Would experimental ptbs work for dbd?
In the tru3 and Otz debate they both seemed to agree using the ptb for slight changes and based on feedback whether something goes through or not. (For instance Lullaby going omnidirectional and Plague starting with a fountain automatically, and now with wraiths new invis range). Maybe let trapper start with 2 traps at base? Slight stuff. Currently the ptbs only really used for mid and chapter but if there was a experimental ptb every say week (like overwatch) where they say try a slight cooldown on Freddie's snares one week, slow him down when using them the next (instead of the cooldown) and test the waters instead of pulling a Billy and just absolutely murder him with what the devs think. In the reverse case they test a ptb where new ds has a infinite timer now, should this go to live or no? Actually use the ptb more for balance then testing a bunch of stuff at once? Otz and Tru3 seemed to encourage a ptb like this so i just thought of overwatchs experimental where it makes it so much easier for the devs to test balance changes and the experimental made the game balance so much quicker when theres a new one every 2 weeks. Its also much less work and gets balance updates out quicker when they just change a few variables as a experiment then heavily dumping changes on a ptb. Thoughts?
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Yes please,the thing i hate the most about the PTB is that it's used so less.
They should use it much more to make balancing better and faster,which is really needed and really so damn slow right now.
I'm sure that there would be quite a few people that would love to test those things and give feedback on it.
Devs have an easier time to balance things,content creators get more content and the community a more balanced game.
It's a win for everyone
Its So weird to see balance updates only every midchapter and chapter mostly i don't get it. Slight variable changes can't take that long the overwatch devs address this with their experimental they just change a number internally most times.(ik this isnt overwatch but still).
sounds great in theory but i really don't think anybody would use it tbh. almost nobody plays the experimental mode in overwatch.
Really? It seems like a lot of people do for like the first day (not the whole 3 days) to test the changes and see their opinions on it. Gms do this a lot especially incase they go through.
It would be very useful and maybe not every week but like every 2 weeks something to test every quarter of the month and then when ptb for mid chapter happens put the changes that were in the smaller ones that had fairly good responses and if they work good together and either adjust or go with it things would be done at almost a simmlar rate but feel faster and we wouldn't have 4.5.0 back lashes
All you would get in hundreds more crybaby threads on here
Less to complain about when stuff works and gets changed
experimental mode in overwatch uses the workshop elements for small changes, DbD does not have anything of this sort, so it would either take ages to implement or it would require a separate version of the game.
I don't think it'll work for dbd. 1st of all there's not enough of a playerbase for it. Apparently, not enough ppl would play on the ptb outside of big patches. Secondly, BHVR doesn't want to pay to run ptb servers all the time.
i play in gm/t500 and none of my friends or the people i know in the community touch it lol. and that's in a highly competitive game. so that's why i'm thinking it wouldn't really work out for a casual game like dbd. i dunno. could be wrong!
Better to see the devs testing slight changes instead of pulling a billy on freddy for instance. Like who knows if they put a slowdown on snares that by itself could really balance him and say they spent all this time doing the billy treatment. Rather see slight experimental changes then the devs doing what they think is the right thing because as shown by billy...They have a habbit of going alittle overboard. Oh billys problems his addons so lets change them, But lets also give him a overheat mechanic, Less steering, and have him roar when using the chainsaw. Brilliant.
Would be cool but they would absolutely have to make the PTB a seperate library entry on Steam as opposed to a beta branch. So you can have both installed at the same time, otherwise there's no chance a lot of people would regularly check it out.
That and big red flashing letters saying "NOTHING HERE IS FINAL, CRY ABOUT IT NOT MAKING IT TO LIVE AND YOU'RE A FOOL!" of course 😄
But with that in place I'd love it, they could try everything from batches of perk changes to changes to the core game. Some ideas might be good, some might be bad - doesn't hurt to try.
It doesn't do anything for Overwatch, what makes you think it would work for DBD?
In theory this is good, in practice BHVR can't make use of any input they get from players in the PTB. Blizzard with their multibillion dollar workforce can't do it. BHVR certainly can't either. BHVR can't even keep up with feedback from the midchapter and chapter PTBs. Weekly PTBs? Get out of here.
Idk itd make balancing quicker than waiting like 2 months for each big patch expecting good balance updates then just seeing:Oh open handed now has 8 more range on it. It took 2 months to come up with that? And people say we dont get enough inclusion with them testing stuff so this a good way to get it if they just throw experimental changes on a ptb. And i doubt it does nothing on Ow as it dictates the current balance updates.
No, I would not say that this would work.
First of all, PTB would need to be a permanent Entry on Steam. Second, most people will most likely not play the PTB, PTBs are usually only played for a short amount of time and mostly with significant changes like a new Killer or bigger Reworks of Perks or Killers.
Also, it would only be accessible for PC-players.
I would rather say that they should just throw a few things in on Live whenever they are doing a Chapter. Like, dont make a big fuss about thinking if Trapper should start with more Trap, just throw it in. If it helps him, but does not make him oppressive, keep it. Otherwise, patch it out during the next major Patch.
Patches are usually 6 weeks away from each other, so if they test small things each time, this will not break the game at all. And if something turns out to be too strong, it will only be in the game for 6 weeks and will be patched out by then.
E.g. if all Maps are reworked, bring back old Balanced Landing - when there are Drops next to each Window, it should be fine to have the Stagger Reduction even with exhausted. Test it for 6 weeks - it is fine? Great, keep it. Balanced Landing is still too strong? Ok, removed.
This can be done for small changes (like Wraith Invisibility, Trapper having two Traps, etc.) or some bigger things (BL Stagger Reduction). For bigger Reworks, it would make more sense to monitor over a longer period of time without changing it, like they currently do.
But overall, I am for more tests, but I dont think that it will really be useful on a PTB.
Yeah i guess that makes sense. Personally another reason for this kinda idea is Otz and Tru3 said about how the devs go overboard when they balance stuff instead of trying a slight change (Billy) since sometimes changing one slight thing can cause a big ripple (like how otz said giving freddy some slowdown might make him much fairer in chase) instead of whatever the devs probably are doing. (And we get no inclusion on what their planning) I wouldn't be opposed to just throwing slight updates on live for a few weeks to shake things up though instead of this kinda idea. After all the reason they pushed the UI was "we want consoles to try it to"
If you don’t know overwatch has a separate queue called experimental which helps test balance changes
Imo dbd needs this very soon.
That would be nice, but they should make the PTB a different app than the live one like many games do. I wouldn't want to keep switching between live and PTB since each switch requires to download several GBs.
I definitely think that the PTB should be used more often and we should use it for more changes like what Tru3 and Otz mentioned, however...
I genuinely don't know if they can incentivize enough players to try those PTBs to get the data they need. PTB queues are already crazy, and there's no good incentive to play it besides just playing the new thing that's coming early. Imho if they want to do that system, they're gonna need to give out Auric Cells or Shards or something as a participation prize.
There's also just the fact that the numbers they get from the PTB are probs different then the numbers we see on live, purely because consoles don't have access to PTB.
I would love to see the Devs try this system and just try something new with their current release formula. I could definitely see why they would be apprehensive to try it though.
It would be really good. Bloodlust weekend is a perfect example of something they did right.
I'd also like more options in custom games so people could maybe test out stuff there.
Trapper with 2 traps actually makes him not that bad, thats not a slight change, but its needed badly