Developer Update Part 1 | Overhauled Progression System and Gameplay Updates
Read the second part of our Developer Update, discussing meta and non-meta perk changes, here.
During our 6th Anniversary Broadcast, we announced a new progression system and a meta-shifting perk overhaul. We’re thrilled to say that both initiatives will headline the upcoming Mid-Chapter.
From the onset, it was important for us to release these changes as a package. Our objective is to shake up the current meta, provide alternatives, and make perks easier to earn. We were also careful to consider the reasons why this meta exists and address any base game issues it may have been concealing.
In this post, we’ll be detailing the upcoming progression system overhaul, matchmaking incentives, and gameplay updates. All these changes will be available for testing in the Public Test Build (PTB) next week.
[h2]Overhauled Progression System[/h2]
Collecting all the perks has been an important goal for many players. However, since both the number of perks and characters are constantly increasing, the grind expands at an exponential rate with every new Chapter. To address this, we’re completely overhauling the way perks are earned, adding new rewards, and making completion easier than ever before.
[h3]Comparison[/h3]
In the current system, you must reach level 40 on a given character to unlock all their teachable perks, then find those perks in the Bloodwebs of every other character.
In order to unlock all the new perks on every character by the time next Chapter releases, you would need to play an estimated average of 4.1 hours every day. With this new system, that estimate decreases to an average of 1.01 hours each day – and that’s not even factoring in Bloodpoint bonuses from events, perks, or offerings.
In other words, this is the single largest reduction to grind we’ve ever made, cutting it by roughly 75%.
[h3]Unlocking Perks[/h3]
The teachable rarity is no more. Now, perks are tied directly to prestige. Prestiging a character for the first time will instantly unlock the Tier 1 versions of their unique perks for all other Killers or Survivors, making them immediately available for use without ever opening the Bloodweb.
Prestiging a character for the second and third time will unlock the Tier 2 & 3 versions of their unique perks. Alternatively, higher tier versions of their perks will appear randomly in Bloodwebs once the first Tier has been unlocked.
Say you prestige The Trapper. This will instantly unlock Tier 1 versions of Agitation, Brutal Strength, and Unnerving Presence on all other Killers. Tier 2 & 3 versions of these perks will now appear randomly in the Bloodweb. Prestiging The Trapper again will make Tier 2 versions of these perks immediately available, and so on.
This way, you’ll only need to earn the perks once to use them on every character. The perks you’ve unlocked will be instantly available on any new characters as well, making them easier to pick up and play without a substantial Bloodpoint investment.
[h3]No More Resets[/h3]
Prestiging has always been a bit of a dilemma. Do you give up everything for bragging rights, or do you keep what you have to minimize the grind? Now that prestiging is the main way to unlock perks, we wanted to make the choice clear. Prestiging a character will no longer remove their perks, items, add-ons, or offerings. Perk slots will also remain unlocked after prestiging.
With no reason not to prestige, prestiging a character is no longer optional. After reaching level 50, you’ll receive a special Bloodweb with only a single node. Purchasing this node will increase your prestige level and reset your character’s level to 1.
[h3]Expanded Prestige[/h3]
With prestige now being the main way to progress, it’ll no longer be as impressive to have your characters maxed out at prestige level 3. It only made sense to have a new way to recognize our most committed players, so we’ve increased the prestige limit to 100. But what would more prestige levels be without rewards?
Reaching prestige levels 4, 5 and 6 will now award that character’s bloody prestige cosmetics, once again signifying those who went above and beyond. Now that prestiging for the first three times awards perks, it only made sense to move these higher. If you’ve already unlocked these cosmetics, don’t worry, we won’t be taking them away from you. You’ve earned it.
For the completionists, prestige levels 7, 8 and 9 will each grant one of that character’s unique perks as a charm. We also wanted to highlight your dedication to your favourite characters no matter how many times you’ve prestiged them. Once a trial is over, your prestige level will now be shown in the space previously occupied by grades. Those who spend millions of Bloodpoints stockpiling add-ons for your favourite characters will now have a way of showcasing your hard work to the world.
[h3]Shrine of Secrets[/h3]
Unlike before, where The Shrine of Secrets would offer teachable perks that then needed to be found in Bloodwebs, the Shrine will now allow you to purchase perks directly. Purchasing a perk through the Shrine of Secrets will make the Tier 1 version of it immediately available on all Killers or Survivors, much like prestige. Subsequent Tiers of that perk will also begin appearing in Bloodwebs.
You may also purchase a perk again to increase its Tier. This works seamlessly with the prestige system, as purchasing a perk you’ve already unlocked through prestige will instead increase its Tier.
