http://dbd.game/killswitch
How can we buff solo q without buffing survivor role overall?
Solo queue survivor is miserable, that's no secret but at the same time survivor doesn't need buffs since it's the stronger role in an equal level match up with good coordination.
There are basekit systems coming to help solo q survivor experience that swfs definitely don't need and can abuse to make killer miserable instead. That gave me a not-so-original idea i'm aware not many people are fond of: a different queue. This way they can actually go all-out with the systems, make them actually impactful.
It seems like a good idea to me but I really would like to hear others' opinions about it and if they think it could be a feasible option. First things first, It doesn't need to be competitive, be it through wording or choice to show ranks, mmr, whatever.
And of course most importantly, why would killers choose to play here over stomping casuals?
Let me make a short list of what should differ between those modes:
- "Casual" mode will only be playable by solo survivors (maybe duos too).
- It will include "anti" systems available to help its players.
- Stricter matchmaking in "ranked" mode; so an experienced survivor without a team but that still wants to enjoy "bare" dbd or competition can still play here without getting matched with the 200 hour Timmy.
- Game-altering offerings will be unusable in the mode. They aren't very strong admittedly, but still.
- Maybe rank/mmr will be trackable through official data website which most casual players aren't even aware exists.
I'm honestly not sure how accurately this would seperate players that have different expectations from the game, but I firmly believe we might need such a change. A killer still can choose a chill match with loose matchmaking but against survivors with the help of basekit features; and survivors can enjoy a better solo q experience or the advantage of being in a group without basekit features ONLY solo survivors need.
Comments
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All I have ever wanted is better matchmaking. If you play Blight or Ghoul with four slowdowns then you SHOULD be matched with degenerate survivors in every match. You deserve to be stressed if you are sweating that hard against randoms. Anything is preferable to this mickey mouse matchmaking that we have right now. If people in the upper brackets have to wait 3-4 minutes longer for a match then so be it.
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mickey mouse matchmaking
I had a genuine belly laugh when I read this. But yes, the matchmaking really needs to be tighter, like it used to be when ranks was still present in the game. Something like it used to be like in circa 2019, when you actually got put up against players of your rank.
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"the stronger role in an equal level match up with good coordination."
Any proof to this? I see it a lot but how do you even prove it? Most loses could just as easily be because your VSing higher skilled players. Considering truly good players can go on 50+ winstreaks with even trapper it's hard to imagine the "any time I lose means it's survivor sided" .
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Give survivors voicechat or those chatwheel / message systems. That's it. Thats the only difference that might be there between "solo" and "swf".
Anything else is player behavior the devs cant change. Well they could add really intrusive ruleset-mechanics that badly enforce certain playstyles like ptb-anti-tunnel, but would you really want "heal that idiot or else..."-punishments?
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I don't think we need a different queue.
We just need to give survivors more tools to coordinate.
Let them see each other's perks during a match and in the pause menu they can check what a perk does if they don't know.
If a survivor is on death hook, or being chased after being unhooked show their aura to the rest of the team so their team can try bodyblock.
Give survivors a basic command system. No voice chat, but maybe just a chat wheel with stuff like "Stay" or "I'm going for the save" or "help me" (maybe the help me option could be a single button so it can be used in chase), maybe something like "spread out", "hide", "stick together" etc. And an option to say yes or no to what is being asked. It doesn't have to be spammable, it doesn't have to make a noise notification, it can just appear next to their portraits.
Just something that allows solo queue survivor coordination to be closer to swf coordination.
Then we don't need any of these "anti" systems, because we don't need each individual survivor to be second chance powerhouses in a 1 v 4. We need to help them coordinate to work as a team.At most, make it so that if all survivors are being slugged, give the last survivor immunity to screams, no scratch marks and boosted healing speeds so they can pick up their team. And as for tunneling, I dunno, maybe make it so if a survivor gets 3 hooked without any other survivor being hooked, they endure one extra hook state and get a free decisive strike to prevent only extreme 3 hook tunneling. Deactivate these protections once 3 gens are completed, and that's it. No complications.
And if at that point, survivors cannot coordinate team plays, then sorry, that is just the nature of team based games. You will live or die by your team and that is true in literally any game where you play as a team. And if you are playing solo q you are making the choice of playing with survivors who may not be able to perform as well. Tough luck. You might get a better team in the next game.
Though I will say, BHVR should 100% give survivor more team based rewards. Give survivors a BP bonus or EXP bonus for every survivor that escapes a trial, so that way if you get tunneled but your team escapes because you did your job and wasted the killer's time, you can get rewarded, even if you don't stay to see the outcome of the match. Give survivors BP in every category when they are in chase, depending on what their team is doing. So for example, if survivor A is in chase, survivor B is healing survivor C, and survivor D is on a gen, for as long as survivor A is in chase, then survivor A gets BP for altruism and objective. Reward survivors for working as a team and for contributing to their team.3 -
Well said. We need better communication and teamplay; seeing teammates' perks and a chat wheel would be a great and easy start. With those and as the above person also said a stricter matchmaking would alleviate solo q pain and close the gap between solo and swf.
