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am i the only one who feels really anxious before playing killer?

catslayer
catslayer Member Posts: 155
edited September 2023 in General Discussions

the title says it all.

for more context, i'm a survivor main, but mainly only because of this reason: i'm scared to ######### up as a killer more than as a survivor...why? most of the time, it's those bully-swfs that make me feel like this the most. the feeling of disappointment after losing is just...real. how do i stop feeling like this? don't get me wrong, i actually enjoy playing the role of a killer but it's always the survivors that "scare" me most of the time.

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Comments

  • catslayer
    catslayer Member Posts: 155

    you're right, that's not what i mean't. but there are still those times, you get the idea? to add, i don't really remember saying something such as, everything is bullying.

  • Annso_x
    Annso_x Member Posts: 1,611

    But for real, you really need a break if you can't handle losing and take "those bully-swf" personally

  • Annso_x
    Annso_x Member Posts: 1,611

    It sounds like they enjoy winning as killer but are stressed out by losses and the idea of going against a swf. Considering it's very unlikely they'll never lose or see a swf again I do maintain the best course of action would be taking a break until they stop caring about the game's outcome and just want to play for the sake of playing.

    I would advise to just stop caring about losing, but I've found it's much easier to do so when you're not actively grinding the game.

  • ARTRA
    ARTRA Member Posts: 938

    DBD Burnout its real, play other stuff and come back latter when more relaxed.

    May i suggest baldurs gate 3?

  • Ghouled_Mojo
    Ghouled_Mojo Member Posts: 2,287

    I used to get feelings of anxiety. It’s like the first time you’re with a new person, worried it is all going to go badly because you’re the one who sets the enjoyment of the other party. If things go poorly, its a catastrophe and you’re left with a bad experience but most of the time it is just a fun experience.


    you eventually get over it.

  • MikaelaWantsYourBoon
    MikaelaWantsYourBoon Member Posts: 6,564

    And when killer is getting fast downs and pressure on survivors, same thing will happen you as survivors.

    It's nature of gameplay. Losing side will be stresfull, not the winner side.

  • radiantHero23
    radiantHero23 Member Posts: 4,228

    Then im very often the losing side.

    And survivor seems to be very often the winning side.

  • BlueRose
    BlueRose Member Posts: 658

    I get nervous before every single match tbh and I'm a killer main. I don't know why but I do.

  • MikaelaWantsYourBoon
    MikaelaWantsYourBoon Member Posts: 6,564

    Kill rates will have word with you because the last time they shared, it was on killer-side.

  • burt0r
    burt0r Member Posts: 4,160
    edited September 2023

    Absolutely this.

    Killer is the way more stressful, nonstop action and focus role.

    Survivor start a match with up to 400% progress on gens and killer have to constantly wrestle that away from them.

    You can hear it all the time on these forums that even slightly experienced survivor listen to music etc parallel to playing since the gameplay is always broken up by time on gens rather getting bored/annoyed by underperforming teammates than being stressed.

    Edit: This is also the reason why I stopped playing years ago, never played survivor long enough in the beginning to get numb to the "horror/being hunted/on edge feeling" from being new (before looping and all that stuff got invented) and got too burned out/turned off by the inability to play killer truly in a relaxed casual way without getting slandered for it.

  • oreoslurpee
    oreoslurpee Member Posts: 288
    edited September 2023

    usually i am but its moreso what the otherside will talk to me like. i was playing sadako (no iri tape fyi) and i got garden of joy, i sunk in my chair bc its GoJ but i just decided to play it. i got 1 condemn kill, i had good gen pressure, and i TP'd and this jake had 7 stacks. i chased him for 2 minutes because everywhere he turned, there was a pallet. i LITERALLY looked at the last loop he went to and there was what you would call, a dobule pallet loop. THAT was when i was honestly irritated to the point i dc'd because sadako's chase potential is terrible, but i dc'd after looking at that loop and it just felt miserable to play on that map so i wanted to just get out of it as i was already having a very iffy day.

