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Really not having fun with SWF atm

Jb94
Jb94 Member Posts: 209

Disclaimer: I know this is an eternal source of complaints from killers and I know it's never going to be solved or even addressed as an issue. I just really need to get this off my chest after quite a few bad games in a row- the PTB excitement will drown me out and that's fine.

So, broadly SWF isn't a huge problem- it really can be fun and the people that goof around can lead to exceptionally chilled games. Probably due to rank reset, these aren't the teams I've been coming across recently. The core issue is that optimal survivor teams will beat any killer any day, hands down. It literally isn't possible as a single player to pressure 4 others consistently throughout the game if all are playing in an ideal way.

The reason this would never happen in the vanilla solo experience is that for solos it is impossible to be be confident about how efficient you're being without dedicating perks to team info- kindred, bond, empathy are all perks that fall into this catagory. Even with these perks in play its very difficult to make 100% correct choices (if a killer is camping it'll take at least 2 survivors working in tandem to ensure that the unhook isn't just a trade). Even with normal unhooks this is an issue: seeing someone get hooked across the map raises a question of whether you should ditch your gen and trust someone else will get the save or not. If all three people run over, you've lost gen progress across the map. If no one does you've potentially traded a quarter of your team for a couple of gens being done.

These scenarios NEVER happen with efficant SWF teams. In fact they can often pull off coordinated moves that actively manipulate normal gameplay to disgusting degrees (final gen at 99% so that one member can pop it to make sure the person coming off the hook and their saviour/s get their adrenaline at the perfect moment). There is never enough tradeoff in this scenario for the killer to have any power over procedings- efficient SWF never have to lose gen progression to do a save, never have to worry if they've missed a totem, never have to lay low until they bump into another survivor for a heal.

There is a sense of mistrust to the solo experience- will I get unhooked or healed by strangers concerned more for their own survival than the team as a whole? Self care is a perk you ONLY see on solos for this reason--it's a selfish perk, but for some people it's a safety net because they won't necessarily get teammates they can rely on.

So SWF are at a disgusting advantage and it makes being a killer hard as hell. It's nothing new, we all knows it's a possibility when we queue up.

What is new for me, however, is I've now played enough that I can recognise one of these teams when I come across it. I know the rough pace of how a game should go and when it's progressing insanely fast with ridiculous coordination, alarm bells start ringing. I realise I can't win. More than that - I literally won't have fun (the two are slightly related, but I've has incredibly fun games in the past which by my own criteria I've 'lost'). And once I realise that I don't know what to do. I can't just DC like survivors can at the slightest hiccup. It seems petulant to put the controller down and do something else (even though the end result is basically the same 10,000 blood points or so aside). I'm playing against a group of people who are at least partially in the game to make sure I have a really bad time and that doesn't feel good.

For the record this isn't just the classic streamer line of 'I'm being sniped because I'm losing' thing- I try to take a measured approach before stating for sure its a team (I'm on ps4, a shared language between the players is the nearest to confirmation I get outside of the gameplay stuff, so it's never certain).

I guess I would love the option to not face SWF at all. I realise this isn't going to happen as it would fracture an already fairly small player base, but damn, it would just make the game feel balanced in a way it doesn't right now- a win would be a win, a loss would be a loss, I wouldn't have to hit the ground sweaty as ######### because a chilled approach leads to getting teabagged at the exit gate game after game.

I dunno does anyone else find the same thing? Does anyone who's part of one of these types of teams have an explanation for what makes playing this way so fun? I personally can't imagine the appeal of genrushing and running in circles the whole game- is the appeal the bullying part? (no judgement I suppose, I just genuinely can't understand the motivation).

Comments

  • JesseJH28
    JesseJH28 Member Posts: 483

    Dude I hate being the guy who dodges lobbies, but when, let's say, three people enter all at the same time that's a good indication that it's a swf group. Last night after getting screwed by some swf groups (saw the same three people in two games), just to see how many people were playing swf, I dodged lobbies when this happened and went six lobbies in a row before getting a lobby that didn't seem like swf. There's no doubt swf puts the killer at a huge disadvantage, and it seems like the majority of survivors are now playing swf rather than solo, which is absolutely sad. I mean, I get wanting to play with your friends, but doing it just to taunt the killer into chasing you so you can tell your friends they're safe doing gens? Or on the flip side, just so your friend can tell you you're safe on the gen? That takes away the thrill of playing a true survivor role. I mean, how much help do you need?

