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New Killer Negativity
I honestly wasn't expecting to see the such negative reception the new killer is getting. From what I can gather a lot of it has to do with a perceived bad design, peoples expectations being way too high, and supposedly bad gameplay. Has any other killer received this type of attention in the past? I'm fairly new to the DBD community so a lot of this discourse is new to me.
Comments
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Honestly even knight was the same, people just liked him more because of his aesthetics.
Besides him, i mean release legion was pretty bad, but i didn't play at the time so i don't know how bad the reaction was.
Twins with all the bugs and camping, slugging and tunneling was also bad
Trickster was bad to if i recall.
But, yeah this chapter really didn't make the best first impression, it's rough
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I doubt there was a killer as bad as this one tbh, includes ptb.
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The negative reception to the new Killer is well justified. The new Killer nearly dont have any power and is the reincanation of an M1 Killer. Means the killer is only playeble on low mmr or very very disgusting and borring on high mmr.
In terms of resived attention BlueHorkew allready mentioned all killers, that dont got good feedback, but this one get the worst.
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Yes knight, trickster, and twins had awful reception on their PTBs. For different reasons, but this isn't the first killer that dropped and mostly negative feedback has been posted about them.
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I think all of those at least got SOMETHING positive, though.
Like, the defence of SM's current gameplay has boiled down to 'I like M1 Killers'. Whether something is fun is subjective, sure, but that doesn't contribute to actually analysing the gameplay loop and power depth. They've released a kit that doesn't have anything positive to say about it except "Huh, that's a new type of skill check for Survivors, neat". All the benefits the power has are either riddled with caveats (tiny range, super short undetectable, delay on undetectable, short duration, claw trap does nothing and requires the Survivor to interfere, exposed takes ages to build up, power lets Survivors know what's going on so they can just leave, radar requires holding another button, etc.) or just something that an M1 Killer with no slowdown can't capitalise on. They made a trap-based Killer whose power works like Ghostface's, but without any sort of reliable stealth access or selective application of the exposed. <_>
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Well everything is done really badly in the new PTB. Even the new killers walking animation is so bad that I can not watch it.
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How was this unexpected for anyone. This woman is just barely cooler than Trapper, which only gets a pass because how clunky he looks makes him more endearing than threatening. The new killer doesn't, because the design is screaming "I'm so cool" but we're not feeling it.
Legion isn't particularly terrifying, but we got used to them. Seeing them run at light speed at you with their knifes up does make you want to run away.
Kpop bait doesn't feel particularly terrifying either, but the psychotic voice over and the murder eyes are carrying his look and theme.
The new killer feels kinda bland design wise in every aspect. It's just "woman with mask". The mori isn't particularly impressive either. It's just... It's worse than Clown because at least he comes across as a sarcastic design.
For a killer to fit, you either look like nightmare fuel or campy enough that getting murdered by them feels like a punishment for not taking them seriously. And she is neither. She's just generic action horror baddie from that one movie that you watched once and immediately forgot how it was called.
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Either way I'll give her a play, but it's not what I expected. That being a woman in a lab coat not gonna lie. It's a cool design.
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*shudders at memories of infinite mending Legion* Be very grateful they got rid of that.
@topic She does seem pretty underwhelming. At least from the bit of gameplay I've seen. Concept wise I think it was a cool choice. Well besides the name.
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There's a lot to be desired from the new killer that just wasn't met. I think her name is bit weird, she really could have just been called "The Tracker" honestly. Too much of a focus on the skull-drones but her whole gimmick is more tracking than skulls. Her perks are just weirdly situational that I don't really see them being used often. Her power as a whole just looks like knight's with less uses, and it also screams 3-gen killer and is honestly not a fun power to work around, unless you like those long games. Her mori looks like an updated Freddy's.
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Literally every killer I've seen announced on here gets this reception. Every killer has been 'absolute trash needing immediate buffs' for a while now.
Unfortunately BHVR have invested way too much in map warp and anti loop killers for too long now and no one imo is going to go back to an M1 killer like this..
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Yeah they want to get extremely overpowered killers like Blight, so of course everything will be declared as trash.
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No, they actually want KILLERS, not survivor playthings.
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I don't think expectations were too high, I think expectations were shunted in a very specific direction. This isn't people mad because they expected "better", they expected something different, and something very specifically different at that; people convinced themselves it was going to be a robot/mechanical killer and rather than accept their guess was off the mark, started calling it misleading.
At least in some instances, not everyone.
People are also just incapable of accepting that there are forms of horror that aren't "big slasher man/monster", hence people mad about her aesthetic and claiming she doesn't fit despite that clearly not being true.
