The second iteration of 2v8 is now LIVE - find out more information here: https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/kb/articles/480-2v8-developer-update

How often is losing considered normal in SoloQ ?

So, I'm still relatively new to the game - meaning I have only been playing less than a year. However, I was hooked instantly and I now have around 606 hours. I mainly play survivor and SoloQ. I've played killer a handful of times and even though I wasn't too bad at it, I just didn't enjoy it as much because I prefer trying to work with a team. Anyway, I've been through some very high highs and very low lows with this game so far, but I have never felt quite this...dejected? I've been keeping track of my past matches for awhile, everything down to the killer, how many kills they got at which stage of the game, etc. Mainly because I have been feeling like I've been doing nothing but losing over and over and over again.

I believe most of everyone agrees that SoloQ is considrered the hardest way to play this game, but that's also why I like it because you never know what you're going to get and the challenge makes it fun. I do believe as well that SoloQ is how the game is supposed to be played, as SWF tends cater too much on one side. That being said, I understand many people lose SoloQ games but usually you can kind of even out the wins v losses. That's how the game is meant to be, fair for both sides, so lose/win 50/50 ish.

Out of my recent 47 matches, I've survived in 12.

35 of those are matches where I don't survive.

4 of those are matches are when only I died.

3 are 4ks at 5 gens

4 are 4ks at 4 gens

10 are 4ks at 3 gens

And the rest are at 1 or 2 gens or when the exit gates are powered etc. Luckily only 4 of those matches featured DC's in the beginning of the match. That being said, my question is....is this what SoloQ is supposed to feel like? I haven't been playing for as long as most of the community so I don't know if this is considered normal. I ingest alot of information about DBD all the time and it's always talking about how easy survivor is, and so having so many games like these days and days in a row makes me question if I'm just a really trash player? But then again out of 47 matches only 4 of them are when I'm the only one that dies so I don't think I'm that bad. I like to consider myself as average as I can sometimes do really well and somtimes make mistakes.

So...is this what it's supposed to be like for an average player? Because it feels really bad and I'm starting to wonder if I wasted a bunch of money in this game because I thought it was something 'different' when I first started playing and now that I have a decent amount of hours in if this is the 'real' game and if I played this version of the game in the beginning I would have never played it or invested so much time and money and got my friends to buy it.

I keep going cause I'm like, surely things will get better this is just a rough patch! Afterall, everyone always says "Move on. The next match will be fine" but I keep moving and things don't get better. So, is this what all of SoloQ DBD is? Is this the norm? Is this the way it's supposed to be?

Thanks for reading, sorry it's long. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Answers

  • Trollinmon
    Trollinmon Member Posts: 691

    So if you exclude the games with a dc, assuming you lost all 4 of those games, then you would be sitting at a 28% escape rate. The devs would probably be fine with you escaping 16 times instead of 12 which should come out to 37%. It's normal for current soloq to have those results but this is mostly a recent thing for the role.

  • crogers271
    crogers271 Member Posts: 1,819

    That doesn't sound at all unusual. 25% to 40% seems to be the general range for soloQ. People's experience seem to vary by MMR, region, and time of day you tend to play.

  • Thusly_Boned
    Thusly_Boned Member Posts: 2,957

    Escaping roughly a third of the time is my experience in solo, which doesn't feel awful to me, so long as most of those games are competitive.

    I also leave a fair number of escapes out there because I like attempting ill advised altruistic plays late game.

  • edgarpoop
    edgarpoop Member Posts: 8,368
    edited April 2023

    It's extremely matchmaking-sided in terms of how your games will go. It feels very luck of the draw. I'm escaping a little over 70% of my solo queue games since I started tracking them, but I have 4500 hours and take the game very seriously. That number differs when I play in a duo or a 4 man SWF. It actually goes down with my usual duo friend because our MMR combined seems to produce some wild matches in terms of skill variance. It goes up to about 80% in a 4 man. Your mileage may vary. I think with DbD it's more useful to focus on how the matches feel rather than the results. I'm always down to give feedback or tips if you're looking for them.

