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Playing killer and mental health.
I stopped playing killer and started maining survivor this month, dbd now feels much more fun for me (so fun i actually ended up buying some cosmetics). Cuz i'm not clenching my butt cheeks throughout the match and i'm not getting frustrated at the second chances survivors get. 4 people aren't rubbing it in my face everytime they win, and i'm not receiving those hateful comments if i win against them. Play fair and go for hooks and the gens will fly, camp and tunnel one person out and survivors will massacre you with hate. I know it's just a game but when 4 people are ganging up against you, and your hard earned outplays are negated by the single press of the E button, it does feel bad cuz i'm human. I swear playing killer is the true horror in this game, cuz you're basically just a plaything for survivors and they'll make sure you have the worst gaming experience, because the game has given them the power to do that. I think the stress and frustration of playing killer in dbd just isn't good for one's mental health, i've stopped playing killer and i don't wanna go back to that crap ever.
Comments
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Killer can be some of the most frustrating experiences in gaming period and I really shouldn't be playing it. But I'm not very smart so I keep playing it, getting frustrated, and doing something stupid I immediately regret before quitting forever until I play again.
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Glad you agree! No matter what kinda mentality i go in with, i always end up getting frustrated, especially when my outplays and negated by Dead Hards (for example, used pig's ambush as an anti-loop, but the survivor pressed E on time so it doesn't matter).
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I just don't care about winning or losing, or gen rushers. I use all agression perks and no gen slow downs. Yeah I lost a lot of games bc of it , but with the mmr I'm at a point where the game is pretty fun. Screen tinkerer, it causes stress. Screw pop it just makes the games last forever.
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It gets easier, but you gotta play through countless hours of it until you are just numb to it.
I get bored on surv and need the 4 vs 1 rush to kick in to really enjoy the game.
I love facing flashlight swfs and stuff where the match turns into a brawl at the hook until all four are slugged.
Runningh around map playing nice 12 hook games is boring too, let go bros, you guys wanna brawl lets rumble baby
Franklins and Deerstalker are my two fave perks hahaha
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I don't really take the game personally that's a problem alot of people seem to have in this game, don't get me wrong I understand it can be frustrating at times but playing killer really isn't all that bad I still have fun with it way more than I do as a survivor just because survivor is boring to me at this point and killer has constant interaction throughout the trial which keeps me playing longer than repair simulator.
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Killer is extremely stressful as you're learning. The learning curve is very steep. There's also the human element of 4 people trying to gang up on a player. It's hard to keep calm and execute when that's happening. Perfectly doable, but arguably unreasonable to expect someone to stay calm and execute 7 or 8 actions/decisions perfectly in succession.
It's easy to say "I have X thousand hrs and it's not hard". I'm certainly guilty of it. But I absolutely remember how stressful it was from 0-2000 hrs, and it's probably ridiculous to expect a player to put in that much time to get over the hump.
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There are plenty of workarounds to the survivor meta. It might not involve playing your favorite characters or in a way you enjoy, though.
Sometimes I go into a match with the intention of attempting 12 hooks and playing normally. But after I get teabagged / macro flashlighted at the first pallet during the first chase I camp/tunnel out the survivor while smacking them on the hook and head nodding the whole time. I usually run killers and perks that support this playstyle too
Then after the teabagger is dead / DC's the other survivors in the postgame will be like "reee bad killer why did you tunnel reee" and give me some more -rep for the profile. But personally, that's how I deal with toxic survivors
Running 3-4x slowdown and hard tunneling is a sure-fire way to win though. I recommend it. Spreading damage is a nicety in this game at best and one that will probably go un-thanked anyway
When you are totally, totally done is when you swap to Bubba and start facecamping
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this sums it up perfectly.
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I have over 4k hours on killer and still get bullied sometimes. I've watched Otz get bullied. It happens and it sucks. I used to play in a sweaty SWF and I know how competitive and toxic those guys were. I ended up not playing with them anymore after I got tired of how much ######### they talked to every killer.
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I just lobby dodge if I am on a weaker killer and it's an obvious 3-4 man.
I don't take the dumpster tier killers into SWFs if I can avoid it, they usually don't deserve the easier game. I will play them if I am on a killer who can actually deal with a SWF. I basically never dodge if I am on Blight but I am dodging lobbies like crazy on Sadako
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And the thing is, the game has given them the power to act toxic. They only act toxic and cocky near loops in their favour (which is a lot of loops in the map) and when they know they have second chance perks equipped.
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Ive been playing killer for hours everyday since the Legion buff and I’ve been in a much better mental state. Super fun, compared solo queue. Idk, maybe I’m a unicorn but I simply enjoy killer and hate playing survivor.
