Survivor Main: I played 40 rounds of Killer... [Long Post]
I've always been a Survivor main. I've played Killer and I've had phases where I leaned in that direction but for the most part I've always enjoyed playing Survivor more and have developed my DbD skills more in that side of the game. Recently I decided I'd play 40 rounds of Killer (I did about 10-12 a night) to get a feel for the current Killer atmosphere and then 40 rounds of Survivor to compare the two experiences. I decided to share my takeaway.
These are my personal experiences and my opinion, I did this experiment for fun and hope that it's an interesting read at the very least even if your experiences/opinion are different. 😊
- Toxicity - We all have it about the same. Honestly this is what shocked me the most. I was definitely expecting to see a higher rate of 'toxicity' as a Killer purely because there are 4 candidates for showing bad manners per match. But I saw it at about the same rate as what I see as a Survivor. I got a few click-happy flashlights to the point of just spamming and I saw a few tea-bags at the exit gate/palette drop. I got 3 rude messages (none reportable). It was by no means the majority. As a Survivor it was the same! There were a few Killers who were genuinely toxic (I watched a Killer down the last Survivor at an exit gate, carry him past hooks with the obvious implication of hatch. Find hatch, drop and kick in his face, then carry him to basement and slash him over and over. That is my definition of toxic, not just 'slug is toxic'.) I got 5 rude messages, only 1 of which was reportable for profanity/slurs. On both sides the majority of players played the game and then went on to the next.
- Killer: Game Balance - I enjoyed it. I played 25 rounds as Trickster, 10 rounds as Legion, 5 rounds as Hag (who I hate playing so I wanted to force myself to try her again). I got 3+ kills on all of my games except a very small few (I can't find my note on the specific number! 😔I'd say it was 5-7). The majority of rounds were 4k and only 3 rounds that were 0k. Two of those 0k rounds were the aforementioned flashlight bullying, palette drop gloating rounds. One was definitely not a SWF but I just played like a potato, only got a few hooks, and ultimately lost due to my terrible decisions. The flashlight groups were both either on PC or Xbox and I did wonder if they were a SWF. There were definitely some challenges, I had some good chases and got outplayed, but I felt like I was punishing as a Killer even though I was primarily on a brand new Trickster. Obviously I was playing faster Killers so gen pressure and patrolling wasn't problematic and I absolutely loved filling people with Trickster's knives. On all 40 rounds I purposefully avoided true face camping (not to be confused with patrolling when you know someone is near) and I only slugged during 3 man unhook rushes. I played the game in the way that I consider sportsmanlike.
- Survivor: Game Balance - I enjoyed it... Mostly. I escaped 12/40 rounds. Far less of a textbook success rate as a Survivor than as a Killer. This is not a 'killers ez' post so if anyone does read/respond please don't take it there. Again, this is purely my experience. I saw a lot of tactics that I consider extremely boring (face camping is making a comeback in a big way lately) but we aren't going to argue the validity of these tactics as the devs themselves have said face camping, basement camping, and slugging are intended gameplay styles. It is what it is. I still love the Survivor experience and getting chased and prefer it to Killer even if I 'win' far, far less.
- Technical Issues - I'm not sure... I'm a PC gamer so reliable and high performance internet is a must for me. DbD is literally the only game I play on my PS4. And I'll admit I mostly play on Wi-fi because I forget to drag a cord over about half of the time. That said I noticed some lagging and rubber banding whether I was playing wireless or not. On Killer I mostly encountered some momentary freezing while on Survivor I mostly suffered stuttering and rubber banding. The only thing that seemed to consistently be problematic was Dead Hard, weirdly enough. The game would freeze for about a second every time I used it. It seems like both sides are suffering performance issues right now and that's super disappointing.
This might not have been the most thrilling read but the reason I posted this is to support my takeaway message. The experience is similar for us all. We all face frustrations in performance issues. We all have ideas for how the game could be better balanced/more fun. And we all encounter the pathetic minority who lash out at people and vent their anger in unkind ways. We share all of this in common and a love of this game. It's the latter we should be focused on.
I hope people will keep that in mind and that this infamous divide between Killers and Survivors can at least lessen some, though I know this isn't a magic post that will do that. I just hope it gives some people some food for thought! It seems like the "Survivors r toxic/ez" and "Killers r toxic/ez" posts are just an exhausting, nonstop constant these days. The finger pointing and animosity is so engrained in this community that even people who don't play this game will cite the community as a reason they avoid it. That's tragic and needs to change.
