Does Behavior regret making survivors the power role?

A 1v4 game, anyone would think that the 1 player would be much more powerful than the 4 right? Well not in dbd, here the 4 players are the power role and are favoured by the devs in such a way that they hold the power to "bully" the killer into oblivion. Maps designs always favour them, they get second chances to fix their mistakes and their objective (doing gens) is much faster than the killer's (hooking survivors). The killer who is always out of time has to do secondary objectives (breakable walls and snuffing boons) lol. Now the killer role is so trashed and feels so stressful that very few people wanna play it, which has increased survivor queue times massively. So making survivors the power role really backfired for Behavior eventually didn't it? It was only a matter of time. They kept favouring the majority (survivors) but forgot they NEED killer players to have dbd.

Comments

  • Well yeah survivors are the money makers. Hence why we get like 3 survivor skins for every 1 killer skin. Unless its something like the CryptTV collab.

  • I don't think they regret making Survivors the overall power role

  • Considering the fact that one of the next perks is going to make gens fly by EVEN faster and that one will apply the blindness status effect to killers so that flashy squads can bully them even harder, the answer is: LOL.

  • @Devilishly_Rowdy said:

    A 1v4 game, anyone would think that the 1 player would be much more powerful than the 4 right? Well not in dbd, here the 4 players are the power role and are favoured by the devs in such a way that they hold the power to "bully" the killer into oblivion. Maps designs always favour them, they get second chances to fix their mistakes and their objective (doing gens) is much faster than the killer's (hooking survivors). The killer who is always out of time has to do secondary objectives (breakable walls and snuffing boons) lol. Now the killer role is so trashed and feels so stressful that very few people wanna play it, which has increased survivor queue times massively. So making survivors the power role really backfired for Behavior eventually didn't it? It was only a matter of time. They kept favouring the majority (survivors) but forgot they NEED killer players to have dbd.

    The kill rate is above 50%. Perhaps it’s you

  • The average kill rate is above 50%, which tells us what everyone already knew, bad Survivors (the overwhelming majority) die a lot, not that Killers are OP.

    We do not know what the kill rate is like at top MMR

  • this is hilarious. You really should play other games where the power role are the survivors or there's no power role before you speak

  • Yeah I don't think so. Considering you need 4 players for every 1 killer this sort of thing is inevitable. I've seen what happens when it's the other way around. Game dies in record time. On a personal level, I don't look to win so I don't tend to get stressed. Gen rush me or whatever, I don't care, I'll take what I can get.

    Having said that, it is a little 'too' in favour of survivors at the moment. Bully squads are arguably increasing because doing the game normally is too boring/easy. That very concept needs to absolutely be destroyed because of it's utter ridiculousness and this does cause me annoyance. As a side note getting rid of Dead Hard's current effect for frustration reasons alone never mind the overwhelming statistics would also be an excellent start.

  • @notlonely said:

    this is hilarious. You really should play other games where the power role are the survivors or there's no power role before you speak

    You mean like... Evolve?

  • I don't think they regret making a very successful game

  • In a 1v1 the killer is much more powerful.

    if the 4 survivors use their number advantage and play decently they‘re supposed to win.

  • This is the only asymmetric horror game to survive so no I think they're vibing

  • @LordCyphre said:

    In a 1v1 the killer is much more powerful.

    if the 4 survivors use their number advantage and play decently they‘re supposed to win.

    Except, a large number of killers get nerfed SPECIFICALLY to make survivors better against them in 1v1. Just off the top of my head:

    • Pyramid Head got a cool-down on pulling his knife up so that survivors could just juke to the side and prevent him from hitting with his power around corners
    • Wraith got his reappearance dash nerfed to give survivors who aren't in hitting distance already enough time to out distance him
    • Deathslinger got a cooldown added to pulling out his gun without reducing the aiming penalty baked him him, giving survivors plenty of time to juke
    • Freddy slows down while placing snares now, making him unable to place them mid-loop without giving the survivor the added distance they'd lose by stepping on the snare
    • Spirit got a phasing noise to remove the fake-out on her power as well as directional sounds to give a survivor ample warning where she's at in the first place.

    If the game were actually being balanced around killers being very strong in 1v1, I'd agree with you. Except, all these killers and more got their powers gutted specifically to make them weaker in 1v1, while some of the most powerful 1v1 survivor perks (Dead Hard) get buffed considerably with no penalty of any sort. And then they go ahead and add 4v1 perks like CoH that make your team WAAAAY stronger by bypassing the whole "the team needs to work together" aspect of the game.

  • I don't think they know which is the power role honestly.

  • @Adjatha said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953465#Comment_2953465

    Except, a large number of killers get nerfed SPECIFICALLY to make survivors better against them in 1v1. Just off the top of my head:

    • Pyramid Head got a cool-down on pulling his knife up so that survivors could just juke to the side and prevent him from hitting with his power around corners
    • Wraith got his reappearance dash nerfed to give survivors who aren't in hitting distance already enough time to out distance him
    • Deathslinger got a cooldown added to pulling out his gun without reducing the aiming penalty baked him him, giving survivors plenty of time to juke
    • Freddy slows down while placing snares now, making him unable to place them mid-loop without giving the survivor the added distance they'd lose by stepping on the snare
    • Spirit got a phasing noise to remove the fake-out on her power as well as directional sounds to give a survivor ample warning where she's at in the first place.

