A Suggestion for a Rework of Dead by Daylight's Current Ranking System/ Casual Mode
Greetings everyone!
Today I want to discuss my perspective on how Dead by Daylight’s ranking system can be improved to create better experiences for both killers and survivors alike. My ideas can be summarized in the following points:
Creation of Casual Mode
Rework of the Ranking system
Survive with friends handling
Dead by Daylight is, at its core, a casual game. This should help the game achieve its vision as an asymmetrical horror game. In a casual environment, nobody should be pressured to use any perks over other and all users are free to create unique perk sets that suit their playstyles and personalities. The resulting self-expression through perk sets creates a diverse player base that when coupled with equally random maps creates a unique experience unlike anything else. This idea, of unique perk sets and random encounters with an endless supply of unique killer behaviors, would create the ultimate horror experience. However, thanks to the way the game is played right now, you have none of this.
There are a number of reasons why we don’t have the ultimate horror experience, however, from my time playing I think that being forced to play in a “ranked” mode is one of the main reasons why we play the way we do.
**People want casual easy games, and they’ll do whatever they can to get them.
**
As a survivor, it is in my best interest to rank up as soon as I can once there has a rank reset as competent allies only start to show in the green ranks. In order for my games to become casual, I need to rank up enough to have competent allies while also staying low enough to avoid competent opponents. Not to mention that the survivors at high rank have been stereotyped as toxic to such a degree that they almost sound subhuman (which further encourages me to lurk in the green.)
As a killer it is in my best interest to stay in low ranks as long as possible to face: unprepared, unorganized, and overall new survivors. My games are only casual when I can steamroll the survivors and more often than not get 4 kills. There is a lot of challenges and stress when playing killer at higher ranks not to mention higher than average levels of toxicity from survivors so I am thoroughly encouraged to avoid ranking up.
While there are outliers to every group overall this mentality is the mentality of the community regarding rank in the most general sense.
You can see the truth in my words through the actions of multiple community members. One of the most popular examples of the survivor mentality can be observed through Jendenise as she has been seen by a very large number of individuals deliberately disconnecting out of the higher ranks seeking a more casual experience. While I have no names specifically for killers off the top of my head, it is a commonly accepted fact that a number of players that prefer to play killer deliberately de-rank just to prey on helpless new players for more casual games.
So my opinion on the matter is, just add a casual matchmaking mode. In this casual mode:
You can still gain standard amounts of Bloodpoints and earn Iridescent Shards
You are paired up with players who are all dumped into a general pool
While the general pool matchmaking system is not even remotely balanced, I believe that this system will work in favor of the community’s enjoyment of the game. Not every single player wants to play a competitive game, a large number of people want to just play a casual horror game with friends. (As demonstrated by the creation of and mass usage of the Survive With Friends mechanic.)
If my proposal for a casual mode were realized the standard ranked way of play would have no reason to exist as the casual queue should, by all means, be much faster for both sides. This is where the ranked play rework would come in. My ideas for ranked play would be as follows:
Ranks 15 and below earn x1.00 Bloodpoints in ranked games
Ranks 12 and below earn x1.25 Bloodpoints in ranked games
Ranks 9 and below earn x1.50 Bloodpoints in ranked games
Ranks 5 and below earn x1.75 Bloodpoints in ranked games
Rank 1 earns x2.00 Bloodpoints in each ranked game and has a special bonus.*
- Each time you fill your pip bar at Rank 1 you will gain the option to gain 10k for each pip, in exchange, you will lose all of your pips, but stay at Rank 1.
I feel that overall this casual and competitive rework would serve the community well as it creates the option for people to play quick casual matches to complete rituals, practice killers they don’t normally play. At the same time, this rework will also reward players who demonstrate above average skills with additional character progression points.
Now finally is the talk about Survive with Friends.
Survive with Friends is a complicated feature at the moment. There are currently 3 main concerns I have with this mechanic. The first concern is, of course, the obvious balance problems with the imbalance of their instantaneous hive-mind knowledge sharing.
