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Your thoughts on the current situation of DBD

Bartlaus
Bartlaus Member Posts: 1,027
edited March 21 in General Discussions

Very briefly about me: I've been playing DBD since 2017, both Killer and Survivor (but more recently Survivor). I haven't played DBD for half a year, but I continued to follow the discussions in the forum. Therefore I would like to give my two cents on the current balancing and would like to hear your opinions on it...

In the meantime there have been a number of very good changes (e.g. anti-3-gen mechanics, basekit Shadowborn) which I welcome, but the real core problem still remains - map balancing and MMR. When I play killers, I usually play killers that you would consider low tier and I always try to play chilled. But despite my years of experience with M1 killers, I still have the problem that the gens fly too quickly. Why is it? The survivors I get, whether mediocre or very good, literally stick to the gens. I'm often happy if I barely get 2 kills (when I'm playing soft). I rarely play killers like Nurse and Blight because I find them too strong in places. The only non-S tier killers that I get 4 kills with very often are Dredge and Artist. Simple M1 killers like Doctor or Trapper, for example, usually fail because of the map design. But it's actually a shame because I don't like sweating every single game. I'd rather lose than tunnel or camp people. But if I lose 10 rounds in a row, I start to play sweatier at some point. And when that point is reached, I take the next killer break again. That's how I've always handled it.

When I play Survivor, I feel like I'm only matched with people who have only been playing DBD for 10 hours. Gens are not done, the chases rarely last longer than 20 seconds. I don't do that to myself anymore.

I still miss the old rank based matchmaking. Compared to today's hockey system, it was perfect for me. I'm just saying Purple Ranks. This was the place where I felt comfortable and had dozens of relaxed rounds of fun among other players.

After I started with DBD again and wanted to test the doctor's little buffs, I was immediately matched with a top tournament SWF from my country who had already won countless tournaments and consists of 24/7 professional streamers. But I don't think I should be matched against people like that. I don't want to play in comp mode. And unfortunately, such teams are no exception for me. But for me DBD is not a comp game, even if many people want it to be.

But please don't get me wrong, this is not intended to be a complaint thread. I just want to share my thoughts on the current situation and would appreciate your views. There have definitely been a lot of good changes recently that I'm really happy about. And good changes continue to come, even if unfortunately it sometimes takes a long time.

Thanks for reading and feel free to share your opinions.


P.s.: I apologize for any grammatical errors. I am not a native speaker.

Post edited by Bartlaus on

Comments

  • TerraEsram
    TerraEsram Member Posts: 671

    It seems that the rank system try to make everyone sweaty or competitive

    No chilling, try to be hardcore right away


    I got the same problem, and I don't even understand how, like, when I want to try a killer I never played, I'm always against people who make all the gen really quickly, that's force me to just play with killer I'm good at if I want even some point

  • Bartlaus
    Bartlaus Member Posts: 1,027

    Yes, and that's a shame. In my opinion, this competitive mindset leads to more toxicity. 

    I just played clown. The Survivors weren't good in the Chase, but they all stuck to the gens. I got 2 kills in total, the game was over after 6 minutes. I hooked every survivor at least once. A Feng Min who was hanging twice ran unhappily into my arms. After she died, all the gens were completed. I camped the next survior (what else was I supposed to do during EGC?). No one came to help. The survivors were mediocre at best, but they finished the gens very quickly. I was able to use Pop twice before all the gens were finished. That was my only gen regression.

    And the second kill was basically given to me as a gift; the last survivor could have been saved. Unfortunately, I almost only have games like this anymore when I play killers like Clown. And things are even worse with other M1-killers, since Clown is at least good at the chase.

  • MaTtRoSiTy
    MaTtRoSiTy Member Posts: 2,090

    Long story short: I have come to the conclusion that other than in peak hours in our regions, MMR doesn't really exist in matchmaking and the game just throws you in with whoever it can find.

    I would love to see more M1 killers as they are the most fun to play against but I understand why people don't play them so much in the current meta.

    I just accepted matchmaking is an absolute mess and I will just get babies one game and comp teams the next. I gave up caring at this point and just accept the chaos lol

  • Mentally_Mechanical
    Mentally_Mechanical Member Posts: 58

    I feel like the game suffers most from questionable balance decisions, a frequently poor community, and rarely if ever fixing what needs to be addressed.

