3 Biggest Problems In DbD Today.
I still really, really like this game but I'm finding it harder and harder to log on right now - and if it wasn't for that bonkers Artist skin, I'd probably be taking a hiatus.
Why? Well, probably the major reasons are:
- Ragequits. I'm about the nicest killer you'll meet. I don't camp, I try not to tunnel and I generally at least give hatch or gate to the final survivor, unless they've been BM. I still see at least 1 person bailing very early in some form in maybe half my matches, completely sabotaging it. If it's not a DC, then it's a suicide on the first hook. If it's not a suicide, then it's someone going AFK in a locker. And that's with me usually bringing flans. This completely ruins the game for the other 4 players; the remaining 3 survivors have to play out an unwinnable game and I either have to ease up or just wipe them out. Zero fun for all involved. Honestly, this is my single biggest gripe with the game. We really need a Leaverbuster system or something, because the current DC penalties are pathetic.
- The grind. Yes, the changes helped somewhat, but some of my favorite playstyles rely on specific, game-style changing addons, like Vanity Mirror, many of which are ridiculously rare. Due to the prestige changes, these are even rarer than before, and I have to spend a horrible amount of BP to sustain it.
- Hide and Seek. Similar to #1, there's a trend of the last 2 survivors refusing to play the game out and instead stealthing around the map to artificially stall it out, I guess in the hopes that I get annoyed and leave. If it's done cleverly, they'll never get AFK crows and on bigger maps/killers without some sort of detection, it can be almost impossible to find them. Apparently this is 'taking the game hostage', but I've never even found anecdotal evidence of anyone being actioned for this nonsense.
Ugh.
Comments
I find #3 to be absolutely terrible. It’s such a waste of everyone’s time…
1) I can agree with... or the Survivors just throw themselves at you
2) I haven't played the game in a while so I don't have any experience (or feeling) on that... so I'll take your word for it
3) The game was designed around stealthy play from the Survivors (there're even perks and base gameplay as proof)
To fix 1) would be to increase the penalty or the player needs to realize that they aren't having any fun and walk away from the game (take a break)
To fix 2) increase the BP gain... remove the 50,000 BP for prestiging... and add a "bloodstore" to buy and "sell" what you don't use for BP
To fix 3) well you can't... unless BHVR wants to recode the game... or not give BP for escaping through the hatch
Just my 2 cents
What bothers me the most is the fact that we have to grind the generic perks again on the characters that we have already unlocked.
Actually the (3) can be easily fixed. Similarly to another assymetrical game in the same genre, they could create a mechanic that reveals the survivors/killer's auras for a while, if there hasn't been any survivor-killer interaction for a few minutes. If not aura, then killer instinct.
I can't agree completely and would change it to:
Unhealthy strategies are all filthy and annoying behaviorus, like ragequits, camping and tunneling. Until there are any punishments, nothing would change. Although camping is fairly easy to determine, detect ragequit is harder. Am I killing myself so my teammate could find hatch? Or I was trying to jump off the hook because I'm stupid?
Hiding - not so much. I don't know how it is possible to hide for a long time, unless you're sweaty and don't kill third survivor. For two survivors hiding indefinetely is extremely hard, never saw it in my experience or on streams.
Grind, nothing to say, for the new players I think game is too overwhelming, it is literally pay-2-win. Even more like pay-and-grind-bp-2-win.
Many challenges are super frustrating (like survivor ones) and often require to throw a game. It maybe ok to throw game as a killer, but as a survivor you letting down 3 other people.
Cheating is cheating.
4, facecamp into tunnel
3, has also survivor being hostage version where killer won't let other survivor bleed out and last survivor hides (leaving downed survivor be a hostage).
For me personally #2 is not a big deal, because I don't play no mirror meyers, but I can feel you
Stalling the game out indefinitely so that the killer has to DC is not a valid playstyle.
I mean hiding in general. Maybe if you don't work on any objectives for X amount of time you give the killer a notification of where you are.
The problem is that savvy survivors will stealth around, then work a bit on a totem (not finishing it, just doing enough not to get AFK crows) then hop back into a locker somewhere sneaky.
If you're playing Pig or something, you will never find them.
My biggest problem are killers who tunnel and camp. The game is already completely killer sided now because of too many spoiled & entitled players who can't play killer properly needing things made as easy as possible for them instead of learning the hard way (from mistakes) like I and other skilled veterans did. And on top of that, they STILL tunnel and camp and it's disgusting, especially when you're a veteran of the game and get paired with new players who let you die on 1st or 2nd hook as has been the case with me. After this happens 3-4 games in a row and the game happens to put me near the killer (which happens very often to me), I end up killing myself or DC'ing because I've had enough, so I don't blame survivors 1 bit for doing that if they're experiencing the same thing. Yeah it sucks if you don't do that as a killer but remember, you don't know what kind of match(es) a player who DC's just had. I can see tunneling or camping when there are only 1 or 2 gens left and the killer has barely hooked anyone by that point as a result of a bad map or hook spawns, but doing it at the start of the match should be stopped by giving hooked players unlimited time on hook so long as the killer camps and giving unhooked players a good 2-3 minutes of endurance so the killer can't just wait out the 10 or so seconds of endurance they get automatically or with Borrowed Time. There's no reason a killer should hook a player that soon after hooking them unless that player was toxic or abused horrendous loops (with or without flashlights or things like Boil Over when hook spawns are also horrendous) like the ones on Haddonfield.
