Should the pregame lobby be removed?

I want to be able to match outfits with my team

Sounds like a good way to remove the last measure players have against cheaters, so that you can't dodge legacy prestige EGS gamers and people with VAC bans on private profiles.

I'm all for it.

I think fixing backfills would solve most of the issues, but the lobby would be ok with leaving as long as killers got a few seconds to see items and adjust perks as necessary. Even if it was just something like generic icons for the items (so as to not give away addons or rarity) but just enough for people who are, say, photosensitive to equip lightborn or franklins. Everything else like skins or user names is just lobby shopping, but the interaction between items and killer perks is a bit too important to skip entirely.

It's a double-edged sword. The lobby is one of the few remnants of DBD's old identity and I think for that reason it should be maintained. Additionally, it benefits Killer more than Survivor so I don't see it going. But if we were to be a little more consistent with where DBD is (this idea that you're held hostage once the trial begins), it would make more sense to remove it. But I think doing so would really hurt the soul of the game.

Mind you the people saying the Lobby is necessary for killers would most definitely shut down the idea of being able to see the Killer's ping in the Lobby because of 'Lobby shopping,' so I definitely think it should go.

Did anyone actually claim that? Hell, I said it should be limited down to just seeing items, and said nothing about ping. I would agree with your proposal as long as it only showed actual high ping when present (150+) since showing all pings would just lead to survivor lobby shopping if they saw anything over 60, which would be cherry picking lobbies as you also don't want.

And in my example, I specifically pointed it out in a way that killers can't cherry pick lobbies, while addressing the fact that there are valid reasons to be able to adjust their loadout based on items present, which is why I don't understand the blanket implication. Many killers who utilize lobby information don't do so to cherry pick, while your suggestion is one that was presented in a way that would.

There are posts in this thread and earlier ones on the same subject that say it is to avoid cheaters.

Because that's a valid reason, even if it is a necessary sacrifice. Its also why my suggestion specifically said they shouldn't, because its the only way to get parity through game limitation. Allowing survivors to see killer usernames is an easy way to predict things from what killer they're likely to play to their loadouts, which is less of an issue with survivors since it only really applies to perks and not whole powers. Its understandable why people would want to keep it or not, and their reasons don't necessarily have to do with shopping, so there is debate to be had there beyond accusations.

I run into high ping killers far more often than cheaters, where is my ability to avoid that?

Which is why I agreed to it despite your previous assumption, and refined it specifically to avoid lobby shopping as you don't wish to have. People can agree on overall positions while having nuanced takes on the particulars, regardless of "side."

Personally I dont think the killer should be able to see items either, but I acknowledge that its a subjective point as the killer wasting a perk slot is far more impactful than a survivor wasting a perk slot.

I already stated why it goes beyond that. Not only do items sometimes affect playstyles, they can become accessibility issues. Until BHVR includes something like an option to replace the blinding light with a subtractive filter for people with conditions like photophobia/photosensitivity/cataracts/etc, some people need lightborn to avoid actual physical pain from being blinded. And thats on top of the fact that perks like franklins do literally nothing if there is no item present, especially since they no longer work on killer mechanic specific items like vaccines. I honestly don't consider it particularly subjective in the current state of the game.

Allowing survivors to see killer usernames is an easy way to predict things from what killer they're likely to play to their loadouts, which is less of an issue with survivors since it only really applies to perks and not whole powers.

So much this. There are certain perks that have an outsized effect against certain killers, like iron will or even fog vials against spirit and vigil against any status effect killer. Players love showing off their p100 or other accomplishments on their profile and that shouldn't be forced to change. I would certainly take advantage of that knowledge.

Cheaters and ping are valid concerns but both are entirely on BHVR to fix, its not something the player should have to be worrying about in the first place. Anon mode would hide their profile regardless and its not like the game is going to start showing you The Blight in lobby if the killer uses anon. Just hiding everyone's name is both the best and likely the easiest to implement solution (matchmaking issues aside).

That would be taking away a qualityof life feature. Many survivors spend time selecting perks and items during this time.

It would also suck if

1. Waiting for a queue while messing around with perks or another survivors and get thrown in a lobby with no perks.
2. Have to lock in and do nothing while waiting for an available lobby.

I don't see why not other then the spaghetti code would collapse as usual when something is changed

If they let survivors see other survivors' perks, then it might actually have a purpose. As it stands, it's just a waste of time, but it doesn't have to be. Either fix it so it's useful or get rid of it.

The only purpose it really stands for anymore is equipping lightborn when you see a flashlight squad.

Sorry, I forgot to mention: I would implement some kind of anti-dodging penalty. Treat it like DCing with gradually increasing matchmaking bans.

IF we're keeping it in the first place

I think it would be helpful if you were to remove the pre-game lobby or provide survivors with a reason to see it. Currently, it mainly allows the killer to decide if they want to face an obvious pre-made SWF or if there are multiple flashlights in the lobby, prompting a cheap pick for Lightborn, as another poster pointed out. I don't understand why survivors can't see the ping of all players in the pre-game lobby. The match becomes largely pointless when the killer exceeds 120+.

Well that's why its so important we need to get more control over who we face, with how hands off this company can be when dealing with cheaters.

Thats why you have the avoid list too, coz you can update it every so often with new bad actors, While I can't go into the specifics of how I would make it work, it doesn't take much for Behaviour to investigate other games who have functioning social systems to learn a thing or two.