Thoughts On The Developer Update
@Peanits said:
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We’re back with another Developer Update, a series of posts going over the biggest changes coming to Dead by Daylight. This time around, we’ll cover a long list of Killer, perk, and quality of life updates that’ll appear in the upcoming Player Test Build (PTB).
Killer Updates
The Nightmare
For some time, The Nightmare has stood out from the crowd with a particularly high kill rate, averaging roughly 3 kills per match. With that in mind, we’ve made some slight tweaks to bring him closer in line with the rest of the roster.
We’ve decreased his movement speed while placing a snare to 4.0m/s (previously no speed change) and reduced the maximum number of placed snares from 8 to 5. Likewise, the maximum number of dream pallets has been reduced from 10 to 7.
A handful of add-ons have also received changes. Add-ons which previously reduced action speeds now make various actions louder (repairing generators, grunts of pain, and footsteps). Black Box also has a brand-new effect: When an exit gate is opened, it is blocked for sleeping Survivors for the next 10 seconds.
Alarm clocks have also received some tweaks to make their effects clearer and more rewarding. Using an alarm clock will now make you fully immune to sleep— including sleep caused by a Killer hit — for 30 seconds. This effect is now shown on the HUD by turning your sleep timer yellow and having it tick down.
With these changes, we hope to promote more strategic use of his Dream Traps rather than placing them constantly during a chase, as well as encouraging Survivors to seek out and use alarm clocks. We’ll monitor his performance closely and adjust where necessary going forward.
The Demogorgon
Our focus for The Demogorgon is to give it more mobility with its portals. We’ve made the following changes to base portals:
- Increased speed while in a portal
- Reduced cooldown after exiting a portal
- Increased Undetectable length after exiting a portal
On top of these changes, we have done a complete pass on The Demogorgon’s add-ons to make some of the lesser used ones more appealing.
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The Huntress
Don’t panic: We have not changed The Huntress’ base kit. We have, however, done a pass on her add-ons to bring them up to modern standards. Yes, this included the infamous Iridescent Head.
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The Twins
Last but not least, we have a small set of tweaks for The Twins.
- Increased cooldown after successfully downing a Survivor with Victor from 3 to 5 seconds
- Camera control is now immediately restored when taking control of Charlotte
- Silencing Cloth: Increased Undetectable duration to 20 seconds upon taking control of Charlotte
- Iridescent Pendant: Increased Exposed duration to 30 seconds when a Survivor crushes an idle Victor
Perk Updates
Small Game
It has come to our attention that some of you really hate small piles of bones. To aid you in your totem destroying mission, we’ve made some long-requested changes to Small Game:
- Small Game now shows the number of remaining totems as tokens on the perk
- The detection range decreases by 5° for each totem cleansed
- Small Game no longer detects Killer traps
These changes improve Small Game’s ability to track and cleanse totems while also removing the antiquated part that only applies to specific Killers with traps.
Lucky Break
Lucky Break now hides scratch marks in addition to blood pools to help you lose the Killer. To compensate, the total duration of has been reduced to 70/80/90 seconds.
Soul Guard
A small change here: Soul Guard now has a cooldown of 30 seconds after activating.
Realistically, this won’t affect the vast majority of cases. This change is purely to prevent stacking healing speeds and Soul Guard from getting out of hand.
Open Handed
Take two for Open Handed: We’ve slotted this update back in for the upcoming PTB.
Open Handed now has an increased effect (8/12/16 meters), but no longer stacks with itself. This makes the perk more appealing on its own without needing to stack it with other Survivors in the match.
Zanshin Tactics
A very straightforward change: Zanshin Tactics is now permanently active and also has a larger range.
Borrowed Time
To remove some confusing intricacies with how Borrowed Time interacts with some Killers and the Oblivious status effect, we have removed the terror radius condition from the perk. To compensate, we have reduced the duration of the Endurance effect to 8/10/12 seconds.
