Why this game will never achieve true greatness
Let's begin with something obvious: devs' cowardice when it comes to dealing with toxicity. And no, I'm not referring to people who use in-game tools (ds, adrenaline, noed etc.), I'm talking about people who t-bag, flicker flashlights and mori-spam. In short, devs are these guys' obedient slaves, which is more than obvious by the fact that they managed to review bomb their way to the new slug and sabo changes, as well as the fact that DS and Freddy weren't changed at all for such a long time. They receive threats from these players, which causes them to delay or even cast away healthy changes. They could easily say one day "hey t-bagging, mori spamming and flashlight flickering is bannable, if you do it, you'll get suspended", and they could purify the community in no time.
Then comes the priority: survivors over killers. If you don't believe this, let's trace back at the March of 2018 when both sides had game-breaking sound bugs. Killers couldn't hear footstep and breathing sounds, while survivors would hear the heartbeat whenever the killer got in a chase with anyone. The survivor bug got fixed in 3 days, while the killer bug was left in the game for 2 months. Further evidence can be found with Freddy and the pallet vacuum. Freddy (yeah, the great Freddy Krueger himself, free cash from all Elm street fans) was made the worst killer in the game in the span of 6 days, because survivors couldn't deal with an anti-stealth killer. Meanwhile, the pallet vacuum was implemented way back in 2017 and was left there to give survivors a free escape all up until June 2018. Now, you might say this is absolutely wrong because of elements like bamboozle, spirit fury, exhaustion nerf, clown's existence and many other, but try and remember what it took to get there. We needed Marth and his experiment, as well as threats to leave the game to get a decent portion of what we asked for.
And finally, the biggest reason why this game won't reach greatness: Nurse and SWF.
Let's start of with the Nurse. This killer is the Madara Uchiha of the killer roaster, simply because she was stuffed with everything best: mad map pressure, anti-looping skills, quick gap-closing and teleporting through walls. People who main her might tell you how stealth is the key to beating her, but stealth doesn't work against good killers. Never did, never will. If you think I'm wrong, ask any honest R1 Nurse main how often do they 4k. All in all, Nurse is your solution to losing, but, unlike SWF, she takes skill to learn, which, once done, will make you a god.
Then, we get to SWF. Now, anyone who plays this game knows that SWF is just fan service. It's more than obvious that this game wasn't made with comms in mind, but they had to implement it because of massive complaints. The reason this feature is completely busted is because it gives survivors info and organization abilities that they otherwise shouldn't possess (knowing who goes for unhooks, knowing where totems are, knowing when to do gens while someone is getting chased etc.). Much like with Nurse, beating a SWF squad is impossible if they know what they're doing.
Yeah, I get it, long thread, but someone had to say this.
Comments
Excellent post OP - I just have two thing to offer that differs a bit.
My solution: Nerf the activity times of SWFs based on both rank and the number in the SWF. Lower rank SWFs get a slight nerf to gen times, healing, sabo, etc. Higher rank SWFs get bigger nerfs - say a 15% gen/healing time nerf with a 20% increased consumption on items. For each member past 2, they get an additional 7%. That slows the game down, giving the killer a chance. Are the numbers perfect? Nope, but it is the concept that should be considered.
Oh, and more objectives please. Like - two hooks with blue auras for the killer. If the killer gets someone on the hook, it causes all checks to become 25% more difficult. If he sacrifices someone, all checks become very difficult checks. OR a survivor objective - complete a ritual and receive a 1 minute stealth boost where you leave no scratch marks.
I'm sure DBD has surpassed what the company ever expected it to turn into. It's done very well in the two years since it's been released. It's still alive and well. Gets plenty of views on Twitch. Now that they've got their engine upgraded they're able to pump out a new DLC every 2 or 3 months. Cosmetics coming into the store every week. They're still making money off of a game that was a 1 time 20$ purchase. They've done well for themselves.
The game has already reached greatness. It has nothing to do with the game not being appealing or fun to play. Hell there's not many games out there that people spend 5,000 hours on. So clearly some people think it's great.
It'll never become the biggest thing. Because MOBA's dominated gaming for 5+ years. And now BR's are dominating the gaming world for the last 3 years. But it doesn't mean DBD isn't great for what it is.