BeHavior, you can still make this game into something special.
I need to set up context for this, I guess. This is an open letter to BeHavior Interactive Devs. I doubt they'll read it though.
First, I listened to @SpaceCoconut's take on the newest changes and attitudes of the Devs of DBD. Then later I watched Internet Historian's The Engoodening of No Man's Sky. I noticed a connection between Dead By Daylight and No Man's Sky... They're both games where everyone appeared to be disappointed with the Dev's actions. With No Man's Sky, it was the abysmal release. With DBD, it's a lot of the anti-veteran changes.
... But No Man's Sky made a 180 in their reputation. They turned a bad situation for them into a situation where everybody likes them.
I think DBD is at a precipice. What happens within the next year or two will determine the game's overall success. The Devs of No Man's Sky were able to repair their game into something incredible (at least compared to launch) with hard dedication and work, and now they are flourishing.
BeHavior needs to take an example from their book. Treat the players with respect, and fix your game so the biggest meme of this game isn't ''We've done a pretty good job so far'', but how good of a game it is. There is a reason Salmination's DBD videos strike a chord with the community, because they make fun of how broken a lot of the mechanics are...
Reworking Ruin at this time is a poor choice. The game is far from balanced, and any data you gain is incredibly skewed because it's not reliable. I would like to see this change, but when gens are not able to be completed within 3-4 minutes. It's frustrating for killers, boring for survivors, and makes matches very similar, no matter how much RNG is in it.
Making it easier for survivors clearly hasn't worked. A lot of players (including myself) come from other games where the skill ceiling is high, but the reward for reaching it makes it worth it. DBD has very little reward for very little skill (with survivors), and little reward for a lot of skill (with killers). Red ranks are not worth the masochism in my opinion, because you know exactly what survivors will have: DS, Adrenaline, an Exhaustion perk (usually Dead Hard or Sprint Burst), and BT. It gets old, real quick, as I've mentioned before, but also makes it extremely tedious.
Ultimately, I'm killer biased, but screwing over half of the gameplay experiance just to attract new people (like @SpaceCoconut described) is not going to extend the life of your game. It will only make it crash and burn, and then on top of that, ruin your future potential due to your bad reputation. You already have one dead game under your belt.
One last note, Dead By Daylight was marketed as a horror game. It's what drew me and many others to the game. Right now, it doesn't feel like a horror game. In fact, I've been spooked more by surprise pallet stuns as killer than being in a chase as a survivor. The Killers shouldn't be spooked by survivors. Then again, 1 killer should equal 4 survivors for true balance to be achieved.
I want Dead By Daylight to succeed. It has the potential to make its' mark, and it is an experience like no other. The Lore is an interesting amalgamation of all horror genres, the gameplay is skill based (for killer), and the aesthetic is amazing. But you have to get your stuff together and steer the game in the right direction. You're at a fork in the road. It's your choice, Devs (although, I think it's more the suits in the upper management than the people actually working on the game that will ruin it).
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The game has already been more successful than you could ever imagine, I don't know what makes you think you're so much better than them when all there is to it is a lack of skill from your part.
Grow up, reading this made me shiver in cringe.
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"...What happens within the next year or two will determine the game's overall success..."
So it isn't a success now? Few more years guys...
"Red ranks are not worth the masochism in my opinion, because you know exactly what survivors will have: DS, Adrenaline, an Exhaustion perk (usually Dead Hard or Sprint Burst), and BT. It gets old, real quick,..."
Ruin gives me the same feeling see it in a big percentage of my matches...
"I want Dead By Daylight to succeed. It has the potential to make its' mark, ..."
Where have you been the last 3 years?
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I'm really been finding the forums as a treasure trove of hilarity the last week or so once that ruin change was announced. I've never seen so many fascinating posts going on about nonsense, trying to hide their true intention stating... "THEY CHANGED MY RUIN! WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?"
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I don't think you quite realize the state of the game, sure, it's way better than it was at launch, but all these anti-veteran changes and dumbing down of the game is just going to make a shallow experience.
The Ruin change is a sign of many of the things to come. They changed spirit and Nurse so now it is a lot harder to play as them, and they made these changes without regard to console players.
I recommend listening to what SpaceCoconut has to say on the issue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMhsUUBdbeY
If you find it cringy, I'm sorry my passion for the game sounds that way. But it's just because I see this as a completely unique thing that I don't want to disappear because of corporate greed.
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BHVR is a company which wants to earn money, not a charity. I guess you understood why they make the decisions they are making.
