Developer Update | Year 7 Roadmap Additions
It’s hard to believe that it’s already been 8 months since our last Anniversary Broadcast, yet January somehow managed to sneak up on us. During that broadcast, we shared a roadmap detailing some of the features we would introduce over the following year, many of which have already become a reality. Our next anniversary is still several months away, so today, we’re happy to announce even more exciting additions to our Year 7 Roadmap!
But first, a look back at the roadmap itself.
Kicking things off in July, we released one of the largest updates to date. This update rebalanced around 40 perks and completely overhauled the game’s progression system. Further progression and balance changes would be made throughout the year. Matchmaking Incentives were also introduced to help alleviate long queue times and provide a new avenue to earn Bloodpoints.
In September, an early preview of the Finishing Mori system was tested on the Public Test Build (PTB). This new mechanic brought trials to a gruesome end, allowing Killers to finish off the final Survivor with style. We collected plenty of feedback throughout this test, and the team is hard at work implementing it.
December, meanwhile, brought Bots in Custom Matches, letting you practice in a no-stakes setting to your heart’s content. Not to be forgotten, we also introduced the much-requested Team Based Ratings to the matchmaking system thanks to your feedback.
Before we knew it, January was upon us. The wiggle system was officially taken out of beta and fully implemented with some tweaks. We also improved the queuing experience, allowing you to browse various menus while waiting for a match. Archive challenges could now be tracked during a match, letting you know when you’ve completed your selected challenge(s). And with that… we’d reached the end of the roadmap, leaving us free to work on exciting new things. The January update also featured the much-anticipated Survivor Activity HUD, something that was not originally on the roadmap.
But the question is, what’s next? As always, we’ll share our plans for the next year during our anniversary, but there’s still a few months before then, so let’s dig into a few more exciting features you can expect in the coming months.
Bloodweb Improvements
If you went back in time one year and told people that “too many Bloodpoints” would be an issue, nobody would have believed you. Yet here we are. With the various improvements made to progression over the past year, many of you have found yourself with a surplus of Bloodpoints and not enough time to spend them, making the spending process a bit of an inconvenience.
Within the next few months, we’ll be making improvements to the Bloodweb to make it easier and faster to spend your Bloodpoints than ever before.
Survivor Bot Loadouts
Survivor bots received a very warm welcome when they debuted late last year. Though the Survivor Bots are robots, we’re sure their cold mechanical hearts were touched. Since then, an average of 70,000 bot matches have been played each day. This feature made it easy to jump in and try out the new content in the Forged in Fog Chapter when it released, a time where Killer queue times tend to be longer as everyone flocks to try out the newest addition to the roster.
The first version of Bots in Custom Matches was fairly simple, but we’ll be expanding on the feature shortly with loadouts, allowing you to introduce more variety in the Survivor bots you face. Please note that not all perks will be available to bots: Some perks will ultimately be too complicated for them to use effectively, and we’d hate to make them too smart and be the cause of the robot uprising.
Map Repeat Prevention
Variety is the spice of life and Dead by Daylight is no exception. With so many maps in the game, it can feel a little underwhelming when The Entity decides to send you to the Groaning Storehouse for the sixth time today. Even if it’s your favourite map, eventually you’ll want a breath of fresh air.
Soon, we’ll introduce a new mechanic which guarantees that you won’t be sent to the same map twice in a row. The odds of being sent to the same map will also be decreased (yet still possible) for the next few matches.
Visual Terror Radius
This past year, we’ve been working hard to make Dead by Daylight more accessible to a wider audience. For those who are deaf or hard of hearing, the terror radius can be difficult or even impossible to keep track of despite being a crucial part of the game.
To remedy this, we’ll be introducing new accessibility options which, when enabled, will provide a visual representation of terror radius.
Visual Update
The Realm Beyond continues! We’re in the process of visually updating one of our older realms. By now, you probably know what to expect, so we’ll save the teasers for when this update is a little closer. That said, there aren’t many realms left to update, so you’ve got a pretty good chance of guessing which one it is.
