Quality > quantity
So it looks like we finally got a full chapter this time around. We have quite a bit to work with now. A new killer, new survivor, and a new map. It's been a little while. On top of the introduction of 2 new types of perks (boon totems for survivors and scourge perks for killers). There are quite a lot of perks and new things to work with such as the most recent MMR system or
But is it really a smart idea to keep pushing out new content while deliberately ignoring the low quality of gameplay?
A new chapter is great. It brings new things into the game, and brings players back into the game. It can even excite older players too and pull them back in.
But that feeling goes away fast. People are only interested in a new chapter for so long before losing interest and being reminded of the bs they have to put up with. In fact, I am pretty sure lots of people aren't even that hyped up for this next chapter as they are already bored of it. Everyone has already returned to their normal games and content creators have moved on. (Also having the artist leaked so early on killed any sense of suspension and excitement for everyone, nice one BHVR).
Cheaters not being addressed, poor optimization, killer design, map design, and especially "SBMM" are the issues that people will remember and go "Oh, forgot that is why I stopped playing". The new MMR system might account for most of the staleness of gameplay on its own for a lot of people though.
The old issues are piling up, and this is what makes the game unfun to play for many players.
There is no point in bringing out new content if the actual game itself is lacking in quality (it has been five years and we still don't even have a perk search bar?). We need a full chapter dedicated to increasing the overall health of the game. This means QoL changes, bug fixes, bug fixes, perk balances, killer balances, and especially optimization (both in-game and technical fixes) for consoles. This would benefit DBD more than any chapter for literally everyone. It would bring back old players who have left, encourage them to endorse the game to others, and would be more fun.
So much content has been put in without thinking of the balance or quality.
- RPD was added in purely for aesthetic (a terrible short term decision)
- Boon totems were added and COH is questionably op against weaker killers (a second objective... for killers?)
- Nemesis was added, but is very underwhelming and unoriginal (wow another killer with a short ranged chasing ability just like demogorgon and pyramid head. Also, his tier 3 is so underwhelming it makes thor 2 look like a cinematic masterpiece).
- Trickster was added, but is a worse huntress/plague hybrid and can't even hold his power for some reason. (Also had no new map, was unoriginal, and lacks map pressure)
- Pinhead was added in but lacks reward for hitting very hard to hit chains and is pretty unhealthy for solo survivor gameplay.
- New map visual reworks have been added, but absolutely wreaks havoc on console performance AND makes maps unbalanced (rip old chapel). That is two in one right there folks.
It is sad to see.
Bringing out more content for DBD has ironically made it more stale, but that is what happens when there isn't much thought put into said content.
Comments
a lot of people say we need a game health chapter, i think we need to change the 3 month content release schedule.
It feels like only yesterday Pinhead was added, and already I'm never seeing him in games.
I would honestly be fine with no new Killers/Survivors for 6 months to 1 year, if the devs instead spent time on balancing tweaks and stability fixes. Or worked on something like a new game mode.
But that will make them less money I guess? So buggy chapters is probably the way forward.
Dreaming is fun ain't it?
Thats what im saying for a while now. Even Trickster feels like he came out a few weeks ago because he is still so unpolished and underwhelming. If they continue this pace they will just stack work onto work onto work and never really finish anything.
Tbh i still would play DbD even if it only had like 3 Killers if the game was just more polished and optimized.
Vomiting new content every 3 months while the base game is still a broken mess makes me believe they really don't care about the balance. As McCote said on a very recent interview, just "embrace the chaos".
If it didn't hurt the team he'd make me want to go RP the dwight memes
It is all we can do at this point
Could you post a link to that interview?
This. Just one single Game Health chapter would accomplish literally nothing. It’s such a short sighted solution..
put more time and resources into QA instead, don’t push out a new chapter every 3 months, at least don’t make it such a hard schedule/dead line if quality isn’t good for a release. Put more into actual game health, balance etc. and a little softer on new characters and perks. Fix the current characters and perks instead.
That actually does make more sense
https://youtu.be/mGzXiWbviYg it's this one, no idea what time stamp though.
I have been a member of these forums for two years now, and a reader for 3.
In all that time we have begged BHVR to concentrate on game health and stop worrying about new bug filled content. It seems we will never see this happen.
It is becoming obvious, that the money new content brings as well new players are more important than long term player retention.
Cool thanks
Ultimately I feel the issue is the Q&A and how quickly they find issues and their PTB testing schedule. We get the PTB just before it launches which feels like a preview rather than our feedback is going to give them enough time to make impactful changes based on that feedback. I've always felt that as soon as a chapter begins a PTB should be released and the duration we would have had it near the end of the update cycle before release should be the duration we have it at the start.
I'd also agree that the 3 month content release schedule isn't working. I'd be fine with 3 major content updates yearly instead of 4 if we got to spread the updates out a bit. What I wouldn't mind is more so if we focus on 4 updates yearly we change up what the updates are about.
That's just my general thought process though but I get BHVR probably prefers doing the same old thing each update.
I would 100% be okay with a chapter with no new content whatsoever if it means improving the game as a whole in terms of balance, better anti-cheat, fixing bugs, and more.
BHVR, do not be afraid to not give us new killers and survivors for a little while if that’s what needs to happen to be able to invest the time necessary to fix the game. It will be worth it.