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Unpopular opinion: Solo survivor doesn't need a buff
I see a lot of people of saying that solo survivor needs a buff if killer gets a buff, this is something I disagree with.
When I was a survivor main, I mainly played solo survivor. So I know what it's like to play solo survivor, and how stressful it can be. However, the frustrations in solo queue isn't due to the game mechanics, rather due to the incompetent of other survivors.
When four good solo survivors go into a game, they're nearly as strong as a SWF. The reason is that to play optimally as a survivor, all you need to do is to spread out, work on generators when you're not being chased, have a chase route planned in case the killer disrupts your gen progress. You don't need communication to be able to do this.
The main advantage that a SWF would have over four good solo players is that they can coordinate hook saves, flash light save, take protection hits at the right time, etc. Even then there are perks such as Kindred, Bond, Empathy, and After Care.
The issue with solo survivor is that it's you're unlikely to get three randoms that know how to play survivor optimally. This is due to survivors getting to red ranks, when they do not belong there. This has nothing to do with game mechanics or game design. If a player is bad at the game, that is the player's fault, not the developers.
In my opinion, DBD shouldn't be balanced around bad survivors. Balancing the game around rank 20's (or players that play like rank 20's) just makes the game less enjoyable for competent/experienced players.
Personally, I believe the best way to make solo survivor more enjoyable is by making it harder to rank up, and having a true rank reset. Ever since they brought in the current rank reset system, DBD has become a lot less enjoyable in my experience.
However, MMR isn't the answer. Again, in my opinion an MMR system would not work in a game like DBD. There's too many variables that can happen in a DBD match, for there to be an accurate MMR system.
Comment your thoughts.
Comments
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Solo survivor is miserable, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Random survivors are always the death of me, especially when paired against killer who's a higher rank than all of our team. The game then becomes about who survives longest and a will they, won't they about hatch. Not always a bad thing, bu I am sick of it being EVERY SINGLE GAME at Red ranks.
It's also funny because I do WORSE in an SFW than I do in solo, according to the emblem system at least, so I don't normally group up.
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Its an issue that can't be fixed imo. You buff solo you inherently buff swf. You buff killers too much and you kill off solo play.
We do have to be careful to say the game shouldn't be balanced around the lower players though as the same argument is used by some killers here.
When anyone posts about a really good killer players win rate they always say you can't expect them to be as good as people who play the game for a living or have 5 or 7 k hours in the game. You have to be careful to not remove the challenge from the best players on both sides.
Imo the problem comes down primarily to thise who main one side as they don't see the issues of the other and of course seeing the game as being highly competitive.
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Maybe I just get lucky but 5/6 games as solo survivor I usually get a competent enough team, and in those games it tends to usually lead to atleast 3 escapes, then theres the other 1/6 its lucky if 1 or 2 get out cause no ones doing gens. Clearly the ranking system is the problem of it considers both these things to be equal.
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I agree.
4 "good" solo's are still stronger than killers.
The reason people think otherwise is because as you mentioned, most your teammates are bad. Balancing for bad players isn't a good balance choice.
Like you said, the fix is making it harder to rank up so the quality of your teammates at a given rank will improve.
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Hmm...I agree with the fact that I don't believe Solo Survivor needs a buff. With the meta being Dead Hard, Decisive Strike, Unbreakable/Borrowed Time and one of the sprint perks that can be used on each individual person...Survivor's are overpowered enough as it is.
Not sure if I agree with your point on it not being a game mechanic or game design issue. I probably have an even more unpopular opinion as to why the current system failed so from my point of view a skill based system makes sense.
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Personally, I'd be all for if the developers make survivor harder. I've got to the point where I find playing survivor too easy and boring. It's why I switched from being a survivor main to a killer main.
In my opinion, four good solo's are still stronger than the killer in the games current state. If they buff killers whilst making it harder to rank up, then it would reduce the chances of potatoes finding themselves at high ranks. In an ideal world good players will play against other good players, and potatoes will play against other potatoes.
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Why would queue times get longer and why would people not want to play?
Once they fixed the ranking in that way they could actually balance high ranks.
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Red ranks should be cut and dry if you die you don't pip , if you don't get at least a 3k you shouldn't pip at red ranks , something like that will keep people who just play alot out of red ranks and leave truly the best at the top
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Before the current rank reset, there were a lot of players at each rank. The new players were in the brown ranks, the newish players were at yellow ranks, the potatoes/casuals that had an idea how the game worked were at green ranks, the some what decent players were at purple ranks, the experienced players were at red ranks.
The reason why survivors sometimes have long queue times, is due to there being too many red rank survivors compared to the amount of the red rank killers. If they made it harder to get to red ranks, the amount of survivors at red ranks would be reduced. Meaning there would be a better proportion of survivors to killers, which could actually make queue times better.
EDIT:
Escaping isn't really important as survivor, sometimes the best survivor on the survivor team could be the only one sacrificed as they're ones spending the majority of the game taking aggro from the killer, whilst the other three are just pumping generators.
Who is the better survivor, a survivor that spent the majority of the game being chased but got downed with NOED, or the three survivors that just held M1 all game and escaped? Plus your proposed system could encourage bad habits and unhealthy survivor game-play.
Your proposed killer pipping system is somewhat already in place, I don't think I've ever pipped as killer if two or more survivors escaped. Even if I get a 3k or a 4k, I'll sometimes black pip.
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I agree solo is mostly a bad experience and the problem isn't the game. It's those survivors are newbs. No matter how you buff survivor it's not going to help if the player can't make use of their tools.
"You can't fix stupid."
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solo don't really need a buff sometime feel like they do 4 solo can act like swf group I been in a match like that.
