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Musings on DBDs problems and how to fix them

Reinami Reinami
in General Discussions

Some problems with the game right now:


  • Gen speeds are too fast in comparison to chase time when survivors play efficiently, particulary the first chase.
  • Getting tunneled isn't fun
  • Getting camped is even less fun.
  • We are running out of potential ideas for unique perks.
  • There are several killers that are extremely weak that could be indirectly buffed by this change.


I want to propose an idea for adding a game mechanic that is programmatically very easy to add (not much work on BHVRs part) that can not only add a new mechanic but also allow for more room for interesting perk interactions with it. This new mechanic would seek to address the concerns mentioned above by doing the following:


  • Encourage survivors to play more safely and hide from the killer more.
  • Encourage the killer to not go after a survivor they just hooked.
  • Discourage the killer from camping the hook.
  • Buff some weaker killers


Before i start, i want to say that these are all numbers and could easily be tweaked and would require a ton of playtesting to get right. But with a little help from the community, i think BHVR could find a nice way in which this would result in a better game for everyone.


So, here are the changes, as you read them, please KEEP reading and make sure you read all of the changes or you might freak out, again, keep in mind that numbers can all be tweaked and changed, but the numbers i provided i think are a good baseline to start with and tweak as needed from there:


  • Increase the time to repair a generator to 200 seconds
  • After not being in a chase for 15 seconds, survivors gain a stacking buff called "Hope" every second. 
  • Hope increases the repair speeds of a survivor by 1% for each stack. This buff caps at 200 stacks.
  • When a survivor enters a chase, they stop gaining Hope and will not do so again until they are not in a chase for 15 seconds.
  • At the start of a trial, survivors will not gain Hope until: a chase has been started, a survivor has become injured or suffers a debuff (hex perks don't count), the killer moves within 16 meters of a survivor, or the killer powers up (myers, oni in the event someone has no mither)
  • When the killer hits a survivor, they lose 50 stacks of Hope
  • When a survivor is hooked, they lose all stacks of Hope, and cannot gain any while on the hook.
  • If the killer camps the survivor (use the same rules that the emblem uses) the effect of Hope is doubled.


Some quick math for people: 

  • If survivors immediately jumped onto a generator with 0 stacks of hope, it would take them 125 seconds to finish a generator. After finishing that generator, they would have 125 stacks of hope. 
  • At max stacks of hope, a single survivor can complete a generator in ~65 seconds. 
  • If the killer camps a survivor on the hook, and all survivors have max stacks of Hope, they will each be able to complete a single generator in 50 seconds. This would mean that the 3 survivors could finish all of the generators before the other survivor dies on the hook.



Again, these numbers could all be tweaked, and probably need to be. They would need to be playtested heavily as well. The idea here is that it would do the following:


  • Survivors would be encouraged to hide more from the killer rather than just do gens in their face, so that they can keep their stacks up. 
  • Survivors are more likely to try and play safer and throw pallets down more so they can keep their stacks up. (risk vs. reward)
  • Killers would be encouraged to not tunnel a survivor, because that survivor has 0 stacks and would be much slower repairing a generator. Meanwhile, other survivors are gaining stacks and will be increasing their repair speeds.
  • Killers are discouraged from camping, because while camping, other survivors are gaining stacks of hope and hope's effect is increased. Making camping not an effective strategy.
  • Killers who are currently very weak would get indirectly buffed by this:
  • Trapper demo and hag would have more setup time.
  • Myers would have more time to get out of tier 1
  • Legion would be able to keep stacks of hope down significantly and would now have a slowdown mechanic to their power.


You could now create all sorts of addons and perks that interact with this new mechanic for both sides in interesting ways.

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