Longevity
Long post but there will be sections.
1. Business model
2. Game Balance
3. Win conditions
4. SBMM
5. Map Balance
6. Add-ons and Items
7. Bloodpoints and the blood web
DBD is a game with so much unrealized potential. It could be a great, single titled game, but right now it's just kinda mediocre in it's current state. Fun to pick up for a match once a week, but not much else. I saw someone else on the forum talking about when the game might die and they'll move on to a sequel or another game in the same genre. But it doesn't have to die out, and it doesn't need a sequel. It has the framework for a very long lasting game, like others have been. I'll give you an example.
League of Legends:
I know they're two vastly different genres, but my points behind it coincide. League wasn't always what it is today. I remember back when it was brand new and not a lot of people played it. It was ugly and clunky, and very unbalanced. But you look at it today and it has millions of players and fans. So how did it get to that point? It's the same repetitive gameplay right? It's even got only one main map. Well, after looking at it I realized a few things that helped it along the way.
1. The business model: It's always had the same business model. Free to play, with the option to buy champions with either real money, or in game currency. And then skins were only real money. And it worked! For over a decade it's helped to keep people playing, because it was something to work towards. I play, I win, I can save up and get the new champ I've been wanting. It was rewarding. And once people unlocked their favorite characters, they'd want to skin them out and look cool, so they'd spend actual money. May not be the greatest model in the world, but it worked.
DBD doesn't have this. So new players have to shell out $20 for the game, and then they get like 4-5 killers. And then if they want to play a certain killer/s, they have to shell out anywhere $7-$10. For a game they're not even sure if they like yet. The business model itself is not welcoming. If you're a brand new player, starting it up for the first time, and you see you only have a handful of killers, then you look at the store and it's all real money to unlock, your first instinct is ,"This just seems like a cash grab." The business model fits a game that was expected to be offline after year 2, not one that's been around 5 years.
2. League of legends received constant up dates, even when it was just a small studio still. They were always looking to balance the game, always looking to improve it. And you could tell they actually cared for the game because a lot of them played it. If you look at it now, it's pretty balanced. You could play almost any champ and do well on them if you have experience. Even the ones who are considered meta at the time, are only marginally stronger than those in say B tier, because it's pretty balanced. There's a few exceptions with champs who can't be buffed too much because at pro level play they're just busted, but they still do well everywhere else. We're talking like a difference of like, 3-4 % winrates across almost all champions.
DBD needs serious focus on their balance. Comparing a Myers or a clown with all the best perks, compared to a nurse or a blight with the same perks, the difference is huge. I would bet all of my money on the nurse or blight every time. I feel like things should be balanced around that kind of middle of the pack. Like the A and B tier killers. Buff the ones that are performing under that, and Nerf the ones performing above that to where they line up closer with only marginal differences. Then adjusts perks around that, buff the weaker ones, Nerf the stronger ones. Same thing on the survivor side. Buff or Nerf them and their perks to align more closely with that median. In other games like league, if everyone is taking the same thing every single match, then it's probably safe to assume it's a little too strong in it's current state, and needs to be aligned with the median. But first, you gotta find what your actual median is.
3. Brings me to my next point. League has a very clear win conditions. Punch their towers until you can lead your hooded midgets in to destroy their crystal. This win conditions never changes.
DBD doesn't have a clear win condition outside of either escaping or killing everyone. Behavior says they want it be around 1-2 kills and about 2 escapes. But the issue is, not only have they said it doesn't work out that way, the pip system doesn't reflect that. And with that being the only indication of how you did in a match, it kinda muddles everything together to not really make much sense. If you want to make those the win conditions, that's fine, but you gotta change the other stuff to reflect that.
They've also said they want matches to be around 10 minutes. League did something similar a while back. Matches were averaging 45-60 minutes so they changed items and game mechanics to fit their goal of 20-30 minutes.
In my experience most DBD matches don't last that long. Either all 5 gens are done in 4-6 minutes and 3-4 survivors escape, or the killer snowballs in 4-6 minutes and kills everyone. Or, the killer gets a good 3 gen and the match lasts 20-30 minutes because both sides are at a stalemate. Right now the game mechanics and perks and items don't reflect the time they're saying they want the matches to last.
4. SBMM:
League also has this, and it's been around for quite a while. And it works out for the most part. But it's also a very competitive game that has ranks. It takes into account more than just, did you win or lose. The game is also balanced around high level play. It's balanced around the 1%. Because the average or newer players, won't be able to abuse things that are stronger anyways because they don't have the same experience as high level players.
DBD SBMM is only based on kills and escapes, without there being a clear win condition. It takes into account nothing else. For survivors if you escape, gain MMR. If you die, lose MMR. For killer, you gain or lose MMR based on each survivor in the trial. It doesn't work for a 1v4 game. It's why you have so many more killers at high MMR than you have survivors. They also took away ranks, and gave us grades, which is only for "time played". But the pip system still affects it. You could play everyday 5 hours a day for a month, but if you don't pip consistently you'll never climb in grades.
It's also balanced around newer or less skilled players. Which leaves super strong perks for both sides to abuse at higher levels. If you really want SBMM in the game, and want it to be more even and competitive, you gotta balance around that high level of play. Because that dead hard that's super strong and used on almost all builds is a lot different depending on the player. I can promise you dead hard and ds, and ruin or stuff like that isn't helping the new players. Because they don't have the knowledge or experience to utilize it in an affective manor. Know who is abusing it? All the high level players.
That's why people are tired of playing, it's all the same in every match because it's so abusable. If I played against the same champion in every match of league with the exact same build every time, I'd stop playing almost immediately. That's what's happening to DBD though. It grows stale.
5. Map balance: Maps are just bad right now, and have been for a while. Some maps are okay, but there's some that are just so one sided, it's almost an insta win for one side when they get sent there. Add in offerings and you have another abusable system. I think maps need some reworks to make them more balanced. Also give them some more ambiance. Is it too much to ask for them to be slightly spoopy?? Lol
6. Items, add-ons, and offerings:
I think certain items need reworks or number changes. Some items are just to strong in regards to time efficiency. Same thing with killer add ons. There's so many that need to be reworked. Behavior is already working towards that so that's fine.
I think offerings should be gotten rid of. Maps should be completely random. And instead give killers/survivors a list of rituals that they can choose from. All survivors share them, and all killers have their own that they share. The rituals would last the entire trial, and they'd be small things. Nothing like perks. More along the lines of how offerings are now. Increasing fog, bonus BP, hooks, stuff like that. They're not consumed every match, you just pick one and get the affect. Which brings me to my next thing.
7. BP rewards and the blood web:
Geezus, the amount of time this thing takes, and how daunting it must be to new players. Back when DBD only had a handful of characters, it made sense. I even still like the concept of the bloodweb. But now with 26 killers alone, even more survivors, and 3 teachables on each one, it's just ridiculous. 7-8 million bp to unlock every perk on a single killer, with only 32000 being the max BP you could earn without perks or offerings, and you have to do that 26 times.
First, I'd get rid of the offerings if you make rituals a thing. Get rid of prestiging or at least make it more worthwhile. Like you gain more BP on that character after prestiging, with a larger increase to rarer add-ons.
Anyways, I'm done with my book for now. If you made it this far, congrats!
Comments
Good job! I leave a comment so this topic didn't sink in complaints see.
Thank you!