    I still play it because I see what it could be, but I don't really foresee it ever truly improving at this rate.

    Still, I do have positive feelings, when things go right it can be incredibly fun and satisfying even when losing, though having enough factors go right for that is unfortunately very infrequent.

  • Bafugaboo
    Bafugaboo Member Posts: 406

    I have similar issues when playing. I try to stay fun as the killer. By that I mean I will spread hooks and allow them all to play the game. I give them the sense that I am going for them to hype their loop or hide senses. Then after a few matches of gens flying by I play for real a few matches which is painful as I know they have less fun when I do this. How do I know? I also play survivor and realized it’s the whole experience of uncertainty that you will survive but knowing you have a chance that makes it fun. If the killer goes full try hard it’s often not enjoyable. This is due to the case as you mentioned that not every other player is skilled.

    My best guess to fix this is change how the requirement to get the 1 mil bp to games played instead of the current format. They do need a measuring stick for some to brag about tho so having something to show off like your rank can be there. It just should be separated so that some do not need to try hard to get the extra reward.

  • xltechno
    xltechno Member Posts: 1,026
    edited March 20

    2 kills is a tie. Well, a tie usually means that the gate gets power after one kill or around the same time. So unless the survivors do something wrong, one or more of them will definitely escape.

    Post edited by Rizzo on
  • Bartlaus
    Bartlaus Member Posts: 1,027

    To be honest, I'm still not sure how the MMR works. As a survivor, 90% of the time I get relatively inexperienced survivors who do everything but gens. As a killer, I have to deal with stronger opponents in the evening than in the afternoon. But other than that I don't notice much of a difference.

    As a Survivor I would also like to see more M1 Killers or Bubbas, but for the most part it's just Nurse, Blight, Whiskas, Huntress and Legion. Although, admittedly, there is more variety than usual.

  • Bartlaus
    Bartlaus Member Posts: 1,027

    I still enjoy playing DBD, otherwise I wouldn't still be here after seven years. But I have to take regular breaks so that I can still enjoy the game after such a long time. Overall, DBD has definitely improved over the years, although there is still plenty of room for improvement.

  • Mentally_Mechanical
    Mentally_Mechanical Member Posts: 58

    I've not reached the point of taking frequent breaks yet, though I do find myself idling in menus for extended periods of time (this is the only game I've ever played where I'm apprehensive to press play when solo). It's certainly improved in a lot of regards, and I hope it only gets better from here.

  • Mazoobi
    Mazoobi Member Posts: 1,568

    I used to play the game a lot from 2017-2022 but I've only been playing a couple hours a week now.

    The constant tunneling is my main cause of burnout personally. Ever since DS (my ex-favorite perk) was gutted, killers can tunnel so much easier and it's sad because it is a very effective strategy. 8/10 of my games have the first chased survivor getting sent back to the campfire before the 4th gen can be popped. I get that certain survivors love the adrenaline of getting tunneled, but I'm not running four chase perks.

    I agree with how bad the current matchmaking is. Whenever I come back from a break, I get paired up against players who are ready to compete in a comp match.

  • Bartlaus
    Bartlaus Member Posts: 1,027

    Which killers do you mainly play? And how do you play? Are you taking advantage of all the options? (camping, tunneling, slugging)? And when do you mainly play? Don't get me wrong, but I rarely have easy matches myself, as long as I try to play "nicely".

  • Bartlaus
    Bartlaus Member Posts: 1,027

    Yeah, unfortunately many survivors have this problem. That's why I try to avoid such strategies like tunneling as long as possible. I hope better times come for you/ us.

  • TheSubstitute
    TheSubstitute Member Posts: 2,542
    edited March 20

    There are a few factors involved that make it feel different.

    One of those is MMR. The game is more balanced now but that doesn't mean it's more fun. By definition, the more MMR comes into play the more meta the tactics have to be to compete. The stricter the MMR, the more intense the match. Ranks were a lot more imbalanced but that also gave more room for non meta and meme builds to do something other than get stomped. If you're a survivor and switch from a meta to non meta build you'll get trashed until your MMR adjusts back down and the same applies to Killers.

