The DBD Community has a "Win at all cost" problem.

This has been something that has been on my mind for a while but has come up again with the 9.2.0 PTB. I already spoke my mind about what I think about the new content and the changes being made but if you didn't read that, here's the TLDR, I think the anti-tunnel and anti-slug systems are a good thing in spirit, they were just way too harsh and rather ham-fisted, punishing unhealthy playstyles is a good thing, but punishing gameplay most of the community can agree is perfectly fine isn't.

So with the outcry being enough that the anti-tunnel and anti-slug won't be coming to live, I noticed that a lot of people seem to, at least in my opinion, misinterpret the intent behind them, that being that the devs want to punish the Killer for trying to win.

Let me make my thoughts on that line of thinking clear. I've been playing for almost 3k hours, most of that time is on Killer, and I do not think any Killer regardless of their strength specifically needs to tunnel someone out at the start of the game in order to win, especially not a S tier killer like Nurse or Blight. Hooks and Kills are not the only way a Killer can generate pressure and slow down Survivors, simply downing somebody is already knocking someone out of the game until they can be picked up, keeping them busy with things like Infection systems on some killers as well forces people off of generators, hell simply chasing them generates pressure because that's one less person doing the objective, if you are playing Blight with Quad Slowdown and both Speed Addons and think you need to kill someone at 5 gens to stand a chance at winning then you are not nearly as good or as knowledgeable at Killer as you think you are. If a Survivor is playing aggressively and very clearly wants to be chased then by all means go for them, but you don't need to kill someone as soon as possible in order to win.

As far as I am concerned, regardless of its strength, Tunnelling is one of the unhealthiest playstyles a Killer can engage in. Lets say a Killer is Tunnelling with the express intention of winning, they're probably stressed because they're not able to kill the survivor fast enough, the person being chased isn't having fun because the Killer is on their ass the entire match, aren't getting any Bloodpoints, and if they aren't good in chase then they'll be back sitting in queues in under 5 minutes, and the other 3 survivors aren't having fun because their only real gameplay option is doing gens, which comprises entirely of holding a button for 90 seconds and occasionally pressing Spacebar, that is it. Maybe the Killer and Survivor being chased are having fun if all they care about is chases regardless of how it goes, but that's still only 40% of the people in a match that are enjoying themselves, the other 60% are bored out of their mind. Want to know why most of your SoloQ games end with people not on gens? Because gens are boring and the other Survivors not being chased are probably out looking for literally anything else to do. This is why so many people ask for another objective to be added, Survivor gameplay is incredibly dull and unfun if the Killer is focused solely on one person, and, when the entire point of a video game is to have fun playing it, Tunnelling creates a scenario where 3 of the 5 people in a match at minimum are pretty much unable to actually have fun.

Now, this is the point where people are probably going to tell me that Killers are not responsible for Survivors fun and vice versa. To which I say, what exactly happens when people don't have fun playing a game? They quit, they leave, and if it's a multiplayer game and you have no one to play with, you can't play. So no, both sides are responsible for each other's fun, because if they aren't then there won't be a other side to play against. You can't engage in a playstyle that all but ensures no one in the match has fun, say "I don't care about your fun" and then complain when queues take 5 minutes or longer, you can't have your cake and eat it too. The best way to shorten queues is to make both roles less miserable and more fun to play, and the easiest way to do that is to punish playstyles that aren't fun, this was the intention behind the anti go-next system, the anti-afk system to prevent extreme hiding, and the anti-tunnel and anti-slug systems.

This is where I loop back to the title, the reason these strategies and the mentally of "Up yours I do what I want" is so prevalent is because the community at large has a "Win at all costs" mindset, any strategy besides cheating is perfectly acceptable if it means you win the game. This mindset, to me, is extremely baffling for a simple reason, Dead By Daylight doesn't encourage or reward winning.

Like really think about what you get for "Winning" a match of DBD as Killer and Survivor, both sides get a slightly different message in the post game lobby, some pips for emblems if they are lucky, harder matches in the future because of the MMR system, and Survivors get 7000 or 8500 Survival points, and Killers get 2500 Deviousness points for killing everyone, points in a category that most of the roster maxes out halfway into the match anyway so realistically Killer gets nothing for winning. The long and short of it is, at least from my perspective, you get absolutely nothing for winning, and as for losing? You miss out on the aforementioned Bloodpoints and…that's about it, you don't lose pips for your Rank, and because the SBMM system is a complete joke that should have never been implemented your matches will be easier because you lose MMR. There is no true reward for victory beyond progressing Rift challenges and your own personal enjoyment, and that's where the issue then comes, if winning a match of DBD served a actual purpose and you got real, tangible rewards for doing so, then I'd see the argument for Tunnelling, it'd be stupid and bad for the reasons listed above, but I could see it. As it stands right now though, the argument of "I should be allowed to to kill someone at 5 gens and ignore everyone else because it's the most efficient way to win and winning feels good" is a argument I find to be flawed, after all, this same logic applies to Genrushing as well doesn't it? After all, doing gens quickly is the most efficient way to win, But Killer mains hate that, they think Survivors shouldn't be allowed to do gens too quickly because it isn't fun. See how quickly that argument can be flipped on its head? If Tunnelling is fine, Genrushing is fine, after all, victory's all that matters, right?

Sarcasm aside, how what can we as a community to do to make Tunnelling, and by extension other unfun strategies, less of an issue? Simple really, take a load off and relax. Killers don't have to tunnel, Survivors don't have to rush generators, both sides can take in a match to goof off, chase each other, maybe get some funny clips. Matches don't need to end in 5 minutes nor do does someone have to be taken out in 2 minutes, this is a casual game with a lot of RNG and balancing so comically bad its almost intentional. Nobody has to play like this is a competitive tournament with money on the line.

Let me be clear here, I am not saying “Don’t play to win” I am saying “Don’t let your desire to win make the game less fun for the other side”, if you want to try and win then go on ahead, just remember that you’re not playing against bots, you’re playing with real people with feelings too, and besides, close matches that are down to the wire are more fun anyway.

Am I yelling into the void trying to offer a solution to a problem that has become ingrained into the game's culture? Probably, am I still going to hope that we can find a elegant solution to problems that will continue to impact the game's long time health? God I hope so

G'night

Comments

  • @DragonMasterDarren said:

    This has been something that has been on my mind for a while but has come up again with the 9.2.0 PTB. I already spoke my mind about what I think about the new content and the changes being made but if you didn't read that, here's the TLDR, I think the anti-tunnel and anti-slug systems are a good thing in spirit, they were just way too harsh and rather ham-fisted, punishing unhealthy playstyles is a good thing, but punishing gameplay most of the community can agree is perfectly fine isn't.

    So with the outcry being enough that the anti-tunnel and anti-slug won't be coming to live, I noticed that a lot of people seem to, at least in my opinion, misinterpret the intent behind them, that being that the devs want to punish the Killer for trying to win.

    Let me make my thoughts on that line of thinking clear. I've been playing for almost 3k hours, most of that time is on Killer, and I do not think any Killer regardless of their strength specifically needs to tunnel someone out at the start of the game in order to win, especially not a S tier killer like Nurse or Blight. Hooks and Kills are not the only way a Killer can generate pressure and slow down Survivors, simply downing somebody is already knocking someone out of the game until they can be picked up, keeping them busy with things like Infection systems on some killers as well forces people off of generators, hell simply chasing them generates pressure because that's one less person doing the objective, if you are playing Blight with Quad Slowdown and both Speed Addons and think you need to kill someone at 5 gens to stand a chance at winning then you are not nearly as good or as knowledgeable at Killer as you think you are. If a Survivor is playing aggressively and very clearly wants to be chased then by all means go for them, but you don't need to kill someone as soon as possible in order to win.

    As far as I am concerned, regardless of its strength, Tunnelling is one of the unhealthiest playstyles a Killer can engage in. Lets say a Killer is Tunnelling with the express intention of winning, they're probably stressed because they're not able to kill the survivor fast enough, the person being chased isn't having fun because the Killer is on their ass the entire match, aren't getting any Bloodpoints, and if they aren't good in chase then they'll be back sitting in queues in under 5 minutes, and the other 3 survivors aren't having fun because their only real gameplay option is doing gens, which comprises entirely of holding a button for 90 seconds and occasionally pressing Spacebar, that is it. Maybe the Killer and Survivor being chased are having fun if all they care about is chases regardless of how it goes, but that's still only 40% of the people in a match that are enjoying themselves, the other 60% are bored out of their mind. Want to know why most of your SoloQ games end with people not on gens? Because gens are boring and the other Survivors not being chased are probably out looking for literally anything else to do. This is why so many people ask for another objective to be added, Survivor gameplay is incredibly dull and unfun if the Killer is focused solely on one person, and, when the entire point of a video game is to have fun playing it, Tunnelling creates a scenario where 3 of the 5 people in a match at minimum are pretty much unable to actually have fun.

    Now, this is the point where people are probably going to tell me that Killers are not responsible for Survivors fun and vice versa. To which I say, what exactly happens when people don't have fun playing a game? They quit, they leave, and if it's a multiplayer game and you have no one to play with, you can't play. So no, both sides are responsible for each other's fun, because if they aren't then there won't be a other side to play against. You can't engage in a playstyle that all but ensures no one in the match has fun, say "I don't care about your fun" and then complain when queues take 5 minutes or longer, you can't have your cake and eat it too. The best way to shorten queues is to make both roles less miserable and more fun to play, and the easiest way to do that is to punish playstyles that aren't fun, this was the intention behind the anti go-next system, the anti-afk system to prevent extreme hiding, and the anti-tunnel and anti-slug systems.

    This is where I loop back to the title, the reason these strategies and the mentally of "Up yours I do what I want" is so prevalent is because the community at large has a "Win at all costs" mindset, any strategy besides cheating is perfectly acceptable if it means you win the game. This mindset, to me, is extremely baffling for a simple reason, Dead By Daylight doesn't encourage or reward winning.

