Actual ranked mode
🏆 DBD Ranked Mode
Separate from normal matchmaking
- Normal: casual games, current system.
- Ranked: competitive games where your performance affects your rank.
📈 Rank system
Something like:
Bronze → Silver → Gold → Platinum → Diamond → Master → Grandmaster
Each rank could have divisions, e.g. Diamond IV → Diamond III → Diamond II → Diamond I.
🎯 How you gain/lose rank
For Killers:
- Kills
- Hooks
- Chase efficiency
- Generator pressure
- Downs
- Overall match performance
For Survivors:
- Escaping
- Generators
- Unhooks
- Healing
- Chase time
- Protection hits
- Totems/objectives
Importantly, don’t make it purely kills/escape, otherwise players could ignore the rest of the game.
🔥 Seasonal system
Every few months:
- Rank resets
- New ranked rewards
- Leaderboards
- Exclusive cosmetics
- Ranked badges
- Titles
For example:
Top 100 Killer — Season 1
🥇 Leaderboards
Separate leaderboards for:
- Overall Killer
- Overall Survivor
- Individual Killers
- Individual Survivors
You could even have:
Top 100 Trapper players
That would make mastering individual characters much more meaningful.
⚔️ Competitive rules
I’d also give Ranked some restrictions to keep matches competitive, such as limiting extreme map offerings or potentially having a separate competitive ruleset.
And I’d keep normal DBD completely unchanged so people who don’t want competitive play aren’t forced into it.
Honestly, if BHVR added both a proper Ranked Mode and a Solo Queue communication wheel, DBD would feel much more competitive without needing to fundamentally change the game.
Comments
Strong suspicion that this was written by an AI.
But to engage with the topic, I have a question:
What’s stopping turbo-competitive gamers from queueing in the ‘regular’ queue, which supposedly makes for substantially easier games for them?
Importantly,don’t make it purely kills/escape, otherwise players could ignore the rest of the game.Why? The whole point of a ranked mode is who wins, and who loses. What's the point of rewarding doing totems (for example) if they didn't actually further the objective?
I’d also give Ranked some restrictions to keep matches competitive, such as limiting extreme map offerings or potentially having a separate competitive ruleset.I really don't think this will ever happen. I can't imagine BHVR being like 'we realize X is broken, and are removing it from ranked, but go ahead and use it whenever you want in casual!'
Strong suspicion that this was written by an AI.I agree on that, but I'm a sucker for arguing with even a computer.
this game cant measure skill or rank. And I don't think anybody wants an official definition on what constitutes as a win, anyway.
Having people like Bill be deemed losers because they sacrificed themselves for the whole team isn't right. Being called a winner for ratting at 5 gens isn't right.
to start, ranked would have to start considering survivors as a team. If dbd can't recognize team play, then the idea of a competitive rank mode is worthless.
I think it’s important to manage queue times whilst keeping the flavor of the different modes flowing. That said, it may limit the other fun modes players love, such as 2v8, with a three-way split to queues. That's what really makes me nervous; I think Play While You Wait helps but I would be curious to see the statistics of how often its utilized during higher wait times.
A part of me would like the separation of competitive vs casual queue but at this point I think that would come with making 2v8 permanent as the "casual" mode. Should a casual mode be implemented as 1v4 I hope it would borrow heavily from 2v8 with things like cages, no items except chests, heavy perk restrictions, and comeback mechanics. A casual 1v4 would ideally also include real anti-tunnel and anti-slug. Basically take everything that the turbo-competitive gamers use to make the game easier for themselves and remove or neuter it in some way. The turbo-comp gamers could still go into the mode that way and likely still have an easier game than they would in the competitive mode but they would be limited in just how harshly they can play and should still be a decent experience for their opponent(s).
I always get mad downvoted everytime i suggest adding a proper ranked playlist. So much as I'd like to see a proper ranked mode idk how much traction this will gain.
Wouldn't the upcoming 1v1 mode split queue times even more if an event is active?
Normal mode is competitive. What players have asked for is non-competitive which is a pipe dream at best.
What actually makes it competitive mode though?
I’m sorry, but since 2016, this game has been about competing for outcomes: escape or execution. Striving for mutually exclusive results is the very definition of competition. The standard 1v4 mode is fine as it is. Haven't community members already been competing on their own?
If you are going to introduce different modes, it should be a limited-time modifier mode—a 2026 version of 1v4.
What about things that couldn't be done over the past 10 years, or things you wanted to try? Tunneling? Camping? Slugging? Gen rushing? What else?
Add rules that impose restrictions to match the reasons people quit when they can't perform well, and build a mode around those who struggle. If it receives positive feedback, take that on board and bring it back a second or third time. Just don't forget why that mode was created in the first place: to support players who can't keep up.
Anyone who doesn't like it can just play the original 1v4 from 2016.