Perk Updates
We’ve put a lot of focus on general improvements and quality of life features as of late, but we’re pleased to say that perk balancing is going to pick back up shortly. Like before, we’re hoping to include a small package of perk changes with each Mid-Chapter Update going forward. We’ll share more details as these perk changes are closer to release, but since we know what you’re about to ask, yes, one of the perks we’re looking into do rhyme with Shmeruption.
Limited Time Cosmetics
For recent events, some of the more festive and spooky outfits we’ve debuted have only appeared for a limited time before returning to the vault, taking some holiday themed cosmetics from past years with them. We never had an opportunity to announce these cosmetics, so we’d like to take a moment to discuss how they will work moving forward.
As the game has grown, hundreds of outfits have been added to the store. Where one outfit used to be a major addition, these days it is just one of many to choose from. By vaulting these holiday themed cosmetics, we hope to simplify the store and make these seasonal offerings more meaningful when they return each year. (Do not fear: We guarantee they will return!)
We know many of you don’t want to miss your opportunity to get these outfits, so we want to clarify how these limited time cosmetics will work. New limited time cosmetics will be available for purchase with Auric Cells. When the event period ends, these outfits will be vaulted (removed from the store) until they return the following year. The next time they return, they will be available with both Auric Cells and Iridescent Shards (excluding licensed characters).
For the sake of transparency, here is a complete list of all the seasonal collections to date which will be available for a limited time. We hope this list gives you a better idea of what to expect and allows you to plan around it.
SPOILER WARNING
Halloween:
Tricks and Treats
Midnight Grove
Halloween 2021
Future Halloween Collections
Winter:
Ugly Sweater Collection
Deck the Trials
Bone Chill
Holiday Horror
Winter Tales
Cozy Break
Future holiday collections
Lunar New Year:
Lurking Stripes
Gilded Stampede
Scarlet Swarm
Moonrise
Moonlight Burrow
Future LNY collections
These new additions to the roadmap will be releasing as part of multiple updates over the next few months. As is tradition, we’ll go into more details regarding each one when they’re closer to release. Before we sign off, we want to take a moment to thank you for diligently providing feedback over this past year. You have helped shape these additions to our Year 7 Roadmap, and will no doubt impact the plans for years to come.
Until next time…
The Dead by Daylight team
Comments
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In Summary:
Bloodweb Improvements
Survivor Bot Loadouts
Map Repeat Prevention
Visual Terror Radius
Visual Update (Realm Beyond)
Perk Updates (Small group of perks more info soon) (One of these perks is Eruption).
Info on Limited Time Cosmetics
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Visual terror radius is amazing. Now I can play music in the background while playing. Having visual queues for killer would also be amazing
Map repeat prevention is also amazing. Helps for variety on both ends
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Bloodweb and eruption changes coming. Very nice.
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Faster bloodwebs
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Just need Cross Saves and Steamdeck support now :-)
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Nah, Limited-Time Cosmetics should not be celebrated, it's the most greedy and disappointing addition you have ever made. 😡
So instead of reworking the store, you decide to make it your consumers' problem instead? Flawed and lazy logic here. 🙄
If simply removing them add value to those outfits, you're basically using the same tactics as cryptobros and their time™limited™drops™ 🤡 Also, what's the reason then for not removing summer-themed collections? They are veryspecific like their winter counterparts...
...and yet, you will remove them again afterwards? Why doing so? You're shooting yourselves in the feets, for god's sake! You're barely thinking about people not having money to buy those during those events, people that live in the southern hemisphere that have winter in our summer and vice-versa, people prone to FOMO tactics (oh, and that's FOMO by definition, no matter if they gonna be back or not),...
Really one of the most delirious directions you have chosen to drive into. I do not care about what the future will bring in this game is that's our present moment.
A tragedy, I refuse to spend another cent in your product as long as you keep this up. 🤬
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BHVR actually replied to a comment under the tweet related to this update, it's not looking great.
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Halloween cosmetics in a HORROR GAME being gatelocked to the Halloween season
Absolutely hilarious display bhvr
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Interesting.
- Bweb improvements...hopefully just some sort of autobuy.
- Bots - meh. But hopefully prototyping for the day they can replace DC/AFK players.
- Map repeat prevention - fantastic.
- Visual Terror Radius...I have absolutely no idea what this is going to look like, but can't you just use Spinechill?
