Visit the Kill Switch Master List for more information on these and other current known issues: https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/kb/articles/299-kill-switch-master-list
We encourage you to be as honest as possible in letting us know how you feel about the game. The information and answers provided are anonymous, not shared with any third-party, and will not be used for purposes other than survey analysis.
Access the survey HERE!
Fellow Gamers, Do You Play Both Sides? If Not, Is There a Specific Reason?
Legit question, no right or wrong answers here. I'm just curious as to the reasons people have chosen a side and why they stick with it. I've recently been laying the foundation for a little mini DBD podcast and even if it never works out this is still one of my favorite ideas that I have written down for it. Its something I've thought to myself for years, not even just about DBD. It can really be any PvP game even though DBD is particularly interesting in that regard at least IMO
Is it as simple as just not having the time/desire to play the other role or is there a secret villain-arc that took place after something in-game happened to you? People can play however they want, I just find the answer(s) to this question very relevant to how the community interacts with each-other (myself included)
Sometimes I feel like me and others misunderstand each-other by accident or even intentionally alter our interactions with other players because of petty tribalism and perceived playstyle differences. I personally feel when you exclusively play one role your perspective will always be a bit limited and your potential social interactions or gameplay can be different too. Let me know if you have any thoughts on the topic or examples of this happening!
Comments
-
I play mainly survivor.
I continue to play mainly survivor because it's what I first played and I don't have time for both roles. Plus it is less lonely(even in solo) than killer. Killer is too lonely. On top of that it just feels good to outplay the killer at loops and in LoL I enjoyed playing mid and lately a bit of top which can be thought of as dueling role.
So I that's the aspect I like as a survivor.
3 -
I play survivor more but only because killer queue takes so long. The queues are only just now starting to become tolerable after what's seemed like months.
10 -
Just depends what I'm in the mood. Currently I'm mainly playing survivor cuz I spent months only playing killer and it is a nice change of pace.
2 -
I play both survivor and killer. I do have a main for each, but I mix it up if I get a challenge for a specific survivor or killer.
2 -
I have nearly 3000 hours so yes. I am above average at survivor and proficient on most killers. It's probably 50/50. Maybe slightly favoring killer. You can really tell who is a troll/only plays one side when you browse the forums. Some people on here are absolutely ridiculous when it comes to discussing balance. I've played A LOT of survivor since the killer buffs and I definitely understand how hard solo is for an average team.
2 -
im at about 800 hours and my time is like 70% survivor 30% killer. I just get bored of killer really fast personally
1 -
Both! I play Trapper and Feng/Mikaela, but its a 70/30 split in favor of Survivor. I get bored stomping SWFs with trappy boi so its usually on to survs.
1 -
Oh that's a simple question. I play more survivor for the incentives
3 -
Playing more Killer than Survivor lately because survivor has become a chore
2 -
I play both, which I play more depends on my roulette wheel mood.
People identify far too much with their chosen side.
6 -
When I was new I played killer for months before trying survivor. I dabbled back and forth and then leaned into killer more a few years in. I then cycled back and leaned hard into survivor after the prestige patch. Now I just go where the blood points are.
3 -
I play both, but I play more survivor than killer.
1 -
I play both sides, but mainly survivor. I just find it more chill. Plus I usually game while on my treadmill, and it's just easier (and safer to be frank) to play survivor than killer. Easy to treadmill game while I'm on a gen, chest, or totem. Not as easy chasing and swinging at survivors.
1 -
I play both, that just the best way the be better in the game.
But that has the side effect that you fell as a outsider when you hear people complain about the game,
so are planing to main killer and tunnel, camp and bring all the not to play perk.
Because even if don't do that as a killer people are still claiming I do.
Sorry just had to get it out
3 -
75% Survivor / 25% Killer
Reasons for Survivor:
- It feels like I'm playing in a horror movie and I try to avoid mistakes a dumb actor or extra would that costs them their lives in the movie.
- Feels like it has comradery when playing with others
- It's a challenge that forces you to improve your ability to remain calm and collected which improves your skills, and your ability to manage your emotion - which yields better decision making.
Reasons for Killer:
- To understand from their perspective the challenges they have when facing off against survivors. Allows me to understand each killers weakness by playing in their shoes - which I can use against them when I play survivor.
- Sometimes to replicate a horror movie or to get a SCARE out of someone e.g. Michael Meyers or Ghost Face (I enjoy scaring people)
- To meet complete a challenge for bloodpoints when I get bored with survivor
- To mentally argue a point with myself and what I read on forums on why something is imbalanced.
