http://dbd.game/killswitch
This game needs seperate Ranked / Casual queues now more than ever
The release of the FNaF chapter for Dead by Daylight came with implementations of new systems to prevent players from trying to Go Next or go AFK. These systems have proved to be controversial and have began to show a clear divide in the playerbase:
• players who prefer a more casual, non-commital experience where they can experience the core "fun" parts of the game (looping, doing objectives, saving, etc) without dealing with some of the unfun scenarios that comes up in 1v4 PvP
• players who prefer a more competitive, commital experience where both sides agree to play out the match as intended and are trying to win with whatever strategies work best while countering the other side's potential strategies
These are two audiences that would both be pleased by the implementation of a Ranked mode and a Casual mode. This could be done in a few ways, but I think the easiest would be to call the normal queue the Ranked queue and create a new mode tailored for a Casual experience.
Ranked mode:
• would have the current "Go Next" prevention and AFK prevention systems
• would give disconnection penalties to players who prematurely leave matches they queued into
• could continue to use current MMR system to match players of similar skill
• could implement changes to promote competitive gameplay (consistent map spawns, seeing teammate's perks pre-match, visible ranks, etc.)
Casual mode:
• would not prevent players from trying to attempt self-unhooking or from hiding
• would not penalize players for disconnecting
• would be replaced by whatever current Modifier is available
• could utilize a more forgiving matchmaking system that deprioritizes skill as a factor of creating lobbies
• could implement more aggressive anti-camping/anti-tunneling/anti-slugging measures to promote less competitive gameplay
Whatever the solution may be, at the end of the day, there is a clear divide between players who believe they shouldn't be punished for disconnecting from an online videogame, and people who feel like queuing up for a team-based game and then quitting in the middle of it is inconsiderate and rude to the other players. Both views are valid, and I feel like enabling both groups of people to enjoy the game with other people who feel the same way would overall improve match quality.
Comments
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A big problem with this is most people who want to sweat in pvp games will do so in casual or ranked. Take R6 Siege for example back when I used to play it, ranked and casual felt the same as peoples ego just would not let them play casual always playing in the sweatiest way no matter what, mix in a similar toxic community and people would often quit or team kill for no other reasons than because they gave up and just want some small nugget of satisfaction(usually by killing team mates).
In DBD its kind of the same logic a heavily competitive/toxic mind set will bypass a causal/ranked system and most PVP team games these days usually have to put a lot effort into policing the community that it can become stale.
I think that if Behaviour want to fix the problems with core gameplay they need to take a page out of DRG's book and encourage gameplay that motivated people to play in a more healthy way and that is not going to be an easy fix as will require some massive changes to gameplay.
A thought that I had and seen echoed was to have shared hook states so when the limit was full everyone would just die at once reducing incentive for tunnelling and making the hooks change after hooking to keep it random and to reduce camping while on the other side adding new objectives for survivor that need to be done in a certain order of progression to prevent gen-rushing.
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I think that Struggle hooks should be shared. So everyone gets their own first dangle hook, and after that hook has been used, getting hooked now eats into four shared struggle hooks. A survivor can only be sacrificed or mori'd after all 4 struggle hooks have been used. That would mean you have to down the same survivor 6 times to tunnel them out of the game, and everyone else would still have two hooks, so you're only getting a 1k if you do it.
Give survivors a debuff to action speed after they've been hooked the first time. This debuff goes away once all struggle hooks have been used. Then, for each survivor removed from the game, survivors get a 10% action speed buff.
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Thank you for your response ,,,,
In DBD its kind of the same logic a heavily competitive/toxic mind set will bypass a causal/ranked system and most PVP team games these days usually have to put a lot effort into policing the community that it can become stale.
Yes, but I believe it is possible to discourage players from playing the queue that isn't made for them by essentially designing the two queues to be like different gamemodes.
A thought that I had and seen echoed was to have shared hook states so when the limit was full everyone would just die at once reducing incentive for tunnelling and making the hooks change after hooking to keep it random and to reduce camping while on the other side adding new objectives for survivor that need to be done in a certain order of progression to prevent gen-rushing.
Funny that you mention this, because everything you listed here would make a PERFECT casual queue type gamemode and BHVR already has the tools to do this.:
- The 2v8 modifier showed that BHVR is able to give any killer the ability to "hook" a survivor but have them spawn across the map randomly in a Cage of Corruption.
- The last Blood Moon event modifer held in April 2025 showed that BHVR can swap out regular Generators for Blood Generators that require Survivors to travel back and forth between Blood Pumps while avoiding the Killer.
- The Castlevania Lights Out Modifier available in September 2024 had the anti-camp radius around hooked Survivors set to 32 meters compared to the normal 16 meters.
With a bit of tweaks, this would be the perfect Dead by Daylight casual experience:
- Survivors have to complete 5 out of seven generators (four are Blood Generators, three are regular generators)
- Killers have to hook Survivors 12 times total across all of them to trigger a total wipeout (similar to when Survivors die in the Endgame Collapse where the Entity just consumes everyone)
- Killers can carry Survivors to Hooks but they instantly take Survivors to another Cage of Corruption instead (allows Killers to still use hook perks and still allows Survivors to make sabotage plays)
- Survivors have :
- anti-camp
- anti-slug (whatever BHVR decides to implement, my best guess would be allowing a Survivor to Get Up on their own after some amount of time, like a minute or so)
- Anti-tunneling wouldn't be required as much because forcing the Killer to get 12 hooks to win already prevents any one player from being tunneled anyways
This mode would be a complete turn-off for the "sweaty" players who would prefer to be able to camp/tunnel/slug, but then that's where BHVR can have the other Ranked mode which is just the normal current gameplay (perhaps with additional changes, examples would be like seeing teammates' Perks in lobby, limited Offerings, Perk restrictions, giving specific types of Maps to specific Killers, etc.) but perhaps with additional incentives such as ranked rewards, rank badges, etc.
I think that if Behaviour want to fix the problems with core gameplay they need to take a page out of DRG's book and encourage gameplay that motivated people to play in a more healthy way and that is not going to be an easy fix as will require some massive changes to gameplay.
By having this sort of Casual queue with radically more 12-hook centric gameplay, you could create these massive changes to gameplay and still leave a regular mode for players who don't mind the less "healthy" gameplay if it means the matches are more competitive.
DBD Mobile had such a good system with being able to see your own stats (Kill rate, Escape rate, etc.) and also how it tied into your Rank. We have the stats now, sure, but they still don't really MEAN anything because DBD doesn't reward you for having an 80% kill rate anymore than it does for having a 60% kill rate other than that you (on average) earn slightly more blood points and have harder matches due to the MMR.
Imagine if those sorts of players could be REWARDED for playing well. They could even recycle the Grade system that I'm sure few people care about nowadays (because all it does is give you bloodpoints for playing a lot within 30 days) into a Rank system (Ash V - Iridescent I) and instead of using pips, just tie it directly to an MMR like other games do and let players see their rank change as they play.
TL:DR; I know everything I'm saying sounds crazy, but I just really think DBD could benefit from splitting its gameplay into two distinct modes: a casual queue with new mechanics like shared hook states, anti-camping measures, and progressive survivor objectives to discourage toxic playstyles (e.g., tunneling/camping), and a ranked mode for competitive players with rewards, visible MMR, and stricter rules. BHVR already has the tools from past events (like 2v8 and Blood Moon) to implement these changes. This split would promote healthier gameplay and give both casual and competitive players a space that suits their playstyle.
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