    If the game were actually being balanced around killers being very strong in 1v1, I'd agree with you. Except, all these killers and more got their powers gutted specifically to make them weaker in 1v1, while some of the most powerful 1v1 survivor perks (Dead Hard) get buffed considerably with no penalty of any sort. And then they go ahead and add 4v1 perks like CoH that make your team WAAAAY stronger by bypassing the whole "the team needs to work together" aspect of the game.

    The difference is all of them except maybe Wraith were very annoying to face. Being super strong in chase doesn’t equal good game design. All 4 except wraith encouraged the worst gameplay style. Pyramid head and slinger were both zoning killers they didn’t even need to use there power. Spirit and Freddy were extremely easy to use in chase. Freddy just spam traps. Spirit just stand still and mindgame.

    pyramid head is still good in chase

    slinger you can still zone just as good, you just can’t quick scope that much.

    wraith, 1v1 wasn’t really that strong only one I agree with but he was kind of braindead to play.

    Freddy can still spam traps and loops, still annoying to face

    spirit can’t rely on cheap tricks anymore, but can still mindgame.

    you treat them like there gutted but there not there still the same killer(except wraith).

  • @Adjatha said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953465#Comment_2953465

    Except, a large number of killers get nerfed SPECIFICALLY to make survivors better against them in 1v1. Just off the top of my head:

    • Pyramid Head got a cool-down on pulling his knife up so that survivors could just juke to the side and prevent him from hitting with his power around corners
    • Wraith got his reappearance dash nerfed to give survivors who aren't in hitting distance already enough time to out distance him
    • Deathslinger got a cooldown added to pulling out his gun without reducing the aiming penalty baked him him, giving survivors plenty of time to juke
    • Freddy slows down while placing snares now, making him unable to place them mid-loop without giving the survivor the added distance they'd lose by stepping on the snare
    • Spirit got a phasing noise to remove the fake-out on her power as well as directional sounds to give a survivor ample warning where she's at in the first place.

    If the game were actually being balanced around killers being very strong in 1v1, I'd agree with you. Except, all these killers and more got their powers gutted specifically to make them weaker in 1v1, while some of the most powerful 1v1 survivor perks (Dead Hard) get buffed considerably with no penalty of any sort. And then they go ahead and add 4v1 perks like CoH that make your team WAAAAY stronger by bypassing the whole "the team needs to work together" aspect of the game.

    They weren‘t gutted at all you drama queen. A lot of the things got adjusted because it was almost impossible for the survivors to play a chase against them.

    Being strong in a 1v1 does not mean the „weaker“ role should Auto lose. Player skill should still matter somewhat. And most of these killers are still quite strong.

  • @Chilli_man2400 said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953500#Comment_2953500

    The difference is all of them except maybe Wraith were very annoying to face. Being super strong in chase doesn’t equal good game design. All 4 except wraith encouraged the worst gameplay style. Pyramid head and slinger were both zoning killers they didn’t even need to use there power. Spirit and Freddy were extremely easy to use in chase. Freddy just spam traps. Spirit just stand still and mindgame.

    pyramid head is still good in chase

    slinger you can still zone just as good, you just can’t quick scope that much.

    wraith, 1v1 wasn’t really that strong only one I agree with but he was kind of braindead to play.

    Freddy can still spam traps and loops, still annoying to face

    spirit can’t rely on cheap tricks anymore, but can still mindgame.

    you treat them like there gutted but there not there still the same killer(except wraith).

    Something being annoying doesn't mean it needs to be changed/nerfed.

    Wraith, Deathslinger and Nightmare were fine balance wise, they were pub-stompers, but got nerfed because Survivors whined too much,not because they were too strong

  • Survivors are not the power role. Killers are. The fact that 4 survivors can coordinate enough to escape the killer does not make them the power role.

  • @Chaos999 said:

    Survivors are not the power role. Killers are. The fact that 4 survivors can coordinate enough to escape the killer does not make them the power role.

    Killers are not the power role. Survivors are. The fact that Blight and Nurse can be strong enough to sacrifice 4man SWFs does not make them the power role.

  • @Mister_xD said:

    Prologue

    Hello everyone,

    First of all, this is not actually a post that I really wanted to make. As some of you will probaply know, I no longer play this game, so my enthusiasm for it has dwindled too. I have just not been having the motivation to make a long post like this one for a long while now, though I did write down the thoughts from this post in earlier comments already, just in a less detailed form.

    Ever since i quit DbD in August 2021, I have been reflecting on why I quit and after discovering the reasons, decided to dig a bit deeper and find the reasons for those reasons. And I do think that I managed to figure out an issue this game has that I barely see anyone talk about, yet sooo many things people do talk about and discuss end up being direct consequences of this one, bigger thing.

