comp dbd vs casual dbd

My big issue is that whichever side comes out stronger doesn't matter, it is the fundamental game concept that upsets me.

I don't share the sentiment that casual DBD is miserable, I wouldn't play the game if I did... but what casual is to me, is DBD feels like a horror game. I am afraid of the killer and trying to avoid them at all times, however at the same time I know I am also reliant on my teammates to survive, so I am also required to take chase. Striking this balance of when to hide and when to run is the main appeal to me, and more importantly, how to make the best of a bad situation...

From a thematic POV, when tunneling or slugging, the killer is using our altruism against us, our natural instinct is to empathise with and help one another... but in horror, that very sentiment can be and often is used against you; altruism often doesnt save you, opportunistic pragmatism does, which is precisely what DBD achieves by allowing players to do this. The fact these things are possible means they must be accounted for when making any decisions, and it all serves the main idea that the killer is a dangerous threat.

From a gameplay point of view, tunneling or slugging are tools in the killers arsenal to assist generating pressure. They are methods of mitigating the time loss incurred by the chase, all serving to ensure the killer poses an appropriate obstacle for the Survivors to overcome.

I won't argue that tunneling and slugging are aren't inherently too strong or weak, because in my opinion it fundamentally depends on the killer who is doing it as to how strong and effective it is, and I've seen vastly different results in effectiveness playing against various different killers, and of course vastly different results based on survivor behaviour in response to tunneling and slugging, and what perks each respective side has in play. The point is the threats of these things have to be accounted for and that is what fuels the horror element of teh game.

As simple example of what I mean, as a soloQ survivor I understand that if I am the only one not hooked yet, and everyone else is, I need to be taking chase from the killer... however I also understand that if no one else is on gens, someone needs to be; whatever time anyone buys doesn't mean anything if no one is on gens. If the killer is trying to tunnel a player out, my teammates may well be all bouncing around the hook for the unhook, that the killer is waiting for to go for their kill. Ideally it should be me going to unhook after as long as humanly possible for the trade... but I can't leave the gen if no one else is picking one up, and if my team unhook with 30s to spare and this survivor gets tunneled out, there is nothing I can do about it without making some God play or save. Me staying on the gen is making the best of a bad situation, where although I want to save my teammate, both for their sake and my own, I have to trust they have some ace up their sleeve or pull something out of the bag to somehow survive this. The pragmatic choice is to ignore your natural instinct and focus on trying to survive. This is the essence of horror, knowing that your choices to pick from aren't always good ones, but you've still got to make a choice.

What really upsets me is by trying to shoe horn a particular playstyle into play, my horror themed tag game no longer feels like a horror themed tag game... it just feels like what it is... just a tag game. In this same scenario in 9.2.0, I know the survivor off hook has BT for 30s, I know if they die I get a whole bunch of buffs while the killer gets a whole bunch of penalties. I know the killer can't slug, because if he does my teammate can crawl away and pick themselves up without any intervention or rrquirement from me to get involved at all. I don't have any difficult choices to make orchestrated by the poor decisions of my teammates or the insidious decisions of the killer trying to outwit me... the game has taken all those concerns away from me at base.

The Entity isn't this vague omnipotent being that dropped us all in a trial with the rules 'escape or die/kill or risk displeased me'; it now feels like a teacher on the bus to the park saying "OK class, here are the rules of the game, make sure you play nice and follow them, lets all have a fun time for everyone".

Maybe I'm just a weirdo.