    Like really think about what you get for "Winning" a match of DBD as Killer and Survivor, both sides get a slightly different message in the post game lobby, some pips for emblems if they are lucky, harder matches in the future because of the MMR system, and Survivors get 7000 or 8500 Survival points, and Killers get 2500 Deviousness points for killing everyone, points in a category that most of the roster maxes out halfway into the match anyway so realistically Killer gets nothing for winning. The long and short of it is, at least from my perspective, you get absolutely nothing for winning, and as for losing? You miss out on the aforementioned Bloodpoints and…that's about it, you don't lose pips for your Rank, and because the SBMM system is a complete joke that should have never been implemented your matches will be easier because you lose MMR. There is no true reward for victory beyond progressing Rift challenges and your own personal enjoyment, and that's where the issue then comes, if winning a match of DBD served a actual purpose and you got real, tangential rewards for doing so, then I'd see the argument for Tunnelling, it'd be stupid and bad for the reasons listed above, but I could see it. As it stands right now though, the argument of "I should be allowed to to kill someone at 5 gens and ignore everyone else because it's the most efficient way to win and winning feels good" is a argument I find to be flawed, after all, this same logic applies to Genrushing as well doesn't it? After all, doing gens quickly is the most efficient way to win, But Killer mains hate that, they think Survivors shouldn't be allowed to do gens too quickly because it isn't fun. See how quickly that argument can be flipped on its head? If Tunnelling is fine, Genrushing is fine, after all, victory's all that matters, right?

    Sarcasm aside, how what can we as a community to do to make Tunnelling, and by extension other unfun strategies, less of a issue? Simple really, take a load off and relax. Killers don't have to tunnel, Survivors don't have to rush generators, both sides can take in a match to goof off, chase each other, maybe get some funny clips. Matches don't need to end in 5 minutes nor do does someone have to be taken out in 2 minutes, this is a casual game with a lot of RNG and balancing so comically bad its almost intentional. Nobody has to play like this is a competitive tournament with money on the line.

    Am I yelling into the void trying to offer a solution to a problem that has become ingrained into the game's culture? Probably, am I still going to hope that we can find a elegant solution to problems that will continue to impact the game's long time health? God I hope so

    G'night

    Sarcasm aside, how what can we as a community to do to make Tunnelling, and by extension other unfun strategies, less of a issue? Simple really, take a load off and relax. Killers don't have to tunnel, Survivors don't have to rush generators, both sides can take in a match to goof off, chase each other, maybe get some funny clips. Matches don't need to end in 5 minutes nor do does someone have to be taken out in 2 minutes, this is a casual game with a lot of RNG and balancing so comically bad its almost intentional. Nobody has to play like this is a competitive tournament with money on the line.

    maybe it’s just my mentality, but peak DBD is when both sides play for the W.

    Tunneling’s a legit fun part of that. First chase? I’ve got the whole map and every resource to work with — that’s real interaction. After the tunnel’s done, the next person in line has way less to play around; map’s trimmed, pallets gone — way spicier, way more pressure. If the killer keeps target-swapping and no real chase happens, it’s mid. its not fun the moment the Kiler only tries to get people at dead zone gens with constant target switching.

    I like the tunnel, I like breaking a hard tunnel, I like clean body blocks and team play. ‘Let’s not try’ matches are gray and boring.

    Love when both sides sweat for the win.

    but.. i dk, I’m into 1v1s too. Kinda the same as a tunnel — you just try to hold it forever and burn every resource on the map.

    I don’t mind when both sides play for the win. Anything else is boring,.. no? :/

  • Idk, the most interesting matches I have watched are comp matches were the pmayers are actually good and trying to win. Seeing people stumble and just "have fun" is boring af.

    Also, while there is no progression for winning, you vastly underestimate the fact that most people like to win when they play any game, no one likes to be a loser and thats good.

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  • @ForumUsername said:

    If your not going to play to win then why bother loading into any game that has competition. Go play tetris or super mario where no one will bother to try to win against you so you can have "fun" your way.

    This is the mentality I mean, competition implies there’s stakes, real and tangible rewards for winning as well as losses for losing, what exactly do you gain from winning or lose from losing a match of DBD? A couple of pips? Some blood points? Invisible points on a MMR system that might as well not exist? You get nothing, you lose nothing, the only “reward” is personal fulfilment, and you can get that without making the match unfun for everybody else


    I’m not saying don’t play to win, I’m saying don’t play like a ######### when playing like a ######### doesn’t even get you anything

  • @oecrophy said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/456172/the-dbd-community-has-a-win-at-all-cost-problem

    Sarcasm aside, how what can we as a community to do to make Tunnelling, and by extension other unfun strategies, less of a issue? Simple really, take a load off and relax. Killers don't have to tunnel, Survivors don't have to rush generators, both sides can take in a match to goof off, chase each other, maybe get some funny clips. Matches don't need to end in 5 minutes nor do does someone have to be taken out in 2 minutes, this is a casual game with a lot of RNG and balancing so comically bad its almost intentional. Nobody has to play like this is a competitive tournament with money on the line.

    maybe it’s just my mentality, but peak DBD is when both sides play for the W.

    Tunneling’s a legit fun part of that. First chase? I’ve got the whole map and every resource to work with — that’s real interaction. After the tunnel’s done, the next person in line has way less to play around; map’s trimmed, pallets gone — way spicier, way more pressure. If the killer keeps target-swapping and no real chase happens, it’s mid. its not fun the moment the Kiler only tries to get people at dead zone gens with constant target switching.

    I like the tunnel, I like breaking a hard tunnel, I like clean body blocks and team play. ‘Let’s not try’ matches are gray and boring.

    Love when both sides sweat for the win.

    but.. i dk, I’m into 1v1s too. Kinda the same as a tunnel — you just try to hold it forever and burn every resource on the map.

    I don’t mind when both sides play for the win. Anything else is boring,.. no? :/

    While I do appreciate your viewpoint and certainly see where you’re coming from, I do feel like you’re missing out on the bigger picture a bit

    As I said, if the Killer and the Survivor are having fun tunnelling/getting tunnelled, that still leaves the 3 other survivors who aren’t getting to have that same fun, and the issue also comes that if the Killer tunnels someone to death and that person uses up most of the map’s resources, well, what do the other 3 have to work with? The match is essentially already over before anyone else gets to really play if the Tunnelled survivor dies before enough gens are done, the other 3 have nothing to work with and are basically stuck in a dead game while the killer picks them off


    I do agree that the game is fun when both sides are actually trying, but I do feel like that needs to come with the asterisk of “Also playing fairly”, meaning that they’re all playing in a way where everyone has a chance to show off their skills rather then the game ending almost instantly, those kinds of games are great, but the mentality of “I must win no matter what and to hell what the other side thinks” is one I really wish the community would let go of

    Winning is great, it should not come at the cost of making matches worse

  • I would feel much less pressure to kill every survivor every match if they simply allowed me the option to abandon after the gates are open. If I have a chance to secure a kill I can take it, if the survivors are waiting at the gate to BM me after I got beat or even worse played “nicely” I can leave.

  • @DragonMasterDarren said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3997733#Comment_3997733

    While I do appreciate your viewpoint and certainly see where you’re coming from, I do feel like you’re missing out on the bigger picture a bit

    As I said, if the Killer and the Survivor are having fun tunnelling/getting tunnelled, that still leaves the 3 other survivors who aren’t getting to have that same fun, and the issue also comes that if the Killer tunnels someone to death and that person uses up most of the map’s resources, well, what do the other 3 have to work with? The match is essentially already over before anyone else gets to really play if the Tunnelled survivor dies before enough gens are done, the other 3 have nothing to work with and are basically stuck in a dead game while the killer picks them off


    I do agree that the game is fun when both sides are actually trying, but I do feel like that needs to come with the asterisk of “Also playing fairly”, meaning that they’re all playing in a way where everyone has a chance to show off their skills rather then the game ending almost instantly, those kinds of games are great, but the mentality of “I must win no matter what and to hell what the other side thinks” is one I really wish the community would let go of

    Winning is great, it should not come at the cost of making matches worse

    the 3 other survivors who aren’t getting to have that same fun

    Yup—on the games where I tunnel or get tunneled, it usually goes faster. The other three survivors still get interaction outside the tunnel. The days where one survivor holds the killer for 5 gens are gone. Either the tunneled player dies earlier, or the team actually gets to play: cover, smart bodyblocks, teamplay to buy them air to reach the next tile. Depending on the tunneled player’s skill, both paths can make sense. Good teamplay can make a hard tunnel hard. Covering a strong, stable chaser is often worth the minute you’re not on a gen.

    I’m OG—I’ve seen every era. The bigger problem to me isn’t “tunnel bad,” it’s the map reworks being overcooked. Lots of maps still have strong main structures, but the filler tiles in between are gone, so the survivor can’t chain to the next resource. RNG can be nasty. Add scuffed hits you sometimes eat as survivor (netcode/ping), and you’ve got maybe one or two mistakes before you’re on the floor (pray for perks). Then there’s all the anti-chase killers/perks where the most efficient counter is early Shift + early calls.

    So it’s not always “hard tunnel” that feels awful—sometimes even good survivors just don’t find resources to fight back because the tile economy or RNG isn’t there. Some reworks went too far. Then pile high ping on top.

    That’s what makes tunnel moments feel worse than the tunnel itself. only my POV: We don’t need to roll back to the old days, but cranking gen pressure and trimming tiles so chases must be ultra short was a weird call. What’s the fun part of DBD? The chase. Not M1 on a gen. And on killer side, “no time, drop chase early, maybe catch someone at a gen in a dead zone” is way more frustrating to me than tunneling. Absolute dead zones at match start shouldn’t exist.

    maps and stuff are hard to change, even for survivor side. habits are burned in on both sides. and y, survivors push gens like there’s no tomororw, cuz that’s often the only thing that keeps them alive in dbd 2025. pressure vs tempo, same old dance.

  • @DragonMasterDarren said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3997791#Comment_3997791

    This is the mentality I mean, competition implies there’s stakes, real and tangible rewards for winning as well as losses for losing, what exactly do you gain from winning or lose from losing a match of DBD? A couple of pips? Some blood points? Invisible points on a MMR system that might as well not exist? You get nothing, you lose nothing, the only “reward” is personal fulfilment, and you can get that without making the match unfun for everybody else


    I’m not saying don’t play to win, I’m saying don’t play like a ######### when playing like a ######### doesn’t even get you anything

    You can say the same for both sides. I always see survivors tbag in ext gates, especially when killer did poorly in the match.

