Gen Efficiency has become a really big problem in DBD, has anybody else felt it?

FrostySeal

I'm not one to usually complain about this problem, but now that basically every viable gen regression perk has been nuked from orbit what can I do against really gen efficent teams? I've noticed how fast the gens are flying in my games with some Killers, so what am I missing? Even if the teams I go against are mediocre in chase all they have to do is hold W and go to a few tiles and that's enough to put me in a losing position which feels incredibly awful to go against.

Obviously, if I'm playing a Killer I main like Blight, Hillbilly, Twins, or Oni then sure, I'll have good games because they either have extremely good map pressure and chase (Blight, Billy) or force survivors to focus on healing (Twins, Oni) but otherwise, if I'm playing Dredge, Trickster, or even Wesker what am I suppose to do? Is there some super secret meta build I'm missing that'll make gens not constantly fly off the handles? Am I supposed to never get a bad map that'll cause me to lose? Am I not allowed to make even a single mistake in game?

I have 3000 hours in the game yet this really does feel like the first time playing anybody B-tier and below feels completely awful and meta is mandatory to make a game last more than 6 minutes. It's beyond crazy, I don't wanna constantly stick to meta but what else am I supposed to do?

mizark3

I think gen efficiency is a problem, but in a different way. Grouping up on gens is less effective than soloing. Grouping up on gens is also more beneficial for the Killer since they get to displace 2+ Survs for the cost of 1 gen being interrupted. If we want to give the Killer the greater reward (interrupt a multi-person gen), we need it encouraged more.

As far as gen timers and slowdown, I had little issue winning (the majority of my games) back with 80s gens and no CA's for DS, so I think it ultimately is a playstyle issue. I haven't changed my playstyle (aim for 8 hook before kill), and it has only gotten easier. As a result of it getting easier, the Survivors panic and have to sweat to stand a chance, so in return I see more and more juicy items. The juicy items games basically mean I have a chance at a loss, and the itemless games are basically free wins. MMR should account for items (for Survs, and add-ons for Killers) and perks in the calculation.

TheSubstitute

@jesterkind said:

I don't think there's a particularly huge issue with gen efficiency at the moment, no. I do think that toolboxes are unbalanced, but that is kind of its own thing, not related to gen efficiency.

You're asking for some advice in the original post, so I figure I might as well post some of my own. Generator efficiency on the survivor side is something that your minute-to-minute goal as a killer is to interrupt: Basic, bread-and-butter good killer gameplay involves spreading pressure by occupying multiple survivors at once. The most straightforward and broadly applicable example I can give is to imagine the following:

One survivor is on a hook, you're chasing another survivor, and a third survivor peels off their generator to go get the save. For the duration of this situation, you only have one survivor on generators, bringing their overall efficiency down by a whopping 75%. It doesn't last very long, but it's repeatable and effective. If you manage to get that down before someone actually gets the save, you're in an even better position.

This general concept can be expanded out in a multitude of ways. Some killers - quite a few, these days - have side objectives in their power that can occupy even that fourth survivor with good play; Pig, for example, can have everyone off gens if she's good at keeping up chase pressure, because the fourth survivor who would be on gens might be searching a box instead.

It doesn't require those side objectives, though. If you're playing a stealth killer (or you're gambling a little on a stealth build), you can force survivors to heal for fear of being oneshot out of nowhere, as another example. You can run a full-hex build to keep survivors looking for totems, though that has the risk of backfiring if they find totems before you get the ball rolling. You can combine both, if you feel nasty!

I'll break this down into a few bullet points so I'll stop being so wordy:

• Your job is to occupy multiple survivors and damage their gen efficiency
• You do this by forcing them to act on something that isn't generators- for example, saves, healing, totems, side objectives in a power, etc
• You also need to learn the win conditions and strengths of your killer, and what risks they can afford to take; Blight and Billy have the mobility to spend searching areas or crossing the map, some other killers don't
• To that end, I wouldn't recommend stacking slowdown, and would heavily recommend information. Getting into chases quicker AND knowing which gens are being worked on + what survivors are doing is crucial for playing the macro game effectively
• Chase perks that mitigate certain resources can be useful too, if your chases are too long

Killers, currently, have a HUGE toolbox to rummage around in and a lot of viable methods of getting work done. It's just a case of figuring out what works for you, what perks complement your strengths and shore up your weaknesses, and what your killer is capable of, all while remembering that generator efficiency is something you are meant to disrupt, not exclusively your perks.

This is the answer right here OP. Occupy the time of multiple survivors to slow down gens whether it be healing, being chased, unhooking, etc and that disrupts gen efficiency. As time goes on the more survivors lose their resources (eg pallets, hook states) and the more the odds shift to you.

As an example if I have one person slugged, one hooked, one unhooking and picking up the slug and the other in chase what's not being done? Generators. If I can keep on rotating between survivors what happens? I win. If I focus on chasing the strong looper at a tile of their choosing because they clicked their flashie at me or teabagged while the other three survivors are on gens and I don't stop them what happens? I lose.

Don't be afraid to drop chase and hit strong loopers instead when they're out of position and don't have a strong tile to help them. Don't let survivors pick the chases for you; pick the battleground instead.