Boring balancing; game balance skewed towards players who spend more money
TL;DR BHVR is aware of how determined people who are willing to play killer are, and relies on this to maintain a semblance of balance in the game. By exploiting the 'tryhard' killer's determination they can leave killers just a hair weaker than survivors. They can offset any odd looking statistics of survivors escaping by letting killers like billy/nurse/spirit stay at their current performance levels as they will make up for any differences where other killers fall short. I worry that the goal of this balancing is to generate revenue, by indirectly creating a pay-2-win scenario for survivors. If they skew the balancing of the game in favor of survivors, they keep playing, and they keep buying cosmetics. This is nothing new in the video game industry, but it's boring and if true, deceptive to people who like playing as killer.
Grab your tinfoil hats...
I got this game for free during the curtain call chapter and have been playing at least once a week since, if not a lot more than that. I have all killers at P1 level 50 or higher, with 6 at P3 and all perks unlocked. All survivors are level 50, with a few at P2 of various level.
Over time the game has changed, and playing killer used to feel more powerful than it does now. Almost every time I play killer, unless I stack on tons of gen slowing perks, the game ends pretty quickly, which isn't too bad. I don't mind fast paced games. I've gotten pretty good at 4k'ing with spirit with no game slowing perks. But, beyond that, there's not much to do.
I've tried playing other killers, and I like a lot of them, but most of the base movement speed killers are underwhelming and downright frustrating to play. But, those aren't the only killers, right? So I've tried others. I deal with the frustration of getting good at nurse, but I'm on console so she can be mentally exhausting due to the poor camera sensitivity(survivors have learned how to abuse this camera sensitivity and the failure of auto aim to their advantage, but that's another subject!). Hillbilly is really boring to me; he gets around well, but like base movement speed killers, pallets determine how the next few minutes of your life pans out. Not that pallets should be removed, they work well, but I wish the game wasn't so dependent on them, or generators for that matter.
Due to this and other factors, I've gotten to the point where I tend to know how a match is going to pan out before any gens have been done, or survivors have been hooked. It became apparent once I realized that no matter how hard I try as certain killers there is no overcoming the power survivors have; I'm not saying to nerf survivors. If this is the game you want to make, that's ok, but it doesn't make much sense with how the game is advertised. The intro cutscene with the trapper seeming like something ominous and worth fearing, but he's one of the base movement speed killers survivors have grown to love.
So far the updates to the game over the past year have come to support this idea, as there haven't been any perks added to the game for killers that seem to be very useful. Yet, you've somehow managed to make plenty of useful, if not strong, perks for survivor. This suggests to me that you're reluctant to make killers any stronger than they are... why? Granted, yes, you've brought some old killer perks in line with where they should have been long ago.. That's fair, I guess, but those aren't new. Sure, it's an improvement, but still, killers have only been getting weaker with every update when contrasted with survivors. You always keep killers just below the power of survivors. But why? I'm gonna take a stab at it...
Most killer mains I've talked to are stubborn, determined people. They always have multiple solutions to potential issues they encounter when they are failing, they don't tend to blame outside factors for their failure, and a lot of them try to resolve issues they have themselves before blaming some mechanic in the game. Ultimately, they seem to persevere in the face of adversity. I think BHVR is aware of this, and relies on this to maintain a semblance of balance in the game. They exploit the 'tryhard' killer's determination by leaving them just a hair weaker than survivors and offsets any odd looking statistics of survivors escaping by letting killers like billy/nurse/spirit stay at their current performance levels.
After coming to this conclusion, I don't feel so determined anymore, and I feel like I'm being played. Either I play one of the three powerful killers, or the other 80% of killers that function as mostly entertainment for survivors, which is good for them, I guess. Survivors keep playing, survivors keep buying up all those cosmetics. It's like pay to win indirectly, where the game's balance is skewed to be in favor of those who are willing to spend more money on it.
Comments
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...this is pretty far off base, in my opinion.
The one thing I'll agree on is that BHVR does in fact rely on psychology of players to make this game successful. They know and understand all that is behind the scenes of a killer's mindset, as well as survivors, and allow and encourage one another to exploit these factors.
I think humiliation and defeat are the most obvious, but there are others as well--such as pride and accomplishment (albeit rewarded differently for either side).
I think it goes a lot further than any of us realize, too. I think the game and concepts are deeply seeded in psychology and, love it yet hate it, we're addicted to it. That itself is another level rooted in the game as well.
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My Build is made up of all the default stuff (red rank)
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Meg
-Lithe (Feng)
-Premonition (blood web)
-Urban evasion (Nea/the entity)
-Selfcare (Claudette)
Hag (is she a dlc character ? I can't remember)
-Hex: ruin (Hag)
-Hex: Toth (Hag or Huntress)
-Hex haunted ground (first dlc perk)
-Bbq (From the shrine)
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Guessing you play console since Feng/Doc and Hag/Ace aren't free on PC.
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I thought this would be about DLC and buying stuff that actually affects the game, but cosmetics? You can get most of those with shards. Didn't spend a penny on Ace's eyepatch or Rin's school uniform.
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Yup and they aren't free ? Well the game must be cheaper to buy then.
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Thanks for your response, and trying to see where I could be right, rather than simply calling attention to what I said that is questionable. Also, I agree that I'm off base, and after re-reading what I wrote, I'm being a bit irrational.
My frustration might not even have to do with the game itself, but the industry as a whole. I've developed a lot of resentment towards the video game industry over the past few years, because the primary focus has become making money more than being about making a good game. I think both can happen simultaneously, but it doesn't all that often.
I understand that cosmetics don't directly affect the game's balance. Also, it's true that people can buy cosmetics with shards, but it's usually the less desirable outfits that are available that way. I was suggesting that it's possible for the developers to indirectly 'pay-to-win' make the game pay to win. Where, instead of adding items you directly purchase to win, the developers choose to balance the game in favor of people who are willing to spend more money on it. Thereby creating a pay-to-win scenario. Granted, it's not as effective as the traditional pay-to-win approach, but this method would retain players that are against the direct pay-to-win approach. IF this is the case and they're balancing the game this way, it would mean taking money from people while misrepresenting the product, while also concealing actions they would likely be criticized for.
It's true that I'm speculating, but I don't think I'm far off from the psychology behind the business of generating profits for a game like this. Also, I'm not trying to scare anyone, I'm trying to open minds to different perspectives that could be insightful. I could just be crazy, though.
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Alright, but Survivors aren't the only ones with cosmetics. Many Killers also spend money on cosmetics.
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