    Honestly while I don't like tunnel/camp/slug, I don't blame anyone doing it.

  • @oecrophy said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/456172/the-dbd-community-has-a-win-at-all-cost-problem

    Sarcasm aside, how what can we as a community to do to make Tunnelling, and by extension other unfun strategies, less of a issue? Simple really, take a load off and relax. Killers don't have to tunnel, Survivors don't have to rush generators, both sides can take in a match to goof off, chase each other, maybe get some funny clips. Matches don't need to end in 5 minutes nor do does someone have to be taken out in 2 minutes, this is a casual game with a lot of RNG and balancing so comically bad its almost intentional. Nobody has to play like this is a competitive tournament with money on the line.

    maybe it’s just my mentality, but peak DBD is when both sides play for the W.

    Tunneling’s a legit fun part of that. First chase? I’ve got the whole map and every resource to work with — that’s real interaction. After the tunnel’s done, the next person in line has way less to play around; map’s trimmed, pallets gone — way spicier, way more pressure. If the killer keeps target-swapping and no real chase happens, it’s mid. its not fun the moment the Kiler only tries to get people at dead zone gens with constant target switching.

    I like the tunnel, I like breaking a hard tunnel, I like clean body blocks and team play. ‘Let’s not try’ matches are gray and boring.

    Love when both sides sweat for the win.

    but.. i dk, I’m into 1v1s too. Kinda the same as a tunnel — you just try to hold it forever and burn every resource on the map.

    I don’t mind when both sides play for the win. Anything else is boring,.. no? :/

    Hard disagree. I used to run chest gremlin builds years ago, and some of my most memorable games I've had were games where I got value from multiple items I found in chests in the same game. As killer i had plenty of games where I just didn't worry about hooks or kills and let survivors get as much time doing locker blinds as possible (back when that was a thing)

    The game is at its best when you feel you have the liberty to be goofy, to enjoy all the mechanics the game has to offer. Current DBD feels like you have to be hypersweating the objective and fun is only something you're allowed to have if your opponent is weak enough to allow you to have fun in between rushing objectives

  • @ratcoffee said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3997733#Comment_3997733

    Hard disagree. I used to run chest gremlin builds years ago, and some of my most memorable games I've had were games where I got value from multiple items I found in chests in the same game. As killer i had plenty of games where I just didn't worry about hooks or kills and let survivors get as much time doing locker blinds as possible (back when that was a thing)

    The game is at its best when you feel you have the liberty to be goofy, to enjoy all the mechanics the game has to offer. Current DBD feels like you have to be hypersweating the objective and fun is only something you're allowed to have if your opponent is weak enough to allow you to have fun in between rushing objectives

    Ye, legit call. Everyone should be able to play how they want. And I get that it sucks if you want a different vibe and you get me in your lobby — it’s basically a free loss if the killer just sweats. I don’t want those players in my lobby either, killer or survivor.

    What tilts me is BHVR already trying to reshape KYF so “comp” folks can keep doing comp and still come in? Sorry, but that makes me feel pushed out — forced into Discord LFG with strangers, in some new “mode” that’s cut off from normal progression. Why? Just because I like playing efficient for the win?

    and ouuwh… yes, i do tunnel at five gens up if it really lines up.

    And it’s not only on one side. People here love to paint me as the evil killermain, but I do it on survivor too — I try to deny the killer’s pressure as much as possible. I dont give my teammates for free. and i enjoy being tunneled.

    and I play both sides super active—and honestly I’d probably be more of a surv tbh if I consistently got halfway decent teammates, plus fair hits and better ping. still play survivor very actively.

    so uhm.. “goof a bit” is fun—safe safe.

    i understand you 100%, but balancing by removing killer’s legit reaction tools while pushing custom-game limiters and calling it “comp” (aka “normal” to me) is upside down.

    many ppl feel this already; fresh players will too when the “protections” turn into boredom.

    idk :/

  • @ratcoffee said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3997733#Comment_3997733

    Hard disagree. I used to run chest gremlin builds years ago, and some of my most memorable games I've had were games where I got value from multiple items I found in chests in the same game. As killer i had plenty of games where I just didn't worry about hooks or kills and let survivors get as much time doing locker blinds as possible (back when that was a thing)

    The game is at its best when you feel you have the liberty to be goofy, to enjoy all the mechanics the game has to offer. Current DBD feels like you have to be hypersweating the objective and fun is only something you're allowed to have if your opponent is weak enough to allow you to have fun in between rushing objectives

    The question is: what should a PvP game balance around? The folks who want to do chest-stuff and goof around? Just-for-fun meme plays? That’s like going into Hunt: Showdown with mid/low ammo and sawn-offs while everyone else runs long-ammo meta. If you meme in PvP, you usually die the moment the other side brings more. PvP is an arms race on both sides. You don’t balance around memes.

    DBD already has plenty of outlets for fun/meme time—events, rotating modes every few weeks, etc. Balance should aim for competitive integrity and healthy baseline gameplay, not “let me goof off and still win.” It’s all super tricky, sure, but building around memes just makes the core worse.

    .. idk (again) :/

  • The issue is the influx of hyper-competitive players. One thing matter and one thing only…ego. They NEED that dopamine hit to hit. the validation of dominating another human. The "winning isnt everything"….they skipped that day in pre-school. Only way to make this community focused on mutual exchanges of enjoyment and respect is to remove any aspect of "tournament e-sports" kids. Playing to win is fine, everyone does that. But his community takes it way to far and acts like their next meal depends on a 4k or making the killer DC. Comp is the death of casual enjoyment and laughter and I will die on that hill.

  • @bleep275 said:

    The issue is the influx of hyper-competitive players. One thing matter and one thing only…ego. They NEED that dopamine hit to hit. the validation of dominating another human. The "winning isnt everything"….they skipped that day in pre-school. Only way to make this community focused on mutual exchanges of enjoyment and respect is to remove any aspect of "tournament e-sports" kids. Playing to win is fine, everyone does that. But his community takes it way to far and acts like their next meal depends on a 4k or making the killer DC. Comp is the death of casual enjoyment and laughter and I will die on that hill.

    Hard agree.

  • @bleep275 said:

    The issue is the influx of hyper-competitive players. One thing matter and one thing only…ego. They NEED that dopamine hit to hit. the validation of dominating another human. The "winning isnt everything"….they skipped that day in pre-school. Only way to make this community focused on mutual exchanges of enjoyment and respect is to remove any aspect of "tournament e-sports" kids. Playing to win is fine, everyone does that. But his community takes it way to far and acts like their next meal depends on a 4k or making the killer DC. Comp is the death of casual enjoyment and laughter and I will die on that hill.

    Cme on. Don’t moralize “playing to win.” People follow incentives, not sermons. Goofy matches work when all five opt in—pubs don’t guarantee that. If tunneling/pressure is the safest line, players will take it; fix systems, not people. Give us lanes for both styles: a real ranked vs. casual split. Improve alternatives to tunnel (fewer dead zones, some filler tiles back, tiny ability-safe unhook window, better SoloQ info). Balance with richer data than killrate—chase length, tile chainability,

    It isn’t courteous to assume “dominance needs,” low motives, or bad upbringing just because someone plays to win. Critique behaviors and systems, not people. In PvP, optimization is normal; if pressure tools dominate, that’s a design/incentive issue. Some of us simply enjoy hard-fought matches where both sides give everything—that isn’t “dominance,” it’s a preference. And it’s just as rude to go personal against competitive players as it would be to bash folks who want to goof and play casual. Keep it to design and sportsmanship: fix maps/tile economy/solo info or offer a ranked vs casual split—don’t moralize the players.

    I’m still shocked and a bit sad at how little hesitation there is to go personal in this community — just because some of us play to win and optimize.

  • This problem is just not a killer or survivor problem its a problem caused by both sides.

    All alive survivors wait their ass off at the exit gates to teabag/bm the killer? This leads to tilting the killer and the killer will hard tunnel for wins the next game. This leads to tilting the survivors so the moment they actually can escape the next match they also have to show their ego off to teabag at the exit gates.

    Its an endless cycle of toxicity that stresses both sides and make both sides less fun.

    So tunneling should be fixed (which i mostly agree with the ptb patch) and also not leaving the match/ teabagging at the exit gates should also not be a thing. Like let the killer surrender when the exit gates are open.

  • "Am I yelling into the void trying to offer a solution to a problem that has become ingrained into the game's culture? Probably"

    You definitely are, unfortunately. I said the other day that this is all ultimately a monster of BHVRs own making. And it started with their poor introduction to the game for newcomers and reliance on content creators to pick up the slack. Here's the pipeline:

    New player joins. The basic tutorial system sees them turn to the online community for help. The community refers them to popular content creators. They consume said content, including the ever popular winstreaks, proudly brought to you by tunnelling. Winstreaks have even evolved to the point of creators severely handicapping themselves in their games (aka "challenges"), but it's okay, because tunnelling is how you win anyway.

    It's been like this since I started playing almost 5 years ago.

    You can't just let others steer your game in one direction for years, then try and take control of the wheel lol

  • @OmegaXII said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3997818#Comment_3997818

    You can say the same for both sides. I always see survivors tbag in ext gates, especially when killer did poorly in the match.

    Honestly while I don't like tunnel/camp/slug, I don't blame anyone doing it.

    That's where I always struggle to understand things.

    Camping/tunneling/slugging is a gameplay issue. It actively changes how someone is able to be in the trial, to the point that they can be flagging by the anti-go next system and receive a penalty for it (despite how rare that seems to be). Bagging at the gates is a psychological thing. The trial is already over. I'm not against the Killer being able to Abandon in that scenario, but it only affects one's time, not their gameplay.

    Now I'm not saying you're doing this, but the two do seem to be conflated a lot and it makes me wonder how you can ever make the game better without harming Killers' ego (not ego as in "big ego" but as in their self-esteem).

  • @bleep275 said:

    The issue is the influx of hyper-competitive players. One thing matter and one thing only…ego. They NEED that dopamine hit to hit. the validation of dominating another human. The "winning isnt everything"….they skipped that day in pre-school. Only way to make this community focused on mutual exchanges of enjoyment and respect is to remove any aspect of "tournament e-sports" kids. Playing to win is fine, everyone does that. But his community takes it way to far and acts like their next meal depends on a 4k or making the killer DC. Comp is the death of casual enjoyment and laughter and I will die on that hill.

