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Hot Take - Solo Queue is the best Survivor experience

Raccoon
Raccoon Member Posts: 7,717

Lots of people complain about how the game "forces" them to play SWF (and I do SWF, too, on occasion), but I enjoy playing solo more.

The stakes are higher (you can die in 1 hook if no one wants to rescue you), randomly bumping into the killer/other survivors has more weight/entertainment value, never knowing if someone else is finishing that generator while you're being chased can be pretty tense, end game can be pretty spooky if you've only personally cleansed a couple of totems and the killer is careening towards you, you have no idea how good your teammates are/how long they can stall, you can have pretty exciting moments where a random saves you with a pallet or Head-On when you though you were donezo, etc.

It's fun to pump out easy games/wins, but for me at least, the value/fun of playing survivor stems from trying to overcome a bunch of unknown variables (killer choice/perks/teammates) while performing as well as I can.

Comments

  • Cheers
    Cheers Member Posts: 3,426

    I second this...kind of.


    I never really play swf, as most people I don't with I'm not really mates with. I've got roommates, but they don't play on the same platform as me.

  • Cabbage
    Cabbage Member Posts: 349

    I feel like people prefer to play in a swf for 2 reasons. The first being random are extremely unreliable at times, and a lot of the time I personally just get left on the hook, and secondly people just want to have fun with their friends, I don’t know about you but if I die and my friend escapes then I get more satisfaction out the match, but that’s just me.

  • Raccoon
    Raccoon Member Posts: 7,717

    I think it's more rewarding if you make a ballsy rescue on a random and they escape, showering you with praise in the end game chat while the killer asks if you are SWF >_>;;

  • Cabbage
    Cabbage Member Posts: 349

    I play on Xbox and we don’t have an end game chat, thankfully. Normally if someone wants to go out of their way and message you through Xbox messages, typing on a controller it’s not generally to give you praise.

  • Player35
    Player35 Member Posts: 119

    I prefer solo to swf, every day. I'm big on unpredictability in games and you never know what you get when playing solo.

    The game often feels more tense in general when soloing but the absolute BEST is when the team comes together and meshes well together.

  • arslaN
    arslaN Member Posts: 1,936

    I would agree with this if ranks actually mattered and the teammates I got were actually around my skill level (or if they were actually decent at the game at rank 1). Constantly dying because of trash teammates gets annoying really fast.

  • MegaWaffle
    MegaWaffle Member Posts: 4,172

    I much prefer playing solo, yet I still hate how we (solo) are getting more and more information spoon feed to us.

    It feels like there is little to no tension while playing. If my team sucks then I just play for the fair (sarcasm) hatch.

  • Poweas
    Poweas Member Posts: 5,873

    Try enjoying Solo Queue when you're with a team who constantly cleanses against Plague (even if she's not got her power in any of the pools) and you'll know why people hate it. ;)

  • Raccoon
    Raccoon Member Posts: 7,717

    I've played with similar teams - It's not a common occurrence.

    Personally, I'd get pretty bored if every player played against every killer optimally :-/

  • Boss
    Boss Member Posts: 13,616

    Ehh, i just prefer to not play with others.

    Or no, it's probably that no one prefers to play with me. 😂😪😂

  • Nutty_Professor
    Nutty_Professor Member Posts: 621

    I personally prefer playing solo to SWF too. Even when I'm playing SWF, I prefer to play in Duos then in a four man.

    If I want to play competitively I'll play solo, if I want to goof around I'll play SWF. I don't really like playing SWF with players who just want to win, as I don't see the point in try harding in a SWF.

    Plus a lot of survivors don't play killer, so sometimes you got to listen to "this killer is OP", "this killer is a try hard" etc.

    The best way to improve as a survivor is by playing solo. If you only play SWF, you won't get better at the game.

    I hate playing against Plague when I'm solo. Fortunately Plague is a weak killer, so not many people play as Plague.

  • MeatBycicle
    MeatBycicle Member Posts: 756

    I 100% agree. The game originally was designed around solo play, and SWF groups have largely made the game unbalanced since its introduction. A lot of those survivors you see in red ranks that you feel don't belong there probably play mostly in SWF groups and outside of all the benefits it brings they can't hold their own when they play solo. I believe playing solo survivor overall makes you a better player rather than relying on information being constantly fed to you by SWF teammates.

  • Player35
    Player35 Member Posts: 119
  • nicknack
    nicknack Member Posts: 253

    just like playing with freinds just cause of the crap we do. Its alot of fun to be able to talk to others while playing and most of the time its just about random stuff like what charachter we like. Solo q can be nice bit i find it kinda stressfull most of the time so playing with freinds and just talking is whats fun for me albeit we sand bag each other alot.

  • Squirrel_Thicc
    Squirrel_Thicc Member Posts: 2,677

    Nah. I don't like playing any game alone. It gets boring. Plus almost every match of solo queue that I play I get left to die on first and second hook

  • Sluzzy
    Sluzzy Member Posts: 3,130

    LMAO. I find solo a bloodbath every single match. If you aren't playing SWF you have almost no chance winning, especially at rank 1.