  • IlliterateGenocide
    IlliterateGenocide Member Posts: 6,028

    thats just kinda how solo queue is, you gonna lose like 95 percent of ya games. it is what it is

  • Timmylaw
    Timmylaw Member Posts: 227

    If it was 50% for solo queue, the game would be unplayable as killer against any half decent swf. Unfortunately the way the game is set up solos need to be the weakest link.

  • HugTheHag
    HugTheHag Member Posts: 3,140

    Sounds pretty normal, and I'm not even a SoloQ player. I usually duo and my escape rate is lower than I'd like to admit, probably sitting at around 20 to 25%. I'm not very good at survivor, but I'm not helpless either. I have around 250h on survivor.

    The thing with the "50/50" is that it's team vs individual. A killer is supposed to win and lose roughly half the time, or to make it very flat, roughly 2 kills every game with the occasional 3k.

    But since you're 1 among 4 on the other side, you personally aren't supposed to win 50% of the time. In this flat vision it's more "2 survivors, sometimes 1" are supposed to escape.

    So it's entirely possible through lack of luck, misplays, mistakes from your team to have an unexpectedly low escape rate while still having the game be "balanced" because survivors players aren't truly expected to escape half the time.

    Is it discouraging ? Yes

    Is it fair ? Debatable, probably, I'm not a dev

    Will it get better in this weird meta where 2 sides have overpowered strats the other can't do much about ? I wish I knew !

  • hermitkermit
    hermitkermit Member Posts: 427

    I think the difference is I don't see this game as a battle royale game. (as far as survivor is concerned) I think it's team oriented because the objectives and mechanics in play for survivor ivolve playing altruistically. Taking protection hits, getting saves, healing others etc. I don't believe this game was meant to be played ignoring everyone else. Obviously there are smart decisions and dumb decisions, unsafe hooks or healing right in front of the hook while good intentioned - lead to easy downs. I'm not saying you should always sacrifice yourself for others but to actively ignore your teammates and refuse to participate in heals or saves I think is very unhealthy and not the way the game was designed to be at all. You are totally in your power to play that way, but I don't think I'm the only one that thinks it's wrong.

    I'm sorry if it seems like I'm, 'asking a question and don't like the answer' becuase honestly my question was if the rate in which I was losing was normal, and people told me not to worry because it was. The only person I disagreed with was you just based on the way you think solo should be played. And while the losing rate was surprising to me that it is indeed the average of most SoloQ players, it makes me feel a little better because alot of what I hear is how easy survivor is and that's why I was so confused because I was losing so often but if everyone says it's so easy then maybe I'm just the worst you know? Haha. But luckily everyone here said that my rate of loss was normal and that killers are supposed to get more 'wins' so now It makes sense.

    In any case I wish you luck in all your future matches and I hope I didn't upset you in any way as it wasn't my intent. For the record I don't think you're a bad person or toxic or anything just because you play a certain way. I'ts a game and the way you play the game has no reflection on who you are as a human being and I mean no disrespect to you whatsoever, even if I disagree with your particular playstyle. Thank you for taking the time to respond and offer your perspective. gliyn!

  • Caiman
    Caiman Member Posts: 2,883

    Lot of multiplayer games cause you to lose because of things outside your control. DbD especially, because this is an asymmetrical game, and survivor is designed to be a role that is not always in control. And even then, there is some control. Want to counter NOED? Break all the totems. That's what survivors used to do before Boons were introduced. Alternatively, just don't get caught by the killer. After all, a survivor who is "playing perfectly" wouldn't get caught in the first place, right?

    If you want perfectly even games, go play chess, or sports. This isn't the game for that.

  • MrPeanutbutter
    MrPeanutbutter Member Posts: 1,586

    I was going to say the same. Seems pretty typical. I’m not a great survivor player and I escape maybe 1/3 of my games at the very most. I don’t think survivors should feel entitled to escape much more frequently than that.

    I imagine it’s very easy for good coordinated SWF teams to win most of their matches

  • Hex_Llama
    Hex_Llama Member Posts: 1,837

    This is my experience, too (I actually think my escape rate is lower than 25%). FWIW, I also see survivor as a team game, and most of the random people I match with play as a team. My survival rate would probably be a little higher if I only played for myself, but that also wouldn't be fun.