    when i dc'd, i thought it would be a good conversation starter saying "screw. that. map." to the only 2 PC players as i thought they would relate and or say "i know right that map sucks" but no, they just told me i sucked at the game and i was so terrible i dc'd. they kept complaining to me constantly and i was sitting in my chair like "guys it is seriously not that serious when a killer dc's" and not just that, i literally complimented the jake that i chased because hes a very good chaser, but i just hated that map. the double pallet loop is what broke me, and they just thought i dc'd because i couldnt catch the jake. thats why i made that "garden of joy needs to be killswitched" post on here, because the map is severely unbalanced with insane god loops and literal infinite loops. it is by far the worst map in this game.

    them talking bad about me and them being sour really killed my mood to play the game and my mood to play killer.

  • Rulebreaker
    Rulebreaker Member Posts: 2,025

    While we've never felt anxious about playing, we can say to stop feeling it is alot in the mentality. When we play we're a hunter and are fighting to stay at the top and if some of the prey escapes every now and again, so be it. Remember its a game not real life or death, a win or loss won't really matter. Learn what you like as killer and find a way to make it work. And if your worried about them harassing you, as the Count above said, anonymous mode is a thing.

  • UndeddJester
    UndeddJester Member Posts: 3,349
    edited September 2023


    Dont think to much about it dude... it's pretty cool when you get going. Just don't take it too seriously and have fun. 🤘

    For actual advice, pick a killer then spend a while watching streamers and content creators guides to play that Killer to get an idea what you're doing. That helps the nerves tonnes 😁

  • tjt85
    tjt85 Member Posts: 954

    Now I'm a little more experienced, I do find Survivor to be the more chill role but it wasn't always that way when I first started playing. Playing survivor was a truly terrifying experience and I do miss that feeling. I still get that adrenaline rush, but the fear is mostly gone unless I'm facing a stealth Killer like Myers.

    Killer on the other hand... I'm a competitive person by nature, so I definitely get where you're coming form. The fear of being made to feel ridiculous for daring to queue up for a Killer game is real. It can feel like some survivors are going out of their way to disrespect you. But that's what they want. They want you feeling frustrated, so mistake follows mistake and before you know it the gates are powered. They want you to be rattled. But I think experience will eventually numb you to their efforts and they won't be able to rile you up anymore. If you can keep your cool, you can call that a win even if the match is ultimately lost.

    Sometimes there's a tactical reason for the teabagging and goading. They might be trying to draw you away from a group of gens ready to pop or a weaker looper. Eventually you'll learn not to fall for it. Sometimes it's fun to take chase even if you know it's the wrong decision, just to see what they're really made of.

    Of course, you still might not win and you have to be fine with that before you queue up. Take the loss, clear your head and focus for the next match. Or take a break to chill for a little while if you can't shake the bad feelings.

    Personally, I like to take Lightborn and Iron Grasp into every trail so I can hook my downed survivors in peace (and usually get some free hits in too). Lightborn is always good for a laugh if they don't realise you have it as you rush towards them. These teams rarely have a plan B for when their sabo plays and flashy saves just don't work. I never worry about facing survivors like this anymore.

  • tjt85
    tjt85 Member Posts: 954

    The difference is that in the survivor role you can usually move on from a bad game pretty quickly (unless the killer is slugging and bleeding everyone out. A pretty rare occurrence).

    But there is no escape from a bad killer game however much you wish it would end. Some survivors will keep you hostage by refusing to pop gens just to torture you into DCing. You are trapped with 4 people who want to make you regret ever installing this game. I had a few early experiences like this and it wasn't much fun.

    Honestly, I only solo Survivor and nothing I have ever faced in Solo Q has ever been a worse experience. Now I can handle it, but when I first started playing I really did let it get to me.