  • NightmareReborn
    NightmareReborn Member Posts: 810

    I'd say that SWF is the most optimal experience to win, but solo survivor is the optimal way to have fun (at least for me). SWFs are fun too, but it's mainly since I get to talk with friends. The most enjoyable experience with the game itself is probably solo survivor.

  • Raccoon
    Raccoon Member Posts: 7,717
    edited June 2020

    Weird.

    All these "I need to play SWF to stand a chance" posts really throw some shade on the "most SWF are just playing for fun" auto-replies that I see used to dismiss related killer complaints.

  • MementoMoriAmare
    MementoMoriAmare Member Posts: 8

    Yes, I too enjoy being left on hook and being body blocked by my team. Sometimes I get good teammates but it isn't worth the 10 matches of bots I get beforehand.

  • Raccoon
    Raccoon Member Posts: 7,717

    Ah - The ever spicy "everyone not in my SWF is a bot" narrative.

    Another contradiction to the normal SWF narrative.

  • MementoMoriAmare
    MementoMoriAmare Member Posts: 8

    I don't think every single survivor in soloqueue is a bot, but it's hard to really gauge what they're doing when not communicating where we are, whose on gens, who is cleansing totems and what have you. If you have fun soloing then by all means dudeski, everyone enjoys video games differently and that's part of the beauty of them.


    Also not really sure what I was contradicting if the normal swf narrative is that it's better than soloing? Thanks for responding I hope you're having a good day :)

  • BlackKat
    BlackKat Member Posts: 22

    I always play solo by default, as I don't have anyone I know who plays DBD. Solo is challenging and I have found amazing teamates! The fact everything can come together without any planning is really enjoyable. I don't have post game chat, but have sent comps and requested friends after if there was an especially great game.

  • Voyager
    Voyager Member Posts: 27

    The game was fundamentally designed, both for killers and survivors, for everyone to be playing solo without any sort of coms or knowledge of the game state in real-time, outside of perks balanced for that kind of intel.


    SWF is fun to goof off in, but to play it seriously? Hilariously unfair for the killer and frankly just boring. No sense of ambiance, no nerves, it's just a game to farm. No immersion.

  • DwightOP
    DwightOP Member Posts: 2,328

    Naaah, swf is much more enjoyable and less frustating. I hate dealing with randoms who selfcare against Legion in the corner of the map.

  • HarleyQuinn
    HarleyQuinn Member Posts: 247

    I have a group I regularly play with (and we don’t run anything toxic, so it’s always a fun time for everyone) but I still love playing solo too. It gives off more of a horror vibe when you’re by yourself. No one talking in your ear, nobody keeping tabs on the killer for you. There’s a lot of risk in solo, and it adds to the fun imo.

  • PureHostility
    PureHostility Member Posts: 708
    edited June 2020

    I only play solo.

    However, I did play a 4 man swf ONCE back in 2016 to get the hatch escape achievement and played ~20 duo SWF games also in 2016 during legacy grinding event to farm BPs on "bot" killers. Never played any swf after that, always been solo.

    Im also R1 as both sides basically since release, besides few months of a break. Not like rank matters anyway, as I suck in a chase as a survivor. I go down quite quickly in a chase against average killers, especially those that just follow you through ( I mindgame myself way too much).



    I would kill for an ability to see who is in an swf as either a survivor or killer, both infos is valuable.

  • Raccoon
    Raccoon Member Posts: 7,717
    edited June 2020

    As someone that plays almost exclusively solo, a lot of the things complained about here happen very rarely in my games.

    It's nice to play with people of differing skill and playstyles - I'd get pretty bored if I played with the same 3 "good" people time after time.

    I like feeling that my actions have weight and that I mattered when/if someone escapes or dies :)

  • xenotimebong
    xenotimebong Member Posts: 2,803

    Solo is fun if the team you’re paired with isn’t terrible. They don’t need to be amazing, the bar is low enough - just not terrible. Unfortunately I run a lot of aura reading perks and often spectate after I die so I regularly see my team do stuff like get hit metres away from a pallet only to run through it and pull it down (why?), Self Care against Legion, cleanse right next to the Plague who’s chasing someone else, crouch in the corner of the map when the killer is hooking someone miles away, camp pallets, and so on. I’m talking really basic mistakes that unfortunately just sabotage the rest of the team’s chances.

    Thats the frustration of solo queue a lot of the time: it’s not about winning, it’s about not feeling like you were sabotaged by someone else. Sometimes the killer is just really good, and those matches are fun. But that’s how survivor works at its core, you’re all reliant on each other, so the only way to escape that feeling is to play with people that you know won’t do stuff like that.

    I really don’t think most people play SWF so they can win all the time. Some of them are pre-existing friend groups and some are just looking for teammates who won’t ruin their experience, intentionally or not.

  • Kaiju
    Kaiju Member Posts: 530

    I been playing solo during 3 years and meet this person that once I add him wouldn't let me breath with all those inv that he send me. I mostly play Duo. Rarely 4 man swf