(For example, you’re in a SWF group using comms and the killer has Ruin. You find a hex totem inside Wretched Shop but the killer sees you and chases you away. In a “pure” game without SWF, you would have to hope someone else spots the totem or you could try to juke the killer and go back for it. In the SWF group experience: 1“Guys there’s a hex in the shop and the killer’s after me” 2” Okay I’ll go get it once you lead them away.”) The second concern of mine is the perk confidentiality amongst players. Killer perks just shouldn’t be revealed until everyone’s dead or out the door.
The third concern of mine is the killer’s experience. In almost every single way, facing 4 survivors who can instantly communicate is by default, harder than a standard match. This is why I propose that two things happen once a SWF group enters the lobby:
The Killer receives a notification of who is currently in a group
The Killer is offered a stackable 25% bonus for each player in a Survive With Friends group should they play the match
Survivors in a SWF will in turn receive:
Absolutely nothing
(You have the power to instantly communicate across the map critical information, that, is your reward.)
There is currently a very large number of people who are blatantly against the very existence of the SWF mechanic. However, it is also clear that a very large number of players also enjoy this mechanic. Given that modern video games are just expected to be multiplayer compatible. So knowing full well that some killers will dodge a lobby the minute they suspect a SWF group has joined I elected to have the game confirm this fact. The overall goal of the killer rewards is to reduce lobby dodges where SWF was thought to exist (but didn’t) while also rewarding people who don’t back down from a challenge.
In summary, my suggestions are:
Add a casual unranked mode for quick casual games
Add a BP multiplier that increases as you rank up to keep Ranked Play relevant
Notify killers when a Survive With Friends group enters their lobby
Offer killers a 25% for each grouped survivor in a lobby to reward the challenge
I am eager to hear everyone’s feedback, though I’d be flattered if I could hear a developer’s opinion on this.
Comments
Quite the wall of text, huh?
It is, but basically I agree.
just a pitty that the devs wont consider such change EVER....
one thing I want to mention is that piping should become harder for both sides (right now its ridiculously easy) and that there should be ranked rewards at the end of the season
I do hope the devs will at least consider these changes.
I also agreed that pipping needs to be harder and more rewarding in the future.
The player base isn't big enough to split. Just get rid of the ranks.
Of it is. We have more than double the players we used to have, but still not enough players for 2 separate queues?
Pls bro
Also there are lot smaller games that manage very well to ahve casual+ranked queues
Uh huh. Go look at the numbers.
This game isn't even a "competitive" game anyway, so be gone with the ranks and just play. Simple.
Translation: I don't want a real challenge which ever mode I'm in. You literally said you want incompetent killers when you are a survivor, and vice versa when you are the killer.
Look, you don't like high rank games because it gets hard and the game is unbalanced. Fine. I get it. But deranking so you can get your participation trophy isn't the answer. Letting the devs figure out how to balance the game and establishing a true win condition. They thusfar have NOT done that. Because its hard. I could write a lengthy post as to how I think the balance and win conditions, but its not my job. I have fun playing the game, and stop when I'm not.
The problem is, the ranking system is putting you at a higher skill level then you should be. It "got you gud", but you're not. That might be a balance issue, it might be a leveling issue.
Agree 100%. They should just leave the ranks and don't factor them in when match making. That way the people who need an excuse for losing can blame rank, and feel all jolly happy when they stomp on lvl 20s.
I've never even noticed, do they a lot awards (BP?) for achieving certain ranks at end of season?
No there are no seasonal rewards
It would seem that I have written that segment poorly. The point I was attempting to make was that there are a number of players who intentionally sabotage their rank just for casual games. People just want to play the game and couldn't care less about ranks. Those were the points I had attempted to make there.
@Peasant They sabotage their ranks so they can feel like they are winning, by playing against less effective players. Its not about "playing casual", its getting more frequent wins. End of story. If you "played casual" at higher ranks, you'd lose more, and drop rank. But its not about that, its about winning.