Ranked Queue

Lots of people have said a lot about the idea of a ranked queue, so I'll try to be brief.

My suggestion is: a ranked queue with rewards like profile cosmetics, or even character cosmetics, leaderboards, ranks visible in the lobby, and iridescent shards. Granted, I have a somewhat small (lol) 800~ hours on DBD, so do with that information what you will.

  • Casual and competitively minded players in the same matches isn't much fun. Competitively minded survivors get upset about their teammates being worse than them and give up, and casual ones get tired of seeing the same 1/6th of the killer roster using the same 10 perks every game. Casual killers who wanna run goofy builds and learn new characters play against really strong survivor teams with good loadouts. The SBMM updates have done their job, but no MMR range tweaking will make it fun to play with and against people whose mindset is fundamentally different from yours (competitive, no holds barred, trying to win VS goofing off or unwinding at the end of a long day).
  • If the idea of entirely new game modes is being played with, I'm sure the developers have thought about the impact of splitting the queue (this has been confirmed). If they decide it's worthwhile—I personally think it can be for a good enough side mode (or ranked queue, obviously)—I feel as though a ranked/casual split would do more for the longevity of the game than new modes that people may not enjoy.
  • If concerns about how much of the playerbase is competitive/casual/somewhere in between, a survey would be good. I don't think there's been a player mindset survey in the past, or at least not recently.

Obviously, this won't entirely fix the issue, and it's a complicated subject. You're still gonna see Blight in casual queue and you'll still have to deal with bad teammates in ranked, obviously. "Nobody would bother with ranked" is a valid concern too, though there are potential remedies. Removing pips (or limiting them) in the casual queue, for example, could funnel reward-minded players into the ranked queue. I almost never play ranked in games, though, so I don't know what other games do to encourage people to play ranked. Overwatch, League of Legends, CS:GO, etc. may be good places to look for inspiration?

These are all just ideas. The SBMM updates make it seem as though the game is being taken in a more competitive direction, so I think a queue split could really help a lot of players who enjoy the game casually continue to do so in the years to come.

Comments

  • Laeyon
    Laeyon Member Posts: 68

    Im all for this. Perfectly explained. Would be nice to have something similar to Call of Duty:

    About 6 ranks to level through with 'Skill Rating', and a seperate 'Top 250' rank for the absolute best players. And obviously there will have to be 2 ranked boards, one for survivor and one for killer.

    Ater each season ends you get exclusive rewards for the rank you placed and finished the season in. They could possibly even make a seperate pass like the rift, but with all the ranked rewards on display.

  • Emeal
    Emeal Member Posts: 5,113

    The challenge with implementing a casual/ranked mode split lies in the potential division of the player base, leading to longer queue times and potential player disengagement. (meaning they stop playing for the day) While some players might be willing to wait longer for a match, the majority likely does not share this sentiment.

    Another hurdle is the definition of casual and ranked play. What may be considered casual for one player could be the most competitive match for another. What is casual to me, might be the sweatiest match you had all week" Establishing clear rules and proper enforcement becomes critical, as players might exploit the system by playing competitively in the casual mode or vice versa.

    Addressing these two issues is essential for the viability of a casual/ranked mode, and it's not a straightforward fix. Indeed, changing the majority of gamers' opinions on queue times seems unlikely for bHVR. Additionally, expecting them to delve into detailed rule enforcement regarding strategies appears uncharacteristic for them too.

  • Khastrx
    Khastrx Member Posts: 156

    I'd like two permanent modes, and ranked is not one of them. Normal Play and the Roulette with random perks, I feel just those two alone would be enough to add variety to the game. Of course if there is a third mode just for limited time events that's also fine, but yeah I don't have any hopes for a decent ranked mode.

  • Laeyon
    Laeyon Member Posts: 68

    Im gonna be entirely honest, if you dont want to "sweat" then you dont play ranked? Ranked mode isn't about sweating anyway if you have the skill to perform well.

    And there is a reward track for playing the game normally, the rift, so idk what your point is tbh.

  • Laeyon
    Laeyon Member Posts: 68

    Alot of people would love a ranked mode. Normal pubs are becoming too competitive anyway, so if they add a ranked mode that would be perfect cause then the "sweats" will not "sweat" anymore in public games.

  • Crowman
    Crowman Member Posts: 9,511

    Lights Out shows that no matter what queue you play in, people are going to sweat.

    A ranked queue won't change the fact that people will still sweat in casual

  • Laeyon
    Laeyon Member Posts: 68

    They can just make the MMR pool even bigger for public matches to even out the que times. As you said, people who want to play competitively dont mind waiting longer for a match.

    Yes some people will always play comp in casual matches, but if a ranked mode gets added it will be WAY less.

    I liked the old ranking system in DBD so much more, cause it was actually a challenge to become rank 1 (i was always stuck at 3), and you knew everytime you would face a good opponent.

    Nowadays i mostly face babies and on occasion some good players...

  • Laeyon
    Laeyon Member Posts: 68

    Alot of people would like a ranked mode believe it or not

  • Emeal
    Emeal Member Posts: 5,113

     but if a ranked mode gets added it will be WAY less.

    How do you know this?

  • Skillfulstone
    Skillfulstone Member Posts: 778

    "Ranked" and "Casual" Queues cannot exist for one simple reason: they would become meaningless in short order and in the end nothing good would come of it.

    DBD has a very aggressive and competitive playerbase which is notorious for exploiting every scrap of edge they can get to make the "other side" miserable (go watch "The Downfall of bully squads" from Ardetha on Youtube, very interesting watch).


    If Queues were separate, not only would that make queue time longer but it would also cease to function shortly when good players start going against other players that can match or surpass them on the regular, and what do you think will happen then?


    Former "ranked" players, after getting beaten too many times or simply wanting easy stomps, will go to the "casual" queue and start to steamroll people meming around or bringing unoptimal builds, which would make "ranked" queue times even longer which would make even less people play it and so on and so forth until only a handful of comp players remain in the "ranked" queue out of principle and the other 99.9% of the playerbase is playing casual queue in order to hope for a game where they don't sweat, returning us to the current situation.


    As unbalanced as the game can be, splitting queues won't fix anything, better to work on fixing the bad things instead of further dividing an already split community. Leave rule enforcing to tournaments.

  • kit_mason
    kit_mason Member Posts: 286

    Did you stop reading after the words "sweat fest queue" and miss the part where I pointed out casual would turn into "get stomped by sweat fest queue players"?

  • Khastrx
    Khastrx Member Posts: 156

    I think you're delusional to believe this. Play any PvP game out there that has a ranked and non-ranked mode, you will still regularly get sweats in pubs. Listen, I'm not against having ranked, but having an additional mode isn't going to change how people play.