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I think it's time to move past 2v8

OrangeBear
OrangeBear Member Posts: 3,487
edited February 10 in General Discussions

The queue times are just unhealthy. I think survivor is just not appealing enough to play. Killer is though, because it offers an entirely new experience in the form of co-op play. Survivor is double the team size and you roughly have half the impact on the match. It's a bit chaotic yet the lack of significance of each individual player makes it not very engaging.

People have criticised the decision to add bots to the queue, however you may feel about this decision it is an attempt to address a very real problem being the queue times. Previously, they tried to make survivor more fun, however that also didn't reduce queue times sufficiently. And now that the queue times still aren't noticably better after adding bots, a solution that to me seems pretty last resort, what are they supposed to do next?

In my opinion i think we should just move past 2v8, but explore new options for co-operative killer play. For example maybe 2v4, but gens take half the time or there's a different objective entirely.

I just feel that 2v8 has overstayed it's welcome, it's not worth the queue times anymore.

Comments

  • OrangeBear
    OrangeBear Member Posts: 3,487

    I personally don't mind playing with bots, i think they are suited to 2v8 gameplay, because most of it is repairing and healing and if you get double teamed by a killer, a bot or real player will go down the same way anyway. To me, that just exposes how monotonous playing survivor is in this mode. I think it's just a glorified BP farm.

    I can understand why people don't want to play with bots though, but their decision to add bots made sense to me. It doesn't seem to be working, which is why i've come to the conclusion that 2v8 is a lost cause.

  • Grigerbest
    Grigerbest Member Posts: 1,959

    Survivor is way too chaotic (which is not fun after a few games), and practically nothing new in 2v8.

    Killers with their 25-30m q - is just a simple "No".

    Bots are a "No" in general.

    I suggested to change it into 3v5 (with nerfed killers, similar to TCM) - but people didn't like it.

    2v8 isn't bad on a paper. It's just… I don't know how to say.

  • I_Cant_Loop
    I_Cant_Loop Member Posts: 2,276

    I honestly had a lot of fun playing as survivor in the previous 2v8 events. The buffs they gave to survivors last time made survivor feel pretty good to play. As a solo queue player, it felt a lot easier to escape in 2v8 than 1v4. I guess I’m just surprised that more survivor players didn’t enjoy it. Too bad BHVR nuked survivor experience into the ground with this event

  • solidhex
    solidhex Member Posts: 925
    edited February 10

    Yea, "BP farming" is a good point. Since killers are so strong in this mode and often team up, chases are rather short and not very engaging. All you do is basically repairing, unhooking and healing. I still like this mode more than chaos shuffle or lights out.

    They should have added a greater variety of classes and killers though. I still see a lot of Blight and also 2 Trappers today (and 1 Slinger). I love playing buffed Spirit, but not with those queue times.

  • hermitkermit
    hermitkermit Member Posts: 988

    The ping has been really awful. Currently facing killers with 120+ and teamates with 113. I myself was pushing 99 which is not typical for me. I keep rubberbanding, which needless to say really screws up the gameplay. I'm really just trying to get the challenges done, and then I will probably put it to rest.

  • TWS001
    TWS001 Member Posts: 392

    I've never been a fan of 2v8. I'm back playing killer on normal mode but am constantly getting matched with seemingly beginner survivors, probably because matchmaking has been widened. We should not have two weeks of this. I get there are some people that enjoy 2v8, but 2 weeks is way too long (and going on the last two times, it'll get extended.)

    It should stay as an occasional mode that last for a weekend only. Two weeks+ of this yet again is absolutely crazy.

  • humanbeing1704
    humanbeing1704 Member Posts: 9,091

    does 2v8 still use the weird class system? I wanted just regular dead by daylight 2v8 with certain perk restrictions but they never did it

  • Deathstroke
    Deathstroke Member Posts: 3,709

    I still escaped today lot more than in 1vs4 but probably because killers were chasing bots and letting us repair gens. For chasing the bots can be good distraction but for anything else they're not that useful.

