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Do you think DBD is too tough on new players?
Honestly, I wouldn't mind waiting in a queue for 5 minutes just to match me with people of my own skill instead of players with thousands of hours in the game (I have 27 hours). Just for context, I play killer and the queue time for me is always under 30 seconds.
I think I ranked up too fast and now I'm being punished for it - I'm rank 10 and in almost all my games there is a red rank survivor or two who I have to ignore - I'm more scared of these guys than they are of me XD. I guess it goes both ways and new survivors sometimes match with red rank killers? (this would be much worse imo since one red rank survivor only makes up 1/4 of the team)
All in all I'm enjoying the game I just wish the matchmaking was better - especially with the RE chapter coming. I think it'll draw a lot of people to the game and some of them might be put off when they come up against super survivors or killers while they're still learning.
I know if the matchmaking changes it'd make the queues too long for higher ranked players but it's real frustrating for newer players (or at least for me) when we get matched against them :S
Comments
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Yeah, matchmaking has the potential of killing this game if I'm being honest. I can count on one hand the amount of games with good matchmaking I get in a night - and I'm a red rank killer. It's rarely 4 red rank survivors, usually purple or green. Not fun for either side.
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People i know find the game difficult and ridiculous. It will take them a while to get used to it if they don't play regularly.
I got used to the game pretty quickly since i was constantly checking information and playing whenever i could. but skill takes time..
I think the game can be tough, there is no way to warm up before the first match.
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Yes.
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Yes, dbd is horrible for newcomers.
They should really reduce the grind a bit, people say "it used to be worse in 2016" yes but there were only like 5 killers, now there is like 20 plus a lot of survivors for perks etc.
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Matchmaking wasn't AS bad years ago when it took WAY more play time to get to red ranks than it does now. The people who get into red ranks at this point dont even know what a generator is... it is just... so, so horrible.
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I started playing just under 2 months ago and am currently at rank 6 on killer. I actually found it easier to get from rank 11 to 6 than getting from like rank 15 to 11 due to the amount of red and purple ranks I would face as soon as I hit rank 15. From rank 10 onwards the matchmaking has felt much more consistent at putting me against players at my level. From about rank 8 I'm definitely facing a lot more teams with 3-4 red ranks, but to be honest I've been quite surprised by the lower skill level of some of these red rank survivors & have had plenty of games I've gotten 4ks with a team of 3 red & 1 purple.
I definitely still consider myself to be a new player to the game and have a lot to learn, but I honestly don't think it takes much time to become semi decent at the game. As long as you open up the perks to make solid builds and watch some guides on improving overall gameplay you'll be quite efficient in no time at all.
The matchmaking system is pretty unfair though especially when you get that rank 15 spot (which takes no time at all). You definitely shouldn't be put against purple ranks until at least rank 12 and red ranks at maybe like rank 9.
I don't really get the match making system to be honest it seems totally broken and kinda pointless until you reach higher ranks and even then I've been put against like rank 15-20 survivors that are blatantly pretty fresh to the game.
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Oh yes. It's why I feel bad for the new people coming into DBD for the RE chapter to get used to the game before the chapter drops. Those newbies who catch glimpses of streamers playing, making it look easy and fun only to find themselves matched with toxic red ranks or just in general players with a ton of hours compared to the newbies and they have no idea what to do or how to handle certain situations. What's worse is veteran players can smell noob all over you and act accordingly. Will they give you a pity kill? Decide to bully for the lols or be bored super fast without any sort of challenge presented to them by their killer? Any of these can make a new player feel out of place or just Not Good.
I'd advise any new player to not take it so honestly to heart just starting out. Yeah it's gonna be rough until you find your footing and even then, players with thousands of hours still might stomp you but that's okay. Each experience is a learning one. Even the toxic SWFS. From the toxic SWFS I've gotten an idea how to deal with them compared to when I first started out and got steamrolled. Flashies are not a big deal to me anymore as often people with flashies will follow you around for flashie saves and if you anticipate it and play it well, you can really cause a snowball from there.
But as others have said, it just takes time and practice. If I'm in a good mood that day and I can detect a baby rank 18-20 Meg or Dweet paired with red rank, purple ranks (killer included) I'm like 🤗🤗🤗 and slaughter anyone trying to rat the baby out for their own survival.
