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Eliminate the grind by making the perks immediately available

fogdonkey
fogdonkey Member Posts: 1,567
edited June 2021 in Feedback and Suggestions

Idea:

Make the perks from the base game, the perks from purchased DLCs and the perks bought from the shrine immediately available to all characters. I.e. it is not needed to buy the perks from bloodweb, the perks are immediately available and on max tier.


Benefits for players:

- Removes a lot of grind for players who would like to play various characters and perks but don't have a lot of time to grind for getting all the perks from the bloodweb.

- Prestige will still require grind, so only dedicated players investing a lot of time will be able to get the exclusive prestige skins.

- Prestige will be more accessible for players who already managed to get a lot of perks for a character and don't want prestige, because they would lose perks.

- Players still need to buy items, offerings, add-ons from bloodweb, so the current balance is not really going to be affected.


Benefits for BHVR:

- People will be more likely to get into the game and buy DLCs. More money for BHVR! (Currently buying a new DLC is a bit discouraging, because players won't be able to fully use/enjoy it until they manage to get most of the perks, which takes a lot of time.)

- People will be more likely to buy skins, especially survivor skins. More money for BHVR! (Currently why would someone buy a skin for a survivor that they don't play, because has only a few perks unlocked?)


Other important reasons:

- Perks differ a lot from items, add-ons and offerings. Once a perk is bought in bloodweb, it can be used forever. However add-ons, offerings and possibly items get lost after the match. So balancing wise (in the long run) it doesn't make sense to sell the perks for bloodpoints (it slows down a bit buying other stuff from bloodweb only until all the perks are unlocked).

- I guess the grind was not so noticeable earlier when there were less characters and perks. But after 5 years there are a lot of characters and perks, and more will come. With the current system the amount of grind is increasing a lot as new characters and perks are added: the grind is increasing quadratically for new players and increasing linearly for old players. This makes it very hard for new players to get into the game and hard for old players to stay in it. (This means that it is roughly 4 times harder for new players currently compared to what it was when there were half as many characters).


Further work:

My suggestion fixes the grind issue but there are still various other improvements that could be done. Let's don't discuss them too much in this topic, because it is not the main message of my post.

Some ideas for further improvements:

- Adding more ways for hardcore gamers to show off their dedication (more special exclusive skins, badges that show up next to their name, toplists, etc.).

- Possibly making prestige harder since my suggestion makes it a bit more accessible.

- Balancing the prices in bloodweb, possibly making the nodes more expensive so that players can't use the best add-ons, items, offerings in the matches all the time. Possibly removing the bloodpoint effect from BBQ or WGLF as part of this balancing.

Comments

  • Laluzi
    Laluzi Member Posts: 6,226

    That might actually be a neat way to encourage people to buy DLCs instead of paying for DBD-original characters with shards. If I didn't have to grind for completionism/just getting the perks I want on every character I use and fight through the bloodweb clutter, I'd seriously consider shelling out the cash instead of my current model of "I'm not paying for that if I can get it for free." As it is, I avoid unlocking many teachables because the bloodweb is painful enough without them.

  • Marik13
    Marik13 Member Posts: 683

    I like the idea of perks being available the second you unlock them, and honestly I thought when I got in to the game that that's how it works, cus that made the most sense. Apparently I was wrong. If it were me, I'd have all perks be available the moment they're unlocked, but at lvl 1. I kinda like the idea of needing to upgrade them over time so maybe keep the lvl 2 and 3 upgrades for the perks on the bloodweb to unlock.

  • Kyxlect
    Kyxlect Member Posts: 230

    You've gotta be a troll, right? I don't think it's even worth a serious response from me or anyone. Never gonna happen lol.

  • fogdonkey
    fogdonkey Member Posts: 1,567

    I am serious. I listed many reasons that support my proposal. Not sure what is trolling here... If you don't have a constructive feedback then please don't reply, I don't need your "funny videos".

