no to the Slug
I wanted to propose a solution to slugging in Dead by Daylight.
Players who get slugged practically don't get to play the match (assuming they aren't running a specific perk for it). They are left with only two options: slowly crawl around the map or wait for their bleed-out timer to hit zero. This takes 4 minutes—minutes that the player cannot skip, and during which they aren't actually playing. This makes slugging nothing but a frustrating mechanic for the players who have to deal with it.
I wanted to propose a mechanic that might sound a bit wild, although I am sure it is quite fair due to its situational nature.
My proposal is that when survivors reach halfway through their bleed-out progress (not their recovery progress), they have the OPTION to stand up in a new health state: 'Devastated'. In this state, their bleed-out bar will continue to drop at the same speed as before.
'Devastated' will allow them to move only while crouching, making them unable to use exhaustion perks, self-healing perks (such as Self-Care), or items. Additionally, their grunts of pain will be increased by, for example, 50%.
Survivors can still perform actions like repairing generators, opening exit gates, and cleansing totems. However, the main goal is to give them a chance to find an ally to heal them.
What happens if the Killer chases a 'Devastated' survivor?
Survivors in the 'Devastated' state will vault windows and drop pallets 35% slower.
If the Killer hits a 'Devastated' survivor, they will put them back into the dying state. The survivor will then lose 20% of their total bleed-out bar (without dropping below 10% of their remaining total bleed-out time), and they won't be able to trigger the 'Devastated' state again.
Perks to accompany this new mechanic:
Perk 1: Recomposition
While in the dying state, your recovery speed is increased by 30%. When a teammate heals you from the ground, you recover 25% of your total bleed-out bar.
Perk 2: Resilient Will (Te sugerí este nombre)
Allows you to enter the 'Devastated' state a second time per match. Additionally, Killer hits received while in the 'Devastated' state reduce your remaining bleed-out time by 75% less.
Perk 3: Head Start (Te sugerí este nombre)
You can enter the 'Devastated' health state when your bleed-out progress reaches 75% (instead of 50%). Upon standing up, you emit no noise or grunts of pain for the first 4 seconds.
I don't want people to think I'm trying to buff survivors. My goal is to make sure that as long as they are in the match, they actually get to PLAY.
I doubt anyone from DBD will actually read this, but thank you so much for your time <3<3
Comments
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What's the difference between sitting out on the ground vs sitting out on the hook? Last time I checked, somebody has to come tag you back in either way.
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It's great. If we had a customizable custom match, your ideas could be tested, and of course the community would have already managed to balance the game years ago. Realistically, considering the direction the game has taken, no matter how brilliant your contributions might be in practice, they won't even be taken into consideration. It's a shame, I truly mean that.
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The difference is that each hook stage only lasts 60 seconds, and the hook actually progresses the game towards its end.
Being slugged lasts 4 minutes, and you literally can't do anything but crawl. You are forced to not play for 4 minutes. On the hook, you can at least attempt to escape or miss skill checks to sacrifice yourself and next out of a toxic match. When slugged, you don't even have the choice to die faster, and if you leave the match, you get a matchmaking penalty—unless everyone is already dead or downed.
Besides, slugging stalls the game completely. Rescuing someone who is slugged can be suicide because survivors don't get a base-kit Endurance (borrowed time) effect when picked up from the ground. The killer can just instantly redown them. You are quite literally a textbook hostage if the killer decides to play that way.
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I'm very new to the game—I've been playing for less than a year—but it's easy to see the balance issues it has. I still want to have faith that this proposal might get somewhere.
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And the best part is that you can be forced to suffer through both! Spend a minute and a half on hook, and then be slugged for 4 minutes because the killer absolutely must have their 4k. A twelve minute game may have you stuck in timeout without any agency for upwards of 7 minutes.
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Your health bar depleting also progresses the game towards its end.
You're only waiting 4 minutes if nobody comes to get you, it's the same as dying on hook if nobody comes to get you.
Knockdown strats do not stall the game out completely, the game is not being prevented from ever ending (which is what being 'held hostage' actually means).
In fact, full-team knockdown strats are high risk, macro-intensive stunts.
It's very unlikely that the killer knocks you, stands over you and doesn't continue building pressure to stop the other survivors. If the killer does decide to play that way, standing over you, not moving, then the gens will be demolished and the killer will lose the game.
It's very likely that you'll receive more than the standard 3 chances to play before you're dead if the killer does use a knockdown strategy, which isn't something you should be unhappy about (I imagine the issue has more to do with not benefitting from all the busted effects tied to getting unhooked).
Also, think about it a little more: Let's say the killer knocks somebody down at a pallet (happens a lot if they actually win the micro-game on a tile). There's another survivor nearby so the killer can't pickup lest there be a pallet/flash save, so the killer had better chase that other survivor. The knocked survivor under the pallet hits max recovery and gets picked up mid chase into your proposed free god-mode effect, body blocks the killer with it and both survivors in that encounter proceed to get away. This whole process can rinse and repeat for the entire match. This is already the way it currently is with WGLF/MFT, but you want to go ahead and make that sort of thing into a base-kit feature….How is that not complete BS toward the killer?
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So wouldn't your issue be fixed if we just reduce slug timer?
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so what's stopping you from bringing an anti slugging perk
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My criticism is that the game is poorly designed. If I have to use a perk just to deal with a BASE mechanic—something that can literally happen in every single match—then it's bad design. That's the entire point.
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no. pero seguramente hay soluciones mas simples. algun dia las redactare. esto es simplemente una idea.
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there are a lot of bad designs especially regarding balance but you can be the change you want to see and bring an anti slugging perk
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