  • AverageAshEnjoyer
    AverageAshEnjoyer Member Posts: 427
    edited April 2023

    i escape around 20% of the time. i remember one time i played a 3 hour session and only escaped once (and that was through the hatch).

  • Unequalmitten86
    Unequalmitten86 Member Posts: 272

    I play only soloq and during the week my escape rate is usually 30%, some days almost all matches, on the weekends about 20-25%. Face campers are the worst on the weekends. After the update its a slaughter though. Many DC's and suicides, I am usually the last one and can't find the hatch or they close it. The campers are just out of control. However as killer I have been rocking it and even before the update and I sucked as killer.


    I am also new and have only been playing for 6 months.

  • Katzengott
    Katzengott Member Posts: 1,210
    edited April 2023

    With 606 hours you're still pretty new to the game. And escpaping 12 of 47 solo matches was a really good job for that.

    Don't forget you will get better and also get better teammates with MMR, most likely.

  • DBD78
    DBD78 Member Posts: 3,464

    I would guess my escape rate as solo is 40-50% I don't have a problem in solo. Gens go fast and with all info we have now on gens it's a lot better than before.

  • Nirgendwohin
    Nirgendwohin Member Posts: 1,251

    50% escape rate would be important for the player to enjoy the game for a long time. unfortunately the mmr does not work in this direction. Of course you get simpler killers the lower your own mmr is, but you also get much worse team members and without good team members the escape rate drops significantly. purely because of this consideration, mmr can never work properly for survivor. At least not the way it's designed now, based on escape rate.

  • HarlockTaliesin
    HarlockTaliesin Member Posts: 763
    edited April 2023

    Solo queue is hell. Always has been, probably will never change. If it's not bad enough on it's own, it's compounded by a janky matchmaking system and imbalanced population on one side or the other throughout the day. Even if by some miracle you get a killer that is roughly your MMR, the chances of the other three survivors being in that same category are slim. You may be able to hold your own against the killer, but the rest of your team folds like lawn chairs.

    As much as you probably don't want to hear it, Crows is pretty dead on about how it works. If you're playing survivor in solo queue, you're not on a team. You're in a group of people who share the same goal, and will (loosely/poorly) cooperate until it doesn't look like an escape is possible, then it's everyone for themselves.

    Just be cautious, as some tactics will get you banned. Like if you're one of two people left, the other survivor gets caught, the killer will try to get that survivor to work with them to find you. Since there are no aura blockers for survivors seeing other survivors (though there really should be), except ducking in a locker for a bit, any downed survivor can see all the other survivors across the entire map. The killer will down them, then pick up/drop them repeatedly until they stand up any try to get them to go point you out. If you can catch video of it it's a bannable offense for that survivor. Since it's not progressing the trial by hooking or bleeding out the survivor, I'm sure an argument can be established on why the killer shouldn't get off free, either.

    Also, as an fyi, when the trial is going badly, or against a killer that's known to drag trials out indefinitely (SM, Knight, slug build Onryo, etc.), or for way too many other reasons to list, some survivors will leave, either DC or hook suicide. If leaving via hook, proper etiquette is to leave them be and grab as many points as you can. Pulling them off the hook will not only not change things, but it can be detrimental to the survivor that pulled them off (both in missed points and rapidly increasing annoyance).

    Say what you will about DBD, if you've played it a while you'll either develop a tough skin or some form of PTSD. Plus it makes even other 5h177y games seem like buckets of joy.

  • hermitkermit
    hermitkermit Member Posts: 427

    I see the point in playing as if it's not a team game but I don't think it's the right attiude to have nor the way the game was intended. People that only play for themselves who leave their team to bleed out for 4 min, letting them die on their first hook, or hiding in a locker the entire match and waiting for hatch are not good for the overall health of the game. Now you can play the game how you want, sure, but playing like this makes you a really bad teamate and you're definitely not playing the way the game was intended. If you were meant to only focus on you and you alone then you wouldn't get rewarded for protection hits, saves, heals, distracting the killer etc. Playing as a team is how the game is meant to be played. I may still be relatively new to the game but even I know that playing for hatch every game, refusing to get saves, refusing to heal others and going out of your way to sandbag other people is not the way to play the game. It's not a battle royale. I think if people want to play that way then DBD isn't the kind of game for it, or maybe they should only stick to killer since there's no objectives focused on helping others.

