Visit the Kill Switch Master List for more information on this and other current known issues: https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/kb/articles/299-kill-switch-master-list
Get all the details on our forums: https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/436478/sign-up-now-to-receive-a-recap-of-your-2024-dead-by-daylight-stats/p1?new=1
Do you think there are comeback mechanics on DBD?
Lately I've been thinking about comeback mechanics on DBD and whether they exist or not. Many games have implemented them either to the annoyance of more hardcore players and perhaps delight to casual players.
From what I understand comeback mechanics are usually added when there's a strong snowball potential in the game. So it's only fair to also discuss snowballing in DBD.
Some examples from other games that offer comeback mechanics to the side that is behind are:
1) League of Legends: Bounty rewards were introduced a while ago. Basically if a player is doing too well, their worth increases (in gold). So if they play recklessly he can essentially award gold to the opposite team and gold is usually translated as advantage (through items).
Snowballing: over the years there have been many champions with great snowball potential that can single-handedly affect the result of the game if left unchecked (some of which are Master Yi, Riven, Draven) because they can verse many people at once.
2) Fighting games: example being Tekken 7. Basically when you are getting beat up and you have less than 40% HP, your life bar flashes red and you do a lot more damage with your normal attacks. On top of that you get access to 2 more moves that do a lot of damage each, meaning you have an easier time to turn around the match. This mechanic is called Rage.
Snowballing: Tekken is a very combo-heavy game with a lot of strings and it can sometimes deal as much as 40% of your lifebar with a mistake. The game has seen more ridiculous times in the past with absolutely broken stuff in it as well as not having the Rage mechanic mentioned above.
So I would like to ask you as well, do you think DBD suffers from snowballing whether that's killer or survivor and do you think there are comeback mechanics for killer or survivor if behind? Also should there be more comeback mechanics? Why or why not?
Discuss.
Comments
-
Currently there is no true comeback mechanic though snowballing is predominant for both sides depending on so many factors (not necessarily a bad thing).
Something like a comeback mechanic could be nice. Like if certain gens keep repeatedly kicked then work speed on those specific ones repair faster up to the point where it was. This would help the recent problem of only trying to hold a 3 gen and nothing else. And for killers if they haven't gotten a hit within a certain amount of effort (time or hooks or whatever) then they get a instant down on next hit.
We're just spit balling ideas but some kinda "help" mechanic could be nice for each side (though we worry it would be abused or become a crutch for players)
1 -
I think one of the obvious problems is that a comeback mechanic for Survivors would just be doing gens faster--that gets them closer to going out, and it's an obvious boost. Easy to take advantage of, easy to adjust the magnitude, could get to the point where finishing a chase before gens go isn't really on the table (although that won't help the 3-gen camping too much).
But what sort of comeback mechanic actually helps Killers? If they're losing that badly, the key thing is likely the opposite; too many gens have gone. An instadown probably wouldn't work--some powers mean it won't come into play at all, and many situations won't lend themselves to snowballing off the one hook (if the chase can be won). And built-in slowdown or regression would probably do nothing unless it blocked all gens... but that's so obvious that everyone would just go to ground until it's over.
If you want comeback mechanics, both sides need to benefit equally. But the game is asymmetrical, and an easily-used passive buff would work for Survivors, but is super strong, but what can actually benefit Killers as a whole and not just be ignored when they get into another chase?
0 -
No. The exact opposite.
This isn't a game of draws. It's a game of snowballs.
One bad chase early on, or just happen to go the wrong way on certain maps and survivors all got on one gen with PTS? 1, maybe 2 gens gone and you're going to struggle to recover.
Two survivors get hooked at the same time? Killer probably wins right there.
0 -
There are no comeback mechanics in DBD but I think that's a good thing personlly.
1 -
Before its change, NOED devastated teams. It still does (to a lesser extent). Saying instadown anything isn’t a good comeback mechanic for killers is absurd.
1 -
If they could implement comeback mechanics that were balanced for both sides and make it fun and rewarding, I'd be all for it.
But this is BHVR we're talking about and nothing is well-implemented or fully realized so I have a miniscule they could pull off good comeback mechanics. Also they can't sell it as a DLC and there are only 2 things that motivate BHVR; money and extreme backlash.
0 -
The hatch mechanic is the anti-snowball mechanic but it only affects the last survivor. I would replace the hatch with the following:
Every time a survivor dies an exit gate becomes powered. If both gates are already powered, one gate becomes open. Time to manually open the exit gates is increased to take much longer than a generator. Completing the 5 Generators now instantly opens both exit gates.
That image is current vs desired game balanced based on how many survivors are left. Right now a survivor dying is really really bad for a survivor, which is why tunneling is so incentivized. With the suggested system, killing a survivor would power an exit gate, encouraging confident killers to spread their hooks out. Killers feeling unconfident about winning the game would still want to sacrifice, but it wouldn't be as punishing to the remaining players because there's one more "objective" the killer has to patrol.
0 -
One instadown after a long period without a down is not the same as NOED (also NOED's got a speed boost). It also doesn't affect all killers equally (Killers that rely on special hits of one sort or another either already HAVE an instadown or don't benefit except by being M1 killers). That makes it a bad thing to implement as a comeback mechanic.
that is a terrible idea in just about every conceivable way. Someone DC's? Well, Killer had better not go the wrong way on a big map or think someone's actually on gens, otherwise everyone's out. Also every endgame effect has instantaneously been gutted.
1 -
I don't think you read my comment very carefully. Time to open an exit gate manually (without doing gens) would be vastly increased. 20s -> 180s would be my recommendation, since that's double the time to do a generator. If someone DCed, it would essentially just mean the killer has one more generator to patrol, albeit this generator is more important but also takes more time to complete than a normal one.
0 -
You didn't read carefully enough. Manually opening the exit gates instead of doing gens would take much longer than a gen itself and can only have one player working on it maximum. If someone DCed you'd essentially just have one more generator (albeit more important but that takes more time to complete but that can't be regressed) for the killer to patrol.
A few endgame perks would need a passover, yes. But we're also fixing a fundamental design flaw which is a small price to pay compared to alternative options.
0 -
Do you mean hatch currently is anti-snowball or it should be with your suggested changes?
Also how did you come back with that graphic?
Your suggested changes sound very radical, but when you mentioned spread hooks it started to make sense. If we're going by radical changes I think survivors gaining gen speed, or the number requirement of gens needed to be done after a survivor dies would sound like a decent comeback mechanic. Just my suggestion.
0 -
Hatch is currently anti-killer-snowball but it doesn't exist at all until one survivor is left and then it kicks in HARD. It would be better to have an anti-snowball that kicked in constantly throughout the game but to a lesser degree.
I made it in MS Paint lol.
Adjusting gen repair speed is an alternative option but has some big problems. Namely, the number of generators the killer has to patrol still shrinks as the game goes on leading to easier patrolling and a classic 3 gen scenario, as well as this system cannot replace the hatch because one survivor would immediately reveal themselves doing the first of two remaining gens, for instance, because of the killer's gen notification
0 -
Snowballing is part of the game and an important one. Killers start out slow and then ideally snowball later into the game. Killers should not be forced to play a slow slog every single game.
1
