Are the best survivors forged out of the hellscape that is solo queue, or SWF groups?
So @landromat said in a post I saw
You don't need SWF. Strongest survivors are born in solo queue
This has actually been an interesting question that I have thought of before. Does playing lots of solo queue make you a better player than you would be if you had played in a SWF group?
In solo queue, you have to put up with an excessive amount of BS once you get the hang of things, and it does make you much better at figuring out what is going on without any people telling you straight up. It is apparently a little tricky for a bunch of people I have asked in the endgame chat, that is why they can't play solo queue without it. Kindred helps with decision making, and in solo queue this is very impactful due to lack of communication.
However, it is definitely possible to play solo queue without kindred. I myself don't run it because I absolutely need it, I run it so my teammates can actually make good decisions and it works... most of the time.
For example, if I am playing without kindred and my teammate is hooked on the other side of a map on a place like mother's dwelling, I am not going to go for the save and keep holding m1 on a generator because I know almost for certain that someone will go for the save. But this varies on different maps with different killers with different perks and depends on the health state of certain survivors... so sometimes it can get pretty tricky. So what if I am on a small map like coal tower while injured against a plague with corrupt purge active while my teammate is on a hook in basement and I don't have BT? Yeahhh... sorry gonna wait it out for a while or hope my teammates can coordinate a safe rescue.
You also have to perfect your skills as survivor (yes, survivors take skill) because it is safe to assume you can't trust your teammates, or be left on hook, or farmed without BT.
On the flip side, you have SWF that can perfectly communicate everything that they can see. However, many players can't really play that well without their friends (not saying everyone who play with SWF all the time are not good). But if a newer player is playing with experienced survivors would that make the survivor become better because their teammates can teach them?
So it can be up for debate. SWF and solo queue can both increase the skill of survivors, but which one does it better?
Comments
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Swf 100%. You could be best player in the world in solo queue, but if you get unreliable teammates you’ve lost. I’m swf, even the weakest person has a chance with communication and good team mates
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It isn't about surviving, it is about becoming much more skillful through playing with solo queue teammates, or SWF teammates.
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You will absolutely get better faster with Solo Q teammates.
You are forced to learn how to exploit anything and everything in order to make up for your teammates, shall we say, lack of intelligence.
If you put 4 competent Solo Q players into a SWF, they'll usually win. They know their jobs and know how to do them well.
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It depends on what battlefield your testing your mettle on. Strong Solo Q survivors will be the best at solo q, strong SWF survivors will be the best at SWF.
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Solo Q forces you to be more independent. If you are consistently succesful in Solo Q, you get very strong at a lot of basic elements of the game because if you mess up that is probably it, but you also almost certainly embrace some more anti-social strategies.
SWF may be vulnerable to getting a bit 'flabby' but they get to practice the best strategies in the game. W meta can be practiced solo, for example, but it really gets vicious if you can be coordinated about it, something a solo never can practice. You get really strong at specific strategies.
As for new players, all games have a sort of 'mentor effect' where information can be learned more quickly with help. A new player is unlikely to independently discover, for example, BT bodyblocking, or the idea of not hiding after a rescue because hook states are a team resource, without being told, especially because in solo this isn't always a good idea. Even if your getting carried as a solo your probably doing better just because you are emulating players better than you, even if at first you will be crazy shaky.
I would say SWF players tend to be stronger overall, because a lot of the 'benefits' of solo can be obtained in SWF. A good solo who is consistently succesful is going to be very strong because they MUST, but nothing is inherently guaranteeing that solo WILL be consistently succesful, if they don't actively practice they won't get strong, and it honestly can be harder to do that if your getting eliminated, so even though second chances from teammates are in theory making it easier and thus you may depend on them, in reality getting a second chance to try a loop with what you learned right away will reinforce things better if your actively trying to get good at looping or whatever and not just stall time for a teammate because your winning by boring SWF play by numbers mathy gameplay.
