MMR Ethical Dilemmas
I play on Switch so if another Switch player joins my lobby, I can see their play activity.
So far today, I have been matched with people, who according to their profile:
First played 53 minutes ago
First played 5 days ago
Played for 5 hours or more
Played for 20 hours or more
I dodge the lobby instantly, but since I already hit Iridescent I for Survivor this season, I'm wondering if I should stay and try to help them.
The problem is they often try to unhook themselves and go to second stage, constantly miss skill checks and I really don't know how to guide them.
I'm also getting baby Survivors as Killer, I try to let them win, but most DC.
I should not have to lobby shop like this, but if anyone has suggestions on how I can help these new players without voice chat, please chime in.
Comments
Honestly there isn't much yu can do except do what you can to make sure you (and as many of them) escape as possible. Guide by example, and worst case scenario you will raise your personal MMR and get those newer players less and less.
Wow... You see Switch players in your lobbies!? I think I've only ever seen 2 in any of my Switch games. So I'd be inclined to stick around regardless of their hours just for the novelty.
I have about 750 hours on PC but only about 150 on Switch. So I guess there's a slim possibility they might have more hours on a different platform. Pretty unlikely though.
I get plenty of low hour players in my lobbies (maybe the MMR is trying to tell me I've not improved one bit in 700 hours?). So I tend to expect getting a variety of teammate skill levels. That's just the Solo Q experience and nothing will probably change that. I don't think you can do much to help them learn, either.
You could bring an altruistic anti-tunnelling build and go for the saves to keep them alive for longer (Borrowed Time, We'll Make It, We're Gonna Live Forever and Kindred maybe?).
I don't think lobby shopping makes it any better tbh. There's a streamer I watch sometimes out of interest who plays survivor and lobby shops his team. Yet the team he shops for inevitably ends up letting him down anyway (or he let's them down, he's sadly not a good team mate). I could be way off but I never check team mates hours and yet always feel like matchmaking tends to give two team mates on par with or slightly better in skill than the killer, and two less experienced survivors. I sometimes get teams that I feel are perfectly on par with me but they are so so rare.
I get nervous when I see other switch players. Not that you know, I'm worried about their skill level. It's just that I'm like an OG switch dbd switch player that played the game ever since it first became available on switch. So my hours most likely will be much higher than others. Literally rivals PC players in terms of hours. I just love the game. Lol!
You will not like to hear this but you're not doing them any favors in helping them escape.
It might feel good for a match but then they go against someone who is potentially even better than their last killer. This is a big flaw with MMR. You helping out baby survivors actually punishes them because the game doesn't care how someone won the game. Just that they did.
The best thing you can do as a killer, is to try not be a jerk and maybe give them a few opportunities to get some BP before you kill them. As a survivor, there isn't much you can do, honestly. Just play the game like normal and hope for the best, I guess.
It's rare, but when I face a group of Survivors who have clearly been screwed by the MR system, I tend to play the Trial by chasing each Survivor in turn and hook each Survivor twice (or until their final state, if they aren't rescued soon enough), then showing I'm friendly and either doing faux chases, getting then to stun and do gens under pressure.
There's zero pleasure in destroying a clearly inexperienced team and we're trying to keep people in the game, so I can't see a sane reason to just be a twat when you know they clearly have been screwed.
It's worth noting on switch that playtime count resets if you reset your console or get a new one.
Keep in mind, that COULD be an alternate account. I myself have a Switch account, along with steam and PS5. It could also be a baby survivor/killer... but they might surprise you with game sense that surpasses what their shown gametime would otherwise indicate.
Same. Something that I noticed in this cases, though, is the UTTER inexperience of this players. Sometimes when I hook someone the second time and basically RUN to the other side of the map and hide there, the others are too afraid to go for the unhook. Its really depressing to see someone dying on hook with you not even pressuring anyone. It has been said a couple of times, but this game is really, really bad at explaining its basics and it couldn't hurt to revise the basic tutorials and add some advice about common tactics or how stuff actually works.
The game would benefit greatly from some video demonstrations. The argument could be made that people can watch YouTube, but it's not a streamers job to do so and streamers such as Otz, Scott and others may tend to make videos which help newcomers adjust.
However, this would be something the game would do well to bring in. They could actually take inspiration from "The Sims", which has tutorials for every aspect and (I think) demo videos for certain plays. Just a simple menu where you could get some info about looping, vaulting, jungle gyms and such. Even put a Skill Check practicer in place! It would all help.