My weirdest hill to die on...
Skillchecks on PC should emulate the input lag on console...
Before you say it... I am aware that sounds incredibly stupid, and I also know it'll never happen cause majority of PC players would hate it... but... do please hear me out with a short story: 😅
A little while back, after playing DBD for 2 years and approx 2200 hours on PS5, I got a bonus from work, and I used it to buy a brand new laptop. I went all in on it, got a really really good system that runs DBD as if it was Notepad++.
Now I didn't buy the laptop for DBD, and I'm generally happier playing on console (for a multitude of reasons I won't go into), but I was travelling for a week to visit my Uncle who lives way down in Cornwall, and I took my laptop with me. Apparently at some point in life I bought DBD on steam and forgot about it, but in any case, with the new accounts sync, I was able to get sorted and up and running, just in time for 2v8 version 5.
I had my pad, I had my headset, we were set, and we set about playing 2v8... Now for ages I had heard people say skillchecks were super easy on PC, where many perks and killer effects become pretty bad/ unimpactful against good players, and cited the fps differences as the reason... Now when the PS4 and Xbox ran the console game, there was very noticeable frame loss, so I can see why this conclusion came about... but it isn't frame loss, the PS5 is a stable 60 FPS, and I had my game on PC also capped at 60 FPS… the difference dear reader, is input lag.
Upon trying to do skilchecks on PC, I instinctively timed the skillchecks with the learned timing I have on console... and I undershot every single one. I kept missing cause I was hitting the button too soon, and the input was instantaneous. I was killing myself with laughter cause I physically could not stop botching skillchecks from hitting them too early, it was like I was on cocaine moving 40% faster xD
It got so bad I actually had to start playing medic and just running to unhook people, using my active skill and super healspeed to avoid getting any skillchecks. If I was on gens I was deliberately acting as though the great skill check was the other side of the skillcheck. Eventually the internal timing I have from console clicked off, and as long as I wasn't too distracted/back in auto pilot I could hit greats again... really... really easily…
This had a strange effect... on PS5, skillchecks are not easy, timing a skillcheck to get a great I manage with aboit 30-60% success depending on the day and how switched on I am... (the dreaded 4 O'clock skillcheck is the bane of my life when I'm a little sluggish). This makes getting a series of greats on PS5 tricky and requiring really solid timing to achieve, and when you got it, it felt really good and awesome to land... the great skillchecks on PC however felt... hollow... pointless... too easy and no fun...
Whereas before where Huntress lullaby or Doctor madness, or Decisive Strike, Oppression, using a BNP... these things would cause your guts to clench and give a big rush and sigh of relief when you didn't miss it... now it was all boring... you're just going through the motions with PC skillchecks... I now understand why people say working on gens is boring... it's too easy...
Trying to keep on top of skillchecks on console, while looking out for the killer, looking out for teammate moment and tracking perks and effects... this is all very stimulating on console... Yet on PC it's just... meh... and though it's a very weird idea... I genuinely think emulating the input lag would make doing gens much more interesting for PC players... 😅
That's my oddest take, it'll never happen, but it is a hill I'm willing to die on 😏