Balance is where people are a little more on the mark, she does seem weak- but I've noticed a trend where anything other than a strong chase-oriented power is considered a failure of design and the devs oughtn't have bothered, which is a little frustrating. I love that we have another trap killer and another tracking killer, personally, so I hope she's buffed significantly.
As for reception, we had a lot of these same problems with Trickster's release. Apparently, a bunch of people didn't learn anything from that.
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IMO Skull Merchant and Knight are very good indicators that we should reduce the number of Chapters each year to 3. Each year there is at least one Chapter which is underwhelming with at least an unpopular Killer and/or Survivor. This year even has two with Knight and Skull Merchant.
What is the point of having 30+ Killers if people dont want to play at least a third of those because they are boring to play?
Let alone that each year at least one Chapter (mostly the Winter Chapter) is full of Bugs. This also shows that BHVR is moving too fast for their own good.
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I dont think her ability is entirely garbage. It definitely needs buffs and quality of life changes to make it on par with other killers so that her play rate isn’t reaching the negatives.
Though people instantly jumping to “The new killer is worse than trapper.” because her ability isn’t solely based around chase is unfair. Having abilities based around the same aspects ruins the fun and we can see that with the way devs have been on a spree with releasing anti-loop killers for the past 1-2 years.
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People are underwhelmed by the power. Off the top of my head, some of the highest pick-rate killers are Huntress, Wesker, Blight, Nurse, Oni, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some. They all have a higher mechanical skill cap and they're stronger. Players like fun to use powers and are often underwhelmed by "click button to do the thing" powers.
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No, the issue is, that the new killers design aims at locking down a 3 gen. Which isn´t particuarly fun. Not for survivors, nor for killers.
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Its true but desired by the playerbase to play as.
I mean most popular playstyle is gen defense.
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She is a bad copy from the doctor , her morri is a bad copy from freddy and even the concept is a bad cooy from predator.
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This is the first chapter in a while that didn't get leaked months in advance so everyone let their imaginations run wild and are mad the killer isn't what they imagined. This is the first time in a while we went almost completely blind into a ptb and the player base can't handle it because they set their expectations with no information and are blaming BHVR for it. No matter what happened with this chapter people would've been upset.
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100% agreed.
This won't be the first time either.
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So you've only started playing DBD 3 months ago? The only other 2 killers that got such a reception in the last 2 years were Knight and Sadako.
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Because sadly with map design, Gen speed perks, and toolboxes with BNP Gens will fly without some sort of Gen Defense..... either by Killer Power or Perks.
The Skull Merchant really doesn't have the power to fully defend a Gen outside of commiting to a 3Gen
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It probably also doesn't help that there's a bunch of already angry people hitting the forum after the Eruption nerf. They're not happy with BHVR in general, so..
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The playerbase doesn´t want to play like this. I would even go as fas as that most players would prefer a more varied build. Instead of stacking slowdown perks and 3 genning.
But when they do, they get simply stomped.
For example, a couple of days ago i completed the "carry a survivor for 160 meters" Archives challenge. Equipped Iron Grip and Agitation. No slowdown perks. Didn´t tunnel. Lost big. Endgame chat: "dude, whats that build?!"
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The negativity is because the power is maybe the most counterable power of the entire game, the survivors will simply run to another loop, the area of the power is so tiny and also requires direct vision with the survivor, so not useful in strong tiles like jungle gyms or the shack. Only useful in lategame with a three-gen. His power is something like the knight power but way weaker.
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I was thinking she’s a rip off of a badly designed Predator with Freddy Mori animation. Pretty disappointed
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I can't say I agree with the "people just had too high expectations" argument. To some it may apply - but there are a myriad of things that are completely unrelated to any kind of expectation that are negative.
I for one didn't have any expectations. Design wise I may have exoected sth a little more mecha-style based on the teaser but eh, beyond momentary surprise there was not much of a reaction.
We played (semi seriously) against her on the ptb for about seven hours straight. In the beginning it was very much cheesing escapes. Granted. One or two hours into the ptb no one knows their way around a new killer so it was like going up against any other baby killer - minus the killer having no game sense whatsoever. About five hours in people got a hang of her, got through enough bloodwebs and whatnot to get the builds and add ons that are worth something and started playing more seriously. And lo and behold that was when either securing a second hook stage or death and holding a four gen became very prevalent. With the usual accompanying perks.
The odd innovative use of the drones for stealth purposes was in there -- but so far that seems to be the only interesting/unusual thing. Reminds me a little of stealth portal demo or plaything wesker and the likes. Other than that it was just ... not particularly exciting.
