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Handicap mode for Veterans playing SWF with new players

Zensunim Zensunim
in Feedback and Suggestions

As a red-ranked survivor, my biggest challenge when I introduce a friend to the game is that if I play SWF with them, they're going to get crushed going against a high-ranked killer. However, if BHVR reverted matchmaking the way it was, the killer will get frustrated going against high-ranked survivors and the new player will still get crushed going against a mid-ranked killer.

So I have a couple of options available right now which all have their disadvantages:

  • Create a smurf account
  • Purposely de-rank
  • Just deal with it

Smurfing may not be an easy option available to everyone, especially on consoles. Since I own the game on Steam, it's easy enough to create a smurf account so I can play with my friend. However, I won't earn any XP towards my Rift progress on my main account. And if my smurf account gets too high in rank, I have to resort to de-ranking.

De-ranking is free and will earn me XP toward the Rift. All I have to do is wear a brightly colored outfit, look for the killer, get downed, and kill myself on first hook. This method is free to do, but it takes time and just ruins the game for everyone else. On top of that, once I'm no longer playing with my friend, I'm stuck at the lower ranks but can quickly rise up again, causing me to have to de-rank again later.

We could just deal with it, but the queue times at high ranks are bad (and this leaves a bad first impression for my friend), but we're also ruining the experience for other players in the high ranks having to deal with a low-rank new player that doesn't know the game, which gives the high-ranked killer a huge advantage. At the end, the other survivors are going to be mad at the new player, and the new player's going to feel awkwardly out of place.

What I'd like to propose is for an option in the SWF lobby screen for high-ranked players to handicap themselves. This will allow them to group with low-ranked SWF players and be matched with a low-ranked killer. A handicapped player can have several game restrictions imposed on them.

Some example restrictions:

  • Only one perk allowed
  • Can't bring in any items
  • 50%/75%/90% penalty to bloodpoints earned (applied post-match) based on # of handicapped players in the SWF
  • No rank/MMR changes

I'm hoping this will have several positive effects:

  • The new player gets to play with their friend and face a killer appropriate for their level
  • The veteran player can work on their Rift progression
  • Improve queue times for high-rank survivors and low-rank killers
  • Improve overall experience by keeping low-ranked survivors out of high-ranked games
  • BP penalties discourages using this feature to farm bloodpoints from low-ranked killers
  • Veteran player won't have access to strong builds (which they could have with smurfing/deranking)
  • Locked rank/MMR discourages tryharding, and the veteran player is free to make riskier altruistic plays without worrying of suffering an MMR penalty from losing to a low-ranked killer
  • The new player actually has fun and is encouraged to keep playing


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