  • CatnipLove
    CatnipLove Member Posts: 1,006

    Bully squads are so rare. Plus if you barely play killer you won't be at high enough MMR to likely cross paths with them. The only reason bully squads are effective is because there's four good players coordinating it. I mean, you're just as likely to meet a killer that will target and BM you. You never know what you're getting as survivor. It's a crapshoot.

    Maybe it's just nerves. Playing killer is nothing like playing survivor. The roles feel completely different. Plus you have to multi-task a bunch of stuff. I usually go into matches and try to let the survivors know I'm not gonna sweat. Spamming Nurse's Anxious Gasp usually does the trick. Maybe try something similar. It could help relieve some of the pressure you are feeling as the survivors won't be bracing themselves for a bunch of hook camping and tunneling. So they will be more relaxed too.

    btw BHVR, please reduce the rarity of Anxious Gasp. I want enough of it to use it every match. It's not OP and it's hilarious. Give me more Anxious Gasp, please. Thank you.

  • Annso_x
    Annso_x Member Posts: 1,611
    edited September 2023

    Telling someone they should take a break if the game stresses them out is not being rude lmao. There's no secret advice that's going to cure them of their burnout. I'm speaking from experience when I say taking distance from the game is the best way to realize that it's just a game and not care about losing or bullies when you come back. Also, it's just an advice, they don't have to follow it.

  • Firellius
    Firellius Member Posts: 4,386

    While they are rare, bully squads are probably the worst experience the game has to offer though, so I do sympathise with OP. It's also why I think that, if killers are to receive any kind of blanket buff/survivors are to receive any blanket nerf, it should be targeted specifically to bully squads.

  • crogers271
    crogers271 Member Posts: 1,819

    This is one of my favorite topics when it comes up. Before I joined the forums my thinking was 'obviously survivor makes you feel like you're going to have a heart attack, and killer is sit back and relax time': I've always found it interesting that people split radically on what role they find stressful.

    i'm scared to ######### up as a killer more than as a survivor...why?

    I'm the opposite on this. One of the reasons I find survivor more stressful is the team aspect.

    Basically, in a game if I fail myself it's not great, but I can live with it, but if I let my team down I'm devastated.

    most of the time, it's those bully-swfs that make me feel like this the most. the feeling of disappointment after losing is just...real. how do i stop feeling like this?

    I don't know what you mean by bully-swfs. Usually when I hear the word bully squad its the groups that aren't even playing to win, just trying to hold the killer in the game via flashlights, stuns, etc.

    On the other hand, SWFs who are trying to complete their objectives as quickly as possible, I think it is helpful to adjust your expectation on what a win is there. If I'm playing a group that seems way better than me and in communication, I try to see if I can get a 1k as a goal. On the other hand, if I'm playing against 4 solos, I'll generally view a 3k as a draw on whether I did well or not in the game.

    Killer is not meant for having that much fun in terms of playing a chill game. It's a stress and time management simulator.

    I find over the course of the match that the tensions reverse. At the start killer can be stressful when you have to get an idea of the map and make some quick decisions on where to go, and you have the pressure that if you screw up the first chase the end result will look very embarrassing. As a survivor, you are basically just looking for a gen at the start, though until I hear a terror radius part of me is always worried there's a ghostface around a corner.

    On the other hand, a couple of minutes into the game the killer should be in a much more comfortable position. I generally know how good the survivors are, have less areas to defend, the survivors are now having to use time to heal, unhook, etc. On survivor it gets really tense, I don't know for sure what my teammates are doing, unless I'm running windows I have now idea what pallets exist, and having to get off a gen to protect a death hook teammate can make or break the game.

    Finally, as it gets toward the end, survivor always faces the possibility of an escape turning into a death. Those games where you get taken down right at the end are one of the hardest experiences in gaming.

