Suggestion for integrating new players
Mandatory bot matches. Have them win a certain number of matches whilst giving them small challenges they have to complete before they enter the fog proper. It would save breaking up the player base into actual beginner lobbies whilst also providing them with a more in-depth understanding of how actual matches work. It would also put some Smurfs off of jumping into the game with a new account so quickly as I don't see a good many of them having the patience to play against bots a bunch of times before getting to the lobbies.
Forcing new players to do this will give them the necessary experience to understand what they need to be doing and steel themselves for the real thing - I remember all too well what it was like when I first started - the genuine terror of the killer approaching, the struggle to navigate the map and find the generators; full stop not knowing what looping is and how to manage pallets and windows. It's fun, but it's a different game now and unfortunately very few established players really want to find themselves carrying and babysitting these poor souls as they crouch in a corner and fail miserably match after match. It isn't fair on either party and more needs to be done to give the new players a better chance.
I would also grant them 5 million BP once they've unlocked the proper lobbies - that's just a drop in the ocean compared to what's needed in order to actually start getting the perks they'll need but at least they could prestige a few of the starters from the get go.
Thanks for reading.
To add: this is more heavily suggested for survivors but new killers would benefit from the same thing purely so they aren't getting stomped repeatedly. I wouldn't make it mandatory for killers however as the lack of team element means they're not subjecting anyone else to a loss.
Comments
Other games do something similar to what you're suggesting, but specifically with Unranked and Ranked gamemodes. In those games, you may need to play 50 or win 20 (or some other number) games in Unranked in order to be able to play Ranked. This makes it more difficult or expensive for cheaters to get new accounts to grind ranked, and will make it so that players actually have a bit of experience going into ranked so as not to ruin other people's games. The problem is DBD doesn't have a ranked gamemode, and some people might argue it's not a game that should. In addition, those games are still against people, which much more closely emulates a ranked game, just not for stakes.
Unless you were to force players to play at least 20 matches with bots, I don't think a few matches against bots would prepare players much more for playing the game. And even then I don't know how much it would do. Even a couple hundred hours into this game, most of the community will agree you are pretty new, and you probably will still struggle with a lot of the mechanics. Plus, I don't think many people would want to sit through that many matches against bots, so I think it would just drive a lot of new players away more.
Those are all more than fair points. All I really know is something has to be done to get the new players more in tune with the game and with there being no proper ranked system like you said, it means there's little option outside of the bot lobbies unless BHVR were to create a beginner lobby that would allow smurfs to have a wail of a time. I don't think it would be continuously Smurfs though and for that it's also something else to be considered.
Honestly what I think should happen is more help for new players. Whenever you get the notification of a perk in the upper right of your screen, like Face the Darkness when you're hit or Nemesis when you become Obsession, when you press tab and look at the UI that shows all your teammates' perks, it should add that perk to the killer's loadout so that you have the ability to hover over it and read it. You should be able to do the same with addons that act similarly. There are probably also more perks and addons that should interact this way with the pop up, specifically if there would be a dead giveaway to a player that knows of its existence.
I've also said before that the tab menu should really be an overlay that pulls up over the screen like a scoreboard in FPS PvP games rather than an entire page that blocks you from seeing anything and doing anything (if you still have hold to interact).
I think there's also the option of trying to implement some kind of new tip system that gives you hints on what to do while you are actively in your first maybe 10 games or so. Not 1000% sure what would be in there, but having tips come up to help guide you as you're playing rather than relying on the player to be knowledgeable enough or always taking the time to pause and read a bunch of text would be a big improvement.