http://dbd.game/killswitch
Being a Killer Streamer in DBD Feels Like a Punishment
Hi there! I'm Ragnar_Drifter on Twitch.
I just wanted to share my feedback as a Dead by Daylight streamer who mainly plays Killer. I usually stream to an audience of around 40 to 60 viewers (just to clarify, I never stream Survivor gameplay, although I do play Survivor offline).
If you take a look at the DBD category on Twitch, specifically in Spanish, about 97% of people are playing Survivor. I guess everyone has their preferences. Personally, I enjoy playing Killer and I’m comfortable in that role.
When everything is stable—no new events or special modes—my queue times range from 2 to 6 minutes. That’s a bit long, but still within acceptable limits. The issue begins when a new Killer is released or a special event mode is active. Suddenly, the queues split, and that’s when things get really tough. At those times, it can take 7 to 15 minutes to find a match, and as someone streaming live, that’s extremely frustrating.
What confuses me is this: we’re told “there aren’t enough Survivors,” yet if you look at Twitch, almost everyone is playing Survivor. Plus, there are always Bloodpoint bonuses for them—anywhere from 50% to 400% extra. I’m not against that at all; I understand it’s probably to encourage more people to play Survivor. But from a Killer streamer’s perspective, it just makes things harder.
I’m not complaining about flashlights, genrush, t-bagging, or anything Survivors do in-game. They’re playing the game, just like I am. But I would like to ask: if long queue times aren’t solely because of a lack of Survivors, but also due to MMR or some other system, could there be a way to make queues more manageable?
The most frustrating part is when, after waiting 15 minutes for a game, one or more Survivors quit as soon as the match starts—because they don’t like the Killer or the teammates they were paired with. They give up, unhook themselves, and 30 seconds later, they’re already in a new lobby. Meanwhile, I go back to waiting.
This really affects the flow of a livestream. If I weren’t streaming, I’d just watch TikTok or YouTube while waiting. But as a streamer, I end up having to improvise a Just Chatting segment on the spot.
This isn’t just empty complaining—this is honest feedback for the devs in case anything can be done. I get it: if there truly aren’t enough Survivors, I can’t be given a match. But again, if you look at Twitch, almost everyone is playing Survivor—for whatever reason.
P.S.: I'm going to attach two screenshots—one showing Killer queue times when everything is running smoothly, and another showing how it looks when queues are split.
Thanks for reading.
Comments
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I'd like to add an idea that just came to mind:
Maybe the developers could implement an option to search in multiple queues at once—for both Survivor and Killer roles. This might help ease the current queue issues. For example, I could queue up for Blood Moon, 1v4, and 2v8 at the same time, and the system would place me in whichever match becomes available first. Just a few checkboxes to select the modes you'd like to queue for.
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Spanish Translation:
¡Hola! Soy Ragnar_Drifter en Twitch.
Solo quería compartir mi opinión como streamer de Dead by Daylight que juega principalmente como Killer. Normalmente tengo entre 40 y 60 espectadores por directo (y para aclarar, nunca hago stream como Survivor, aunque sí lo juego offline).
Si echas un vistazo a la categoría de DBD en Twitch, especialmente en español, verás que aproximadamente el 97% de los jugadores están usando el rol de Survivor. Supongo que cada uno tiene sus preferencias. Personalmente, disfruto mucho jugando como Killer y me siento cómodo con ese rol.
Cuando todo está estable—sin eventos nuevos ni modos especiales—las colas para mí suelen durar entre 2 y 6 minutos. Es algo largo, pero dentro de lo aceptable. El problema empieza cuando lanzan un nuevo Killer o activan un modo de evento. Ahí las colas se dividen, y es cuando la cosa se complica de verdad. En esos momentos, puede tardar entre 7 y 15 minutos en encontrar partida, y eso, como alguien que está en directo, es muy frustrante.
Lo que me desconcierta es lo siguiente: se nos dice que “no hay suficientes Survivors”, pero si entras a Twitch, casi todos están jugando como Survivor. Además, siempre tienen bonificaciones de Bloodpoints, desde un 50% hasta un 400%. No estoy en contra de eso, entiendo que probablemente sea para incentivar a más gente a jugar ese rol. Pero desde la perspectiva de un streamer de Killer, eso solo hace que todo sea más difícil.
No me quejo de linternas, ni del genrush, ni del t-bag, ni de nada que hagan los Survivors en partida. Están jugando igual que yo. Pero me gustaría preguntar: si las colas largas no son solo por falta de Survivors, sino también por el sistema de MMR u otro motivo, ¿no habría forma de hacerlas más manejables?
