I Decided to Continue Watching the Dev Streams So You Don't Have To
As some of you may know, I was tossing up whether to keep doing this summary thing, but I received quite a few requests for it and a good friend of mine talked me into this one. So you can thank him for this (or blame him, as the case may be).
As always, while I have tried to remain as true to the spirit of what was said on stream as possible without conjecture or elaboration, do bear in mind that the following is official information, unofficially worded, so please don't read too far into the particular phrasing of things. The exception is if something is enclosed in quotation marks " ", in which case it is quoted directly from what was said on stream, so read into that what you will.
If you would like to watch the stream for yourself, it is available only on Twitch this time.
You can find it at this link: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/654553802
The following members of the development team were featured on this stream:
Marilou (aka @Ribanne) - Community Manager
Ethan (aka @Almo) - Live Balance Designer
Mat Walker - Level Designer
The stream opened with a screening of the Silent Hill Spotlight Trailer, followed by some announcements.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsJ5igHp1hcAnnouncements
- The Silent Hill DLC is out now on PC and console. Players can purchase the characters for Auric Cells in-game, or the full DLC on the Store of their respective platforms.
- Today’s stream is a Q&A, but tomorrow the developers will be hosting another “Around the Campfire” stream, where different members of the development team play Dead by Daylight together and chat with the viewers on Twitch. This will be happening live on the official Dead by Daylight Twitch channel (https://www.twitch.tv/deadbydaylight).
- The in-game anniversary events will be commencing on June 23rd. More information will be available “when the time comes”. Starting today, anniversary raffles will be held in the official Dead by Daylight Discord server.
Q&A
These questions were selected from a thread that the developers created on the forums prior to the stream, as well as from the Dead by Daylight subreddit.
Questions About the New Chapter
Why does Trail of Torment reveal the generator’s aura? (from @Orion)
If this aura weren’t present, the survivors wouldn’t know that anything was happening. They want to give survivors an indicator that the perk is active. The aura reveal can also be used to the killer’s advantage, as survivors may become needlessly cautious, or put themselves in positions they otherwise wouldn’t and be caught off guard while focusing on the generator.
Will Pyramid Head’s perks be buffed? (Asked during the PTB by @Respectfulnancymain)
Some tweaks were made to the perks following the PTB, which mostly took the form of value adjustments. Forced Penance, for example, had its duration increased to 40/50/60 seconds, and it now grants additional bloodpoints for protection hits. Trail of Torment’s duration was increased to 16 seconds, and the cooldown reduced to 80/70/60 seconds, so that it may be activated more frequently. The duration of the Oblivious status effect on Deathbound has been increased to 60 seconds, and some improvements have been made to the way the perk’s activation status is displayed.
Are there any plans to add the cage skill checks to hooks? (from @Lycidas)
The developers aren’t sure yet, but they are considering it. They will be monitoring the mechanic’s performance – how many people fail the skill checks, how much time they lose, etc., as well as player feedback on the topic. They clarified again that they are not “dead set” on the current button-mashing mechanic, they simply want players to be interacting with the game in some way rather than doing nothing during the struggle phase.
Why did you go with Cheryl rather than Heather? (from @LordRegal)
(From Dave Richard, Creative Director): Cheryl was taken by the Entity following the events of Silent Hill 3, during which she changed her name from Heather to Cheryl.
Are there any plans to buff The Executioner? (from @geranium)
The developers were satisfied with the way the new killer operated on the PTB, and didn’t observe any major bugs or issues with his power which necessitated “dramatic” changes. However, they are closely monitoring his performance in the live game, particularly with regards to the Punishment of the Damned mechanic. From this, they will be able to determine whether his power needs adjustments and respond accordingly.
As always when a new killer is released, they received a huge amount of feedback and reactions immediately post-release, and they want to allow some time for players to get used to the new killer, learn how to play against him and level him sufficiently to be able to compare him fairly to the other killers, before they make any significant changes. Again, though, they will continue to read and process the feedback they receive.
What was the reason for picking things from multiple games in the Silent Hill franchise? (from @linoid)
(From Dave Richard, Creative Director): Those on the team involved with acquiring the license are big fans of the franchise, and as fans they wanted to be able to explore Silent Hill and its stories as much as possible. They took aspects from each Silent Hill game which they felt were most “iconic and interesting” and would fit best in Dead by Daylight.
