DBD has become extremely Pay to Win. We need more ways to earn shards...
Full disclosure: I have been playing since 2016 and own all of the DLC for this game. I only started getting characters with shards once Oni was released. I feel that I have been complacent and unaware, like a frog in pot of water steadily rising in temperature. Only after recently introducing a few of my friends to this game have I realized just how bad it has gotten...
With the upcoming release of the RE chapter, this game will now have EIGHT chapters and/or paragraphs with characters and or perks totally locked behind a pay wall, out of a total of TWENTY or so total chapters, the total cost of which amounts to $129.80. This, on top of the base $30 price tag of the game amounts to almost $160 ($62 of which is all licensed); an outrageous price for a multiplayer-only game, and that doesn't even include cosmetics or battle passes.
Oh, but Wisdom, I hear you say, you can buy many of those characters with shards! Well exactly how many shards do you need to get all of these "free" characters? 198,000!! And about how long do you need to grind to get these shards? According to the wiki, you will earn about 260 shards per hour (if you constantly get games, but good luck with that), so it will take you upwards of 760 HOURS of JUST playtime to unlock all of the unlockable characters in this game. Every time a new chapter drops on this insane pile of DLC, I am less and less inclined to recommend this game today more of my friends. For anyone who gets into this game now, it is unrealistic to expect to have full access to all characters and perks, especially with the rate at which new content is released. New players will never be able to catch up.
Someone else who plays other video games, please, is this the industry standard now? Am I crazy for thinking that this is getting excessive? How do other games compare when it comes to grind like this? I would love to hear about other people's perspectives and experiences with this and other games. Give me your hot takes...
So how do we fix this without making people have to play this game like it's their second job?
1. Have shard sales for certain characters. — I think this one is a no-brainer. We've had auric cell sales for characters whenever they show up I the tome, why can't we have shard sales? If people had better access to these characters, it could also encourage them to buy the battlepass.
2. Create more proactive ways for players to earn shards. — These can come in the form of daily challenges similar to the blood point dailies, or they could be additional rewards for completing archive challenges in addition to BP and Rift fragments.
3. Add shards to the battlepass. — adding shards to both the free and premium tracts is something everyone would appreciate. It helps the free players, and is a great reward for people who invest in the pass!
Tl;Dr; Game is becoming increasingly bloated with DLC, MTX, Battlepasses, and insane grind. People who jump into the game now are at a severe disadvantage against people who have been playing for years. Mount Grind gets taller and taller every day, and shows no signs of slowing down. Newer players are at a severe disadvantage and are suffocating under a mountain of insurmountable dlc and grind. Its time to give them a chance. And, as an older player who bought everything as it came out, I AM OKAY WITH THIS. Give people a chance BHVR...
What's everyone else's hot take on this?
Addendum:
What I'm trying to point out here is that the insane grind is what is making this game PTW. If you don't want to invest 800 hours of your time grinding to get all the unlockable content in DBD, then GIVE US MONEY. They're using the grind to get more money out of you.
Are there sales for this game? Yes, and that's pretty cool, but God forbid people ever try to earn anything in this game if you don't want to pay money.
Thankfully, survivors have most meta perks available on free characters, and strong killers like nurse are free, but if you want the most optimal build for your killers, you will have to buy multiple, often licensed DLCs to stay competitive. Don't want to spend the money? Wait for 6 months for those perks to pop up in the shrine.
The free track for this game is unrealistic, and getting worse all the time.
Comments
I started playing in August 2020. I had a gift card so I was able to get the game and some DLC for free. I've only dropped 20 for Twins and some other DLC.
I don't think DBD is a pay to win, but grind to win. Game is not forgiving to new players. Im at a level now that I'm happy with killer and survivor builds and I have 750k and 2k of shards (I just got Surge).
I think they either need to have older perks that are available for shard buy as opposed to waiting for Shrine of Secrets or allow us to buy with BP. I think blood events should happen once a month to help build up the currency. We don't need triple or double events, but even 1.5 is enticing enough but eases the grind pain
Except its not pay to win. Pay to win implies there is no way to get those characters/perks aside from money - which there is. Pay to win also implies you NEED those characters/perks to win - which you don't.