    I also make sometimes fun of tryhards, but isnt that a bit harsh?

    Yh there are some players who take it too far. They get tilted if they lose, are toxic in endgame chat, etc. But someone who just plays efficiently has not some defects from his childhood.

    Its a PvP-game. Its normal to play for the win, if someone just moves his pieces randomly in chess it would be weird. If you just want to do goofy things there are plenty of great games you can enjoy.

    Just to be clear:

    Wrong matchmaking is a problem. A good chess player tryharding against beginners is also silly.

    It would be better if the most efficient method (tunneling) would be not so awful for the opponents.

    Chess was my first example. Dont compare me to a certain Chess-Skully bc of that. Winning like that is not healthy.

  • @oecrophy said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3997833#Comment_3997833

    the 3 other survivors who aren’t getting to have that same fun

    Yup—on the games where I tunnel or get tunneled, it usually goes faster. The other three survivors still get interaction outside the tunnel. The days where one survivor holds the killer for 5 gens are gone. Either the tunneled player dies earlier, or the team actually gets to play: cover, smart bodyblocks, teamplay to buy them air to reach the next tile. Depending on the tunneled player’s skill, both paths can make sense. Good teamplay can make a hard tunnel hard. Covering a strong, stable chaser is often worth the minute you’re not on a gen.

    I’m OG—I’ve seen every era. The bigger problem to me isn’t “tunnel bad,” it’s the map reworks being overcooked. Lots of maps still have strong main structures, but the filler tiles in between are gone, so the survivor can’t chain to the next resource. RNG can be nasty. Add scuffed hits you sometimes eat as survivor (netcode/ping), and you’ve got maybe one or two mistakes before you’re on the floor (pray for perks). Then there’s all the anti-chase killers/perks where the most efficient counter is early Shift + early calls.

    So it’s not always “hard tunnel” that feels awful—sometimes even good survivors just don’t find resources to fight back because the tile economy or RNG isn’t there. Some reworks went too far. Then pile high ping on top.

    That’s what makes tunnel moments feel worse than the tunnel itself. only my POV: We don’t need to roll back to the old days, but cranking gen pressure and trimming tiles so chases must be ultra short was a weird call. What’s the fun part of DBD? The chase. Not M1 on a gen. And on killer side, “no time, drop chase early, maybe catch someone at a gen in a dead zone” is way more frustrating to me than tunneling. Absolute dead zones at match start shouldn’t exist.

    maps and stuff are hard to change, even for survivor side. habits are burned in on both sides. and y, survivors push gens like there’s no tomororw, cuz that’s often the only thing that keeps them alive in dbd 2025. pressure vs tempo, same old dance.

    I dont think that stronger tiles would be better. Yh maps need fine-tuning, but with better tiles the difference increases.

    The difference of chase time between good and bad looper.

    And the difference of chase time between low and high-tier-killer.

    And yh of course i should be getting a better chase time as a weaker player. But every second should be hard fought (good play or using up a limited strong ressource).

    Even now i have moments where i know i can autopilot for the next 30secs in chase and there is no risk.

    My problem with tunneling are the teammates. Not doing gens or not lasting even with bodyblocks. Right now its gotten better. Always solo brought me to a 45% escape rate, but last month it suddenly was on 72%.

    Its so much better, bc nothing is more frustrating than to loop well, the killer switches, gets a fast down and ignores you the rest of the game.

  • @TicTac said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3998271#Comment_3998271

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3998272#Comment_3998272

    I also make sometimes fun of tryhards, but isnt that a bit harsh?

    Yh there are some players who take it too far. They get tilted if they lose, are toxic in endgame chat, etc. But someone who just plays efficiently has not some defects from his childhood.

    Its a PvP-game. Its normal to play for the win, if someone just moves his pieces randomly in chess it would be weird. If you just want to do goofy things there are plenty of great games you can enjoy.

    Just to be clear:

    Wrong matchmaking is a problem. A good chess player tryharding against beginners is also silly.

    It would be better if the most efficient method (tunneling) would be not so awful for the opponents.

    Chess was my first example. Dont compare me to a certain Chess-Skully bc of that. Winning like that is not healthy.

    I dont appreciate people who are unwilling to pull back when it's clear that either the matchmaking was bad or your opponents weren't taking it seriously. What's the point of your 4k if the people you went up against were playing lutes or clearly didn't have the slightest idea what they were doing? Like cool inflated stats. Hope you enjoyed stomping the playground. If I end up in lobbies like that, I chill, otherwise I feel gross afterwards. But some people don't seem to. It's not a war. Don't treat it like one.

    But no particular person was accused of anything here. It's a generalization about consistent behaviors in this game.

  • @sinkra said:

    Only killers have this mentality. Killers want a game with a 70% kill rate, some even boast about their 80% kill rate. Killers want a game where they can go on 1k win streaks. Survivors just want a fair game. But all the big streamers are killer mains, so devs only listen to them.

    Please show us a single killer player who has ever seriously demanded a 70-80% kill rate as the average.

    Do you still not understand that some killers will always have an above-average kill rate? You keep quoting 70 and 80% kill rates like it’s “normal”. The average is 60%. Remember the bell curve?

    image.png

    See the part way to the right? This is where the 70-80% kill rates are. A vast majority of the killer population is not there. Half of the killer players are below the 60% average.

    I don’t expect this will ever change your opinion, so I’m glad that people who actually understand this are the ones making balance decisions.

  • @OmegaXII said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3997818#Comment_3997818

    You can say the same for both sides. I always see survivors tbag in ext gates, especially when killer did poorly in the match.

    Honestly while I don't like tunnel/camp/slug, I don't blame anyone doing it.

    Those things aren’t comparable. You’re comparing killer strategies that can greatly help win a game, to survivors doing something that rarely affects if the survivors win a game.

    Your comparisons should be survivor strategies that can help win games, but are frustrating for killers. Things like survivors excessively hiding, or survivors preventing the killer from hooking a survivor.

  • @I_Cant_Loop said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3998335#Comment_3998335

    Please show us a single killer player who has ever seriously demanded a 70-80% kill rate as the average.

    Do you still not understand that some killers will always have an above-average kill rate? You keep quoting 70 and 80% kill rates like it’s “normal”. The average is 60%. Remember the bell curve?

    https://us.v-cdn.net/6030815/uploads/WHROW2KBQCUQ/image.png

    See the part way to the right? This is where the 70-80% kill rates are. A vast majority of the killer population is not there. Half of the killer players are below the 60% average.

    I don’t expect this will ever change your opinion, so I’m glad that people who actually understand this are the ones making balance decisions.

    Please show us a single killer player who has ever seriously demanded a 70-80% kill rate as the average.

    Every killer that does a 1000 4K win streak.

    Or every killer that loses with Trapper and says, "I'm going to play Nurse as revenge!" News flash: They're not doing so because her kill rate is LOW.

    That's the problem. Y'all claim those are "outliers" while saving them in your pocket for when YOU need them. The nice smooth bell curve only works if the pick rates are the same. If you can just DECIDE when you "deserve" a 4K (as opposed to letting skill and circumstance dictate that, like in a normal game) then you are "seriously demanding a 70-80% kill rate". Maybe not as an "average" but certainly not in a "random, bell curve" way AT ALL.

  • I backed out to the top level and looked at the posts. Here's a Dracula main (with one of the highest kill rates in the game) asking for BUFFS. ON TOP OF WHAT'S ALREADY COMING TO LIVE

    They're not asking for a 70-80% average, THEY WANT MORE!

    @Bleakbtw said:

    Hello everyone! My name is Bleak and I am a P100 Dracula main that has been playing Dracula constantly since he came out especially with the PTB as well. I have tested Dracula over his release and updates and have found tons of things with him when it even comes to numbers, bugs, and what not. I have tons of thoughts to go over and I want to let everyone know this is going to be long so please buckle in and I really REALLY hope this gets looked at because some of these changes cannot go live. I am not going to cover the other changes but just the Dracula changes as in my opinion this is my biggest concern rather than the other changes that came with the update.

    THE DARK LORD CHANGES

    VAMPIRE FORM:

    • Reduced the cooldown of Hellfire to 9.5 sec (was 10)

    I'm gonna be honest when I heard "slightly" reduce Hellfire cooldown I was fully expecting 9 seconds. I think having Hellfire at such a long cooldown will incentivize people to stay in Wolf Form since its the easier form and will allow people to get other benefits rather than just walk someone down and wait for their power recovery to come back. If you're worried about the "Hellfire spam" type builds. I promise it will be okay because they're devoting an entire add-on slot to be able to use those add-ons in the first place. It will be perfectly fine if you kept it at 8-9 seconds for the cooldown. I feel like everyone would be perfectly okay with that but 9.5 seconds on top of circlet getting nerfed is genuinely not even a change to the cooldown what so ever.

    • Increased the number of Hellfire pillars to 8 (was 7)

    This was a change myself and other Dracula players have been asking for a while now and I am glad it was on the Devs radar to be looked at. On certain maps Hellfire can feel weird to use the way certain maps are designed which will result in the player to be using Wolf form the majority of the game.

    • Reduced Hellfire charge movement speed to 3.68m/s (was 3.8m/s)

    This is something I am not very welcome with. As I explained in my last point Hellfire suffers on certain maps (indoor ones for example) I will use Hawkins and Lery's for example. Hellfire can be easy to hold W on in certain situations and being able to zigzag through rooms and close distance away from Dracula more easily will result into people just dropping Hellfire entirely unless they are going to force a window. Holding Hellfire is already slower than the survivor and this just hurts Dracula more. I will say this though, If this is to remedy the "zoning" playstyle I don't think this is the way to go about it. You can't really change a killer from zoning a good killer in general is going to get you in an area they want you to be in and a very smart survivor is going to be able to prevent that as well. Pyramid Head can zone as well and he moves at 4.4 m/s, Huntress can, etc. It's just the way the power is designed, if that's the main reason the movement speed is getting nerfed I 100% disagree and this should get reverted it just makes hellfire feel more bad to use.