This is not even taking into account how easy/unbalanced so many new & even not so new killers are and how impossible/futile it is to go against them, Killers like Wraith, Legion, Dredge, Artist, Wesker, Trickster, etc. I'm seeing a new trend of camping and tunneling Wraiths, which is disgusting considering how fast he already is and how he doesn't have a terror radius when cloaked. Then on top of it, many of these camper/tunnelers also shamelessly bring his iridescent add-ons (which are completely broken) making it even worse. These killers need a major nerfing, especially after the survivor perk rework and how weak so many perks like Dead Hard (worthless now if lag is a problem for you), Spine Chill, Self Care, and several others are now. Why was Self Care made slower without Sloppy Butcher being reverted to its former status of not making you lose all heal progress if you stop healing? How is this balanced? Then you have Legion and pretty much every other killer using that perk and with BBQ & Chili if someone's hooked while you're in mid-heal, say goodbye. It's completely unfair.
As a player who plays both killer and survivor, I just don't see how any player can get a satisfying experience when the game is completely rigged in their favor with the perk rework, using easy killers, and for those who camp & tunnel, use those strats. The only time I use those killers is for dailies or when I have a challenge that doesn't require sacrifices or moris because there's no fun when you can destroy an entire team with minimal effort. Legion should simply not be allowed to use Sloppy Butcher and Thanatophobia. At least not in the base form. If this game is ever to be fixed to be balanced properly, 2 things need to happen:
1) The game needs to be split into Solo Queue Mode & SWF mode. The current system (post perk rework) is fair for SWF players because it balances the game towards killers who are against 3 or 4 survivors who are likely in communication and have that huge advantage. Meanwhile killers & survivors in the solo queue should have perks at the status they were prior to the rework because the solo queue experience now is beyond abysmal. It's downright rotten.
2) Perks need to be adjusted per killer. Yes this would take a lot of effort, but there is no way in hell that killer characters of various abilities deserve to have perks work for them in the same manner. Thanatophobia being used by a Legion should not be anywhere near the same power as that perk being used by a Nurse or almost any other killer. Also add-ons should affect perk strengths, so that a Scratched Mirror Myers using Thanatophobia or Sloppy Butcher, resulting in a survivor staying in 1 spot to heal for a longer period of time & being more susceptible to being found by such a Myers due to the longer heal time, should have a weaker effect on that Myers match than a Myers not using the Scratched or Vanity Mirrors. Lethal Pursuer should not have the same effect for a Myers with Judith's Tombstone (esp with Fragrant Tuft of Hair too) given how quickly survivors can be found to build up the stalk to quickly kill everyone. Every perk needs to be tailored per killer with other perks, add-ons and perhaps even the map chosen by the game factoring in to determine the strengths and effects of each perk brought to every single match. I don't ever see this happening though since I don't see BHVR caring enough to put in the work needed to get this done. But this would be the best change possible and could make the game fun for everyone again. It would also mean a much wider use of perks and a killing of the whole meta perk idea since no perk would work the same on more than 1 killer and wouldn't even work the same on an individual killer based on the add-ons and other perks being used. In my opinion the perk rework just because BHVR was tired of the same meta perks being used was an incredibly stupid reason to change the perks. If they wanted to avoid the same perks always being brought, then they would have implemented this very idea. Because guess what? There are now new meta perks and I bet the same thing will happen with them given enough time.
To counteract camping or tunneling Wraiths, I would suggest doing what was done with Iron Will with how killers can now hear injured survivors who use Iron Will but at a lower volume. Give him a terror radius but make its volume lower. Also have his uncloak time be dependent on how near he is to a hooked survivor (within 10m or less makes uncloaking much slower, 10-20m would be slightly slower and beyond 20m is normal uncloak where it would depend on his position at the start of the uncloak action). If hook spawns are too far, then tailor it so it's faster uncloak or make walking speed faster (faster walking speed when hook spawns are bad should apply to all killers). These are the types of things that can fix this game because right now it's completely broken and unbalanced. It was nothing like this 3 years ago and back then the hatch mechanics were much more in favor of survivors, yet killers for the most part did not play like they do now. The most sickening thing is that I don't play like that and yet I don't get the playstyle I use as killer against survivors when I play survivor. When I learned killer, I did it by getting my butt handed to me a lot of times and it taught me the proper way so that now I can get 4K's with killers like Myers (my main), The Twins, Huntress, Trapper, Oni, Clown, Spirit, and others that require skill to play without camping (which I only reserve for toxic players). These campers & tunnelers have to learn how to take a loss and try again. Nobody, not even the best killers, win every match and it's that knowing how to lose with respect that will make them better killers in the future because camping and tunneling will never make you better. It just shows how bad & lazy of a player one is.