Killer: What would it take for you to come back to DBD?
This is not a discussion about DS+UB or the Undying+Ruin nerf. Just a hypothetical question to all the people who stopped playing killer. This has nothing to do with game balance or why something feels unfair. Only a matter of opinion.
What change would cause you to play killer again?
For me it would have to be fixing the Nurse's bugs. I haven't played killer since April last year when the COV hit my state. Lord knows I have time since I work from home now and there's not much for me to do when I'm not physically at work. I've been playing a lot of games yet I haven't touched DBD in nearly a year. For various reasons. If they fixed the Nurse's bugs I would come back today. That's my change. Yours?
Comments
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The only thing that would make me go back to DbD would be to fix the obsession item against killers that only use cheats. It is the only thing I ask and that would do you justice.
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For a bit for myself it was super toxic survivors, but then i relised it's much more fun to troll them then to let them get under your skin, an exapmle is if I'm playing Trapper and i run inot a super toxic squad I just find a corner, nomally in the basment and just setp my trap and pick it up 100 times for max bp there, they get frustrated because I wont pay attenton to them and if they hang around for awhile, I get up do some streches, maybe get a coffee. If I'm wraith I'll just spam the crud outta my bell, etc
In your case I do hope they can fix her bugs!
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Honestly, just knowing the rank of survivors in the lobby (like before) and being warned when I'm facing a SWF would already make the game more enjoyable.
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I admit it would be enjoyable but let's be honest. If we could see were about to face a 4 man swf, we would lobby dodge lol
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Without going so far as to flee the lobby, it would at least allow me to prepare myself mentally, haha. And above all to prepare my killer accordingly.
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I wouldn't mind being told it's a swf "after" the match ended. So I don't feel as bad if I got crushed,
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I'm on a break from Killer until the hacker issues clear up a bit. Thus, that is my main point of contention.
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The main thing killer needs IMO is a lot of QOL love.
The game is killer sided. Killers are the stronger role. A good killer playing perfectly should win every time.
But killer is also the more frustrating, busy, and hampered role. Basically everything about killer is designed to be as infuriating as possible. Stuff like constant camera locks, the ability to be blinded while you lack control over your camera, loops as the main game mechanic over stuff like hiding or break aways (and to be clear survivors need loops, juke based gameplay died with the survivor speed waaaay back when), and lots of other mechanics that allow a survivor to openly 'brute force' past you or otherwise have power in a situation they shouldn't.
DS+UB is actually really important to consider, because while is meta and strong, it isn't so strong killers can't win if they play well, it changes basically nothing about the 'ideal' win condition of snowballing save adding an extra step. But it is so ABSURDLY INFURIATING to killers because it creates a scenario where despite the survivor not even trying to escape you they have more power than you.
Other problems include stuff like lacking a real way to concede (End game collapse actually upsets me because it was downright OPTIMIZED to let survivors bully killers), a refusal to buff killers to be interesting or impactful, and nerfing tools killers have that make the game smoother and less frustrating. For example, ruin undying was too strong, but it also solved a problem where good killer play moment to moment wasn't rewarding at all unless you were playing amazingly the entire time. It gave you a concrete reward for correctly pressuring gens and allowed you to meaningfully extend the game for good tracking. Did it need a nerf? Sure. But its no wonder killers are furious because their tools are constantly nerfed in ways that remove the positives of them while survivor tools get nerfed in meaningful ways that maintain the intense negatives for the killer.
Killer is also physically exhausting. The camera locks are some of the best in gaming so it isn't physically nauseous save for nurse, but it still makes killer gameplay fatiguing. And killers have no downtime, they have to be constantly doing things all the time, so every little bit adds up and causes killers to quit.
And to be clear, its obviously why most of this stuff is in the game, mechanically it mostly works fine: Camera locks allow survivors to try to do more jukes and evasion based strategies which are cool. Its just that it all adds up in a really negative way for the killer experience which makes winning a killer game not feel good unless its a total blowout, and losing a killer game a nightmare as your forced to continually actively participate in your loss to do dumb stuff like run people out.
So what do I think killer needs?
1: More punishment for 'longer' bodyblocks such as it auto-damaging you after 2 seconds or something of uninterrupted contact with you not moving away. Pinning the killer to the wall should be an insane strategy, you should be trying to eat a hit or buy a few seconds not physically halt the killer entirely.
2: Get rid of camera lock blinds. Yes, this makes flashlights even worse, but as we learned from Deathgarden maybe having a major interaction component be '######### with a player's vision' is not fun and contributes to a lot of burnout.
3: A real surrender system. Killers should be able to end the game with a 'GG you win' rather than have survivors run around them and teabag until they start chasing again despite the gates being 99'd.
4: More base regression in kit. Killers seriously need this, like I think killers should get a 'mini pop' base kit so that killers feel way more rewarded for winning a chase. Bonus points: It teaches killers not to camp without a very good reason.
For meta changes that I think are more critical, because I think the killer die-off was way more 'Ok this game doesn't treat us well' rather than 'the game has a lack of balance':
5: Actual consideration to the EMOTIONAL impact of changes for killers, like they do for survivors, rather than just making it purely for the survivor's emotional needs. The devs treat killers and survivors EXTREMELY differently, and the mori nerf is a prime example of, frankly, scummy behavior. Its so telling they didn't warn the killers about the mori change because it would make survivors feel bad to have a week or two of killers using their moris, but killers have to just deal with keys for an indefinite period still as survivors burn through em as fast as they can. Like holy ######### that was just awful and its no wonder survivor Qs are 20 minutes now you treat killers like garbage, that was the kinda stuff that lead to the killer strike but now killers don't even want to talk to the devs anymore because its so clear its all appeasement.