    • Increased movement speed recovery time after activating Hellfire to 2.35 sec (was 2.25 sec)

    This honestly didn't feel impactful from playing the PTB all day so I am okay with this IF it does find its way passing through into the live servers but I will say a change like this if it was more impactful could make a Dracula more worried to use Hellfire and would rather just go for a force vault playstyle or m2 faking playstyle but since the number is so minimal it still feels the same!

    VAMPIRE FORM CONTINUED:

    My biggest take about Hellfire and Vampire Form in general is Hellfire should NOT be getting nerfed whatsoever. Hellfire already felt clunky to use in certain situations and respectfully this is going to make it feel even worse to use. If Hellfire received just buffs THAT alone would incentivize people to want to stay in Vampire Form a little bit longer and try more fun playstyles with Hellfire rather than what is is right now. Please keep in mind Dracula has been bugged for a very long time and one of his bugs is his Hellfire is delayed/desynced so doing nerfs like this while not addressing his current bugs honestly hurts and that alone makes it feel even more awful to use. I love to stay in Vampire Form and use Hellfire and go for elevation hits as that's my favorite thing to do with him so being slower and have Hellfire feel more clunky is going to make me want to stay in Wolf Form more frequently. A change you could potentially try out and I mean "test" first rather than just sneak it in an update is a charge time buff. You could try this in a PTB and then if people agree or like it then you could release it to live or just scrap it entirely if people don't like it Dracula players included. Hellfire can be easy to Hold W from so doing this could remedy that as well. When I say buff to charge time something very minimal like 0.8s rather than like 0.75 or something. TDLR: Please keep the buffs for Hellfire to incentivize using Hellfire more and revert the nerfs as they are not necessary and make him feel VERY clunky.

    WOLF FORM:

    • Increased Pounce Charge Attack charge time to 0.9s (was 0.85s)

    As I have said before I played every iteration of Dracula so I was there when pounce got cancelled after 1 pounce, I was there when pounce was 1 second, etc. so I am personally okay with this! I personally thought we wanted to keep it in line with Victor's charge time with his pounce but I am also glad we didn't put it back at 1 sec and did something in between so thank you!

    • Increased Scent Orb spawn time to 6 seconds. (was 5 seconds).

    This I am okay with I played when Scent orb was at 6 seconds and I was fine with it. I was honestly surprised it got buffed from 6 seconds to 5 seconds awhile ago so seeing it go back to 6 seconds won't change much about that so I am very welcome to this Scent orb change BUT. I do not think we should nerf force of echo in return for this. The reason why force of echo was so good is because scent orbs were 5 seconds, I think having at 6 seconds with current force of echo would not a problem if someone wants to have that trade off in that add-on so I believe we should not touch at add-on at all.

    WOLF FORM CONTINUED:

    i am personally fine with these Wolf Form changes but upon playing Wolf Form in this update there is something off about Wolf Form but it feels VERY clunky its like anytime I am using wolf pounce its like I am getting pulled on something I can't tell whether its his charge time, pounce speed, or the open attack phase but something feels off when it comes to Wolf Form right now and I hope it gets addressed when he comes to live. I'm not sure if maybe adding input buffering to Dracula's abilities maybe can help with that? Normally you're able to start charging but there seems to be a little delay, even worse if you're walking from left to right and start charging. I am not sure if this is intentional or not or if its just a PTB server thing but it makes him feel weird to play.

    BAT FORM:

    • Increased Bat Form flying movement friction to reduce sliding motion to 2.2 (was 1.6).

    Genuinely this has to be the BEST thing to come about Dracula's update. I love how Bat form feels and not getting suck in-between doors and walls genuinely feels so good to be in form. Even when it comes to mindgaming survivors at windows and winning 50/50s not sliding off the window or even at walls feels so so good. Thank you for taking a look at this because this was a complaint many Dracula players had.

    THE DARK LORD'S ADD-ON CHANGES (PLEASE READ):

    Before I even get into the Add-Ons I just want to say I am GENUINELY confused on why the add-ons are getting changed this much. I won't lie I expected Lapis, Force and other add-ons to get changed but when I saw almost all of his add-ons get changed I was BAFFLED. Respectfully Dracula isn't a add-on dependent killer but it does makes him more versatile and lets him change his playstyle if you go for a "Hellfire Spam", "Wolf Pounce Spam", "Bat Mobility" type builds. His Add-ons allow him to tap into each of his forms and be unique with them or even blend them in together and be fun with them but this misses the margin completely.

    COMMON ADD-ONS:

    • Ruby Circlet (NERF) - Reduced Cooldown from 10% to 5% (resulting in 9.025 cooldown from 9 seconds)

    If this is to tone it down so it be more in line about 9 seconds how it is in current version of the game that's okay this change doesn't bother me entirely too much BUT I also feel like its not insanely impactful to nerf as well.

    • Clocktower Gear (NERF) - Reduces the Cooldown of Shapeshift by 5% was 10%

    This is also another unwarranted change I am confused about. This add-on didn't feel impactful to change massively like this as well. I would understand if shapeshift was 3 seconds base kit or 2.5 still but shapeshift isn't at an insane number for this add-on to get nerfed either.

    • Traveler's Hat (NERF) - Increases Shapeshift speed by 5% (was 10%)

    This is the one that hurt me the most I'm not gonna lie (if not medusa). I love Traveler's hat as it allows you to go for fun shapeshifting plays and use your mist you get while shapeshifting to your advantage and play around that to trick the survivors. If not shapeshifting out then going for a Hellfire play or Wolf Pounce is what makes this add-on FEEL GOOD it's not insanely oppressive for it to be nerfed and it fits the category of being a COMMON add-on. Changing Traveler's hat will let everyone leave it alone in the mist and no one will potentially use it again.

    COMMON ADD-ONS CONTINUED:

    His common add-ons basically allow him to be more versatile with his shapeshift abilities which is why I find them SO unique compared to his other add-ons and I won't lie they are my MOST used add-ons I use on Dracula. I love shapeshift so this being an indirect side nerf to shapeshift and a little nerf to Hellfire when Hellfire already felt a bit clunky is what hurts me a bit about this.

    UNCOMMON ADD-ONS:

    • Moonstone Necklace (BUFF) - Reduces the size of the Terror Radius in Vampire and Wolf Forms by 8 Meters ( was 4 Meters )

    This I am okay with honestly I was wondering if this add-on would get changed to 6 meters eventually but 8 meters I was concerned about with monitor. BUT since Monitor is getting changed I am welcome to this add-on being 8 meters. Basically it would be 25% of 24M rather than 32-8(moonstone) then -8 from monitor. If I am looking at this correctly it would still be 32-8(moonstone) resulting in 24 then its 25% of 24M resulting in a 18M Terror Radius while in Wolf Form and Vampire Form. Honestly this is a buff overall because currently if you're doing this with Monitor and Moonstone Necklace in current live version of the game it can only go to 20M so I am welcome with this change. IF monitor does get reverted though I would hope this add-on goes to 6M.

    • Blood-Filled Goblet (BUFF) - Increases duration of Scent Orbs by 60% ( was 50% )

    This add-on getting buffed is okay but I personally felt like it was okay with how it was right now. This is a hot take but I personally don't think I like this. The thing about scent orbs and their counterplay is that their die out time is a counterplay against Dracula and how and when survivors drop scent orbs and a direct buff to this while also having Cerberus talon as an addon is that Dracula will have even more information on the survivors and since they last longer Cerberus talon will be putting even much more work especially on maps like Midwich which is REALLY good for Dracula. (I'm not saying nerf Cerberus talon it's just the combo with Cerberus talon and Goblet is just really good and provides so much information)

    • White Wolf Medallion - Increases Killer Instinct duration by 1 second while in Wolf Form after Survivors complete rushed actions (was 0.8 seconds)

    I'm going to be so honest I have no idea how this add-on is even still an add-on. I'm not gonna even describe this as a buff because this add-on is not even an add-on. This is objectively without even debate his worst add-on. This add-on provides no value to you because 1 you know where the survivor is at and 2 the numbers are so minimal. I feel like if you wanted to do something and you wanted to have this as an option you can either make this addon base kit OR you can just scrap it entirely and fully rework it. I promise you and I hope someone is listening when i say this, this add-on is completely terrible and you can almost NEVER get value out of this add-on and i really hope a dev is reading this so this add-on can receive a rework or change. PLEASE.

    RARE ADD-ONS:

    • Killer Doll - Increases Cooldown reduction of Pounce Attacks from Scent Orbs by 30% (was 50%)

    I know this add-on was going to get changed the moment it made its way through his PTB. Personally I did feel like 50% was a crazy but I also feel like 30% is also a bit minimal. I would honestly go with 40% as its a good even and doesn't make it insanely oppressive and you can get your power back at a decent time while also having the passive power cooldown come into effect as well.

    • Force Of Echo - Increases the spawn rate of Scent Orbs by 10% (was 17%)

    This is another one I figured would get toned down eventually after it got reworked but personally the only reason I saw force of echo get realistically changed was due to the fact scent orbs were at 5 seconds. I honestly don't think this add-on needs to be changed and if so make it minimal like 15% I really feel like 10% will make it feel overshadowed. Keep in mind Wolf Form cannot gain bloodlust so using the scent orbs to catch up especially on maps that are rough can really help him out so cutting his other form of catching up to the survivor can be kind of tricky if not balanced correctly. (wolf form will be fine its just this change confused me a bit)

    VERY RARE ADD-ONS:

    • Medusa's Hair - Survivors within 8 meters (was 12 meters) of your teleport destination suffer from an 8% hindered status effect for 2 seconds (was 3 seconds)

    THIS CANNOT GO LIVE. This add-on seriously needs to be reworked at this point and I know a good idea for that I have been pitching for quite a while and that is "Any survivor within 12 meters of your teleport destination scream and reveal their location for 3 seconds" This will fit into the aspect of "Medusa" because before her victims turn into stone they are seen to be screaming you can check any of her statues for references too. If you do decide this effect is too strong, you can put it on a cooldown like many other add-ons in the game. Nurse has some where it goes on cooldown for example. But if this add-on does not get changed from PTB to LIVE it will be dead. I understand why it originally got nerfed from 15% to 8% and from 5 sec to 3 sec but 2 seconds you genuinely cannot do anything with that. The whole point of current Medusa is the fact they don't gain as much distance when you're shapeshifting out of Bat Form after teleporting and due to it being 3 seconds its about roughly when you recover from shapeshift. If it stays at 2 seconds this addon especially wont get value since they can recover much more easily. I am also unsure why we are nerfing the range as well I feel like it is perfectly okay at 12 meters and doesn't deserve a range nerf on it you could of use the range to teleport to window from afar and if a survivor isn't paying attention to the audio cues and the visual cues of the teleport orb then its honestly a misplay on their part so the range should not be nerfed.

