DBD: Fixing the lategame
As many of you know, in DBD when 1 survivor dies and there are multiple gens still present, the game almost becomes unplayable. Similarly, if the first chase of the game takes too long, the game can sometimes almost feel over for killers.
This problematic phenomenon has already been acknowledged by the Devs, in the form of the hatch. Although the hatch prevents people from DC'ing the second 1 person dies, it ultimately hides how dysfunctional the game becomes once the first survivor dies.
This is what I wanna fix in this post!
Solution
The game from now on will have an invisible progress bar, called "the net", which is the net electricity has to flow through to power the exit gate.
The Net's core mechanic is that when too many survivors are working on generators at once, the net gets overloaded and progress will slow down for a bit, where as when fewer survivors have been working on gens the net becomes more free increasing the gen speeds.
The net's progress bar can range from 0-200. At the start of the match the bar starts at 100.
At 100, there is no change to the default gen speed. At 200, generators repair speed is at 2/3rd times the default speed for all survivors. At 0, the generator repair speed is 50% faster. Anything in between is the linear value of the extreme. So at 50 charges gen speed is 25% faster etc.
By default, the net always regresses 2 charges per second, even when survivors are working on a generator.
Per survivor working on a generator, the net increases by 1 charge per second.
Result
The results of this change are quite staggering. It means that luck in the first chase will be less deciding for the entire outcome of the game, as during one of the few moments during the game where 3 survivors can work on a generator, the total progression will be slowed down due to overload to the net. It'll also allow for killers to interrupt generators better and create more interactivity.
Another result of this is, that newer player to the game will be less harmed by crouching survivors, currently leading to a pretty big gap and bad experience for newer players who cannot rely on their teammates nearly as much yet. This change will make it easier for solo players to have an impact on the game, when other players are crouching, as less people overloading the new will still mean they can contribute disproportionally to the game
On top of this, the game will suddenly become a lot more playable after a survivor dies. With fewer players contributing to the net it will also mean that the players still in the match can contribute disproportionally more, making tunneling less attractive, and making the impact of 4 survivors being alive vs 3 survivors being alive to some degrees less noticeable.
How overloaded the net is could simply be indicated by a glow around the generator icon for reference.
Another result is that killers will have significantly more playable matches, and survivors won't be able to bully them as hard, or "gen rush" them, as a fully optimal 4 man team with 3 teammembers doing gens will be significantly slown down.
Disclaimer
Needless to say, with pretty much anything in DBD, the numbers and details matter. The numbers I've provided are just guestimates, but essentially changing them around until you get the pace just right is what matters most for the core design of the game.
I think adding "The Net" mechanic would help achieve a solution to both help soften the need for tunneling, as well as help solve some of the complaints from killers about gen-rushing, allowing for healthier and more balanced games, as well as create a SIGNIFICANTLY better experience for newer players, who currently suffer the most for not having this Net mechanic in the game just yet!
Thank you for reading ❤️