    But the biggest problem this mode has is lot of people want to play killer with friend much more than people want to play it alone. But survivor experience is still close to same and even there are less fun things. Survivors enjoy using dh/ds that kind of perks and flashlights are really hard to get. More classes and adding chance to take items could help bit.

  • Vorahk08
    Vorahk08 Member Posts: 346

    I absolutely agree on the queue time problem. This has been an issue for every iteration of 2v8 (I think, I was on a break during round 2). Despite this, I don't know what a good solution would be.

    The problems with survivor seem inherent to the core concept of 2v8. It feels like the larger player count inherently reduces individual impact, as generator repairs and individual chases have much less of an impact on the match. One survivor having a good early chase doesn't mean very much when the killer will probably down two or three more survivors in short order, say nothing of what the other killer is doing. 2v8 is the ultimate party mode, where there's a lot of action but not that much substance.

    Even as killer, the main appeal is in having another killer, because chases are shorter and gen control isn't really a concept beyond "they're making progress on this gen, I should kick it." Again, though, that plays into 2v8 as a party mode, where having an abundance of action takes priority over depth of gameplay.

    It's interesting to see the discussion around 2v8 now, considering it was one of the most requested alternate game modes for years. I think BHVR is sticking with it because the original iteration was some of the highest player counts they have ever seen and everyone praised it. It seems like they are trying to make survivor more appealing, with the addition of herbs to auto-heal and even remove a hook state. Ultimately, though, I think they'll have to fix the impact problem to really get people playing survivor 😐️.

  • crogers271
    crogers271 Member Posts: 3,254

    I really like 2v8 and hope it stays around.

    But if the only way forward is 'bots', just throw it into a permanent custom game mode, wash your hands of it, and move on.

  • Nun_So_Vile
    Nun_So_Vile Member Posts: 2,809
    edited February 10

    I also think its time to move past, but with all the game modes. They've just become oversaturated at this point with how often they are in rotation, and without anything that new or fresh it gets old rq. Time to move on and retire these to special events that occur once a year or so. Bring in some fresh game mode ideas.

  • Vorahk08
    Vorahk08 Member Posts: 346

    I agree with both points.

    The first iteration of 2v8 on survivor was probably the best BP farm outside of the anniversary. I really wish they would just bring back the +500% incentive bonus (I don't remember the exact number) for survivors in 2v8.

    For killers, the slow killer drip-feed feels like it makes playing killer on 2v8 get boring faster. Between last iteration and this one, they've established a pattern of only adding 3 killers at a time. At this rate, we'll have the full (current) roster of killers in 2v8 after…

    Nine 2v8 events.

  • I_Cant_Loop
    I_Cant_Loop Member Posts: 2,276

    that’s the thing. Bots isn’t the only way forward. Yes, long killer queue times sucks, but the last two 2v8 were a ton of fun for both sides, IMO. More than enough people were willing to play killer despite the long queues. BHVR did not think this through and they ignored everyone who warned them what a disaster this was inevitably going to be. This event would have been great with the new elements added to the survivor side to make it more interesting and fun. No bots needed

  • Rokku_Rorru
    Rokku_Rorru Member Posts: 2,796

    I dont agree, I love the mode and I think it's great, I enjoy playing survivor and killer in the mode, it's just the bots deter me

  • Smoe
    Smoe Member Posts: 3,306

    Nah.

  • OnryosTapeRentals
    OnryosTapeRentals Member Posts: 1,781

    players who asked for 2v8 had no idea what they were talking about

    Right? I always feel like such a killjoy saying this but I don't see how people are looking at this mode and thinking it's a success. I'm not denying that a lot of people find it fun, but the queue times are just straight up inexcusable.

