The second iteration of 2v8 is now LIVE - find out more information here: https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/kb/articles/480-2v8-developer-update

Why does Behavior refuse to add a 2v8 gamemode?

I know a lot, and I mean, tons of people who would enjoy such a gamemode.

It will be amazing for killer mains, who want to play killer, but without dealing with the pressure and loneliness of being solo versus multiple people.

It will be great for big survivor groups who want to play together, I can't count the times where I can't play in the same lobby with all my buddies, bc there's only 4 spots available.

It will bring back players who left the game because it has gotten too repetitive due to the lack of any alternative gamemodes, events and rifts are cool and all, but it's not nearly enough to bring back someone who got tired of the game.

It won't crash the servers at all, there are online games out there (for example battle royales) that can sustain over 50 players in a single match/server, 10 shouldn't be that much of a problem.

It will actually add a new addition to the game, competitive killer teams versus competitive survivor teams. Also killer communication, killer selection combinations and other incredibly fun stuff.

Now that I think of it, DbD is probably the only popular competitive multiplayer game out there with just a single game mode.


Now of course some people worry about potential issues with such a mode, and so far here are the arguments I've heard, and my solutions for them.


  1. "It will have incredibly long matchmaking queue times, it's already long enough with 5 people, yet alone 10." Not necessarily. As a fun gamemode, it doesn't need to consider ranks that much when matchmaking. In fact, it might not even affect ranks, or have it's own ranking system. DbD has a very active player base, with peaks reaching 80k players at the same time on Steam alone, not even taking consoles into account. We'll be fine.
  2. "The maps are too small, it will be super fast-paced and not resembling original Dbd playstyle". For this gamemode, we can have larger maps. BHVR doesn't even need to create new maps specifically for this gamemode, plenty of the maps in the game right now can be enlarged without a problem, add some trees, extra jungle gyms and walls and you're set. Some of the maps that cannot be enlarged due to their design, such as Hawkins or Midwitch can be skipped. I don't mind that much. Hell, I would play such a gamemode if there's a single map available, it would be so fun.
  3. "Balancing such a mode will be super hard." That is true. However, it is also expected. We don't expect things to flow smoothly right away after release, there will definitely be trial and error, player feedback and so, but I'm confident that within a few months with the help of player feedback and the devs, we can get there.


Many questions arise for sure. Would 10 gens be too much for survivors, considering there are 2 killers? Should hook stages be increased for such a game mode? Will there be two hatches and when will they spawn? Will there be 4 exit gates? Will the perks of one killer affect the other? And so fourth and so fourth. I suppose there will be different answers to those and other questions for sure, but again, if such mode were to be added, it wouldn't happen in a day, there will be many testing on the PTB beforehand before being officially released and I'm sure the community will figure out everything.


The point is, that DBD is fun, but it is extremely competitive. Every game is a competitive game that affects your rank, there's not even an option for rank-less gameplay. And that adds a lot of tension. Hence, why the community is undoubtedly toxic and there's too much arguments going in games. In the end of the day, games are made for fun tho. And I believe, adding a fun, non-competitive gamemode to the game will be a very healthy inclusion that a lot of players will enjoy.

Comments

  • GannTM
    GannTM Member Posts: 10,887

    The problem with 2v8 is that it would require so much work. You’d have to balance so many things like making the maps so much bigger, more generators to complete, and more exit gates. It’s just too much that it doesn’t seem realistic despite it being a cool concept.

  • A_Skinny_Legend
    A_Skinny_Legend Member Posts: 919

    I have no idea, I mean people already think that balancing is not their forte so they might as well run with that.

  • DeadHardMan
    DeadHardMan Member Posts: 319

    As much as I would love to see a 2v8 game mode, there would have to be so many balancing changes applied to the maps, Killer powers, add-ons, etc. that it would take too much work. Now, what they COULD do is have it so that you and another Killer go against God-tier Survivor BOTS. For Survivors, there could be a game mode where you and 7 other survivors have to survive against 20 Zombies (ie. the ones that come with Nemesis) but they're all extremely quick, strategic, and deadly.

  • Hoodied
    Hoodied Member Posts: 13,020

    2v8 would result in killers specifically ruining one persons game out of spite, and maps would need to be extremely big

  • KingFrost
    KingFrost Member Posts: 3,014

    2v8 simply wouldn't work. Too many balancing issues. Not to mention server issues.

  • FrostySeal
    FrostySeal Member Posts: 631

    It'd be awesome if it was a KYF exclusive game mode but as a public one? It'd be borderline impossible to balance. Imagine going up against a plague + Nurse combo or Legion + Oni. Also Imagine 8 Dead Hards or 8 keys.

  • Aven_Fallen
    Aven_Fallen Member Posts: 16,275

    Aside from Balancing - who should play this mode?

    Solo Queue can already be a mess, who wants to play Solo with 7 randoms? So you will most likely only see SWFs in this Mode, most likely either 2 4 mans or 8 Survivors. And we all know how much Killers love to go against SWFs.

    I doubt that this mode will be popular after a week or so. Killers will most likely still play it, because they can play with a friend, but SWFs will play it at max when playing in a 4 man (or when they are a group of 8 and want to play all in one game), and they can rather play against a Killer in the regular gamemode (4 man SWF vs 1 Killer is better than 4 man SWF + other players against 2 Killers, from the SWF-perspective).

    So in the end, they will probably put work into a gamemode nobody wants to play.

