The Dead Hard Change: Why it's not enough, and what it should be.

HastuneMiku

Hello Devs of Dead By Daylight. I hope you're doing well. Maybe you'll read this, maybe you won't. I don't know. But I'm putting it out there anyway. First, thank you for making a wonderful game like Dead By Daylight. And thank you for all the effort you put into it.

Recently you announced some changes to the Perk Dead Hard, which is one of the most used survivor perks in the game. Understandably you wish to shake up the meta. But here's why I don't think it will do that: The change you're going through with only requires a safe unhook. This is pretty easy to get. While the killer will be guaranteed one, maybe two chases without having to worry about the perk, the perk retains the strength that it had. While this may make the perk's usage drop at first, overtime I believe survivors will return to using the perk in high numbers. And killers will once more find it frustrating to face.

I also don't believe it's healthy for the game because it encourages a killer to tunnel one person out of the game. Namely the first person they hook, which is the only way they could guarantee they don't have to worry about Dead Hard other than camping. With reduced regression (which is another issue, but I'm sure we can see more of that in the upcoming PTB, for which you'll get plenty of feedback from players. And maybe for Dead Hard as well.)

My suggestion for changing the perk is this:

#1. Revert it to the original dead hard. The one from before the nerf

#2. Have Dead Hard only be active for 60 seconds after being unhooked, with the perk being disabled by touching an objective similar to Decisive Strike and Off the Record. It could also be disabled in end game.

This would turn it into an anti-tunneling perk, which survivors have lacked since the nerf to Decisive Strike. It would also only be useable for two minutes of the game, rather than the entire game. A killer would have an easier way of avoiding it by going after a survivor who hasn't been hooked recently which is ultimately healthier for the game. Now some might say "Why not keep current dead hard, instead of reverting it to the old dead hard which could be used for distance?" Simply, I think with the reduced ability to be used twice per match combined with only having it active for 60 seconds or until you touch an objective, it could once more be returned to its old strength in terms of usage, just not for the duration of the entire match.

Why Killers win with this change: They don't have to wait out dead hard anymore. They can know (within reason) that they haven't hooked a survivor lately, and therefore this survivor doesn't have dead hard. No worrying about waiting it out on a survivor they haven't hooked yet, or haven't hooked in a long time. If they choose to tunnel (Which is a legitimate style of play), then they know they might have to bait out the dead hard or risk going against it. They would also face a maximum of 8 dead hards per game, similar to the numbers they'd face under your revision

Why Survivors win with this change: They get an anti-tunneling perk, which killers may assume survivors have even if they don't (similar to old Decisive Strike). This would also help build diversity, as survivors wouldn't feel the need to have a perk that killers may avoid by not tunneling. And if they do get tunneled, they have a strong exhaustion perk to help keep them alive if they choose to run it. Its existence alone would encourage killers to switch up targets, rather than going for the same person.

I believe this would be a healthier change to the perk that would discourage tunneling, keep Dead Hard reasonably strong, but also give the killer options to avoid it. I think it would feel better for everyone. And it would make for an overall healthier game for everyone.

I hope you'll take this idea into consideration in the future. Thank you for reading this if you have.

AssortedSorting

The interesting thing about the current DH change is that you will not encounter DH at the start of the Trial. You will also not encounter it against a Survivor you go for after your first Hook, so long as you don't immediately turn around and go for the Unhooker (though you can still go for the Unhookee and know that they won't have DH or the Endurance effect if you wait a bit after the Unhook).

I'd wait to see how it goes, and if they decide to push any changes to tunneling or not.

ad19970

I think this is more than enough. You will see it much less, and most importantly, you won't encounter DH in your first chase, which is no doubt the most important chase. You will not have to worry about DH at all, until you get your first hook, which is where you start to gain more pressure.

I think this change is perfect honestly.

Caiman

#2. Have Dead Hard only be active for 60 seconds after being unhooked, with the perk being disabled by touching an objective similar to Decisive Strike and Off the Record. It could also be disabled in end game.

The thought of having to go through both i-frames Dead Hard and then Off the Record and then Decisive Strike is horrifying. It would definitely punish tunneling, but survivors body-blocking with that would be even worse than they are now. Yeesh.

Technature

This is the first time I've seen someone say the recent nerf isn't going to be enough.

Stop.

not_requested49

https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3383896#Comment_3383896

Guess we should just make the survivor down themselves if they miss lmao