  • fogdonkey
    fogdonkey Member Posts: 1,567

    If perks are unlocked only on level 1, then players still need a lot of time to level them up. Most of the perks are not good enough on level 1. So this would not be a good enough solution for players, who can't afford to play this game a lot.

    They should add some other objectives for players like you, who like to "unlock" things. But it should be something like the prestige skin, or the archive challenges which do not give gameplay advantage.

  • Marik13
    Marik13 Member Posts: 683

    Nah I highly disagree with you on the premise of unlocking the full blown level 3 perk. Sorry but I still feel like you gotta work towards *something*. This game barely has any reward incentives as it is, why would you take away more? Besides that's just not true that *most* perks are useless at lvl 1. They're not as strong, and that makes sense, but not useless. Besides playing around with them at lvl 1 gives you a feel for whether or not you like a certain perk, gives you a chance to play around with it and come up with strategies that are only going to get better as the perks themselves get better. Also most of the time all the perks ever add with lvl 3 are minor changes, with the only two exceptions that I can see being both Ruin and Corrupt. Besides those two, all that ever changes majority of the time are timers for perks. Like with Pop the only difference is that I have 30 seconds at lvl 1 to pop something as opposed to a full minute. Other than that they still shave off the same 25% from gens.

  • Seraphor
    Seraphor Member Posts: 9,429
    edited June 2021

    I feel like that might be a bit too much. Not so much reducing the grind as eliminating it entirely, and then, what's the point of bloodpoints? If bloodpoints are worthless, what's the point of trying to score high?

    I'd got for automatically unlocking the perks at tier I. So all of the generic perks are already available at tier I on all survivors and killers, just like a characters own perks are. Then whenever you unlock a teachable via the bloodweb or the shrine, they automatically become available at tier I.

    That way, you still need to grind to level the perks up, but by doing this, you automatically have a version of that perk, even if it's not the best version yet, and it reducing the overall grind by a third.

    If that's still not quite enough... perhaps introduce the option of skipping tiers. So you have a perk at tier I already (automatically) and you have a chance to find either the tier II or the tier III version of that perk in the bloodweb. Tier III would be a bit rarer, maybe half the chance, but it would be possible to bypass tier II altogether.

  • fogdonkey
    fogdonkey Member Posts: 1,567

    The purpose of bloodpoints is to be able to buy items (medkit, toolbox, ...), add-ons and offerings. You need to score high to be able to cover the cost of these. And actually you reach this state even now if you manage to buy all the perks from the bloodweb. Most players however never get to this point because of the insane grind which becomes increasingly harder each time they release new killers or survivors.

    Maybe my proposal may seem as a bit radical change, but this could work in the long term, the current system is already broken. As I mentioned, currently the grind is increasing quadratically for new players, which is crazy...

  • Seraphor
    Seraphor Member Posts: 9,429
    edited June 2021

    I am a relatively new player, in that I'm still grinding to level up and perk out most of my characters. But I don't really find I have a shortage of items available, nor do I rely on them either. I can happily make do with just a brown medkit, or still manage to find a green medkit or a brand new part if I want to use one. While you're grinding out perks, you're passively acquiring loads of items along the way.

    Reducing the grind by a third would be more then enough in my opinion.

  • fogdonkey
    fogdonkey Member Posts: 1,567

    My suggestion is not about getting items or add-ons, but about getting perks. My suggestion isnnot changing how you get items, add-ons and offerings.

    Maybe you didn't realize it so far, because you are a newer player. Later you will see how time consuming it is to get perks to be able to try various builds. This is especially true for killers, because each killer is different. Survivors are just basically different skins, so there it is enough to max out a single survivor.

  • Seraphor
    Seraphor Member Posts: 9,429
    edited June 2021

    I've been playing since September, so I'm fully aware. (I said 'relatively', not brand new)

    I know it's about perks, but when I made my point about not eliminating the grind you said "but items and add ons" so stop moving the goalposts.

    I'm against completely eliminating the grind altogether, you need something to work towards or many players just won't bother playing after they've grown tied of the initial novelty, and then queue times will be awful.