    Another factor is that Killers only have so many ways to slow down the game: gen regression, gen pressure, quick downs, camping, slugging and tunneling. Of those the most unhealthy for gameplay overall is camping, slugging and tunneling and camping has been nerfed. Slugging and tunneling are still really strong.

    Gen regression, on the other hand, has been nerfed. There are only a few Killers that can cover a map effectively and the rest had to 3 gen (which was also nerfed since SM and the Erupting Call of Overbrine meta made it too strong) but now 3 genning is less effective. Quick downs, against an evenly matched group of survivors and a Killer, is not happening unless you're Nurse or Blight for the most part.

    So, out of all the strategies, the only ones that remain really strong for the roster overall are tunneling and slugging. What further complicates it though is that protection against tunneling has been overall nerfed with DS taking a hit and Killers have overall lost incentives to not tunnel and to spread hooks. Ranks caused more spreading of hooks since you could hit a higher rank with 8 hooks 0 kills than you could with 4 hooks 4 kills and as a visual representation it was an incentive. Old BBQ helped with the spreading of hooks due to the BP incentive. While the incentive, in my opinion, should have been decoupled from perks it shouldn't have been eliminated but rather made basekit.

    So we now have a more competitive atmosphere because that's what MMR encourages, less incentives for the Killer to not tunnel, survivors can't protect themselves as well if they do get tunneled, and the other ways a Killer can slow down a game have been nerfed overall but tunneling is still really strong.

    Is it any wonder that tunneling and meta strategies have increased? The game is more competitive and less relaxed now than in the past. Depending on your definition of fun, that might not be a good thing.

  • rha
    rha Member Posts: 419

    I'm playing since 2017 and felt most at home in purple ranks as well, the #1 problem right now for me that I'd like to see addressed to be able to enjoy the game again is MMR. I didn't know that in hockey seasoned players are put in a team with beginners who are still learning. Maybe they should have modeled it after sports where teams are made up of players of roughly equal experience.

  • Bartlaus
    Bartlaus Member Posts: 1,027

    Yes, you brought up a few important points. Everyone should play the way they like. But in the future I would like to see competitive gamers and casual/chilled players separated.

    In my opinion, the competitive atmosphere creates more discomfort and toxicity. Nevertheless, I will continue to try to play relaxed and hope that I have stress-free matches every now and then. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect 4K without putting in the effort and actually I don't care about the outcome of the match as long as I had fun and got at least a few hooks.

    A better MMR would definitely help. On the one hand, low tier killers should get their hooks quicker. On the other hand, survivors should be immune to tunneling and proxy camping would also need to be further nerfed. But I am also aware that this is not so easy to implement.

  • 09SHARKBOSS
    09SHARKBOSS Member Posts: 1,368
    edited March 21

    me and you are very alike in the fact we would rather lose than camp/tunnel

    but we play differently i play competitive until ppl start dying then i start memeing

  • Yharwick
    Yharwick Member Posts: 521

    First thing is Artist is A tier I'm not sure where you got the idea she isn't. But Dredge yeah a lot of players get overwhelmed by nightfall so they can do well even if they're not strong or consistent.

    As for the larger topic at hand I'll be honest I get very confused when "casual" players get upset they don't win very often when by their own admission they don't want to try much. You loaded up decided you wanted to play chill and lost to people that wanted to win more than you. I see no issue here.

    I do however agree matchmaking is a joke at the moment. The amount of people I play against as killer that have no idea what they're doing is honestly depressing. I have Xeno games where nobody sets up turrets, Artist games where people don't bother repelling birds, Plague games where everyone cleanses immediately. I get no joy from winning these games but sometimes it's all I get. I absolutely agree with the idea matchmaking should be stricter, I believe people don't mind waiting longer for higher quality games because rn matchmaking barely exists.

  • Bartlaus
    Bartlaus Member Posts: 1,027

    "First thing is Artist is A tier I'm not sure where you got the idea she isn't. But Dredge yeah a lot of players get overwhelmed by nightfall so they can do well even if they're not strong or consistent."

