http://dbd.game/killswitch
The Trust Threshold
There's a theory going around online about the threshold of trust. It mostly applies to websites but it's appropriate here. The reasons why vary (usually greed but I don't think that's the case with DBD) but as things change and grow, the problems do too. Things get a little bit worse and a little bit buggier, and the userbase loses a bit of trust in the platform every time. But they stay through it.
Until you hit that trust threshold. When the problems and the bugs pile just a -little- too high without being fixed, people hit the point where they accept that it's not going to get better and they leave.
A lot of developers think that hitting this point means it's time to buckle down, roll back some of the changes and fix the bugs to bring back that userbase, but by that point it's too late. The users are gone and nothing will bring them back.
DBD has been hovering around that point for a while, and it seems like they knew it with the "operation health" update. Its users see bugs in the game that haven't been fixed in years, only being made worse by each new patch bringing new bugs to compound on it. This chapter wasn't the buggiest update the game has had, but it came with some of the laziest bugs the game has ever seen, things that could have been found and fixed with a single playtest.
This careless update, so soon after the "operation health" stuff, broke the trust threshold for me. I might still play a couple games here and there but I can't see myself ever spending money on this game again. I just no longer trust them to fix the problems that exist before the next update buries them under another mountain of new/returning problems.
Where are you in the trust threshold after this update?
Comments
-
For some time the devs have been doing rather well overall. They've made some interesting killer and perk designs, as well as overall coming up with some great QoL updates.
Of course, this patch has been terrible for a number of reasons. The fact that the main positive to come out of this was a bug on the offering screen speaks volumes about the problems, and I feel they will lose players; especially newer ones. This may undo some of the success of FNAF.
Yet regarding trust, I'm still pretty confident in them. Their overall performance has been good, and despite this horrible attempt of a chapter on such a big license (considering it's not the first time, as the first RE chapter started with a number of problems), I am confident they'll pull it back. However, they do need to be quick and effective about it. The first Hotfix needs to remove all the glaring bugs (Bloodlust, upwards on stairs and such), as well as reverting some powers such as Clown.
3 -
I know for me at least... Im not logging on until this stuff gets worked out. I'd like to try out some of the new changes in public matches instead of just bot matches, but dealing with multiple gamebreaking bugs possible each match is not something I want to deal with and there's too many ppl getting excited about equipping a perk to exploit something they had no interest in equipping before.
3 -
Similar to the poster above, I do believe the Devs do care about the game, and they are working to make it better. I do also think that they could put the pause on adding more and more content and focus on operation health.
But yes. I do also understand with people getting fed up. Everyone has different thresholds. But honestly I think it’s just… what gaming has become. Most games these days are all about DLC content, loot boxes, a constant cycle of updates and nerfs and buffs. Especially live service games. We basically pay to “rent” or “borrow” their game, but we don’t get to own it. Because of that, I feel quality can be pretty… lax sometimes.
In any case, I am not of the opinion that the devs don’t care about the game, or that they don’t play the game. I do agree that the game is in a bad state right now, and I absolutely don’t blame anyone for walking away or feeling like the game just isn’t worth their time anymore. Everyone’s threshold is different. I haven’t reached that yet, despite being close, but I’m sure I’ll know it when I hit it and I will leave the fog for good.
5 -
The game is riddled with glitches, bugs, and exploits. It's more laggy than it's ever been. The new Rift is extremely grindy and has almost nothing of interest to me. I have no faith in this game or BHVR anymore. If the game continues to be an abysmal experience for minimal and mediocre rewards, I'm going to pack up and quit.
4 -
I think a trust threshold way overcomplicates things.
If I enjoy the game, I play it. If I don't, I stop. Some people seem to have developed a level of addiction to the game, but that's a deeper issue than trust. I think most of the player base is in a similar boat to me.
I've always had nothing but pleasant interactions with the devs, but I don't play the game because I like the devs, I play it because I enjoy the game and if I stop enjoying the game, I'll stop playing even if the devs are awesome people (sorry to any devs out there). They've, generally in my opinion, improved the game since I first started playing, with a few decisions along the way that I thought were very wrong, and one or two that surprised me in how well they worked.
0 -
I kinda consider the fog vial a trust threshold. They understand the importance of accessibility regarding core features to the game, the whole situation around the visual TR included a lot of (what now looks like) virtue signaling about how it wasn't fair for hard of hearing players to need to use spine chill to not face a disproportionate weakness regarding its importance as an audio cue. Now we have an item that not only causes audio/visual issues, it can be used every 60 seconds by up to 4 survivors, almost every perk that could even be used to compensate specifically does nothing against it, and it has an addon that makes the opacity worse than a PS1 game trying to hide distance rendering. I get they wanted to recycle an idea they already tried in an event, but they didn't even fix the long standing bugs that were present in every single iteration of it. I feel like you could make a lot of cases for or against their direction regarding various facets, but this item kinda reinforces that they only care about accessibility when they get under fire for it. I don't mean that maliciously, its just a lesson that absolutely should have been learned in this very game's history.
