Let's talk about Unsportsmanlike conduct and how it treats players for "killing themselves on hook".

Re playing off-meta perks, you kind of answered why yourself: "Nevermind the fact that things are constantly being watered down and nerfed for the sake of competitive balance."

Is there really a point to playing with meta perks as a survivor anymore? Recent history has shown they'll just end up nerfed to the point that no one uses them. And it's not like there's much in the way of replacement - it's telling that most of the top survivor perks are several years old. MFT was really the only recent addition, with the exception of buffed Deja Vu which to my understanding is a temporary buff. And MFT is dead after the next update. I no longer use meta perks or those in the top 10. There's no point. I also don't throw my games though.

Eh. If its hurting the individual, they shouldn't be playing it. Its not entitlement OR ego, its intelligence. To each their own, though!

Everything i mentioned is exactly how one would make it feasible. So no, they did not give an answer.

I don't let go on hook but I also don't think people should be punished for doing so because I think it's a symptom of a larger problem. 9/10 times I see team mates let go is when they're being tunnelled. I dgaf about being tunnelled, I'll keep the killer busy easily and my team mates can just sit on gens. So you can argue that someone letting go is letting the team down (or lacking "moral decency") but I also notice that in 9/10 of those instances the tunnelled person was also let down by their team. It's not hard to take a hit for a tunnelled team mate, or attempt to take aggro. I always try but if I'm on the opposite side of the map I hope other team mates will step in and they honestly rarely do.

Maybe if more players worked on being better team mates, then other players will want to continue playing with us. As it stands anyway, I don't see people letting go enough in my games for it to make too big an impact on my enjoyment on the game. But if other people notice it happening alot then maybe those people need to question why other people don't want to play with them. You say it's a team game, yet often your team mates are the ones playing like they're in a single player game with no regard to looking out for each other. And then they expect people to consider them before moving on?

The easiest way to circumvent this is to remove the skill checks from the second hook stage. This removes the suicide option entirely.

Of course, if someone doesn't want to play then, after being unhooked, they'll either run to the killer for a quick death or remain motionless until the crows start flapping around enough to annoy a killer to end it.

However, I believe refusing to play the game is against the rules and would work as a bannable offence, which would work for survivors who just remain motionless. Running towards a killer to die won't be because that could be excused as a skill issue, so then it would be down to the killer to floor them and maybe choose to leave them to bleed out (if they wanted - there is no obligation to do so).

Therefore, I'll conclude by saying DBD has left a mechanic in place which deliberately causes frustration. I say this because it has been mentioned ample times to change the second stage hook to revert this - a perfectly reasonable request - yet they have chosen not to do so. This would make things much clearer in terms of what is punishable or not, yet has been ignored.

No they gave you THEIR answer. Which is that they dont want people getting banned over what could have been a legit accident. What I mean is like it or not or provide any logic you want, they want it this way and it looks like it is staying that way so you are just gonna have to deal with it.

You can play customs if you only want to play with bots. No need to remove the D/C penalty for that.

Just my two cents, but if someone DC's, accident or not, I am affected, and I want them to be penalized.

Kids made an abrupt problem? Not my fault.

Doorbell rang for you? Not my fault.

Insert anything that happens, including random DC from crap ISP. Not my fault.

If I dc for ANY reason from a game, I want my penalty.

I make sure I get things in order and cant be bothered so I can play and not screw over others. I want the same.

edit: Grammar

Everyone has there own version of trying there best and different nuance to how they like to play the game. I'm not talking about those people who try their best to win, but then see that "oh it's just me and 1 other survivor and theres 4 gens left. Might as well go next." As long as you try that's great. Whether you're tunneled or not. If you use the excuse of "I don't like the way this killer is playing" or "my teamates are noobs and need to get good" to justify killing yourself on your first hook, then the only games you're going to play out are when you're just completely dunking on the killer.

Also, this mentality will completely kill any future growth. If you get queued up with teammates who are brand new to the game or very low hours and don't know to take hits or split gens or loop properly. Yeah, they're going to suck. We all do when we're new. But instead of making a competitive match out of it and trying to take charge as the experienced player, you just say "oh well, teamates suck. Went down before 1st gen, gonna suicide hook now." Then those new players are going to get slaughtered every game and probably just write off DBD as super imbalanced and never get into it.

As for me as a player, I try to be super gen focused and smart about altruism. Being honest, I suck at looping and try to balance learning better pathing by taking the chase and also knowing when to let better loopers take it to increase my teams odds. I try to play both sides equally. But more than worrying about how my teammates or the killer plays I end every match thinking what can I do to improve. I think that is honestly the thrust of my first post. People should be more introspective about themselves in general.

But hey, it's a video game and I know that's a big ask. But if people are interested enough to read the forums for information and discussion maybe they're interested enough to work on themselves at some point *hope*

Camping, slugging and tunneling is playing with strategies you want to play. Hook suiciding is literally STOPPING TO PLAY and leaving a team with one less player. They are not equivalents in any way. You're just making up false equivalencies now to try and defend the undefendable. If someone wants to login into matches just to leave them immediatly every time, then they shouldn't be playing.

And when did I suggest removing self unhooks? Did you even read my comments?

Someone will only stop a player from hook suiciding if they are already beside the hook when it starts. It's insanely common for survivors to be away from it when it happens, then the hooked one can often die before any survivors reaches the hook. This happens EVERY SINGLE DAY. There's no proof survivors are near the hook "most of the time". Oh, but your argument in favor of hook suicides now is "sometimes it can't happen"? Don't worry, if that's the case, the solution is to make so it can NEVER happen.

"Killers always slug for the 4K" is just a lie. That happens sometimes, but it's far from being ALL times. I don't even think it's most of the time. But I like that you try to argue that dying to give hatch is not needed, because you're pretty much giving reasons to remove hook suicides entirely.

And understand for once, being paired with a weak team doesn't justify leaving the game. If you're going to DC everytime your team starts to lose, that's on YOU, not on the game. YOU chose to leave a game for a silly reason, you get the penalty. No one is forcing you out. One of the reasons the penalty exists is to stop people from abusing DCs like that.

Other games having penalties with only 5 minutes peak is another lie. There are games that lock you out of matches for WEEKS. Besides, you only reach "3 days" DC penalty if you leave lots, lots and lots of matches. If a person takes such a penalty, they deserve to take one, because it means they have been frequently leaving every match they can.

Either way, the DC penalty is important for the game's health. DC's used to be insanely more common before it was implemented. People wanting to leave just because they are not winning is a great reason for it to exist. Now it just needs to take one step further and prevent hook suicides, so the penalty can't be so easily circumvented.

That sounds more like griefing than unsportsmanlike play.

Skill checks in dbd are like "scratch your nose, I dare you"

Back on topic, I personally see no problem with people being abke to let go on hook. Yeah it can kind of suck if they do right at the start on first hook, but it is their match and their choice to do so. Much as it is my match and my choice to effectively throw trying for a third blastmine proc in a row.

Also for me personally I will always hang on if there is a reason to do so, but if the match is obviously lost I'll let go for two reasons. First it's a recognition of gg, wp you won and secondly I can just go next again quicker. Another small thing is if you're hanging in even whilst the last person is in chase, ypu're blocking any chance of hatch for them.

I only read OP's initial post. If I'm playing against a Sadako that's slugging so they can watch the choppy animation, I'll try and get grabbed on a generator or out of a locker near a hook and get out of there as fast as possible. Slugging isn't against any arbitrary homemade rules but it's unsportsmanlike by way of poor game design.