Survivors lack uniqueness when compared to the killers by A LOT. I think that needs to change.
Hello, this is my first post ever here on the forum (from what i can remember at least), i decided to come here and talk about this because i have been thinking about it for a while and i think this is a good place to share it.
I think it's safe to say that whenever a new chapter for Dead By Daylight comes out, be it an original or a licensed one, 90% of the time people are WAY more hyped about the killers than they are about the new survivors, something that is completely understandable and reasonable but at the same brings to light a problem in this game... which is the fact that killers are much, MUCH more unique than survivors in almost every way.
We can observe that by looking at what it means to the game and to the players whenever we have a new killer and when we have a new survivor. This is what it means for the game and players when we get a new killer:
-A new character with a new and unique design;
-New and unique skins;
-New and unique voice acting and sound effects;
-New and exclusive animations;
-A new execution/Mori;
-A new exclusive weapon;
-A new exclusive power;
-A BUNCH of new and exclusive addons;
-3 new perks;
-Sometimes a whole new mechanic that changes the way the game plays.
That's a lot for a single killer, right? now let's see what it means when we have a new survivor:
-A new character with a new and unique design;
-New and unique skins;
-New voice acting;
-3 new perks.
... Do you understand what i mean? look how much a killer adds to the game and how much a survivor adds to the game! It's crazy! Honestly, though, a survivor doesn't need to add whole new mechanics to the game like puzzles, teleport spots like TVs and stuff like that, but look at how much a killer is UNIQUE and how much EXCLUSIVE stuff they have when compared to a survivor! It's like we only have two survivors, a male and a female, and every chapter we get a new skin that comes with 3 perks for them, because none of them have anything to their gameplay that makes them unique aside from cosmetic and voice acting! A new survivor is almost no different from a Legendary survivor and that's kinda sad honestly, i wish we would be more excited about new survivors, but we can't help but only pay attention to the killer because they have so much more to offer in uniqueness and things only the new killer can do. Another thing that bothers me is how boring the survivor gameplay can get because it's always the same items and addons, there's never something new and interesting aside from new perks. We need more items, at least like... two new items, and we need to make ALL of the items useful, killers are tired of only seeing toolboxes and medkits but survivors also get tired of just bringing that because they're the most useful ones. Survivor gameplay needs something new to it, we need to spice things up a bit, and that doesn't mean we should have new OP stuff, just new things to make the game more FUN for both sides. Believe me, i want the game to be fair and fun for both sides even if i main survivor, i don't like not being able to play the game by getting camped and tunneled but i also don't like it when the killer doesn't get to do anything, just do gens and get out, maybe i might be ignorant about some things in the game but... well i still have ideas based on the experience i had in this game.
I presented a problem, now i must offer a few suggestions for change, right? It's only fair. I know how the game can go crazy when we change too much, so the ideas i have are based around making small changes that will make the gameplay experience better and more unique for survivors without really going crazy. Here are a few ideas to make survivors more unique and different from each other and also to add new stuff to their gameplay:
1-Add new addons for survivors that are EXCLUSIVE to the specific survivor, just like for killer. This is a way of making survivors more unique and making things more fun with items and seems kinda simple(when compared to more drastic changes). Each survivor could get a few new addons for each item, or they'd get a few new addons for an item that relates to the character the most, like Claudette with a Medkit. An example of an exlusive addon would be a Flashlight Addon for Jake that allows him to use the flashlight to highlight the killer's traps and belongings but that addon would disable the blinding function of the flashlight, it could also be more fair if the belonging or trap was only revealed to the user for a limited ammount of time. Or maybe a Medkit addon exlusive to Claudette that makes skillchecks bigger or makes the great skillcheck area a lot bigger, something of the sort.
2-Add new emotes or even animations exlusive to each survivor. We currently only have twp emotes in the game, pointing and calling, that's cool and all but it's also boring because every character does that and they do it in the exact same way. It would be cool if each survivor had their own unique emote that represents their character, and it would also be cool if the point and call emotes were also different with each survivor, making them more unique. Something that would be even cooler, but more demanding, is making basically making unique animations for each survivor at EVERYTHING, like running, walking, standing, etc. That's in the ideal world of course, and if that's too much it would be OK to just do the first ideas or maybe just make specific animations unique, leave running, standing and walking the same but change the other key animations, like vaulting, dropping pallets, jumping in and out of lockers maybe... stuff like that, but honestly just giving each survivor their own exclusive emote and maybe making the point and call emotes unique to them would be enough.
