I think it's time for a MAJOR update
I've been playing this game for quite a while now, mostly as a survivor (let's just throw that out there). I started playing this game way back when we only had three killers and I fell in love instantly. There were times when I just couldn't stop playing the game for how much fun I was having, especially when new game changing things came out. For me though, it's coming to a point where the game is starting to feel more and more the same no matter what new stuff comes in. I think the game is missing one thing that could make it from a fun casual game to a game that you might put a lot more hours in.
There has always been one thing missing for me: personal powers for survivors just like the killers do. And YES, I know the game is already heavily favoring the survivor side so before you try to shut me down let me say a few things.
For me, I enjoy the rush which meant that when I first started playing this game I enjoyed the survivor's side more. I liked the stress and intensity of it and for a while I couldn't find the same satisfaction on the killers side. So I'm not saying that I have never played killer. Although I do enjoy playing the survivor more, I have to say that the benefit that killer mains have, is diversity. With all the different killers and perk combinations there are so MANY different builds you can do.
With every new chapter coming out we get introduced to a new killer and a survivor both with their own unique perks and of course the killer with it's own special power. When you level up your characters enough you get access to their perks and you can start using those perks on other characters of the same side. I love the fact that we're getting new characters from our favorite horror movies and shows and all that but it doesn't stop me from asking the question, why have all the different survivors when they all can do basically the same thing?
When I'm talking about personal powers for the survivors, I'm not talking about anything as big as what the killers have. I'm talking about small things, but something that would make all the survivors unique not just characters with teachable perks that you can get for everybody. Of course they could add bigger powers too but with that they could also buff the killers a lot. Some ideas I have are small buffs like a percentile increase in movement or gen speed, or maybe make an already existing perk to be a built in one for one of the survivors. But of course this could also be more unique, like maybe have one character (David King) tank 3 hits instead of 2 but then get the broken status effect after getting injured. So, some powers could also come with a disadvantage like this one, but in any case these are just some ideas. Nonetheless, surely we can all see that there is a lot of options for these powers.
Buffing characters should always go both ways. Survivors getting their own powers would open up a possibility for big killer buffs as well. What though, I don't know yet, but it would be exciting to see what the devs could come up with. At the end of the day all I'm hoping for is more diversity in the game. I think the game is already very good as it is, but there could be a lot of improvements and changes with existing things, rather than always adding new things such as killers and maps. I'm hoping for discussion about the topic so please give your ideas and opinions.
Comments
-
Would be so fun to see ideas of new signature abilities to each survivor, ofc this could come with great balancing difficulties in the long run.
0 -
This suggestion has been made many many times.
The issue with doing this is that game instead of just meta perks it creates meta survivors thus reduces diversity in which ones people would play.
3 -
This is actually the first issue I thought of. But I think the same thing can be said about the killers too. There are definitely killers that are more popular than some other ones and I agree it could be a problem. Still I think it could be pulled off. Getting some meta survivors is for sure unavoidable, but I'm sure that with enough effort they could introduce a variety of good survivor abilities.
Also while giving some survivors bonuses in some areas they could receive penalties in others. Such as more move speed less gen speed. Just an idea again and I know what kinds of other issues implementing this exact example would bring. Devs could bring out balance changes buffing the less popular survivors while nerfing the popular ones.
2 -
The issue with providing unique abilities to the Survivors is that making a formerly cosmetic feature a feature that changes gameplay significantly is a really, really bad idea.
If we go back in time and do this before DbD launches, sure, it's interesting to think about. If we do this today, how many mains who paid to play as a specific character they like, and who paid to give that character specific cosmetics that they like, are going to have to drop their preferred character because they don't have a good bonus, or because their bonus doesn't gel with their playstyle?
4 -
This was done by design. Killers have different powers and mechanic so they are varied for those who play the role and it allows them to pick a power the like creating diversity. There will always be a tier list so in some ranks you will have less diversity than in others but that is more down to chase and down potential along with being able to pressure more.
If they did that with survivor there would only be a few played since its about gens, chases and healing. Even if they had downsides as well all that would happen is players would gravitate to the best all rounded one. This is due to survivors not having different play mechanics like killers themselves.
Anything other than gen speed, help in a chase basically things which help them escape the match probably wouldn’t be used as much since those are the things survivors use perks for right now anyway.
0 -
I dont think a once per trial signature ability would create more of a meta. Also even if it did they could give the least played survivors a slightly better ability. Maybe we would see more Adams and Quentin's and Jeff's
2 -
I think you raise a very good point. But I think this would be a problem for only some of the players and I could myself even think of a few simple fixes, such as making the bonuses small enough to not change or interfere with anyone's playstyle, or probably preferably make the bonuses optional to use and maybe even give some other bonus that would be the same for everyone who didn't want to use their survivors signature powers.
