Prestige Catch-Up – Suggestions for a “Stage 3”

Alcatraz1337

Already posted this in the discussions section. Posting it here too, as it is mostly my personal feedback to the devs.

TL;DR: My 6 suggestions are at the bottom.

I have played this game since its release on and off for years and have over 1000 hours of playtime by now. Recently I have read up on the upcoming Halloween event as well as changes to the Prestige system, and especially how it is now connected to perk tiers (former teachables).

I intended to pick this game up again but upon starting it up I realized, that despite me investing so much time in it, the “Prestige Catch-Up” system has unfortunately left me largely unaffected. I read up on it some more. Apparently, the Stage 2 of the Prestige Catch-Up has made it so that all characters that were lvl 50 prior to 6.1.0, have received 2 free prestige levels. This equals 100 levels.

Now I am aware that Stage 2 was meant to merely consider the players who were basically 1 click away from prestige 1. That is completely fine and a great decision. However, the fact that those players have unlocked tier 3 perks from any of the given survivor/killer for the ENTIRE rest of the roster, is absolutely HUGE.

I currently possess 25 killers and survivors in total that are sitting at lvl 40 for almost 2 years now, and 5 more who are almost at lvl 40. I never bothered leveling them up further because for the longest amount of time, there was very little incentive in doing so. I merely cared about the teachable perks. Many other players feel the same way.

Now I have not been playing the game for the past few months and thus have not been aware of the Prestige Catch-Up system that has been announced around May/June. And because of that, I have effectively missed out on 2500 “free” bloodweb levels in total. 100 levels for each survivor/killer that is sitting at lvl 40. I can definitely live with the fact that they did not receive any Prestige. But the fact that I am left sitting at tier 1 teachable perks while most other players who were aware of the changes, are now stacked with tier 3 teachable perks, is extremely frustrating and disheartening. After all I have also invested many hours into this game.

It feels like I have missed out on an ENORMOUS progression change/boost, merely for not having played during May/June of this year. It makes me feel like being a long-time player and supporter of this game since its very beginning means absolutely nothing. And I suspect that while I may currently be a minority, there are bound to be many other players who feel the same way. Either now, or in the future when they decide to return to the game and realize what HUGE changes they have missed out on.

I am completely on board with giving everyone with lvl 50 killers/survivors, 2 free prestige levels. But missing out on the entire experience for merely falling 10 levels short, feels extremely unsatisfying. So much that I do not intend to return to the game anymore, despite having planned to do so. Now the problem is not the prestige levels themselves, but the fact that they are tied to tier 3 teachable perks. I do not care about prestige. But instant access to tier 3 perks is essentially a gameplay advantage, no matter how small the differences to tier 1 perks are. Furthermore, the grind to unlock instant tier 3 perks on character basis adds up A LOT (prestige 3 required).

Therefore, to target the player demographic that has completely missed out on all the advantages of the Prestige Catch-Up system, I propose the following solutions. Preferably going into effect at the next major patch. A Stage 3 if you will:

1. The simple one:

All killers/survivors that had reached lvl 40 prior to 6.1.0, receive 2 prestige levels. Lvl 40 is not an arbitrary number. It is the lvl at which most players stopped leveling their killers/survivors further, as they merely needed their teachable perks. This has been the most important character level to reach for YEARS.

2. The middle ground:

All killers/survivors that had reached lvl 40 prior to 6.1.0, receive tier 3 teachable perks of the given killer/survivor. This way they have missed out on the prestige gain itself, but at least are no longer denied instant access to tier 3 teachable perks, merely because they were 10 levels short.

3. The fair one:

Why stop at lvl 40? Killers/survivors at lvl 50 have received an equal amount of 100 lvls (2x prestige). Basically 300% of their current level. Why not apply this metric to all characters below prestige 1, regardless of their lvl? Killers and survivors that were lvl 40 prior to 6.1.0, would receive 80 levels and end up at prestige 2 and lvl 20. Characters that were lvl 20, would receive 40 levels and now be at prestige 1 and lvl 10. This solution would target the entire playerbase and especially benefit fairly new players who still had to level up with the old system.

4. The greedy one:

All killers/survivors that had reached lvl 40 prior to 6.1.0, receive a single prestige level. I do not like this one as I feel like it is still unfair to receive 1 less prestige level for being 10 levels short of lvl 50. However, that would obviously still be better than receiving nothing at all.

5. The complicated one:

Players who have been inactive for the past months from May onwards, receive a 1 - 2 week timer after their first login to lvl up killers/survivors. Once the timer ends, all killers/survivors that sit at lvl 50, receive 2 prestige levels.

6. The groundhog day:

Remove perk tiers. It has been discussed over and over so I am not gonna elaborate on it. But this would certainly also be a solution. Albeit I am aware that this is unlikely to happen.

It would be great if there could be an official BHVR response to this topic. Firstly, whether a solution is being discussed at the developer team. And if not, whether it is even being considered a “problem” that needs to be solved. I certainly feel like it would benefit many players.

If it is not considered an issue, it would be very fair to hear why not. After all, gameplay elements such as perk tiers are now tied to the prestige level. It is no longer exclusively cosmetic. One could argue that it is still possible to traditionally gain access to all perk tiers through the bloodweb, if the “original” teachables had been unlocked prior to 6.1.0. Or simply by reaching prestige 1 in the current version (6.3.0). But this involves way more GRIND and LUCK than just having instant access to them at tier 3 with all killers/survivors.

The Prestige Catch-Up system has been a fantastic idea in itself. It is just such a huge shame, that it did not consider the entire playerbase, but rather chose an arbitrary character level to decide which players were able to reap its benefits.

Players who spent lots of time playing this game also deserve to be rewarded/compensated for having leveled up using the old system. Even if they have not been around for May/June 2022 to prepare for the changes that came into effect. I basically would have gained a total of 50 prestige levels for minimal effort, if I was active in the game 1 - 2 weeks before patch 6.1.0 dropped. This equals to 500 - 750 hours of playtime. That is A LOT. It makes me feel like the game design does not respect my time, which unfortunately greatly discourages me from playing it again.