Current State of the Game
I have been following the development of DbD since release, and have watched how the game has grown and improved into what it is today. It's a beautiful, fun, incredibly unique game that I love very dearly. So, when I give criticism, understand that it comes from a place of love and experience, rather than randomly bashing every part of the game.
As many people have noticed over the years, the game is balanced highly in favor of the killers. Survivor capabilities against any character in the DLC sections of the game are utterly lack-luster in comparison to powers given to the killers, whether they be perks, add-ons, offerings, or general capabilities in game. To a large extent this is important, and I think that it is balanced well for a variety of killers, but there are some killers and perks in the game that need changes, and based on today's patch (07-28-2020) I can tell the developers are not really taking some important things into consideration.
My friend group plays this game constantly, three of which are game designers and developers, including myself. The more we have played and become skilled at the game, the more flaws we have found around the balancing act between killers and players. The game should feel as though in any given game, you have the ability to negate the capabilities of a killer through teamwork, skill, and strategy. Many DLC killers and their perks completely negate that.
Let's take the Spirit as the leading example. She is far too powerful, even without her perk set. Her ability to be undetected and unseen at extremely high speeds is far too strong for survivors to work against with teamwork. I have played many matches against her, and when she has perks and powerful add ons, it feels absolutely helpless, even as and with rank 1 survivors who have plenty of experience against her. Anything that lets her track survivors and slows their progress makes her practically impossible to play against (if the killer is slightly experienced with her, that is. If the killer does not know her, it is entirely possible they play poorly).
The fact that she can simply teleport directly behind a generator without being detected, and grab a survivor just by estimating they are there, makes her mobility and silent movement far too powerful to work against. There's literally no way to know she is there other than an audio pip for her "teleport" (yes I know it's not a teleport, it's just easier to call it that) beginning. Now, imagine this with these perks: Barbecue and Chili, A Nurse's Calling, Bitter Murmur, and Dark Whispers. These are just a few that would make her feel impossible to hide from if combined. There are plenty more I can list. I can apply that to Legion, the Doctor, The Cannibal, the Hag, etc. And it would feel the same for different reasons. The cannibal was already strong in my opinion, literally being just a more powerful form of the hillbilly, instantly downing with a more manageable form of the chainsaw attacks that are insanely hard to use on the hillbilly (which were made better with the changes given in this recent patch, which I'm glad for). Now he's even stronger?
"To make him more threatening to play as and against" shows that there is a sincere bias towards the killers' powers. He was already strong, being able to move across the map and down people instantly in one shot, break through pallets with ease, and see others after hook if they didn't manage to find a locker in time. Now he's even stronger? Why wasn't this update to make barbecue and chili less strong? Or manage how unbeatable you can make Legion (even playing as him feels ridiculously strong). Or nerf how powerful the spirit is? My point is that the DLC killers just feel like better, easier to use versions of non DLC killers. The Spirit is strong and slightly different nurse, the cannibal is stronger hillbilly with an alternate move set, the pig is a better variation of the wraith who is slower and can see through walls (which I say because wraith's invisibility so visible already that it doesn't really feel like invisibility to me). They all just feel like worse versions of non DLC killers, making the only really viable non-DLC killers be the Huntress and the Nurse. I actually find the nurse to be the perfect balance-- hard to play, but strong when mastered. There's a negative to using her ability improperly, but it's very strong when used properly. She's a good example of a non-DLC killer that feels good to play as and play against (in my opinion).
On the flip side of non-DLC killers, the Huntress is insanely strong. If you can aim, she quite literally has just a long ranged attack that she can spam 5 times in a row without negative effects besides slowing down slightly while charging up. It makes the Deathslinger (someone I know a lot of people find powerful, but I don't find to be too hard to play against) feel like chump change to me. On top of this, playing against a skilled huntress feels impossible to beat at times, especially when the hatches literally travel through walls most of the time. Going around corners feels as though it's useless, because I have actual footage of multiple times in matches where I can see a visual effect of the hatchet traveling through walls and hitting me or a teammate. It happens on my side, teammate's sides, etc. Whether our internet is good, bad, or average.
I know I'm a bit all over the place here, but I was kind of just putting my thoughts down without a huge amount or organization. The general fact is that killers are far to strong with certain perks to feel like you even have a chance against, no matter what amount of teamwork you utilize or how many powerful perks you have equipped.
My suggestions for balancing killers:
Spirit:
Give her a cool down on her ability to attack others when she comes out of her state. Either that or make her blindness last a short while after coming out of her state. She needs something to negate how high her mobility is while staying silent.