    So I did decide to make this post eventually, simply to shed some light onto what I believe to be, by far, Dead by Daylights biggest problem right now. The "root of all evil", if you will.

    Also I am not saying this was DbD's only issue, there are some others that are very much seperated from this one that are important too (e.g. the discrepancy in strength between solo Survivors and SWF groups), but I believe this one to have the biggest impact on the game as of right now. And do keep in mind that this is my opinion, it is very possible that some of you might view other things as more important issues than this one.

    The Issue

    I'll be straight forward and tell you the problem right away:

    The Survivors objective is unfun and boring.

    Now before you go in the comments and start calling me crazy, please read my reasoning for this being DbDs biggest issue first. It is a lot more complicated than this one sentence might make it look like.

    How to balance an asymmetrical game

    I know this might seem off topic, but trust me, this is very important for later.

    Dead by Daylight can be split into two seperate "games":

    1. The "Macrogame" (referring to the overall trial and its progression)
    2. The "Microgame" (referring to interactions between both sides)

    The way we can create a balanced experience for both sides is, by making each side dominate on of those two cathegories, but as a result of that be weak in the other.

    Essentially, this game boils down to both sides racing each other by pushing their strong suit and hoping that they can finish their objective before the other side has been able to finish theirs.

    Due to this being an asymmetrical game, the side that has less players in one round (Killers) needs to be the dominant side in the Microgame, while the opposing side (Survivors) gets to dominate the Macrogame.

    This makes sense, given the Survivors superior numbers that allow them to apply pressure on the Killer in multiple different locations, which the Killer can not contest due to them only being able to be in one place at a time.

    To make this fair for the Killer, they need to have the upper hand in this 1v1 interaction, so that they don't waste much time on this one Survivor and can instead go and pressure the team after dealing with them quickly. This is also why they are referred to as "the powerrole", even though they themselves arent any more powerful than the Survivor side is, but they feel very powerful due to the fact that they heavily outclass an individual Survivor.

    In other words, a balanced Dead by Daylight would be a game where Killers dominate in chases, whereas Survivors dominate in generator progression, with the deciding factor being who can be more efficient in "their game" of DbD and outperform the other side.

    How the Issue affects DbD's balance

    In a balanced Dead by Daylight, as discussed above, long chases do not exist. Killers dominate in this aspect, so Survivors will want to avoid chases altogether, focussing their gameplay on generators.

    But generators are no fun. No one wants to focus their entire gameplay on holding M1 and occasionally hitting space bar - understandably so.

    If this game were to ever be in a balanced state, Survivors would be the ones quitting out of boredom. And since Survivors are just as essential to this game as Killers are, while also making a majority of its playerbase simply because of the 4v1 nature of this game, this would be very bad news.

    This is also something that I believe the Devs are very aware of. They have stated multiple times in the past now that they have no intention of balancing Dead by Daylight to make it fair, but to make it "fun".

    But what does that mean exactly?

    What is the one thing you think of when you talk about "fun" in Dead by Daylight? - It's chases.

    Chases are a fast and easy way of bringing action into this, otherwise very boring, game. They are full of fast paced interactions between both sides and you need to think on the run to make the right call in order to avoid certain death at the Killers hands.

    As a result the Devs have started balancing DbD around chases - some people might even refer to chases as Dead by Daylight in its entirety, completely forgetting that there is more to it outside of them.

    While this is a very understandable decision made by the Devs, it is also one that brings major imbalances with it.

    The result(s)

    Due to the Devs focussing their resources on making chases a fair, interactive and balanced encounter for both sides, Killers feel very weak to play.

    Remember what I said earlier about how to balance an asymmetrical game - Survivors need to dominate in the Macrogame, while Killers need to dominate in the Microgame.

    But this is no longer the case. The reality of DbD is, that Survivors dominate the Killer in the Macrogame, as they were designed to, and are equal to them in the Microgame, while on the flip side Killers get dominated in the Macrogame, as they should, but are only equal to Survivors in the Microgame.

    By balancing this game around the 1v1 aspect of it, the Devs took away the Killers strongsuit. Killers now struggle immensly to compete with Survivors, especially since those Survivors can hardly be nerfed in their strongsuit, due to that being a direct result of their superior numbers. Simply put Killers can not end their chases quick enough to properly race Survivors who focus on generatos, meaning any time the Survivor team is working on generators efficiently the Killer will most likely lose.

    As a result the game becomes frustrating to its Killer playerbase, because any time they go up against a team of Survivors with an equal skilllevel to theirs, they are heavily outclassed simply due to this game being tilted in the Survivors favor as much as it is.

    For Killers to be able to win, they need to be on a higher skilllevel than the Survivors are, so that the Killer makes less mistakes than the Survivors and can punish their mistakes more efficiently.

    And this leads us to a very modern problem, namely that this essentially rules out the existance of MMR systems in a game like this - at least functional ones.