Remember that there are other gamers on the other side, who just like you have their frustrations but also their love of this game. Be kind to one another! And as always, happy gaming! <3
Comments
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good post 👍
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When it comes to survivor balance I think the thing that really can mess you up is how reliant you are on your teammates (which to be fair, you are supposed to rely on your teammates when you play survivor. Survivor is a game of teamwork.) and this can actually cause problems for you and your team. I've seen games where one ######### up got all 4 survivors killed
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Thank you for reading! I appreciate it! 😊
Absolutely! Having just one teammate AFK or DC is pretty regularly a death sentence right at the start. Having one bad teammate makes the game really difficult. Having two or more makes it near impossible to escape. Four Survivors are meant to equate to a challenge for the Killer. When it's anything less than four people playing competently then it's game over. That's why solo Survivor is such a gamble! 😅
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So you played 40 rounds of killer, starting at what... R20? This reminds me of surv-mains who will tell you they play "both sides", but only play killer against potatoes at low ranks, claiming all killers are viable, no gen defense is needed (with NOED, lol) and killer is too easy. And ofc they never tunnel and camp. Thing is, most of them aren't even lying... they just don't know how bad the foundation of the game is against good survs.
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While I appreciate a survivor main taking the time to see the other sides view. I have to point out something. The 40 matches and only 2 of them were 0k vs sweat lords. As you rank up, that percentage gets higher. Substantially.
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Me three. I appreciate the thought, and I agree that we should think of ourselves as all being players before we think of ourselves as killer or survivor mains, but, if you haven't played killer in a while, you were probably matching with lower ranks than you should have been. Getting 3K or 4K almost every match would seem to support that.
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Really surprised the toxicity was roughly the same. I have only had like maybe 3 killers swat at me on hook once and that is it. Survivors are toxic even when I play nice and let them go. Literally never had a message from a killer and survivors have my page filled. So, yeah, wasn't expecting that part in the slightest.
What kind of messages were they? I obviously know all the generic stuff a survivor sends. What do killers do?
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May i suggest playing more killer? Your experience will change drastically the higher you get.
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I think players are more toxic when they win. So when you get mostly 4k/3k as a result, you wont see a lot of toxic behaviour. Same with killer, when all four escape.
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I play killer at red ranks and this post is pretty similar to my experience, actually.
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I agree with this post because I'm also survivor main playing killer at rank 6 against ranks 1-4 and it's pretty similar I came to conclusion both sides have fair chance depending which players are more skilled they often blame the game and balance for it but it's their own fault if they lose or they were less skilled than others
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That is why we need mmr. All of a sudden people will start learning about how the game actually works against evenly matched players. Hint hint, nobody near the top likes it and the reason is very obvious.
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What hurts that as well is how slim of a margin of error there is for survivors. One bad unhook practically guarantees a 3K+, unless someone makes a god-play to compensate or the killer bungles something else really badly.
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Good post. Looking at the bigger picture, it's always obvious to see that the biggest problem in the game are people that go into it looking to compete hard and develop a vengeful attitude.
The times that people have raged at me, survivors will usually blame me for not securing their escape or doing enough in general (regardless of what actually happened) and killers will get upset at how the match went (certain perk/item being brought, not being able to kill someone, stuff like that).
When I first started playing, I'd engage with that sort of stuff too which I don't anymore. But when I did, I'd usually complain about being tunneled out of the match early with 8k BP or less. Still frustrating, but I'd rather not stick around to be a baby about it.
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Like most said, I wish i could play a t Rank 20 like you, game is different there, play those 40 match at Rank1-3 killer, it's a different game, sometime I get super chill survivors but most of the time those 3k hours survivor ain't nothing to play with. Still good post.
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Most of my experience with solo queue is this. Sometimes very unintentional mistakes by any of us, then... BOOM 🤯...4K.
Are you a Spirit main? Spirit is TERRIFYING. Her and Plague creep me out. Very intimidating and fun to try and out!👍🏾
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***Try and outrun***
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I play in red ranks and my experience is pretty close to the OP's. I even main Legion and Pig... I don't use addons either.
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It's funny how people here speak about red ranks being fine, but as soon as SBMM kicks in everyone is screaming how unbearable high MMR games are
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Sorry maybe I didn´t notice. Did u mention the ranks u played as surv and as a killer?
Ver interesting post. Thanks for your effort.
