Full Perk Access for New Players During Their First 100 Hours
Hello, and thank you for your continued work on Dead by Daylight.As someone who has been playing for eight years, I’d like to share something I’ve noticed recently.
In the current environment, new players often get matched with experienced ones, which makes it very difficult to compete when they don’t have enough perks unlocked.As a result, I believe the main reason many players uninstall isn’t killer camping or tunneling, but the unfair start caused by a lack of perks.
For example, even if a strong perk like Off the Record exists, new players can’t use it properly without first unlocking Zarina Kassir and leveling her to Tier 3.It’s hard to expect many new players to endure that long.
Even experienced players who try to coach beginners struggle to teach effectively if the new players don’t have access to proper builds.
So, I’d like to suggest this:Give new players full access to all perks for their first 100 hours of play.
This “trial period of full perk access” would help beginners learn builds faster, understand game balance, and enjoy both sides more fairly.It would also motivate them to keep playing for the long term.
With such a mature and loyal player base, I believe creating an environment where new players can feel welcome and supported will be very meaningful for the future of Dead by Daylight.Thank you for considering this feedback.
Comments
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I think they just to do the character trials far more often than they currently do. Also off the record is a Zarina perk, not a Jane one.
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I just realized I made a small mistake in my post — "Off the Record" is Zarina's perk, not Jane's! Thank you for pointing that out, and I’ve added a correction.
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You're absolutely right — my mistake! Thank you for catching that, it’s Zarina’s perk, not Jane’s. I’ve added a correction to my post!
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That’s actually an interesting idea — I like the concept of limited-time trials with BP bonuses. I don’t think the perk tier system serves much purpose anymore, so your suggestion also aligns well with my hope to see the tier system removed in the future.
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There is a single problem…
Smurfs would abuse the hell out of it. Imagine starting your first game at Dead by Daylight. You pick some cool sounding perks and get a content farming tiktok Squad in your face with all perks they need to bully real baby Killers/Survivors and not the typical "Hey this is a real game not my friend playing as horrible as he can in a custom game"
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That’s true — Smurfs could definitely abuse such a system. However, it’s important to note that this issue can already happen regardless of whether new players have access to all tier-3 perks or not. One of my friends actually experienced something similar in the current environment and ended up uninstalling the game. My suggestion focuses more on increasing the choices available to new players, rather than eliminating every risk that already exists.
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Of the problems new players face, not having all the perk is not an issue. There are already far more issues with their general gameplay etc, than them not having any of the best perks. You say its a struggle for experienced players to guide new ones, but as one who have done that multiple times I can say it isnt a problem.
Good perks are only good in the right hands.
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That’s a fair point — skill and experience are definitely what matter most in the long run. However, from what I’ve seen, the issue isn’t that new players can’t use perks effectively, but rather that they often get eliminated before they have the chance to learn how.
If beginners could access a few stronger perks early on, they’d be able to stay in matches longer, gain more experience, and start understanding the game’s deeper mechanics. We should also consider that players who can’t fully benefit from their perks may find the game unrewarding and uninstall it before discovering what makes Dead by Daylight fun.
My idea focuses on improving player retention among beginners — helping them stay engaged long enough to truly enjoy the game and keep playing for the long term.
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I think you both got points, but a really "new" player would not understand a single perk. Try to explain to a new player what Red Hering does as example.
Imagine a new Killer with perks like Noed or ruin and so on… it would be a disaster for new survivors because no one would say to them "counterforce" is a meta perk.
Or do you want only survivor players to get perks?
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Enabling all perks at once would be overwhelming with too much information, but I think the top-tier survivor perks should be unlocked for a set period or included in the base kit. Beyond that, it would be perfect if they could eliminate those who set up macros to farm points and leave their Doctor idle. This game has far too few new killer players. Starting with a fresh account (created when I bought my PS5) means enduring excruciatingly long queues only to match against idle killers.
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I understand your concern, but I don’t think the issue is that new players can’t understand perks.Dead by Daylight is a game people learn by doing — players try, fail, and then look up information online.Even now, most new players learn what each perk does through experience or from the community, which already provides plenty of clear guides.
Giving earlier access to more perks wouldn’t stop that learning process; it would just let beginners experiment faster and discover what works for them.And to be clear, this idea applies equally to both sides — survivors and killers — since both face the same early-game disadvantage when their perk options are limited.
By providing all perks in their tier-3 state, we could likely reduce the number of new players who lose repeatedly, find the game unrewarding, and leave before experiencing its real depth.My proposal isn’t about giving one side an advantage, but about making the first stage of learning less punishing and improving overall player retention.
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I see your point — allowing limited or basic access to perks would already be a major improvement.Even if full access isn’t realistic, removing the tier system alone could make early progression smoother and help both new survivors and killers stay engaged.
I completely agree about the lack of new killer players.When queue times get longer and matches end up against idle killers, overall retention really suffers.That’s exactly why I believe making the early stages more rewarding and engaging would help improve the game’s overall health.
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I think the issue with having all the perks at once could really overwhelm a new player, part of the onboarding of the game is levelling up characters, and seeing each item, addon, offering, perk etc and learning what they are. If everything was unlocked, whilst it's definitely giving them more options to play with, they could definitely miss out on some learning opportunities for what things actually do in the game.
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Thank you for your comment, Mandy!
What concerns me is that, under the current matchmaking system, new players are often matched against survivors or killers who already have every perk unlocked from the start.
Since there isn’t a dedicated matchmaking pool for newcomers, this naturally happens — but it creates an even heavier burden on new players than the “overwhelming” experience you mentioned.
If there were an environment where beginners could play exclusively with other new players, I would completely agree with your point.0 -
Maybe some trial builds instead? popular community builds or something, especially for each killer
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That’s a great idea! I think the recommended builds would differ depending on the regional servers, and it could also help strengthen the community. I’m a Japanese fan artist who draws Dead by Daylight art on X, and I’ve noticed that players on the Asia servers often bring Self-Care, but I’ve heard it’s different in other regions. It would be really interesting to see those cultural differences reflected in the popular community builds.
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Yeah for sure, some other games do things like that in a recommended tab showing perk/equipment pick rates together in like RPG games etc, I feel like something along these lines could help new players more see what is effective in the current patch.
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