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Are there any planned implementations to lessen the ever-growing gap between solo-queue and SWF?

The title is pretty self-explanatory. We saw the implementation of the action icons (ie: gen status, chase indicator, chests, totems, etc.) but we really just need some sort of communication system. Be it pings and/or in-game voice chat. I was initially against an in-game voice comm system, but with another game having released just a bit ago featuring "The Cannibal", they included a voice system and it changed my mind. It seems to work much better than the system we have here. The gap between solo-queue and SWF is just getting worse and worse that I just don't play solo-queue survivor anymore.

Answers

  • If you're on the same server but have different native languages, it's often difficult to communicate, so I don't think voice chat is necessary. Not everyone around the world has a sufficient level of English communication skills for gaming, and that includes myself.

    I believe it's much fairer to impose restrictions on SWF than trying to bring soloQ up to the level of SWF.

  • MikeStev
    MikeStev Member Posts: 384

    HUD enough.. voice chat BIG NO

  • Xernoton
    Xernoton Member Posts: 5,832
    edited October 2023

    There is the HUD... And apart from this the AFC mechanic is coming as well as the anounced solution to 3gens.

    Voice chat isn't the best idea. How many games have you played in which some douche felt the need to disconnect or kill themself on hook? Now imagine them screaming slurs into their vacuum cleaner and telling you things about your family that even you didn't know yet because it's obviously your fault, that they got mind gamed on one of The Game's god pallets. Thanks but I think I'll pass.

    A chat wheel would be the better option. No language barrier, no need for a microphone and zero risk of having to listen to some 13 year old's five minutes of hate speech. But it would get the job done. Top it off with the ability to see your team mates perks in the lobby (maybe ingame as well) and solo queue should be mostly fine.

    Post edited by Xernoton on
  • Rogue11
    Rogue11 Member Posts: 1,461
    edited October 2023

    Reworking Knock Out and Hex: Third Seal, perks that only exist to stomp and BM solo queue players, would be a good start.

    Other than that, it's primarily a matchmaking problem.

    Post edited by Rogue11 on
  • SMitchell8
    SMitchell8 Member Posts: 3,302

    Solo already has training wheels now, so not sure there's a need for anything else. Kindred basekit at a push, but no comms or the kind. Perhaps sticker like emojis on a wheel with generator, hook, exit etc on them so survivors can communicate a little.

    Not a fan of the icons albeit they're super helpful.

  • NerfDHalready
    NerfDHalready Member Posts: 1,749

    seeing perks just in game please, because i can't imagine the amount of lobby dodges if survivors' perks are seen to each other. i'd like the pre game lobby gone as a whole but that's a whole another topic.

  • jesterkind
    jesterkind Member Posts: 7,802

    Voice chat is a terrible, terrible idea for a multitude of reasons. There's a bunch of downsides and literally zero consistent upsides; it certainly can't actually address the issue, so it's void on that count alone.

    That said, there are things that the game could implement. People bring up some kind of chat wheel consistently, and while I think that might be a bit tonally off, mechanically it would definitely do the job. Other than that, some form of basekit Kindred (survivor aura only) would do a lot to shore up the worst potential of solo queue, and seeing your teammate's perks in the lobby and in game would be a must no matter what.

    It's important to remember that solo queue's issues are split between two problems, and one of them is unsolvable. In every single multiplayer team game, queuing up solo means you might get complete potatoes who refuse to play as a part of a team and throw the match for you. That isn't fixable, and it's not even a matchmaking issue. It's just how it is, you might get people who don't want to play as a team.

    The other problem is fixable. There's a lack of information in solo queue that means even players who do want to play as a team have to rely either on extreme guesswork, or dedicating parts of their build just to be brought up to a baseline. Improving basekit information gain would do a lot to help there.

  • sickdeathfiend
    sickdeathfiend Member Posts: 140

    I wish they would add a communication wheel like Evil Dead the game has. Need to be able to communicate in soloq.

  • zarr
    zarr Member Posts: 996
    edited October 2023

    They have been talking about wanting to bridge this gap for years. They then made a few HUD changes that are ultimately rather minor and don't come close to providing even just the fundament on which to build a bridge upon (well, that's not entirely fair I suppose, they do help a bit and more such HUD adjustments could help more, but it would still just never come close to the performance potential of SWF), and it's been 10 months since with no further changes. The reality is that bridging this gap is not only a herculean task, but at BHVR's pace it is simply unthinkable. Not only that, but it stands to be argued that bridging this gap through making the solo experience more SWF-like by providing more info and means of teamwork isn't even a worthwhile goal, because the solo experience is much closer to the horror theme, being thrown into uncertain circumstances with unknown fellow survivors and having to navigate and coordinate oneself through that as best as possible.

