RIP Cross Play

When cross play first became available, I loved it! Lobbies were quick and to start with I was matched against people of my own skill level (a shame that got turned off) which was great for killer rounds - I actually enjoyed playing killer again. Lobbies were quick, we could get in more matches and a lot of fun was being had. I was so enthusiastic for the game again, something that wasn't the case for quite some time and I'd been rarely playing. Cross play had breathed new life into it.

But you had to spoil it.

Games have been increasing difficult on both sides and it's always off platform and often PC (judging by the odd characters/symbols in their names) that are causing it (for reference, I'm on PS4). To start with, it was 'us v them' - PS4 players were repeatedly ignored by off platform players, who would team up and help each other but not myself or anyone else on PS4. Some of the killers that were off platform seemed to favour others on other platforms. It wasn't every match to start with but now it seems to be more often the case then not.

What has really killed it in my view though, is the hacking and cheating and again it's off platform players - PC I assume where hacking is concerned. As killer, I had a Claudette who waited for me to hit her (she chased after me while carrying another survivor to the hook), let me down her and as soon as we got to the hoo, the game froze, only releasing when she had wriggled free. She DC'd within a minute after that. My brother reckons it was a lag switch, as every time I got in a chase with her, my killer began hopping back and forth, or off to the side. This has happened several times and to begin with I thought it was a bug but now I believe it is lag.

I had a Kate on Hawkins in the newest outfit, who emitted columns of light and a ringing sound, who proceeded to follow me around until the killer was alerted, who downed me as she blocked my escape. She DC'd soon after she'd done this to other survivors.

The final straw was yesterday, after the update went live. Three matches in a row with killers who seemed to gain the ability to see through walls, or had abilities they shouldn't have had (such as a billy who could run impossibly fast and turn so sharp while revving up their chainsaw). Matches were over in minutes with no one having chance to do anything. We checked the perks and add ons after each match and there was nothing that would have given them the powers they had. At this point, I was playing in a 3 man SWF who were all complaining of cheating (two of us are generally green/purple ranks once we've ranked up after rank reset, the other is new to the game but learning fast). On top of that, the solo survivor, who we were trying to help, screwed us over each match (a Nea who hid the whole match for example), a P2 Claudette who refused to do anything to help anyone but herself and a David who kept trying to pin me to heal me, but apart from the unhook did little else all game and was soon taken out by the killer).

So we turned off cross play and it won't be going on again. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of PS4 players who are bad or toxic players, but at least they don't cheat/hack. In fact, our first match after switching cross play off was much better and the lobby was available just as quickly.

tl/dr: cross play ruined by cheaters and hackers from other platforms (mostly PC) so it's been switched off!