Grind, Progression, Survivors feeling generic, Game balance
So I've been playing a lot recently and just had some ideas, didn't know who to tell or where to put them so i'll dump them here in case anyone is interested in the opinions of some sweaty dumpster baby.
Now despite how people feel about the game in terms of balance and whatnot, i want to just talk about a core thing that has been in the game since the beginning of time, the Bloodweb. It feels normal to me after years of this game but recently i've gotten some buddies into the game and they are all sitting around scratching their head like what kinda level up system is this and i thought about it and they got a point. Different character which are basically for cosmetic purposes with a handful of "unique perks" that become generic after prestige 1. Nothing is special about them and i wish there was. Like some sorta system that made each character unique.
Now i'm just gonna pitch this idea out there so let me know what you guys think. Every character having separate progression by playing, All BP from match gets pumped into character played, no blood web. BP is XP but also currency for that character like favor for the entity, you cash in between games to bring in an item, 2 addons like a shop. Offerings are removed for the most part, no more bp offerings, hooks, chest, spawn modifiers, item/addon saving wards or moris. Use the offering system as a map vote, all option always available. The killer being one person and being the entities favorite gets a bigger say than the survivors with having higher map vote percentage.
the vote should work like this: killer brings offering with 50% chance, if he/she choses to brings nothing survivors get the to vote, if he brings a ward it will be random map regardless of survivors influence
each survivor with offering 12.5% chance that way so if all survivors pick the same map its 50/50. if none vote killer gets his choice, if 3 or more bring a ward it will be random regardless of killers influence or other survivors, 2 or less wards will count as a no vote for the people bringing in wards and for each no vote under 4 split their % with other survivors
ie. only 1 vote 50%
2 votes 25% each
3 votes 16.67% each
4 votes 12.5% each
all these values double if killer doesn't vote or bring a ward.
As for perks well i think all generic perks should be available max level for everyone
As for character specific well that's where the big part of my idea comes in.
Each survivor should have an identity, they should have class and and there 4 perks corresponding to them and their class. The classes specializing in one of the four categories in DBD:
Strategist (objective) , Altruist, Survivalist, and Tough Guy/Gal (boldness)
I don't think it should matter which survivor you play because i think giving specific character classes would be to taxing on the game atm without serious overhaul. but if they did add a class system i think it would fundamentally improve the game 1 of each class per team and an with each class the corresponding item meaning only 1 of each item per team a toolbox for Strategist, Medikit for Altruist, Survivalist gets a key and Tough Guy/Gal gets a flashlight now how perks and perk combos would work maybe they could assign perks to specific classes so only a survivor who is the altruist can run something like botany this way no duplicate perks everyone runs different perks beside generic ones and maybe the survivor can run their teachable regard less of class this way when you see a survivor. you can identify them and potential perks. so if a Meg came into a lobby with a medikit you would know ok she can have her perk, generic perks, altruistic perks or a combination of these perks. I feel like this would dramatically improve game balance and increase creativity in builds now I also think duplicate survivors should not be allowed with this system for 2 reasons: 1 no duplicate teachables and 2 identification, I feel like a killer should know who is who. this would work for new players because the game already gives you the 4 classes when you first start DBD Dwight is Strategist, Meg is Tough Guy/Gal, Claudette is Altruist and Jake is Survivalist. All the pieces for this system are in the game, the devs just need to put it together. Now this idea of mine isn't perfect and could use revision but i feel it could improve the game a lot if given a chance. there are probably a few things i might of missed lmk in the comments but i think this idea is a solid foundation in which to begin improving the game.
Now I have a couple other ideas that could improve the game in terms of balance that could go very nicely with the ideas above.
im not gonna go too in-depth on these but ill just drop them with my rationalization and you all can let me know what yall thin in the comments.