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I found out playing for bps instead of wins helps temporarily however, no matter how many times you lose, if you keep getting survivors far better than the killer, this starts to overshadow it. Say you only get maybe 3 or 4 hooks per game and barely getting many bp.
Killer games don't work well with people who have depression, it really plays on it after a while, especially if the survivors are really toxic game after game. This is why I have turned into a mostly survivor player, I only play killer now in the extra bp events. I don't want to curb stomp new players but I would like a chance for the 2 kills/2 escapes the devs want to happen.
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My Killer mental health is in perfect health unlike that I have when I was desperately trying to reach Iri I in SoloQ.
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I've had my fair share of toxic survivors and I purposely lower my MMR by killing 2 at most if not 0 kills if the survivors are playing normally. Each killer has individual MMR so do what u will. I will normally start killing 3 once I reach a comfortable MMR where survivors are not toxic and challenging enough. It's been so good on my mental health with the reduced number of toxic survivors in the lower MMR, and even if there is toxic survivor I can camp and tunnel them. Leaving fast and not reading the end game chat helps too.
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I know you can hide it but I feel there isn't much point in even having a after match chat maybe 1 out of 20 matches someone says something nice.
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Well after playing survivor for awhile you learn the maps and healing hotspots people use then it's sneak time and down them so after you're sick of survivor you can always go back to killer with new knowledge.
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I feel you, and the worst part is that even after acknowledging all you said as true and relatable, I just know I will still be playing killer and getting myself those damn headaches and stress because I'm just too addicted to this hell, god I hate this
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Killer is rougher at night times than during the morning and afternoon. I dread having to play killer to complete tome challenges, so your post is completely understandable.
Never understood why survivors BM killers who are obviously losing the match because they're below the team's skill level, new to the game, new to the killer, etc. It's just not necessary.
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I'm always the odd man out here. While I've had my frustrating killer games like anyone else, I generally find it less stressful and generally play survivor far more seriously.
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Killer still needs polishing, the gameplay compared to survivor's enjoyment is drastic, every killer game you have to sweat your ass off to do good and survivors have so many second chance perks it's always easy breezy
I'm tired, sick and tired of chases just being a straight circle chase into dead hard and nothing else, the maps that have an abundance of that need to go asap
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If You think playing killer is worse than playing survivor, you know nothing about the game.
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If all you do is play solo queue I would agree but swf groups are so easy in stress compared to killer.
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Sometimes I play survivor with friends and I get bored pretty quickly. looping as a survivor also bores me. running in circles, drop pallet, running in circles again, drop pallet again... Killer is more fun for me but I could only do it for 2 hours a day because these kids kept annoying me. so i stopped playing with gen regression perks, i stopped expecting 3-4k, i went to the exit gate at the end of a round, opened it and went AFK. Rounds like that frustrated me a lot less.
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Killer is the more interesting role, but after playing this game for years I've become very numb to the actions and words of survivors. Yet, generally it also isn't enjoyable to play longer sessions as killer just due to the level of intensity you can start to see in games. It's hard to branch out and try new killers because the time investment to get them up to speed build wise is just too much especially if you're like me and don't have the energy to play a ton.
I feel though you shouldn't have to be forced into becoming numb to wild crap people hurl at you when playing killer. It's still pretty bad now, but before filter it was worse. Nothing ruins a chill gaming session like getting called slurs and being told commit exit game IRL. After a while you just have to tune it out or disable chat altogether so you never see it which I did for a while. Yet, when you do disable chat you miss out on genuinely cool times when you get players who are just nice. Like I have never felt more relaxed after a hard game then when the survivors were legitimately super chill in chat. You can even meet people to play with through endgame chat sometimes, but that's the rarity rather than the usual. I don't know what it is about this game, but it can bring the worst out of people.
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Behavior has managed to make the role that is supposed to be scary and powerful into something really stressful and anxiety inducing to play as.
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I chase someone for 3 mins. 3 generators done. pellets and windows all around. teabag after stunned via pellet or greed and around another 2 loop. I almost hit him, he dead hard.
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Unfortunately now you're just stuck watching 3 other people be monsters while you get embarrassed by proxy.
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A big part of playing killer well is knowing when to drop a chase. If a chase is occupying you more than three minutes, you’re doing it wrong.
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This post is extremely one sided and that's the problem of DBD and DBD community.I play both sides and we all face a lot of struggles.
As a killer,it can be annoying,that when I am trying to get better in a new killer and see the gens fly,fast heals,ruin is gone within 2 sec.
Especially when I DONT tunnel or camp and I see 4 survivors tbagging on the exit gate while I was trying my best,and after 3 gens popped i had to sweat.
But I never blamed the perks.Especially dead hard I never consindered it OP.Nor DS back to when it was still active while doing objectives.