Object of Obsession
This PTB also features the newly reworked Object of Obsession: Any time your aura is revealed to the Killer, their aura is revealed to you and gain a 2/4/6% bonus to healing, repairing, a cleansing speed. If you are the obsession, your aura is revealed to the Killer for 3 seconds every 30 seconds.
This new version has a few benefits:
- Being able to track the Killer
- Being able to deduce which aura reading perks the Killer is using when Object of Obsession activates
- Being able to attract the Killer and then sneak away before they can get there
With these changes, we hope to make Object of Obsession a more fun and interactive perk for both sides.
Miscellaneous Balance
Toolboxes
The chance to receive a skill check while using a toolbox has been increased. This change makes toolboxes feel more interactive while they’re in use and is totally not because the lead designer had a skill check challenge and got unlucky three matches in a row.
Hatches
Another small tweak: We have decreased the time the hatch remains open after a key is used from 30 seconds to 10 seconds. Like before, if the hatch closes naturally (is not kicked shut), the End Game Collapse will not start.
Please note that this is not the final change keys will be receiving. We’ll share more info on the future of keys as soon as we can.
HUD Update
For the 4.7.0 PTB, we have made some more changes to the HUD; this time focusing on the visibility of Killer powers on the Survivor portraits. In this update, we have made improvements to:
- The Doctor’s Madness effect (also made it easier to differentiate between different levels of Madness)
- The Nightmare’s Dream World effect & sleep timer
- The Plague’s Infection meter
- Stalk meters & Ghost Face’s mark
Additionally, we’ve also adjusted the Survivor portraits so they no longer obstruct the bottom of power indicators.
Struggle Update
In an ongoing effort to improve accessibility, we have changed the way struggling works starting in the PTB. Rather than needing to mash a button, Survivors in their second hook stage will now receive occasional skill checks. The success zones are fairly large as we’re not looking to make struggling more difficult/deadly at this time.
Missing one of these skill checks will remove a chunk of your struggle meter. If you do not attempt to hit two consecutive skill checks, you will be immediately sacrificed. As you receive skill checks, your struggle meter will gradually decrease at the same rate as before.
Our goal with this change is to make struggling more accessible to players with repetitive strain injuries while keeping struggling as an interactive mechanic.
Graphical Update: Coldwind Farm
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I was going to put a funny intro here, but it was too corny.
In case you missed it, the next realm slated for a graphical update is the Coldwind Farm! Check out some concept art from the upcoming rework.
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On that note, we’ve reached the end of this Developer Update. All of the changes mentioned above will be available for testing in this week’s Player Test Build, starting April 13th. We look forward to reading your feedback once you’ve had a chance to try them out!
KILLER UPDATES
THE NIGHTMARE
The changes to his snares and pallets are alright, I guess.
His progression slowdown addons like Jump Rope are completely useless now. They just make sounds louder. The same sounds that don't exist for half a match.
The alarm clock changes are good.
Suggested Change: The effects of snares should be reduced.
THE DEMOGORGON
His portal changes are good.
The Lifeguard Whistle change is great.
Rotten Pumpkin is useless. Why are we getting addons that hurt the power for more BP? It's barely any extra points to drop the killer 1 or 2 tiers.
No mention of Rat Liver being base-kit, the most requested demo change. There is hope, however. "Most of the add-ons will be changing, we just want to leave some surprises for the PTB."
THE HUNTRESS
Soldier's Puttee: This should just be a base-kit effect, but since it is now an ultra-rare addon, it should be buffed to 4.7 m/s. You're an M1 killer that can be heard across half the map. Moving the better of the two default speeds isn't really enough.
Iri Head: An addon that needs changed, but not in the way that it is. You're now capped to 1 hatchet. Imo, you should be capped to two hatchets, but have a reduced wind-up speed or increased cool-down in-between throws.
THE TWINS
Not even close to what they need, but the camera control instantly being restored when swapping to Charlotte is nice.
Victor being nerfed is meh. For his high mobility, I can see the increase of the cooldown after downing a survivor, but the Twins are so weak to the point that a nerf is just hitting rock. The hole is too deep that you can't go any further without a pickaxe or mechanical tool.