    • Lapis Lazuli - After teleporting to a window it is blocked for 8 seconds.

    This add-on is by far his best addon don't get me wrong and it 10000000% deserves a nerf because 15 seconds (basically giving bamboozle to a whole killer add-on) is absurd don't get me wrong but I kind of feel like 8 seconds for a purple add-on can be outplayed a bit. I would suggest maybe 10 seconds? Compared to other add-ons like Vecna's window block for 45 seconds. Kaneki's window block for 10 seconds. I really feel like this doesn't warrant for 8 seconds and I feel like 10 seconds would be much more reasonable because you also have to take into account you're teleporting TO the window (losing some distance in some situations) while also having to deal with shapeshifting out of the form. I would understand it if the add-on was a RARE add-on but its a purple add-on.

    ULTRA RARE ADD-ONS:

    • Ring Of Vlad - Hellfire pillar reduction downside removed (was reduced by 1 pillar)

    This is okay, but I'm also very concerned about this. The reason why this add-on is not good is because it doesn't teach players HOW to use hellfire. It's kind of like Hellfire on training wheels and if someone gets too attached to it they won't properly learn Hellfire while on top of no longer having the penalty and also having an extra pillar base kit.

    OVERALL THOUGHTS:

    Some of these changes cannot go through. Nerfing his common addons (brown addons) and other add-ons along side nerfing hellfire when they already weren't even oppressive to begin with will leave those to be overshadowed by Wolf Form still and it will leave Dracula to be a very one sided killer. My biggest hopes is for at least the Hellfire movement speed to get reverted because it feels really bad to use Hellfire. Keep in mind these changes feel worse in paper because Dracula has been BUGGED for a very very long time and it has been addressed multiple times even to the point where there is comments from the actual Dead By Daylight account that there was "Dracula fixes being investigated" but instead in return its unnecessary changes to his Hellfire, Add-Ons and much more. I am just genuinely confused about this overall. I understand there were some balance takes for certain add-ons like lapis, doll, etc. but some of the other ones I am baffled by and I really really hope in the future there is dev notes next to changes that explain the thought process on why the changes were made. For example: "We're bringing Ruby Circlet to 5% to compensate for the Hellfire cooldown reduction it received." That type of communication alone will be enough for people to understand where these changes are coming from rather than just be like "Why are we doing this??". I hope you understand my takes, Dracula is very special to me whether it comes to the killer, the franchise, etc. I have been here since his very first PTB and literally rushed him to get to P100 when he came out because I love this character so much so seeing these unnecessary changes happen strikes a bit of a nerve to me. Thank you for reading all of this if you did get this far and I will be checking back everyday to see updates on everything! I really wanted to wait a whole day of the PTB and test everything rather than just make a post immediately after the PTB went live so that's why it took a bit for this post!

    Thanks for reading,

    Bleak :D 🦇

  • @brewingtea said:

    I backed out to the top level and looked at the posts. Here's a Dracula main (with one of the highest kill rates in the game) asking for BUFFS. ON TOP OF WHAT'S ALREADY COMING TO LIVE

    They're not asking for a 70-80% average, THEY WANT MORE!

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/455775/dracula-changes-9-2-0-please-read

    I do not see what you are talking about.

  • @brewingtea said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3998435#Comment_3998435

    Please show us a single killer player who has ever seriously demanded a 70-80% kill rate as the average.

    Every killer that does a 1000 4K win streak.

    Or every killer that loses with Trapper and says, "I'm going to play Nurse as revenge!" News flash: They're not doing so because her kill rate is LOW.

    That's the problem. Y'all claim those are "outliers" while saving them in your pocket for when YOU need them. The nice smooth bell curve only works if the pick rates are the same. If you can just DECIDE when you "deserve" a 4K (as opposed to letting skill and circumstance dictate that, like in a normal game) then you are "seriously demanding a 70-80% kill rate". Maybe not as an "average" but certainly not in a "random, bell curve" way AT ALL.

    The streamer that is constantly held up as the pillar of the community for positivity is constantly doing streaks where he massively handicaps himself, and then goes completely ballistic and starts ranting about how unfair the game is when his win rate with handicaps on killers he only plays once or twice a week is 'only' around 90% instead of the 98% he thinks it should be.

    This is not normal, respectful, nor healthy. And yet, it's normalized. Nearly every killer player does this kind of styling and mockery of the other side because the game is indeed that easy for them. I'm all for silly builds and playing for fun, but the tradeoff is to expect to lose slightly more. He's still winning the virtually all of his games anyway, even with the handicaps. But that's not enough, and almost every loss is met as a grave injustice.

  • @brewingtea said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3998435#Comment_3998435

    Please show us a single killer player who has ever seriously demanded a 70-80% kill rate as the average.

    Every killer that does a 1000 4K win streak.

    Or every killer that loses with Trapper and says, "I'm going to play Nurse as revenge!" News flash: They're not doing so because her kill rate is LOW.

    That's the problem. Y'all claim those are "outliers" while saving them in your pocket for when YOU need them. The nice smooth bell curve only works if the pick rates are the same. If you can just DECIDE when you "deserve" a 4K (as opposed to letting skill and circumstance dictate that, like in a normal game) then you are "seriously demanding a 70-80% kill rate". Maybe not as an "average" but certainly not in a "random, bell curve" way AT ALL.

    ”Every killer that does a 1000 4K win streak”

    So that’s like what, 3 people ever out of the millions who play this game? Clearly a huge balance problem.

  • I dont mind loosing if survivors or my opponent (killer to) play well but what I hate is many players being toxic for no reason and they gg ez or babby something is big motivation for me to win and say gg gl next but it can be frustrating loosing many matches in row and getting insults left and right or loosing because of cheater or bug can be annoying as well.

  • @brewingtea said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3998435#Comment_3998435

    Please show us a single killer player who has ever seriously demanded a 70-80% kill rate as the average.

    Every killer that does a 1000 4K win streak.

    Or every killer that loses with Trapper and says, "I'm going to play Nurse as revenge!" News flash: They're not doing so because her kill rate is LOW.

    That's the problem. Y'all claim those are "outliers" while saving them in your pocket for when YOU need them. The nice smooth bell curve only works if the pick rates are the same. If you can just DECIDE when you "deserve" a 4K (as opposed to letting skill and circumstance dictate that, like in a normal game) then you are "seriously demanding a 70-80% kill rate". Maybe not as an "average" but certainly not in a "random, bell curve" way AT ALL.

    I get that with nurse ot other stronger killer if they loose many matches in a row and get insults on to of that but that every killer main doing 1000 4k streaks is something I wonder how you get that maybe you should stop watching only blight and nurse mains like superalf and look at some bubba mains or other weaker killers.

  • @sinkra said:

    Only killers have this mentality. Killers want a game with a 70% kill rate, some even boast about their 80% kill rate. Killers want a game where they can go on 1k win streaks. Survivors just want a fair game. But all the big streamers are killer mains, so devs only listen to them.

    So another us vs them post, killers arent the only ones that are the cause of the problem this is not some disney fary tail where one side is 100% pure evil and other one is victim with having every time good intentions.

  • @UnicornMedal said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3998229#Comment_3998229

    That's where I always struggle to understand things.

    Camping/tunneling/slugging is a gameplay issue. It actively changes how someone is able to be in the trial, to the point that they can be flagging by the anti-go next system and receive a penalty for it (despite how rare that seems to be). Bagging at the gates is a psychological thing. The trial is already over. I'm not against the Killer being able to Abandon in that scenario, but it only affects one's time, not their gameplay.

    Now I'm not saying you're doing this, but the two do seem to be conflated a lot and it makes me wonder how you can ever make the game better without harming Killers' ego (not ego as in "big ego" but as in their self-esteem).

    Bagging at the gates is a psychological thing. The trial is already over. I'm not against the Killer being able to Abandon in that scenario, but it only affects one's time, not their gameplay.

    Isn't the player's time important? Why should they spend their time getting BMed in game when they can just go next?

    I've seen many complaints about t-bagging at the gates, specifically, and the answers were always either "suck it up" or "if you don't like it, try not losing". Any suggestions to let Killers opt out were brushed off. So, Killer players follow the latter piece of advice, only to hear "No, you're actually winning the wrong way, shame on you" — which prompts them to respond aggressively and be extremely defensive.

    What I mean by that is that players need an incentive to play differently or not to go for the win every game. There is no point in simply appealing to them and asking them to play nice when in-game environment and priorities encourage doing otherwise—and both sides come up with reasons why they shouldn't play nice, based on their own experiences.

    For example, a solid part of this incentive is rooted in providing them with options not to interact with sore winners. If a Killer can abandon a trial after all 4 gens pop and go back straight to their lobby, they no longer think about annoying opponents—they are out of sight and out of mind. Instead, they can go to the next game immediately. They will also feel more at ease during the next games—because they will always have this option, so they won't have to deal with toxic moments if they want to and thus, these moments won't linger on their mind, souring their mood and affecting their playstyle. Without this pressure ("win or get mocked"), much more players will be so obsessed with winning.

    Another part of encouraging other playstyles would be introducing other rewards or objectives during the game. For instance, integrating tome challenges into the game automatically, so players could unlock charms and lore pieces (potentially related to the character they play at the moment) — in other words, assigning something that players can progress regardless of win or loss.

    The community isn't going to fix itself, it can only be limited and incentivized to play differently by the game itself.

  • @SpitefulHateful said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3998330#Comment_3998330

    Bagging at the gates is a psychological thing. The trial is already over. I'm not against the Killer being able to Abandon in that scenario, but it only affects one's time, not their gameplay.

    Isn't the player's time important? Why should they spend their time getting BMed in game when they can just go next?