    There are two possible outcomes with an MMR system in DbD right now:

    1. The system works and puts players of equal skill against each other. In this case Killers are heavily outmatched and will lose a majority of their games (unless Survivors make a huge, game losing, mistake, but for the sake of the argument we have to assume both sides play equally well), which feels unfair and bad for the Killers. Additionally, the high end Survivors would have no opponents, because Killers can not compete at this stage, which results in very long lobby queue times for them.
    2. The system doesnt work and puts players of varying skill against one another. In this case Killers would get to fight lesser experienced players as well, which allows them to win those games, which feels unfair and bad for those Survivors, as they feel outmatched.

    This means no matter what happens, this is a lose-lose scenario. This is also why I keep saying that the most basic requirement for a functional MMR system is a balanced game, which DbD can not (and will probaply never) offer.

    Another very common complaint by the Killerplayerbase today is, that gens are completed too fast. That however is not actually the case, it's that they are too slow at killing the Survivors.

    And as I explained above, this is essentially an unfixable problem. There are two possible solutions to it, which equally don't work:

    1. Make Killers the strong chasers they are supposed to be to be able to rival the gen speeds - this one turns Survivor gameplay into a hold M1 simulator, making it extremely unfun for them to play.
    2. Make gens take longer to complete - this one makes Survivors sit on gens, holding down M1, even longer than they already have to, at which point no one is having fun anymore because of how sluggish the game has become.

    Both of these fail entirely at the non interactive nature of generators.

    And there are more, but we would still be here tomorrow if I went into detail on all of them, so I'll make it short. Here is a list of other issues that are directly linked to this one with a brief explanation:

    • Maps having too many timewasters for Killers on them or generally not allowing for much map pressure (Pallets and Windows are what Survivors have to have fun in chases, to maximise fun and fairness in chases we need a bunch of them and make it so whoever mindgames who wins)
    • A vast majority of the Killer roster being unviable in high level play (only viable options are Killers with strong chase related abilities to at least sometimes put Survivors in a lose-lose situation they can profit from, who also have good map pressure to fight generator speeds - e.g. Nurse and Blight)
    • Killers getting nerfed who did not need a nerf (strong chase ability = unfun match for Survivors, therefore they get nerfed. This is what happened to Deathslinger or the Twins Toy Sword Add On)
    • Killers being forced to run a bunch of slowdown Perks (essentially a futile attempt to force solution 2. from gens being done too fast. As explained above it makes the game miserably boring for Survivors, but is a necessary evil currently)
    • Camping & Tunneling being such popular strategies (eliminating one player early on makes the Survivor teams overall map pressure take a huge hit, which can allow the Killer to relax a bit more. Not doing this is pretty much a lost trial. This is a result of gen speeds, which are a result of their unfun nature)
    • Playing Killer being significantly more stressful than playing Survivor (you essentially have to play perfect to beat even just a mediocre team. The smallest mistake can cost you the entire game, due to a chase being extended too long and you therefore getting crushed in the Macrogame)

    While not all of those might be a direct result of generators being boring, they are all linked to it in some way. Basically, the boring nature of gens caused the Devs flawed balance philosophy, which is what stops us from properly addressing those issues.

    If we ever want to properly fix those problems, we need to address generators first. If we don't, all we achieve is trading one problematic thing for another.

    What is the Solution?

    A complete rework of the Survivors main objective.

    We need to get rid of the excruciatingly boring gameplay that is holding down M1 while waiting for a progress bar to fill up - and this is not exclusive to generators by the way, all of the Survivors objectives are this boring, whether that be exit gate switches, totems (cleansing and blessing), healing, chest searching - they are all the same.

    Of course these progress bars serve a purpose. These objectives are meant to be timewasters first and foremost, it is necessary that the Survivors spend a good amount of their time on doing them to allow the Killer to find and hunt them down.

    So a reworked Survivor objective would need to be both time consuming and interactive for them at the same time.

    It is not until this is achieved that we can properly address so many of the other, much more noticeable, issues that plague this game today.

    This being said, personally I don't think this is a realistic demand to make.

    Generators are one of the most fundamental mechanics in this game and they have existed for almost 6 years at this point without any major changes to them and with a total of 27 DLCs (some bigger than others ofc) that further change the game and, in many cases, directly rely on this mechanic or further add to it.

    There are Perks on both sides directly tied to generator progress bars and there are some Killer powers that also rely on Survivors being on gens (such as Freddies teleport or the Doctors Madness Skill Checks) that would need to be addressed if gens were to be fundamentally reworked.

    This absolutely does not mean it was impossible to address, however it would require a huge amount of time, ressources and effort from BHVRs side.

    And I mean this when I say it, but I definitely think that at this point it would be easier for them to just work on a Dead by Daylight 2 and redesign it from the ground up with this in mind, rather than to try and somehow fix the current game (also due to spaghetti code that further hinders this).

    However, I would definitely not mind being proven wrong on this. Though it would be a long and tedious process, I believe the game would greatly benefit from it in the long run.