2 -
Sadly, such are the consequences when a game has a monopoly in its genre.
Every other horror assym is either dying or dead. People who want to leave DBD have nowhere else to go to find a similar game. So they stay.
When Overwatch 2 (an utter scam built on lies and false promises) was suddenly faced with Marvel Rivals who was similar and rapidly gaining in popularity, they suddenly had a ton of "planned" updates and content (it was not planned, it was damage control) to bring people back/stop them from leaving.
DBD has no such "opponent" to surpass, and so has no real reason to rush anything. Alongside the many licenses, having no competition means they have little reason to go the extra length.
But, to be fair, until this chapter they were actually doing a pretty good job so far (pun intended) and were listening to the playerbase (unalive on hook removal, adjustment of AFK crows when they were told people got undeserved crows, Anti-go-next system killswitched when people got penalties for getting tunnelled which for some reason was apparently reactivated without notice with this chapter, I've been lucky enough to not get flagged myself yet). I'm not sure what happened this chapter, but it wasn't so bad until very recently.
My "trust threshold" hasn't yet been reached since, unless they push another chapter before fixing this one, they were doing well and made one major mistake. I can forgive a big mistake if it's taken care of in a timely manner, especially if it's not usually so bad. There's also the fact that, like I said earlier, they really have no reason to do anything or to listen to the playerbase, yet until this chapter they did, so I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt.
4 -
It is getting close to breaking for me. I love this game but I'm not sure I want to keep putting money into it with how everything I love is bugged, breaking or rendered unusable. It is insane for example that people can pay for cosmetics that get bugged and not fixed in a timely manner. It is insane that some killers powers have been bugged for months now with seemingly no clear timetable for BHVR fixing them or even seeming to care.
Now it also seems like BHVR wants us all to log in daily like a job in order to finish rifts doing daily challenges instead of being able to play longer sessions during our free days. The moment I can't finish the rift on my own time is the day I stop caring about doing the rift and buying passes. I don't want to feel like I have to do a job away from my job daily just to keep up. FOMO stuff really irritates me and at a certain point it is just not worth the hassle to even bother with it.
I hope they slow down on content a bit and actually fix the game. Right now the only thing killing DBD is BHVR themselves.
2 -
I haven't trusted them at all for the last 4 years. Ever since they implemented MMR. The game wasn't in a great place, but it's definitely gotten worse over time. Playing Survivor often feels pointless and like you're an NPC in someone else's game. Even outside of the game itself, everything from the Shrine to the Store to the Rift to the chapters feel predatory and frankly are getting worse. I don't wanna be a jerk, but a lot of the designs we've seen are truly terrible. Somewhere along the way, the game lost its identity entirely and yet it seems like players have been more convinced than ever that the game is the best it's been.
That's why this chapter is so confusing for me. This is the straw that broke the camel's back? I don't get it at all.
All that being said, it's not that difficult to stress for an hour or two, shut the game off for the day, and do other stuff. It's more of a routine thing for me, more like an MMO you log into to farm dailies and shut off. When I want to have a truly fun experience, I play something else.
1 -
I've reached my threshold and am now at almost a month without playing. It all got to be too much with just the tunneling and genrush squads. Now, it has all these bugs and game breaking conditions. I'm not coming back until the game is playable, which is looking a ways off now.
0 -
idk the game's been going off the rails in terms of its overall direction since like, the year mclean left. when you have a dev team rework multiple characters multiple times over the course of a few short years and they consistently have to walk back their changes and waste even more time on something that they should've gotten right the first time (sans some number tweaks) if they had any clue about the design space they're working in…well yeah. there's 0 trust there. i can't wait for knight's 5th or whatever number we're on rework/rebalance. oh and trickster for whatever reason. and skull merchant. meanwhile they put a hag skin in the rift pass when no one ######### plays that character because she is one of the ones that actually needs changes…i digress.
the bugs i just find to be inevitable, DbD's always been bad when it comes to absolutely game breaking bugs. at least they're funny sometimes.
3 -
Imagine how sad it would have been if they went through with gutting the Knight from the PTB and then expected people to pay for and hardcore grind to the end of the Rift to get a cosmetic for him.
3