6: Get off the stats based balancing holy crap. OoO needed to go a year ago how the hell is it still in the game? Actually think about what things do to the gameplay loop when it negatively affects killers, rather than just what it does mechanically. The idea that OoO or Keys weren't a problem because their win rate wasn't high is so amazingly dumb and ignores why people hate these mechanics. Its way more critical for the game to feel good to play than the game having a balanced win rate: this is why its ok that NOED is bad for example, because emotionally its a powerful perk that does good things for the game. This is why its bad that Adrenaline is so good: It feels awful for adrenaline plays to happen for the killer and while this high point is great for survivors that is ultimately what most killers feel is the only consideration here and it combos awfully with DS-Unbreakable.
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Fair matches, simply that. Either through a good matchmaking (which i am not convinced is coming, since i think the devs have wrong prioritys in that regard), or a decent balancing (which can´t be done as long as solo and swf are in the same game mode).
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I would start playing killer if they introduced the early game mechanic they mentioned a feew months back. Im a survivor main who only plays killer due to the rift challenges and even before the match starts i'm anxious as hell.
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It's hasn't been a few months. It's been at least a year since that was announced. I feel most killers who lack mobility could really use that.
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This was a very pleasant read, and I agree. I´d like to add that a lot of frustration also stems from the unbelievably huge gaps between the Killers in terms of power. I main Trapper and Myers for the most part, the bottom of the barrell, because I like them. Ask the 4k+ hrs Survivor mains how threatening these are compared to a Spirit using the best addons. Of course there will always be a meta but currently the Killers are just way too apart. M1 play is too much in the Survivors favor, which has lead to an incredibly stale competetive meta. It´s kinda boring that the game´s design doesn´t allow more variety there.
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A very, very pleasant read. Thank you, my friend.
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The change we need is to just use bots instead of humans to play the killers. It would make 99% of the survivor player base happy and the old killer could just play as survivor. My guess is that's the eventual endgame for BHVR.
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I'm just taking that DbD break until they add something interesting. The Twins' nor Clowns update just haven't done it for me.
But, I'd probably stop taking so many breaks if the Devs didn't rely so heavily on stats.
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I doubt it. Bots require a huge degree of programming that they have no shown the slightest interest in doing.
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I just want to have a fair matchmaking. Fair means equal skill levels. There is no need for me to get a 4k every round. I don't care. But I want to have control over the match, everytime as long I do the best for my skill level. Most of the time I get 1 or 2 hooks the whole match, sometimes I destroy everyone. The contrast is too brutal.
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For me the devs would need to take the match control away from survivors. I want to be hunted not putting the killer on a countdown.
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i never stopped playing killer.
when i play the game, i almost exclusively play killer lately.
the only thing that stop me from playing is a rough irl schedule / the lack of different playmodes
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Remove Keys and give the Crouch button a cool down.
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-Optimize console
-Give me a new,fun and strong killer with a high skill ceiling again that is playable on console (looking at you blight)
-Make perks fun and interesting again.I'n tired of using the same perks over and over again
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Honestly I would like to have some sort of option available where I can toggle on or off going against grouped survivors. Turn it on if you really want to test your mettle and heck you'll find a game a little faster. Toggle it off and maybe wait a little longer but play the game and how it was intended to play.
Also another option I think would be forcing a hot mic and proximity in dead by daylight. I realize this is probably a bad move because BM would sky rocket through the roof but maybe that could be a toggled option as well for killers. If you're chasing someone and they're on discord giving away information that mic is relaying that back to the killer through the game and the killer can use that information how he/she sees fit. (maybe even disable hot mic all together if it isn't in SWF to avoid the BM) This way it's a little more balanced since the survivors are getting free information and so can the killer.
I don't know.. just throwing stuff out there.
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Improve xbox one and ps4 fps and I'll think about it
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Yes. The console version is awful and in desperate need of upgrades. I bought the game for my nephew's xbox and he can barely play it on that platform. But hey, new UI system :P
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I doubt much else needs to be said. Extra points for formatting in a pleasing way. Thank you for putting these things into words when it can sometimes be hard to :).
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I'm relatively new to the game, and I like playing killer exclusively, but it can definitely taxing. Generally speaking the BM from survivors can be irritating, and also getting matchmade with people that are leaps and bounds ahead of me rank wise and playing together can lead to some games where I feel less like a killer chasing them and more like the person being chased. I know there's a bit of a killer shortage, but it can definitely be rough when I'm trying to learn the game with 0 perks / addons and getting dunked on by 4 man premade SWFs that are in the upper ranks.
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I just get annoyed that playing killer sometimes just feels like your either having to sweat like hell or you either stomp the other players. I just wish it was more of a balance so it could be a challenge each match but not have to feel like I'm spinning plates to have a chance of winning.
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That's another reason why I feel the killer side of the community is pushed aside. If a SWF of 1k hours each is waiting 10 mins for a match then a new killer player is "expected" to have a terrible experience for the greater good.
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I want to have the ability to change characters while searching for a lobby or while I'm waiting in one.
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This is beautiful. This is the best, smartest, and most articulate way I've seen this argument put.
The devs need to see this.
Bad.
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A new PC.
*laughs in suffering*
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It's their choice to take the unfair advantage. The least you can do is the courtesy of allowing counter-play.
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