    Yes, my mistake :( Actually I meant non-S tier killers who are better than average.

    "I get very confused when "casual" players get upset they don't win very often when by their own admission they don't want to try much. You loaded up decided you wanted to play chill and lost to people that wanted to win more than you. I see no issue here."

    I think you didn't fully understand my point. I'm neither upset nor do I expect easy 4Ks. I quote myself:

    Everyone should play the way they like. But in the future I would like to see competitive gamers and casual/chilled players separated.

    Don't get me wrong, I don't expect 4K without putting in the effort and actually I don't care about the outcome of the match as long as I had fun and got at least a few hooks.

    IMO It's not good that low-tier killers rely on strategies like camping, tunneling and slugging to stand a chance against good survivors. This spoils the fun for the survivors and also for some killers like @09SHARKBOSS or me. That's why I try to continue to play "fairly". For me the best solution is to adjust the MMR.

  • 09SHARKBOSS
    09SHARKBOSS Member Posts: 1,368

    i have been summoned

    i do actually have fun playing against toxic players via butchering them (its called becoming a comp player mid game)

    the chill ones and the ones that give up i let go

  • Shaped
    Shaped Member Posts: 5,901

    Even if it seems like this based on competence of players, some parts of mmr you just never get to experience if you played enough.

    I tested this by playing dbd on different account and I was at literal bottom or near bottom every match. Players were completely clueless.

    I love when people say "my teammates are babies" because some of them are scared of tr and such, but real babies... man. These players are in a league of their own. It is like discovering a new world you forgot it existed. It is so cute seeing how new players act but this just showed me that even tho mmr is not good it still keeps bottom away from our evil touch.

  • ChuckingWong
    ChuckingWong Member Posts: 429

    SoloQ is just becoming more and more unplayable with every update to the killer roster, their kit, and perks as well.

    Unknown is another laughable auto-pilot of a killer with 2 anti loop abilities and map traversal, literal brain dead version of artist with a teleport. Billy didn't need overdrive and no one asked for it, just take away overheat and he was fine, AKA classic Billy. Huntress didn't need all these hatchets, Clown doesn't need all these bottles, Blight still is problematic, Nurse is an unbalanced mess, SM is still broken and they all play the same, stupid broken addons that are only balanced against comp/comms teams (Stone piece, Tombstone, Black Incense, Bookmark, etc...) Ultimate handhold, Grim Embroke+DMStupid...

    Literally you have to hope the killer is new or just bad at the game at this point to reasonably even have a chance at escape or have fun on solo survivor. And that's a CHANCE, as you also have to contend with other survivors on your team, WHICH YOU ARE MASSIVELY RELIANT ON, for any hope of escape. Its so aggravating, EVEN WITH KINDRED AND OPEN HANDED, being face saved in front of the killer to be tunneled out, losing pips in the process and there was ZERO you could have done to prevent it as your chances of escape were based on everyone but yourself.

    I cant predict that I would need DH+DS+OTR+styptic every single match, and even if I did, the game should never get to this point.

    Its not like you can report your survivor teammates for something like this either, or 3-genning your team, or leading the killer to a critical gen, or leading the killer to another injured survivor... they are just blissfully playing the game. So you end up just being stuck, and stuck, and de-pipped, and stuck again in this circle of BS that BHVR wants to just make worse with every update.

  • JeanGreyarea
    JeanGreyarea Member Posts: 498

    I agree with everything you said, i dont know how bhvr can change matchmaking to make it super accurate tho. Well at least you got the feng crop top lol

  • ays12151
    ays12151 Member Posts: 678

    It's first time I have issue with cheaters. From my experience I can say that 50% of Anonymous Mode / Epic Games Players are cheaters.

    And it's usually subtle cheats like increased movement speed by 5 - 15% - increased the chance to unhook yourself, increased wiggle speed etc etc. I thinki cheaters just discovered something new and BHVR may have problems to deal with it.

  • Bartlaus
    Bartlaus Member Posts: 1,027

    Thanks mate, I'm glad you remembered <3 My request for the Feng Min Panda Onesie is still to come :3

  • Bartlaus
    Bartlaus Member Posts: 1,027

    I opened the box and you came! :3 Yes my friend. I'm glad there are still enough killers (and survivors) who don't take the game too seriously. And to be fair, there are a lot of people like us. Otherwise I would have left DBD many years ago.