Self care baseline you can heal your self at 25% speed all the time this can give last survivors a chance to do things on their own or finish an unfinished heal. I can't see too much of a down side on either side killers wouldnt care cause realistically if i were killer i'd rather a survivor waste 50 seconds healing in a corner than doing a gen anyway and survivors get an additional option in dire situations.
slower recovery speed but the ability to always pick self out of dying state. this can stop 4 man slugging to some extent it takes roughly 30 seconds to recovery rn so i think making it 45-60 seconds but being able to pick your self up is good this can stop alot of unfun games from happening cause my philosophy is perks are complementary not a make or break system. a game should not be over in 1 minute cause a nurse brought in starstruck, got a 4 man slug and no one brought unbreakable. game over gg :o
no struggle skill checks... they are not hard they don't emphasize skill all it does is give toxic players a fast track out of the game just have them hang i feel like it seems redundant and only allow place to Ragequit without dcing
killers who damage gens take 10% current regression every break action this gives killers power up close which they should have being the scary mfs this is more for lower tier killers with low mobility with the ability to apply more pressure on the gens they are near since they can't get around. yes high mobility killers can use it but if they stick around they A aren't using their power and are leaving other gens open or are running around kicking gens but aren't chasing anyone. some one like trapper can apply pressure to near by gens while setting up shop if someone trys to do gens near by he can hinder their progress a bit
Redistributing power taking alook at killer addons and powers. we need to take a look at weaker killers like trapper or clown and find ways to improve them and make them more competitive and take nurse and make her not game breaking cause i think her busted days should be over she is just on a different caliber than every other killer. i know i played religiously back in the day to get 4ks and jerk off my ego but ive stopped its not fun i rarely get less than a 4k and their is no challenge and on the other hand playing against a good nurse is oppressive and unfun there is counter play, counter play against bad nurses but good luck trying to have chases longer than 15 seconds against a really good nurse. her skill expression is too high which im sorry to the people who like those kind of killer but it needs to be change a she can be the worst killer by a huge margin or the best also by a huge margin depending on the player which to me seems unhealthy its not good when perks are getting nerf because of one killer. a cool power i thought of for her that could keep the character feeling somewhat similar is making her more of a ghost. she can hold her breath and traverse in the walls of the map giving her more fun, sneaky and spooky playstyle but ill let someone else figure out what to do with her.
As a killer player i feel like no specific or general fix could help them i think its more of a case by case since all killers have different ways of playing but i feel for killers bad stuff should be improved, strong stuff should be turned down and variety should be a priority make all perks viable and addons too. allow killer players to be creative just so they aren't forced to play with certain perks or addons because they can't survive without the meta perks which is understandable gen speed can be an issue on alot of killers and some times perks end up being Band-Aids to fix killer problems cause they can't have good games without them.
Anyway im out of steam and my brain is now mush so imma leave this here and feel free to drop your guys opinions and ideas.
Comments
Oh and make shattered hope on killers baseline maybe make the perk expose people in boon range for 30 seconds or something
I can see a lot of stuff working but I doubt you'll ever see a complete overhaul like that. The one thing I'll point out is the basekit baby unbreakable is something I'd give a hard no to. Slugging is a necessity at times. Sabo and altruism squads that bomb the killer as they try to hook can make it almost impossible to get a hook if well-executed. The only defense against this is often slugging enough of them out so that you can safely get your hook. This can take some time. Also for those of us who try not to tunnel someone out of the game, slugging is an alternative when we run up against a survivor who was just unhooked. We generate pressure by keeping them from working on a gen plus getting a second survivor off of gens to come rescue them. They get to stay in the game and continue playing when they get up, and we get some precious time to find that immersed Claudette that's been eluding us for three gens.
A better option would be to look at how those quick 4-man slugs happen in the first place and address that, while giving survivors an option to speed up the bleed out for endgame 4-man slugs.
i think nurse with exposed perks is the big slugging problem most other 4 man slugging is just survivors playing stupid MOST not all also remember my mini unbreakable would be meant for my changes meaning no bully squads only one toolbox for sabos and no dupiclate perks meaning bodyblocking is alot more detrimental with only one person to sabo with tool box and only one dedicated healer with one medikit