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The playerbase is also to blame for crap matchmaking because they exploit the ranking system on both killer and survivor.
You have SWF that purposely bring a brown rank so they can boost their chances at getting a low ranked killer to farm for easy pips & you have killers that purposely derank to get put against easy/new players. I mean when you see a brown rank killer with like 4 purple teachable perks it's pretty obvious they're just bad at the game and are nothing more than toxic players feeding on new players for their own amusement.
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DbD is truly a trail by fire game and is also why not that many people stick around.
The game is also becoming very dependent on teachables for normal builds which further punishes new players as no new universal/generic killer perks have been added in a long time and most of them aren't very good anymore.
Also for survivors there are a few noob stomping killers like The Legion and The Doctor who aren't very hard to beat but will slaughter noobs VERY quickly.
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YES. The inconsistent matchmaking, toxicity, massive grind, and lack of proper training mode make this game a NIGHTMARE for new players to get into.
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Yes DBD is too hard on newer players for multiple reasons.
1) The lack of an in-depth tutorial going over the numerous status effects, mechanics, and skillcheck simulator
2) The incredible bloodpoint grind starting from nothing from leveling up your first survivor to then having to level up others for their teachables to put builds together you might want to try.
3) Poor match making, if you have less than 100 hours then you she never be put up against someone with 1000 or more hours and sometimes you just do the way it is which is very unfortunate
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That’s the big problem with Killer ranking. We rank too quickly and without needed perks to compete the higher we go. On my alt, I’m practicing m/kb for when switch cross progression soon. It’s much easier but I hit r13 and got a full red rank squad(I asked and they told me). Mind you I’m not new and know how to play and did fairly well with 9 hooks against a chill squad.
those gens went fast tho, ended the first chase very quickly and took a sec to get to a hook and 3 gens popped quick. Most of my hooks were ECG and new killers would def be discouraged. With zero gen regression it’s tough
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Yes, you need a lot of perseverance to get past the first 20 hours of this game.
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I can attest to this. Me a baby killer at rank 20 in the day, getting paired with red rank swfs with flashies and bnp had me REELING. Me: is this what they call,,,, bullying???
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The game's got a deeper learning curve than I think non-players are aware of. When I first began playing the game my friend, who was somewhat experienced with it, spent half an hour with me running around a map (just he and I) showing me how things work, explaining the perk system, answering questions, etc. That's a half hour of direct interaction with someone who knew all the intricacies of the game and was patient enough to explain and demonstrate for me. I'd have managed without him, but I would have been a lot more lost. I still needed to browse the wiki quite a few times. I initially joined this forum to ask for other players who are chill and not out to win at all costs.
Then you take the second step and start getting halfway decent at the game. You meet stronger competition, you learn about all kinds of deeper tricks and strategies, you come to understand that most players on both sides hate the players on the other side, etc. It's absolutely a learning experience.
Is it too tough on beginners? At this stage in the game's life, with so much put into it and so many VERY long-time players, I would say yes. Not greatly, but that learning curve requires some tutorials or friendly hand-holding at first. You can wing it, but you're going to suck and make mistakes you don't need to make that much longer. Additionally I think everyone's in agreement that the matchmaking system is a mess and completely imbalances players of less skill with players of great skill.
I don't have the answers but long story short, yes, I think the game is a little tough on newcomers. It would be great if there were some kind of "Fresh Meat" lobby where players under a certain rank, W/L record, total playtime, or some other qualifier could go against other brand new players and learn the ropes with each other with relatively low risk.
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Definetly.
I do think they should try to make (especially as a killer) fun even if you aren't doing very well. Losing is one thing but losing and hating life is totally different.
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This game’s new player experience is garbage. You have so much to grind and certain dlc’s are pretty much necessary.
The game has a bad tutorial too so even grasping the basics is hard
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Probably if you keep getting matched with red ranks or just higher ranks in general if they are new to the game.
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My girlfriend bought the game over the weekend and so we were playing together, and the only things I wish the game did for new players was maybe give new players 1 million bloodpoints to start with, to level up a character they like, or get some nice perks early on, or even just 500k bloodpoints. I also wish some more killers are given free at the start, it seems newer killers always gravitate towards huntress or wraith because you have such a small choice of killers.