  • Bartlaus
    Bartlaus Member Posts: 1,027

    I'm sorry to hear that. Over the years, I've often had phases where I encountered a lot of cheaters during prime time and made several posts on the forums here. At the moment I'm very happy that I haven't encountered a cheater in a while. I hope things get better for you soon.

  • 100PercentBPMain
    100PercentBPMain Member Posts: 1,138

    You're right, bud. BHVR has tested MMR before at varying degrees, but I remember one test they made it fairly tight and I wanted to kiss my solo q teams, on average.

    I guess twin mains got stuck waiting 3 hours for a lobby so we can't have nice things. Which is a shame, because I was excited to have survivors of similar skill on my team.

    It's basically confirmed now that matchmaking prioritizes speed so MMR feels pointless???

    I guess a middle ground has to be drawn, because I remember if you wanted to play survivor at night you used to have to wait literally 10 minutes but now it's like 1 minute

  • IlliterateGenocide
    IlliterateGenocide Member Posts: 6,030

    ive been playing since the near beginning with many breaks.

    ive only played about like 6 games in total since the release of Alien.

    im bored, survivor is unfun, new perks suck.

  • Bartlaus
    Bartlaus Member Posts: 1,027

    That's a good point and a lot of people I've talked to feel the same way. I would rather wait 10 minutes for a "fair" match than be matched three matches in a row with players under my skill level.

  • Man_of_triangles
    Man_of_triangles Member Posts: 302

    You either play 4 man SWF or you play killer, solo queue is completely dead.

  • Malkhrim
    Malkhrim Member Posts: 995
    edited March 22

    I think the game itself is more balanced than ever... but the matchmaking is making the game extremely sweaty and unfun. This has been happening since MMR was made stricter last year. Stricter matchmaking means people with really high MMR only play with people with really high MMR... which sounds good on paper, until you realize that, if you have thousands of hours in this game, you will only play against people who play a huge lot too. I've lost my count on how many p400 squads I've faced on the latest months, and I was even paired against a comp team once.

    But MMR is not just about how experienced or skilled you are, it's also about how COMMITTED you are to winning, so the chances of going against teams with the strongest builds also increases. I keep seeing more and more people with meta builds for rushing gens, multiple toolboxes and map offerings. Meanwhile, going off-meta (which is far more fun than playing meta) feels more punishing than usual, because the odds of facing a full meta sweaty squad that will have an advantage over you because of that are way too high. Seriously, there were days I was trying to play with a MEME BUILD and immediatly went against four survivors with only meta perks, 4 items with iri-add-ons (BNPs, Syringes), and a map offering.


    On the survivor side is hard for me to compare because, since I'm a killer main, my MMR as a survivor is much lower. On the MMR I currently find myself in, I must say the solo survivor experience is actually better than it used to be. I'm matched with good teammates more often now and the information on the UI actually makes a lot of difference. Still, solo survivor is still plagued by problems that already existed before, like those teammates that kill themselves on first hook (I've said this before and I will keep saying it: survivors shouldn't be allowed to do this unless there is only one survivor standing). The killer tunneling the first survivor seems to have become a little more common too. Then there are the nurses that bring map offerings... but those are only common after midnight, I cannot say if they become more common in higher MMRs, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

    Post edited by Malkhrim on
  • JeanGreyarea
    JeanGreyarea Member Posts: 498

    Oh trust me ill never forget that haha. Also i think their are only 3 characters with onesies so maybe they should do another collection

  • MaTtRoSiTy
    MaTtRoSiTy Member Posts: 2,090

    No I get it, I have 3 accounts but I don't touch 2 of them for sometimes a year at a time and I get matched with people like this.