The Creative Team felt that these selections were a good way to bring the two games together in a way that made sense.
What’s your favourite small detail on the new map? (from @Spengler)
Marilou: The corpse in the locker that pops out when you walk past.
Mat: The twitching bodies in the cages. This was a feature on which the animation, art, audio and level design teams all came together to collaborate. It’s very scary – in a freaky way, not in a jump-scare sort of way. It’s the kind of thing that you see a lot in Silent Hill, and has been “transformed” for Dead by Daylight.
Ethan: The bathroom with the girl crying inside a closed stall. It’s very creepy, and it’s in a relatively secluded part of the map, but something you encounter fairly often if you do venture in that direction.
Could the cages be changed so they are affected by Blindness? (from @zavch)
Objects related to killer powers are never affected by Blindness, because the ability to read their auras (or not) is a core part of the killer’s balance. For example, Pig has an add-on which inflicts Blindness and prevents survivors from seeing jigsaw boxes, which is part of the balance of her kit. This is why objects like these are shown in a white, rather than a red, aura, similarly to the Plague’s fountains or the Pig’s jigsaw boxes.
With the introduction of scripted events, like bodies falling out of lockers, are we going to get more of that in older maps or new maps? (from the live chat)
It’s not currently planned, but it’s a very popular feature – players like seeing it, and the developers like doing it – so they are thinking about working it into their schedule. Players can probably expect to see more of this sort of thing in the future.
Questions about the graphics update
Will characters also get their visuals updated when the graphical update arrives? (from @Jota)
Some of the visuals will be gone over, but unfortunately they can’t go into details on this.
Are there plans to update facial animations? (from @Raidirar)
Again, it’s a lot of work with the amount of characters in the game, so they can’t give details now, but there will be more information available further down the track.
What kinds of animations are being changed in the graphics update? (from @PassarinoT)
All kinds, from survivor movements to interactions with objects. More details to come.
Will the graphics update change some tiles? (from @RomeroJane)
The Art Team has been working very hard at updating the visuals and bringing the game to the “next level”. The Level Design Team are working closely with them at the same time to improve the game in terms of both fun and balance.
Will the graphics update bring breakable walls to older maps? (from u/spiritjonie)
Yes – as mentioned, the Level Design and Art Teams are working together to improve the visual quality of the maps, and as part of this, they are looking into integrating breakable walls into older maps as planned.
Will the graphics update release all at once, or over time? (from u/mewysocks)
They have received a lot of questions like this about the update. They will be communicating “properly” about it and giving all the details on what’s coming at some later point in the future.
Are there plans for more gore? (from @Flatskull)
There are no current plans along those lines, but it is still being discussed internally. So, again, more details will be coming in the future.
Miscellaneous Questions
Is The Clown getting any other changes? (from @DingDongs)
The developers have been monitoring Clown’s performance for a long time, and while they believe he is underrated in terms of strength, they acknowledge that the fact that it is not immediately obvious how to use his power most effectively is a problem. Due to time and resource constraints, they discovered that it wouldn’t be possible to make any major updates to Clown in the near future, so they found a change they could make that was simple but impactful to go into the most recent patch. They are currently looking into the possibility of improving his “viability” further, but they don’t have any concrete plans that they can announce at the moment.
Will we be able to mix and match legendary cosmetics? (from @Esskay)
This issue has been the subject of a lot of questions from players recently. For those who don’t know, legendary cosmetics are outfits in which all three pieces are linked, such that one cannot be equipped without the others. They can be identified by a unique symbol in-game.
The idea of legendary cosmetics is to represent “the fantasy of a character”, so it wouldn’t make sense to be able to mix them with pieces of what are essentially another character. They are also made differently to ordinary cosmetics, so things like clipping are not an issue as they would be if the outfits were made of separate components.
Will legendary outfits have their own voice? (from @Mooks)
This is a feature that the developers would love to implement. They haven’t been able to at this point, but if they are able to make it happen in the future, they definitely will.
Will there be a 104% Bloodpoint offering in the event? (from @TheNormalizer)
All of the event details will be revealed next Tuesday (June 23).
Will we ever see more contests like the cosmetic contest (for maps, music, charms, etc.)? (from @Inferno427)
In the case of things like maps or music, this is unlikely. There is a lot more that goes into creating these things than just the concept, which makes them difficult to construct a contest around.