    I've seen many complaints about t-bagging at the gates, specifically, and the answers were always either "suck it up" or "if you don't like it, try not losing". Any suggestions to let Killers opt out were brushed off. So, Killer players follow the latter piece of advice, only to hear "No, you're actually winning the wrong way, shame on you" — which prompts them to respond aggressively and be extremely defensive.

    What I mean by that is that players need an incentive to play differently or not to go for the win every game. There is no point in simply appealing to them and asking them to play nice when in-game environment and priorities encourage doing otherwise—and both sides come up with reasons why they shouldn't play nice, based on their own experiences.

    For example, a solid part of this incentive is rooted in providing them with options not to interact with sore winners. If a Killer can abandon a trial after all 4 gens pop and go back straight to their lobby, they no longer think about annoying opponents—they are out of sight and out of mind. Instead, they can go to the next game immediately. They will also feel more at ease during the next games—because they will always have this option, so they won't have to deal with toxic moments if they want to and thus, these moments won't linger on their mind, souring their mood and affecting their playstyle. Without this pressure ("win or get mocked"), much more players will be so obsessed with winning.

    Another part of encouraging other playstyles would be introducing other rewards or objectives during the game. For instance, integrating tome challenges into the game automatically, so players could unlock charms and lore pieces (potentially related to the character they play at the moment) — in other words, assigning something that players can progress regardless of win or loss.

    The community isn't going to fix itself, it can only be limited and incentivized to play differently by the game itself.

    That was my point. Being able to Abandon respects their time and also spares any psychological wear they might feel. But comparing it to camping/tunneling/slugging is inappropriate. The former is rooted in social dynamics, while the latter is rooted in gameplay itself.

    I'm all for improving the challenge system. The current one we have is much better than the old one in my opinion, but it could still do more.

  • @Coffeecrashing said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3998229#Comment_3998229

    Those things aren’t comparable. You’re comparing killer strategies that can greatly help win a game, to survivors doing something that rarely affects if the survivors win a game.

    Your comparisons should be survivor strategies that can help win games, but are frustrating for killers. Things like survivors excessively hiding, or survivors preventing the killer from hooking a survivor.

    "Rarely"

    Yes definitely it's "RARE"

  • The problem with playing "optimally" in DBD is that the game is too imbalanced and janky to account for it. Tne maps and killers are wildly imbalanced relative to each other, the game is buggy and MMR is barely functional at any level.

    If you're a killer player, and you are determined to win at all costs, and to optimize your set up and approach to accomplish that end, it kind of breaks the game. You almost have to be a potato to not 4K the vast majority of the time playing as a fully kitted out, hard tunneling Blight/Ghoul/Nurse/etc.

    It's just a broken way to play, and says very little about the killer player's skill, while negating the survivor's skill. Much like a seal team 6 SWF, the game's mechanics simply weren't set up to account for it.

    IMO, DBD is an absurd game to try to play optimally, because it's so imbalanced in just about every facet.

    If you're playing and S or high-A tier killer and just hard tunneling the first survivor you find out, you're not expressing skill, you're exploiting shoddy game design. Sure, you might lose some games against really good teams, but you're not going to be challenged like 90% of the time.

    I mean if a a killer wants to conflate winning like that with high skill play, that's their prerogative, but it's self-delusion. Not only that, but it will keep them from actually getting better. It's killer training wheels. I wouldn't at all say that the majority of killer players who were having tantrums about the proposed patch were just terrified of being exposed, but a whole lot were.

    Like winning 90% of their games was their very identity. The same thing as a surv player who almost exclusively plays in SWF and is used to escaping but and gets absolutely rinsed when dipping a toe in solo queue.

    Beyond that inflammatory take, I just don't get the appeal of minimizing the risk of losing to almost nothing. DBD is pretty clearly a game that was conceived as experience rather then outcome based game, but even so winning when I'm almost certain I'm going to win is just…boring. Like what does it prove to win from a position of massive advantage?

    I'm as competitive as anyone in the right setting. DBD is not a great setting for competitive play (which is why "comp" DBD is so regulated and has to have all sorts of rules modifiers to even approximate a typical comp game). Public servers are just imbalanced chaos.

    Being tunneled out by a Blight doesn't make me feel like I was outplayed in any meaningful way, the same way getting 0K or 1K against a coordinated comms SWF when I'm playing as Sadako doesn't really feel like a loss. It just feels like my time was wasted, and I genuinely wonder what they got of it.

    I suspect a lot of these people aren't good enough to hack it at higher levels at properly balanced PvP games, and sweat at DBD to delude themselves.

    What DBD can be, and what it should be (imo) is a fun experience. To me, trying to make it a serious test of "skill" is just lame. But to each their own, I guess.

  • @ArcT said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3998454#Comment_3998454

    The streamer that is constantly held up as the pillar of the community for positivity is constantly doing streaks where he massively handicaps himself, and then goes completely ballistic and starts ranting about how unfair the game is when his win rate with handicaps on killers he only plays once or twice a week is 'only' around 90% instead of the 98% he thinks it should be.

    This is not normal, respectful, nor healthy. And yet, it's normalized. Nearly every killer player does this kind of styling and mockery of the other side because the game is indeed that easy for them. I'm all for silly builds and playing for fun, but the tradeoff is to expect to lose slightly more. He's still winning the virtually all of his games anyway, even with the handicaps. But that's not enough, and almost every loss is met as a grave injustice.

    "Nearly every killer player does this kind of styling and mockery of the other side because the game is indeed that easy for them"

    WOW. Talk about a massive generalization,.

  • @Thusly_Boned said:

    The problem with playing "optimally" in DBD is that the game is too imbalanced and janky to account for it. Tne maps and killers are wildly imbalanced relative to each other, the game is buggy and MMR is barely functional at any level.

    If you're a killer player, and you are determined to win at all costs, and to optimize your set up and approach to accomplish that end, it kind of breaks the game. You almost have to be a potato to not 4K the vast majority of the time playing as a fully kitted out, hard tunneling Blight/Ghoul/Nurse/etc.

    It's just a broken way to play, and says very little about the killer player's skill, while negating the survivor's skill. Much like a seal team 6 SWF, the game's mechanics simply weren't set up to account for it.

    IMO, DBD is an absurd game to try to play optimally, because it's so imbalanced in just about every facet.

    If you're playing and S or high-A tier killer and just hard tunneling the first survivor you find out, you're not expressing skill, you're exploiting shoddy game design. Sure, you might lose some games against really good teams, but you're not going to be challenged like 90% of the time.

    I mean if a a killer wants to conflate winning like that with high skill play, that's their prerogative, but it's self-delusion. Not only that, but it will keep them from actually getting better. It's killer training wheels. I wouldn't at all say that the majority of killer players who were having tantrums about the proposed patch were just terrified of being exposed, but a whole lot were.

    Like winning 90% of their games was their very identity. The same thing as a surv player who almost exclusively plays in SWF and is used to escaping but and gets absolutely rinsed when dipping a toe in solo queue.

    Beyond that inflammatory take, I just don't get the appeal of minimizing the risk of losing to almost nothing. DBD is pretty clearly a game that was conceived as experience rather then outcome based game, but even so winning when I'm almost certain I'm going to win is just…boring. Like what does it prove to win from a position of massive advantage?

    I'm as competitive as anyone in the right setting. DBD is not a great setting for competitive play (which is why "comp" DBD is so regulated and has to have all sorts of rules modifiers to even approximate a typical comp game). Public servers are just imbalanced chaos.

    Being tunneled out by a Blight doesn't make me feel like I was outplayed in any meaningful way, the same way getting 0K or 1K against a coordinated comms SWF when I'm playing as Sadako doesn't really feel like a loss. It just feels like my time was wasted, and I genuinely wonder what they got of it.

    I suspect a lot of these people aren't good enough to hack it at higher levels at properly balanced PvP games, and sweat at DBD to delude themselves.

    What DBD can be, and what it should be (imo) is a fun experience. To me, trying to make it a serious test of "skill" is just lame. But to each their own, I guess.

    It's funny because for all the flack old DBD got and how the game is now apparently "the most balanced it's ever been", we sure seemed to have a lot more fun pre-MMR. The motions to make the game more competitive have only hurt it.

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  • @bleep275 said:

    The issue is the influx of hyper-competitive players. One thing matter and one thing only…ego. They NEED that dopamine hit to hit. the validation of dominating another human. The "winning isnt everything"….they skipped that day in pre-school. Only way to make this community focused on mutual exchanges of enjoyment and respect is to remove any aspect of "tournament e-sports" kids. Playing to win is fine, everyone does that. But his community takes it way to far and acts like their next meal depends on a 4k or making the killer DC. Comp is the death of casual enjoyment and laughter and I will die on that hill.

    it's a weird dichotomy of online gaming; people have to google meta and strictly adhere to it or you are trolling, but also have zero interest or effort put into self reflection or improvement. when you kill these people its always bs, or cheats, etc. I see them in every game i play.

  • @ForumUsername said:

    Btw this whole thread is dumb.

    It is only your opinion what is fun, not everyone will agree with you on what is fun. And I have found the people who want to play for fun are the same ones that can not win consistently when actually trying against skilled players in any game of any genre.

    This reminds me of giving out participation trophies in school sports like #########?

    I feel like at this point you are missing the point on purpose

    Dead By Daylight is not, has never been, and in all likelihood will never be a competition. There is no participation trophy because there isn't even a trophy to begin with, there is zero reason to engage in a strategy most people agree isn't fun or fair when playing in a way that lets everyone enjoy the match accomplishes the same thing, if your attitude is "The strategy most of the community says isn't fun is fine because it's the most efficient way to win and anyone who disagrees or thinks that's not fun needs to just git gud" in a game where you don't even get something as small as a in-game stat tracker, you are the problem, not the other players.

    Following your analogy, your opinion is the equivalent of that one kid who tries extremely hard in a team sport and gets really mad at his team, and even the other team, for not trying as hard as he is, even though the entire point of the game they're playing is to just have fun and enjoy being outside, yeah sure that one kid is probably doing well, but nobody else cares and nobody is impressed, if anything they'd probably get scolded afterwards by their parents for being a sore winner and bringing down the mood of everybody else that's there.

