A Binding of Kin's Failures and BHVR's Flawed Release Schedule
This is a response to the following post with a few suggestions:
@Peanits said:
https://us.v-cdn.net/6030815/uploads/UP0P3JY8W80Z/440statement.png
We are a week out from the release of the 4.4.0 update, and we wanted to take a minute to acknowledge: This release brought more known issues and bugs than usual, and for that we would like to apologize. We’d like to pull back the curtain and offer some insight into our decision to release the update in its current state, as well as what our next steps are moving forward.
Why?
To start, this past Chapter has been one of the most ambitious ones yet. The Twins are a very complex Killer to create , essentially working as two separate Killers. While we like to push the limits on what we can do with our new characters, that unfortunately brings with it more issues to be ironed out before their release.
In order to push an update, we need to create a version of the game and submit it for approval on each platform in advance. This process can take longer depending on how large the update is, with Chapter releases taking the longest to be approved. Unfortunately, this leaves us with less time than it seems to identify and resolve issues.
Between the Player Test Build (PTB) and live releases, we typically have about five days for identifying issues, making changes and, finally, finding and implementing fixes before we need to submit a version. Starting the PTB earlier is not ideal since the weeks leading up to the PTB are spent fine tuning and fixing bugs, so an earlier version would not be suitable for testing. In this window, we focus on the most pressing issues that were identified on the PTB. Once the update is submitted, we immediately start working on the first bugfix patch, which usually needs to be submitted a day or two after the update hits the live version of the game (this is why you may notice that the first bugfix patch focuses mostly on lingering issues from the PTB).
To address the elephant in the room: Why wasn’t the update delayed in that case? This is always a very difficult decision to make, delaying an update would give us some much-needed time to fix more issues that were reported during the PTB, but on the other hand, the feedback we receive from the live release is invaluable. The live release gives us visibility on other platforms, and the amount of feedback and reports we receive from the live update makes identifying, reproducing and fixing certain bugs much quicker. With the holidays quickly approaching, we want to make sure that we have room to release bugfix patches—the last thing we want is to release a big update at the last second and potentially leave the game in rough shape over the holidays.
There’s bound to be discussion about whether or not this was the right decision, and understandably so. We are taking feedback on this into consideration very seriously for the future.
So what’s next?
The first bugfix patch is releasing today: This patch bundles twice as many bug fixes as a typical release, prioritizing the most critical and visible issues from the 4.4.0 update. Here’s a short list of some of the most noteworthy changes and fixes coming in today’s update:
- Victor can now hold a Survivor in a locker
- Reverted changes to Flashlight accuracy
- Fixed missing visual feedback when blinding a Killer with a Flashlight
- Fixed an issue that could cause Victor to get stuck in the ground when released
- Fixed an issue that allowed Survivors to crawl out the exit gates when downed while Victor was on their back
- Fixed an issue that caused Survivors to briefly see their own scratchmarks
We aim to release a second bugfix patch next week that will contain more fixes (perk issues, level design issues, and various improvements). As for the remaining major issues, we have been able to reproduce them internally and are working on fixes for each of them. We are aiming to fix as many of these issues as possible with the second bugfix patch, with any leftovers slotting into a future update.
Finally, we want to take a moment to say thank you for understanding and for reporting the issues you’ve come across. If you haven’t already, please remember to log into the game before December 10th 2PM Eastern to claim 300,000 free Bloodpoints. We know this doesn’t change any issues you have been facing, this is a token of appreciation for sticking with us as our team works on resolving any remaining known issues.
As we're all aware of by now, Chapter 18, "A Binding of Kin" released to much discourse and negativity due to the abhorrent amount of bugs on release, non-functional perks, and an incomplete and broken killer. This has caused the developers' release schedule to be scrutinized more than ever before, with a lot more people pushing for a chapter that instead focuses on the health of the game itself as opposed to more new unpolished content.
And that is completely understandable. Players have reason to be disappointed and critical when unfinished content is being released, even more insulting when it's behind a paywall on top of the price of the game. Almost all of the released perks were not working as intended, one of them doing completely nothing at all. The killer was plagued (lol) with incredibly hindering bugs and issues since the PTB, very clear issues that should have been forseen before the PTB was even released, such as Victor being completely countered by lockers, the Incapacitated status effect not actually working at the exit gates, or Victor being able to be taken completely hostage by survivors, leaving the killers with no power-- an issue still present, although alleviated, in the live patch.
And so that leaves the players with the question "why should we even buy this?" Regardless of the complications that came with the creation of The Twins and their stable functionality, BHVR's release schedule for new content had already been identified long before Chapter 18's release as unsustainable, with the game's health being negatively afflicted by known issues such as moris, keys, unbalanced perks, and bad core mechanics for a while.
This release model is unsustainable for Dead by Daylight, and it'll bring the game down more and more until something is done about it. Players have been suggesting this for quite a while, but give more time to the PTB if something isn't right. Fix any issues with new content as soon as possible, instead of moving on to something new so that we get more and more unpolished content. And put the health of the game first. Take time off of making new chapters and focus on improving what we have now, because if BHVR continues on this path, the game will suffer and suffer, and eventually no matter how much new content is being put out, players will stop caring, because the base game is so... bad.
I want to see this game succeed-- many players, especially BHVR's biggest critics want to see this game succeed because it's so unique from a lot of games being released these days, the core concept is so interesting and fun, but if the game isn't playable, then no one will care.
Please, share this with the devs, and any of your own thoughts below. Please let this game get better.
Comments
Thank you for your well thought out and constructive feedback.
Of course! I care about this game. :)