http://dbd.game/killswitch
The Real Grind Not Talked About Enough...
Iridescent Shards...
While the Bloodpoints grind is being addressed with the prestige reworking coming it's way, I feel as if the Iridescent Shard grind is incredibly halting progress more than anything else for newer players, with the grind growing exponentially with each Chapter releasing. If BHVR is focusing on releasing a steady stream of content at the same pace they have done, in a few years the Iridescent Shard grind will start to become a sizeable issue that cant be ignored.
Why Change The Iridescent Shard Grind?
Dead by Daylight at it's core is still a horror game, and the grind to it can be unbelievably frustrating for newer players. The game is unique in comparison to other games, which makes it appealing, but the limitation as to what you can do probably shuts down a lot of fun for a lot of players. Furthermore, there are obviously going to be meta perks that people want to use over anything else, but even in that regard, people who want to unlock everything are going to have a rough time.
Let's Get To The Numbers (This One Is Going To Be Long)...
It takes 9,000 IS to unlock a single character in DbD, this alone should be an issue since buying a perk from the Shrine of Secrets is typically 2,000 IS (this isnt considering events and other factors) meaning that getting to perks to non-licensed survivors is cheaper (6,000 IS) (but more random) than getting them through leveling and ultimately more time efficient.
There are 7 survivors to start with (8 if you are on Console since Console starts with the Spark of Madness DLC, but for the sake of consistency we aren't counting Feng Min or Doctor as unlocked from the start), making it so you have to unlock or buy 14 survivors. Their perks can be obtained separately for 84,000 IS, or unlocking all of those characters (which also required BP grinding as well) for 126,000 IS. Suggesting you buy all characters AND try to buy all licensed survivor's perks from the Shrine of secrets, you are required to get 48,000 IS on top of 126,000 IS for a total of 174,000 IS. This is just for survivors.
For killers, you start out with 4 killers (5 if on Console, but again, we are treating the Spark of Madness DLC as if it weren't unlocked yet). This creates 13 non-licensed killers that can be unlocked with IS. While all of their perks can be obtained through the Shrine of Secrets, I will instead be ignoring that for non-licensed killers since most people try to unlock all killers due to their unique gameplay per killer. Unlocking all non-licensed costs 117,000 IS. There are 9 licensed characters, obtaining their perks takes 54,000 IS for a total of 171,000 IS.
To unlock all perks and all characters with Iridescent Shards it will take 345,000 Iridescent Shards.
The only way to obtain Iridescent Shards is to increase your account level outside of events and login rewards. The time within a trial grants 1 XP per second up to a maximum of 10 minutes, for 600 XP. Iridescent Emblem Status grants 18 XP per Emblem for 72 XP suggesting you get Iridescent Emblem Status per match. This totals to 672 XP per match suggesting each match only lasts for 10 minutes.
647,000 XP is needed to be obtained for a single devotion account level. Which amongst all levels grants 46,335 IS per devotion account level. Since 345,000 IS is needed to unlock everything, you will need to be Devotion 7 Level 45 to unlock literally everything in DbD without spending money.
How Does This Equate To Time Spent?
You will need 4,817,420 XP to get the total amount Iridescent Shards needed to reach Devotion 7 Level 45 (to even have enough IS to buy everything). Using the math for the previously mentioned matches, the maximum you can earn within a 10 minute match is 672 XP, meaning you need to play a total of 7,169 matches to get all that XP.
This means it will take a minimum of 71,690 minutes (1195 hours, or almost 50 days) of actively being in a match to obtain all perks.
Suggesting someone plays DbD for 4 hours a day (which is super generous for playtime) , with a 10 minute queue time and load period between matches. It will take 597.5 days (1.7 years) to get enough IS for everything. This isnt even considering chapter releases during such grind which will further increase the grind for Iridescent Shards.
How Is This Bad?
The average player of any game, doesnt have enough time to invest to unlock everything. Most people play more than one game, most people have lives that influence when they can and cant play. People are more likely to fork up money in this situation.
If DbD was a Free to Play game, this monetary practice wouldn't be an issue since the game would be free and spending money on characters and such would be the main stream of revenue. But DbD isnt a Free to Play game (yes, it was given out for free on the Epic Games Store, but it's still not technically free). Dead by Daylight is a 20 USD game, spending money should be an option, but shouldn't remain the only option for those who aren't fortunate enough to have the time to spend 4+ hours a day on a single game.
Comments
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I thought you only get bonus emblem XP for your highest emblem. So if you got 4 iridescent you only get one 18 XP bonus, not 18 for each emblem.
I may be wrong about that.
I do think there should be more consistent ways to earn IS but I kind of doubt the devs will touch that anytime soon. They'll keep giving some away for log in rewards and doing the occasional XP boost events but until the game starts to really die I don't think they'll meaningfully change the IS grind.
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They could at least reduce the price the more characetrs and perks are in the game,
for example why should I get a survivor if I have 2 of their perks and only need to see 1 in the shrine?
you spend 4000 IS or 3000 IS in shrine to unlock 2 perks,
and the character still costs 9000 IS,
- if I just get the perks from shrine instead of buying the character survivor I can save half as much
- 1500 x 3 = 4500 and that is half of 9000 IS
I wouldn't say for some people the grind can be hard but for others it can,
and the prices,
again... why should I get survivor if I could just get their perks from shrine and put them on my main character?
and spend half as much IS than compared to if I bought the character..