As a survivor i have similar struggles.As a solo survivor,I was never angry because of the killer camping or tunneling.It is my teammates that killed me and then blame the killer for soft camp.
I dont get saved after looping for 5 gens,they wont do gens or they will be greedy and all stay in one place ,making easier for the killer to catch them and take advantage of their mistake to not spread in the whole map.
I think my survivor experience is what got me to give up the game for 3 weeks,along with some bad ghostface games.I had headache after every single game.
But when I came back I honestly didnt care.Is just a game,and both as killer and survivor I had good and bad games.
Move on to the next one.
Game itself is completely unbalanced.But I will blame it on bad MMR and possibly on the fact that there's only one objective for survivors.
Maps can be awful,for example RPD is the worst map for both sides.I had times as myers on RPD where I got the 4k and times as survivor where I was camped by a clown or outplayed by a nemesis.
But since 2018,I never remember myself as a killer where I was like ''Oh not dead hard again''. And as survivor I was never bothered with endgame builds such as noed-bloodwarden. Or Pop's and Ruin. Only time I blamed the perks was back when ruin wasnt buffed yet.But TBH bringing back old ruin would give some balance to the game.
Either way,My best advice is to take a break,and see DBD's bigger picture.The problems will not be solved if we keep trash talking each other and dbd will die.I love-hate Dead by daylight.I am angry at the devs for not doing something which is gonna give new players a better experience and old players soemthing to look for.After 6 years DBD is the same and it can be rl hard to understand the game,but also if u already understand the game,it can be toxic for your mental health.Either u play killer or survivor.And every game can have this effect on you ,as long as you let it.After a year I started having fun in dbd again,because I do not care anymore.I have become extra altruistic as survivor,most times ill die cause i will trade the last hook and as a killer I know when to put pressure,even it means camping on the endgame.I still have those days where I want to punch my pc,and delete my existance but those days,I learned to quite.If i see myself going back to old habbits i take another 2 week break. Come back and have fun.
I hope developers make the game enjoyable for both sides.I really do hope that..
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The survivor role is more relaxing, less stressful and more rewarding than the killer role. Killer mains that switched to survivor have always been like "wow, this is so much better, why haven´t i done this before?!"
Strangely it was never like this the other way around.
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Ah.. so I gotta drop chase when they drop safe pellet?
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Swf is pretty agonizing just because the people that you're playing with are the kind of people that only play survivor in DbD 😒
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My advice for people playing killer is this:
- Don't play a killer without strong anti-loop or insta-down. You WILL get bullied. If you really want to play an M1 killer, bring insta-down perks.
- Bring at least one slowdown perk (I personally use Deadlock). I dislike using slowdown perks in general, so I understand why you wouldn't want to use them. Trust me, you need at least one, even if it's Sloppy Butcher.
- If you load into a big map (Ormand, Crows, Temple), change your mindset. You cannot patrol gens on these maps, you need to focus on patrolling hooks and killing survivors efficiently. If you get a 2k on these, you're goated.
- Curb your expectations. You are not Otzdarva, you are not CoconutRTS, you are not OhTofu, you are you. You're not gonna 4k as perkless Clown for 50 games in a row while reading a newspaper and playing chess. Go for cool plays and sick mindgames, and build off of that. Enjoy the chase. Getting a hit at shack with the pallet dropped is worth 50 4ks.
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ngl sometimes playing killer is a chore... even when people aren't toxic and use normal game mechanics... imagine a guy who keep healing himself almost instantly DURING a chase for the entire match and you can't do literally nothing cause pallets are too many, alongside with safe spots and a lot of windows and you are using a pure m1 with no power... i swear sometimes i think that the best way to play this game is to trolling around with bubba (basement build for instance)
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If anything, learning and tolerating killer has extremely positive effects on your mental health. You will be far less frustrated when you deal with lunatics in the real world because of all your practice in the video game. Pogchamp.
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My mental health improved by playing survivor or something else. Killer just becomes less and less appealing. Which is ironic, if you consider that this is the main attaction of the game.
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Sometimes. Each situation is unique.
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I'm a killer main, and so...
For myself, It's The "Thankless Job" aspect of it. I already get enough of that BS at work, from people who ruthlessly tear into me for something that's not my fault, but they gotta vent their rage on someone, and while I understand that, I don't appreciate it. Then I come home, sometimes days after putting up with all that abuse to login for a few games of DbD in an attempt to escape all that soul crushing nonsense, but match after match, I get the same old treatment, if not harsher, simply for playing the role that this game can't exist without.
Is it so wrong for me to just want to have fun, relax, take up the challenge or present it to my opposition in the vain of good sportsmanship? sigh, instead I get bullied in game, harassed, abused in messages, and even threatened or told to commit suicide, just because I was trying to make the game equally fun and challenging for the survivors I go up against.
