2v8 Catch Up Mechanic
Having some kind of slowdown for killers or some bonus for survivors is a great idea, but the current catch up mechanic doesn't make much sense in practice.
The bonuses are:
For Killers, a stack-able -5% per completed Generator (8 gens, so 40%).
8 gens total, so a max of 40%.
For survivors, a stack-able +2.5% per Cage State.
3 states per survivor (first, second, sacrifice?), so a total of 60%(?).
60% would be a complete win for Killers (everyone is dead), but that 3rd state lets Survivors bonus over-apply when they're not in danger of losing yet. A few kills means no bonus for Killers until the late game.
^ Unless deaths don't count in 2v8 for the mechanic (even though they show), then its 40% like Killers.
The Killers "catch up" bonus only ends up offsetting the Survivors bonus, its not actually helping with their lack of slowdown across the Trial. Caging 2 Survivors completely negates the effect. If both Killers down 2 survivors per gen, which is (hopefully) happening then this mechanic does nothing. If Killers do well in the early game (or survivors make mistakes) then they effectively get punished the entire game which is partly my main frustration with this.
If the Survivors start having a bigger bonus earlier on then that bonus is applying to multiple Generators, and the earlier this happens the more Generators getting this bonus. This seems a bit uneven since it ends up affecting the entire game, not just letting survivors catch up from some early downs. If 4 Generators all get bonus repair speed early to mid game and pop somewhat close to each other, they never get the Killers side of the catch up mechanic and HALF the objective is over. Even 3 downs equals to 7.5% for every Survivor, which is just a little over everyone having Deju Vu. 4 downs would equal to everyone having 10%, and again, that's now progressing the entire game a LOT faster super early into the game (which can be the most important part for most Killers).
Meanwhile, Generators already have a lower number of charges so if the Catch Up mechanic is in favor of killers Generators are still going at a pretty fast pace. Generators aren't likely to only have 1 Survivor on them as well so this penalty can be offset further. Killers can only apply regression to generators from damaging them and this can quickly be negated by one of the 8 Survivors spending a few seconds on the Generator (that they're going to do anyways). It still takes a pretty long time for charges to regress and Killers can't afford to stay near the gen and not being in-chase/pressuring survivors.
The "catch up" side for the Killers seems more and more pointless. It will only help you if you're really struggling up-until the late game. But if you're already struggling with downs and teamwork here then a small repair speed penalty for survivors isn't doing anything. You would need actual, and immediate, regression you could apply.
Also if the third Cage state from Survivors being scarified counts towards their repair bonus, it quite literally is pointless. Unless most of the survivors are wiped out during the last few gens, which you've then already won at that point so its, again, doing nothing.
This could be written a lot better but its mostly just text thrown together after playing both sides.
Comments
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The catchup also doesnt seems to care about survivors being fully dead. Like half the team could be gone and the generators still go slower which often leads to the last generator feeling like a 3 gen merchant endgame, especially with a legion bouncing around until they find the gen with the most progress
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I played 3 trials this cycle so far to get the challenge done and all 3 ended in 6-8ks (which used to be rare), so the scaling difficulty is really doing very little anymore. Even with Play While You Wait, I don't see the queues improving too much if it continues down this path.
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Comeback mechanics should be eliminated in ANY game.
You basically punishes the winner for winning.-3 -
It's a casual oriented game mode. The goal of the mechanic is make each match play out to the end without a total stomp on either side. Remember, no MMR.
If anything I greatly prefer this mechanic over an MMR
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It's casual oriented, but it's still a competition regardless.
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It lets both sides have fun more consistently. In a video game. Which is meant to be fun.
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If fun = making things easier for you to not achieve something by your own merit…
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I think at the very least, they need to change it so that survivors only get a catchup bonus for DEAD survivors.
Survivors that merely lose a hookstate or two are just as effective as ones that haven't, plus they get skill unlocks and no longer have their aura revealed.
Post edited by YamamuraVideoRentals on2 -
I completely agree. For 1v4 it should absolutely not have any sort of catch up mechanic, but in 2v8 it feels just right since there seems to be no MMR and its just chaotic fun.
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Total stomps are getting more and more common in my experience. Personally, I think 2v8 is going the way of 1v4 in that it's "balanced" around average Killers vs coordinated SWF and everyone else can kick rocks. At that point, it might as well be MMR.
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Idk dawg, most of my survivor matches we usually get around half the lobby out unless the Killers are really coordinated.
If we have to have this style of mechanic I'd like something like that too. I don't think this specific style of a catch up mechanic is all that great though. It mainly punishes the Killers for doing "too well" (or rewards Survivors for not doing well enough), but if they fall behind it does little to nothing to actually help.
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I understand that having this crap mechanic favoring survs more is to draw more of them to play 2v8, but that's not the way.
IF 2v8 comes back in November I hope they add double the classes for survs without any of the 500 2nd chance crap they have in 1v4.0 -
Well then I'm happy for you. 😘
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The mechanics of 2v8 heavily encourage tunneling tbh. If you hook a Survivor who is not dead on hook over one who is dead on hook, not only do you miss out on the kill, Survivors get faster gen speeds and potentially a powerful passive.
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Catch-up mechanics in 2v8 honestly just highlight how duct-taped the whole mode is. Right now it feels less like horror and more like math homework: survivors get a bonus here, killers get a penalty there, and in the end neither side actually feels like they’re playing a horror match.
The bigger issue is that DbD already has built-in catch-up mechanics — killers with oppressive snowball potential (Legion, Oni, Blight, Nurse) and survivors with second-chance perks/basekit saves. Slapping another % modifier on top just makes the experience swingier without actually fixing anything.
And yeah, it ends up punishing killers for doing well. If you get 3 people caged early, suddenly the survivors are zooming gens like it’s NASCAR, while you’re wondering why you’re being penalized for landing hits in a game that literally tells you to land hits. At that point, the mechanic isn’t “catch-up,” it’s “stall until survivors get bored and leave.”
If BHVR really wanted 2v8 to avoid stomps, they’d stop fiddling with numbers and actually rebuild the mode:
- More survivor classes so matches don’t just feel like 8 generic gen-rushers with different hats.
- Restrict/remove killers whose powers literally don’t translate into 2v8 (Legion free injuries, Oni blood orb farm, etc.).
- Make maps modular and objectives varied so both sides have something to do beyond gens vs slug.
Right now, the catch-up mechanic is just a band-aid on a leaky pipe. It’s not creating balance — it’s making both sides feel like their success gets discounted. And nothing kills horror faster than a match feeling like it doesn’t matter what you do.
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