1 -
I play both; a bit more solo survivor than Killer but maybe 55/45% to 60/40% at most. I don't want to buy a game and not explore all parts of gameplay. I'd feel as if I'm not getting full value.
2 -
~90% killer. Survivor I do sometimes but it's a lot of downtime whereas killer is action 24/7 and I enjoy the hard decision making / crushing levels of stress that almost never arise as survivor
Plus the salt, you almost never get salt as survivor. If you are owning; mostly the killer rage DC's.
But survivors will sit there and type essays on a regular basis about you are a horrible human being because you killed them in a video game, which I find hilarious.
I been on Anonymous mode since July, take it off for 1 day and.......
Let the tears rain forth. Killer all day every day
6 -
I'm pretty close to a 50/50 split. I have found playing killer to be usually more fun because of the diversity of the powers, though lately when I play survivor -- at least when I'm with other members of my SWF -- I'll play more varied builds to try and see what I can get away with for more of a challenge (running a No Mither build, trying to heal under the killer's nose with Bite The Bullet/Lucky Break, etc..
I've always found that playing both sides as much as I do allows me to understand better the challenges that both sides face. It's also made me a better player -- when I play survivor, I use things I've seen other survivors do against me successfully, and knowing what works as survivor has allowed me to be a better killer. I don't fault anyone who sticks solely to one role if that's how they want to enjoy the game, but I do think people who do so shortchange themselves in the big picture.
2 -
I play mostly survivor, and only killer when BP is 100% for that role or I need to get dailies/challenges done. I don’t have that much fun playing killer- even when I’m winning. I think it’s because subconsciously I know there is a lobby with a 4 man SWF bully squad waiting for me to finish my current match, and que up with them after the previous 6 killers were smart enough to dodge. No matter how many wins previously, those matches FEELS BAD. Talk about humble pie…
2 -
I'm terrible as killer so i only play survivor. Maybe if i was on pc it would be more easier as killer but o well
2 -
Both sides. I think you should play both to understand both sides properly and not get biased. I lean more to survivor only due to being able to play with my bf , but im not biased towards it and i do love my spirit girlie. I do play all the killers, but main is spirit.
2 -
I play both sides and it depends on how I'm feeling. I prefer to play killer but it can get pretty stressful since they only stall perk I run consistently these days is No Way Out, so if that whole race-against-time feeling gets overbearing I just swap to survivor since it's simply more fun than doing quad stall killer. On the inverse, solo queue is in this dilemma where running the meta is just as sinfully boring as quad stall killer but trying to do weird/fun/niche builds is an incredibly frustrating experience which can cause me to go back to killer.
TL;DR: I play one side until it stops being fun.
1 -
From my experience there is a very big chunk of the player base that only plays survivors or "just tried killers a couple of times and I didn`t like it", because you can play it with friends and the stress is divided. This are so survivor mains.
On the other side are the players who love to play killer and consider themselves killer mains, but I have not found one who exclusively plays killer. For one, the survivor part of the game is fun too, and for another it improves your killer gameplay by knowing how survivors see the game, and maybe learn a coupld of tricks or where to hide etc. As a bonus point you get first hand experience of how aweful tunneling off the hook feels, so it might (might!) increase your empathy with certain tactics. Killer mains seem to be closer to 50/50 on both roles with a maximum of 70/30 in the killer roles favor.
I myself fall in the latter category, I consider myself a killer main and really like most of the experience and challenges, but I also got a group of friends who I SWF with and thats sometimes so much fun that I wouldn't wanna miss it. Also my killer experience often comes in very helpful when we encounter some strange build and everyone goes "how is that possible?".
3 -
I play whichever side has the BP incentive, in my region that means about 50/50. With no incentive I play Killer to enjoy the more interactive role.
2 -
I play both roles !
Though I am both a bit better and enjoying myself more as killer, I play mostly survivor.
That's because I made quite a few friends by playing the game (most of them I met as killer, ironically !), and if we want to play together, our option is most often gonna be survivor as duos, sometimes trios. (Without comms for a bunch of them, as we don't all speak english well)
1 -
90% Survivor / 10% Killer
I can't Killer with my friends, so that gets a back-seat.
1 -
I'm like 99% killer, 1% survivor. I play survivor only for challenges and achievements, which feel like a damn chore.
I do enjoy playing both sides, but only on killer I can have variety of gameplay which survivor doesn't have.
When I came first to dbd (between Stranger Things/Oni DLC) I did play mostly survivor, but then patch after patch playing survivor became more boring, all the challenge was taken away (I'm still salty over the first Ruin rework, it forced survivor to put an actual effort to the game).