Deathslinger:
literally just an audible cue to show when he's aiming at you. The one that's there now is not helpful. It needs to be immediate and feel good. Balancing him with that and improving other aspects of him (recovery time, terror radius reduction, reloading weapon, etc) will make him feel like he can be evaded but not make him feel weak.
Cannibal:
Just nerf Barbecue and Chili. The Cannibal himself doesn't feel all that overpowered, because you can avoid his swings in cabinets and by using movement around corners to your advantage, but Barbecue and Chili along with other aura revealing perks makes him super obnoxious to play against and honestly not very fun to play as.
Legion:
Legion is strong because of his (I will use he for sake of simplicity) killer instinct. His ability to travel from player to player during frenzy makes most of the match into just taking time to recover, and if he has the right aura revealing abilities, he can just travel from player to player constantly injuring them and making others have to either recover or work to get one off a hook. He's so close to being balanced, and I know it's only if another survivor is near-ish, but the situation where one survivor gets hit, and then one is just in range, leading to a chain reaction of the next is just in range, and the next, it makes it too annoying to play against. Making it so that he cannot slide over pallets (or there is some long term negative effect for doing so), would improve it for sure, but making it so that perhaps it just causes a very short audio cue from survivors rather than a visual cue as to where they are would make it strong but not too strong. This is a character I haven't thought as thoroughly about, but he feels awful to play against.
The Huntress:
Simply make her have a cool down on her hatchet throws, or make her slowed down significantly if she throws too many in a row. It just feels like no matter how much movement you use to your advantage, and how many corners you take, you have to implement dodging her axes, which hit your characters massive refrigerator sized hit box most of the time anyways, or travel through walls. She just needs some sort of a negative effect to make her feel less powerful but still threatening, especially at higher levels of play.
A large part of my concern comes from a combination of new players having a horrible experience when they are just learning the mechanics of the game, and the fact that mid-tier players that are learning the game feel the need to quit because there is nothing to do against the killer. If the killer has the right combination of perks, add ons, and offerings (which are honestly not hard to get), no matter what perks and offerings the survivors have, it feels useless. Hooks aren't really far apart when you use petrified oak, the dark mist increasing doesn't really matter if they have aura revealing perks, your luck doesn't really matter past the first hook, chests are only marginally useful, starting together is usually actually bad if the killer is close enough to you, and you can lose your items even if you take the offering that literally say "don't lose your items and add ons," making it pretty much worthless to me in the first place. There are too many powerful perks for killer, and almost no powerful perks for survivors. Useful perks, sure, and ones that can help in niche situations, but not enough ones that make you feel like they really did something.
Autodidact is a powerful perk, calm spirit, self heal, and maybe something like sprint burst or lithe, but quite honestly, those aren't even that amazing in the long term. There are some useful ones like spine chill, alert, premonition, etc. but they don't feel like a structure perk that you should feel good about. They just feel like a slight warning system, and that's it. On the flip side, I could list many many perks on the killers side that are unbelievably strong. Ones that let you instantly kill downed survivors late game, ones that reveal all players to you for 10 seconds on last generator, ones that reveal auras of worked on generators to you, ones that make it so that there are ridiculously hard skill checks to not be revealed while working on a kicked generator, ones that reveal positions from crows to you, ones that make healing feel like a negative rather than a positive, ones that make lockers useless, pallets useless, or heartbeats unheard, which are the few defenses the survivors have. Even wiggling feels completely useless. I've been across the map from a hook and wiggled like there was no tomorrow, and yet I still got hooked with plenty of time to go before I would have been free. Sabotaging a hook is not useful, because it lasts so short, reveals your position, and there are generally 3 hooks right next to the one you just sabotaged. Flashlights almost never work, because they're hard to aim and the killer can just literally look slightly to the left, right, up, or down, and it has absolutely no affect on them. Like, there are so so many issues. All of my friend group agree with these statements, as well, and we are high ranking survivors and killers.
On a last note, there are lots of tactics in the game that make it so that the survivors just don't have fun. Puppy guarding a hooked survivor is unbelievably annoying. Sure, gives you time to go repair generators and such, but like come on. If you are trying to rank up it just has you die with no ability to escape through any means of skill or teamwork, and it doesn't even earn the killer points really. It just is annoying to play against and childish on the killer's part. Having something that makes it a negative to puppy guard (such as having your own heartbeat play through your ears when you're near the hook for too long, or your vision blurs the longer you're there, or something) would not only improve player experience but discourage bad play styles that quite honestly aren't even beneficial for the killer in the first place.