All that aside, the one thing that irks me the most is her movement animation tho. It is just so weird.
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Then you have not been in the DBD community very long. You could legitimately make a "Devs: Exist, Everyone: REEE!!" meme out of the overall reactions typical whenever the devs do literally anything.
More seriously, I'm still filtering that knee jerk response from the actual criticisms, so I can't say how much of it is actually valid in this instance
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I started playing back when the snowmen were still around, I wasn't aware of community discourse or game meta at the time.
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Agreed. Definitely one of the most negative reactions I’ve seen to a chapter.
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This is “supposed” to be a multiplayer HORROR game that scratches that itch that no other game can scratch.
So most of us ppl who love horror movies/books/comics/manga and other video games want KILLERS to be horror themed killers.
Instead we get some woman with Pig’s claws and Freddy’s Mori animation and it’s just … really?
I want creepy scary horror aesthetic and art. That’s what is so great about the horror genre. It’s monsters. It’s gore. It’s creepy. Weird. Etc etc
This new killer is one I’ll never play but does not invoke horror at all. Either does the knight or knives throwing guy or wesker. But that’s me I guess.
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I think this is a special case. This killer literally has NOTHING. While I do like her power, its not a strong power. So okay, maybe she has an interesting power. But that's absolutely it.
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I was only made aware that DbD was getting a new killer yesterday. So I came in with NO expectations, no teasers, nothing at all.
I'm still disappointed.
She's some rich chick that likes anime (or so I'm told, I don't read lore), used a bedazzler on a gas-mask, and ripped off both Predator for her weapon and Warhammer 40k with her Servo-Skulls. It is the most absurd mix of aesthetics I've seen in a while. At least Tricksters look is one whole look. This chick has like 5 going on, and they don't mix.
Her power is area denial, but does little to deny an area, is easy to counter, and just wastes a bit of time. On top of that, her power simply doesn't work with with how DbD is often played. Both the killer and survivors would have to play extremely oddly for her power to get any practical use.
This is not a matter of "Oh, killers just don't like her cuz she's not strong". It's "plenty of people don't like her because she's basically nothing." This is honestly how I felt when Nemesis came out, and I basically bullied them out of games. At least when he chased me, though, he could show off some sick whip shots. This new killer has nothing.
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Pinhead and dredge got the exact same reception.
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Yes I'm starting to think the increase in some gens being ridiculously close together wasn't a bug after all - especially as they haven't acknowledged or fixed it yet, to my knowledge.
I had a match on fractured cowshed yesterday with one gen in a cluster of items close to one of the small hills , one by the slope of the hill and one just outside the shack (right next to the hill). It's a good job the killer was overly dedicated to chases because if they'd realised how easy that area was we would never have got anything done.
Even 2 gens are getting overbearing in some ways. I had a match recently on Yamaoka Estate - Main residence with Legion. One gen was in the middle of the map, one was in the far corner of the map (it tool about 10 seconds to run between the two as survivor). There were three of us left with 2 gens and it took us about 15 minutes to get one of them done because she had call of brine and with the time taken to mend/heal a lot of progress is lost - even then that was with me getting bored and overcomitting because I knew I had Adrenaline. But this shouldn't be a situation where 2/3 genning is possible imo. We spread out the gens we did. We were all trying to spread out and do the final two gens. I'm fully supportive of poor planning 3 gens, but there definitely seems to be a move towards them from a design perspective at BHVR at the moment.
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2022 was decent with killers if you think about it.
1. Sadako: iconic, stealthy and adds slowdown to game with tapes. Perk wise, we got the excellent Call of Brine which is meta right now, Floods of rage (excellent Scourge hook for aura reading) and even Merciless Storm (paired well with Tinkerer before nerf and Doctor, especially lol)
2. Dredge: Fantastic original character and my favorite. Nightfall hinders survivors along with creating slowdown with locking lockers. Perk wise you have the aura reading with locker which benefits Huntress and Trickster. Excellent add ons overall.
I didn't play the next 2 killers just because Splatoon 3/Pokemon came out lol but I still played Dredge every so often
3. Wesker: another big name. I didn't play this chapter, but ik he's a big name in RE
4. Knight: AI guards that can help chase survivors is fun chases. Perk wise Nowhere to Hide is popular. Again didn't play this chapter
This killer has good tracking and the exposed status is interesting. I think I'd prefer Doctor for tracking as madness stops them from doing anything and doctor illusions is tracking that can be so reliable if you understand how they're generated. Obv he can deny actions at loops as well.
