Are Disconnect Penalties Really Necessary?

Cornil

I've played hundreds and hundreds of matches since the DC penalty was added, including the "giving up" penalty if you AFK or purposefully get killed as a survivor. I've found that in both my killer and survivor games it hasn't reduced the amount of people disconnecting at all. In fact, it seems like there are more disconnects in my matches than ever before.

If BHVR refuses to balance the game properly, and is going to keep adding unfun and tedious events that are easy to abuse by problematic players (SWFs), and make solo-queue players get curb stomped, why even have the penalty? It's just slowly killing the playerbase by making players who DC just go play a different game. In my opinion, its like putting stitches on a papercut. If enough players disconnect from games eventually they'll probably end up quitting DBD outright, or eventually finding themselves in a state where they won't be so frustrated. They'll at least feel like they have a choice whether or not they have to play the game they queued for. This is a casual game for crying out loud, not Counterstrike, not Valorant, not Rainbow Six. Not everyone wants to play like their whole family is on the line every match. Ultimately, they will disconnect either way, the penalty is just encouraging them not to boot the game back up.

I sometimes have the most miserable matches ever as killer, 15+ minutes long of grueling sweaty nonsense where I either barely win by a hair, or lose abysmally. After eating a third dead-hard and a second decisive strike, on my 18th pallet kicked, all on a C tier M1 killer that has zero map mobility or ranged ability, why can't I just give survivors the win and DC? Is it really necessary to take my rank grade a full level down and give me an incrementally larger cooldown? I mean I'll give them the BP I don't care, I just want out at that point, but they keep the game going no matter what. I've seen numerous killers I've faced just go AFK at that point so they can't be farmed for BP. But when the roles are reversed, and I obliterate a bully squad in the first 5 minutes because they misplayed their flashlight or pallet saves, they just DC anyway and the one or two randoms in the lobby are stuck with bots. How is it fair that people who abide by the penalties have to suffer because the penalties do nothing to discourage the toxic players these changes were intended for?

If people don't want to play, I say let them not play. At least then I can play against bots, or go next as killer. Until they create a proper MMR system or get some real balancing in the game's current meta, nothing will change, penalty or no penalty everyone is rage-quitting left right and center, and I can't blame them. There's nothing currently to enjoy in the game on either side. Killer's either get bullied, or survivors get steamrolled at 4 gens.

And before you downvote me I'm asking a serious question, I've always been a fan of MintSkull and he basically released a statement today that he's stepping back from DbD because of almost all the reasons I listed here. Poor balance, monotonous meta, entitled survivors that DC either way. I want a genuine discussion here, because I'm on the brink of quitting the game myself.

edit: got stuck in the ground while i was typing this, 10/10 event. How is this acceptable for the 10th anniversary of all years? I also just played a Knight game just now and halfway through the match (was unbreakable pallets as the modifier) my guards just became unable to walk through downed pallets and would just walk into them until their chase timer ran out. I wonder how many DC penalties are being handed out just from bugs alone this event

Jylppy

No they aren't. People will anyways give up and do nothing if the game doesn't go their way and they don't wanna play so what is the difference? There is no difference. DC penalites will never encourage people to try and if you think so, you are just delusional

Brimp

@Jylppy said:

No they aren't. People will anyways give up and do nothing if the game doesn't go their way and they don't wanna play so what is the difference? There is no difference. DC penalites will never encourage people to try and if you think so, you are just delusional

They absolutely are. Without them it only encourages the mindset more of "I don't like this so I'ma just quit" which is NOT what they game should push. You're playing a PVP game where your input is required for the success of your team as well where you can't rejoin mid match. If this was PVE it would be very reasonable to have no penalties but for a PVP it's absolutely necessary.

Carth

@Cornil said:

https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/4095493#Comment_4095493

I mean, that's kinda the whole point of this discussion. When I play survivor, people leaving is what ruins my match. I don't want to stay in a match where the killer will just slug me for the 4k or tunnel me out because someone ragequit and I'm left with a bot as a teammate who refuses to unhook if the killer is within 40 meters of the hook. I think it'd only be fair that if one, or maybe to be more modest two players quit, then I should be able to abandon.

https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/4095520#Comment_4095520

The problem with your argument here is that, as someone who has played all of those games (other than Valorant), the comparisons made don't really work. Who is trolling in Competitive mode on CS or R6 and not getting flamed, kicked, or teamkilled by the randoms on their team?