    And they can start small, not tackle the whole thing at once, but maybe start by doing one thing and see how it plays out. For example, rework the Exit Gates to no longer require you to hold M1 next to the switch until a progress bar is filled, but make it require fuses that the Survivors need to collect and insert - each fuse lights up one bulb and 3 fuses open the gate up. It would be significantly more interactive for both sides and it would get rid of people 99%ing the gates (another common complaint you hear a lot). You can also do something entirely different, the most important thing is that something is done.

    Afterword

    Thanks for reading this, admittedly very long, post. Might be my longest one yet, its definitely the one I put the most work into.

    What do you think of this? Do you think I'm right? Or do you think I'm entirely wrong? Did i miss anything crucial? Please tell me down below!

    Also please keep in mind this post is not meant to give solutions to this issue, but soley to highlight it - though if you think you got a good sulution to it you can share it down below too / make your own post about it! The more ideas we can give the Devs on this the better. I also deliberately did not post it in the Feedback subforum, as it is not meant to be feedback to the Devs, but as a bit of an explanation to where I believe the game stands right now and why certain things are happening to it for the community - as stated above, I do believe the Devs are very keenly aware of this issue already (and have been for a long time now).

    Have a nice day / night and I'll see you next time!

    also revert the Slinger nerfs, k thx bye.

    I highly doubt it.

    In fact, I believe the Survivors being the power role is a very active decision they made a long time ago.

    For an in depth analysis on this topic, see the linked post above.

  • @ThatOneDemoPlayer said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953523#Comment_2953523

    Killers are not the power role. Survivors are. The fact that Blight and Nurse can be strong enough to sacrifice 4man SWFs does not make them the power role.

    No, survivors have strength in numbers and if they utilize it to their advantage they have a good chance at winning.

    1 survivor alone can‘t defeat a killer and escape a trial. The killer is far more powerful.

    That‘s how it should be. Things need finetuning for sure but survivors are not the power role.

  • @ThatOneDemoPlayer said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953523#Comment_2953523

    Killers are not the power role. Survivors are. The fact that Blight and Nurse can be strong enough to sacrifice 4man SWFs does not make them the power role.

    There are more than 2 killers that can compete

  • @ThatOneDemoPlayer said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953510#Comment_2953510

    Something being annoying doesn't mean it needs to be changed/nerfed.

    Wraith, Deathslinger and Nightmare were fine balance wise, they were pub-stompers, but got nerfed because Survivors whined too much,not because they were too strong

    They weren’t just to strong they were cheap and annoying. Slinger had no downsides to his gun besides the 1v4.

    Huntress and trickster both have long windup times and give warning when there going to shoot. Slinger had none he could aim the gun faster then you could run, he had no slowdown, no cooldown he could keep ads with no punishment. Huntress when she stops aiming has a hefty slowdown, slinger doesn’t, she gives a sound cue when aiming slinger doesn’t, she has a lullaby letting you know when to run he doesn’t he could literally snipe you from outside his TR he was a better stealth killer than the actual stealth killers. There’s a reason he got these nerfs. I agree he should have gotten more buffs to compensate, but calling this balanced is just plain wrong.

    freddy was not fine, he was also cheap to play as and against, it was literally spam traps at loops, rinse and repeat. His nerf was deserved he was the pure definition of low risk high reward.

    once again, I literally said I agree with what everyone says about wraith. His nerf was undeserved. But I could see why his whole gameplay was just uncloaking at loops I could see why it was considered braindead, but survivors actually didn’t want him to be nerfed, but he was nerfed anyway cause he was considered “Unfun”.

  • @Chilli_man2400 said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953520#Comment_2953520

    They weren’t just to strong they were cheap and annoying. Slinger had no downsides to his gun besides the 1v4.

    Huntress and trickster both have long windup times and give warning when there going to shoot. Slinger had none he could aim the gun faster then you could run, he had no slowdown, no cooldown he could keep ads with no punishment. Huntress when she stops aiming has a hefty slowdown, slinger doesn’t, she gives a sound cue when aiming slinger doesn’t, she has a lullaby letting you know when to run he doesn’t he could literally snipe you from outside his TR he was a better stealth killer than the actual stealth killers. There’s a reason he got these nerfs. I agree he should have gotten more buffs to compensate, but calling this balanced is just plain wrong.

    freddy was not fine, he was also cheap to play as and against, it was literally spam traps at loops, rinse and repeat. His nerf was deserved he was the pure definition of low risk high reward.

    once again, I literally said I agree with what everyone says about wraith. His nerf was undeserved. But I could see why his whole gameplay was just uncloaking at loops I could see why it was considered braindead, but survivors actually didn’t want him to be nerfed, but he was nerfed anyway cause he was considered “Unfun”.

    ... you're not supposed to win a 1v1 against the Killer as a Survivor, that's you found them annoying

  • @LordCyphre said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953500#Comment_2953500

    They weren‘t gutted at all you drama queen. A lot of the things got adjusted because it was almost impossible for the survivors to play a chase against them.

    Being strong in a 1v1 does not mean the „weaker“ role should Auto lose. Player skill should still matter somewhat. And most of these killers are still quite strong.

    This right here. "Play a chase against them."