    While the nerfs to camping and tunnelling have been a blessing and particularly so for solo survivor, I think the real way to go about solving the issue of this gap is to nerf SWF and then nerf killers that overperform against solo accordingly. https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/304057/swf-loadout-restrictions

    Post edited by zarr on
  • bjorksnas
    bjorksnas Member Posts: 5,608
    edited October 2023

    Its too much of an effort to shift the entire game back and fourth to actually comfortably make solo queue good while actually making killers across the board still average 55%, every little thing means massive shifts in balance

    For example, lets say they added pings to the game, a self ping button and a ranged ping button

    Heres a massive lists of things that now need to be accounted / balanced for assuming people use pings decently

    You know where all survivors are at the start of a match

    You know where gens are being worked on

    You know where the killer is with constant updates in chase and out of chase

    You know where chases are taking place

    You know when a chase is dropped and where a killer is going after

    You know totem locations that your teammate saw mid chase but otherwise couldn't cleanse or provide any info about till after being unhooked or escaping chase, which could lead to any number of life saving scenarios from cleansing exposed hexes and chase hex perks.

    You know where exit gates are.

    You know where teammates are to heal,

    You know where teammates are to be healed.

    etc.

    Every little thing means a massive shift in balance and they just don't like changing things because even with this 1 "small" change so many perks and killers need to be changed, reworked, buffed to fit this new model of dbd, and this is just for 1 change to bring solo queue up to the level of swf, imagine if they did a whole qol update, the game would flip on its head

  • MikaelaWantsYourBoon
    MikaelaWantsYourBoon Member Posts: 6,564

    Yeah , i agree with that.

    If they make solo-q playable and winnable, kill-rates will go to down so badly.

    After that, they will force to buff half of killers (probably more).

    This means a lot work but no money opportunity. So i doubt they will give love to solo survivors.

  • I_CAME
    I_CAME Member Posts: 1,294

    Matchmaking has always been the biggest problem. There are too many instances of me getting 1-2 completely incompetent teammates and a ridiculously sweaty killer. I can point out multiple cases of this in every session I play. Earlier I went against a sweaty Artist with 4000 hours. One of my teammates had 421 hours. They were significantly worse than the rest of the team and were quickly deleted from the match. I don't need to go into how the rest of the game played out. The games really aren't that bad when everyone can pull their weight. Even when I go against stronger killer. The RNG factor is just too strong in solo queue. The odds of you getting at least one terrible teammate are extremely high.

  • Robotfangirl67
    Robotfangirl67 Member Posts: 640

    I understand where you are coming from. Cause yes solo is a little bit messy. But I also have to disagree with a voice chat. I just also don’t want to get yell at also. Only because I dealt with that once before in a different multiplayer game and it was a pain to deal with.

  • Peachblow
    Peachblow Member Posts: 29

    The concerns about voice chat are valid, though most of them are just fear of being yelled at or trolling purposes which, at that point, I'd say have a quick way to mute these players without having to stop working on a generator or what have you. The language barrier is a fair reason. Ultimately, so many multiplayer games have some sort of voice feature that seems to work when you want it to. There's always going to be jerks and trolls regardless if they're using voice or not.

    The compromise certainly is some kind of chat-wheel system though. I think this could go a long way as well since even I would probably opt to use this more than a voice chat too. Having survivor perks visible to other survivors only would also be extremely helpful and would promote camaraderie and build synergy. Sure, you'll have some people quit lobbies, but isn't that kind of the point? If your build is that outrageously wild or non-beneficial to survival, why would people want to waste time with you anyway? These implementations combined with an effort to fix their matchmaking would probably bridge the gap to at least somewhat of a feasible state. With how it is now, as I mentioned above, solo-queue is just absolutely unenjoyable.

    I also read a few responses of nerfing SWF. How would one even go about doing that? The core advantage is communicating on voice comms to be able to synergize builds and coordinate who is where, who is doing what, killer location, etc. You can't really nerf external voice comms.