  • CoalTower
    CoalTower Member Posts: 1,730

    They'd have to nerf everything.

    Almost all killers, every exhaustion perk, every perk like PTS would be nerfed.


    This would take YEARS, and it still would be awfully balanced. And queue times are already too long. You want to split them in two?

    This is a dumb idea.



    And on a side note, this game isn't even CLOSE to a competitive game.

  • Altarf
    Altarf Member Posts: 1,046

    Honestly, a 2v8 mode should be included but only as a casual mode. No pipping, very lax matchmaking compared to MMR in 1v4, and only have it available on certain days, like on weekends or something. This would reduce the need to balance the mode perfectly and would help in the whole queue time problems as the mode would only be available for a couple days a week.

  • Yords
    Yords Member Posts: 5,781

    Because it would probably break the game if they tried to implement it. It would also be incredibly unbalanced and wild.

  • Warcrafter4
    Warcrafter4 Member Posts: 2,917
    edited June 2021

    Given that the developers have said just having the two zombies is currently pushing the game's engine to the limit(7 total characters).

    I doubt the game will be ready for 10+ players/characters(11-13 if someone is Nemesis and/or twins) being inside of a match.

  • lolifasad
    lolifasad Member Posts: 68

    That's the point. It's not to add another main gamemode to the game, it's just an exclusive, be it an event gamemode if it will. Just something different.. the game has been the same for 5 years and apart from adding new killers (which recently haven't even been that unique tbh), nothing really changes. They have to add additional gamemodes from time to time to keep their player base entertained. Of course a 2v8 would have a lot of issues, but who cares, it will be just for fun and no ranks involved. Hence, even perks could be disabled while we're at it. Or it doesn't even have to be a 2v8 mode, something different would be great as well. For example a deathmatch where there aren't gens, but there's a timer and survivors have to survive by looping the killer/killers and if it passes 10 minutes, they win. Something like that could also work.


    Just.. something....... new.

  • lolifasad
    lolifasad Member Posts: 68

    Like right now DBD is basically like League with only Ranked mode, CS:GO with only Competitive Mode, PUBG with only squad mode and so on and so on.

  • Orion
    Orion Member Posts: 21,675

    2v8 would have to be its own game, meaning it'd take years to develop. Imagine, two Cannibals. Or imagine literally any other killer trying to go up against 7 bodyblocking survivors.

  • GeneralV
    GeneralV Member Posts: 11,273

    Well, we have dealt with unbalanced stuff for years. What is one more?

  • Trickstaaaaa
    Trickstaaaaa Member Posts: 1,269

    This is what they need to attract more killer players. Think about it a co-op asymmetrical game it's never been done before. It would so fun to play with another friend as killer. Just think about it. If they added this I would definitely play more killer than survivor.

  • Tizzle
    Tizzle Member Posts: 696

    Never happen.

    They've always struggled with performance issues even with only 5 players in a match.

    10?

    Have fun playing a slideshow.

  • TragicSolitude
    TragicSolitude Member, Alpha Surveyor Posts: 7,347
    edited June 2021

    ^ This.

    @lolifasad The game is poorly optimized, I don't think it could handle more players per match. The devs already said they'd optimize their game, and we console players haven't let them forget that, but the devs have been pretty silent on that front. DbD still performs well below expectations.

    The game has one mode right now. One. And it's buggy as hell. There are bugs that have been around for years and still aren't fixed.

    The game needs to be improved to work properly with its current mode of five players. We don't even have that. Ten players? Oof. We'd be lucky if we got a slideshow. It's quite likely at ten players DbD would just outright crash.

  • gilgamer
    gilgamer Member Posts: 2,209

    engine probably cant handle it or incompetence not insulting them but I honestly don't know at this point.

  • PanicSquid
    PanicSquid Member Posts: 655

    As mentioned a 2v8 mode would require new maps, with more generators and more totems and pallets, then you'd have to deal with odd perk builds for killers, would thana decrease gens out to 40%, would that stack if they both had thana? How would Devour Hope work with 2 killers?


    Killers stacking perks is not a problem that normally exists, so this would require a whole lot of new code to either make restrictions, or they will heavily unbalance the game.

  • lolifasad
    lolifasad Member Posts: 68

    I'm thinking in such a gamemode, it would be most balanced if no perks are available. The perk stacks would be a little too much. Like as you said imagine 2 Thanas with 2 Dying Light.. forget about doing gens.

  • Sonzaishinai
    Sonzaishinai Member Posts: 7,976

    Because the balance would be of the charts?

    How will you stop the killers to just walk together and double tap survivors to insta down them?

    2 killers camping a hook makes it impossible to save without atleast a trade.

    It's just not worth the hassle to implement. could be cool for a mod or a kyf alternate playmode but there are so many more pressing matters that need to happen before a gamemode that people will stop playing in a week cause of how completly busted it would be.

  • PanicSquid
    PanicSquid Member Posts: 655

    No perks ruins part of the fun of the game, who doesn't chuckle when you Head On someone, or when a survivor hits you with a pallet just to find out that you have Spirit Fury.

  • TheStabbiNAngeL
    TheStabbiNAngeL Member Posts: 1,264

    Ask ,I was just in a match with that name ,I thought it was you but ok

  • Steah
    Steah Member Posts: 511

    Why does everyone think 2v8 is some monumental balancing feat that is a dumb idea. Just put it as a stupid joke game mode. You wouldn't have to balance for it.