3-ADD NEW ITEMS and change some stuff about the current ones. One of the most boring things about playing as survivor is how you only have 4 default item types that you can take to a trial. We need at least two new items in this game to make things more fun and add variety, with one of them being firecrackers probably, the other item could be something totally new and creative, like something related to totems, or something related to anything in the trial, maybe even traps that survivors can use? of course they'd be weaker but it would be quite fun if survivors could make strategic traps, if it was made in a balanced way of course. Another thing that i think should be done is reworking tiers for some items and also some item functions. I think maps should be used more, but it doesn't help that there's literally two map tiers with one being rare and the other one being ULTRA rare, i think that maps, much like toolboxes and medkits, should have more tiers. I think there should be a brown map, a yellow map, a green map, maybe a purple map and a red/pink map, and the yellow map would be able to track totems, which is the main reason survivors use maps! it can have it's limitations, but it needs to be able to reveal totems. Keys also need a bit of a rework, like who the hell had the idea of making the most USELESS item in the game a rare item? i'm talking about the broken key, of course, which is literally the most useless item EVER, to me it's worse to find a broken key than a brown toolbox in a trial. I know the whole point of the broken key is that "iT Is uSeLeSs WiThOuT aN AdDon" and all that but that's a stupid concept from the start, and it's even more stupid that it is a RARE item. Like maps, maybe add more tiers and make the broken key a brown item and also make it a BIT more useful than what it currently is, also maybe change the 3D model to look like a broken key? it's so stupid when a killer tries to focus on you(even after the changes) and you're literally carrying a broken key with stupid addons but they think you have a pink key with strong addons. That's also an interesting idea for items, making the brown items have a different appearence so killers don't think you're bringing an OP toolbox when you're literally using a brown toolbox just for a challenge. :')
Anyway this is the feedback i have to give about the survivor experience and these are the suggestions i have to make the gameplay better and more unique for survivors. I know i'm not a person that knows EVERYTHING about the game but, you know, i've been feeling like this about the game for a while and i felt like i needed to share this just in case other people feel the same, maybe you think different changes could be done? IDK, these are the changes i think would be good. I really do feel like the survivor gameplay needs to be AT LEAST a bit more unique so we can actually get excited about new survivors and also that survivors need new things in their gameplay like new items and stuff like that. 🙂
Comments
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Btw sorry for the spelling mistakes and sometimes repeating words, i just had a lot to say and wasn't able to spot every mistake to correct it.
Also how do you guys feel about survivors having an exclusive special move? like a dodge or a kick or something of the sort, do you think that would be too much? how about adding an unique passive ability to each of the survivors? i think it would be cool if each one of them had a small passive ability that is unique to them, like idk... maybe being having a tiny bit faster healing speed? or getting more effect out of a great skillcheck... idk, something like that.
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Totally agree
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Idk I gotta disagree with the unique add-ons. If one survivor has a good add-on, then you're only going to see that survivor and I'd hate to have to play one survivor just because they have an add-on that suits my playstyle or item of choice more. I do wish they added more emotes tho. I still miss the teabag and point we were able to do for about a week.
Silly things like that just make the game feel fun again. Idc if it's cartoony.
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Well, when you play killer (if you do), don't you pick the one that fits your playstyle the most? These addons would connect to a survivor's preferred way of surviving, it serves the purpose of making a survivor unique and have exlusive skills, just like the killers. We can't make all the perks be exlusive to their owners, that would be too much, but exclusive item addons would be a smaller and more viable change to make survivors not feel like just skins, they need to feel different not only cosmetically (looks, voice and animations) but also in their gameplay, they are different people! (plus we already see mostly the same survivors, i don't think item addons would really make it that different)
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Uniqueness is not always necessary. And this is absolutely true for survivors.
It also doesn't tie players to specific survivors, and allows you to play as any of them without changing your play style. And how to play as a survivor, the player chooses himself, so it makes no sense for him to "show the way."
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That's not an absolute truth for survivors at all.
If uniqueness isn't necessary for survivors then why even have different survivors at all if all they have are perks that have NO exclusiveness to them? why do survivors cost the same as a killer even though they offer MUCH LESS than a killer does? Currently, nothing a specific survivor does is something that THEY exclusively can do, so what's the point of them being considered a different survivor? They're just cosmetics. You can still make your own way of playing with a survivor EVEN if they have exclusive skills, you can still equip perks, you can still equip your favourite items, you just have other small things that help make the character actually be a different person with different skills from the rest of the characters and makes it actually worth them being the same price as a killer. When you get a killer, you get a WHOLE new experience, when you get a survivor you get a cosmetic with perks.
Edit: Also, why would it be a bad thing to tie players to a specific survivor? It's so fun when characters actually have things that make them unique and it makes "having a main" ACTUALLY matter. Most people already tie themselves to a specific character in this game, people WANT to do that, the difference is that survivors don't actually have anything to set tem appart from each other, there's nothing making a Claudette main different from a Nea main appart from cosmetics.
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in my opinion, the survivors would have, in addition to the 3 basic perks that can be equipped on anyone, a unique passive system that is exclusive to each survivor and is directly related to the killer that came along in the DLC as a kind of mini counterplay .
I.E: Fengmin could have a system that made her doesn't scream with the Doctor's shocks (like calm spirit), but doesn't stop her from completing actions, she would not be stunned, the shocks would just disable the pop-up actions to appear like vault and drop the pallet, that is, you would be able to continue cleasing the totem even with shocks.Haddie Kaur could have a slightly wider field of view at nightfall.
Same thing with the rest of the survivors, some small thing that counter some specific killer, so the survivors would be unique and you wouldn't feel the necessity to always be playing with some specific meta (in case the system that makes survivors unique was due to addons as in your suggestion) .