    To answer your fyi, I don't unhook people if they're clearly trying to get out of the game. I myself will try and get out of the game via hook if there's only one other person left so they can get a chance at hatch.

    Anyways, thanks for the feedback. GLIYN :)

  • Ricardo170373
    Ricardo170373 Member Posts: 708

    After 650 registered game as solo survivor my escape rate is 42%, i think is pretty OK, but, honestly the problems are MMR. You have a lot of poor games in SoloQ because you go with begginer or shelfish teammates against 4k hours and tryhard blights, nurses or whatever else. The MMR is the really issue on this game. NOONE like this MMR system since it released, just the DEVS

  • Marc_go_solo
    Marc_go_solo Member Posts: 5,325

    I'd like to give an alternative perspective, although everybody will have their own subjective experience. Mine is subjective also, but it may offer an alternative view.

    I play SoloQ exclusively and am a 50/50 survivor/killer player on UK servers. It's my experience thay SoloQ is not the hell that others report. Fellow survivors I'm teamed with are vastly competent at worst and excellent at best. As killer, they're tough but fun matches. If you focus on the forums alone you'll probably come across the idea SoloQ is a nightmare. Ignore any perspective others say as it will skew your experience. Heck, ignore mine, but always approach each trial with fresh eyes.

    As for the trials, don't focus on escaping so much. Each trial is an opportunity to improve your skills. Instead of focusing solely on escape, think about learning the tiles a bit more, use aura perks to understand the playing field and how survivors and killers play, practice skill checks, practice saves or blocks, practice evasion or staying unnoticed. You'll find by having that as your aim you may actually a) be feeling better about trials and b) ironically probably doing better as you're not putting stress on yourself and will be thinking clearer.

    Removing stress really does pay dividens. Although this is more for killer, for me camping and tunnelling is just dull and pretty much easy mode. Because I don't camp, immediately the stress of getting that kill is removed and because I'm feeling better my performance is better. I've killed more than I used to when I tried securing kills in the end game in the past.

    That's the key to doing well: remove that pressure. Forget what people tell you is the aim. Trying to just focus on the win is like entering a marathon to win, without learning how to conserve energy or improve cardio - it takes time and setting smaller goals will really improve your overall experience. As you get better you will meet more experienced players who work better as a team, because as Dwight says: "We have to work as a team. I need you to survive so I can survive".

    Remive the pressure; improve the experience.

  • AddingAUsername
    AddingAUsername Alpha Surveyor Posts: 20

    My experience was very similar to you when I had 600 hours, like if I wasn't playing with 3 other friends I just couldn't escape, but don't give up! You will improve a LOT and will eventually start carrying your team. Of course you cannot always win because of MMR being stupid and matching you with people that have 50hrs but trust me If you are an actually good looper and you have teammates that know how to sit on gens your chances of winning are extremely high.

    The thing about survivor is all it takes is ONE good chase and suddenly 3 gens pop and the killer starts stressing and making mistakes. The problem is usually survivors can only loop for under a minute which traps the team in a constant cycle of Unhook, Heal, Die before eventually running out of hookstages. Forget about whatever bullshit your team wants to do and focus on what you think will win your team the game. Example: If everyone is being downed in 2 seconds, stop wasting time healing just do gens and see if you can win the war of attrition.

    Also the ONLY result you need to look at is if your team won/tied/lost not whether you individually escaped or not. Like for example: if you are being tunneled/camped don't give up just because you won't escape no matter what. Just try to think of a W as 4/3 man out and an L as 1/0 man out.

    SoloQ survivor definitely gets better just keep getting better at looping until you can go on extremely long chases that win you the game. Though if MMR is getting on your nerves you can of course turn on easy mode aka SWF to focus on chases and stop getting mad at your teammates. GL

  • Krazzik
    Krazzik Member Posts: 2,475

    The game is balanced so that survivors on average get a 40% escape rate, but that includes SWFs. For solo queue it's faaaairly safe to assume it's closer to 30% escape rate.

  • crogers271
    crogers271 Member Posts: 1,819

    I see the point in playing as if it's not a team game but I don't think it's the right attiude to have nor the way the game was intended.

