Devs please answer - are y'all worried about there existing too many perks?

AggressiveFTW
AggressiveFTW Member Posts: 1,049
edited August 2 in General Discussions

Every year we got so many more perks coming into the game. That automatically means the fight to buff the weaker perks becomes more difficult. It's an endless cycle.

So many question for y'all is, are you worried about there existing too many perks?

In my opinion there already exists too many perks. But I want to hear what you say.

Answers

  • I_Cant_Loop
    I_Cant_Loop Member Posts: 396

    The game is an absolute nightmare for new players now. I was saying this several years ago, and the amount of content has doubled since then. There are just WAY too many perks and killer power to learn how to use/counter. I really wish BHVR would take a break from cranking out new content, but it ain't gonna happen - it's what pays the bills. It would be very interesting to see how many new players continue playing the game after a month compared to a few years ago. If I was a new player now, I don't think I'd have the time/dedication to stick with it.

  • I_CAME
    I_CAME Member Posts: 1,241
    edited August 3

    There's too much stuff in the game in general. Perks are probably the worst offender. I have played this game for years and I have no idea what half of them even do. I can't imagine being a new player. The logical solution would be to outright delete 1/3 of perks from the game. So many of them are useless and serve no real purpose other than to confuse new players. Would anybody really miss Residual Manifest or Red Herring? How about Detective's Hunch or Ace in the Hole? It's not like they're ever going to be able to balance them anyway. Things would be much more manageable if new characters shipped with two perks instead of three.

  • Dustin
    Dustin Member Posts: 2,294
    edited August 3

    The next step for BHVR to balance perks is removing perk tiers - I know BHVR has blatantly discussed it many times stating they've done so private and publicly. But it would do two things.

    • Reduce the grind allowing survivors to get perks quicker
    • Remove the need for arbitrary values on a perk just so it can scale with tiers

    Granted there would be a downside of

    • Prestige 2 and 3 would no longer give anything unless BHVR reworked prestige rewards

    But if you really think of it removing perk tiers technically removes 2/3's of the perks in game because now you're only focusing on the "tier 3" version of each perk.

    I have nothing to add to that specific talking point nor do I believe anyone else will - It's been something that's been talked about for at least half DBD's life span but it's something I'd still like to see personally for multiple reasons stated above.

    As for buffing weaker perks - I don't see BHVR being able to do that with values on how they exist unless they just repurpose the perk slot all the weaker perks take up. For example Monstrous Shrine will never be good unless it's made OP so it really should just have a different gimmick instead of faster sacrifice but that's again my two cents. So many other perks fall in line with that - The current goal of the perk will never be useful or good unless it's broken so reworking it is probably ideal. I understand they probably don't get profit / value from going back and doing a full rework on perks outside of quick number changes so it's likely low priority.

    I'd personally love for the Luck mechanic to be reworked alongside every luck related perk in game. Although I'm also speaking as someone who mains Ace knowing my own perks are garbage.

    I also agree with RudJohns post - A lot of the newer perks could have easily been reworks for older perks.

  • Gylfie
    Gylfie Member Posts: 643

    This is a problem I have too.

    People who main a killer, even one you don't typically see very often, get good with that killer. Survivors in the meantime might only see that killer maybe once a week, and it's impossible to develop any skills against specific killers when you only see them every other week.

    Like, I faced a Skull Merchant for the first time in weeks and had no idea what to do. Then I faced my first Unknown and got destroyed because I didn't know I was supposed to look at him. And then I got deleted by a Xeno, whom I've only seen three times in total since he was released.

  • Langweilg
    Langweilg Member Posts: 867

    100% agree maybe they should merge a lot of perks and make that every character only got 2 perks.

    Yep perk rarities are so unnecessary and make this game only worse for new players.

    They should rework and gives us more prestige rewards.

    I hope they make luck affect chests and maybe other things. They should also increase the self unhook chance. The sad thing is I doubt they will do anything soon.

  • Brix
    Brix Member Posts: 129

    honestly they should reduce the number of new perks to 2 or even 1 on each side. When looking back most killers with some exceptions had only 1 or 2 good teachables…..They probably just keep just doing the same formula of 3 perks but man its a nightmare for newer players with so many perks yet only like 30% on both sides are good.

  • Langweilg
    Langweilg Member Posts: 867
    edited August 3

    The perks have really not been great recently. At this point I wish they would make survivors more like skins than what they are now.

    Post edited by Langweilg on
  • Toystory3Monkey
    Toystory3Monkey Member Posts: 449

    yup.

    and you cant really appeal to either side.

    you cant make killers so easy to counter people with very little experience against that particular killer stand a fair chance. and you cant make every new killer demand very unique skill to counter.

    and newer killers have to have lots of depth in them so that people are actually interested in maining and playing them.

    good thing tho that most killer players arent one trick ponies and most play bigger part of the roster, therefore having similar issues with depth understanding of their killer.

  • Deathstroke
    Deathstroke Member Posts: 3,494
  • satx3241
    satx3241 Member Posts: 102

    If I could make a change to the way perks are handled it would be this.

    Modify the recent event (I forget the name) where you were assigned random perks at the start of a each match. Instead of that allow each player to select a pool of 20 potential perks. At the start of each match you are randomly assigned 4 from your chosen pool.

    The pool could be changed at any time but you would be required to have 20 perks in your pool at all times. Not only would players on both sides have to learn to play different styles, but it would eliminate going into match after match after match seeing the opposing side playing the same perks and utilizing the same strategies nearly every game.

    That's just my take, but it would be nice to go into each match not having any idea what to expect.

  • Readycent
    Readycent Member Posts: 7

    Yes, I would miss all the perks you mentioned lol. I use residual manifest and AITH all the time to hoard flashlights and guarantee add-ons on them to bring back. We don't need to decimate the population of perks just because they're not meta or never going to be balanced.

  • HaunterofShadows
    HaunterofShadows Member Posts: 4,092

    The problem I see is when certain perks are way too similar to others. Most perks are feel like are different enough to be their own perks but things like unforeseen and trail of torment, and bow dark sense and that new Belmont perk

  • Dreamnomad
    Dreamnomad Member Posts: 3,871

    I actually do use Detective's Hunch on occasion so yes, I would prefer that perk not be deleted. I'm sure someone out there feels the same way about those other perks being mentioned. I don't think deleting content is the way to go. When you have 4 perk slots and 150 or so perks to choose from then naturally many of them will rarely see play. I think that was one of the major appeals of Chaos Shuffle. All those weird perks suddenly are equipped and it's up to you to get value out of random rarely used perks.

    Honestly, I don't think perk overload is that big of an issue. New players still have access to all the generic perks and the free characters they have access to. A player could easily make a workable build with those perks even by today's standards. So they don't really need to know what all the perks do. They just need to figure out what works for them which is totally doable.

    Learning all the killer powers is more of an issue. Many new killers have a lot of weird survivor interactions that have a real learning curve. New players running into Onryo, Cenobite, Xenomorph, Singularity, etc, etc are going to have issues figuring out what is going on. To be fair to BHVR though, they do generally include tips on how to play against these killers on the loading screen. I think that goes a long way.