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Even red rank killer can get a batch of solo's who can't do ######### (there are some good solos as well) but you can also have nothing but 4 team squads. I have had nights where I can't be stopped and nights were it's a sweat fest. I can tell you my wife played killer and did not lose until purple ranks.....MY WIFE (not very good I swear) so the beginning of killer is a cake walk which does not prepare you for the higher ranks. There is a lot more rng to this game than pointed out here. Map spawns as specific killer (some maps are terrible for certain killers), hex spawns, survivor spawns, pallet/loop/jungle gym spawns just to name some. I went against a Pig last week on Midwich and ALL her boxes were on the top floor. That is a example of terrible rng luck the time saved running to boxes allowed myself and another two escape. The chest spawns (keys), items survivors brings (flashlights, fire crackers, flashbang/mine) against Hag/wraith just some examples.
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You don´t get toxic comments on your profile for maining Legion? Thats a bold statement.
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I have played 1k hours as survivor and 2k hours as killer. My winrate as killer is MUCH higher than survivor. All killers are viable, DBD is a public match, if I can get a 4k as a rank 1 while being a potato at nurse, I can also get a 0k while playing one of my mains.
I dont always need gen defense, I only use it when I see toolboxes or when I see/suspect a 3-man or 4-man(often both tbh, I rarely solo and duo's with toolboxes). I rarely tunnel and camp unless I absolutely need to do one to make sure someone is dead or dead on hook.
Yeah, the foundation against a 4-man godsquad is hard on killer, but guess what? The foundation of the game for solo survivor against an average killer is even worse. I can play killer with a 85% winrate(3k or more, or a 2k while giving mercy due to DC/tome challenge, essentially, any game where I decide who escapes and who doesnt is a win by default, any game where I get a 3k and I dont decide if the last one escapes is also a win, a 2k and 2 escapes that I didnt let happen is a tie, simple as that). But my survivor winrate is quite low. Not my escape rate, my escape rate is about 70%, but the winrate where 3 survivors escape? during solo survivor, that's practically impossible.
So yeah, taking solo survivor into consideration(and thus, the lack of communications), and all killers are viable, if not somewhat overpowered. Look only at 4 man SWF deathsquads, and only 3 killers are viable.
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They are unbearable because people are used to win 95% of their games and with SBMM they suddenly can't.
High-level DbD gameplay is really problematic though, but we need SBMM to make players and devs realize that.
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Not really. Killers rank up quite fast without learning much. You can be rank 1 within a week without even learning the basics of pressure. There are so many players that just hook survivors onto the nearest hook, not thinking about how that hook impacts their game. Sure, you rather want to hook a survivor as quickly as possible to pick up another chase ASAP, but the closer you hook the survivor to gens, the less time it takes for survivors to rescue, and the less time it takes for them to be on gens again. Or that you can intercept the rescue easier if it's further away from safety, as you can cut off the survivor to the hook and perhaps even swap hooks, where if you hook nearby other survivors, a teammate can easily jump in and tank a hit and then you have 0 people on the hook with everyone running to safety.
Knowing where to hook a survivor can massively change the outcome of a game. There arent that many sweatlords. 5% is quite accurate. You're not always going to 0k because of sweatlords. Odds are often quite likely that you 0k'd because you made a detrimental mistake. And instead of improving your mistake, you rather blame it on the opposition while never learning from your mistakes.
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I'm talking about endgame chat... I never really get much hate. Could be because I don't tunnel or camp (unless it's absolutely needed) and try to have fun. I don't think I've ever had anyone comment on my profile either, lol. At least not yet.
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I mean, there are a lot of boring players at low skill, that would still win games purely because of how big the gap is between the weakest killer and solo survivor.
You cannot have a consistent MMR system at play, when the highest solo survivor play only barely touches low-tier SWF play.
If you want an MMR system, buff solo survivors to the point of them having a similar communication system as SWF would have(aka a ping system), then buff killers' base mechanics to compensate.
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Try Starstruck builds lol. I think I didn't get even a single game without salty endgame chat with them.
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This. You played against scrubs and played nice. Of course it was sunshine and rainbows; you were no challenge against people who expected to lose. Play for real and then see what happens. And exclude games that are all Console players; they literally cannot communicate with you.