    Going to focus on the 'intended' part of this.

    BHVR likes the idea that the 4 survivors aren't a team. They've put in perks and designs that are clearly meant for people who want to play ignoring the others. They've even had tag lines about 1v1v1v1v1 and the like. They also had the game Bloodharvest which was explicit about the idea that players didn't have to work together (in that game's case it went really, really poorly).

    The problem is that's an impossible design: you can't balance around the idea of some people working together and other times everyone is doing their own thing. If you don't play as a team you're pretty much doomed. Maybe with an exception for once the gens are powered/two survivors left, it is a lot more fun if you treat it as a team game.

  • Nos37
    Nos37 Member Posts: 4,142

    How do I get teammates like yours??

    In the past 50 matches, I've escaped 6 times (4 of those were through hatch), and 12 matches had at least 1 DC.

  • Awsmdad
    Awsmdad Member Posts: 2

    I can't say I agree you can't make a balanced game that will work for both. I believe BHVR released a game and it evolved to something more and at this point all they are doing is bandaiding an inherent flaw in the game. Remember sbmm, rankings, trying to balance perks, making perks basekit for survivors? Yes all have been introduced to try to balance the game. In the end they decided to cater to the SWF and good players of the game which is why soloq is horrible. You can't outplay a killer with the way the game is balanced unless you have 2 things. 1 is players that are good at least at all the mechanics of the game. The 2nd is great communication.


    The way they can do this and create a great experience for all is to split the game rooms for experienced and non experienced play levels. You see it in all other types of multi-player games where the regular group is for bad players, new players and no mic communication. This group is dumbed down and allows you to balance that play style to meet the needs of the group.


    The 2nd group is the SWF group and it will play as we currently play now. The upside is it will allow people who don't want to communicate or can't to be able to play this game and enjoy the idea that you might be able to survive more than 28% of the time. Which we all agree can be demoralizing. The only downfall is it will divide the amount if players in your player pool.

  • crogers271
    crogers271 Member Posts: 1,819

    Did not expect to see this topic resurrected, but here goes.

    The way they can do this and create a great experience for all is to split the game rooms for experienced and non experienced play levels. You see it in all other types of multi-player games where the regular group is for bad players, new players and no mic communication. This group is dumbed down and allows you to balance that play style to meet the needs of the group.

    The problem with this idea is that most other games aren't asymmetrical. If you play a 'ranked' mode in another game, your team is using comms, so are the opponents. The killer player is always going to be in the same boat. Many killers on here have talked about dodging survivors if they look like they are SWF, so most killers would just avoid that group.

  • Deathstroke
    Deathstroke Member Posts: 3,514

    That's not normal you are either very lucky or you're top 0,1% survivor player.

  • edgarpoop
    edgarpoop Member Posts: 8,368

    Who knows. Highly doubt I'm top percentile. But I did comp for years in both roles, so I'm much better at the macro game on survivor than most. Looping...above average, maybe. I'm never going to win a reaction game at a tile with someone half my age, so I pre-drop a lot. I escape a lot by playing smarter.

  • th3
    th3 Member Posts: 1,845

    I think inherently it feels crappier to lose as survivor because you get less points, even if you do well during the match.

  • Xyvielia
    Xyvielia Member Posts: 2,418

    On Survivor side, I main Solo Q (as opposed to SWF) since 2018, preferring it for the reasons you’ve stated: ‘SoloQ’s a fun challenge and you never know what you’re going to get.’ I feel the game is best experienced this way, and certainly in the minority for this opinion.

    I’ve found SWF a good time w my nontoxic, chill friends to enjoy on occasion, as well as sth too many players have used as a Schadenfreude mechanism by which to base their joy on the misfortune of a bullied Killer player, regardless of wether it results in a 4person escape or not.

    You’re not a trash player; I do believe this.

    Never let the shortcomings of this game or any other player of it make you feel you’re inadequate.

    SoloQ is ultimately more rewarding for the instances whenever you do get an escape, or happen to make a fantastic play, or get to help another teammate out the exit gate in your place vs a SWF experience any day, but that’s just imo.

    I’m 97% SoloQ 3% SWF as far as Survivor’s concerned… I don’t ever see it being any other way for this DBD life.