropriate you leaving them ONLY with looping with you. That's it, glorified Bots.

So this is my question to you, if you take away everything but looping with you, what agency exactly is left for the Killer?

Comments

  • Dwinchester
    Dwinchester Member Posts: 961

    Survivors want you to loop, get two hooks, and then escort you to exit gate, where they teabag until the egc timer is almost out, then leave.

    That or they expect you to two hook everyone, play fair, using no second chance perks. While they use swf, and every second chance perk in the game.

    Fact is, you have to play dirty and use killers with no counter play if you want to stand a chance of winning.

  • AChaoticKiller
    AChaoticKiller Member Posts: 3,104
    edited September 2020

    i actually play like this but i have no problem slugging or camping after gates get powered, still get salt messages even tho I played "fair" but some survivors just cant stand dying.

    edit: in terms of play style i can 4k against most groups except sweat groups

  • Moundshroud
    Moundshroud Member Posts: 4,458
    edited September 2020

    I'm not willing generalize all Survivors that way, although I've certainly encountered plenty of the ones you describe. I think the issue is a lot of the Survivors, who mean well, don't really understand what they are asking/demanding when they call for the removal or punishment of camping, tunneling, slugging, and the mori. (all of which have been commented on by the DEV as valid strategies). I just don't think they have thought through the implications of what they are asking. Whether they realize it or not, they would reduce every single Player Killer to a mindless PacMan in a Halloween outfit, who might as be running around the maps to the sound of "wukka wukka" on an endless loop.

    Survivors, for all the very different problems they face, have a LOT of agency. They get to decide to act together, alone, or in smaller groups. They get to choose their tactics of how to try and run the Killer back and forth. They choose which Generators will be worked on first, more or less narrowing the battlefield and which Generators the Killer must defend. They choose how and when to go after Totems (if they bother at all). They choose how long to let their peers sit on the Hook, when to body block, when to sabotage, when to gang-rush the killer, when to 99 the gates, and so on etc. If I typed out all the options and agency Survivors have, this would be a very long response.

    Killers, despite obvious appearances, are playing defensive. Their job is to be the Goalie, and prevent Survivors from getting out. Their agency is largely limited to which tactics they will use. Camping (better known as by actual hunters as baiting a trap) is one tactic. Slugging makes sense in the right situation (or when you slyly create the right situation). Tunneling is a risk versus reward situation. That injured, unhooked Survivor only needs a single hit to put them down. The other needs two. But the unhooked might have D/S they might have borrowed time and seconds spent trying to run that down might be valuable time lost. It is a choice. More to the point, by chasing the unhooked you might tempt other Survivors (whom you REALLY want) out to body block. The Mori, sledgehammer option, might be required to deal with a Generator Rush which is overwhelming, but it is going to cost you points and perhaps even a Pip.

    What it comes down to is that these choices make or break the interesting part of the game. If a Killer's only choice is to chase you around loops and hope to close the distance, a Bot is better suited to that job.

  • DeeJHansen
    DeeJHansen Member Posts: 81

    The listed tactics CAN be ok.


    Tunneling: Good for punishing toxicity, gen-rushing, and harassment.

    Camping: Overall bad strat. Good for securing kills in EGC. Good for getting revenge.

    Slugging: Only bad if done to grief survivors, done for too long, done with no reason, or done to hold the game hostage.

    Mori: Good for punishing bad survivor behavior and looks cool.


    Killers who tunnel right off the bat always are just terrible. Killers who camp as their main tactic are garbage. Killers who slug to simply annoy survivors are trash. Killers who bring Ebony Mori's to indiscriminately decimate groups are toxic.


    I think the above statements are pretty fair. Am I wrong?

  • pseudechis
    pseudechis Member Posts: 3,904

    I like the way you framed this question. Not saying all survivors or killers X, but rather when people rant about this what is their intent?

    I think the real issue is even they don't know. Basically people have a bad game and come to the forum to rant about it.

    Its rarely constructive and is often asking for something so ludicrous that when you really stand back and look at it objectively it makes no sense.

    "Delete camping" for example, I mean... what does that even mean?

    I think the same goes for the DS, UB rants.

    I'm not saying all posts about these topics are rants, but a large proportion of them are rarely objective and often just opinionated or plain ludicrous or even toxic.

    When someone does say something objective or informative typically the OP jumps down their throat purely for being rational. As the goal isn't to discuss the issue the goal is simply to complain about it and recieve expected comiserations.

    You can't frame a post like that in "they need to alter the game because I had a bad one" because that's a bad reason to alter the game.

    On a side note I'd love to play against bots instead then the onus is solely on me to play as I like without regard for anyone. Not that I hold much regard for folks who take online gaming to seriously anyway.