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It was a good read OP I'm glad you did it
I play 60/40 Killer/Survivor so I can agree with you opinion to a degree (I don't send toxic messages after the match is over and yes I do get some toxic messages...mostly about camping and tunneling with I try not to do not much from the killer side... oh and yes I do have Cross-play on... I play on Xbox)
And we need to have official definitions on Camping and Tunneling (cause I think that there's a Survivor definition and a Killer definition)
Also right now I'm a rank 19 Survivor and a rank 18 Killer (yes I know that ranks don't mean anything but that's what the game says... and yea I haven't played much but opened DBD at times to check the Shrine and debate if I really wanted to play.. check my builds and see what I could do to change that whole thing up) and I did make it to Rank 1 before the first MMR test... never want to do that again
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Hi there! I started at a R17 Killer, yes, because I hadn't played this role since the most recent derank and then nudged down quite a bit with wins. I'd have to check where I ended up next time I'm able! That said I was matched sporadically with a variety of ranks (including red ranks), but most of them were 10-15 which is admittedly where my skill level realistically is as a Killer. I'm pretty bad at Killer!
This was not a post stating that I 'play both sides' or dismissing any Killer or Survivor experience, frustration, etc. I tried to make that abundantly clear about my skill level and experience to support the takeaway message at the end. Thank you for pointing out that I'd forgotten to mention my rank, that is definitely useful information to include!
Happy gaming! 😊
Oh certainly, I absolutely acknowledge that if I ever invested the time/effort to reach red ranks as a Killer I'd experience a steep increase in match difficulty! It's the same for Survivor - red ranks equal sweaty, sweaty matches for either side. I definitely tried to relay in my original post that this was not meant to be a 'Killer is ez, here's proof' kind of post! 😊 Instead it was merely meant to compare experiences and support the conclusion I arrived at about the similarity in experiences and my hopes that we can all bond a bit as a community.
Thank you for reading and for your supportive comment!
I hope that my original post come across as an argument for dismissing Killer complaints or 'proving' anything about the difficulty level for playing Killer! I tried to be clear about that in my post, and clarified a bit in the responses tagged above this one. To be clear though I am terrible at Killer - like embarrassingly bad. For the wins that I had I absolutely had to work for them. I think that my advantage is that I have more map knowledge and know the tricks and mind games I play as a Survivor so I was able to apply that in reverse.
Also one person's experience is not indicative of a community or game-wide experience so I am cringing at the idea that this read as me trying to make objective statements or come forward with "tHiS iS pRoOf". I actually work in data analysis so that pains me on several levels. 😂 My apologies to anyone who took it that way and I hope this clears up the intention behind my original post!
My post was not intended to read as any kind of 'evidence' towards any argument of any kind. I was just sharing my experiences and takeaways and hoping it would be interesting at the least and maybe help remind people to be kind in the best case scenario.
I appreciate your response! Happy gaming!
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I'm a Rank 1 Survivor so the higher toxicity than what you experience could be based on that (without knowing your rank to compare to). I personally think that the red ranks bring out the worst in both sides of the game and that losing for some people in those ranks causes them to lash out. I've had moments where I've really outplayed the Killer and I just immediately know I'm going to get some hateful messages over it.
That being said it definitely comes in ebbs and flows. I've had a month where I've barely gotten any messages or seen anything I consider bad mannered. Then there are times where I experience it so constantly that I take a few days as a break to decompress from the toxicity. Right now I'm in such a break!
I'd imagine that the messages are the same! Accusations of hacking or just general anger after an escape. End game hatch escapes especially. I just delete the messages and move on - friendly and kind messages are the only ones I respond to or keep! 😊
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Definitely! That's why I specified two important things. The first being that this was not meant to be read as indicative of the gaming community/experience as a whole. This was my personal experience. The second being that I was genuinely surprised purely because of the number of Survivors. "I was definitely expecting to see a higher rate of 'toxicity' as a Killer purely because there are 4 candidates for showing bad manners per match."
As a Rank 1 Survivor and Survivor main I feel like I'm targeted by toxic Survivors in DC's and just sabotaging plays plenty. 🤣 Survivors can be toxic. Killers can be toxic. Neither are better or worse, more forgivable than the other, etc. Hopefully as a community we can all strive to lower it for the sake of this game and each other!
Thanks for posting!
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Yeah, I am only like rank 11 or 12 as a survivor. I cannot remember which. Quite frankly, even that is boosted. This game thinks VERY highly of me for some reason.
But yeah, I didn't think of hatch. I would be lying if I said I didn't roll my eyes a little when a survivor finds it first and teabags all over it. But nothing I would ever send a message over, if I was the type to send messages. I guess that is why I asked, because nothing a survivor does makes me angry except for flashlights, which I run our lord and savior lightborn to deal with that. So no excuses for me to get toxic. Lol.
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There are a significant number of factors that could change my gaming experience! But for the sake of my curiosity I chose a number and stuck to it with no real intention of making a post about it if I'm being honest. But once I was done I found myself thinking about the results and decided a post with my takeaway was worth making if only to break up the usual tide of "Killers/Survivors are ez/toxic/trash/OP/etc".
