The grind is a problem - Suggesting a solution
Sooo…
I couldn’t help but notice that nothing was announced regarding the immense grind during the anniversary stream. It’s no secret that the grind in DBD is insane at this point in time and people have been pointing this out for quite a while so I was a little disappointed when the devs didn’t even mention it during the stream. It’s entirely possible this is because they’re currently working on something to reduce the grind but aren’t saying anything because it’s still in the earlier phases of development. Either way, I thought my ideas and suggestions wouldn’t do any harm. In case they still don’t know how to handle the grind or just didn’t get to it yet because they’re busy updating everything else, I hope I can give them some inspiration. Let’s get to it:
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For those who got intimidated by this wall of text, or just don't feel like reading so much stuff, I left a TL;DR at the end where I quickly summarize the whole thread. If you did read the whole thing, thank you for your time!
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Before we get to my suggestion and possible solutions, I think it’s pretty important we take a closer look at the problem itself because in my opinion a little more complex than just “we got too many perks in the game now, let’s remove perk tiers!”. The amount of perks may still be a problem, but there’s more to it.
The inconsistency of the bloodweb // Amount of perks currently in the game:
Ever felt like playing a specific build on a killer but for some reason the bloodweb decides to give you a bunch of useless addons, moris, mist offerings, hook offerings, map offerings or hatch offerings? You’ve been waiting for so god damn long for the bloodweb to give you that one perk or addon but the game just doesn’t give it to you so you just start to wonder what it is you did in your life to deserve this terrifying punishment of being absolutely swarmed with useless stuff. Not sure why I’m asking you this, because I know everyone goes through this each and every day.
The concept of the bloodweb on its own is terrible. There are currently 95 survivor perks and 84 killer perks in the game. The price of the perks can vary depending on the tier of the perk. Tier 1 perks cost 4000, tier 2 perks cost 5000 and tier 3 perks cost 6000 BP.
I’ll do the math for you for the amount of BP you actually need: that’s 95*6000 + 95*5000 + 95*4000 which is a total of 1 425 000 BP. 1 425 000 BP is what you’ll be spending on getting every single perk to tier 3 on ONE character.
Bear in mind, this is the cost for the perks alone. The junk in the bloodweb you need to waste your BP on is still not accounted for!
Conclusion:
It’s needless to say that the bloodweb system is a system that makes the grind worse. Its inconsistency makes it unreliable for you to get the specific perks and addons you want to use. This makes it so you have to go through several bloodwebs and waste so much BP just to get that one addon or perk that you want. “Several” is sometimes an understatement because if you’re unlucky, you will be spending an eternity and millions of BP just to get that ONE perk you want. There’s no way around it either. You are forced to spend your BP on the bloodweb if you want to advance and get another chance on getting the perks and addons you want.
The in-game shop:
This is the solution that in my opinion would tackle many problems and not just necessarily regarding the grind and the problems with the bloodweb system, but it’s also fairly simple. It doesn’t require any big changes.
The way the grind currently works is: you click on a character you want to play and then you can go to their bloodweb. There you can spend the BP you earned during trials on items, addons, perks and offerings.
The idea would be to add the shop here so the items and perks you purchase on a certain character stay with that character. The reason for this would be to keep some aspects of the grind alive but also to keep it simple. The old bloodweb system would still exist because while it has its major flaws, it doesn't have to be removed with what I'm suggesting. In fact it could work perfectly with the new shop system. Again, the fact the bloodweb system still exists also makes it way more simple because Teachable perks and the prestiging system don’t have to be reworked. They would remain the way they are.
This means that you can directly buy the perks, items, addons and offerings with the shop but you would still have to unlock the Teachable perks through the bloodweb system. Once, you unlocked the Teachable perks, they will be available to you on every character in the shop and you will be able to purchase them instantly. You will no longer have to deal with the inconsistency of the bloodwebs.
The shop could be hosted by “The Shop Keeper” or something along those lines. The Shop Keeper could have their own lore so it’s a way for the devs to expand on the lore and give the player base extra content. With the grind being reduced massively, it wouldn’t be a ridiculous idea for The Shop Keeper to sell for example old diaries they found with some extra lore about existing characters or perhaps characters of an upcoming DLC. The shop is an amazing foundation for the devs to introduce new items, addons and offerings because they wouldn’t be “competing” with each other to spawn in the bloodwebs. They can add as many things they like because the players would be able to purchase it all directly without wasting BP on stuff they don’t want.
In other words: It’s a durable idea!