0 -
I think there is still a lot they could do with gens, healing, and chases alone. Like I mentioned, there would for sure be a few more popular survivors, but maybe they have simple powers. They could make powers that are hard to master but very rewarding if used right. There is potential for a lot in my opinion. If one survivor turns out to be particularly gravitated towards they could be balanced to be slightly less optimal.
0 -
That would create more problems imo since then you have players feeding points I to specific characters or bought lots of skins for them and they may not be as good as another.
Since all survivors play the same then these powers would be the only difference. Killers themselves have powers but also different mechanics with height, movement, speed etc. They are designed to be different so the powers compliment them.
Any survivor which would be hindered in running speed slightly for example wouldn't be used regardless if they could do gens slightly faster imo. It also means swf becomes stronger since they can pick survivors which compliment each other.
Believe me the topic has been discussed since 2016 and not one idea of how to do it worked.
0 -
It might. But what's wrong with trying different characters? I think it would make the game more interesting if you didn't constantly play the same character but had to instead choose a character that fits the team. I also don't see why the mechanics couldn't be changed too, just not drastically. I think the whole idea of this change is to make team playing more powerful since you could pick survivors that go well with each other. this would have to mean making killers a lot stronger too.
Sure I believe you but not one idea has been tested either.
0 -
The main issue is the same as killer. Certain killers are considered meta at red ranks as they are considered to have more tools to win.
Now why would anyone use say jake when meg could have a better passive? In a game where the meta shows survivors will use the strongest perks which aid them to make each character be viewed the same way just means we only ever see the characters which give the best advantage.
Making it more team based also doesn't work as all you do with that is actually make SWF stronger over solo creating more of a gap. SWF can setup pre match before they even get into a lobby and work on characters to fully perk them out to compliment the group. Solo well they will just use those who they have perks on. It makes the need to have all characters fully decked out stronger increasing the grind.
As I said also if they bought $100 of skins for Nea imagine if her passives made her weaker than Dwight's for your personal playstyle? Would you yourself be happy knowing a character you spent time and money on is now not as good for how you wish to play?
0 -
I have to disagree with you OP, I like having the freedom to just play who ever I want as survivor, plus it would be so damn hard for them to balance.
Also let's say they did Claudette a good passive, my goodness it's going be 99% Claudette all day everyday :/.
Also if I bought a skin for meg and then they give her a super ######### passive I'm going to be pissed I'll still play her but damn I just like the idea that I can play Adam/Gollum or any other with no penalty except for perks.
0 -
The concept behind that though, granted you don't give any single survivor a fantastic perk as opposed to just a good one(ie give Bill Left Behind and not BT or Unbreakable, give Nea Streetwise and not Urban or Balanced, etc) you can look at a survivor and actually plan your killer build against them.
"Oh I know that Claudette has Botany Knowledge baked in, so she's probably running a healer build or something that gets people up quickly. I think I'll play this killer this time."
And survivors can potentially catch out killers by playing builds that the killer wasn't expecting. Counter the counter.
The game become more like poker or boxing, instead of the roulette table and you just pray your build isn't going to be immediately countered.
But I agree that eventually people would start playing just XYZ character w/ meta build, and then be extremely toxic to anyone who doesn't follow the list of predetermined good characters with their perfect builds. It'll be fun while people don't take the game too seriously, trying out stuff that sounds fun, but once that ends it'd be worse than what we have now.
0 -
Sure there's a lot of difficulties to solve to make this work, but wouldn't you all agree (excluding your existing cosmetics that you have for your mains) that it would make the game way more interesting. It certainly would for me. You would have reasons to play many different survivors, not just your mains and try out lots and lots of different builds, which people already do, even with having strong meta perks, people like to try different things. Sure maybe the "competitive" side of dbd could include many of the same meta survivors but like I've been saying there is certainly lots of potential for different interesting and liable powers to suit different playstyles. Right now the main strategy for winning games as survivors is strong looping, and gen rushing and I think they could try to make other strategies more liable and fun to use most importantly stealth in my opinion. For me the all games are really starting to blend together the only difference being in them is having different killers.
0 -
I have always loved this idea, but the balancing would be a nightmare and a couple survivors would be 'must picks'.
More so it would put targets on people's backs. Meg has an amazing passive ability? You bet she would be tunneled/camped to get her out of the match faster.
The reason killers have a special ability is because they are alone vs 4 other people. They need something to give them an edge. Survivors technically have a 5th power, teamwork. Plus with swf its taken to the next level and they have coordination, communication, and perk synergy. If survivors were to have an extra unique ability then there would have to be a huge buff to all killers... which then loops back to it being a balancing nightmare XD
0