That both sides are trying to win. A "non-competative" mode would essentially just be a sandbox mode where there's no gens or hookstates and such. Hop in, screw around and dip when you get bored.
You pit two players against each other it's going to be competitive.
So when we mention "competitive mode" we're thinking along the lines of what League has. Normal, Ranked, misc like ARAM. If all it takes is pvp, or more extreme anything where something is trying to win, then everything is basically competitive mode.
I haven't played aton of different games with a separate competitive vs casual mode, but I know in Overwatch when you select their unranked mode its mostly just treated as a chill shooting gallery that people hop in and out of. You COULD hop in a match and it be almost over because the teams have changed several times already. Instead of stressing out on if I can win a match that'll be over in 1 minute anyway, I might try out a character I dont normally play as.
Yes, which brings me back to what was asked: what makes the normal selection "competitive mode" instead of something like that?
People trying to win. When Im dumped into the last minute of an overwatch match, I really couldn't care less about the results of a match I wasn't apart of for the majority of it. My goal is to use the time to practice on a different character, not to progress the objective. As long as the win-con objective is still a major part of your match, its going to be competitive.
Yet people are still trying to win in that match, even if not you specifically, does that then make the match competitive or is competitive going to be subjective to the whims of the beholder?
Who are you really winning against when the players are changing the entire time? Sure, theres nothing really stopping people from pushing the objective, but it gives the same energy as a 1v1 custom match in DBD and instead of doing the chase…just jumping in the hatch. You get nothing from it except an eyeroll as I queue up the match again.
A casual mode in DBD to me at least would just be a mode where downs and generators dont actually mean anything. You can hop on a gen to see how fast you can finish it with hyperfocus or something, but thats not progressing anything. On the other end, Hooks and downs dont mean anything and pallets respawn after awhile too. The game only "ends" when you pause the game and hit the leave game button.
Kinda sums up everything I think about the hyper competitive lunatics here in dbd
Regardless of that fun thought, it doesn't matter who your winning against as you've put simply that both sides were trying to win. If they're still trying to win, is it competitive despite having changing members? If not then it becomes subjective correct?
Competitive=people are competing
If you want a casual chill mode, take out the competing. Theres no "winning" there's no prize. You can have that right now in DBD. Queue up with a group of 3 of your friends and say "Let's see if the killer will join our congo line". Then load in, fast vault afew times and start crouch walking behind each other.
So I take it the above overwatch game would fall under "competitive mode" even if you joined last minute? Cause it seems like theres only one thing that makes it "competitive mode" which would then make everything that has/can have competition be that regardless.
The lack of a prize of any kind as well as no stakes makes it casual. The only thing the object being present really did was prevent you from staying on 1 map. "Winning" or "losing" changed nothing.
But there's a lack of prize and no stakes in normal DbD...which leaves me wondering why dbd que is "competitive mode".
You still have BP gains, changes in your killer or survivor rank and the Iri shards you get from leveling up. I guess you could include an item from a chest too, lol.
The prize for Congo mode is mostly the cheap giggle if the ghostface couches down to be on the end. You go in fully expecting to not get nearly as much as if you were playing seriously.
If there is a ranked mode, what would you think if it was ONLY for solo queue?
Yet you gain BP in both scenarios and the ranks are simply for more BP which aren't used for much except offerings (90% of the time for more BP) or items you could get from a box. Now this is subjective but to me this lowers the "quality" of the "prizes". If these prizes are worth it then it's the same to me as if the above overwatch match has the prize of "honor of making a comeback" or something similar.
I could be wrong but as far as I noticed (aka not at all) performance in a trial doesn't effect the increase you get player levels. Regardless of that, you still do get increases in player levels win or lose (this I DID notice) which renders it the same as the above BP.
And due to the above getting things regardless win or lose, there's a decidedly lack of stakes.
I feel like if they DID wanna introduce a separate game mode that is just for separating competative players from casual... you're right in that there would need to be some kind of prize limited to the competitive queue as well as more strict matchmaking. Im not sure if overwatch is still doing it, but I remember earning a special currency that was used to get weapon skins. Higher competitive rank= more special currency at the end of the season. This gave a prize for competitive people to push for on the ranked queue, which kinda left the the unranked mode for people who didnt wanna lock in so to speak.
The only issue I see for DBD is its asym nature brings a unique problem. For overwatch, both sides had a mixed bag of player ranks so even if you were high rank, you'd have low rank teammates to even things out. For DBD... you cant really do that when you have a "team" of 1.
To be fair, mmr would, in theory, allow things to relatively even out as is supposed to find relatively fair matches, yet we all know how it actually works.~
The current way we handle SWFs kinda makes that impossible either way. This isnt a tangent about "SWFs are OP", just that you COULD have the top 4 players in the world make a group, or you could have top players making a group with the WORST player in the world. Your casual mode is gonna be an awkward mess with MMR either way while your competitive mode would just have to set limits on who you can play with. No...your bronze and GM buddies CANT be in the same team.