There's only so much a person can put up with before they decide the effort isn't worth it, and I've been playing this game as killer less, and less every month, because it just doesn't "feel" worth it anymore. Hell, even playing survivor still earns me Ire from my teammates because of perceived inadequacies on MY part, resulting in THEIR loss. Even if you put Game imbalances aside while playing killer, I welcomed everything the devs added as a new threat or challenge that I would have to deal with and try to overcome in order to win in stride, but sadly despite my best efforts... "It's a thankless job, but somebodies gotta do it!"... in the end, this has ultimately become the Killer Players/Mains creed, but that doesn't mean survivors should feel free to be bunch of egocentric and entitled brats to the ones who take up challenge of doing the job! Far too frequently they bemoan or assault Killers for doing what the game itself dictates they do in order to win, just as it does for them.... which is to say: WIN by any means necessary!
FFS Survivor mains, at least try playing killer for a month before you ruthlessly tear into them for doing their job! I just feel it's ridiculous for Survivor mains to continue treating the Killer players of the game like they're repugnant human garbage, just because they chose to play the role that makes this game work, and even worse... have the gall to ask: "Why doesn't anyone one want to play killer anymore?"
Yeah... If this game dies, I know who to put the blame on, and, "Spoiler Alert!" It's not the devs.
Treat your fellow players with respect, learn what they can do, strive to experience both sides and then adapt your playstyles accordingly, but above all have try to have FUN together, and in good sportsmanship. This game can't exist if your opposition can't present a challenge to you, and will die if no one wants to play the role they chose... so stop hating them for their win, stop berating them for your own faults/inadequacies, and start thinking about what you/your team could've done better, but overall respect the fact that without them, there wouldn't be a game in the first place.
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I hear a lot about it being map design and I have to agree. I have a friend who wanted to play killer.. got the game.. got the dlcs for myers ect ect and they quit because it was frustrating and obnoxious play for them which im still trying to get them to come back (and survivor isnt for them much).
I play killer often and the major things that bug me are.
1] Huge maps
2] safe loops always around the next corner or just any loop we both doing the same little dance that time only matters for the killer (mental exhaustion) Also this is kinda boring lets be honest (but i know its needed to actually live against the pretty buff killers)
3] Sometimes hook distances (with no offerings) can be an issue but not too often thankfully.
4] Super good Swfs (cant do much about this but balance of perks of course.) Hell even moderately good swfs can be a hassle mostly since they just know where you are at any given moment which goes against the game itself. Thankfully lower mmr swfs are easier to handle with playtime however (and i dont got an issue with those since its always cool to survive with your friends in a casual way)
5] Ok this ones pretty big but its like super minor. environment Collision with stuff that shouldn't! that random fluffy bush or grass stalk turns into a wall you just walk into and cant move for a sec.. such a big headache
Ok after making that little list (prob more i didnt list) I get it with Survivors as bigger maps make it easier but also without a rushing ability or teleport its near impossible for a m1 to keep up and get across a huge ass map. Good example is haddenfield. If they only shrunk this map down just a bit by removing a lot of the excess it would be in a right spot of big but not huge. So to balance this ill make a survivor check list of annoying things about killer .
1] If you dont know the loops like some gospal you seem helpless. Only newer player issue of course but if the game bleeds new players it wont sustain players at a good place (which in turn will help with SBMMR as well)
2] Killers have some crazy perks Ill tell ya from their perspective . Several hex boons are super scary and if you can't locate them without studying exact totem placement you are so out of luck (or you lucky and they have a ######### placement right in front of you) Again maybe a new player issue but.. like i said this game has a lower mmr base too to think about too. (I know its rare to mention but starstruck is kinda crazy but i guess thats balance... and forget the idea of just not being around a survivor getting hooked... i get hit with exposed without hearing a heartbeat.. at least give a warning to allow me to react and move out of it if you at the edge of it) I know its perhaps a "get good situation" but people can't improve if shits just not explained or random factors like killer perks such as this influence a game completely which feels like some perk to combat the OP swfs (arms race??)
Ok thats about it i dont want to bloat this reply. Probably missing stuff but its a reasonable amount to add to this discussion. Of course its my opinions as I perfer the game is more slower and methodical of the quick pace and stress
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Agreed with everything except for the part that it's not the devs fault. It is the devs fault, they made survivor the power role, they gave them second chance perks and made maps and loops mostly in their favour. Survivors won't be acting cocky if the game didn't give them that feeling of power and advantage. The killer should have been the power role, period.
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The cycle of revenge is by design. The devs created this as an experiment in human empathy and ruthlessness. I recognize this and take a break after every killer match.
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well.. I'm not using Nurse btw.
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