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The idea of "Quitting new content until all current bugs are fixed"

So, I see a lot of people say this…. That BHVR should pause all new content and concentrate only on fixing bugs, but… it's not that simple. I've tried using analogies to restaurants to explain why it's different, but… nobody seems to get it.

So I figured I'd open a discussion here… maybe others who understand why this idea is not so cut and dried simple can explain better than me, or even better maybe someone at BHVR will see this and address the idea from their point of view. Hey, maybe I am totally wrong and that's something they totally can and are going to do, but I doubt it from what I know about programming and game development.

Comments

  • AbsolutGrndZer0
    AbsolutGrndZer0 Member Posts: 1,446
    edited March 31

    Oh absolutely, people who make this argument always insist that "players would be okay if they did this" and… no, they wouldn't.

  • MoNosEmpire
    MoNosEmpire Member Posts: 649

    Updates will bring bugs regardless.

  • AbsolutGrndZer0
    AbsolutGrndZer0 Member Posts: 1,446

    Yes, which is one of the arguments people make… So fix all current bugs before introducing new content with new bugs. Which again, its' not that simple. But I don't know how to get people to understand that.

  • Aven_Fallen
    Aven_Fallen Member Posts: 16,319

    I have not really seen people talking about completely cutting new content. But I think going from 4 Chapters /year to 3 Chapters/year would be fine. This is still a lot of new content while it also gives more time to revisit existing content.

    Let alone that usually the Winter Chapter is the most buggy one, most of the time it affected new content, last time it affected existing content. Cutting it down to 3 Chapters/year might prevent this.

  • Unusedkillername
    Unusedkillername Member Posts: 215
    edited March 31

    Honestly, it doesn't matter if there new content if it vanishes too quickly so many killers have between 1-2% pickrates according to Nightlight (which I know is mostly going to be high MMR because who donates stats to Nightlight?) but it really does feel like it so the new content has started to matter less over time because the game is bloated.

    What's the point in playing dbd as a fan of alien if you are only going to be chased by the alien 3% of the time. Less can be more very few people are going to play dbd for the first time because the dredge killer released ages ago that blends in to the rest of the roster looks cool. Its more important that we get better new content than the steady flow of meh we are getting.

    I think its why licensed chapters don't add as much to the game as they use to and its why they have less of an impact than they use to in drumming up players to return or join the game . (I went to the wiki found their release dates and looked at the Steamstats for dbd, Yes it only shows one platform but its only only stats we have)

    Chucky- November 2023

    Alien - August 2023

    Wesker- August 2022

    Sadako- March 2022

    Peak licensed chapters (the first video game chapters) + Stranger things

    Nemesis- June 2021

    Pyramid Head- June 2020

    Demogorgon- September 2019

    Demogorgon re added- November 2021

    Pig- January 2019

    Freddy- October 2017

    I won't go any further as Freddy is when I started playing so I really cant claim to understand the effect earlier chapters had and as Ghostface was not a full chapter I'm not including him.

    The game is just super bloated.

  • Xyvielia
    Xyvielia Member Posts: 2,418
    edited March 31

    I do agree w this, as downgrading to 3 chapters yearly would provide some room to focus on QOL and such.

    However, is 1 chapter enough, and how much could really be covered or “fixed” in that 1 chapter-less timeframe, also would it really be worthwhile to BHVR losing out on the potential money they’d otherwise be receiving, is the real question?

    Just don’t see BHVR cutting out 1 or any chapters anytime soon to focus on enhancing the game.

    EDIT: Actually, tbh, Devs really don’t seem to feel that DBD is in a bad spot QOL/ bugginess-wise, or that it needs attention in those areas.

  • ArkInk
    ArkInk Member Posts: 743
    edited March 31

    New content is largely what keeps the game fresh, even if it tends to fade overtime. I feel like most people don't understand that even if you don't see specific killers a lot if they're 1-2% picked, you will still see 1-2% picked killers a lot because of how many of them there are.

    Now, as for bugs, I just think BHVR needs to put more resources into fixing them. We don't need to completely halt new content, but we certainly shouldn't ignore the massive backlog of issues the game has. Same goes for general QoL and Design. So much money is pumped into cosmetics and new content everything else fights for scraps.

    I feel like the game would stop losing players (on PC) if a lot of its more annoying quirks were ironed out. Seriously devs, just let me see my teammates perks, it can't be THAT hard and Solo Q would be infinitely more bearable with it. It's still worth mentioning an fov slider took 7 years to get ahold of.

    BHVR struck gold with DBD, they shouldn't be so reckless with its instabilities.

  • Aven_Fallen
    Aven_Fallen Member Posts: 16,319

    "Honestly, it doesn't matter if there new content if it vanishes too quickly so many killers have between 1-2% pickrates according to Nightlight (which I know is mostly going to be high MMR because who donates stats to Nightlight?) but it really does feel like it so the new content has started to matter less over time because the game is bloated.

    What's the point in playing dbd as a fan of alien if you are only going to be chased by the alien 3% of the time."

    This is a very good point, I also feel the same about this. Currently, every Killer becomes rare, simply because there are so many of them and statistically you will encounter them even less the more new Killers are released. Even the most recent Killers are rare nowadays, even if they have an average Pickrate.