Started playing killer when Chainsaw Brothers got reworked, I mained killer since then, with occasional survivor adepts and challenges.
Maybe i'll come back to survivor once they make it a less lazy role.
1 -
I play 90% killer at the moment. The reason is that I don't have to worry about anyone else. I feel more in control.
1 -
I have more hours in survivor but I do play both sides, though recently at the hours I play they give 100% bonus for survivor and killer queues are generally pretty bad. Which makes a change from a year ago when survivor games took forever to find...
Lately I actually don't feel like playing killer much anyway and have been enjoying survivor, so the matchmaking bonus works out well
1 -
If you DON’T play the killer - It requires too much effort. Players can’t hang back on the edge of the map and expect things to work out. No one will carry you. It’s 100% your loss and that hurts too much. Just look at the crazy high amounts of DCs from survivors being downed 1 time.
if you don’t play survivor - it’s because you can’t stand the lack of effort from others…at least this is my #1 issue. Maybe your tired of the generic camp and tunnel 1 out tactics from desperate killers who think this is the ONLY way they can get a 4k
1 -
I play both sides quite often. I always want to make progress on both sides (ranks%challenges) so i have a rule of thumb to play a couple of matches every evening im playing DBD.
In my beginnings, i started playing survivor, to learn the game and because i didnt feel like playing against 4 people right off the bat. After a couple of rounds i started killer and ofc low mmr killer is like a walk in the park. But even then i had to face teabaging at the exit gates and got flamed for "tUnNeLlInG" when i didnt even know what that means first. I just saw how i got litteral death threads over a video game and being called trash just because i played better than them. Since i got stubborn and didnt care at all about the other players fun. (on both sides btw, when im playing survivor im that immersed ninja kinda guy who does safe unhooks and "genrushing") And it only got worse when i started to face SWF more frequently or bodyblocking, locker save techs (which are gone finally!) 4 petrified oaks and survivor sided map offerings etc.
The game provides all of that, so i dont blame the players. But i dont see why i should hold back when others dont, its PVP after all.
But i guess im still a bit killer biased, i do care about that role way more than on survivor. On survivor, low mmr i died alot. And i still die alot because i just cant or refuse to invest myself fully in loops. Doesnt mean im a headless chicken as survivor but i generally do expect less (especcially since i play soloQ expect on weekends) where as a killer my expectations are higher. All though, i dont think im a complete hardliner, i just generally think there shouldnt be a blame game for annoying tactics which are neccessary sometimes.
But the core of it is i guess when i come along with a hard challenge i wanna get done, doesnt matter which side, i can get salty fast when i cant seem to get it done. I play even more scummy and nasty as usual then, until i have it done.
1 -
We play both sides for variety but we do favor killer for the simple reasons. We rely only on ourselves and it takes all 4 survivors to try and ruin our fun (or the map but that's another matter).
1 -
I massively prefer playing killer but queue times means I'm playing a lot of survivor and not much killer.
Which is unfortunate, because survivor gameplay is as stale as a 3 month old rich tea.
1 -
generally leaning towards killer more, but recently started to play a lot of survivor because it's less stressful for me
1 -
I guess i'm a survivor main, i play survivor 90% and killer 10%.
For survivor i enjoy that it's based on team work and that you need to work together to escape. I also like the element of surprise, you never know which killer you will face. I also think the matches can be really intense and fun, especially if it's a crazy situation. I once had a match with 2 other friends and one random survivor against a Freddy. The random player dc'ed on the first hook when we were still at 5 gens. Our small team was constantly switching gens and we somehow managed to do 4 gens that only one gen was left. My two friends died and I was lucky and found the hatch. It's one of those crazy games I'll always remember and it shows it matters not to give up, even if someone disconnected.
As for killer, I like it too but I don't enjoy it as much as survivor. Or maybe I need to play killer more to change my mind. That could also be it. :D
1 -
I would love to play killer more, but even with SBMM it's still a sweat fest, especially if you're trying to learn how to play a new killer. Going up against a SWF when you're just trying to learn the ropes makes for a horrible learning tool, which is why I'm looking forward to the bots next week.
1 -
I used to play both sides, but right Now I play More killer than surv, mainly because I Don't like soloq and the people I used to play with Don't get in anymore.
1 -
I played a mix of survivor and killer between 2016-2019 ish. My mains were Hillbilly and Claudette.