Just, making the survivor's feel like their skill can play into the game more makes it feel less unfair. I get that you're running from a killer, but trust me, a skilled Nurse is far more terrifying and fun to play against to me than a Spirit who decided to pay six bucks for infinite power. Yes that's an extreme exaggeration, but you get my point, I'm sure. Again, I love this game, and these are just my opinions, but the game would feel so much better if there weren't games where I feel like my skill has no part in my survival. No matter what I do, by complete chance and power of the killer, I am killed, hooked, and guarded. Or killed, and then hooked, and I watch as the killer bolts straight for one of the survivors, and they can do almost nothing about it, which causes a hook-and-bolt reaction, getting us all killed. I am absolutely willing to hear people out on counters to this stuff, but this is how I've felt about a lot of things for a long time in the game. It's great to make the killers powerful, and too much balance is not a good thing for any game, because being overpowered can make things more fun, but there's too much going for the killer at almost all times, and almost nothing going for the survivors at any time, if that makes sense.
I hope a developer reads this, and even explains perspectives from a development standpoint, because as a developer I understand that the fan base doesn't always have all the statistics, and perhaps things are less extreme than they seem, even if it feels a certain way from a given player's perspective. I also do not think that the developers are doing a poor job by any means. I love this game. It is a well made game. The anniversary event was awesome. The killer designs and the DLC's are all so cool and fun. The prices aren't too high for what they are, and what the team has to work with. I just want the game to be even better, and from my play-group's perspective, these are a few of the things that could be improved. Again, sorry for the disorganization, this wasn't meant to be as long as it was, and I sort of just spilled my brain onto the page. Hope everyone is safe and healthy. Chit chat with me in the comments if you so desire. My internet is currently poor, so I may not respond immediately, but I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on potential balancing changes.
Comments
Soon Killer mains will come here and they will infringe on you in that: nOoO, this game is completely on the side of the survivors, the swf's are too strong, etc. just for your words about the balance of the game on the side of the killers, check.
I also believe that killers should be made in such a way that people LEARN to play as them and increase their skill, and not what we have now. Right now perks or add-ons can turn a killer to a killing machine and only a few killers really need your skill to unleash their potential, which is sad.
You forgot Clown he needs the love
Absolutely agree. If a hillbilly kills me, it's because of their skill. If a wraith gets me, if feels like they planned properly and estimated my movement. If a trapper killed me, if felt like they planned ahead and knew what I was going to do, and set a trap prior. If a nurse kills me, if feels like they know the right times to blink and move properly to make it useful. Those killers are fun to fight and honestly fun to die to, because it feels like I was outplayed.
Absolutely! The clown is super under powered and really needs some extra love. He needs a serious buff and something to make him feel better to play as. My friend has a huge fear of clowns though so hopefully they'd add an option to cover the clown's face in game before that for people with a phobia of clowns haha.
Phased out after awhile. But, leatherface was badly in need of something. He was horrible in the hands of someone who was new or not very good with the killer role.
Spirit. Use spine chill. Adapt. Why do people enjoy new killers? Because they change the game. I personally love playing against nurse and freddy and spirit as it forces me to change the way i play. Makes me think. Spirit can be beaten you just have to play smarter. (And yes i lose to her sometimes too)
This game does not favor killer. Its controlled by the survivors with most killers needing to play reactively. Its been Proven many times that survivors who focus gens above anything else, almost never fail to escape.
Now we arent talking the elite 1% of killers. Some people are just amazing at that role and it takes a fully commited organized group to stand a chance. But thats why things are balanced around the average player.
Problem is there IS a skill gap between average survivor and average killer.
It doesn't matter if a new player can't play as killer easily. That's honestly the point. Because a skilled player playing a killer who is meant to make it easy for new players to kill with will be way too powerful. There has to be some other balancing aspect. I enjoy playing against the nurse as well, and the only part of the cannibal that was strong is that he has barbecue and chili. Otherwise he's fine. "Play smarter" is not a valid response. I do use spine chill, I use premonition as well. I have tried a variety of different perks for it, and as rank 5 to 1 survivors in my group, trust me, it's not just "play smarter." It's not fun to play against, and playing as her shows, because it's super easy to just kill everyone. I'm talking from an experienced perspective on both sides. And if you do not believe this game favors killer, then you haven't looked thoroughly enough into it. All people I speak to agree on this (upwards of 10 experienced players, along with streamers). It's painfully leaned in the direction of killer, especially for new players.
You pretty much lost all credibility when you said legion is too strong. Your complaints are literally his core power. Spirit, deathslinger, and huntress already have a massive weakness, their move speed. You 100% rely on a strong power to have any hope.
Spirit just needs and indication that she's phasing while in terror radius.
They will eventually and maybe rework him, but I would love another circus themed killer, I actually created that is called the freakshow, he is a kilelr that can manuver around the map kinda like nurse, but set traps similar to hags that cause oblivious, and he always smiles, imagine a killer like that?