    I also think that this makes the game less accessible for new players, mainly Survivors. Because how do you want to memorize all those abilities when you encounter Killers once in a blue moon?

    And for myself, I feel that I once I completed a character the next character is already released. I bring all Killers and Survivors to P9 (which unlocks everything which can be unlocked via Prestige) and I always have the feeling that once I am done with that, the next characters are already around, which restarts the grind. And I dont think that the grind (spending Bloodpoints) itself is bad, but there are just too many characters each year.

  • AbsolutGrndZer0
    AbsolutGrndZer0 Member Posts: 1,446

    This is the tweet, though there are many more, that inspired this post. To give context to video being quoted as it's just a screenshot, the trapper had a trap hidden in a plate on the floor, it was impossible to see. While I do think that bugs like this need to be fixed to not be exploitable like this, its' not necessary nor feasible for them to "Pause new content:"

  • HamsterEnjoyer
    HamsterEnjoyer Member Posts: 744

    Do I need to remind everyone that I've reminded them about countless times?
    Without CONSTANT content, DBD will die. We had ONE time in the games history where we didn't get new content for 6 months straight, the game dropped to one of its lowest player counts and was in the process of dying.

  • Unusedkillername
    Unusedkillername Member Posts: 215
    edited April 1

    When was this the only time I can think of is the gap between Skull Merchant and knight being 5 months but both dlcs were followed by drops in the player count after they dropped

    November 2022 is Knight

    March 2023 is Skull Merchant

    (all I'm saying is quality trumps quantity)

    I could just be missing something but I don't remember any massive gap in content (then again I take regular breaks from the game and have missed major things like release legion)

  • AbsolutGrndZer0
    AbsolutGrndZer0 Member Posts: 1,446

    That still has nothing whatsoever to do with pausing content to fix bugs. They are different things. They don't need to quit releasing any new content to fix issues with trapper's traps they need to figure out how to fix trapper's traps.

  • HamsterEnjoyer
    HamsterEnjoyer Member Posts: 744

    Between Pig and clown so around January of 2018-May of 2018.

    We had no content because they were working on adding the shop and redoing the entire game from the ground up for version 2.0.0.

  • Bran
    Bran Member Posts: 2,096

    I mean, yeah. They shouldn't throw out new characters and stuff if there are still actual game breaking bugs and stuff. The time developing new character and perks could be used to do anything else to improve the game. I'll give a pass on cosmetics, but the point would still stand.

  • Unusedkillername
    Unusedkillername Member Posts: 215
    edited April 2

    I know I just think they should stop releasing content for other reasons altogether I don't think the games even that buggy compared it how it used it be I just think there is so much bloat and adding new content loses its meaning less and less when it gets lost in the swamp of things in dbd now.

    for context DBD has more killers in the game atm than Overwatch or R6Siege had characters at release considering the fact you see 1 killers per game there is more bloat in dbd for what type of game it is than most MOBAs have.

  • I_Cant_Loop
    I_Cant_Loop Member Posts: 665

    The game has gotten exponentially more overwhelming for new players because of how much content gets cranked out. I'm a ~2,000 casual player and even I am overwhelmed. As soon as I sort of figure out how to play against the latest killer, another one gets released. I understand that BHVR needs to keep a constant revenue stream going, but it seems like they're doing it at the cost of turning off new players. Everyone I've tried to get to play the game with me has quit immediately because it was too overwhelming to learn.

  • UndeddJester
    UndeddJester Member Posts: 3,462

    Just wanna point out that the really high numbers also coincide with the lockdowns for Covid-19, and is a standard trend in users across the whole gaming industry.

  • Nazzzak
    Nazzzak Member Posts: 5,758

    There are different departments and employees outside of bug fixing. These people can't just stop working for the bug department lol they'd be out of a job

  • glitchboi
    glitchboi Member Posts: 6,023

    BHVR kind of tried this at some point. They sacrificed the addition of more maps ever since Descend Beyond in order to graphically overhaul and rebalance the older maps. This resulted in complaints of lack of new maps in DBD, and the fact that the reworked maps got backlash didn't help either.

    The current balance that BHVR has between content, QoL, bugfixes, and balancing is not too bad at the moment.

  • fulltonon
    fulltonon Member Posts: 5,762

    Honestly game has lot more balance problem than bug problem.

  • bm33
    bm33 Member Posts: 8,269

    I think it was couple years ago that we had a midchapter that focused on bug fixes - no perk/killer changes just bug fixes. People complained SO much that there wasn't anything new in the midchapter. There's no way they'd skip adding new content on a chapter patch when people complained during a midchapter patch.

  • Unusedkillername
    Unusedkillername Member Posts: 215

    That is true but it accounts more so for the overall player counts not the immediate spikes after a licence is released. That is mostly due to the licenses themselves although word of mouth is important and bigger player bases spread that faster.

  • 100PercentBPMain
    100PercentBPMain Member Posts: 1,118

    Content should just come naturally instead of being on a fixed schedule. The game hemorrhages players like mad, it's like the game needs a constant influx of new, not burnt out players. That's probably why Survivors keep getting beginner friendly perks.

    Dbd has no need to innovate as it has a monopoly, but seeing as this game is the only successful game I find it odd that Bhvr is reticent about making the game awesome sauce.

    TThere Is no replacement for F13 to me, that new Texas game was so boring. I need dbd to last :(