Does Silent Hill mean that we could see other game characters? (from @Eris27100)
This has always been on the table – Bill, who originated from the Left 4 Dead franchise, being the other notable example. If the developers find another video game character that they feel would fit well in Dead by Daylight, licensing that character is definitely a possibility that they would consider.
Will there be legendary outfits that aren’t licensed? (from @colelema9)
This is something that’s being looked into. The team have a lot of amazing ideas along these lines, and these ideas will be brought to the game as their schedule allows.
Any update on the new matchmaking? (from @MiniPisa)
Tests with the new algorithm have already begun on certain live servers, and they are now beginning tests of the MMR system itself. If all goes well, the system will be released across all servers. There won’t be a patch required when this happens, but it will be announced on the forums.
For the past month or two, the MMR system has been running in the background calculating players’ MMRs (but not yet using these for matchmaking), so that the developers can gather data on how well the algorithm works at predicting the likely outcome of a match based on the players’ skill levels. Based on this data, they have been able to make improvements to the algorithm, and now they are doing limited practical tests using this algorithm to facilitate matchmaking. Once they are confident that the matchmaking is working as intended with the new system, they will roll it out across all servers and platforms.
Final Comments from the Developers
Ethan invites players to share their feedback on the new perks in particular, especially on how they work in combination with existing perks. The best place to do this would be here on the official forums (https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/categories/suggestions).
Comments
They shouldn't hold a Q&A if they're not gonna answer questions.
If they can't answer some questions, put them on a "cant-answer" list in the description of the stream or somewhere in the forums, before starting the stream.
This Q&A was such a waste of time. They need to hire a new balance lead. Sick of the developers dismissing the experiences of actual people who put thousands of hours in their game and are very good at playing both sides. That guy really had the gall to say Clown is underrated, lmao Clown is so bad. That's what 90% of the player base has been saying for years and he says that we just "don't know how to use him properly." If someone doesn't "learn how to use them properly" after playing them for 500 hours...... I think the player isn't the problem...
I didn't see the Q&A section in the forums, but I am 100% they purposefully ignored some very relevant and important questions just to spite us.
Girls.... learn how to listen to your players and take notes on their ideas and suggestions. Cuz if you don't, you'll lose the few players you've got left.
Thank you for doing this. I don't think I would have been able to watch the stream without my brain breaking from the amount of incredulity I would have over the stupidity of some of the answers. It's nice that you took that all out in your post; it allows me to have some confidence in the future of the game's balance for a small while.
If someone doesn't "learn how to use them properly" after playing them for 500 hours...... I think the player isn't the problem...
That's literally exactly what Ethan was saying on the stream - that the main problem with Clown is that his full potential isn't obvious enough. He also said they're open to making more changes to the Clown in the future. And 90% of the community might think he's terrible, but if you ask an actual seasoned Clown main like @DudeDelicious, he'll tell you that what was said on stream about him being underrated was completely true.
This is amazing!
Watching things makes me bored so being able to pick and choose what I see and learn about makes me happy so thank you.
That's why I do it! I'm very glad it's helpful for you 😊
Thank you Fibi! I'm glad too see you're still helping the community a lot!
I'm probably late to the game, but it seems they finally pinned your post. Was worried they weren't paying attention to you anymore.
Remember he said he was underrated, not fine and needs no further changes.
Quote from @DudeDelicious, the forum's BigBrainClownMain(tm), is that Clown is in a weird spot where the devs can "very easily make him overpowered," and once you learn him properly "his only weakness is stealth". No offence but even though I think clown is weak I'm gonna trust a PS4 player who can consistently kill people easily without gen slowdown perks (his own claims & he has a youtube channel to prove it) than you. Thanks.
That's great. He can 4k every single game as Clown and that doesn't make Clown any better.
I've 4k'ed as perkless clown at red ranks, I know how to use his bottles to "drive" survivors, force slow vaults at opportune times, etc.
There's no secret or hidden Clown tech or knowledge that I'm aware of that makes him easier to play - Survivors can still power through clouds to get to loops with pallets if you're trying to steer them into dead or pallet free zones, abandon loops as they see fit if outplayed (taking a hit if forced or necessary which gives them a head start on future pathing) and so on.
Oh look, they said basically exactly what I jokingly said they would about Clown. Only they went the extra step to insult/insinuate the entire community doesn't know how to play him or understand his power. Wow. Just wow.
