A New Focal Point of Balance
To clarify before I start, this is not a post with lots of balance ideas like buffs for this characters or nerfs for this perk. This post is just a suggestion to switch the developers' perspective.
The current goal of Dead by Daylight balance is 2 Kills and 2 Escapes.
Personally this seems like a very lofty idea and is rather unrealistic. Instead, I propose that we shift towards something more grounded and possible. Switching from 2 Kills and 2 Escapes, to 4 Escapes or 4 Kills. The balance of power between the Killer and Survivors is always a rocky road to say the least. Especially since there is a lot of variance in player skill and knowledge across ranks. Expecting all matches to end in a similar 2 Kill and 2 Escapes fashion is absurd, and leads to player frustration when it doesn't.
A lot of Dead by Daylight's problems seem to stem from the fact Behavior is trying to force the Killer to be on par with the Survivors and vice versa. When a much simpler and easier solution would be that one is much stronger than the other, then balancing the game around the expectation that one side is at a major disadvantage.
Situation A (4 Escapes)
Survivors are much more powerful than the Killer by default. As such the Killer will less often kill the survivors, but more so torture and injure them. The Killer would be heavily rewarded for diversifying their targets and maximizing their scare factor across the Survivor group. In this situation kills are very rare, less of a Killer and more of a torturer.
Situation B (4 Kills)
Survivors are much weaker than the Killer by default. Now actions by Survivors are rewarded much more kindly, and rewards for switching up targets as Killer are still great. Being focused as Survivors compensates tremendous points and is ill rewarded as a Killer. In this situation escapes are very rare, more realistic that 4 nobodies are quickly killed off by a super natural Killer powered by another dimensional god.
Either would be a better balance focal point than the currently unattainable 2 Kills and 2 Escapes every game.
Personally, I feel that Situation A (4 Escapes) would be best. The power role would be that of Survivors to more incentivize playing it, as it is desperately needed in a asymmetrical 1 vs 4 for way more players to be in the "4" role. Killers would still receive greater total rewards because it would still be the more complex and difficult role.
Comments
Some might get in some jump scares, but no one is scared of them, rather what they can do.
I.e. some people might dread when the nurse, or doctor is the killer.
Even if they were scary, and they probably were at one time, once you go through a haunted house enough, it will eventually stop being scary.
Survivors are already in a power role. Especially in SWF.
Especially with the new perks, and buffs so far in PTB.
Whether the Killer or Survivors currently hold the power role isn’t important.
The point is, because neither role is indisputably in control, it creates problems for balance depending on the player’s skill level.
SWF groups are dominant, yes. However they’re not dominant enough to allow certain balance changes.
The same is true for a normal Killer versus solo survivors.