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Yes, the new player experience is horrible. I recently got the game on PS5 after 3k hrs on PC. Some highlights
-the tutorial implies that survivors should attempt to kobe on hook. Many low rank teammates try it for no reason
-the tutorial doesn't teach survivors how to vault windows or drop pallets. Zero tutorial about chase mechanics
-the grind is absolutely mindblowing for new players. I realized how much I'd have to re-grind and promptly uninstalled
-zero protection against tunneling and camping combined with zero game knowledge. Players don't know what's happening and killers don't know how to find people outside of waiting by the hook. It's absolutely awful
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Sometimes...I don't think the game is tough enough on people to help improve their skill. Other times, its so mismatched and difficult you have nothing to learn from playing that match as a killer or survivor.
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Absolutely - the new game experience for survivors is a dumpster fire.
This is why I keep saying new characters need to have all their perk slots unlocked from level 1 and they should have their 3 teachables and Kindred before they spend a single bloodpoint.
It's not perfect, but it should at least help against that feeling of unfairness they get when they see the post-game and see that everybody has perks they don't. I know of at least one guy who quit the game after one night seeing that.
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New players should be given a few million BP to start with to help unlock a few teachables (if they want) and can try out a wide variety of characters more easily to see what fits them best. Starting below level 15 in a killer or survivor is super roughhhhh
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PvP games are rough on new players.
You can't expect a noob to jump in and loop a killer for 5 gens.
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DBD is outrageously UNFRIENDLY to new players in my honest opinion. Here's a few reasons why:
(1) There's only enough tutorials to teach people how to be really potato survivors or really terrible killers.
(2) The matchmaking system will make new players face off against people who are ridiculously out of their league due to perks and experience.
(3) There are now so many perks (and so few good ones) that new players are at a serious disadvantage until they can get ahold of the perks, many of which they would either have to buy or stick around long enough to get the shards (which I don't see most people even sticking around for). The path to good perks isn't uphill, it's a sheer cliff (even if you spend a ton of money and get all the expansions, the BP you need to get a decent selection of perks on a new survivor is outrageous, especially for someone who is still deciding if they like the game). For killers you might as well be climbing a rope into outer space at this point if you want to get a decent selection of perks to try on more than one killer.
(4) Goes with (3): Survivors with less perks are going to do much worse at looping, escaping, and predicting the killer. This means that they become easy prey for the killer, and will find themselves on a hook or the ground for much of their first dozen(s) of matches.
(5) The toxicity. Imagine watching a new player getting harassed and belittled after every game because XXX toxic person needs to spread their misery somewhere. That is probably going to be the nail in the coffin for dbd.
(6) Getting slugged, tunneled, and camped by killers for a myriad of reasons, mostly in the killer's head.
(7) Getting bullied, swarmed, and blinded by SWF sweat squads right out of the gate.
So yeah, there's a lot keeping new players from enjoying this game. Granted, it's been a LOOOOOOONG time since I've seen the higher ranks (7-20), so maybe they'll have an easier time for a while. However, it's basically impossible to de-pip unless you absolutely throw the game, run directly at the killer, or hide in the corner all game. Because of this, once you make it into low-rank hell you're stuck there, forever.
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The intake for this game is super rough for all the reasons everyone else has said. I think the main fix would be to get the MMR working, if it actually works properly. Throwing new players straight into the deep end with all the sharks is probably the most harmful thing that happens overall. If they had more time to practice with other new players or gentler low-rank players, it might be a better transition.
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Absolutely.
Between the price wall of all the DLC, the insane grind to unlock things (and as a new player you want to unlock stuff, you want to try different perks and characters to see what you like), and the abysmal ranking system, I don’t know how this game keeps any new players at all. The new player experience is downright hostile.
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Yes it should
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The tutorial for killer and Survivor isn't even up to date with the game mechanics that alone should tell you all you need to know about the game and who makes it.
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Yes, DBD is very rough on new players and those who can't play as often. The DLCs and grind are also higher barriers to entry.
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Gotta mention the game can easily crash on pc
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Aww the player base in general sucks, I had a green rank, a purple and 2 red ranks one being a red rank killer as well 🙄 its one of the things that ruin the game if I'm honest.
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