an articulate look at some popular(and unpopular) opinions
I’m a veteran Dead By Daylight player with over 200 days logged. I’m not the most top tier skill wise but I have a much better than average understanding of game mechanics and fundamentals. As killer I have almost 6,000 kills and as survivor I have almost 4,000 escapes. Its not the best record but I strive to walk away from every game a little better than before while always having fun, as well as continuing to try new builds and keep the game fresh. Id like to discuss a few things that I see brought up in community forums, social media, as well as in-game chat with players I meet to give my humble opinion. Note to all the close minded, stop reading now.
1. UN-fair vs. UN-fun
Hook camping, tunneling, Overpowered builds(perks/addons), killer powers, flashlights, TECHs, hook blocking, slugging, and hatch escapes are UN-FUN while glitch exploits, keys, mori’s, broken perks/addons, poor map designs, doors spawning too close together, bad matchmaking, and a dysfunctional rank system are UN-FAIR.
I get it, nobody likes to get hit with a chainsaw 10 seconds into a match, hooked, camped to near second state, tunneled then moried to end a game with 1,300 points only to have to wait for your friends to finish the game but it happens, a lot in fact. Nobody likes to get looped, run ragged, and smacked with every pallet on the map. Then when you down someone you get hit with a flashlight. When you work so hard to get that one survivor on the hook at end game only to have a borrowed time/decisive strike rescue combo so you either let them crawl out or pick them up(which we always do) just to get stunned and tea bagged on their way out. But hey, that’s honest gameplay. Then we have things like infinite loops and poor map design where skilled survivors literally can't be caught, broken vaults and other map exploits that allow survivors to run amok or even face personal peril when they shouldn’t. Keys that allow teams to escape as soon as the hatch has spawned, mori which allow killers to quickly and easily eliminate one or more players in record time, and broken perks and addons that give unfair buffs that make more than the difference between winning and losing. These are UN-FAIR and justify a cause for concerns or complaints, and deserve an assessment by the development team. The difference between unfair and unfun is something that many players don’t understand. This game requires balance so that both sides can equally thrive and have fun. The game will never be perfect but I urge the staff at Behaviour to keep this in mind for future game changes as well as players in the community when discussing changes you would like to see.
2. New Players and The "Grind"
This game has a steep learning curve and game play is extremely ruthless as well as competitive. New killers get bullied and new survivors find themselves dead on the hook so quick that they don’t have a chance to learn even simple game mechanics nor the a chance to learn their way around maps. This game is not very fun to new players and I think that may be a key reason why so many people don’t stick with it. Not to mention the grind for points is slow and sometimes too frustrating for new players. People almost feel like they aren't making any progress when they escape through the hatch and only score 9000 points, which happens a lot to new players. They don’t know what to do and there is no place to learn while earning progress.
Players want to feel rewarded for their efforts. Things I think the devs should reconsider are the bloodweb, offerings, match point caps, rewards for custom matches, events, or anything else that helps players progress at a reasonably faster pace. Some of the point offering don’t make sense as their cost far outweighs their rewards, more often than not. I think raising the max score per category is something to look at. The point system made sense when DbD was born but now with 40 playable characters who all have unique reasons to be played an increase in the progression system would be good, especially to help boost new players up to par. I think some of these ideas would make a huge difference in gameplay and add a much more positive feel to new players and veterans alike.
3. Toxicity
The toxicity and overall hostility in this community is so frequent and intense that its disturbing. If I post screenshots of my inbox from players I have killed, teammates who died when i escaped, teammates who escaped when I died, ect. I’m reasonably certain any game retailer who abides by ESRB and PEGI ratings would immediately remove this game from their shelves. The things we say to each other, the threats, the wishes of bad karma, the racism and prejudices, name calling and other insults literally makes me sick. We're all gamers. Like a family who share this common bond only to turn around and sadistically torture each other for no reason. Its not once in a while either, its literally every game. Something has to give. I understand the competitive nature of this game but this community takes it far beyond that. There is a complete lack of sportsmanship and respect, not only for each other but for gaming in general. There is a stigma in baseball that if you don’t respect the game, you have no business playing it. When Midway was under scrutiny in the 1990s for MK being too violent, MK2 came out with friendships as an alternative to the fatality. I urge the devs to step in to (at least)try to instill a change. Dead By Daylight is innovative in so many ways I have faith in the staff at Behaviour to figure this out.
4. Breaking Up The Meta
There are currently 69 killer perks and 77 survivor perks yet nearly every game we see almost exclusively the same 10-15 perks on either side of the board. Why? Because the meta perks are so powerful that nobody is willing to steer away from them. We see this more in survivors since they are statistically all the same and only rely on their perks where as killers are each unique and can utilize perks in different ways. I think the devs should look at a solid 20-25 perks on either side and reevaluate them for buffs and/or changes. They have made changes to perks like Detectives Hunch, Plunderers Instinct, Kindred, Mettle of Man, Sloppy Butcher, Pop Goes The Weasel, and even NOED that have been good for balancing and to help increase usefulness of even nerf perks that have been so strong that they were downright menacing. However some of the perk buffs we have seen were not even close enough to proc players to use them(Streetwise, No One Left Behind, Dark Sense). I think when considering to buff perks devs should have a more realistic view on how perks will affect the game. For instance, Open Handed only stacks one time with Kindred because the devs were worried about survivors having too much information(A better edge) on the killer. Really? Did you forget that Borrowed Time and Decisive Strike exist? The two most common run survivor perks that make it extremely difficult to get end game hooks or sacrifices and contribute directly to more escapes than any other perks, hands down. Iron Will, maybe? This game is about 70 percent sound dependent when playing as killer. The ability to not make noise when injured allows survivors to hide under almost any circumstance. Or how about BBQ and Chili that tells killers exactly where to go for their next hook. Were not even going to talk about NOED here. My point is, why do we have so many perks and why continue to release more if they are not going to be viable or even near useless? Lets break up this meta and open up new possibilities by instilling some perk changes with REAL value.
Dead By Daylight is one of my favorite games of all time. It has given me thousands of hours of exhilarating, fast paced, game play and has allowed me the opportunity to meet some of not only the best gamers, but the best friends I have even known. Its excels in so many ways in a class all its own and we have Behaviour to thank but its up to all of us as a community to always strive to make it better for all of us and help our player base grow. If you read this far, thank you. Ill see you all in the fog.
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