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Becoming more skilful means you survive. Sure the solo god would still be a good in a swf, and the swf guy would get wrecked solo. But if swf guy stays in swf they’ll learn more and gain skills quicker. If the solo guy stays solo there’s only so far you can go before lack of communication holds you back
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Solo all the way. Playing solo gives you the experience without training wheels and develops self sufficient tactics. Swf has an advantage of coverage for mistakes but I also see alot of teams with severe weak links that would be fodder without the rest.
Bad teammates or not if your self sufficient you will out live the rest. I've been paired with plenty of 3man teams and solo escaped thanks to having knowledge they've yet to learn.
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I don't think he is inquiring about outcomes, but player development.
To that point, SQ is the best playground. Usually, SWF tends to become reliant on communication and playing to each other's strengths. It's fairly easy for a killer to notice who's the best one in chases and who's the gen jokey. In SQ you have to adapt to your team's weaknesses or lose the game. Often times the lack of team efficiency makes you think more about preserving communal resources and escaping is not always the result after pouring your best into the game.
IMO SWF has it easy.
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I think it depends who is in your swf. If you’re a brand new rank 20, you’re going to learn and pick up tricks quicker in your red rank swf pal is telling you
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Solo. I used to play DBD with friends constantly, up until I started playing alone.
Solo Q made me realize where I really sat in terms of skill, and I was not very happy with that truth.
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Not necessarily surviving, being skillful is being an efficient survivor and a good teammate. If you can loop the killer for about 30-40 seconds before going down each chase consistently, that is good. And if you are efficient when it comes to healing, repairing gens, and saving teammates, then you are good at teamplay. If I do well as survivor and still die, I consider that a win in my book, same for if my teammates do the same.
A SWF does allow for some pretty crazy things, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the survivors become more skillful, they just have more to work with.
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Strictly to very new players, yes. But in the mid and higher ranges, SWFs usually make use of comms, and that not only provides valuable information but also frees perk slots from perks that would provide that info (mostly aura reading ones).
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I get where you’re coming from. I mean for learning the game from fresh, being on a swf with good teammates coaching will teach you skills a lot quicker than solo queue. True though that solo gods will always outplay swf players
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You learn faster and figure out what's possible with SWF. There, you know what type of action works best for what situation, and you know what's possible after a lot of practice as a team. You can't practice with pub scrubs in the hope that you come across another solo survivor that knows what's up. Sure you can do this as solo too, and it's especially true now with all the videos out now- it just takes longer.
For the record, I'm talking about going for risky and flashy, fun plays. I'm not talking about ultra-safe plays just for the sake of escaping. Anyone can practice enough to be a good enough survivor to escape most of the time, to do it with flair though is where the fun comes.
Being the best at this game, to me, doesn't mean much unless you can do it in style.
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I can only give anecdotal evidence, based on myself, but I think it has bearing. I play both Solo and SWF (now and then my friends and I get together). My friends play pretty much SWF only. I'm the best Survivor among them in that am a stronger Looper because of my Solo time. There are certain things that I just take on myself and do without having to communicate with the group. The edge a SWF gives is ridiculously strong; I'm not saying it isn't. What I am saying is that members of a SWF who have all be forged in the fires of Solo Que are the ones to be most feared.
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OP is not about whether SWF or SQ has steeper learning curve or which has better outcomes but which one, if primarily played, would result in a better survivor.
Sure a newb can get crash course from a red rank friend but watching educational streamer videos can do the trick as well. But ultimately you have to have real experience putting this into practice and SQ exposes survivors to the whole spectrum of problems.
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Sometimes, you'll get downed once in solo queue and they just leave you until you're on death hook and unhook you in front of killer with no bt. For those games, you aren't really learning anything
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I would say swf, cuz if you are constatly comunication, your friends are probably going to tell their stretegys or say the famus trust me bro
In the end you now more strategys and know more how to act in certain situation
Like if you are in constatntly communication, i would say that you can get more then just your experience
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