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PERK UPDATES
SMALL GAME
The totem counter is great. Thank you.
No longer detecting traps is also good.
Why nerf the detection range? This perk has always been solo queue gold. You're turning it into bronze.
Edit: The detection cone narrows with each totem cleansed, rather than the range being reduced.
LUCKY BREAK
I'm not sure whether this is a nerf or a buff. It will be incredibly powerful when paired with Iron Will, but it also only lasts for 90 seconds. Sitting on a gen without any way to heal makes this perk even more useless.
A suggested change: The Lucky Break timer pauses when outside of the killer's terror radius/when outside of 32 meters.
SOUL GUARD
"Soul Guard now has a cooldown of 30 seconds after activating." Is this nerf just because Sweh used it in conjunction with Hope in one video? The perk is pretty bad, so to give it a harsh cooldown makes no sense.
OPEN HANDED
Love it.
ZANSHIN TACTICS
Good change, I guess. Just do the same thing for Windows now.
BORROWED TIME
BT no longer activates when in the killer's terror radius, but rather when within the range of their terror radius, meaning a Ghost Face in Night Shroud will still activate BT if the player is hooked 28 meters away. Great change.
The endurance effect should not have been reduced to 12 seconds.
OBJECT OF OBSESSION
Couldn't care less about the Object changes. The only concern I have is how Distortion will be effected. OoO is literally just better Distortion now, providing an opposite, but better effect.
Suggested Change: Allow Distortion to regain tokens every time the player escapes a chase. Start the trial with 3 tokens, and cap at 5 tokens.
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MISCELLANEOUS BALANCE
TOOLBOXES
I have the odd feeling this is just to make players use the Instructions addon more often. I am completely against this change though. I have missed more skill-checks from leaving a gen as one dings than just when sitting on the gen. For toolboxes to have way less charges now, this change further hinders their repair ability if you get more skill checks when leaving gens.
HATCHES
The hatch now closes after 10 seconds when opened with a key. This is nice, but there is still an achievement for a 4-man hatch escape, so I think 15 seconds would be better.
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HUD UPDATE
Killer power status effects are more noticeable. Cool.
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STRUGGLE UPDATE
This a good change because you'll no longer die due to your finger slipping, a cramp, or the servers doing what they do best. I do have two changes that should be added however.
Change 1: You now have to miss 2 consecutive skill-checks to be sacrificed. If this is the case, then the hatch should be opened right as you die, not after the sacrifice animation has completed. If not that, then allow players to hold down a different key to die.
Change 2: This is a buff to Slippery Meat, but it pauses the struggle timer every time you hit a skill-check. Just a nice change to a bad perk .
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GRAPHICAL UPDATE: COLDWIND FARM
It looks great visually, as with all the graphical updates. My only concern is breakable walls. None are shown in the images, but you know they'll be in the dumbest positions possible.
On Thompson House I really want there to be a drop off from the balcony. Getting caught up there is still a free hit or down against many killers. A gap in the railing allows survivors another way off the second floor as well as rewarding good killers who can hit their ranged attacks.
Comments
Why is like half of the comments just people arguing with Orion? Lmao, they're easily of the most knowledgeable members of the community.
Personally, I found the Huntress addons to be quite lazy. To begin, a good Huntress will never be out of hatchets unless they just downed someone. You don't want to chase someone without a power. Besides, players will notice the very obvious speed boost when you run out of hatchets, meaning they'll just loop you like any other M1 killer. Iri head will be useless now. Bad and good players alike are punished for using it. The iri addons are meant to be powerful, but have downsides that only effect the worse half of the player base. This change just makes running the addon worse than going in without addons.
For Small Game, Almo commented that the detection cone gets smaller with each totem cleansed, making the perk more accurate. I originally thought the range was being reduced.
I like to think of the progress made as a board game. You move up a few squares and land on an x that says "game-breaking bug. Move back 5 spaces." Or even compare it to monopoly. "Do not pass go, do not collect $200."