The whole point of that sentence from my post is that I didn't sign up to play competitive Dead By Daylight when I clicked the play button on the menu in the normal gamemode or the anniversary event. And yet people will rage quit at the first sign of the match going sour. They don't even wait to see it play out, if their teammates can recover for them by doing an extra gen, getting a good save, and what not. I've seen people get downed, disconnect before the killer even picks them up, just for the bot to then get flashlight saved. No amount of disconnect penalty can truly prevent them from being that entitled and easily angered. The more you increase the penalties, it'll just mean the less they'll play the game. Which hey, maybe in the long run, that will be the healthiest thing for the game. But the other side of that coin is killer matches where survivors do the objectives at the slowest speed possible and basically just 3v1 you in chase for 10+ minutes straight to make you miserable and ensure you can't play the game normally, since the killer objective is hooks. Killers are the center of the match's flow, they determine everything and survivors merely react to it and have to play around the killer. So if the killer is not having fun, the game is just over. Hence why BHVR hasn't added killer bots to the main game yet, just 2v8. It would be more or less redundant in normal pubs.

It's probably a big ask, but if there were a proper implementation of a not abusable surrender feature/condition of sorts, for killer and survivor, like when teammates DC or as killer when you haven't gotten a single hook in about 5 to 10 minutes, you'd be allowed to abandon, I'd feel like I have more control over my enjoyment of the game. I wouldn't feel so contingent on getting teammates or opponents that are good sports and aren't just going to hold me hostage or sabotage my chances of escaping.

"Who is trolling in X game" ?

Uhh literally people arguing in the same vein as you? "Its a game bro calm down", "I'll pick who I want to pick", "I have a main, I'm not counter picking or reacting to the enemy team countering me, deal with it." You don't get to play solo in team based pvp games and get away scott free just cause. If you would get mad at someone throwing in those games why would you not get mad at someone throwing in DBD?

Your_Dad_Playing_DbD

@Jylppy said:

No they aren't. People will anyways give up and do nothing if the game doesn't go their way and they don't wanna play so what is the difference? There is no difference. DC penalites will never encourage people to try and if you think so, you are just delusional

DC penalties don’t force people to try, but at least they keep chronic quitters from playing the game. That’s a win

Chrarcq

Not only are they necessary but they also currently are too lenient.

UnicornMedal

@GentlemanFridge said:

https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/4095596#Comment_4095596

I’m not entirely sure if this is what you’re referring to, but it’s false that you have to keep the game running to make the penalty go down.

You do need to ‘activate’ the penalty by attempting to queue before it starts ticking down, tho.

Are you saying it continues to count down passively after you start it? If so, very bizarre.

Wezqu

@UnicornMedal said:

https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/4095647#Comment_4095647

Are you saying it continues to count down passively after you start it? If so, very bizarre.

Its always been like that before the penalty started right after the DC happened but as that did not really effect those that did it when they stopped playing as they were not going to play anyway Behavior changed it to only start the next time you press ready. So if you press ready and the counter starts counting down the time that is literally real life time so the game does not need to be on to it to count down.

UnicornMedal

@Wezqu said:

https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/4095998#Comment_4095998

Its always been like that before the penalty started right after the DC happened but as that did not really effect those that did it when they stopped playing as they were not going to play anyway Behavior changed it to only start the next time you press ready. So if you press ready and the counter starts counting down the time that is literally real life time so the game does not need to be on to it to count down.

How deceptive of them. I'm a little impressed.

HexSlugged

@cogsturning said:

https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/4095453#Comment_4095453

My guess is there's either a base MMR that can't be dropped below or it takes hundreds of matches. I wouldn't expect changes that quickly. There are only four brackets. You likely stay in one for awhile. The amount of MMR you lose also depends on your opponents' MMR.

 I'm just proposing that the penalties don't seem to mitigate it meaningfully, at least in my experience.

if that's the case then the penalities don't need to go away, they need to change. But I personally think it's the way the game feels that's the issue.

I believe this game's biggest attitude issue is the lack of killers feeling rewarded for anything but sacrifces. If The Entity wanted blood instead of death and it was gained through unique hooks, I think this game would do a 180 in player sentiment. As it is now, you can have an 8 hook game, but without kills you're rewarded with "the entity hungers", a 0k on your stats, and tbagging at the gates. If killers could still feel accomplished by filling a blood meter or something instead, they wouldn't feel the "need" to tunnel or 4man slug, and then those could also be addressed mechanically too.

but there are a lot more players like you and I that would still at least try with a bot on the team

I disagree with that. I'm one of the very few people who won't even use the abandon feature. Almost everyone else does the moment it pops up. If DCs were as free as abandons I think the game would cease to function.

I think the driving factor for everyone is different. For me, it's unfortunately numbers. For many, it's winning. Fun is pretty abstract and I can't say I have much of it. Maybe in SWF or in customs. That's probably the only fun I have, and it's essentially external to the game itself.

why do you play if you dont have much fun?

cogsturning

@HexSlugged said:

https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/4095480#Comment_4095480

why do you play if you dont have much fun?

Addiction? Habit? A thirst to watch my numbers increase? An inexplicable desire to prove myself to no one in particular? Take your pick.

I do enjoy playing with other people though.