Design | The Emblem System
People of The Fog,
As some of you may have noticed, we launched the Chapter 11 Demise of the Faithful PTB with some slight changes to the Emblem System. This is the first step in an ongoing effort to improve our ranking and Emblem System. Therefore, we want to provide you with information on how these changes may affect your matches and overall rank in Dead by Daylight.
WHY CHANGE THE SYSTEM?
There have been many community concerns recently regarding the current state of ranking. We wanted to address these concerns by adjusting the system to provide an incremental difficulty scale in both achieving and maintaining higher ranks. Each rank group (color) now sets its own requirements for pipping thresholds rather than remaining a static goal no matter how high in rank you climb.
In addition to the changes to pipping and ranking, there were several changes made to Killer emblem scoring. Killers have been generally pipping at a much faster rate than Survivors since the release of the Emblem System back in April 2018. This was causing issues with our matchmaking system, as Killers in red ranks would have a harder time finding matches as Survivors ranked up at a slower rate.
WHAT CHANGED IN THE RANKING SYSTEM?
The number of points required to meet certain pip thresholds has changed, based on the rank group you are currently in. The rank groups and thresholds are as follows:
Rank 17-20 (BROWN)
0-8 points = 0 pips;
9-13 points = +1 pip;
14-16 points = +2 pips.
Rank 13-16 (YELLOW)
0-5 points = -1 pip;
6-9 points = 0 pips;
10-13 points = +1 pip;
14-16 points = +2 pips.
Rank 9-12 (GREEN)
0-6 points = -1 pip;
7-10 points = 0 pips;
11-14 points = +1 pip;
15-16 points = +2 pips.
Rank 5-8 (PURPLE)
0-7 points = -1 pip;
8-11 points = 0 pips;
12-14 points = +1 pip;
15-16 points = +2 pips.
Rank 1-4 (RED)
0-8 points = -1 pip;
9-12 points = 0 pips;
13-15 points = +1 pip;
16 points = +2 pips.
As you can see, the requirements to pip increase as you move through the ranks making it more challenging to achieve a higher rank group (red, purple, etc.) and then remain there.
WHAT CHANGED IN THE EMBLEM SCORING?
Devout
This emblem was problematic in that Iridescent results occurred more often than any others, and the scoring was binary (did you get 4 kills? Yes / No).
To rectify this situation, two AND three kills results in Silver and all four kills results in Gold. We added a condition to score Iridescent. Now you require all four kills AND nine or more hook events. This condition will make Iridescent much harder to acquire (as Iridescent results are intended to be) especially for camping Killers. The difficulty level represents the work and effort of going through the process of hunting, downing, and hooking all four Survivors.
As we introduced in Patch 2.3.0 (October 2018), Devout continues to award a minimum of Bronze quality if all four Survivors are hooked at least once.
Chaser
In the same patch (2.3.0), we introduced a “proximity to hooked Survivor” penalty. It was initially a conservative penalty but has been increased to be more penalizing to Killers who remain in proximity. Most players will not notice significant changes to their resulting emblem quality as the penalty applies ten seconds after hooking a Survivor, and does not apply if: A) another Survivor is in the 16M radius; B) The Killer is in a chase; C) if the hooked Survivor is the last Survivor remaining.
Gatekeeper
This emblem was also problematic in the results we recorded. Iridescent results were occurring approximately 2x more than Gold, and about 6x more than no emblem quality. We identified this issue as being one of an indefinite time frame, causing a large amount of outlier results from exceptionally long matches that skewed the results.
The rework of this emblem scores The Killer points for each defended generator once every minute of the match for the first nine minutes. If the match ends before the nine minutes is up, it scores every remaining minute. The generators are worth more the longer that they are defended for. The Killer also scores bonus points in Gatekeeper if they finish the match with one or more defended generators.
WHAT WERE THE RESULTS FROM THE PTB?
The results from the PTB gave us a greater insight into the changes that were made to both emblem scoring and pipping. We noted the following:
Devout results were as intended.
However, Iridescent quality was slightly lower than expected. The conditions to achieve an Iridescent have been modified from 10+ hook events to 9+ hook events to make this condition easier to meet.
Chaser was broken.
The Plague was not registering Brutality scoring events when applying damage and this was not triggering successful chase results in the emblem outcome. This has now been addressed. If you find that you are losing significant Chaser points from camping, then this emblem scoring is working as intended.
Gatekeeper results were much harsher than intended.
The scores received from remaining gens has been reduced to put more emphasis and value on the points scored in the early stages of the match. The thresholds have been reduced to make it easier to score. Defending two or more gens for the first nine minutes of the match will now result in a quality of Silver – even if you lose both of them by the end of the match.
We strongly believe the changes made to the emblem scoring as noted above will show a significant improvement over what was experienced in the PTB. As we are always looking to improve our game, we will continue to monitor and maintain the system going forward.
See you in The Fog, The Dead by Daylight Team