    You understand that if the survivors have a good footing in chases, that means that the killer ISN'T stronger than the survivor in 1v1, right? Like, that's the WHOLE point of this. If you want survivors to always be strong in 4v1 but the killer to be stronger in 1v1, you are saying that killers have to be strong in 1v1. So when you say "oh but actually survivors ought to be able to outplay killers in chases/loops," you're saying "survivors and killers should be equal in 1v1."

    This is how the Devs think too, and it's why the killer play experience is so horrible once you leave the lowest tiers of the game. You can't have survivors be super strong in 4v1 and ALSO have any kind of a chance in 1v1. It doesn't work.

  • @ThatOneDemoPlayer said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953552#Comment_2953552

    ... you're not supposed to win a 1v1 against the Killer as a Survivor, that's you found them annoying

    survivors might not win every chase against them but they should atleast have some form of counterplay besides doing gens. There was literally nothing to do. Before slingers nerf his ads was .15 seconds. It was humanly impossible to dodge his spear in real time it’s completely impossible. PH when he planted his knife at windows you had 2 situations get hit through window or fake it and he hits you with M1 there was no way to counter that.

    Survivors should have some counterplay to some chases and not completely lose the game. Nurse and blight are extremely strong killers but there counterplay is so fun and engaging that it balances out they have ways to deal with them. Like dodging the blinks or rushs or timing pallet stuns.

  • @Adjatha said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953517#Comment_2953517

    This right here. "Play a chase against them."

    You understand that if the survivors have a good footing in chases, that means that the killer ISN'T stronger than the survivor in 1v1, right? Like, that's the WHOLE point of this. If you want survivors to always be strong in 4v1 but the killer to be stronger in 1v1, you are saying that killers have to be strong in 1v1. So when you say "oh but actually survivors ought to be able to outplay killers in chases/loops," you're saying "survivors and killers should be equal in 1v1."

    This is how the Devs think too, and it's why the killer play experience is so horrible once you leave the lowest tiers of the game. You can't have survivors be super strong in 4v1 and ALSO have any kind of a chance in 1v1. It doesn't work.

    No, you don’t understand. A lot of killers have decent tools to win chases now. Not every single one of them but many and especially the newer ones.

    If a survivor is better than the killer they should have a chance at the 1v1 part. Playing the so-called „power role“ should not be an autowin in chases.

    if the killer is too bad they should lose. The problem is less the 1v1 but the 1v4 in that the survivors can potentially end the game way too fast.

  • @ThatOneDemoPlayer said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953399#Comment_2953399

    The average kill rate is above 50%, which tells us what everyone already knew, bad Survivors (the overwhelming majority) die a lot, not that Killers are OP.

    We do not know what the kill rate is like at top MMR

    The other part of that detail of course is that mediocre killer players kill mediocre survivors much more then good killers kill good survivors. Then on top of that you've got SWF balance vs. solo survivor balance. Honestly it's a very hard problem to solve.

    Mostly I would merely deal with the frustration side of it (bullying, dead hard etc.) and just have the balance largely remain as is, at least as far as the higher then average killers are concerned, the lower end of the killers do need love. Tilting the balance towards the killer as much as it might actually be the more 'balanced' thing to do as far as the game being played well is concerned, may not actually be the right move.

    Ultimately you can set up competitive leagues and whatnot with rules to hinder the survivors if need be but the game being played publicly should be largely 'chill' and not taken seriously. Hence why dealing with frustration factors and people deliberately attempting to 'bully' and better solutions to extreme tunnelling should be a very high priority.

  • Why would they? The game still does well and survivors are easier to make/sell skins for anyway.

    Also name an asymmetrical game where the 1 was stronger than the 4 if they were coordinated

  • @Devilishly_Rowdy said:

    A 1v4 game, anyone would think that the 1 player would be much more powerful than the 4 right? Well not in dbd, here the 4 players are the power role and are favoured by the devs in such a way that they hold the power to "bully" the killer into oblivion. Maps designs always favour them, they get second chances to fix their mistakes and their objective (doing gens) is much faster than the killer's (hooking survivors). The killer who is always out of time has to do secondary objectives (breakable walls and snuffing boons) lol. Now the killer role is so trashed and feels so stressful that very few people wanna play it, which has increased survivor queue times massively. So making survivors the power role really backfired for Behavior eventually didn't it? It was only a matter of time. They kept favouring the majority (survivors) but forgot they NEED killer players to have dbd.

    I'm not sure if it's that simple.

    At lower MMRs, the killer is the power role for sure. As skill levels rise, survivor becomes the power role, especially with SWF in the mix. At the absolute highest MMRs, playing the best killers, killer and survivor are about even.

    The problem is that the game has a 'blind RNG' nature, where you can basically win or lose games before they even start. A kitted out Nurse or Blight versus a bunch of randos with meme builds - the killer will likely dominate. A full SWF with meta perks and offerings against a Pig - the survivors will dominate.

    That said:

    This number is complete rubbish - it's massively offset by new players. By your logic, Nurse needs a significant buff, because her gross kill rates are really low.