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Perks in the shrine are currently on sale. They usually cost 2000 or 2700 shards (if they're new).
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2,000 Iri-Shards are needed to buy a perk from the Shrine of Secrets, during certain events this value is decreased. Perks in the Shrine currently cost 1,500 Iri-Shards because of the Twisted Masquerade event.
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Iri shards are access to content for FREE. You can buy literally whoole DLCs and entire skins with just an ingame currency. You should be happy that you can do it at all, while other games dont even have that feature to begin with.
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I've always bought most perks for 1,5k regardless of events
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Again, I don't think you fully understand the issue. Dead by Daylight is still a paid for game. 20 USD for the game. It uses a Free to Play model for it's microtransactions which would be fine, if ya know, the game were free, but it isn't. And even if you paid for all DLCs, allow me to throw some numbers your way.
The Killer and Survivor Expansion DLC (containing all non-licensed killers and survivors) costs 30 USD per for a total of 60 USD. So if you wanted all non-licensed killers and survivors as well as the game itself, it will cost 80 USD. The normal AAA game costs 60 USD, so already exceeding normal AAA prices. When you take into account that licensed killers and survivors exist, it will require 72 USD to buy all DLC. So suggesting you buy literally all DLC through the store it will cost 132 USD to own every single character (this doesn't even consider the expanding character roster).
But what about Auric Cells?
Well youll need 22000 Auric Cells to buy literally all characters (licensed and non-licensed) for 191.31 USD excluding the price of the game itself (212.31 USD game included). And yet again, I must state that the roster of characters on both side are growing further. Why is Auric Cells the more expensive route? Well buying a DLC with 2 characters is 8 USD while buying them with Auric Cells costs 1000 AC, which equates to 10 USD (and DLCs like the Resident Evil DLC that contain 3 characters cost 12 USD while requiring 1500 AC or 15 USD).
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If this game became free to play.. I feel like the variety of things that you could buy with free currency (shards) would be massively reduced. Look at what happened to fall guys after it got bought by epic and converted to f2p: You can't buy anything decent with free currency anymore and they expect you to buy everything with real money.
If DBD went free to play I would expect it to become even more grindy, prices on characters to be raised (or they wouldn't offer the option to buy new DLC with shards), or reduce the selection of what cosmetics we can buy with them.
I know that there's a big grind for shards, but that's kind of the point.. BHVR would prefer that you pay real money. I'm happy with the current state it's in because they're still offering ######### that I actually want and can obtain with free currency. I just hope they keep doing double XP event regularly
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The issue is that spending money should feel more like an option to a newer player, it shouldn't be something they are pressured into doing. When I first started playing, the Iri-Shard grind wasn't as bad so it wasn't super stressful.
My main concern comes with how will this grind be addressed in the future, it already takes a super long time (and a lot of money) to unlock everything, but as more content gets added, the more Iri-Shards that are required to unlock everything, thus making the problem worse and worse.
If BHVR is going to address the issue with the Bloodpoint Grind, I feel like addressing the Iridescent Shard issue shouldn't be off the table.
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It took me a year of playing just to get every killer and survivor perks unlocked on everyone. So the time investment is real.
The shards are indeed a goodie in this game able to buy characters and outfits but I think many people will end up just buying that orginal killer and or survivor bundle then buy the licence ones. Most new players don't realize how valuable the shards are until after buying things with real money and playing for a few dozen hours.
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Kind of agree. But I can see why they handle them like they do. They need sales to keep the game going, can't just be giving out every original chapter for nothing.
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If you buy every single character also with full price yes. I can write down how i did it with my account. I bought straight up the silent hill edition back then which was on sale for 25 euros (Numbers may differ from few euros cuz I am not looking up now everything just for this reply I am sorry). I then bought some DLCs along the way like Myers, Pig, Oni, Stranger things and Plague oh ye and bubba. All on sale for 50% black friday so I just payed 3,50€ on each chapter except for bubba since hes a killer only chapter so he is even cheaper with 2,50€. 45€ - 50€ for basicly half of all DLCs. Over the course I bought with shards Blight, Legion, Jeff, Deathslinger, Zarina and Trickster. I bought ofc the other license chapters but all only on sale.
I also bought entire skins for shards which would save me also a ton of money. I have on this account a total of 800 hours and now every single chapter, I miss a few survivors I anyway never touch and play like Felix, Yun jin and Quentin, I did bought Freddy with cells back then.
I am not entirely sure about all the exact purchases over time but I am pretty sure still close at 100€ with an pretty damn big account now. I wouldnt call this HUGE if you compare this to many other games. I am not saying dbd is the perfect game in terms of store purchase but it is way much better then basicly 95% of the games on the entire market and there is very little room to complain or critzise imo, maybe you should calm down a little.
Skins are abit overprized though.
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the state of monetization in gaming is a ######### mess
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