Killer vs Survivor Design
This game used to be so much more fun. As a Killer lover who has ended up playing more Survivor lately because of balance, I used to be able to jump on, play my favourite killer, and have a good time. Now? I don't feel like a Killer. In fact, I would dare say that IPs should stay away from DbD, because their Killers will turn into jokes. If I want to relax, I just play survivor, and slap on a boring build that basically plays the game for me, and I win most of my solo Q games. The design of maps, survivor perks, killer perks, have all been extremely lacklustre, and completely boring lately.
The design of survivor perks have felt extremely anti-killer in an unhealthy way. Survivors perks and buffs lately seem to almost be designed with the intent of preventing killers from playing the game. On their own, some of these perks and buffs are probably fine, but together? I'm extremely disappointed in BHVR's actual understanding of their game, and it is extremely clear to me that they either NEVER play their game, or they only play Survivor and are using their positions as game devs to power trip.
Most of these perks are extremely uninteractive and boring to play against. When I lose a game, I don't feel like I lost because I played against players that looped me well, had good macro, or made good decisions. No, I lost because they brought perks that won the game for them. This game takes literally 0 skill for survivors that are not playing in a tournament format, and I'm saying this as somebody who has almost as much time on survivor as Killer, if not more.
But the worst part? Despite all of this criticism, despite all of the content talking about the HORRIBLE state of the casual Killer experience, BHVR refuses to listen, and continue to spoon feed survivors more overpowered perks and base game mechanics. It's gotten to the point where the game is simply not enjoyable for me anymore, and I don't understand how ANYBODY at all could actually genuinely enjoy this. When I play Killer, I'm just running from pallet to pallet because there are 500 on every map. Survivors never play on pallets anymore. When I finally do get any pressure, a perk like Resurgence immediately completely undoes any and all pressure I gained. When I play Survivor, I don't feel like I'm actually playing the game. I feel like my perks are playing the game for me. I didn't make distance from the Killer, SPRINT BURST made distane for me. I didn't lose the killer mid chase, LUCKY BREAK lost the killer for me. I didn't complete the generator, FAST TRACK completed the generator for me.
It also sucks that it feels like for almost every single Killer perk, you have to earn its effect, whether through injuring survivors, downing them, or hooking them. Meanwhile, almost every single survivor perk has become second-chance in nature, activating not when Survivors have achieved something in accordance with their goals, but when they have FAILED in some way. Resurgence, anti-tunnel perks, perks like Fast Track, these all activate when the KILLER does something. In other words - survivor perks activate when the survivor screws up, killer perks activate when the killer makes a good play.
It is insane to me that people still enjoy this game - you're either treated like a ######### punching bag or you are basically not even playing the game and still getting free wins. It's such an empty dopamine hit for Survivor wins and such a boring experience for Killers who have to eat 20 pallets every game.
And this isn't even talking about how horrificly designed the event was. It's horrible for both sides in different ways. Killers by far get the worse end of the stick with how anti-Killer every single effect is, but I also think the Killer's ability against survivors is extremely uninteractive. BHVR took their most important anniversary event and decided "Let's make it as uninteractive as possible for everybody in the game".
I really, really want to enjoy this game, but at this moment, I can't. There's nothing about this game that is actually interesting. There is no side you can play that is genuinely fun. It's either pallet breaking simulator or perk autoplay, and no in between. I hope BHVR actually starts listening to the Killer community and improves the killer experience, and if not, I hope the killers leave like in TCM and this game dies.
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