General Discussions
General Discussions
What were matches like before MMR?
Did you like it better?
Was it just a free-for-all? Any skill levels just thrown together based on region?
Comments
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way more mixed bagged and randomized felt very common to play against an obvious noob killer one game and the next some Rank 1 godlord and you had a couple rank 12s on the team
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in my opinion when people say they miss pip ranks itβs the games being way more random
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Yes it was a free for all. You wouldn't know what you where getting into. You could play vs strong survivors or weak survivors. As survivor you could play vs a less experience killer, or a more experience killer. Now when they added the MMR it basically turned every match into a sweat fest. Closes thing you can get into feeling pre-mmr dbd is the 2v8, thats the closes picture you will get into the past. They have the same feel you don't know what you will get into. Although the queues did take long for survivors believe it or not. I remember having to wait like 5 minutes to get into a match when playing survivor at night. I remember complaining about the wait times here, I should still have them in my post history. Overall I enjoyed DBD way more before they added this MMR system.
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More fun. It's part of why I like 2v8 so much. There may be MMR in theory but it all goes out the window due to long queue times. Makes the matches so much less sweaty and more enjoyable overall.
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I can summarize it as chase was the most important thing for killers, hands down. "Gens aren't worth the time to kick" was the mantra, and all of the pressure was to be in chase as much as possible.
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It was more fun IMO.
Back in the day you had a big Rank Reset and when this happened, you had good Matchmaking for a few weeks. Only in the last week after Rank Reset the Matchmaking became somewhat like MMR is today, but not as bad. Because back then, when you were good and ranked up fast, you also went against really good players who also ranked up fast.
They destroyed that when they changed the Rank Reset to just setting you back to the next Rank. So instead of going from Rank 1 to Rank 11, players went from Rank 1 to Rank 5. Which means that those people who struggled to reach Red Ranks were there pretty quickly, which watered down the Matchmaking.
The only thing Killers wanted was that Ranks were separate between Killers, but this was not really possible. Because if you are Rank 1 with e.g. Wraith, you cannot really be Rank 20 with Pig, because the general gameplay is the same and it would be unfair. But the sad thing is that MMR did not fix that, because if you want to learn a new Killer, you will have to lose quite a bunch of games nowadays before you are at a lower MMR to have easier games.
Overall, it was a better time IMO.
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It was better back then. Much more of a grab bag in comparison to how controlled it is now.
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Honestly, I had better survivors games on the old rank system but I think a large part of that is survivors then actually tried and didn't look for reasons to instantly quit matches.
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If were going purely off of red ranks (mainly because I spent most of my time there flips hair) it was some what similar. The beginning of a season would be a bit more sweaty since the better players would reach the higher ranks faster, and as the season progressed it was all over the place, especially towards the end of it.
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A big mixed bag. I was pretty consistently Rank 1 across both roles and some of the lineups were straight up unfair.
There were random grey ranks in Red Rank lobbies, and Green Rank killers would pretty often be pulled up to face full Red Rank Survivors.
As flawed as the old system was, there was something really gratifying about winning the rank reset scramble and clawing your way back to Rank 1 from the potential ELO hell that awaited you every 13th. I kind of miss it, but not nearly enough to want the system to return.
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I definitely didn't have more fun. My intro to the game was going against Legacy Prestige players while I was still trying to learn what the controls did β and they were not kind about it.
I think skill differences matter less in 2v8, and also it's harder to bully someone there, so I don't mind if that mode mixes everyone together but, in olden times, 1v4 was brutal.
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Chaotic. Unhinged. Broken stuff on BOTH sides. Way more down to earth than what it is now. But i guess most fof the player base were still figureing out DBD so that makes sense.
DBD still is fun today though.
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Fun
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As people said, chaotic. The only consistent thing we noticed is that red ranks had more sweats and everything else was a grab bag skill wise. Think the first 2v8 but as a 1v4.
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IT was worst, content creators would queue with friends on new accounts to bully baby killers for content
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Way more chaotic and fun imo.
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Most of the veterans players at that time already had an idea of how to play the game by 2020. It wasn't that new by that point. People knew what was up by that point. It's just that DBD seems to want to take the serious more competitive route nowadays. Thus really ruining the fun for a lot of players, because lets be real when games get more competitive they usually get less fun. Think about call of duty, they got completely competitive to the point where it's ruined now.
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I had so much more fun when MMR wasn't a thing.
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Real
i hope they just nuke it
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I'm gonna be honest
people who dislike mmr usually complain when they get 5 hours meg and 10k hours ace on the same game, and then try to explain how getting 2 hours dwight and 4k hours nurse was somehow any better
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Much better experience, Dbd was fun! Such an array of gameplay available back then. It's a simulator now, same thing every game.