It’s no secret that the player base wants something more for prestiging other than some bloody clothes. That’s why I kind of incorporated this demand with the suggestion of the shop in a way where prestiging feels rewarding and the whole idea of the shop reducing the grind gets further explored. The Shop Keeper gives those that have prestiged their characters a Customer Service. After all, they have been a customer for a while now. Each prestige gives you benefits in the shop such as for example a reduction in prices. They could even take it a step further and open up new areas of the shop with each prestige with new items or maybe exclusive items from events.
Something to keep in mind is, that prestiging itself won’t be so annoying anymore as well because of the introduction of the shop. You will be able to purchase the perks or items and addons that you lost anyways.
I listed some of the concerns with some possible solutions and benefits of the shop system here. I couldn’t find anymore concerns and benefits myself, but I’ll update the list if you find any.The idea would be to add the shop here so the items and perks you purchase on a certain character stay with that character. The reason for this would be to keep some aspects of the grind alive but also to keep it simple. The old bloodweb system would still exist because while it has its major flaws, it also has benefits and could perfectly work with the new shop system I’m suggesting. Again, the fact the bloodweb system still exists also makes it way more simple because Teachable perks and the prestiging system don’t have to be reworked. They would remain the way they are.
Concerns:
[-] The main concern I can come up with is that the point of rarity in items kind of becomes useless. If a shop is available where people can buy the stuff they want, they’ll always buy the stuff that is the strongest. Why would anyone bring a yellow toolbox if they could get a green one in the shop and slap some good addons on it?
A way around this is by reworking specific items and give them their own identity. They already have done this to a small degree with the items. A green medkit heals faster for example than the purple medkit, but the purple medkit has more charges. They could make similar changes to items that have a similar purpose if they notice from the data that no one is using those specific items.
Another option is to simply make the prices for specific items pretty high so people can’t bring them all the time. They would have to save up their BP, but now they know how much exactly they would need to get the items they want, rather than going through the frustration of spending your time on going through the bloodwebs.
[-] What about strong and possibly problematic items like keys, addons like iri head and the BNP or moris? If you allow people to buy the strongest stuff in the game, why wouldn’t they just keep bringing the strongest stuff to trials?
Another valid point, I believe, but there are multiple layers to this. If specific items such as keys or addons like old iri head are too strong, then they should be changed anyways. Take keys for example, if more people using keys is causing problems then the problem lies with keys themselves in the first place and not the shop. If keys were balanced, then multiple people using them in a game wouldn’t be problematic.
Yes, the shop will allow the players to keep “abusing” said items, addons or offerings, but if anything that should highlight the problem to the devs. It’s in a way a tool for the devs to spot the problematic addons, items and offerings and take action much faster.
Another easy solution that would make it so the old “balance” of availability of these items, addons and offerings remains would be something along the lines of a “out-of-stock” idea. You can only buy one BNP each day for example. If you want to try and get more, the old bloodweb would still be available to you and you can take your chances there. You will end up spending a lot more BP to get the 2nd BNP however because of how the bloodweb system works but that’s not a bad thing in my opinion.
[-] Will the shop alone be enough to reduce the grind of perks? I just told you that 1 425 000 is the amount of BP you will be spending on getting every single perk for each character. This isn’t including the amount of BP you’ll spend on the bloodweb if you want to prestige, which if this idea were to be implemented, you would be incentivised to do so.
Again, in my opinion a valid point which is why I advocate for the removal of perk tiers as well. Assuming they will cost 6000 for each perk (like the tier 3 perks), you will need 570 000 BP to unlock every single perk on one character. This already looks a lot more bearable. Prestiging would also benefit you and reduce the cost of the perks each time you prestige to even further reduce the grind. For those of you that enjoy grinding, I’d like to point out to you that there’s still currently 27 survivors in the game and 24 killers.
It’s a perfect mix that keeps the grind alive for those who enjoy it, but it’s also ideal for those who just want to play with their favourite survivor and use the perks, items and addons they want.
[-] With the suggested changes, you are really incentivised to prestige. In the past, the devs have always pointed out they don’t want prestiges to have so many benefits because people would feel forced to prestige.
Yes, but as I stated earlier: “Something to keep in mind is, that prestiging itself won’t be so annoying anymore as well because of the introduction of the shop. You will be able to purchase the perks or items and addons that you lost anyways.”.
So people will get a lot of benefits from prestiging, but basically every single obstacle that prevents people from prestiging such as losing their items, perks or addons is removed with the introduction of the shop. People will be more eager to prestige because of the incentives, and will feel more free to do it because the negatives of prestiging aren’t that big of a deal anymore.
