http://dbd.game/killswitch
Quality of Life Suggestions that would Improve the Game
I don't know a better way to start this than Dead by Daylight needs genuine quality of life features added for the whole game; these features shouldn't necessarily affect gameplay. There are three suggestions I would like to propose, ranging from easy to implement to difficult to implement.
Background
I have played Dead by Daylight for around 6 years now (since Deathslinger) with around 2.8k hours according to Steam. My killer to survivor game ratio is roughly 2:1. With that in mind, I will be mainly talking about killer however these changes are intended to help both sides as survivors could also use this info to help themselves get better at the game. Additionally, changes are intended to help players new and old, even though they might help newer players more.
QoL Suggestion One: Killer Tags
I believe there should be a set of "Tags" in the game to better introduce new killers to the player, whether that killer released in the past or for a PTB. These tags would be a better replacement for the old "Difficulty" rating each killer had, taking the same spot as well.
Things like Stealth, Range Attack, Dash, Information, Status, Mobility, and Swap are some obvious tags I could come up with.
Just to clarify some tags;
- Swap would refer to killers that are able to swap their power like Clown, Nightmare, or Dracula.
- Status is in regards to killers such as Plague, Nemesis, Krasue, etc, but could possibly also apply to killers such as Legion. There could possibly be two tags to include killers that add traditional status conditions (such as Hinderance with Clown) so maybe there should be a Status and Effects tag to separate them.
- The difference between "Dash" and "Mobility" is Chucky would be Dash only while Clown and Xenomorph would be Mobility only.
Each tag could have a line of text explaining what they mean when you hover over it, simple stuff like;
Stealth — This killer's power allows them to hide their terror radius
Change — This killer is able to change their power
Information — This killer's power gives them information on survivors and or their objectives
I could continue but I'm sure you get the picture.
Overall, tags would be a great way to introduce killers to players by giving them a simple idea of what their power would be like.
QoL Suggestion Two: More In-Depth Killer Power / Attributes Info
Have you ever wondered what the cool down is to a specific killer power, only to find out it is not in their description and you have to look it up on wiki.gg? But you are worried you can't even trust it because sometimes the numbers may be wrong! (I have had this happen to me in the past with Ghost Face's power recovery).
There is a lot I want to get into here so please bear with me for a moment; in Dead by Daylight there in the Killer Bio screen which gives you lore on the killer as well as some info regarding their Attributes (speed / terror radius / height) though I believe this screen is other wise underutilized.
I have talked about these topics in the past and I highly suggest checking them out as they have proper examples while going more in depth on the topic (as well as having nice edited images) but I will summarize them here.
Killer Power Revisit:
In the Loadout screen, the power description is fine I guess. However over the years there is a ton of info disregarded for space, important info at that, which is left for both sides of the player base to hunt down in the wiki. I believe the Bio screen needs to be revisited to essentially import the in-depth wiki stats to better teach newer players or remind older players about a killer's power in depth to range or numbers.
If we have a screen dedicated to complex teaching of a power (could even have an "Advance" button to hide the precise numbers as a state between just learning and learning in-depth) then we can decrease the size of killer powers in the loadout so the text can actually fit nicely.
Killer Attributes Revisit:
Currently, attributes describe a killer's Movement Speed, Terror Radius, and Height; however it completely disregards changes to these attributes with a killer's power during a trial. An easy example I can think of is Shape, with essentially three modes with different TR and Speed I feel like that should be shown in his Attributes screen. Additionally, we can further show the movement speed change a killer might have during their power such as Spirit, Lich, and Animatronic.
I have visual examples of how this can be done in the post I linked above.
Overall, both these changes would teach new players about killer powers in depth as well as act as a quick reminder / confirmation on the numbers regarding a killer power (cool down, timers, %, etc).
QoL Suggestion 3: Survivor / Killer Journals
Probably the most bold and time consuming addition to the game which I feel would vastly improve everyone's time playing the game. It is no surprise that this game can be unfriendly towards newer players, with a vast array of killers and perks in the game it can be hard to learn them all. Essentially, Killer Journals (or Survivor Journals) acts as a constant tutorial for players, giving them more tips and tricks the more they play / face a specific killer.
I hope this idea serves as a fun and informative in-lore way to teach players about the killers in Dead by Daylight. Flavor text could be included to give more personality to the killers / survivors that might be writing. I will be referring to this QoL Feature as Killer Journals but it might make more sense to call them Survival Journals as I imagine a survivor is writing this information.
How this system would actually work;
Each time you play or face against a killer, one out of how ever many pages (I imagine a minimum of three across all killers) will unlock and give you a bit of beginner info regarding that killer.
The info will mainly be text but could include a drawing / photo of the power for a better example (say a survivor standing still to avoid Skull Merchant's beam, or a survivor dropping a pallet on Singularity showing that it breaks on his head when he teleports to Slipstreamed survivors).
Let's use Wraith as an example; Wraith is a fairly simple killer so I imagine he might have 2-3 pages worth of information to unlock.
After playing as or against him once, a page would unlock. This page might say "While he may be Cloaked after using Wailing Bell (italics due to being his power name), you can still listen out for his breathing! Additionally, watch out for his shimmer. Note: the farther he is the harder it is to notice him." Then there can be a photo of Wraith walking towards the camera invisible to showcase the shimmer effect with a sticky note saying "The bell is a warning!"