Though, assuming adding bandaid "anti" systems is the path they will choose to follow, i wish they would at least give us the option to play "vanilla dbd", should i even say.
At most, make it so that if all survivors are being slugged, give the last survivor immunity to screams, no scratch marks and boosted healing speeds so they can pick up their team. And as for tunneling, I dunno, maybe make it so if a survivor gets 3 hooked without any other survivor being hooked, they endure one extra hook state and get a free decisive strike to prevent only extreme 3 hook tunneling. Deactivate these protections once 3 gens are completed, and that's it. No complications.
Kind of don't want to turn the topic into a balance discussion but I want to say there's a fine line between these and all those anti mechanics introduced in PTB. They could just bring dynamic gen speeds in case of a very early kill or lightning fast gens but for extreme cases like a 3 hook 1 kill at 4-5 gens or when 3-4 gens get done with few to no hooks.
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if you want solo queue (and honestly duo queue) to be comparable to a 4 man SWF you just need to give these players a 5th perk slot that can only equip the following perks: Kindred, Bond, Empathy, Tenacity, Unbreakable, Babysitter, Borrowed time
Basically, you give these survivors an additional perk so they can have an anti-slug, an anti-tunnel or an additional information perk.
Without changing some basic mechanic of the game which benefits only solo queue I think this makes the most sense.
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The primary difference of SoloQ and SWF is information. I don't believe its smart to flood Survivors with basekit auras to make up the difference, but I do think the HUD can be improved to bridge the gap.
At a minimum: -
- Overhaul the Survivor HUD to show perks that are in effect/active when a teammate is using them within the trial.
- Add the AFC to the HUD, along with effects like reassurance on a survivors sacrifice bar.
- Add markers for all conditions suffered by survivors (like it does broken).
I don't think showing all perks at all times is great, cause you have sandbaggers, griefers and people who will quir if the see certain perks, but a system needs to be introduced to show relevant perks to teammates.
Having active effects highlighted would be useful in lots of ways, such as seeing Distortion go off on a teammate shows the killer has Lethal Pursuer. Seeing Borrowed Time active or Autodidact would help make decisions regarding letting teammates unhook or heal. Seeing Deja Vu helps determine the Survivor to follow for breaking 3 gens. You get the idea.
The othwr changes are a similar vein, things that give you enough clues to know what is in effect in the trial, that SWF would just relay to each other.
An improved emote/radial message system would also help.
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I dont think there is any more help that buffs soloq and doesnt buff survivor fole with it or swf especialy. All you can do to unify it is to give survivors push to talk option and then balance game around swf because thats only clear option that leads to balance. If you give some new info to soloq then you are buffing survivor role and swf with it, swf has all things already (exept the mechanics like basekit antitunnel,antislug etc., the info part maybe some basekit aura info on killer). If you give soloq buffs like push to talk so they can have same advantage as swf and make strategyes then you can balance game around it and it wont be bad for either side (the scissors wont be so open and difference between swf,soloq and mediocre killers, stronger killers), if you think the core of no info for survivors will die and some identity of the game let me tell you since swf option its already dead because like half oc survivor player base plays with one or more friends and they have coms so killers advantage in more poor info on survivor side as soloq has is countered and it hve been like this for long time.
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That wont go live change like this so more optimal for closing the gab between soloq and swf is to give something like push to talk option into the game, thats the key part that makes the difference between swf and soloq so huge, the ability to comunicate and makd plans and tactics both in lobby and in the trial.
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Remember the idea of the basekit kindred without aura reveal on killer? I think that was one of the good ideas without buffing SWF since they are already coordinated
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Maybe they should add a better communication system rather than just pointing nodding and fanning a fart
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i tip my hat to you as I as a killer would enjoy the casual mode to mess around and have fun and love the "ranked" mode to try my best to win
some people hate tryhards so they would play casual and some hate friendly killers so they would play "ranked" but I'm a mix of both killers so I would end up playing both gamemodes frequently
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Functionally you can't, because survivor itself isn't the issue, players are. Lack of skill, game sense and experience are all the main factors of why games go bad when these players are the majority of the team. Actually play killer and you'll see how swingy games are when you actually go against headless chickens one game and good solo q players the next who actually can loop and push gens and not throw the game making stupid plays and wasting time not doing anything.
Any buffs also just buff SWF even more, even something as simple as showing some auras just improves their efficiency and reduces the chance of errors.
Survivor is actually fine when you and your team are decent with no obvious weak link in the group. Handholding survivors more and more will just stagnate any improvement of players as they are cushioned from their mistakes and they won't be able to learn and improve.
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