Can you learn DBD just by playin? Or is watching twitch/YouTube almost mandatory?

I’m taking part of someone eels thread here, about the new player experience in DBD.

Back when I started a couple years ago I played for a bit then stopped, I liked the game but I was soooooo confused. Other than the load in screen tips and the brief tutorial not much explains what’s going on and now there are 20 killers with 80 perks I think on each side.

I did enjoy watching HybridPanda and a couple other streamers so eventually I learned a lot and started playing again and now I really really do enjoy it.

TLDR do you think new players can learn enough in game or do they have to watch people, and if so is that a good model?

Comments

  • MrDardon
    MrDardon Member Posts: 4,017

    I mean, Streamers also learned by themselves.

    You can watch them for tricks and tips but personally I'd create my own Playstyles and Strategies.

    Maybe it's just me but I don't like copying the exact same Playstyle a Streamer has.

  • Yamaoka
    Yamaoka Member Posts: 4,321

    Personally I didn't watch any streamers or youtubers in 2017 so I learned just about everything by just playing both sides, randomly testing stuff and reading (wiki posts) a lot.

    The base game never really changed "a lot" so I think it's still relatively easy to get a hang of the game without the help of any content creators to be honest.

    Obviously there is more overall content to learn now (perks, powers, maps) but the principle of every content always has a certain pattern so it becomes easier to understand new content after a while.

    The second I'm on a new map I will immediately see "possible loops" (for instance) because you just understand how the game is designed at some point. You know what I mean.

    And as with most things in life you will naturally learn quicker the more interest you have.

    So yeah, I really don't think it takes a content creator to become good at DBD.

  • landromat
    landromat Member Posts: 2,193

    you can learn a lot by playing both sides. If you just main one side it's gonna be difficult for you

  • Carpemortum
    Carpemortum Member Posts: 4,506
    edited August 2020

    You can learn just by playing, but it will be a LOT of trial and error. A lot of "why does that happen?" Theb seeing a perk or addon post game.

    The youtube and twitch viewing would really help with the information overload, but its unnecessary.

    But, either way, to learn this game you have to not give up after a couple bad experiences. It's not an easy game to just pick up.

  • oxygen
    oxygen Member Posts: 3,320

    I feel it's the same as any game. You ultimately gotta learn/practice on your own, but "studying" information available to you can speed up the learning process.

  • JLew
    JLew Member Posts: 160

    I first saw the game from watching a stream and thought it looked cool so i played and understood the general idea but like dude up top said if you need tips or little tricks you can watch vids but otherwise you will pick up a lot of it yourself over time as you get more comfortable

  • Boss
    Boss Member Posts: 13,616

    Idk how much you'd count my experience as the game's way different now than at release.

    But all i did was get 1-2 tips from Tru3, then just played on my own.

  • WARW0LF
    WARW0LF Member Posts: 200

    There are small details that the game just doesn't teach you at all, there are loads of small tips and details i learned by watching YT and twitch, i highly recommend it

  • Steel_Eyed
    Steel_Eyed Member Posts: 4,033

    It’s a good question. I wanted to play better and started watching YouTube videos. Collecting different ideas.

    I would say it for sure benefited my ability to play the game.

    Dark Souls seems to be doing fine though and they famously have no tutorials. I would say this is a difficult game to pick up, too.

  • Sonzaishinai
    Sonzaishinai Member Posts: 7,976

    Watching youtuber/twitchers obviously helps a ton, even if it's just a guide they posted

    You can ofcourse learn the game on your own but for example the idea to moonwalk to hide your red light is not something everyone would come up with on their own and isn't told anywhere in the game. Yet it is vitaly important

  • clem1710
    clem1710 Member Posts: 275

    You can absolutely learn by yourself. Streamers can give some little tips, but you won't know how to play by just watching videos...

  • EvilJoshy
    EvilJoshy Member Posts: 5,295

    It's like any game really. You learn things as you go and get more efficient. Streamers can give you some advice but they started out the same. Play enough and you eventually figure things out.

  • thrawn3054
    thrawn3054 Member Posts: 5,897

    My first attempt to play DbD was an absolute mess. I had no idea what was going on. They might of had a written tutorial back then. I can't remember now. But they didn't have the small practice one they have now.

    I remember trying to play Myers and having no clue how to find people or anything for that matter. I saw scratch marks and had no idea what I was looking at. Suffice to say it was a disaster.

    I say all this because the only reason I'm playing now is I started to watch YouTube videos about the game. I used to watch TydeTyme. He helped me understand what the hell was going on in this game.