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I don't think the only options are ridiculously easy to rank up like we have now or insanely hard where people can hardly get there. There is a middle ground.
Right now you have to actively try hard not to rank up, honestly. If someone is not ranking up, they are playing very, very badly. You'd have to be near completely useless on your team to not pip. Especially given the rank reset changes where there basically isn't a rank reset anymore.
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Agreed.
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For a second I thought you said "Sole Survivor doesn't need buffs."
It's not that solo queue is bad or unbalanced. If you get a decent Team, you can beat a Killer just as well. But that's the thing. IF you get a decent Team.
The randomness of Solo Queue is what makes it frustrating. You are on a hook with Kindred, everyone sees everybody and those Blendie's still hide in Corners, Urban towards you slowly and make sure they take the most stretched and longest way possible instead of running straight to the Hook.
Then you have this standard Meg who throws down 20 Pallets within 1 Minute while the Killer is like 20 Metres away, then teabag's and blames you for not surviving in a Chase long enough in after Match Chat.
It gets really exhausting after a while, then I switch to Killer because it's still more fun and interesting.
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(3+ years solo survivor here)
Solo survivor is depressing.
Boosted 10 second chases red ranks, or 2-3 SWF leaving me on hook and escape.
I had a game yesterday. 3 swf and me solo.
Last gen popped, i was injured and Wraith saw me healing by a teammate with nurses.
I got a 60 tick window hit eventually.
2 absolutely (im here, push me out) fake attempts from 2 of them. Not together, one by one.
Tapp don't even bother.
Wraith saw them at the exit gates doing nothing and he went there to push them out.
And guess what, i ######### KOBE and escape from the other exit gate!
(I have video proof if you want)
Sometimes i have solid teams but most of time teammates are garbage.
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Aura perks or comms base kit then buff killers
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the way you fix it would just be better matchmaking, when i do play survivor i just play with a group with no comms its not about information its about the skill of the other players
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This still doesn't work as the swf issue isn't about comms only but player skill, working as a unit and the fact that they are invested in trying to get everyone out as they are friends.
Solo is a completely different game since they don't have the same attachment to the others and shouldn't. Its a choice as the game is help others or don't.
Showing auras would just make the game more mundane as it would remove having to think at all. Comms would end up as a troll fest with players calling out others. Its bad enough already with a chat system.
Then you buff killer to make up for it. What happens to those that are really good at that role? They end up becoming bored as the challenge is gone.
Maybe the issue isn't what most think it is about buffing this or nerfing that but making sure you are matched better to reflect your own skill. Everyone being to get to rank 1 so easily imo has given an entitled mindset to players so they think that they can and should be able to compete at the highest level of play. The mmr system then is what hopefully will fix this but how or if they can determine skill is yet to be seen.
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Solo Survivor isn't that horrible, you can still reach red ranks and stay there without any meta perks. But the majority of your games will test your looping skills and if you are bad in that, you will have a hard time (most people have). So you have to be superior in looping, because your teammates are most likely not and go down quickly or try to basement unhook versus a camping trapper or things like that.
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Played solo only since 2017 (and killer ofc) and i have to agree to the topic.
My goal changed to having a GG and at least get a black pip or a pip tho, idc if i survive or not then. And i can tell you that experienced solos "rush" gens even harder, at least i will always finish my gen before saving. And in most of my games i wouldn't be suprised if the killer expact i was in a SWF aswell. Coordination is possible, even without comms. Be it perks, the UI or just common gaming sense. Also i don't use second chance perks, i rate skill higher then advantage. (I have to hope there's at least 1 DS in the game, which is 85% the case and then i can play arround it aswell) The only real way to get better as surv is playing solo. You have only to focus on yourself, not on your mates.
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Yeah. I wish rank up was harder so we get batter surv in red. Killers are good but team is lackluster at best.
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Bing bong your opinion is wrong.
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But good matchmaking is never, ever going to happen. Skill in DBD is far too difficult to measure mathematically, and to be perfectly honest most SWF teams are absolute trash and go down 20 seconds into an m1 chase, however they still have the huge advantage of their teammates doing the generators. Or, and I genuinely fear this as someone who doesn't believe in playing Nurse every match, they just instadrop pallets because that's just a thing that they can do in most maps because most tiles are still very easily chainable. That's not something you can have in solo que, because the other survivors have to choose between info perks and... This makes me feel dirty, but I'm going to say it anyway: crutch meta perks that help me, as their teammate, win trials by proxy.
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People really just want some of the benefits that swf's have, by not having to use perks to make up for lack of communication between solo's. Ever died or went to the second hook because the people you were playing with stayed on gens, while someone else was being chased? You have to use a perk for something swf gets for free.
Cleansed 4 totems, but you don't know if there is still another totem left for noed? SWF can tell you if they've done one.
A chase indicator on solo's as well that isn't just the obsession. Lots of little tweaks would help the survivor experience. And just having bandaid perks to fix it is a bit annoying imo.
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These are actually valid points. I'm honestly surprised, because most people blindly state their opinion. I am a killer main, and I know how frustrating it is to face a swf, but as someone who only plays survivor in a swf now, i don't want swf to change. Maybe if you get a 5x BP bonus facing them and get notified it was a swf. I'd love that change, as swfing will now help the killer with the grind as well.
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The problem isn't necessarily solo survivor, it's SWF. If the Devs would want to balance killers against SWF, Solo survivors would need a buff to compensate. SWF just creates a balancing nightmare when played optimally, luckily most groups are cocky, ignorant, or casual so it rarely happens.
I just want my bloodpoints tripled so my 3 minute match wasn't a waste of my time, otherwise whatever. Its the same sort of situation as "I'll do the crappy job for you that I won't enjoy, but I want my wage increased as compensation"
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