  • JudithMorel
    JudithMorel Member Posts: 562

    i feel the same way playing survivor as solo q

  • EldritchElise87
    EldritchElise87 Member Posts: 626

    This game is heavily RNG based, and many cases a win or loss is detirmented by perk matchups, map tiles, and straight up jank. There are many scenarios in games you will come across that will just be unwinnable, and the only way to play this game and not lose your marbles to toxicity is to just accept that.

    You dont need to care about what other players in the game thought of your performance, at the very least not in any persona way, its super hard though and it took me years to get to a mental point where I can let this games aspects not affect me, and entity knows you only have to look through this forum to see the negative effect it can have on people.


    . It is after all, just a video game.

  • DEMONANCE
    DEMONANCE Member Posts: 800

    at some point i stopped caring about winning as killer and made my main objective to be hooks , chases and how to get better and I've enjoyed killer ever since and escape or bm from the Survivor side never annoyed me since.

    Survivor is the opposite for me i wanna win but i suck at looping and it frustrates me greatly and when i am in chase i can actually feel my heart bumping.

  • catslayer
    catslayer Member Posts: 155

    finally someone who gets the whole point of my post.

    i didn't write that rant for the sarcastic-rude "advice" that 98% of the people here give. i just wanted to have a literal simple talk whether anyone else feels the same way i do, which is feeling nervous, etc. when playing the killer role. nothing else, nothing more.

    "just stop playing" "just stop crying over swfs" can you even read properly?

  • thisislastyearsmodel
    thisislastyearsmodel Unconfirmed, Member Posts: 636

    Agreed. I've faced my fair share of "bully groups" and while those games do suck, I feel like I get one (maybe two) per multiple-hour session. They're still out there, but generally you're going to face all solo or two solos and a duo.

  • Dogma_loki
    Dogma_loki Member Posts: 436

    Yes. Getting hard tunneled almost every match and proxy camped is definitely relaxing.

  • Interocitor
    Interocitor Member Posts: 149

    What worked for me was constantly playing the game with the sound off and while playing music I like or having a video play in the background instead. The less I focused intensely on the game the more relaxed I felt and thus I did a lot better. Also I agree with the other posts about using anonymous mode and closing end game chat. I think it is mostly an issue of becoming desensitized to the more stressful elements of the game and just vibing which will take time, it helps when you find the killer you like best in terms of their power and learning all the ins and outs of that while not focusing on wins and losses but getting better at utilizing their abilities. Hope you stick with playing killer and that your games are more fun in the future!

  • Deathstroke
    Deathstroke Member Posts: 3,514

    Many swf throw it to you face when they're winning teabag, flaslight click etc

  • NerfDHalready
    NerfDHalready Member Posts: 1,749

    getting destroyed isn't the best feeling for sure. but tbf getting "4 man bully squads" isn't that common anymore i feel like, just try to play along and focus on chases if you encounter one; they will/should give you good ones. you can try playing without add ons and an offering too, which may make the match a bit less stressful.

  • radiantHero23
    radiantHero23 Member Posts: 4,228

    Im still the one that is the most stressed I my lobbies. I'm asking survivors how the match went most of the time. Most of them say, if they respond, that they had a chill experience. I dont lose these games. But that does not make my games less stressful.

  • radiantHero23
    radiantHero23 Member Posts: 4,228

    I have to disagree. Even and especially end game is a pure stress fest. Downing survivors and making an attempt to interrupt exit gates is one of the most stressful parts, dbd has to offer.

    Things you mention can all go wrong. And are currently very realistic to go wrong. What happens when the killer doesn't get into this good spot after a few minutes? What happens when survivors don't have to heal (adren, MFT, resilience)? What happens when all survivors do have windows and the likes?

    And I have to be honest: are survivors really threatened by a two hit killer at the end of the match?

  • Steakdabait
    Steakdabait Member Posts: 1,277

    This game has no reward or penalty for winning or losing. It doesn't record your matches, there is no win/lost stat, no visable mmr(not that i can tell if there was one lol), no deranking, and the community is big enough to the point(in NA at least) where there's a good chance you'll never see anyone you play against ever again.