    Again, playing to win is fine, you can also win without being that guy, and when there's no reward incentive for winning, playing like that guy serves no purpose, so don't be that guy

  • @oecrophy said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/456172/the-dbd-community-has-a-win-at-all-cost-problem

    Sarcasm aside, how what can we as a community to do to make Tunnelling, and by extension other unfun strategies, less of a issue? Simple really, take a load off and relax. Killers don't have to tunnel, Survivors don't have to rush generators, both sides can take in a match to goof off, chase each other, maybe get some funny clips. Matches don't need to end in 5 minutes nor do does someone have to be taken out in 2 minutes, this is a casual game with a lot of RNG and balancing so comically bad its almost intentional. Nobody has to play like this is a competitive tournament with money on the line.

    maybe it’s just my mentality, but peak DBD is when both sides play for the W.

    Tunneling’s a legit fun part of that. First chase? I’ve got the whole map and every resource to work with — that’s real interaction. After the tunnel’s done, the next person in line has way less to play around; map’s trimmed, pallets gone — way spicier, way more pressure. If the killer keeps target-swapping and no real chase happens, it’s mid. its not fun the moment the Kiler only tries to get people at dead zone gens with constant target switching.

    I like the tunnel, I like breaking a hard tunnel, I like clean body blocks and team play. ‘Let’s not try’ matches are gray and boring.

    Love when both sides sweat for the win.

    but.. i dk, I’m into 1v1s too. Kinda the same as a tunnel — you just try to hold it forever and burn every resource on the map.

    I don’t mind when both sides play for the win. Anything else is boring,.. no? :/

    I kinda hafta agree with this sentiment here, like there are times when a survivor puts me on tilt, but man there are times when I put real ######### energy into a chase at my best and a survivor responds to that and I love the chase. What kills it for me most of the time is that games end so ######### fast regardless of the result, like 90% of the complaints about dead by daylight would disappear if the games were designed to last longer by default so people could give their best when the time is right. Like I play pig with a hex totem kinda stalling build where I have 3 dud hexes and one dangerous hex like devour hope or ruin and then I use the beartraps to force players into side objectives, then I just spend the whole game chasing. even when devour gets cleansed I get the time I need to put out my best because instead of slowdown or block which can be mitigated with more time commitment, players just have to leave to solve a problem so I get slowdown and aura read the second they finally cleanse a hex. My point with the digression is that trying your hardest to win isn't really the problem, the problem is when you go nuclear on the opposition and the game can't handle that so it breaks down and ends super fast. We are not given the resources to enjoy our toys most of the time so it all boils down to comp strats. In fact hex pig is a pretty comp heavy strat but It's what I like and the fact it's the only build I can really remember says a lot about how hard it is to find something good to work with out here.

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  • @brewingtea said:

    I backed out to the top level and looked at the posts. Here's a Dracula main (with one of the highest kill rates in the game) asking for BUFFS. ON TOP OF WHAT'S ALREADY COMING TO LIVE

    They're not asking for a 70-80% average, THEY WANT MORE!

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/455775/dracula-changes-9-2-0-please-read

    Not sure why I'm being brought into this but I can safely say you didn't read my post at all. I have mentioned wolf form was welcomed to get nerfed and the Hellfire changes should get reverted. Most of my complaints were to the add-ons and how some useless add-ons should get changed (like sunglasses) while the ones that are getting unnecessarily nerfed shouldn't go through.

  • @DragonMasterDarren said:

    This has been something that has been on my mind for a while but has come up again with the 9.2.0 PTB. I already spoke my mind about what I think about the new content and the changes being made but if you didn't read that, here's the TLDR, I think the anti-tunnel and anti-slug systems are a good thing in spirit, they were just way too harsh and rather ham-fisted, punishing unhealthy playstyles is a good thing, but punishing gameplay most of the community can agree is perfectly fine isn't.

    So with the outcry being enough that the anti-tunnel and anti-slug won't be coming to live, I noticed that a lot of people seem to, at least in my opinion, misinterpret the intent behind them, that being that the devs want to punish the Killer for trying to win.

    Let me make my thoughts on that line of thinking clear. I've been playing for almost 3k hours, most of that time is on Killer, and I do not think any Killer regardless of their strength specifically needs to tunnel someone out at the start of the game in order to win, especially not a S tier killer like Nurse or Blight. Hooks and Kills are not the only way a Killer can generate pressure and slow down Survivors, simply downing somebody is already knocking someone out of the game until they can be picked up, keeping them busy with things like Infection systems on some killers as well forces people off of generators, hell simply chasing them generates pressure because that's one less person doing the objective, if you are playing Blight with Quad Slowdown and both Speed Addons and think you need to kill someone at 5 gens to stand a chance at winning then you are not nearly as good or as knowledgeable at Killer as you think you are. If a Survivor is playing aggressively and very clearly wants to be chased then by all means go for them, but you don't need to kill someone as soon as possible in order to win.

    As far as I am concerned, regardless of its strength, Tunnelling is one of the unhealthiest playstyles a Killer can engage in. Lets say a Killer is Tunnelling with the express intention of winning, they're probably stressed because they're not able to kill the survivor fast enough, the person being chased isn't having fun because the Killer is on their ass the entire match, aren't getting any Bloodpoints, and if they aren't good in chase then they'll be back sitting in queues in under 5 minutes, and the other 3 survivors aren't having fun because their only real gameplay option is doing gens, which comprises entirely of holding a button for 90 seconds and occasionally pressing Spacebar, that is it. Maybe the Killer and Survivor being chased are having fun if all they care about is chases regardless of how it goes, but that's still only 40% of the people in a match that are enjoying themselves, the other 60% are bored out of their mind. Want to know why most of your SoloQ games end with people not on gens? Because gens are boring and the other Survivors not being chased are probably out looking for literally anything else to do. This is why so many people ask for another objective to be added, Survivor gameplay is incredibly dull and unfun if the Killer is focused solely on one person, and, when the entire point of a video game is to have fun playing it, Tunnelling creates a scenario where 3 of the 5 people in a match at minimum are pretty much unable to actually have fun.

    Now, this is the point where people are probably going to tell me that Killers are not responsible for Survivors fun and vice versa. To which I say, what exactly happens when people don't have fun playing a game? They quit, they leave, and if it's a multiplayer game and you have no one to play with, you can't play. So no, both sides are responsible for each other's fun, because if they aren't then there won't be a other side to play against. You can't engage in a playstyle that all but ensures no one in the match has fun, say "I don't care about your fun" and then complain when queues take 5 minutes or longer, you can't have your cake and eat it too. The best way to shorten queues is to make both roles less miserable and more fun to play, and the easiest way to do that is to punish playstyles that aren't fun, this was the intention behind the anti go-next system, the anti-afk system to prevent extreme hiding, and the anti-tunnel and anti-slug systems.

    This is where I loop back to the title, the reason these strategies and the mentally of "Up yours I do what I want" is so prevalent is because the community at large has a "Win at all costs" mindset, any strategy besides cheating is perfectly acceptable if it means you win the game. This mindset, to me, is extremely baffling for a simple reason, Dead By Daylight doesn't encourage or reward winning.

    Like really think about what you get for "Winning" a match of DBD as Killer and Survivor, both sides get a slightly different message in the post game lobby, some pips for emblems if they are lucky, harder matches in the future because of the MMR system, and Survivors get 7000 or 8500 Survival points, and Killers get 2500 Deviousness points for killing everyone, points in a category that most of the roster maxes out halfway into the match anyway so realistically Killer gets nothing for winning. The long and short of it is, at least from my perspective, you get absolutely nothing for winning, and as for losing? You miss out on the aforementioned Bloodpoints and…that's about it, you don't lose pips for your Rank, and because the SBMM system is a complete joke that should have never been implemented your matches will be easier because you lose MMR. There is no true reward for victory beyond progressing Rift challenges and your own personal enjoyment, and that's where the issue then comes, if winning a match of DBD served a actual purpose and you got real, tangible rewards for doing so, then I'd see the argument for Tunnelling, it'd be stupid and bad for the reasons listed above, but I could see it. As it stands right now though, the argument of "I should be allowed to to kill someone at 5 gens and ignore everyone else because it's the most efficient way to win and winning feels good" is a argument I find to be flawed, after all, this same logic applies to Genrushing as well doesn't it? After all, doing gens quickly is the most efficient way to win, But Killer mains hate that, they think Survivors shouldn't be allowed to do gens too quickly because it isn't fun. See how quickly that argument can be flipped on its head? If Tunnelling is fine, Genrushing is fine, after all, victory's all that matters, right?

    Sarcasm aside, how what can we as a community to do to make Tunnelling, and by extension other unfun strategies, less of an issue? Simple really, take a load off and relax. Killers don't have to tunnel, Survivors don't have to rush generators, both sides can take in a match to goof off, chase each other, maybe get some funny clips. Matches don't need to end in 5 minutes nor do does someone have to be taken out in 2 minutes, this is a casual game with a lot of RNG and balancing so comically bad its almost intentional. Nobody has to play like this is a competitive tournament with money on the line.

    Let me be clear here, I am not saying “Don’t play to win” I am saying “Don’t let your desire to win make the game less fun for the other side”, if you want to try and win then go on ahead, just remember that you’re not playing against bots, you’re playing with real people with feelings too, and besides, close matches that are down to the wire are more fun anyway.

    Am I yelling into the void trying to offer a solution to a problem that has become ingrained into the game's culture? Probably, am I still going to hope that we can find a elegant solution to problems that will continue to impact the game's long time health? God I hope so

    G'night

    i agree to some degree that people play to win a bit too much but in my experience and the experience voiced by countless people on various platforms, the reason why people play to win so hard is because of the consequences of the loss. losing a game and having people BM you every time and spout toxic comments and gloating isnt fun. winning a match lessens this effect and while people can still say and do toxic things atleast the player that wins can walk away smiling knowing "atleast i won"

    This is a result of the community as a whole. when i first started playing the game many years ago people were not that bad and for me the game wasnt that serious. But as the years have gone by the level of toxicity has increased so now if i want to avoid a mental battering by the opposition i play to win at all cost. They might say some horrible things and BM me in the match but when i win im the one smiling :)

  • i didn't feel like reading the wall of text but tunneling and slugging are very necessary for the game at least in the high ranks where they rush gens and it's necessary to create pressure these changes are extremely harmful to the game since they will force the meta to be only top tiers and shouldn't ever be implemented but eventually will