No matter what my experience had been I'd still encourage everyone to remember that there are other players on the other side who are suffering frustrations and that we should all be kind to one another and try to grow and uplift our community. Naïve hopes for an online game? Probably. 😅 Still worth being positive about though!
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I didn't! And I meant to tag you in a previous message where I addressed that, apologies!
I'm a R1 Survivor and I started at R17 Killer (since I haven't played since the most recent derank). I don't recall where my Killer rank is now, I'd have to check when I can next. I believe I went against Survivors R10-15 primarily though I saw some red ranks and some new players - we all know the old rank mix-up song and dance.
Thank you for reading and replying! Happy gaming!
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Thank you for the read and comment!
Red ranks are sweaty no matter which side you're playing. I have two friends who just play until they get to the red ranks and then they stop playing until the reset - the frustrations of being casual gamers who often play weird builds or are just being silly and hanging out playing against extremely competitive meta builds is too frustrating for them. I'd recommend that if you ever find yourself feeling upset about red ranks! It's better to keep the love of the game and just take breaks here and there than burn out against people who are trying extremely hard. This goes for either side! 😊
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Regardless of which side you play you can end up in the red ranks with your eyes closed, unfortunately. I've been a red rank Killer before and I promise you I am not that. And if I'm being extremely honest I'm not a red rank Survivor either.
I don't take the game overly seriously. I'll play extremely altruistically, I experiment constantly with weird or 'useless' perk builds. I wear some pretty obnoxiously bright cosmetics (though with the lack of fog these days outfits don't really matter). If a Killer is really struggling I'll help my team escape and then throw myself on hook. Or if my team is being bad mannered and bullying a Killer I'll throw myself on hook. I have more fun supporting my teammates and interacting with the Killer than I do 'trying hard' so... I'm decent as a Survivor. Good at times. But never great... And I honestly can't remember the last time I was above a purple rank. 😪 I live in the red ranks and just... Hate it. LOL
I don't think that there's really any reason to ever be toxic. Not for perks or being outplayed especially. And if someone is being rude in game I wish people would just write them off as immature/pathetic and move on. It makes me genuinely... Sad? Disappointed? Both? That I have a handful of friends who won't even try this game because they have heard so many bad things about the community.
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sample size too small. not enough games to get to where things getting hard
Ergo, your data is incomplete.
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I've addressed this in a few replies so I'm not going to go into a ton of detail but I do want to just point out that multiple times in my original post I clarify that this is not indicative of any community-wide experience, this is not an argument about one side being easier than the other, and that this is purely my experience that I was sharing!
My takeaway message is that we all have similar frustrations with the game, with optimization, with the other side, etc. I also say that we should all remember that our opponents are other players and treat everyone kindly and try to shake the negativity that this community is associated with and build a more welcoming and positive atmosphere. I don't need any data to back up the point of my post since it was purely about being kind to each other! 😊
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Yea... I did take a break (that's how I got down to rank18 (lol)
But still I do like to see others players opinions on how they see the game... it's more fun for me
And i don't play competitively... I only use Corrupt for slowdown (even though it isn't)... And BBQ to see if any auras show after a hook (cause I don't like camping)... I love Whispers... And the forth perk could be anything that I feel comfortable in using
And for survivor it's Kindred and Spine Chill while the other two are what I feel comfortable using (no exhaustion perks)
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I dont need mmr ######### the haddonfield/red forest offering every match because i decide to play after midnight because of work.
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Problem is playing killer in red ranks game after game. Because good survivors have lost the respect for the killer that low rank survivor has. That is when people know they can start bully the killer because they won't hang on the hook 10 seconds later and look dumb.
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I play very similar the way u do. Add me to play together sometime =D
Steam code: 139525206
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^^This
Killers get put against 1 "Death Squad" and only remember the 0k they got and think the game is not balanced, yet forget about the other six 4ks, 3ks, 2ks and 1ks. People's egos are to inflated to accept the fact that they aren't as good as top tier killers, so the game must be survivor sided, even though the data shows Killers having a 60 to 70% win rate. I've even kept an excel document for several patches and got the exact same data as show by the developers, the game is definitely giving me about a 60 to 70% win rate.
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Unfortunately until they add the ability to port over paid cosmetics I'm trapped on Playstation! DbD is literally the only game I play on my PS so I'd love to play on PC but I'm too unwilling to lose all of my paid cosmetics. 😭
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