"Perk Kit" Suggestion for Beginner/Casual Player QoL
I want to preface this by saying that I would very much be considered a beginner player by DbD standards with ~70 hours of gameplay, so I understand that I do not necessarily know enough regarding the intricacies of DbD gameplay. That being said, I hope my concerns are still received in good-faith, and I am completely open to understanding if and why these suggestions may not be feasible or even receiving suggestions upon my own.
Regarding my own experience with DbD, the biggest frustration I've encountered is the barrier-to-entry, especially regarding perks.
My main suggestion is: introduce limited-use perk builds, or "kit" options, for both Survivors/Killers.
The introduction of "kits", I think, is especially helpful, since newer/casual players can:
- Learn more about the hundreds of perks through hands-on experience
- Understand both which perks give more value when used together and how they give value to each other
- And if playing with friends, learn more about viable, fun builds that complement each other (e.g. builds involving Teamwork perks)
- Learn what playstyle/perks they enjoy
- Discover perks they may want to invest in
- (I really did not enjoy spending all the shards I've saved up to buy an otherwise paywalled perk, just to realize I didn't enjoy that playstyle at all.)
I also think that it addresses concerns of more experienced players as well:
- It doesn't revise the core gameplay mechanic
- I also don't believe introducing strong meta builds through the kit will magically make a beginner Survivor (who misses skill-checks, doesn't loop well, etc.) or a beginner Killer (who misses a lot, is bad a mind-gaming, etc.) much more skilled than they already are. I do, however, believe it will teach these players a lot of valuable information that expedites their learning process, so they are able achieve a certain skill-level where games are no longer a drag, a frustration, or a source of confusion. I think this also benefits more experienced players that play alongside beginners as well since there would now be a more concrete direction these beginners are directed toward to help the game progress.
- It introduces novelty by encouraging playing (still viable!) builds outside the meta, perhaps addressing monotonous gameplay (which even I am starting to feel as a very casual player)
- It doesn't undermine the monetary/temporal investment of more experience players as these kits would be limited-use/temporary
- I believe they would incentivize newer players to actually invest more into the game as well!
I also think that this "kit" feature could be implemented alongside a Bloodpoint rewards system (e.g. if you win a match with the kit) to make it more appealing to experienced players as well. I was thinking of rating each "kit" based on difficulty. For example, No Mither Survivor kits might have a higher difficulty rating, and to incentivize all skill-level players to try the kit, the corresponding BP rewards would scale based on their difficulty level.
I personally don't believe this would be too difficult to implement in comparison to other gameplay aspects. Even if not this, I hope well-thought-out adjustments to the beginner gameplay experience come soon!
I know there are a lot of nerfs/buffs to perks coming, but I think these adjustments still focus on players who actually know what they are doing. Personally, I can make more informed decisions about what perk builds I enjoy using, however I am still very unfamiliar with the vast majority of perks. I think these nerfs/buffs make little difference to even newer players who don't even really know what these perks do or how to use them effectively, which is why I think this is something important to address. It also doesn't necessarily overhaul gameplay for more experienced players either, if they do feel most comfortable playing the meta.
Thanks for reading; I would love to hear any suggestions!
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