    There simply isn't a reason to have anxiety, the worse that can happen is someone wastes your time. Especially on killer, if you get smashed on killer the match lasts 5 or less minutes and the extent of what survivors looking to just be dickheads can do to the killer is a shadow of the killer can do to the survivors.

  • I_CAME
    I_CAME Member Posts: 1,298

    The problem is ego for a lot of people. DBD players take losing more personally than any game i've ever played. I had one of the worst games of my life as Blight on RPD the other day. Got absolutely destroyed by a strong team and made a million mistakes. They made sure to rub in it too. So what? It's just a bad game and it's not a big deal. No one is going to remember these games other than you. Get over yourself and accept that you're going to lose badly at times. The reason losing feels worse as killer is because you don't have as many believable excuses as survivors do. You're the entire team and it all comes down to how you perform.

  • MikaelaWantsYourBoon
    MikaelaWantsYourBoon Member Posts: 6,564

    Well i have different exp.

    Usually when i play survivor, after couple games i am getting mad and stopping play.

    Playing killer is more chill for me.

  • drsoontm
    drsoontm Member Posts: 4,903

    Killer is stressful, you get used to it.

    Playing killer was making me pretty tense until I've reached around the 1000 hours mark. (I must be at about 3.5k hours now. I need to add the play time of 3 accounts to know the exact value)

    At that experience level, "bullies" have a tendencies to die. They are so focused on fooling around while I'm focused on not playing the way they expect (and predict). They are usually too cocky for their own good.

    I can only recommend avoiding playing killers too easy to bully like Hag.

    Main one of the S or A class killers and sooner or later you'll be fine.

  • Vanishlord
    Vanishlord Member Posts: 555


    I could be wrong about this but some survivors act differently towards different killers even if they are trying to be friendly. Skull merchant for example even if they don't 3 gen or try to be friendly some survivors don't give them a chance. Like when I play legion, ghosty and I'm friendly survivors accept it very quickly. And obviously pig most survivors I've gone up against unless they're high prestige and likely competitve want me to be friendly which I'll et them boop and sometimes return back to the match when I just want to play a normal match and usually go friendly for the rest of the match. I always go friendly if they've opened the exit gate. @radiantHero23 you're a much more experienced pig main what would you say about this.

    But on topic killer is extremly difficult as many people have mentioned. You have to stop gen progress as well as down survivors. If you're learning a new killer that can be difficult like billy, nurse and blight. Endgame is a lot more stressful then survivor mains think especially if you have no map traversal power on big maps like Mothers Dwelling. The game is stressful on both sides.

  • radiantHero23
    radiantHero23 Member Posts: 4,228

    I agree, that it also depends on killers. When playing Pig, my survivors seem to be very.... Unkind. They know that I'm not good at chase and they let me know that. I get underestimated in 7/10 matches and that more often than not, leads to the teams downfall. I very rarely encounter the BOOP enthusiasts, which is sad course I think games are about fun.

    Generally, I think that the stronger the killer, the more stressed the survivors become.

  • Vanishlord
    Vanishlord Member Posts: 555

    Thats unfortunate that was one of the reasons I got pig was because some survivors are more friendly towards her than others. But yeah some survivors know I'm weak but I try to use ambush to suprise them.

  • Shaped
    Shaped Member Posts: 5,870
    edited September 2023

    I was but not anymore because bming and bully squads are not as common as they were. It is crazy how often I encountered bming survs years ago and now it is like they are dinosaurs because they don't have time to bm whole game.

    Attitude changed a lot as the game became killer sided more. Game flipped and now I encounter more bold and bming killers than survs.

    Really weird when I get sick of surv and go play killer now to chill more lol. I am not saying every match is chill but winning majority of your games certainly helps after having a bad surv streak.