Low Rank Change Proposal
The concept of low rank is to give new players a chance to get some sort of bearing on how to play, without the frustration of facing off against people who have played for hours on end. But the execution of this concept does not really jive well with the current system.
I propose a change to the system.
To start off, as a one-time update, all Players in ranks 20-18, who have played more than 30 hours and have at least one character at level 40+ or prestige 1+ are automatically bumped to rank 17. This applies to returning players as well. If only one of these criteria are met, they remain in ranks 20-18 and are moved to their respective rank based on the criteria described below.
Ranks 20-18 will be relabeled and conceptually thought of as "tutorial ranks," and will not use the pip system. Instead, they will be based off of two factors: game time and survivor/killer level.
Killers will have to reach level 15 on three different killers, reach level 50 on one killer, or play a total of 20 hours to reach rank 17.
Survivors will have to reach level 15 on three different survivors, reach level 50 on one survivor, or play for a total of 25 hours to reach rank 17.
Three of these criteria must be met in order to leave the tutorial ranks on either end, and upon reaching a milestone, Players are bumped up to the next rank. If a Survivor main wants to switch over to Killer, they will have to do so at rank 17, not facing fresh-faced Survivors.
In addition to this change, all new players and any players who have not been bumped to rank 17 will receive an early line of quests to follow, based on something the Entity desires for you to do. Similar to the archives, these require you to do certain things in exchange for bonus bloodpoints, including a few thousand iridescent shards for completing the entire quest line. If you reach rank 17 before completing these quests, they will remain with you, you are free to complete them at your leisure.
The quests will help teach players how to play the game, on either end.
Killers will have a set of quests to complete that encourage them into healthy game habits. In addition, until they complete their first X amount of games, they will have a list of simple objectives in the game: check every generator, find a Survivor, hit a Survivor, hook a Survivor check your hex totem(if applicable), use your special ability, down a Survivor with your special ability. And so on. Rather than this being an exhaustive list on-screen, when out of a chase, prompts to check up on generators and totems will be on screen, and while in a chase, attack objectives will be on screen. When downing a survivor or placing them on the hook, reminders will prompt the Killer to check their surroundings to make sure other survivors are not in the immediate area, before resuming the normal objective. When a generator is complete, a reminder prompt will inform the Killer that it's okay if the Survivors get a few generators completed, your objective is to sacrifice the Survivors on the hook, not make sure no one gets any generators done. Upon losing, the Killer is encouraged to keep trying, some games won't always end up in your favor. Upon willing, the Killer is congratulated for their efforts.
Similarly, Survivors will have a set of quests to complete, as well as in-game objectives, that encourage them into healthy teamworking habits for X amount of games. Things like completing generators, healing teammates, taking a hit from a Killer in order to divert attention away from another Survivor, unhooking a Survivor, running to a pallet to drop it in front of a Killer to avoid taking a hit, vaulting a window while in a chase to gain some distance. And so on. When the Killer is not chasing them, the objective list will show generator completion, unhooking a teammate if one is on the hook, and, if they find a hex totem, cleansing the totem. Side objectives will show underneath the main objectives, like searching for chests, the killer basement, and cleansing totems. When Survivors are being chased, objectives for escaping the Killer will be prompted. When the Survivor is hooked for the first time, a reminder will pop up letting the Survivor know that the match is not yet over. Informing them that they can attempt to unhook themselves at a cost of their bleedout timer, and a warning that if they try it too much they may break into stage 2 of being hooked, notifying it as the Struggle phase. When a Survivor reaches stage 2 on hook or is hooked for a second time into stage 2(not final hook), they are reminded to rapidly press their struggle button, whatever they have mapped it to(default Spacebar). They are then informed that they do not have to mash it a billion times a second, but as long as it is repetitious and fast enough(I've clocked about 4-5 times a second), they will not be completely sacrificed yet. Upon losing, the Survivor is encouraged to try again, some games are chocked up to bad luck, sometimes the Killer is just good, and sometimes you have to go on the hook to allow your friends to escape. Upon winning, the Survivor is congratulated for their efforts.
When the initial tutorial phase is up(once they have completed all X amount of games--I would assume maybe five max, ten seems a little excessive), unless the Player has never played the other end, all objective checklists and reminders will go away. In the event that the Player has not played a single match of Killer or Survivor, the objective prompts will only appear for one game. This assumed the Player is still in the tutorial ranks. Once they have reached 17 all tutorials are removed.
In order to encourage new players to stick to the tutorial phases, they are informed, when joining any player beyond the tutorial ranks, that they will be playing in the main game, and any time they accumulate there will count against their time in the tutorial ranks. They will still get their quest line, but they will not have the assurance of playing among Survivors and Killers at their rank.
And finally, to keep new players from quitting due to wait times, if a match cannot be found in a minute, the player is placed into a lobby with whomever they could find, and all missing members, Killer or Survivors, are replaced with AI. The game will inform you that you have been matched with basic AI in order for you to give you a better understanding of the difference between AI and Players. The AI will only show up in the tutorial ranks, not any rank beyond that.
This doesn't remove smurfs, people who make entirely new accounts to restart or avoid bans, but this does give new players a better chance at understanding the game without worrying about a returning player or a Killer who really wants to screw with Survivors with a full set of perks.
Lemme know what you think. Yes the new base would be 17 instead of 15, and yes, returning Players, you won't get to absolutely destroy new Players just because you haven't played for a month or two. Sorry to burst your bully bubble, but new Players also paid good money for this game, they shouldn't have to deal with you just because you want to have an easy time. You'll have to settle for ranks 17 and up.
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