FYI game purchases alone are not enough to sustain a studio; especially when said game is often on sale and already has a low price point. How would you like DBD to make money to create content (free or otherwise)? BHVR is a business - no profit - no content. I always find it interesting (funny really) when people try to shame a business for trying to make money. I have almost 3,000 hours in DBD so by your math that means I spend 5 cents for every hour I have played...pretty cheap entertainment if you ask me.
I was expecting this to be more unrealistic but I kinda agree. The three OG Killers are just simply not the best with them just refusing to give them straight buffs (Wraith seriously didn't need to have the nerf for leaving cloak because he got buff. Trapper is literally straight RNG to the point where a little bad luck can make your match go terribly. Hillbilly is the only decent one but a good Survivor will force him to M1 90% of the time anyways and doesn't help that they nerfed his power for no reason when it should've been an add-on update)
The most powerful Killers in the game all require you to purchase them which is factually pay to win whether people want to admit it or not. Also, the meta perks are almost all in paid DLC unless you get lucky in the shop.
Nothing can really stop them either as no other game like DBD can challenge it with all it's licenses. Also, people whove played decently want to experience the new characters so content isn't stale which guarantees a lot of money. (Also the new players attracted by the newest license) They can legitimately do whatever they want and not have to worry because; where else are you gonna go to get that DBD experience?
The most powerful killer is Nurse, who is free for all platforms.
others up there are Spirit (purchasable with shards), Blight (shards) and Huntress (free). Also Freddy (fair enough, only real money), but he is about to be nerfed and wasn’t meant to be as powerful.
Which Meta perks are you talking about which qualify as pay to win exactly?
I was gonna respond but I forgot switching tabs closes this so my long ass response is gone do just gonna give a speedy response....
Forgot Nurse free cuz console.
Many powerful Killers still require money.
Shards take forever to accumulate enough to get new Killers on time anywhere close to their release.
Quite a few of the more meta perks are DLC exclusive unless you get lucky with the shrine which sometimes they intentionally make some perks show up less. A lot of the Killer meta perks are unfortunately under this category.
Decisive Strike, was busted before, nerfed but still strong, and nerfed again but still strong (has only appeared in the shrine 3 times since it's release 3 years ago)
Ruin
Undying
BBQ
Corrupt
Pop
Infectious Fright
Dead Hard
STBFL (dependant on killer ie Demo)
Devour Hope
MYC (dependant on Killer ie Hag)
Discordance
I'm All Ears (Dependant on Killer ie Nurse)
Object before it's nerf (although it's still debatably decent.
Mettle of Man before it's nerf
Lucky Break with it's recent massive buff
A pretty good chunk of meta perks are from DLCs.
Those are nowhere near required to win though.
maybe Undying+Ruin (which wasn’t supposed to be as strong and got nerfed), but even that was RNG based.
i am not saying the grind is okay or anything, because it’s way too much. But this game is not pay2win. There is already enough stuff in base game to give you best conditions for winning.
cough cough play dbd mobile
KILLER
The best killers in the game are all BHVR original, on top of that, 3-6 of them are free. While only a few of the best killer perks are free, the best one isnt even a teachable and the other top killer perks are on shard killers anyway. STBFL & BBQ are the only meta licensed perks, and you can do perfectly fine without them.
SURVIVOR
Bill & Meg are both free
The grind is terrible and I play nonstop and still trying to get perks and such.
Just how much this game and its DLC costs sucks for new players and veterans alike. Personally I like making builds centered around specific things. A build made to make the exit gates as hard to open as possible, a slugged build, a chest build, flavorful killer and survivor builds, and it sucks to have to buy every new release just to get perks for these builds. I don't like shelling out more and more and more money on this game just so I can continue to enjoy it.
And I sure as hell can't recommend this game to my friends because of that obscene hidden price tag.
And what, that makes it okay? That makes it okay to hide the majority of the game's content behind paywalls or obscene grinds? Because the best killers and survivor perks are free?
The game is not Pay2Win. That's what my comment was refuting. You seemed to have not read it properly, though I'll answer your unrelated question anyway.
Yes, actually.
We are coming to the game's fifth anniversary. The game is like $30. It would not be sustainable to have the game funded purely off initial purchases.
The game needs to be funded somehow, and that somehow is by making new DLC expansions quarterly.
Anyone who plays the game regularly will be able to make enough Shards to pick up the new Characters. It's 18,000 Shards every three months. Failing that, the DLCs themselves are like $10.