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Yeah basically, but once you started going through the ranks things started to even out. I remember purposely staying at purple rank because it was where my games and team mates + opponents felt more comfortable and on my level. Going into gold rank, it started getting more sweaty. In some ways I guess it was kind of like an MMR system you could see and manipulate? Not sure how else to describe my experience
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Itβs hard to tell because I had no idea how to play or even any hope that I could ever escape. Every trial just felt like a scary movie. Then I took a really long break right before Blight released and came back right when Singularity released.
As to whether I like it better? Mmβ¦honestly, Iβm able to make my own fun regardless of matchmaking. I will always find ways to joke and have fun during the trials so I guess itβs all the same to me.
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It sucked, royally. It was really easy to get from 20 to 9, and then once you got to purple ranks everyone begun bringing incredibly busted stuff because balance back then was comically awful, so if you were a casual player you basically had zero incentive to go past Green, and you would frequently get people who would sit AFK and wait for the match to end so they could go back to lower and easier ranks
MMR is also a completely broken system but I much prefer basically RNG over the garbage that was Ranked Matchmaking
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I never thought i'd see the day the words pre-mmr and fun were used together so many times in a post. Are they handing out rose-tinted glasses somewhere? I'm not used to seeing thisβ¦Where am I? What year is it??
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I have mixed feelings,in some ways I enjoyed the game more before but as the game has changed I feel like it's forced me to become better at survivor (still not good though) and my killer matches still feel like a mixed bag - sometimes I find it easy to 3/4k without really trying and other times I just get massively outplayed
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The experience varied, I think in the later parts of time-before-MMR I personally did always go against players with similiar ranks. I think removing of visible rank to others was unfortunate though. Of course, reaching rank 1 in DBD was always super easy if you were to compare how hard it would be to get the highest rank in actual competitive games.
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Survivor matchmaking (who you get paired with as survivor) felt a lot better under the old system. With the current system, I will escape multiple matches in a row and still get paired with people who have less than 100 hours in the game on a regular basis (and itβs not due to lobby backfills). Matchmaking continues to be by far the biggest problem in this game and I hope they do something different with the upcoming QoL changes.
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Surprisingly, I remember being in red ranks and people actually knowing to pressure gens and not be overly altruistic lol.
I kinda wish people in my MMR would be more like that versus let's go get Mary and throw the game basically.
But it was definitely more of a mixed bag than anything.
Same for when I play at times with my friend, we'll get cracked teammates that are very good and then other times I'll get survivors where they don't look behind themselves, I'll take a protection hit, and they just throw the pallet and dome me causing me to die for helping like lol....
I will add that I do like the MMR changes because when I play by MYSELF, I get good teammates and I've made many friends from playing as I get grouped with players with thousands of hours.
When I play with others (less hours than me), it's just a mixed bag. It sucks in a way, either play solo-queue by myself and get great teammates (for the most part) or I duo queue and have a Taurie with no self awareness and throwing a pallet onto my Dwight for trying to do a protection hit, lmfao.
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it was difficult to maintain rank 1, because it was absolutely random who your opponent/mates would be. but in most matches ranks were the same or close. now the games are monotonous, but at that time you could meet Anna with three one-shot axes and memento, or someone took key and escaped into a closed hatch.
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Both killers and survivors would "derank" once games started to become too difficult. They would stay in the mid tiers until a few days before reset and then climb to rank 1 (if they cared). Some would go as far as to dip to rank 20 to bully new players.
Streamers would often do this off stream to make their live game performance seem better. Not all though, some would derank so queue times would be shorter soon after a reset.
In other words, pre-mmr was pick your difficulty mode.
Post edited by Mr_K on3 -
I too met several good peeps back then, which added to the fun. A few were super good, their skill allowing for things like being able to repeatedly lose the killer and timely flashlight saves. These were by no means simple in pre- dedicated servers days with controllers either. Rocking KYF was really fun, and kept us from slacking on the killer side. Still friends with some of them, but practically none play DBD anymore.
I often ponder why they left and what feels so different now, and I think it's both MMR and the push to efficient everything about the gameplay. Prolly why 2v8 and especially Chaos Shuffle have its appeal as they're more a mess overall.
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Yes, I do think MMR has definitely pushed more efficient gameplay. Even I do that myself in my own games, but I still find fun in things that I do.
