9.2.0 PTB Was Too Large And Too Experimental To Truly Test Krasue

With the release of the 9.2.0 patch Sinister Grace earlier today for the game, one major issue that I think contributed to the issues many players are having with the patch was the size and scope of the 9.2.0 PTB. I believe that it was a mistake to have a PTB that featured huge impactful game-play changes to test like the anti-slug and anti-tunnel systems alongside brand new content like Krasue and Vee, because it was a mix of content that was 100% guaranteed to come to the game with content that was so drastic and radical that BHVR was begging people to keep an open mind about them and not freak out.

The truth is that while the anti-slug and anti-tunnel were not guaranteed to make it to the live build, Krasue was. The environment that Krasue was played and tested in on PTB was so different from the live that it helped hide quite obvious issues in her design. For example; the anti-tunnel mechanics obscured the fact that on live Krasue is the best killer to tunnel with in the game. Her mobility, lethality, and the fact that survivors come off hook still infected while mushrooms have a duration before the infection is removed makes her incredibly efficient at it. This is something that on a normal PTB would have been noticed rather quickly and could have been fixed before launch, but instead made it to the live build.

The buffs Krasue received from PTB to Live demonstrate how the anti-tunnel and anti-slug changes overshadowed discussion about her actual strength. Krasue was already a strong killer on PTB. Clearly some people on the development team for the chapter thought so as well, and its why she was grouped up with Nurse, Blight, Hillbilly, Ghoul, and Dark Lord to receive nerfed versions of the benefits from fresh hooks. But community feedback was based on learning a brand new killer under a new set of rules and mechanics, alongside nerfs to some of the most popular/strongest perks killers had. It makes sense to me why a large portion of the community would come away from the PTB believing her to be under-powered. But I think the developers went overboard with their decisions regarding buffs. Krasue received 10 separate base-kit buffs from her PTB form, two of which were undocumented. In exchange, she received 1 minor nerf to her vault and some minor nerfs to some add-ons. It makes no sense how a killer like Krasue got so many buffs when she was already in a very strong state while Springtrap, our second latest killer, was in a much weaker state than Krasue ever was on PTB and came to live with no impactful base-kit buffs and major nerfs to his strongest add-ons.

Huge game-play changes should be kept separate for mid-chapters, away from new content release patches in order to make sure feedback can be more accurate and better handled. But instead, 9.2.0 PTB's drastic anti-tunnel and anti-slug changes led to feedback that was not truly representative of the Krasue's actual strength. Now that those changes were postponed but Krasue was still changed, she has launched in an over-tuned state that will quickly result in her being regarded as one of the least engaging killers to face in the game. It is a shame because I believe the visuals and audio design of this chapter as a whole is some of the best DBD has had in a while, and clearly lots of effort, love, and care was put into the aesthetics of the chapter.