So yes, I think it's okay that a lot of the Killers and Perks are behind paywalls/grind walls, because it keeps the game alive. The game is not Pay2Win.
There is a lot of favoritism for killers. It's pay to win for killers. All you have to do is look at Leatherface, Freddy, and now they plan to buff Demogorgon when he doesn't even need it. BBQ has been PTW and never having any nerfs, with how broken the aura reading is. It's obvious how broken the perk is on a killer that is high mobility.
For Survivors it is Bait and Switch. After everyone bought Laurie and Ash, they nerfed their perks into uselessness. Only killers should buy licensed chapters because they get what they need. RE will be another PTW chapter for killers.
One of the biggest problems is the player level that resets after 100 levels. Since that's how you earn shards, and the amount resets when your level does. It's only purpose is to extend grinding and make microtransactions more enticing.
May I introduce you to Perks are highly required in high skill trials that are super rare in Shrine and behind a paywall?
BBQ and Chili
Hex: Ruin
Pop goes the Weasel
Corrupt Intervention
Hex: Undying
Detectives Hunch
Decisive Strike
Soul Guard
Lucky Break (Next patch)
Old OP Mettle of Man
This also proves that Killer is Pay2Win and Survivor gets all their powerful crap for free.
not even close from being pay to win,, as survivor the best perks are totally free except for DS wich is not amazing anymore but decent and was on the sanctuary recently. the perks for killers the best ones are free with some exceptions, and are from free killers aswell, Ruin, Corrupt, Pop, come with free dlc characterrs, then survivors are just skins wich arent worth most of them except for very especific perks on some.
I do think they should raise the limit of earnable blood points in a match.
10K for each category so a total of 40K can be earned.
It just doesn't make sense that I've put over 1K hours into this game and still don't have all the teachables yet.
Its rather insane when you put it that way. 1,000 hours...
Your title cracked me up. I can win any match without a single perk being used. Skill trumps perks all day any day. Also you don’t have to buy everything all it once, dlc is like $10 each cheaper in sales, get it bit by bit. This is like the only game I’ve ever spent money on DLC for and its worth it.
Dwight has a hat that says Dilf???
Demo definitely needed a buff no one played him and bbq it's not even strong, this is coming from someone who only plays killer for challenges.
Those are or were strong perks, but definitely not pay2win..
especially not the killer perks: BBQ is only used to lessen the grind as almost all killer players agree, Ruin and Undying are RNG based and if you don’t get the survs off the Gens they do nothing, you gotta play the game to win and the perks just give you an advantage, Pop and Corrupt both just lengthen the game.
as you Said yourself. skill is required in high ranks. Many people have demonstrated that you can perform great without any perks.
If it isn't pay2win then why do majority of people buy these perks and bring them in high skill trials? I got tons of friends in DBD and I assure you none of them thinks that this is fair.
"BBQ is only used to lessen the grind as almost all killer players agree, Ruin and Undying are RNG based and if you don’t get the survs off the Gens they do nothing, you gotta play the game to win and the perks just give you an advantage, Pop and Corrupt both just lengthen the game."
BBQ is to lessen the grind, true but why is it behind a DLC character not made is base game? WGLF is free for survivor but Killers needs to buy Bubba so they can get a lesser grind?
I must have missed the reason for Ruin and Undying being nerfed because when it released didn't majority of the survivors that it won Killers too many games?
Pop and Corrupt both just lengthen the game. Of course they lengthen the game! That's the goal of Killer so they can win! If Killers didn't bring any Gen regression perk the trial would be over in less than 7 minutes with how fast Generators fly with decent survivors.
Killer is Pay2Win and that's a fact!
Without any skill all those perks are useless. With skill those perks are not needed but can make your matches easier.
it’s not pay2win. It gives viable but not necessary options. If perks/chars that can be bought would be weaker you would argue that purchasing these doesn’t have any use.
it’s a lose/lose scenario for BHVR.
but again. Viable options/additions does not equal pay2win.
also don’t directly compare survivor and killer like that. Killers get way more BP per match than survivors (generally), even without any perks. WGLF also isn’t as easy to get stacks with as BBQ. This is an asymmetrical game. Judge it like one.
we all wish 😔😔😔😔