I see they synergy between both of huntresses iri addons, however its just not that interesting or inspired.
Most iridescent addons have some kind of aura one. something like that would be really cool on huntress.
Maybe when your low on hatchets 1/2 you could see auras for a limited duration, like 5/6 seconds. just an idea.
I'm sure some of you have cooler ones.
Twin changes, yes, but Freddy did need some changes. Honestly, I would've been fine with just the changes to his slowdown addons, but the other stuff is fine. Reducing his movement speed won't even change anything. You just sit at a pallet and place snares on each side of the loop, then play as normal. Nobody even uses dream pallets, so it's whatever there.
Good Freddy players probably won't notice a difference, while bad Freddy players that relied on "Forever Freddy" will actually have to play the game now.
I would've loved to see another special head. Something like a homing hatchet or even ricochet now that the code is in the game with Trickster.
As I've said before in this thread, I wanted Freddy to be made more skillful, not to be nerfed.
"Freddy needed some changes yeah, but a nerf was not the right direction to go.
Instead they should have made his power more skillful and fun for both sides. Because that's the problem with Freddy, it's not that he's strong, it's that he's strong and boring.
(Also I'm salty they didn't give us a way to play as Old Freddy.)"
Survivors are running out of excuses for their failures now.
I really disliked old Freddy boring and lame. I didn't want a nerf of current Freddy. I wanted a rework to make him more dynamic.
This change makes toolboxes feel more interactive while they’re in use and is totally not because the lead designer had a skill check challenge and got unlucky three matches in a row.
It'd be nice if the developers actually made the at-least-one-skill-check-guaranteed-per-heal change for Autodidact given that they have made this change to toolboxes. It's such a simple modification that would make a big quality of life difference running the perk, given your experience of running Autodidact currently is entirely down to RNG.
Wait, they FINALLY gave Demo a way to get rid of portals he doesn’t need anymore, and you don’t like it??
I think the number of Hex Totems left in a level should just be part of the HUD somewhere. No indication of how many are active vs dull, but just a little marker to let you know how many are left.
Equip Small Game and you'll have that counter.
PLEASE add Rat Liver to Demo for base kit please!!
You want to know why solo survivors don't cleanse bones? It's because no one doesn't know where the team stands against the other totems. As a solo survivor, I don't know if doing a totem is enough or not, I have no way of confirming unless I scout the entire map for destroyed totems. I'm not going to waste time searching the entire map, every crack and cranny, just to deactivate a perk that the killer could be using, I would be throwing the game because the killer would be given ample time to hunt down survivors and make progress.
Here's the kicker Orion, I'm not the only solo survivor — there could be other solo survivors wasting their time trying to deactivate a perk that the killer could be using. Even if I knew NOED is deactivated, my teammates wouldn't know that until they confirm themselves. If everyone is wasting time to confirm NOED is deactivated, the killer wins by the perk just existing, they don't have to use it to gain value from it.
That's why solos don't do bones, it creates more problems than it solves due to the fact solos have no means of communicating their progress.
Iri coin was an objective failure as it was extremely situation, needlessly hard to use, and extremely map dependent if you'd every get the chance to use it.
Stop trying to turn iri hatchet into iri coin.
And padded booties so that he doesn't clomp around all the time. What use is Oblivious when you can hear him stomping towards you from 2 towns over...
Exactly. I would add that too. No point of having no terror radius if you stomp like a dino lol.
It should be base-kit, not tied to an addon.