Lo más frustrante es cuando, después de esperar 15 minutos para una partida, uno o varios Survivors se rinden nada más empezar—porque no les gusta el Killer o sus compañeros de lobby. Se dejan morir, se desenganchan, y 30 segundos después… ya están en otro lobby. Mientras tanto, yo vuelvo a esperar.
Esto afecta mucho al ritmo de un stream. Si no estuviera en directo, simplemente vería TikTok o YouTube mientras espero. Pero como streamer, me toca improvisar un segmento de Just Chatting en el momento.
Esto no es una queja vacía—es un feedback sincero para los desarrolladores, por si pueden hacer algo al respecto. Entiendo que si realmente no hay suficientes Survivors, no se puede crear una partida. Pero, de nuevo, si miras Twitch, casi todo el mundo está jugando como Survivor, por la razón que sea.
PD: Voy a adjuntar dos capturas de pantalla—una mostrando los tiempos de espera como Killer cuando todo va bien, y otra mostrando cómo se ven cuando las colas están divididas.
También quería añadir una idea que se me ocurrió:
Quizás los desarrolladores podrían implementar una opción para buscar en varias colas al mismo tiempo—tanto como Killer como como Survivor. Esto podría ayudar a aliviar los problemas actuales de emparejamiento. Por ejemplo, podría hacer cola para Blood Moon, para el modo 1 vs 4, y también para el 2 vs 8 al mismo tiempo, y que el sistema me meta en la primera partida que se libere. Solo haría falta marcar algunas casillas con los modos que te interesa buscar.
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We need to encourage people to play survivior.
If we want to do it, we need:
- Nerf problematic, S tiers that surviviors go against all the time, Kaneki, Blight, nurse, Spirit.
- Give people killer variety, so they don't feel drained that quickly. Implement a system which doesn't allow us to go against same killers all the time, that's for start.
- Better matchmaking system, because playing in a same team with much less experienced player and losing because of that is not alright.
- Going next prevention system
- Good quest system, to let surviviors have something to do. More quests aswell!
- Fixing slugging, tunneling, camping issues.
- Implement come-back system for surviviors - right now you know that match is doomed since 4-5 gens, most of the time.
- Give surviviors some fun mechanics! Balancing the game around efficiency isn't the right choice. We have useless flashlights, bad flashbangs now. This decreased ways for surviviors to have fun.
- We have bad hit detection system - getting hit behind the vault makes people angry, it does.
That's for start. If I get more ideas I will make sure to share them.
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The BP incentives are supposed to be based on MMR (as is my understanding) so if you see 50% on Survivor, it means they need survivors AT YOUR SKILL LEVEL. I think.
But Killers are supposed to have separate MMR, so if you see 50% on Killer… is that just an average of how much your particular skill is needed across all the various killer MMRs you have? So could you wind up choosing to play a killer that actually ISN'T in demand (at your level) and wind up waiting a long time?
Seems like they could have separate incentives for each Killer. That way, if everyone wants to play Kaneki, there'd be incentive for some of us to play ANYONE ELSE and get some bonus BP. We could even have a "Downvote" system, where you indicate which ~3 killers you'd LEAST like to play against, and they could adjust the incentives accordingly. (It wouldn't guarantee you'd never face those killers, but it would be a tool to encourage people to play with more variety.)
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I've never heard of the BP bonuses being tied to anyone's MMR before, that's interesting. I always thought they pull your MMR when matchmaking begins, and that's why you cannot swap killers in the lobby. News to me.
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The only solution is to nerf the killer role. Balance in this game became worse through the last years. The survivor role is just frustrating, while playing as killer doesnt need much skill anymore to get proper results.
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No, as a killer I’ve never had a 50% BP bonus for playing in the killer selection menu, but I have as a survivor.
What I’m explaining is that when we have two queues, like we do now — “Blood Moon” and “1 vs 4 (normal)” — you can tell how many survivors are playing by the bonus...
If you go into Blood Moon as a survivor and see 150%, that means there are few survivors in that mode. If you go into 1 vs 4 as a survivor and see 50%, that means more survivors are queuing there than in Blood Moon.
What I’m suggesting is:
Add checkboxes to select which game modes you want to play. For example, I play killer and I want to get into a game as fast as possible, I don’t care which mode — so I check both “1 vs 4 normal” and “Blood Moon.” That way, I’m queued into both at the same time. If there’s a survivor only searching in Blood Moon, I might match with them, or maybe with a premade looking for 1 vs 4.
That’s what DBD needs.
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