    What needs to happen is:

    • Buffing most killers up to 'A' tier.
    • Giving solo survivors help, to bring them up closer to SWF levels.
    • SWF getting an SBMM tweak, so that SWF teams are matched against better killer players to offset the incredible bonus that coordination and communication provide.
  • I'm not sure if "power role" is actually a real term within game development, but my understanding of the concept of the power role isn't, like... whichever one happens to be stronger?

    The killer cannot be removed from the match, and can only be ran from or briefly stunned. They are, regardless of balance, the power role, because the inherent mechanics at play imbue them with far more sturdiness and inevitability than the survivor role. The fact that certain survivor tools are too strong doesn't make them the power role, it just makes those things too strong.

    I also feel like a lot of people think being the "power role" should mean you win by default and only lose chases if you mess up, which is... pretty obviously silly? It's a video game, skill expression should matter on both sides. In a more balanced version of the game, survivors are still going to have agency in chase and the killer is still going to have to try.

  • @Chilli_man2400 said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953553#Comment_2953553

    survivors might not win every chase against them but they should atleast have some form of counterplay besides doing gens. There was literally nothing to do. Before slingers nerf his ads was .15 seconds. It was humanly impossible to dodge his spear in real time it’s completely impossible. PH when he planted his knife at windows you had 2 situations get hit through window or fake it and he hits you with M1 there was no way to counter that.

    Survivors should have some counterplay to some chases and not completely lose the game. Nurse and blight are extremely strong killers but there counterplay is so fun and engaging that it balances out they have ways to deal with them. Like dodging the blinks or rushs or timing pallet stuns.

    There always is counterplay. Deathslinger's counterplay was ShiftW and losing LOS, like every other ranged Killer.


    Ok, if PH put Survivors in lose-lose situation and got therefore nerfed, why hasn't Demogorgon, which does the exact same thing, tho not trough walls, been nerfed? Maybe because Survivors put themselves in lose-lose situations, not the Killer.

    Survivors control the flow of the chase, Killers can only react. If a Survivor tries to loop PH at an LT wall, we'll, no wonder they got hit

  • @BrokenSouI said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953526#Comment_2953526

    While I completely agree survivors are the power role due to imbalanced map design. There's more then 2 killers that can get the hits they want and need

    Yeah no, I gotta disagree big time.

    The next Killer under Blight is Spirit, and without Add-Ons and maybe a good Map, she can't beat a good 4man

  • Let me fix it for you:


    Does Behaviour regret making very specific SWF groups the power role?


    Maybe what you wanted when you bought this game is watching a cutscene, not play a competitive game?

  • @ThatOneDemoPlayer said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953539#Comment_2953539

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953542#Comment_2953542

    Yeah no, I gotta disagree big time.

    The next Killer under Blight is Spirit, and without Add-Ons and maybe a good Map, she can't beat a good 4man

    So you don’t think someone like pyramid head can compete? He’s crazy strong

  • @BrokenSouI said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953642#Comment_2953642

    Pinhead(add ons), huntress, demo each can get the hits they need to get downs.

    Pyramid also

  • @BrokenSouI said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953642#Comment_2953642

    Pinhead(add ons), huntress, demo each can get the hits they need to get downs.

    No, not really. If the Killer above them strength wise can't deal with 4mans, then they won't be able to either

  • @deKlaw_04 said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953642#Comment_2953642

    So you don’t think someone like pyramid head can compete? He’s crazy strong

    No, his tunneling is good but requires Survivors to step on his Trails, and his 1v1 is pretty easy to dodge, unless Survivors make a big mistake, and it gets countered by DH

  • @ThatOneDemoPlayer said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953645#Comment_2953645

    No, not really. If the Killer above them strength wise can't deal with 4mans, then they won't be able to either

    Can‘t they? Evidence needed.

  • @BrokenSouI said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953652#Comment_2953652

    Maybe. I just don't play him to practice his m2 enough. It feels so clunky compared to rounding a corner and getting a hit with demo as example.

    True but you cannot deny that he has very strong antiloop and can deny both ds and bt. That’s huge

  • @Devilishly_Rowdy said:

    A 1v4 game, anyone would think that the 1 player would be much more powerful than the 4 right? Well not in dbd, here the 4 players are the power role and are favoured by the devs in such a way that they hold the power to "bully" the killer into oblivion. Maps designs always favour them, they get second chances to fix their mistakes and their objective (doing gens) is much faster than the killer's (hooking survivors). The killer who is always out of time has to do secondary objectives (breakable walls and snuffing boons) lol. Now the killer role is so trashed and feels so stressful that very few people wanna play it, which has increased survivor queue times massively. So making survivors the power role really backfired for Behavior eventually didn't it? It was only a matter of time. They kept favouring the majority (survivors) but forgot they NEED killer players to have dbd.