I don't belittle others and I'm always giving a helping hand to my friends with lower hours. So, I typically am a bit considerate and don't expect everything to go as planned, things happen, misplays occur, it's a game at the end of the day. π
I for the love of God cannot get flashbang saves, at best what you'll get from me is just dropping a flashbang when the killer is kicking a pallet. I could practice, but I am not generally a person who typically goes for flashy saves - I can count on one hand the amount of times I've flashlight saved. π Not because I miss, but because I just don't find myself in situations to get them, once I am (not planned at all) I can pull them off but nothing flashbang related. I'm not a Background Player user over here. π I'm more chase oriented and gen efficient than anything else and I'm constantly learning obviously. π
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I have exactly zero flashy saves ever π€£
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I didn't have a long time with it before it switched to MMR but the most notable was that it encouraged healthier gameplay. Survivor pips were based off of what you did for the team so, if you got three people out but did a lot of gens, unhooks, etc, you could still advance even though you died. On the other hand if you locker hopped for Hatch you would never pip up to a decent rank since you only survived and didn't contribute. Now, MMR marks the Survivor who locker hopped for Hatch and didn't contribute as a winner when, under Ranks, they were a loser.
If a Killer went for four hooks four Kills they would never make it to Red Ranks. Most Killers wanted to get into the Red ranks club so they would spread hooks more. The person who four hooked four killed would never pip up to a decent rank since that would be the only category and to pip up you needed multiple hooks, spreading pressure and learning more about the macro game than you need now. Now, MMR marks the 4 to 6 hooks, 4 kills Killer as a winner when, under Ranks, they were a loser.
While that wasn't the only thing that encouraged healthier gameplay from that time don't underestimate visual rewards for behaviours. Healthier gameplay was encouraged with the Rank system and, as such, there was more of it than there is under MMR.
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I miss it. I don't like matching with people of my own "skill level" anyways. Best way to learn is to go try to get paired against the good folks it's the easiest way to learn.
You can only learn so much byplaying people of similar skill.
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Pretty much the same, really. MMR mostly is a boogeyman used by people who don't (or refuse to) realize that the average DBD player in 2025 is better than the 2020 one.
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I liked it a lot better. Matches were a lot more chill most of the time so you could goof around and didn't have to play like its a tournament every game.
Yeah you had your occasional crazy match, but those were pretty rare like the "those SWF sweat teams are rare" people like to say. However now its "those SWF sweat teams almost every single match" and the other ones are rare for me.
On survivor side, usually i had people who actually knew what they were doing more often, with the exception of rank reset. But, since things were tied to grade, you could still pip and not escape pretty easily if you just played out the matches and played well yourself.
It was much better when wins and losses were tied to pips instead of kills/escapes because even if you got 0 kills, or died as a survivor you could still pip and i always saw that as a "win"
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if you were playing survivor is was great, if you were playing killer basically little to no shot unless you were super skilled bc 4mans ran absolutely rampant. Killers would dc all the time, survivors that missed their ds skill check would just dc. We didnβt have bots then so you were just down a player at that point. Killers didnβt have much agency of a team decided they were going to bully you. There was a killer strike at one point because the game had got so bad for them, kinda similar to what you see now with how soloQ acts. Itβs like a mirror but the other side of the coin to be honest. Lots of busted stuff across the board. Used to be able to Mori everyone off the rip, used to be able to do a few gens and everyone just take the hatch out. Survivors could hold killers hostage at endgame( itβs why we have egc now). Hatch standoffs. Lots of meme-ing. It wasnβt really difficult to bully a killer(sadly). Solo was chaotic because you either got put with what they called βlooper godsβ or you had incredibly boosted teammates that just straight altruism farmed to death their way to the top and would never touch a gen. Slug races. People would just run up and unhook you all the time with the killer right there with 0 cares, happens a lot less now. Stealth was super strong and you could if you spent enough time learn to do all the gens and never be found by the killer so you could hatch out if your teammates really sucked, and I mean really sucked. Sometimes they would snowball their self to death before a single gen was completed, somehow though they were red rank. It was the Wild West and completely survivor sided. Killers broke their backs and minds trying to keep up. I legit used to win like every single match almost as a 4man, and as solo I escaped through hatch at minimum most times and I wasnβt even running a bunch of exhaustion or anti-tunnel perks as solo, just stealth/info perks. Pretty sure I was the cause of a bunch of killer posts about them not being able to find a survivor. Camping was rampant, theyβd just stare you in the face and and sometimes hit you on the hook for like the whole duration. Lots of snarky endgame comments belittling the weaker man(killer), kinda how you see killers now calling most survivors potatoes, even though thatβs by design. It was absolute chaos. It was fun and equally sucked. Killer hosted the game and if their internet sucked your matches were absolutely wild regarding ping. Lots of lag switching in those times to get an advantage, because this was before dedicated servers. Tons of infinite abuses. Lots of deaths to pigs hats at one point.We used to gather survivor and killer alike and watch peoples heads explode. Killers and survivors used to goof around more with each other then. Overall just straight shenanigans. A lot of it had to go because well egos were high, and killer morale was very low. Lots of people depipping on purpose to either pick on the weaker man, or just not be in sweaty red ranks and goof around in purple. It wasnβt about farming, it was about goofing around because it was more fun than sweating and just cracked strats on both sides, because both sides could breathe in purple because nobody was taking the match too seriously, just having fun. Killers and survivors alike were just boosted into reds though because the strats off over altruism alone. It was the best of times it was the worst of times. Because like you would think that once you got to that rank you would be matched with good players, but nope people got carried by their friends and they also got carried by altruism because they had minimum game sense outside of unhooks.