    A third, and entire THIRD, is way more than generous enough.

  • fogdonkey
    fogdonkey Member Posts: 1,567

    Yeah, I guess there can be many players like you who like this grind part of the game, and enjoy slowly unlocking and leveling up the perks.

    Probably there are also many players like me: I would buy various DLCs, but it is so discouraging to think about how much time it is going to take to get the perks.

    Therefore my suggestion is to remove the perk grind and add other goals for players, for example like the prestige skins.

  • fogdonkey
    fogdonkey Member Posts: 1,567

    Would like to hear a Dev's or Mod's opinion on this. I put quite a lot of effort into documenting this proposal.

    Also someone from Finance could check this, because with my proposal BHVR would make more money.

    So this is a win-win for players and BHVR.

  • blue4zion
    blue4zion Member Posts: 2,773

    I think I'm for giving them all the generic perks, but not teachables right off the bat. That just further eliminates the differences in survivors.

  • fogdonkey
    fogdonkey Member Posts: 1,567

    Just want to remind the devs of this Bloodpoints economy / grind update suggestion.

    I see that they are increasing the grade rewards, but IMO it is not the right approach and potentially will lead to problems.

  • AnObserver
    AnObserver Member Posts: 747

    Go beat Skyrim twice, once with 1-hit Kill godmode and once normally and let me know which one you found most memorable/spent the most time with.

  • fogdonkey
    fogdonkey Member Posts: 1,567

    Not sure what are you talking about.

    I just want to play this game with killer / survivor I bought, with a build that I want, without the need to spend thousands of hours to get the perks needed for that build. Not sure what you want to beat here... You can beat the opponent in the match or finish the rift... but grinding for unlocking perks on killers/survivors I paid for? Thanks no. The current system discourages buying DLCs.

    My suggestion addresses this issue and also addresses or points out other possible issues.

  • AnObserver
    AnObserver Member Posts: 747

    Meaningful interaction. Invest time for a payout.

    Does the current BP system have scalability problems? You bet your ass it does. But automagically unlocking the Perks with only a cash infusion isn't the best way to develop memories with the game.

  • dugman
    dugman Member Posts: 9,713

    I doubt they would ever make all perks available to all killers from day 1, in part because they don't want to overload new players with too many choices. Hypothetically the idea of the bloodweb is it's a way to introduce new stuff to new players one bit at a time. Yeah, a downside to that is it's a pain for some veteran players who might want to just get all the perks on all the killers, but the upside is allowing new players to focus less on trying to read 90 perks and more on just playing the game with some starting options and adding in new things over time.

    Now all that said, the devs have mentioned occasionally that they have gone back and forth on the idea of making all perks just have their Rank 3 effects automatically and doing away with Rank 1 and 2 altogether. The initial idea of having multiple ranks of perks in the first place was that they were worried the bloodweb might be a bit empty back when the game first released and they wanted to have enhancing your perks as something it offered. But now that there are almost 100 perks for both killers and survivors plus a ton of add-ons for every character the reason for having rank 1 and 2 perks is kind of obsolete. So it's possible that maybe, someday, the devs will just do away with those lower ranks altogether. Who knows? 🤷‍♂️

  • fogdonkey
    fogdonkey Member Posts: 1,567

    I don't remember that moment when I finally unlocked perk XY, and if I would remember, probably it wouldn't be a good memory, would remind me all the grind frustrations.

    But I guess they could create for you a hard mode, where the perks aren't unlocked automatically. If you select this hard mode option, you could get a shiny icon next to your name or a new bloody cosmetic so that you are happy.

  • AnObserver
    AnObserver Member Posts: 747

    All I can say is that I've gotten bored with Sandbox games much faster if I have unlimited access to console commands than if it has any form of structure.

    And DBD isn't like Garry's Mod where creating your own content is the primary draw of the game.

  • fogdonkey
    fogdonkey Member Posts: 1,567

    Makes sense. Removing perk tiers would be a good enough solution for me.