- The next update - it's Badham. Frigging finally.
- RIP Eruption. Enjoy it while I can, I guess - because I'd bet dollars to donuts it's going to get Thana'd.
- FOMO cosmetics - meh.
My big concern is that BHVR's policy when it comes to killer perks, especially regression perks isn't 'let's Dead Hard this and rework it in a way that makes sure it's still worth using' and instead follows the 'well, people are complaining and the only way to make it stop is to Thana the perk and make it so bad that anyone using it is basically playing the game wrong'.
It will just mean PR hitting 50% usage rates and thus getting Thana'd too, down the line.
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Was kinda hoping they'd forget about the Finisher Mori alltogether...
Excited about the map repeat and bloodweb improvements though !
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Badham already had a visual update. It's going to be Red Forest or swamp.
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Having to use a perk for accessibility kinda sucks (Look at shadowborn)
It’ll probably look like the visual heartbeat for dbd mobile where the heart is inside the survivor and it beats faster the closer the killer is
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Badham was the first map to be visually reworked alongside yamaoka. It’ll be red forest or swamp next
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Visual heartbeat is mostly for the hearing impaired, as they were using Spinechill for this, until it changed (which is why it's currently only half changed, waiting for the visual heartbeat to come out)
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The map variety is going to be so nice. Mainly the whole reason why I use offerings.
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Red Forest is...mostly still okay though. Badham desperately needs a rework, the map is just butt ugly and awful for most killers and still has unhookable areas.
Swamp...yeah, I wouldn't be sad if it was that either because dammit can those log tiles be horrible to face.
Yeah, I may be wrong, but if I had to bet I'd put it on Badham.
Ah, that makes sense. Doesn't really bother me, but it would make Spinechill entirely pointless (and also probably work out at a fairly hefty buff to survivors overall). Will be interesting to see it play out.
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In addition, you have the nerve to "thank us for diligently providing feedback", and yet still added those TLC when the community clearly replied no to that option in one of the previous surveys. 😡
THE NERVE. 🤬
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The pictures seems referring to the Crotus Prenn asylum
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This is the picture they used when talking about Crotus Prenn (which has already had it's visual update) It's likely they didn't want to reveal the realm getting updated just yet.
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For the love of fluffy little kittens - let it be Badham because that's...well, GoJ is worse, but it's still a gigantic smelly butt of a map.
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We collected plenty of feedback throughout this test, and the team is hard at work implementing it.
Please don't.
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they're the same pictures from when they teased the crotus prenn graphic update they're just there for reference.
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Praying that effing swamp gets hit by the rework bat
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I second the Badham rework !
Even as survivor, I don't like its layout.
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Bluh.
No worries then, I'll put my remaining chips on Swamp then.
But Badham really does need some attention - the fact that, even if you kick out the right wall (which makes the main structure stronger!) it can be almost sodding impossible to hook a survivor from that basement...especially with Boil Over feels awful.
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Oh thank you I didn't realise
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Yes…. Finally, blood web changes. ❤️
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If you want to Eruption agian its fine, but pls remove ####### Dead Hard its way more powerful than Eruption is and also Eruption isnt strong by itself DH is way too powerfull by itself.
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These two perks have nothing to do with each other.
Eruption needs a rework. Not a nerf. Because, as it stands, it's kind of crap versus an SWF and really obnoxious to face as solos.
But...going off precedent, it's probably just going to get nuked.
Dead Hard is creeping back up to 40% usage though.
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Eruption nerfs incoming ...Yas gawd
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Oh I'm so glad they introduced limted time cosmetics to help make the store less complicated to use. It all makes so much sense now, they were thinking about their customers the whole time. Love you BHVR.
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I'm happy they are finally doing something about being sent to same map in back to back matches. I'm also happy to see that they are adding more accessibility to the game, in this case the visual terror radius.
Time limited cosmetics section is pretty ridiculous. "Never had opportunity to announce these cosmetics"??? Cosmetics are planned MONTHS in advance. They had questions on time limited cosmetics on atleast TWO different surveys. It's been 4 months and we've had 2 mid chapter patches and a chapter patch since they started doing time limited cosmetics. BHVR doesn't put out many announcements, how exactly did they "never" have the "opportunity" to announce these?