As long as the playercount stays at least constant, there is no reason for BHVR to change what they are doing.
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It sounds like you don't play killer much. Especially to the level required at rank 1.
Survivor, the role of it, keeps being dumbed down. Survivor perks cover up for tactics that killers could potentially use, and the majority of complaints is against killer perks.
This is an open letter. Its my opinion on the matter, and who doesn't want general fixes and for the Devs of a game to treat those who spend the most time on it well? It just doesn't make sense to me how those who play longer (specifically those who play killer) get screwed by desicions BeHavior makes. I will not apologize for my opinion and what I see of the game I want to succeed.
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Hello Games is a company too, but one that is doing well because of ethical practices. Ones that BHVR can use and make themselves look way better.
The player count may not remain so consistent (in a negative trend) if they keep acting in the same way.
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I'm honestly not sure why your trying to disparage what I'm saying. Im telling BHVR to prioritize fixing their game and making more ethical desicions instead of screwing players because of corporate interests. A message that would benefit everyone, from the company themselves, to the players direct experience.
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@Raven014 You misunderstand. I would really like it if the devs would make the game more balanced.
I'm just seeing this from a realistic point of view: Money will decide what is going to happen. If the amount of sold DLCs and cosmetics increase, BHVR will continue this path.
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Sorry if I did. Looking at the two people before you... I came to the wrong conclusion about you... and you are correct.
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No problem. You see the potential of the game, you care about the game - it's understandable that you are heavily unhappy with the current situation.
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You call yourself a veteran but you've been playing the game for like what 7 months OMEGALUL
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I don't see how changing a perk is corporate greed. At least they're update their game unlike studios like respawn entertainment.
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I don't want to write a novel in responding...
I don't want to say your post is garbage, cause it is ok to be upset about something you like being changed in the game and to voice that opinion... but... It is a weird way to do it saying the game isn't going to be successful.... Like the game was release yesterday or something.
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As a veteran player I'm all for the change if it makes newer players happier, and helps them stay in the game and not be as frustrated. It isn't like their won't be other changes... some will be better.. some will be worse.
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ethical decisions... screwing players.... corporate interests..... silly.
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Good post.
I have hopes that dbd will become great(er) eventually, devs just need to make the Big Brother listen to them, because I'm sure they know that we're not happy with the balancing right now.
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I think this video is relevant to this conversation.
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Why do people think games lasting less than 5 minutes is the norm? Properly applying pressure and keeping more than 1 survivor off gens at all times is what the norm should be. I get maps and killers aren't all equal, but that's what meta builds are there for. If you want to win, you might want to play a meta build. Survivors have learned to do it so their fragility can't be exploited, DS, BT, Unbreakable. If you want to play to have fun you must accept the possibility of loss.
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I remember watching this and thinking that it was a fair set of points at the time. It is sad that this technically still holds up today.
The vid of yours I was referencing was this one:
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Because at higher ranks, all survivors not engaged in a chase are working on gens (and are able to hit Ruin skill checks, so it's not like that actively hinders them). I actively derank just so I don't stay in red these days. A game should reward everyone for playing well, not punishing one half of the experience for doing well. On bigger maps like Red Forest or Temple of Purgation, heck, even on medium size maps, I expect to give up a gen within the first minute and focus on one area that gave decent RNG for me.
I don't like the idea of metas in a game like this. As I've said, seeing the same 4 survivor perks in every game gets boring and tedious, since they're all really strong, and all cover up for stupid desicions that they make. Rescue in front of the killer? BT. Get unhooked, but are stupid enough to let the killer find you again within 60 seconds? DS. Risk staying injured for a gen? Adrenaline. Sure, you might see an Inner Strength, or the occasional Self Care, but that's about it.
They aren't as fragile as you state they are. They have a lot of second chance perks. And most of them aren't counterable except by specific addons (for some killers) or only one way of playing. If there is a DS on the field, you have to slug the unhooked survivor in order to counter that one perk. NOED is technically a counter to Adrenaline, but often times it's a risk. Either you don't need it and play with three perks, or it's never activated/cleansed after activation so it's never used.
This isn't even talking about the looping that survivors can do for extending the chases potentially for 5 minutes, which, when a gen takes 80 seconds, then most of them or even all of them can get done within that time frame. I hate to bring this up (because half the people on the forums seems to hate the guy), but Truetalent would've lost this game if he didn't play the way he did... then again, he's not a good Legion player in general.
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