  • Avariku
    Avariku Member Posts: 608

    as someone who really prefers to play solo and at the same time mains killer most days... I hate most SWF.


    many swf are just friends playing around and often aren't skilled enough to run me around, pallet stun every 40 seconds, and teabag me at the gates... but the super try-hard death squads that I get honestly make me put the game down most days...


    its not fun, it feels horrible, and as often as I try to play nice as killer and spare at least one or two people per trial.... running into those particular toxic little sweat-bags makes me want to 4k even the weakest teams... which doesn't seem fair to them.

    Ive honestly put the game down a lot lately and haven't really felt the urge to pick it up. Solo is a camp-fest and killer is only fun for a few rounds before I get a toxic SWF.

  • JakeDaSnake
    JakeDaSnake Member Posts: 101

    I read the whole thing and im gonna say that i mainly play survivor for that exact reason the sweaty swf are super unfun at first i played survivor just to get killer perks. From the shrine and level the killers up to get ruin discordance etc. Once i got my perks i ended up being rank 1 survivor at that point so i Was better at tracking movement with killer ended up going from rank 16 to rank 4 and 3 pips in two days and red rank 4 pips is honestly hell i play ps4 too so i know the toxic ######### you're talking about its not fun at all played a red rank game four flashlights got a 3k but couldnt pick anyone up the entire match kept slugging then trying it lasted like 45 min even got a message saying im trash with a 3k then every game after that is what you described gen rush instant ruin destroyed trying to pressure every person they just go do the gens injured down Someone hook them three gens pop they get the save another one pops you gwt tea bagged at the gates tea bagged during loops like its literally not fun watching pc at red ranks looks alot easier than ps4 i swear they arent even really toxic like damm man and then with all these killer nerfs it rough im just playing survivor now i got my taste of red ranks swf not fun at all and that new perk that lets survivor fix pallets swf are going to instantly drop pallets and run youll run around it and their friends will reset it and they'll run back and loop you around the same one mark my words cuz ps4 is toxic lol

  • JakeDaSnake
    JakeDaSnake Member Posts: 101
  • luka2211
    luka2211 Member Posts: 1,433

    EU region on pc is just genrush after genrush after genrush lmao,believe me pc players are even worse.Oh did i forget the toxicity :)

  • JakeDaSnake
    JakeDaSnake Member Posts: 101

    lol i actually heard eu is really bad its weird though all the popular streamers that play killer on pc rarely go through gen rush and toxicity lol

  • luka2211
    luka2211 Member Posts: 1,433

    believe me they do,it might seem like they don't cause they "4k each game"but they still can get genrushed to #########.Anybody can :/

  • TunnelVision
    TunnelVision Member Posts: 1,375

    Agreed, I've given up playing killer. There is no enjoyment in it whatsoever anymore. The only plus side is it saves me money from not buying anymore killers or survivors. I can wait for survivor perks to show up in the shrine.

  • PandaChris
    PandaChris Member Posts: 140

    The biggest issue is trying to balance or change anything with SWF. Survivors will come out of the wood works on here screaming they will stop playing or lobby dodging will get crazy even with lobby dodging punishments. They have had this advantage which has absolutely no disadvantage for so long they think its not a balance change but a punishment. You always hear, i dont want to be punished for playing with friends.

    When survivors spoke about nurse or old legion or spirit it was always there is not enough disadvantage to their powers or it was unfun to play against. They wanted balance to the advantages these killers had.

    What is the disadvantage to playing with voice comms in a SWF group? There is none.

    It doesnt matter if its the sweatiest or non sweatiest group of SWF. Saying "the killer is chasing me" or "im going for the unhook", the simplest of things can be said and it gives the advantage of what effects the game the most, efficiency in time spent.

    So, we know SWF has no disadvantage and often no fun to play against depending on how sweaty the SWF group is. Just like how nurse, spirit, old legion was no fun depending on their sweaty builds. It checks off both the boxes the survivors here deem qualifying enough to get something changed. So why is SWF immune to this.

  • premiumRICE
    premiumRICE Member Posts: 798

    Tbh being efficient without perks like bond is not a problem. You do gen, if killer come you run, if not stay on gen

  • Jb94
    Jb94 Member Posts: 209

    I mean, I run bond to find other survivors when injured for a heal, get an extra heads up when a chase is heading my way, occaisonally spotting an injured survivor who's running around desperately and grouping on gens to activate prove thyself. If efficiency means rushing gens without interacting with other survivors, then your strat seems sound. At the same time--maybe don't knock other people for wanting to play the game with a little more nuance than holding down a single button all game.

    Maybe coordinated is a better word than efficient idk- you seem like the sort of incredibly pedantic person who speed reads an entire post then comes back with a galaxy brain view on something entirely minute in the grand scheme of the post. But thanks for the input, I'll be sure never to use bond again :)