During that time, I slowly lost interest in playing killer for a few reasons:
- I finally stopped coping. I realized that survivor was the power role and that was never going to change. Yes, killers had been slowly buffed and OP survivor stuff had been nerfed over the years (DS, BNP, insta flashes, infinites, too many pallets, exhaustion mechanic, vacuum vaults + pallets etc etc etc), but far too slowly. (Seems like killers nowadays don't realize how good they've got it, side note).
- I realized if I'm playing Hillbilly or another m1 like killer that I enjoy playing - if I vs a survivor of equal skill to mine, THEY and their mistakes will be the one dictating whether I catch them in a reasonable time or not. Not my skill. So... I thought to myself "why don't I just main survivor so I'm always in that position? As long as I'm skillful enough, I will dictate the outcome of the match if I'm chased".
- I can play survivor with my friends, I can't as killer.
- BM. It got to me back then and I played into the toxicity a bit - whether it was slugging or BMing that survivor back or whatever. Bad atmosphere. Although I'm very chill the rare times I do play killer now, I find it funny.
1 -
I play killer for fun, I like killing.
I play survivor just for the challenges for BP. Survivor is incredibly boring and 90% of the times is not challenging. They have the game so extremely easy in so many ways, that I feel no joy playing it.
1 -
Killer is the most fun.
1 -
Killer main. I bought the game for Trickster and I love Trickster. I play survivor for tomes and dailies. Maybe if a friend wants to join we can swf. I like 2 man swf, I dont like going beyond. Unless we're all chill and not sweating to win.
80-20 as I play Killer more (because killer gameplay is more interesting and killers are not 1 dimensional skins). Mostly Trickster and Legion. I dont want to try anyone else because when I did, I got mocked by overconfident survivors who only won because I dont understand a killer. Like 1 time I try Blight, I get Garden of Joy. Didnt touch Blight ever since. That was like a bit after Dredge. So I cant wait for bots to train safely and not be ridiculed.
Although I am playing survivor a wee bit more atm. Im playing mostly for tome and daily, just so i have a goal when i play dbd. But also because last month I tried to get the achievement for getting iri 1. And it was the most stressful sht I have ever seen. Also way more DC's as soon as I hook the first person. And despite all the stress, I failed to get the achievement 1 pip away. My last match before rank reset was against a ttv survivor 4 man swf on comms. Safely to say it did break me a bit. So playing survivor to de-stress. Im a bad survivor tho xD
Again, my main survivor goals are tomes, challenges, but also fun. So Im more than happy to see Legion and Trickster because I love my mains. And I dread Huntresses because they're all toxic. At least in my lobbies and MMR.
1 -
I think I am a solid 50/50 split. I like playing both roles because it give a more rounded view of the game (however I swear vault hits just are always against my favor.) It also I think helps with both sides of the game. I can learn how to play the opposing side better from seeing what they do that's effective. I also thinks it gives me a better mindset of the game, I will almost never us a map offering now because it feels scummy... on both sides. In that same vain I don't bring BNP or Syringes nor the beloved CoB/Eruption combo.
1 -
Depends on where the incentive is and what dailies I have. Now with that being said, I'll go more survivor to do archives than killer. Survivor is more fun and not as stressful I suppose.
1 -
Absolutely, I used to play 95% killer, now it's more 50/50. I've come to appreciate survivor more after the perk reworks. Getting a little worn out from killers running stacked regression, and I play solo so it's a hard time, but I still like love playing surv.
Games going in a pretty good direction imo.
1 -
I wish people would play both sides equally so that way there would be more perspective and understanding towards the other side..
1 -
I main Nea.
Her power to summon a pallet, drop it in the killers face, and then stand there menacingly as the killer questions their life choices is just too strong.
But seriously, I started as a Legion Main, but played survivor with friends. I got pretty decent at loops and dragging chases out, they complained about m1 being too strong and eventually stopped playing with me. I still enjoy making the killer work for their kill, though, so I ended up sticking with Nea.
1 -
Almost 50/50. This game is blight for me, but playing with my survivor main friend when he is on is fun. Though before 6.1.0. I didn't play any survivor, kinda had a mental block due to how I felt about survivor's at the time.
1 -
I play mostly survivor, I like being on a team. And having to perform as killer gives me anxiety lol
I think I'm like that with most games tho. In Apex I much prefer trios over duos because there's more diffusion of responsibility. Same thing in Overwatch, I hate being tank, I'm always support or DPS
1 -
I play both 50/50, because I feel then I'm getting the most out of the game. Playing only one side feels like you're only playing 50% of the game that feels a waste to me.
1 -
i play both, playing only killer is exhausting. survivor is super chill and pretty relaxing to play, even if i get horrible teammates i can at least just play to survive for myself.
1