The time limited cosmetics section also doesn't address how by removing cosmetics for characters that already don't have many (Jeff, Yui, Zarina, Yun Jin, Elodie, Jonah, etc) doesn't incentivise new players to play these characters. They'll come in, see the characters that are played often still have over 100 cosmetic options even with outfits removed as time limited meanwhile these other characters with already limited selection barely have any. Why wouldn't someone choose Feng who gets 4 cosmetics at a time while other characters get maybe 1 cosmetic a year.
The "make seasonal cosmetics feel special" is a lame excuse when removing cosmetics that just happened to be part of a "seasonal" collection but are definitely something worn year round. Dwelf is obviously a Christmas cosmetic but the pj's like Mikaelas are a year round cosmetic that are also mix/matched with other year round cosmetics.
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Lol @ the people who seriously thought eruption wasn't going to get nerfed. It might be 3 months from now but at least I can take comfort in the fact that changes are coming. It's going to be a glorious day.
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We STILL have absolute zero feedback on killer quality of life improvements. It’s not even discussed as a possible future item.
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Very happy with this statement because I was under the impression that this was not the case. I wonder if this statement means that ALL limited time cosmetics from events will be purchasable with shards when they return, or just some. Either way, that's great. I can wait.
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What QoL do you think you need? The patch before this one with the UI brought the kill rate up to 60+%, this info will likely bring it down, and then they'll hopefully individually suit each killer to the changes.
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pog log can be forced 3 times in 10 seconds tho
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The issue is pog log into boat can form a near-as-dammit infinite.
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So just for clarity if I play on RPD & in my very next game someone burns an RPD offering it will be impossible to go there (or any other map the other 4 players were just on)
I never ever use map offerings so I don't care but I imagine certain killers / survivors who burn the same offerings over & over again will be annoyed.
Personally i'd remove all map offerings at the same time this comes in, save the hassle & really leave it all to random chance.
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The patch before gave killers generic number buffs, and none of them were quality of life improvements. Have you heard any killers say “wow, it feels so much better to play killers now than I break pallets slightly faster”? BHVR makes it clear they care about the survivor experience. But when it involves killers, the only thing that matters is their kill rate.
Killers are purposely given negative quality of life mechanics, that can be made better.
1) Killer’s terrible FoV is a negative quality of life, and killers can be given an FoV slider.
2) Loud chase music, and a sound occlusion system that can muffle or delete sounds that aren’t in line of sight, is a negative quality of life, and killers can be given quieter chase music and more reliable survivor noises.
BHVR could easily implement these, and then rebalance the kill rate if needed.
And remember that BHVR just gave Nurse new chase music that’s super loud, and full of thud noises, which makes it absolutely miserable to hear survivors, which means on the same patch they release survivor quality of life improvements, they gave Nurse this absolutely frustrating chase music, that wasn’t even mentioned as an intentional nerf, but absolutely is a nerf.
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I hope with the perk update they don't just nerf a perk that's in a good spot but used alot just so players stop using it. That was a problem with the first meta shake up perk update - alot of perks that were in a good spot were nerfed just to lower the pick rate.
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You really ought ti scrap the FOMO plans and instead just let people sort the store by collections and colours.
And on that note:
The Birkin Skin for blight is part of a new year collection, but not really lny themed (neither are the other RE LNY skins) does that means they will vanish due to a silly whim of the higherups as well?
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Willing to bet the next map rework is Backwater Swamp.
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Steamdeck is possible but not officially supported. There are some youtube vids that detail it. I can run the game on my Pop_OS desktop drive with few hiccups.
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I bet it will be something like pop where its generator progression goes from max progression to current progression and they will add an animation that makes generator explode after 2-3 second delay so survivor can entirely avoid incapacitated effect. Eruption will just become pop goes weasel 2.0.
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Loving these changes, lots to look forward too
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I hope the heart beating thing isn't inside the survivor like in the mobile
that breaks the whole horror immersion of the game
Let it be an icon on the corner of the screen
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I really hope they don't remove any ground cover on forest or swamp maps with rework. I love those maps when I'm playing Trapper because I have so many options for where I can leave traps. I'm really worried reworks will be another nerf to Trapper.
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