And again they didn't say he wasn't being changed further, they said he had a hidden skill many people don't know of because they listen to streamers say he's bad and believe he's bad.
If they said they weren't going to change him further I'd agree, but they didn't.
Not sure why I am being quoted here since I never said they weren't looking to change him further. I did however say, in my joke post from a few days ago, that they would say that they are going to continue to monitor him and that they currently have no set plans of how to change him.
Which they definitely said.
And to further drive my point, Ethan said he has "played Clown" and finds him "underrated" and that "his power is hidden". I love Clown, he's one of my favourite Killers, and there are tons of people who have played hundreds of hours of Clown. He's is literally brushing off everyone because he is one of the main developers so he knows better and everyone else just needs to learn how to play Clown. The fact that he is unwilling to accept that maybe, just maybe, some players have a better idea of how Clown works is insane. But again, he's one of the main developers and that means his opinion is correct. 🤢
I think you were quoted for daring to oppose the statements put forth by the developers.....YOU FIEND!
Oh damn.
I better watch myself or I might get told to shut up again.Praise be to BHVR.To be fair, Devs/Mods are pretty good at keeping toxicity like that in line.
There's a difference between a witty/sarcastic reply and flat out dismissing someone or being rude.
I don't think the mods have had an easy job here, lately, if I'm being honest.
Oh yea, no, I agree. The mods are great. Just some players expect everyone to not voice concerns about the game or what the Devs do and I was being petty because some of these forum goers are just getting to me today. lol
You were quoted mainly cause at this point I'm sick of seeing people go off on Almo for saying something other people don't agree with. There were threads calling for him to be fired because he couldn't do his job (even though he's technically right) so I kinda missed the joke and went off on you- apologies.
Its just like clown response, "You don't know the hidden powers of this perk, your just bad at stealth". Hopefully they improve the perk in a year or so into something a bit more functional.
Clown is so bad. That's what 90% of the player base has been saying for years
Years did you just say? Years? Clown was only released a couple of years ago and literally half of the Dead by Daylight community labelled Clown on his release as a strong killer because at the time they thought he was good at shortening loops and giving loads of map pressure. It was only around a year later or so people started labelling him as a weak killer because we had a bunch of other killers who were stronger (idk about Legion)
As nothing has been mentioned I'll guess that they still ignore the huge balancing issue when comparing a solo survivor vs an SWF on comms.
It was a hyperbole hun
K
@Fibijean You should really contact the https://deadbydaylight.gamepedia.com/Dead_by_Daylight_Wiki people and join thier discord.
You should post all of this on the wiki.
It would be really nice to see it all there.
RE: the button mashing on the second hook. I've seen so many streamers activate a macro on their second hook and brag about it, so I think the skill checks on a second hook would engage more players in that sense. I bet a lot of players use macros to get out of button mashing.
Are there any plans to add the cage skill checks to hooks? (from @Lycidas)
The developers aren’t sure yet, but they are considering it. They will be monitoring the mechanic’s performance – how many people fail the skill checks, how much time they lose, etc., as well as player feedback on the topic. They clarified again that they are not “dead set” on the current button-mashing mechanic, they simply want players to be interacting with the game in some way rather than doing nothing during the struggle phase.
NGL this is the most terrible line of thinking they have, you should have to do less on the hooks, not more. Doesn't matter how you dress it up being on the hook will never be interesting and "forcing the player to interact" is annoying at best and pushes people away from playing at worst.
Thanks for the suggestion! I believe the Gamepedia wiki is supposed to be strictly about the content of the game itself rather than the metagame (which is why individual devs don't have their own wiki pages, for example). But you could always ask someone like @FichteHiro to confirm.
Thanks.
Their answers were predictably terrible and out of touch. For giving a warped reasoning for why ToT reveals gen auras, to not acknowledging that Pyramid Head's perks are total trash, to saying Clown is underrated (and thereby demonstrating that the game balance just doesn't know anything about this game) , BHVR is continuing their descent from an Indie company with a good game to another out of touch dev studio.
Great job at being as mediocre as possible at your job, devs.
Yeah, the wiki is about the game itself. I wouldn't mind changing up its content a bit, but the other Admins would have to approve of this change. I'll inform them about it.
Sure, let me know what you decide 🙂
I will surely.