Who’s Feedback Gets Heard Most in DBD?

spfuiz

I would like to share some feedback about the direction of balance decisions in Dead by Daylight.

• I trust the development team’s internal testing and do not want to argue about specific numbers or details.
• My concern is about whose voices are being heard the most.
• Killer players, especially experienced ones, are very vocal on social media and forums.
• Their feedback seems to influence changes much more often than Survivor feedback.
• Casual Survivors, who make up the majority of the player base, usually leave the game silently instead of posting their frustrations.

As a result, the game feels like it is gradually leaning too much toward Killers, even though there are far more Survivor players overall.

I hope the team listens to both experienced Killer players and the majority of casual Survivors.

Emeal

Well I mean, the next PTB should satisfy you then. 😆

Well see this is the bit most players don't see to get about BHVR, which is that they listen but they also question and check claims made. These questions and claims are answered by the statistics guys who can see what is going on in the millions of games played. Sometimes you see a BHVR employee say things like "pillars" which is their 3 part check system really as far as I can see this.

1.We have the playerbase, the source of all feedback and the most powerful and conflicting part.
Every idea we say is observed and probably noted, even the stuff other people say, the people we think are ruining the game!

We all want to be listened to and we are, but the problem is only action proves we were listened to which is why the myth exists.

2. Then we have BHVR itself, some smart develops who read these feedback reports which the Community managers make for them I imagine. Now here is the important part, when the Game Developer reads the idea, if the idea makes sense to them then he can act on it and design, but if the idea makes no sense or is preposterous to implement its archived or added to the "wish we could do this list" at BHVR.

Ofc these feedback threads also server other purposes, like reporting bugs/ exploits, but that is outside this discussion.

So what this mean if you want your feedback to actually spark some changes in the game, It needs to make sense to the developer reading it and it needs to make sense to them or be something that is verifiably accurate. They are the ones who set the process in part 3 in motion. Game Development is hard and that honestly means Feedback is even harder to get in.

There are all sorts of things I don't understand that BHVR takes into account when thinking about this, budget, work time and the plans they made a year ago. See this is where popular ideas can make way, because if an idea is popular there is value. But that isnt the whole story…

3.Last part of the System is the Statistics, these absolute monsters will verify, confirm or debunk any idea asked by the developers to verify by digging through the game and find if any data supports an idea. So if Blight is OP, then they have the answer. Sometimes this is why a good idea can get shot down, it happens.

So to sum up:

1. We the community make an idea. (or BHVR does themselves.)
2. BHVR looks at idea and says nah, maybe or yeah based on popularity, budget or something.
3. Maybe's and Yeah's are sent to Statistics guys/ gals to be fact-checked,
   sends back idea with true, false, meh or 'see me after class stickers.'
4. Idea comes back to BHVR for nah, maybe or yeah again (this process is probably repeated)
5. Idea is then archived, planned to be implemented or added to the the "wish we could do this list"

So here is what I think makes the suggestions with the best chances based on these assumptions I have about BHVR.

1. Is constructive and clear. (community managers likely rephase ideas in reports)
2. Is able to convince multiple developers at BHVR of its goodness.
3. Is possible to verify in statistics.
4. Is feasible to implement given their budget and plans.

This is a high bar it seems, but the checks and balanced are necessary to make sure good ideas get in and bad design gets out.
Again, im not a BHVR insider, but I imagine their process is like 70% this, idd love to hear it from a Community manager tho.

Personally I think the smallest ideas have the best chance to get through this process, but dont let that discourage you.
If you have a good idea that will make DBD way better, we want that all it takes is say it and it gets its fair shot.

spfuiz

Thank you for explaining the process. I understand that decisions are made based on statistics and surveys.
What I would like to point out is that there is already a degree of bias in the feedback itself. From the information publicly available, it also seems possible that the level of granularity in the collected play data may not be sufficient.

In addition, many casual players do not attempt to provide feedback at all. Naturally, the voices of those who do speak up are prioritized, but this inevitably introduces bias. The outcome of developing content based only on the loudest opinions is something I believe the team is well aware of.

That said, considering the recent developments including the 2vs8 mode, I felt it worthwhile to share my own perspective at this time.
I hope this perspective will be taken into account as part of the broader discussion.

UnicornMedal

It used to be more split down the middle but the last 3 years have definitely kept Killer in the spotlight. Having said that though, things still get changed despite their disapproval. I think it has less to do with favoritism and more with the KR and matchmaking.

Batusalen

https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/455062/who-s-feedback-gets-heard-most-in-dbd

Normally, saying this after all the survivor-sided updates and hand-holding mechanics from the last years would be a bad joke.

But saying it after they announced the most tone deaf and survivor-sided update yet, based solely on the cries of the entitled survivors of twitter "majority"? Come on. This has to be ragebait.