Ps: In the case of unique DLC survivors like Mikaela, it could be a utility passive (general things), like not getting speed debuff on heal actions or not suffer from blindness, etc.
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I actually like your ideas, especially the unique addon for each survivor and the emote. The only problem with that is that there are already 30+ survivors, so it would be a lot of work for the devs for little income, so I doubt it would ever happen.
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I actually kinda like your idea! i have also thought about some sort of passive ability for each survivor that gives each of them a small bonus in the trial that suits their personality and style of survival, and the bonus would be small so it doesn't get OP or overwhelming for the killer but still being useful and unique for the survivor. That variation of it being related to the killer is also quite interesting and creates some sort of interaction and link to the survivors and the killers, i like it.
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Anything that makes any survivor meta or less meta is a terrible idea because it’s a nightmare to balance and punishes people for liking a weak character.
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I do agree that it would be a considerable ammount of work, but when you compare the work they have been putting into each and every killer to survivors, adding a few exclusive addons and like 1 emote for each survivor doesn't seem like that much, especially when you consider that the addons will just be icons that change item stats and the single exclusive emote each of them would get would be short and simple, especially when compared to killers who have entire execution moves. I don't want survivors and killers to have the exact ammount of content because that'd be too much, but survivors don't get nearly enough content to make them actually different from each other, and i feel like Behaviour owes us that. (Even more when you remember that killers and survivors cost THE SAME, so perhaps they have actually been receiving the income without actually doing the work that should be done)
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Well... none of that actually makes a survivor meta or less meta if you do it right, what creates a meta is something that overshadows everything else and works in most situations while other things are much more specific. For example, when a perk is too strong, or when the perk is just strong but the rest sucks, it creates a meta because the most viable and safe strategy is to use that same perk over and over again, because the perk is considerably more flexible than the rest, or that it is just too good. If these things are done correctly in a balanced way from the start, you won't get everyone using just a single character for a meta, because every character can be just as strong or fun and it's only a matter of what suits each player's style the most, something that honestly makes the gameplay more fun, it makes looking at a Meg in your lobby mean something different than just "oh it's a noob" or "oh that's a pro".
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i wanted to make a post about this at some point.
every dlc brings nothing new to the survivors just a skin with 3 (90% probably bad) perks.
they're counting on new chapters for this game survivability they don't do interesting events (every one if them is a copy paste from the other) no new game modes no gameplay changes ( 6 years and it's still the pallet/window looping simulator.
they gotta run out of ideas for perks and killers that can fit with this gameplay loop at some point what will they do then?
after like a couple thousand hours this game gets dull but people stick to it cuz there's no other one like it however if they refuse to change and make things interesting for existing players the game will die out eventually.
in a perfect world bhvr would realize that releasing new chapter every 3 month is not it and would instead make it only 2-3 a year and then focus on balancing the game and adding new content to it (game modes - gameplay changes) they should especially focus on giving the survivor side something that keeps them interested and work on buffing existing killers instead of releasing new ones to keep the killers interested.
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I think unique animations is as far as they should go. Adding unique items, add-ons and other things that affect gameplay would ironically drastically affect survivor pick rates.
It's completely unavoidable that one survivor would end up with something that becomes meta. Now all you see is that survivor. For future chapter survivors would become a pay to win character simply because they have the best add on or item.
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Survivors having anything balance related tied to them is a big no no in my book.
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Just to clear things up a bit the items wouldn't be unique for survivors, just the addons and emotes (or passive abilities, maybe, that's also an idea)!
I don't think it's completely unnavoidable that some survivors become meta, i think if done right every survivor will have it's value and people can choose the survivor that fits their playstyle. Killers are totally unique and different from each other, but even though there are very OP killers in the game, you can still see a lot of variety (at least i can in my games). Survivors with these changes wouldn't even be that different from each other like the killers are, so i believe we would not have extreme highs and extreme lows like with killers which is the problem. And about the pay to win situation, like i said, the survivors wouldn't be different enough for one to be OP (if things were done right), so i don't believe we would have that situation, also... don't killers have kind of a pay to win situation? since they are extremely different than each other with a few of them being OP or among the few stronger ones? i don't see the community complaining about that, why would it suddenly be a problem with survivors?
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This is a big no after 6 years.
Could you imagine someone who spent hundreds of hours on their survivor main and got them to P100 or any high prestige only for them to be given a crappy unique power or just a power that player didn't like?
It would ruin the game for many people I'm sure.
Not to mention the monumental task of coming up with 31 or more survivor powers. BHVR is not up to that task.
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My gosh some people react so dramatically to this idea-
First of all no one's talking about "powers" for survivors. Second of all... how could a survivor get RUINED just because of an item add-on that they can simply not use? or a passive that's just going to give them a small bonus at something? or an emote? none of those things can RUIN any of the survivors, and they can't do it wrong if they just do something that fits the character. It would be a good ammount of work but it's not like making 31 new killers, most of the work would be coming up with addons and passive ability ideas applying it to the game. Plus, again, people have been paying the same price they pay for killers to buy survivors and survivors come with way less stuff so i think it's quite fair to add these things for the survivors that already exist.
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