Developer Update | September 2021
We’re back with another Developer Update, a series of posts where we go into detail on some upcoming changes to Dead by Daylight.
Skill-Based Matchmaking
For a while now, we’ve been running tests for the Skill-Based Matchmaking (SBMM) system—which uses ratings to match you with other players rather than ranks. Each Killer you play has a separate rating, allowing you to play each Killer at a level you're comfortable at. The most recent test exceeded our expectations, and we’ll be rolling the system out indefinitely with the 5.2.0 update.
The most recent SBMM test resulted in fairer matches across the board for players of all skill levels, especially low-to-mid skilled players. High skill players would see the most variance in their matches due to the low number of players with high ratings (it’s lonely at the top!), though their matches would still be more consistent compared to Rank-Based Matchmaking.
During peak hours, 99% of matches formed were what we consider reasonably balanced, with your odds of escaping or killing a Survivor varying within +/- 25% of the average. Better yet, 75% of matches fell within a +/- 5% chance. This is a huge step up from Rank-Based Matchmaking where 99% of matches saw a 45% variation, and 75% of matches saw a 25% variation.
Additionally, while matches were fairer, matchmaking times remained the same.
SBMM will also allow us to collect more detailed statistics for our design team to work with (e.g. seeing how a perk or power performs among the top 5% of players). This data will allow us to make more meaningful tweaks and balance decisions in the future.
Rank Changes & Rewards
You may be wondering: With Skill-Based Matchmaking enabled full-time, what will happen to ranks?
Ranks will become Grades and feature all new icons, ranging from Ash to Iridescent. You can increase your grade by earning pips just like before, though there’s now a limit to how many pips you can lose.
On the 13th of each month, grades reset to Ash IV (the lowest grade) and you’ll receive up to 250,000 Bloodpoints depending on how far you’ve managed to climb. You’ll be rewarded for each role separately, so playing both sides can reap double the rewards.
The Cenobite
We’re thrilled to see so much excitement for The Cenobite on the Player Test Build (PTB), and we’ve been watching (and reading) for feedback very closely. That said, we’ve made some changes between the PTB and the release. Please note that this is by no means final; we’ll continue to monitor his performance as we do with all new Killers and do some fine tuning once everything has settled.
First, we’ve polished the way chains spawn to make them perform more consistently. We’ve fixed an issue which could cause chains to spawn behind obstacles and corners and immediately break as soon as they would connect. Additionally, if a chain fails to spawn (i.e., there is no suitable place to spawn the chain), the system will now attempt to spawn another chain much sooner. Finally, if a chain is broken by the environment or The Cenobite himself, a new chain will spawn considerably faster than before. These changes will make chains much more effective in tight areas with lots of obstacles.
We’ve also simplified the way the chain hunt works. On the PTB, the number of chains that spawn during the hunt would depend on the number of Survivors remaining. Instead, the hunt will now always spawn a cluster of 3 chains (with each chain appearing 3 seconds apart) with an increasing interval between clusters based on the remaining Survivors. This will keep the hunt feeling meaningful without getting out of hand as Survivors die.
Finally, deciding when to solve the Lament Configuration is something we want to leave up to you, but keeping it forever shouldn’t be ideal. In the PTB, the Survivor carrying the box would have a chain spawn and attempt to latch onto them every few seconds while they were interacting with something. This would slow your progress down, but could be a worthwhile tradeoff for preventing chain hunts entirely. We’re changing the Lament Configuration to only pause the timers of the other Survivors, but not the carrier. This means if the person holding the box neglects it for too long, a chain hunt will start for them only. This chain hunt is in addition to the occasional chains that spawn while interacting with something, making it very difficult to ignore.
We’ve got a few more changes to get through, so lightning round:
- Tweaked gateway placement to be easier on maps with multiple floors – This’ll prevent cases where you look ever so slightly down and end up accidentally placing your gateway on the floor below
- Added a brief immunity period to chains after being unhooked (3 seconds) – This will prevent a Survivor who was just unhooked from being chained before they can move
- Added a maximum control time for gateways (6 seconds) – The Cenobite’s power is meant to be fast paced and used in a chase, not to be placed somewhere and wait
- Added a brief cooldown to the solve interaction to prevent spamming (1 second) – Spamming the interaction would give the Killer way too many notifications
- Increased Bloodpoints for The Cenobite’s scoring event across the board – Bloodpoint earnings were lower than anticipated in the PTB
As always, we’ll continue to monitor The Cenobite’s performance over the next few months to determine if further changes are necessary.
Performance
Before we sign off, we wanted to take a moment to reassure you that the team is still actively working on various performance issues affecting some platforms. Each bug needs to be investigated and fixed separately, but we are aiming to have fixes for some of the remaining issues over the next few updates. The first of these fixes will appear in the 5.2.0 update, which will address hitches when using Dead Hard, powering a generator, or healing a Survivor. Rest assured that we have not forgotten or moved on, smooth performance is still a priority for us.
With that, we’ve reached the end of the Developer Update. We look forward to hearing what you think of these changes.
The Dead by Daylight team