Communications experiment.

Sn0wJob

So I think its been kinda argue'd to death that survive with friends is the bane of most killers, at almost any rank of matchmaking it's in.
So I'm not here to argue that point, I'd rather do something a little different.

So I started stream sniping twitch streamers (if the streamer is solo I will shut off the stream out of kindness)
kind of a reverse survive with friends. Lets call it survive with killer or SWK for short.

Just as much as they can coordinate all their actions to never waste resources and call for/call out when they're doing unhooks, I am privy to that knowledge.
It's like having the BBQ & chilli perk at all times, minus the BP gain.

Now you might think that's absurd, but SWF basically is the same as having empathy and bond active at all times plus a little stronger since you can call out anything that is happening map wide.
Just remember that without SWK, I'd be subject to being one person looking for four other people who can just call out for heals/unhooks/body blocks/flashlight saves/loops.

If I get sort of repetitive in stating things like this ^ it's because I cannot over state how awful it feels to play a whole game knowing you're against a SWF group. Apologies

Not everyone who SWF streams either, so I can't always rely on this sort of counterplay.
SWF always gets their advantages of voice call comms, this also means they can plan out what items/perks/characters to bring in so that they aren't over saturated with too much of what they need. (Take for instances the amount of flash lights versus tool boxes or the designated guy running around with the small game perk)
This is also an immense advantage, but often it's understated and downplayed.

But what do we do about it? BHVR has to balance things for the killers and the survivors
You also have to take in mind the "fun factor" that needs to be maintained for people to want to pick up this game and continue playing it. (and paying for cosmetics)
If we balance heavily around survivors, we're balancing for the majority by default. This seems great on paper, but what about the other side of the coin?
If killers quit the game, than 4 survivors have some queue time issues. Obviously it's not as bad as some killer mains would have you believe, at a 4:1 ratio it's pretty clear that demand from survivors for a single killer won't be that bad.
Killers need to feel like they are playing a game of skill, dealing with loops and keeping a mental checklist of whom burned decisive strike sounds skillful but it's also very annoying and un-fun.
You have to keep in mind what I said earlier about fun, it also applies to killers as well.

If I'm not having fun than I'll probably just pick up survivor instead or stop playing the game altogether if survivor doesn't appeal to me.
Mathieu Cote famously even said during a stream "Just play survive with friends if killer is frustrating"
Which probably got some blood boiling from some and some laughter with saucy twitch emotes from others.
Really I think it's not like BVHR is blind to the issue, but it's not something they can just whimsically flip on it's head without enough consideration. Especially since they just introduced paid options to the game.
This is what the PTB is going to be for going forward is my assumption, testing out new content and some good changes.
I actually bought this game after the last free weekend because I liked it despite all it's flaws I've heard about and basically had confirmed to me through ranked play.
( no seriously just go look up "Killer is fine and fun to play" or "Why killer sucks to play" by TydeTyme on youtube and you'll see some videos that'll sort of open your eyes a bit)

I have some pretty good ideas for testing out balancing vs SWF on future test builds, but I'd rather go over it over inboxes on this forum or a discord call rather than out in the open of a public forum.
So feel free to reach out to me, DBD staff.
You can also discuss/comment in this thread but try to stay positive or at least objective about it.
Remember this is more about design philosphy rather than any sort of "us vs them" scenario.