Rubberbanding Mechanic for Balance
Has BHVR considered adding a mechanic that would help limit snowballing early in the match? Something that could help survivors if someone dies early on due to hard-tunneling for example. Or if too many gens are completed before the killer gets any hooks?
For example:
Every time a survivor dies, all remaining survivors get increased gens repair speed and healing speed. Effect is disabled when three gens have been completed.
If the killer hasn't managed to down/hook anyone by the time three gens have been completed, survivor repair speed is reduced, killer movement speed is increased and killer instinct activates to help locates survivors. Effect is disabled when one survivor has been sacrificed.
It would give an incentive to keep players going during bad matches, and if refined appropriately, wouldn't trash the balance of the game.
These are just examples to show what such a mechanic might look like. I'm sure other people could come up with something better.
Comments
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I don't think a 'do well, get punished' mechanic would be too popular. It seems like a band-aid fix to artificially elongate games without touching on the problems that cause stomps in the first place.
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Comeback mechanics aren't too much of a problem in games. Even competitive games have them. They really only become an issue when they are too strong. X Factor in Vanilla MvC3 would be a good example of poor implementation. Two of your three character die and you get the ability to kill all three of your opponent's characters in under thirty seconds. The pendulum should swing but if it goes too far it'll knock out Grandma.
I think there are certain things that you can only band-aid fix. How do you stop survivors from going AFK when things go bad? How do you stop a killer hard-tunneling someone out at five gens? You can't. If players are in an unsociable mindset there's nothing you can do. The best you can do is have systems in place to limit the burden it puts on the other players.
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I think these type of mechanics are fine if there is a way to circumvent them. For example, I've recommended in the past unlocking Moris if all Survivors reach 2nd stage across 8 hook actions. If this type of gen speedup only applied when they weren't Mori killed in any manner (including Onryo/Myers/Pyramid Head alternative kill methods), then Killers could equally target all Survivors and not get punished for it in another realm.
Similarly, I'd basekit NOED if the Killer reaches endgame with 0 kills. Then while any Survivor is in the dying state (including on hook), the perk is neutered, meaning the totem is still on the map, but the Killer isn't getting the effects of the Haste or Exposed (until they are unhooked or no one is in the dying state). Once a Survivor is killed, the basekit NOED can't spawn, or despawns if it currently is in play. If you brought the perk, it would function as the normal version on live. Since a basekit NOED requires a totem, Survivors can circumvent this by slowing down and pre-cleansing all the totems to be safe, potentially giving the Killer the time they need to get the game back in control.
This would help both sides have a bit more of a chance when so unfairly outmatched. Hopefully they are roughly equal in strength, I know I regularly can 8 hook (before a kill) in my matches, but I have tried to from the onset of playing Killer. That means it might take a playstyle shift for people to get used to and adjust.
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Why should the Killer get punished for doing his job?
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Thank you for reminding me how horrible X Factor was. X Factor Phoenix is a thing that happened and exists.
But yes, perhaps you're right.
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It goes both ways. It's basically a way for either side to not get stomped. Although, don't think this should get implemented as killer gets naturally stronger with fewer gens.
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Snowballing is when you made bad decisions so you lost really quick. I'll often let potential snowballs go because the survivors were just inexperienced. But when you all run toward me FOR ANY REASON, you are making a bad decision that might hand me the trial, sometimes shockingly fast.
Should Chess change the rules so that a quick checkmate isn't allowed? Only allowed to win after you let the other player goof around for a while? That does not sound exciting or fair.
Tunneling is usually a survivor that just refuses to make smart decisions. If you keep running back to that same place, so will I. That's not tunneling. If you try to take aggro for the unhooker, that's also not tunneling. How many times do I have to hook you to make you realize healing under the hook is a bad idea? God help you if you think you're entitled to heal up while I wait. Don't like being tunneled? Should'a ran.
You don't get it both ways. When a group plans to swarm or unhook in my face, take any risks, they have to be aware they'll probably not win. I make the same choice when I decide to play something wacky. I'm not expecting 4k with a Tier I Myers, I just wanted to get a few gen grabs. Should the rules change to help me win more when I'm choosing to play less-efficiently?
If a game mechanic is added to speed up bad players so they can escape, I'll show you tunneling. If you want the game to hold your hand, you have to play single player. I'm a human that also wants to play. It's silly to ask that the game cheat me to make you happy.
I know a lot of you survivors joined up thinking it's was a silly kids game, but there's some killing and stuff.
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Please stop condesecending to everyone. Your advice is not a deep as you think it is. You sound like a self-help book with half the pages missing.
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X-factor still required you to understand how to best use it and was a controllable choice that actually had counters. High level UMvC3 play tends to use X-factor earlier as a combo extender or round closer. Both sides have access to it and for the most part get the exact same benefits. DbD being asymmetrical in design means that both sides can never get the same level of benefit and unlike fighting games in general where comeback mechanics are purposely made to be skill-based rather than consequence -based this game doesn't really have skill-based gameplay where comeback mechanics would fit. Dbd is a game where the most skillful aspects are actually mental exercises with little true mechanical skills unless you're playing killer.
You can't stop survivor behavior entirely, but you can disincentivize it greatly by making true substantive changes to the game. Someone getting tunneled out at 5 gens could be greatly reduced if the benefit of doing so was sharply reduced and the game conditions that make killers feel they need to do it were addressed. Like they could introduce respawns or revives in the early game while also making the survivor objective take more individual steps. This would solve a lot of the issues on both sides in regards to tunneling as now the benefit of tunneling severely diminished and both sides are incentivized to be more engaged. People who are going to tunnel regardless at that point will have actively worse games until they adjust to playing more inline with the new design or stop playing altogether.
The game doesn't need to rubberband because snowballing isn't really an issue, but trying to make it rubber band will make for worse games on both sides.
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