A second page unlock might be something along the lines of "The Wraith gets stunned longer while in cloaked! He may try to avoid pallets because of this, so don't try to waste them!"
A third page could talk about how he is much faster in cloak and right after uncloaking gains a burst of speed.
Some things in here might be obvious, but that is okay! Third page I came up with quick so if you have a better idea feel free to say, but I feel like this is a great example of what Killer Journals have to offer in regards to both survivors and killers. It will help survivors by telling them what to look out for while helping killers know what to think about; in this case getting stunned while in cloaked!
Out of all the suggestions, I believe this one is the best long term as it can include lore, flavor text, and acts as a continuous guide for players. However, it is also the most difficult and would take a long time to implement. But better start something like this sooner than later! Maybe reach out to creators to help form these Journals as they are essentially mini-guides.
Overall this feature would be a perfect addition to Dead by Daylight, adding charm to learning how to play as / against killers while also feeling rewarded for going against / trying out a new killer regardless of the outcome of the match.
Conclusion
I feel like many players can agree there has been some rough moments this year, however there were also a lot of good moments I feel like we sometimes forget about. One thing I would like to note is how recently there has been some confusion between Quality of Life and Gameplay Changes. Pallet Density is a major gameplay change, not a quality of life feature. Scratch marks, while affecting visuals of gameplay, is a Quality of Life feature as it pertains to accessibility.
Dead By Daylight should focus on proper quality of life features for the game as a whole, such as what I have talked about above. I hope to see some of these possibly show up in a future midchapter, as that is where I feel like they would be best introduced.
In the end, I will enjoy this game as I have been, I just hope more players might enjoy / care for it as much as I have. I wish I had a larger voice to share these opinions and really get feedback on these features but for now I may potentially scream into void with only a chance to be heard. If you are reading this, enjoy your day, and good luck in the fog.
TL:DR
Killer tags to give an expectation to trying a new killer, rework Attributes and add onto Power Descriptions, and look into a mechanic that acts as a continuous tutorial. My words may be ignored and passed by like a leaf in the wind.
Comments
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It is so disheartening to pour out ideas into a post only for not one person to see it, I wish there was a separation between Gameplay Suggestions and overall Game Suggestions but I know that isn't necessary.
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Hi, I'll give my thoughts on some of this stuff!
I think BHVR giving Killers specific tags for power classification would be useful, though obviously there's a lot of reasonable debate over what they should be. I personally don't think your tags are the best. Eg. I think most people would call "Swap" Killers "Stance" Killers instead, and characters like Clown whose stances are really just a control scheme technicality shouldn't count. Nobody cares when Clown switches bottles, they do care when Oni pulls out the kanabo.
I would split Killers into the following categories personally, with Killers having multiple tags in order of importance:
- Trap: This killer plants things in advance that come into play later.
- Stealth: This killer can remove their TR.
- Lethal: This killer can instadown, or do double hits so fast they might as well instadown.
- Traversal: This killer can move over long distances to get across the map faster.
- Dash: This killer can move short distances in chase for easier hits.
- Snowball: This killer becomes much more powerful once they get some momentum.
- Tracking: This killer can get information on Survivor activity much easier.
- Ranged: This killer can deal damage through a long range attack.
- Midrange: This killer can deal damage through a short range attack.
- Antiloop: This killer, through indirect means such as slowdown, can turn a safe loop into an unsafe one.
- Status: This killer must inflict a status effect before they can use their full potential.
- Hijack: This killer gives Survivors a complex objective that will likely kill them if ignored.
- Zoning: This killer often bluffs with their ability to control Survivors in chase.
- Stance: This killer changes to an alternate form with different abilities.
I think that's 14 in total. As examples of usage, I'd put Huntress down as Ranged - Lethal, but Trickster down as Lethal - Ranged, because Trickster's ability to multihit is proportionally more important and prominent than in Huntress, but Huntress still derives a lot of her power from it. Nemesis I'd put down as Midrange - Status - Snowball, because in order of importance he has Tentacle Strike, Tentacle Strike has to Contaminate before it can Injure, and Tentacle Strike needs mutation tiers to really start getting dangerous. Some Killers like Dracula would probably need 4 tags, but it'd ideally be best to avoid going any higher than that. (I'd put him down as Stance - Dash - Midrange - Traversal)
Some of these are still very hard concepts to adjudicate and condense down to describe each Killer adequately, but that's the rough starting point I'd use. Would be interested to hear other people's differing opinions/execution.
The second suggestion I just agree with, would be nice to get a dedicated Power screen that has a little more accurate info instead of needing to jump to the wiki for most stuff.
The Killer journal idea is similar to one I had a while back, so yes I agree with it! The main difference between my idea and yours is that I suggested giving Survivors the tips before they face the Killer, when they match with them in the lobby- That way, they potentially get a full minute to read up on the Killer if they need it and get some briefing tips, without needing something like a friend to talk them through it. This is similar to how Loading Screen Tips that already exist spoil what Killer you're against, just pushing it back into the lobby screen so it can be more detailed.
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