    Higher matchmaking incentives than we've ever seen, giving survivors a slew of powerful abilities, adding an anti-snowball mechanic, removing killer-only Tome challenges from the event Tome. Heck they've literally resorted to removing the multiplayer from a multiplayer game and adding in bots and it's STILL not working 💀

    They've pulled out some seriously drastic measures here and none of them have enticed people to play survivor or alleviated the queue times even a little. At what point are 2v8 truthers just going to accept this formula doesn't work? Please just let this mode go.

  • xGodSendDeath
    xGodSendDeath Member Posts: 716

    They're pretty much going to have to add in a bunch of basekit bully stuff to entice people to play survivor. Basekit flashbang, head on, blast mine and maybe even a way to kill the killer if all gens are done with an invocation done or within a boon area or something

  • ChuckingWong
    ChuckingWong Member Posts: 1,263

    Pretty much.

    Sucks that I can only play killer if I want to wait 15minutes between each match.

    But survivor is quirky enough. They could expand on it a bit but I like the roles.

  • tjt85
    tjt85 Member Posts: 1,657
    edited February 11

    If BHVR were able to get the queues down to a reasonable time for Killer, I think the mode might have had a future as a quick play arcade style mode for players to drop into between games of regular DBD. But the novelty of 2V8 has mostly gone (because Survivor is more or less the same old, same old we had the last 2 times) and they really need to work more on the Survivor experience if it is going to have a future. It feels like most of the effort for 2V8 is directed towards getting more Killers added, which is understandable I guess, but they have to give Survivors a good reason to keep playing the mode as well. It's getting stale already. And that's the big problem, isn't it? 2V8 is all about the Killer experience.

    The 2 Killer games I played the first time around were genuinely among the best times I've ever had with DBD. But that still doesn't mean I'm willing to queue for 20+ minutes for the experience. I know others will be willing, but I'm not. Though I will definitely endure the queues to play some Legion games, that will only be because they're my main. Those queue times just totally kill the mode, imho. I don't hate the bots. The bots would be fine if they did what they were designed to do, but from what I hear they've done nothing to help the Killer queues.

    Perhaps 2V8 just isn't for me (or at least 2V8 Survivor isn't currently for me). If it does return, I really hope BHVR make huge improvements to the Survivor experience. It currently feels neglected.

  • quelaag
    quelaag Member Posts: 60

    The roles for survivor are fun, but all of the chase loops are designed for one killer. They've removed the anti-camp measure so killers can and will just camp survivors to death while maintaining pressure. (did it in two games recently.) with killers queueing together, one callout will destroy any loop, and they've since its inception added some of the faster killers of the game.

    Casual players are the numbers lifeblood of any game.

  • danielmaster87
    danielmaster87 Member Posts: 10,719

    Lobby dodging what? They're still gonna be put in a queue with bots, unless they get really lucky to be put in with a 7-man squad.

  • danielmaster87
    danielmaster87 Member Posts: 10,719

    It can work because it has. I didn't think the previous 2 iterations were perfect, but they were really fun, except when survivors knew how to play, because then they just won every time. But I never got bored of either side, just a little irked by long killer queues. And I'd prefer it as a permanent option, but it seems all the queues take a hit every time it comes back. I just don't think y'all are cutting the mode enough slack, and are likely to convince the devs to end it for good. I'd also prefer if the devs worked on side modes like this WHILE balancing the game and working on new chapters. That's not too much to ask of them; they're not a "small indie studio" anymore.

  • OnryosTapeRentals
    OnryosTapeRentals Member Posts: 1,781

    and are likely to convince the devs to end it for good

    That’s exactly what I’m hoping they do

  • OrangeBear
    OrangeBear Member Posts: 3,487

    I've been able to play some matches today and i am having fun as killer since the queue isn't crashing anymore. Every match has had 2 bots though and i'm personally not really interested in playing survivor in 2v8 right now.

    I just hope if they do bring back 2v8 it's not for at least a while. We want new modes, i don't want to see 2v8 after the anniversary.