TLDR: it was wild and very survivor sided.
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It's extremely satisfying, but I do not really go for them.
My sensitivity is also incredibly high (100%) on console so it takes a little practice with myself and flashlights.
I don't even really use them in all honesty, especially with how common Lightborne is β but it is satisfying to do anything with the flashlight for sure. π I know some people think flashlighting at a pallet wastes time or distance, but eh I disagree.
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I doubt that the average now is better, cause killers legit have no skill nowadays and just rely on "killer strategies", when people back then at least tried to figure out how to become skilled.
BTT: The matchmaking on the initial rank system was way more accurate than MMR like this could ever be, at aleast two to three weeks after every rank reset. Thats also why nobody understood how BHVR came to this mess of an matchmaking system right now.
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A lot less sweaty, except when they were, because it was basically loads of mismatches. The killer would chase 1 person for 2 minutes, and 1 gen might get done. Survivors would always heal, because they knew they had time. Things like that.
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Which is why it makes no sense when people say, "2v8 is so sweaty because Legion and Blight are there!" when those killers clearly aren't playing to their full potential either. And that's a lesson to be learned about the game in general. A killer getting a buff to deal with high level survivors won't suddenly make him do that much better at low level.
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I only mess around with the sensitivity when I run Huntress or wish to punish myself trying Trickster or Singularity again. Say 70%. Otherwise it's full blast 100. The input delay and deadzones in the sticks are much more of a problem imo for those who want to get gud.
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It was more relaxed and less stressful. How it should be
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Yeah, I wanna get the more expensive Dualsense Edge controllers so I can shift my crouch button to the back paddles.
My hands are small, lmao. π So, the hitting L2 for controller to crouch was not it for me. So, I switched it to my thumbstick - I can actually crouch and transition to a run much better, similar to a PC player but the backpaddles would be a blessing. Alas, the life of a university student but I plan on getting them eventually! Haha. It definitely helps with Huntress, I can actually dodge her hatchets much better and the 100% sensitivity allows me to flick my camera around a lot for easier looping and movement. I still can't do the fast 360s some people can do, especially PC players. π But I still try my best with controller limitations! I even changed my button so I can heal under a pallet instead of dropping it like many other console players do, LOL.
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I'm also a console user on 100% camera sensitivity lol I've been playing this game for 4 years now and it's only been recently I've started practising flashlights. Never brought one into a game and when i would find one in a chest I'd leave it. Now when I find them in 2v8 and I'm against a Nemesis, I find and practise on his zombies just so I can get used to the camera angle required. I got my first flashlight blind on a killer yesterday
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Oh yeah, I can definitely do blinds like when the killer is locked into an animation - vaulting a window, breaking a pallet, and if I'm close for a flashlight save but it's just not my playstyle honestly. π
Then you have killers who automatically bring Lightborne when there's no flashlights in the lobby too, so I just prioritize chases and gens in general.
I remember playing with Champion of Light when it first came out, but was a little hard for me to control due to the sensitivity and higher movement speed - obviously this is all practice but I just find chases in general fun to me. I don't even mind dying, as long as I have a nice chase, and my team gets out or at least one I'm quite happy and content! π
When Made For This was the way it was, I used to pair it with Iron Will, Residual Manifest, and Champion of Light lmao.
Reminded me of old DBD, without the Sprint Burst as I am a Sprint Burst girl - but I found the build fun - obviously Made For This was broken, but it was nice to play with Iron Will and have a little speed boost at least. π
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Game never recovered after changing survivor movement animations, it marked the beginning. It just keeps getting worse and worse. I miss goofy pre-MMR DBD.
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I miss spinning to win as a slug. Spinning my way out of the exit gate during a slug race.
Mixed feelings. I feel like the more time MMR has been in the game I do have less fun, but itβs hard to say if itβs because of mmr itself or the actual community mindset has completely shifted in the last 5-6ish years. Ranked mode was definitely more chaotic as others have said. Rank has generally always meant how much time you basically spent playing though, so after rank reset Iβd just find myself back to 1 within a day or two (both roles, not to brag), just like back when I played daily/regularly Iβd just end up at iri I in a week or two. Red ranks were just so mixed in quality of people you matched with, more so than now.
Rose tinted glasses says yes, it was more fun, but rational me thinks I just miss not being burnt out of the game and when the game looked like it did before all the reworks. Lol.
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