Yes, that change is what brought this up. You shouldn't have to equip perk for something that makes sense to just be part of the baseline UI.
at least they put a totem counter in small game, I understand a lot of people are disappointed it isn't base kit but I'll take it.
non-stop killer nerfs over and over very little love. only took almost 2 years to get DS nerfed now you are buffing bt against the few killers that had a chance against it. small game is turning into a totem counter making giving even less reason to use hex perks. in the mean time gen speeds are so fast that games can be done in less than 5 min total. I am a freddy main and am surprised by the nerfs, you already gutted his slowdown addons to 6% for 2 addons and now they make things more noisy. I would be fine with that if you had consistent sound instead of it breaking every couple months. hell there are entire sections of the silent hill map that give 0 sound at all. so before you make it were it helps sound how about you fix sound??? also literally all of these are nerfs in one way or another except for zanshin which i honestly couldnt tell you the last time i saw it. you are literally killing this game and killers are leaving. queue times are proof of it. when i started you would wait 5+ min for a killer game now its less than 30 seconds. @devs I would honestly like to know how many of you are rank 1-3 killer mains, because it really seems like none of you are. You can call me a killer main all you want and yes I am. but i play survivor and understand the balance of the game. so at this point its just a waiting game to see how long it takes this to join death garden.
All the changes seem pretty good to me.
Personally, I'd like Lucky Break to work with tokens. You start with 3 tokens on Lucky Break, once you get injured, you can activate one token for 30 seconds total of no grunts of pain, scratch marks, or blood.
I spend a lot of time injured, I'd rather activate it to use to lose a killer in chase, rather than have it run our while I'm on a generator and not in need of using it.
Freddy: Don't mind the reduction in snares/pallets. Even his slowdown addons are okay. It's the alarm clock change that worries me. It leaves Freddy with a half minute where he has no power in a chase if he just came across them. Won't happen often, sure, but it'll be there.
Demo: Some nice quality of life changes, but the devs still don't understand what the issue behind him is. He telegraphs EVERYTHING he does with screams and stomps. What's the point of the undetectable status when A) He lets the map know he's using his portals and B) His stomps can be heard from a tile away, thus nullifying the status effect.
Huntress: Pure laziness right here. I figured the Iri Head change would be the simplest, and they went with it. But the new Iri addon? What a complete joke. She's a ranged killer, and they give her a meme addon as her best. It's Nurse all over again. No innovation or fun in either addons.
Twins: They actually nerfed one of the worst killers in the game. Amazing. . . I'll give credit where it's due on the camera change, but nerfing Victor. . . why?
Small Game is getting an effect that should be basekit because the Devs genuinely despise solo's (that's the only logical reason I can think of).
Lucky Break is insane and unfair. Iron Will is already too strong because it removes all sound, now blood and scratchmarks are going away as well. That's so dumb. Any killer whose thinking "yay, less meta perks!" isn't thinking about how strong this is and how its honestly a contender with Unbreakable, Iron Will and Dead Hard. Who needs second chance perks when the killer doesn't get a first chance?
Freddy add-ons changes are welcome, basekit change won't do much but it's better than nothing.
Huntress is better than nothing but I'm not a huge fan.
OoO is welcome.
Farm maps are welcome.
Key changes are a small step in the right direction.
Demo changes are a small step in the right direction. I like the new pumpkin though.
The rest I care so little about I don't even remember if it exists.
I think the changes are fine. They all aim for balance.
Freddy had 2 powerful abilities - now one is a secondary ability like it should be
Huntress has inta-down - has to make shot count
Lucky Break wont change up the meta without Iron Will - requires 2 perks to be meta
Demo buff is good. Dont see many Demo players
I also liked the borrowed time change so it can work against Freddy in dream. Just another natural ability Freddy had among his many other
Yes it guaranteed that if two survivors are near of each other victor will be killed by the one that is not downed. It don't think its a good change at all. I have played the twins and if the other survivor have WGLF he will heal up the downed survivor before you reach it with charlotte to grab it.
A really bad change imo.
SWF always ruining solo play. Literally all the times i equip it i never got to use it neither for the endurance or to get up in solo play. Its literally a waste of a perk slot and now more than before.
I am pretty sure my head just exploded with this Small Game nerf. It is not even a meta perk and I have never once heard anyone complain about it in the forum so what gives??? Why not just come out with a statement that says that BHRV does not want solo players in their game. SWF or leave, because we will take every benefit away from solo queue until gameplay gets so unbearable they leave. Adding a totem counter in no way makes up for dropping the actual positive use for the perk, ridiculous.