Why this patch is is so divisive
This patch is by far the most divisive patch in DBD history and has shaped the direction that DBD will take for at least a while. Those who are saying "Please revert X" need to understand most if not all of these changes will never reverted. If something as universally as unpopular as SBMM hasn't been reverted, why do people think that something that at least part of the community enjoys would be reverted is beyond me. Its clear that the devs feel that the time they invest making a decision, outweighs the community feedback of said choice and therefore will stick to it even if it means players are opposed to it.
So why do so many people hate this patch and others love it?
It would be easy to say this patch is killer sided (and it is true) and therefore survivors are outraged and are not happy with it, but there have been plenty of killer sided patches throughout the years that did not receive this level of backlash. Most changes in DBD have been trying to lower the skill ceiling of survivors to make killer more manageable, but is this the harshest survivors have ever been nerfed? 100% untrue.
For those who don't know, originally, survivors use to be able to recover exhaustion while sprinting, for killers who hate DH now, imagine survivors using DH every 40 seconds. Before that Exhaustion was not an effect and each exhaustion perk had its own individual cooldown. Imagine being able to use sprint burst, into Balanced landing, into lithe. Yes this was possible. Insta-flashlight, complete sabo hook strategy, Original BNP that use to instantly complete a gen by 25% and before that could immediately repair a full generator.
All of this is gone, and for balance reasons, its understandable. So by compression, why is the backlash for this patch so much more extreme when survivor's have objectively been nerfed less hard then before.
This patch is not a killer VS Survivor issue but rather a competitive VS Casual issue.
Here is the thing, why do people have experiences that vary so massively in DBD. Its because the community is split between people who play for fun VS who who play competitively. Those who play DBD on and off, or play occasionally with strong builds but with little time practicing their reflex's and those who play occasionally but enjoy running weak gimmick builds are at a massive disadvantage, that is to be expected. But up until this point the fact is survivor's objectively have the time advantage over killer counter balanced the problem of Solo q, which is the lack of a unified goal of survivors. In a broad sense the goal of survivor is to get the doors open which is achieved by doing the gen. But its not that simple. Survivors need to counterbalance off one another in order for their strategies to work on a competitive level. Not everyone needs BT, but somebody has to have BT in order to deal with a camper, similar somebody needs unbreakable to deal with slugging. People do not have the time communicate their builds, which is why even things like basekit kindred won't even become close to fix Solo Q. However like I said survivors have had the time advantage to counter balance this and to an extent solo Q could be managed.
This patch however has changed this.
Let me be clear, a competitive team of survivors should in theory win the vast majority of their matches against any competitive killer, that has not changed. What has changed however is this. Now survivors need to step up and start playing DBD on a competitive level in order start winning matches against the stronger killers if they want a chance to win. No longer gimmick builds no longer time wasting on building mettle of man stacks, just optimal survivor. There is just one small problem. COMPETTETIVE SURVIVOR IS NOT FUN. Let me be clear, the meta for survivor and killer has not changed at all. They have changed some perks yes. But the general rule is this, anti gen perks are the best perks for killers and exhaustion perks with anti-tunnelling perks are the best perks for survivors. Noting has changed. Survivors have stagnated for years and this largely due to fear the devs have of introducing meta changing perks. They have only ever done it really once in recent years with COH and have done everything in their power besides a complete perk rework to tune it down. This patch is the accumulation of everything wrong with how survivors are handled by the devs as they have been told, you are the side considered the strongest, so here is the 4th nerf in a row. Logically its sound. But it gets stale. Survivors stop becoming invested and either start throwing matches in order find some enjoyment, or become toxic as they find joy in taking enjoyment away form those who still enjoy it. Now we have a patch that is no longer realistic to do this and still win.
So survivors need to step up if they want to win, the question is will they?
It is difficult to say, its one of those things where only time will tell but one thing is clear. Those who remain will need to adapt to a far more serious playstyle, casual goofy gameplay is no longer an option and will be considered by many as game throwing. For those who play DBD competitively, until people make the choice to adapt or quit, expect a period of much difficulty for the solo Q experience.
However my question is this. Is this the game people actually want? For killers who are legitimately holding the thought that survivors just need to "get good." What do you think will happen if those causal players leave and all that is left are the survivors who glued to to their gens every match. Is this what you want DBD to be. All I know is casual DBD will struggle to find a casual audience.
For those who love the patch, please enjoy it as much as you can. just know when survivors are "game throwing." they are usually just trying to have fun.