I personally haven’t prestiged any of my killers because of this reason. It’s super annoying to grind all the perks and addons back via the bloodweb and the negatives of prestiging outweigh the positives by far. It’s also not like the people that aren’t prestiging don’t get to enjoy the benefits of the in-game shop either. It’s just that the people that do prestige get more benefits.
Benefits:
[+] The grind is reduced because you’re not forced to spend BP on useless things in the bloodweb. You’re simply going to be spending your BP on the stuff you want which will decrease the grind by a lot. The removal of perk tiers could help massively as well.
[+] The inconsistency of the bloodweb is addressed since people can buy whatever they like. Not only is the grind massively reduced, it's also way less frustrating because you're not forced to get addons, offerings and items you just don't want or need.
[+] There will still be plenty of grinding left for those who enjoy it. The shop mainly addresses problems for casual fans that enjoy playing with their favourite character with a specific set of perks, items and addons.
[+] The bloodweb-system doesn’t have to be removed either which makes it so much simpler for the devs as they don’t have to rework a lot of the major things in the game. For those who enjoy taking the gamble, it’s still there for you as well. I also mentioned earlier that the bloodweb system and the in-game shop could work perfectly alongside each other (out-of-stock, and unlocking teachable perks).
[+] It allows for expansion on the lore. With the addition of an in-game shop they could add a shop keeper as well. It could be a mysterious figure that made a deal with the entity to provide addons and items to survivors and killers for their personal gain. They have done something similar in the past with the Observer. I’m sure the dev team could come up with some amazing ideas for the lore of the shop keeper as well.
[+] Gives prestiging an extra purpose and advantages, while still allowing the non-prestiged people to benefit from the grind reduction as well. This would make it so the in-game shop concept is a “2 birds with one stone” idea. People have been asking for extra rewards for prestiges for ages and this is an interesting way to do it if I do say so myself.
[+] Devs get a better idea of which addons and items to change and which to keep, based on the data the shop would provide. The fact that players have stronger items, addons and offerings available to them a lot more than they have now will also highlight for the devs what the actual problems are.
[+] Different items would get their own “identity”. Very rare items wouldn’t be just a stronger version of the rare items anymore. They would be doing something different. In other words: more content and refreshing gameplay.
[+] It’s a durable idea. Devs can add as many new perks as they want, you’ll always be able to get them rather quickly.
If want to add extra items then nothing is stopping them now. The more items, offerings, addons, … that the devs add to the game, the more inconsistent the bloodwebs become so this is a problem the new shop system would overcome.
[+] It still maintains the current balance of strong items and strong addons using the “out-of-stock” idea. Certain items and addons that could be problematic will be addressed using this in-game shop idea.
[+] Allows for a more entertaining way of buying cosmetics, addons, perks, … . Let’s be real it’s way more interesting to buy your stuff from an actual in-game shop hosted by a shop keeper, instead of a lame old bloodweb. The shop keeper could make remarks when you purchase stuff and hell they could even dress them differently based on the seasons, in-game events, celebrations like pride month, …
It’s more aesthetically pleasing and maybe even looks more professional on BHVR’s part because there’s more work put into it compared to a bloodweb system.
[+] Newer players will be more eager to join now that they can just buy the stuff they want, rather than being told by veteran players they’ll have to devote their life to playing DBD in order to get it.
[+] Devs could take it a step further and sell rift fragments or iri shards for a huge amount of BP. This way, it wouldn’t just tackle the BP grinding problem and the inconsistency of the bloodweb. It would take care of other aspects of the game where the grind could become a problem.
[+] The in-game shop could be the foundation the dev team could build on for so many different ideas. The shop keeper could sell extra lore about characters (old diaries for example of the life of survivors or killers), or new items, addons and offerings, or maybe extra benefits for prestiging or he could introduce new cosmetics for the basement (I know the dev team asked the community about this a while ago in a survey). The ideas are endless and this in-game shop is a perfect foundation to launch these ideas.
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TL;DR: If done well, I believe the addition of an in-game shop would have an amazing impact on the game. It would decrease the grind and remove frustrations with the inconsistency of the bloodweb system. With the changes I suggested, prestiging would feel rewarding as well. Furthermore, it would allow for the devs to build on the foundation of the shop to keep adding new stuff to the game and it could allow for an expansion on the lore.
What do you guys think? Would the addition of a shop be a good idea or would you prefer something different? Feedback is always appreciated. Maybe I missed something and this ends up being a terrible idea.