    In the end, you can definitely pickup the game through just playing. But I believe it'll be alot harder.

  • HectorBrando
    HectorBrando Member Posts: 3,167

    You can learn the basics faster by watching videos, like what are Dull Totems and why are they important, how to fast vault properly, how to hide, what are safe and unsafe pallets etc.

    To learn advanced things is better to learn by yourself, many times Ive seen inexperienced players trying to pull advanced stuff only to fail big time, like messing body blocks, trying to mindgame super safe pallets, playing super risky or super aggresive etc, advanced stuff is better if it comes naturally by putting hours.

  • korean_zombie
    korean_zombie Member Posts: 442

    Content creators have done an excellent job of being entertaining and informative. Their content is free. An essential part of the DBD experience is the aftermarket content. You can eventually learn everything but your experience will not be as good. Imagine not knowing what a cutie is. Imagine never watching severe bullying of a twitch streamer 3.1. You wouldn’t even get the post game comment unluckerdog. You wouldn’t be doing a pretty good job so far.

  • KissingxToast
    KissingxToast Member Posts: 30

    I would say you only help yourself by watching others. Things you would never know or maybe understand can be learned from watching. As someone who has watched A WHOLE HELL OF A LOT of content, it made it easier to understand what was happening and what I needed to do.

    As for watching for playstyle? I never took that away from watching. Let me tell you, no matter how much watching and knowledge you gain from watching, applying it in game is a whole different beast. I try different things and see what I feel comfortable with and use it. So I'm on the side of "it helps" but find your own style through playing.

  • sulaiman
    sulaiman Member Posts: 3,219

    I learned by playing myself, and as a survivor, that was fine. As a killer, i struggled, and only after using guides/streams i realize there are things like infinite loops (before the balanced landing rework, and before the exhaustion change).

    So while you can learn by yourself, using such media might help you in issues you are not even aware of. so best do both ^^.

    learn by playing, but check a guide or something from time to time, but dont see them as an instruction manual.

  • Masochistic_Killer
    Masochistic_Killer Member Posts: 413


    I am a new player, and watching YT videos and reading the wiki is absolutely required. Sure, anyone can just load a game and play it at a very base level it's not hard to figure out, but there is a ton of deceptive depth stuff going on. That's not even including bugs, quirkiness and counterintuitiveness.

    I had played like over a week every day before even knowing about red stain at all for example. As a killer, I would suddenly just lose matches sometimes - because there is no information about hatches. It goes on and on like this. If you want to play at anything but baby's first slasher level you absolutely have to teach yourself with 3rd party information, on both sides, but especially to play killer.

    I still, with hundreds of hours and playing like a month and a half every day, have multiple Otz video tabs open at all times and multiple wiki tabs on a second monitor. There are like 20 status effects that aren't immediately clear what they do. The game uses purposefully opaque language to describe powers, perks, and add-ons (slightly, considerably, moderately, etc) which doesn't tell you anything useful because there are no hard numbers until you go look them up. Perk synergies aren't always immediately apparent, especially clever ones.

    In their last player survey that I filled out, one of the things I said the game desperately needs is like a training room set up so builds can be tested. A lot of other games do this, like SMITE and World of Warships, where you can play against customized bots or ai bots or training dummies to test things out.

  • Masochistic_Killer
    Masochistic_Killer Member Posts: 413

    I am a new player, and watching YT videos and reading the wiki is absolutely required. Sure, anyone can just load a game and play it at a very base level it's not hard to figure out, but there is a ton of deceptive depth stuff going on. That's not even including bugs, quirkiness and counterintuitiveness.

    I had played like over a week every day before even knowing about red stain at all for example. As a killer, I would suddenly just lose matches sometimes - because there is no information about hatches. It goes on and on like this. If you want to play at anything but baby's first slasher level you absolutely have to teach yourself with 3rd party information, on both sides, but especially to play killer.

    I still, with hundreds of hours and playing like a month and a half every day, have multiple Otz video tabs open at all times and multiple wiki tabs on a second monitor. There are like 20 status effects that aren't immediately clear what they do. The game uses purposefully opaque language to describe powers, perks, and add-ons (slightly, considerably, moderately, etc) which doesn't tell you anything useful because there are no hard numbers until you go look them up. Perk synergies aren't always immediately apparent, especially clever ones.

    In their last player survey that I filled out, one of the things I said the game desperately needs is like a training room set up so builds can be tested. A lot of other games do this, like SMITE and World of Warships, where you can play against customized bots or ai bots or training dummies to test things out.