    All arguments aside, I have to say baby survivors are absolutely adorable. Completely terrified, missing skill checks, disregarding the fact you have ears and can hear them injured, terrible hiding, blinding the side of your head at pallets and running themselves to dead zones and letting team mates die on hook as they are too scared to rescue even if you walk to the other side of the map to let them lmao

  • MaTtRoSiTy
    MaTtRoSiTy Member Posts: 2,090

    Yeah I would believe the priority is speed over accuracy and I am mostly okay with that. Though during this event it has been a bit painful as a veteran player when I get team mates who make the most bafflingly stupid decisions that make my blood pressure rise

  • Bartlaus
    Bartlaus Member Posts: 1,027

    That's why I'd rather wait longer and get survivors on my MMR. Accuracy > speed.

  • Bartlaus
    Bartlaus Member Posts: 1,027

    It's not that I want to make the game simple because it's too easy for me as a killer. I'm just not a fan of excessive tunneling, camping or slugging. But when I play low tier killer, I often struggle to get more than one kill. I still won't change the way I play because of this. It is what it is. If camping, tunneling and slugging didn't exist in DBD, the balancing would have to be completely overhauled.

  • Bradcore
    Bradcore Member Posts: 68

    It has become my experience that survivors don't want to play the game anymore. They ignore gens and just mess with the Killer.

  • Karth
    Karth Member Posts: 236
    edited March 23

    Lets just say im slowly turning into a killer main

    mmr still sucks, no mather how many times i die i still get paired with high tier killers with meta builds with some slugging, tunneling and camping on the side

    Pretty good job so far i'd say

    Still no further info about MMR other than a post and a fandom wiki

    out of 30+ games I had ONE that acutally felt perfect, sure the killer got a 4k BUT it was intense, it was good, it felt...balanced, both sides were actually fighting tooth and nail

    its why i play dbd. if i can get that feeling again by having longer queue times, so be it

  • Lost_Boy
    Lost_Boy Member Posts: 678

    Killer feels much easier to play than in the past. I barely lose games these days playing with non meta killers, perks or strong addons. Even if survivors get a good start Killer is fairly forgiving mid to late game and you can easily turn it around. In the past you would need to play pretty flawless if you had 4 survivors left with 2 gens. Now not so much.

    Solo survivor on the other hand really feels like a constant up hill struggle. I'm by no means an amazing survivor, but the amount of games I'm in that the Killer gets 3-4 hooks before a gen even pops is a lot. I see people going down time after time in 15-20 seconds after the match starts and the killer isnt even running lethal pursuer. I've started running Kindred a lot and what I see from it is a lot of proximity camping and hook exchanges. Some killers will tunnel the unhooked survivor and some won't. Proximity camping seems to be more prevalent in my games than actual straight up tunneling. Proximity camping is much more effective imo than tunneling. You'll often need 2 survivors off gens to get a rescue and you'll usually end up with one on the floor and the process repeats itself.

    I'll continue to play survivor but it's currently not really that enjoyable about 75% of the time. A lot of games are pretty much over in the first minute and you can see the effect it has on the entire team time after time. People just give up or start thinking about trying for the hatch early on.

  • I_Cant_Loop
    I_Cant_Loop Member Posts: 697

    It has gotten better for veteran players in some aspects of the game but far, far worse for new players. The amount of killers powers to learn (how to use and how to counter) and the insane amount of perks has gotten totally out of control. I have about 2,000 hours, play fairly casually, and even I feel overwhelmed. As soon as I sort of figure out how to play against a new killer, yet another new killer gets released. Every friend I've tried to get to play this game with me has quit immediately because of how overwhelming it has become.

  • DBD78
    DBD78 Member Posts: 3,469

    Cheaters, cheaters and cheaters. When I get a normal game it's pretty good.

  • RFSa09
    RFSa09 Member Posts: 880

    better than ever

  • BritneyMitch
    BritneyMitch Member Posts: 178

    The only thing about current dbd that I don't like is pop/pain res. The amount of time that has to be spent on gens is boring as hell.

  • Shirtless_Myers
    Shirtless_Myers Member Posts: 381

    It is one of the worst-balanced games you'll ever play if you try to touch solo queue. The developers don't want to balance their game and would rather blame solo-queue for issues that plague the game than attempt to assist it. The game is downright miserable with multiple flaws that have stuck with the game since launch.

    Playing killer though is a breeze and you'll nearly always win nowadays with little resistance in most matches.