    Dont know why anyone would think that survivor is the powerrole. What power do they have? The power of running away? Scary indeed.If survs would be favored, why dont they get the buff they want, but instead we only get survivor nerfs even on useless stuff for years? Maybe understand that this game isnt a slasher-simualator. Its still the oldschool priciple of horror escape. In every 1vs4 game the ONE will be the stressful role. thats how this genre works out. if you dont like that, play something different, then asymmetrical gameplay isnt for you. your post is just a rant, not a single argument.

  • @BrokenSouI said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953656#Comment_2953656

    They can though. The most important thing you can do to a 4 man is get downs. Huntress, Demo, Pinhead all excel at getting you hits that you wouldn't of otherwise(hits before or over of after pallets/windows)

    Huntress maybe, but that's if she gets a good Map or not, but Demogorgon and Pinhead? Absolutely not.

    As much as I love Demogorgon, he can't deal with a 4man. His Shred is amazing, one of the better "non-Blight/Nurse" 1v1 abilities in the game, but it's not enough to deal with Pallet density and DH validating Shred (which hasn't been fixed so I'm counting it as a base-kit feature).


    Pinhead even more no.

    A C, almost D tier, Killer is nowhere near good enough to beat even a 2man. His 1v1 worthless, barely passable with Impaling Wire and his Box depends solely on the Survivors

  • Does BHVR regret making killers the power role?

    A 1v4 game, anyone would think that the 4 players working together well would be able to outperform the 1. Well not in dbd, here the 1 player is the power role and are favoured by the devs in such a way that they hold the power to completely grief the experience of the 4. Maps designs always favour them, they get second chances to fix their mistakes and the opposing team has no way to communicate despite it being a team game. The survivors who always rely on their solo queue team mates not making game throwing misplays have to constantly try to make effecient decisions despite a lack of information lol. Now the solo survivor role is so trashed and feels so stressful that very few people wanna play it, making SWF groups more common. So making killer the power role really backfired for Behavior eventually didn't it? It was only a matter of time. They kept favouring the majority, groups and killers, but forgot they NEED solo players to have dbd.

  • @BrokenSouI said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953672#Comment_2953672

    Not clear how he can deny BT. But DS, yea.

    I just don't use him to know his strengths. I just know what I'm capable of with the killers I mentioned

    the cages deny bt as well and even then he can get two people at the same time when camping a hook

  • @BrokenSouI said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953683#Comment_2953683

    Impailing wire is exactly what makes him compete lol.

    Demos shred is exactly why he can compete. Especially beings good survivors like to greed pallets and don't usually pre drop instantly. It gives openings for hitting that shred right before they reach the pallet they thought they could make again. Hitting that survivor that is trying for the window. Hitting that survivor at shack that messes up and vaults and there you are waiting for them to come out of the window.

    I only see Impaling Wire help him on indoor Maps, otherwise it's passable at best.


    That requires Survivors to make mistakes, which good Survivors won't do most of the time, and if they do finally make a mistake, it usually isn't enough to win the game

  • @ThatOneDemoPlayer said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953664#Comment_2953664

    Huntress maybe, but that's if she gets a good Map or not, but Demogorgon and Pinhead? Absolutely not.

    As much as I love Demogorgon, he can't deal with a 4man. His Shred is amazing, one of the better "non-Blight/Nurse" 1v1 abilities in the game, but it's not enough to deal with Pallet density and DH validating Shred (which hasn't been fixed so I'm counting it as a base-kit feature).

    Pinhead even more no.

    A C, almost D tier, Killer is nowhere near good enough to beat even a 2man. His 1v1 worthless, barely passable with Impaling Wire and his Box depends solely on the Survivors

    Pallet density is only a problem if the pallets are very safe.

    Having a lot of deadzones is just as bad as having a lot of strong pallets.

    Ideally there should be an even distribution of things for survivors to work with that aren’t incredibly safe.

    You also act like a strong 4-man team should not be able to beat any killer. If 4 people who play together are really good they should have a decent chance of winning.

  • @BrokenSouI said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953656#Comment_2953656

    They can though. The most important thing you can do to a 4 man is get downs. Huntress, Demo, Pinhead all excel at getting you hits that you wouldn't of otherwise(hits before or over of after pallets/windows)

    Huntress - sure. She's also quite high tier.

    Demo and Pinhead - absolutely not. Both have an incredibly telegraphed anti-loop/gap closer that is easy to avoid and extremely punishing for the killer if you manage it.

    @ThatOneDemoPlayer said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953539#Comment_2953539

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953542#Comment_2953542

    Yeah no, I gotta disagree big time.

    The next Killer under Blight is Spirit, and without Add-Ons and maybe a good Map, she can't beat a good 4man

    Spirit is only really good with the MDR+Blossom combo, which is an iri and an ultra-rare. Without them, she's...iffy.

    I'd reckon Artist is much more consistent, and I'd probably put Plague up there too.

  • @BrokenSouI said:

    https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2953707#Comment_2953707

    Oh you mean pulling them from a cage. Got ya.

    Maybe I'll practice him someday. You've seen my pinhead and demo though 😂

    I have seen your demo and pinhead gameplay. Way better than mine. But if you ever play pyramid head then I’ll be there for sure

  • I don’t think Behaviour believes they did.

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