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Knight kinda got this also but it was mostly about his power nothing about visual. There's allways some bad reactions to a new chapter but none this unified
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Weren't expecting such bad reception? The killer looks out of place and the power is not good. Last time I recall a killer getting such bad reception was Freddy (Freddy before their entire power got reworked) for having a terrible power, Ghostface for being weak and Trickster for being out of place. I admit I felt most of those were justified minus Trickster. I actually felt they did a great job representing a killer who silently blends in within plain site. At least all of those killers had something going for them though.
The killer we're getting has nothing going for them which is concerning because their art team usually hits it out of the park. However given everything we know, the leaks and now the behind the scenes this feels like it was originally a licensed chapter for the movie Prey (Predator Franchise) and the licensed got pulled at the last minute. The mori is a kill from the movie, the survivors looks like the siblings in Prey with some changes just like how when Quentin was released with Nightmare On Elm Street DLC they changed his face just enough to not have to worry about him resembling Quentin's actor. I wouldn't be surprised if the drones were only a fraction of a full power for Predator which is why it feels so lackluster. Even how Merch holds their weapon looks like how Predator's hand would be holding it from prior games even with the subtle finger twitching. Of course I can only say that's speculation but it's hard to believe anything else is the reason for this DLC.
At least the maps are pretty cool but I see no reason to buy the chapter. Not so great perks overall between 3 entire characters, terrible killer and not so interesting survivors. If we're getting a last minute killer due to leaks I would be very sad. If this is genuinely just a fumble from BHVR then okay it happens but it would be sad to think the game is suffering just over leaks.
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I think the overwhelming negativity about this chapter is justified. The killer is horribly out of place, in fact, I'd argue even more out of place than Trickster. Her aesthetic looks more like a comic book/cartoon villain than someone in a horror game, and her power is lackluster at best. Not to mention situational/niche perks and one of the most unimaginative/boring mori's in the entire game.
I've played DBD since 2018 and purchased every chapter so far, yet I can say with confidence this is the first DBD chapter I will point blank not buy. Of course I still love DBD and will eagerly await the next chapter, but they really missed the mark with this one.
In answer to the original question: this kind of response has certainly happened before. Back when Twins came out, people absolutely hated the chapter because of how buggy it was, and they were borderline unplayable in the PTB.
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Didn't a lot of people dislike playing blight on launch due to his camera height being like survivor waist level?
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Her comic book aesthetic is at least justified in lore. She became a killer because she... read too many edgy comic books.
aight, let's be real, this killer is so lame lmao
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That's not her lore at all, lol, she became a killer because she's a sadistic stalker who wanted to rid herself of corporate competition and then gained a taste for doing it. One of the cooler killer backstories in a while, as far as I'm concerned.
I think it's fine she took some inspiration from her father's manga, I think that's a neat detail.
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If you like it, more power to you 😊
I didn't read the whole thing tbh, just one of her descriptions was "she was inspired by the dark mangas created by her father"
I'm in the minority of thinking that the name "Deathslinger" is unironically badass, so if you think she's cool I'm not gonna tell you she's not
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Oh please. I had zero expectations and I'm still disappointed. Her power isn't fun, and her character design looks like something from Fortnite. It's not hard to understand why people are upset.
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I don´t know why they are choosing this design decision. But its certainly not fun to play like this. 10-15 minutes should be the total time of the match. Not the time to repair a single gen.
Moving the gens together and creating more 3 gen killers helps against unfun 5 minute matches by turning them into unfun 30 minute matches.
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Sounds like hard copium to be completely honest. Just like you guys claim people are too negative with their expectations, some of you are way too positive most of the time and it shows. It really isn't some deep conspiracy theory as to why this Killer is getting criticized either, its pretty obvious that the chapter is just objectively flawed in about 20 different ways. You guys have to stop looking for little scapegoats every time BHVR takes an L, its okay to call a bad product bad
Its not mindless criticism from people's imagination, its already backed up with visual PTB evidence and video breakdowns of lore/aesthetic/perks and how they fit into the current game. When BHVR does something right they get endless praise for it, keep the same energy when they make a mistake then. Positivity can become toxic just like negativity when you allow it to cloud your judgment on things
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The only slight sticking point with this take is that this isn't a bad product, though.
Like, what's actually bad about it? The killer's weak? A lot of killers have had bad PTBs, this is no exception. Some of the perks are lacklustre? They can't all be winners, and again, that's not unique. Everything else is personal taste.
Side note, there is definitely an element of expectations running amok. That's mostly the specific complaint that she isn't a cyborg/robot, though.
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Objectively, the Killer's walk cycle is bad. Hips don't move like that. 😋
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