[h3]Transitioning to The New System[/h3]
With many spending hundreds if not thousands of hours playing Dead by Daylight over the years, we want to make sure that everyone is rewarded fairly. When the system releases, we’ll be automatically awarding existing players an appropriate number of prestige levels based on how many perk tiers they’ve unlocked. If you’ve left all your characters at level 50 and focused on unlocking perks, your work won’t be for nothing.
It's also important that you don’t lose anything when the system is updated. You will keep any perks and bloody prestige cosmetics that you’ve already unlocked.
Those who reach prestige 3 before the update will receive a special prestige icon to recognize their achievements (and commemorate the perks and add-ons they lost in the process).
We’ll be hosting a livestream soon to show the updated system in action and answer any questions you might have ahead of the PTB.
[h2]Matchmaking Incentives[/h2]
Matchmaking has been a major focus over the past year, and we’re maintaining that throughout Year 7. Though many changes are planned to improve wait times and match quality, there are variables that we can’t control through code. Chief among them is the distribution of people playing each role. If there’s simply not enough people queuing for one role, the matchmaker’s ability to create quality matches suffers.
Being an asymmetrical game, Dead by Daylight works best when there’s roughly four Survivors to each Killer. If this 4:1 ratio deviates too far, matchmaking time and quality will start to degrade. Too many Survivors will cause Survivor queue times to increase, while too few Survivors will cause Killer queue times to increase. To complicate things further, this ratio varies greatly depending on your region, rating, and time of day. In some regions, we’ve observed an excess of Survivors queuing while in others, too few. Oftentimes this will change over the course of the day.
So, how do we go about improving this? Enter matchmaking incentives.
Whenever the number of Killers to Survivors differs too much from the ideal ratio, we’ll offer a Bloodpoint bonus to anyone who opts to play the needed role. This bonus ranges from +25% to +100% depending on demand levels. These bonuses will be shown on the main menu beside each role’s play button, as well as beside the ready button.
These bonuses double as an indicator of which role currently has the fastest queue times. If you want to get into a match as soon as possible, keep an eye out for incentives!
Matchmaking incentives are unique to you and dependent on your matchmaking ratings and region. You may see a bonus for playing Killer while your friend sees one for playing Survivor. This is intended. Bonuses are dependent on which roles are needed to improve matchmaking at the time. For example, Killers may be needed where you are, but there may be an excess of Killers where your friend is playing.
Playing in a group can also net you a bonus if Survivors are needed at the time. However, this will only apply if your group’s average matchmaking rating is currently in demand. We believe these matchmaking incentives will improve both queue times and the matchmaker’s ability to create quality matches.
Heads up: Matchmaking incentives will be disabled if cross-play is turned off. As most players play with crossplay on, the system would be highly susceptible to manipulation, and switching roles would have a negligible effect on matchmaking. If you’d like to take advantage of these incentives, we strongly recommend turning on cross-play through the settings menu.
[h2]Gameplay Updates[/h2]
Some of the most consistent feedback we receive centers around the perk meta. A handful of perks have a dominant usage rate, especially in higher-skill matches. Naturally, the gameplay can feel stale when you see the same perks again and again.
In the past, we’ve addressed individual perks through various updates, but the odd meta change is not enough to shake things up. In this update, we are reworking and rebalancing 39 perks, meta included. We aim to reduce the reliance on the current meta while also providing many new options to experiment with.
Before we can make meaningful changes to the meta, we needed to look at why these perks are so heavily used in the first place. While some perks are popular because of their strength, others are popular because they reduce the likelihood of an “unfun” situation. Therefore, we’ve prepared a few baseline changes to address some of these core gameplay issues.
[h3]Generator Speeds[/h3]
When looking at the perks most used by Killers, there’s a very clear trend: any perk that helps prevent generators from being powered - slowdown perks for short - are favored. Corrupt Intervention, Pop Goes the Weasel, Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance, and Hex: Ruin are a few notable examples, and each are amongst the most popular perks.
Many players feel like generators are powered too quickly without these perks, so we knew we needed to look at generators before making any perk changes. Slowdown perks should be an option, but not the only option to stay competitive.
First: We have increased the time it takes to power a generator to 90 seconds (up from 80 seconds).
The time it takes to complete a generator hasn’t been changed in a long time, but it’s clear that they are being powered quicker than we’d like. By slowing them down slightly, we hope to give Killers a bigger window to interrupt Survivors, particularly at the beginning of a trial.
Second: Kicking a generator will now instantly remove 2.5% of the maximum progress.
This change makes kicking generators more meaningful, even if a Survivor stops it from regressing shortly after. Additionally, Survivors must now decide whether they should tap a generator to prevent regression, as this allows the Killer to kick it again and knock off even more progress.
With these two changes, we hope to reduce the reliance on passive slowdown mechanics and promote increased interaction between Killers and Survivors.
[h3]General Killer Improvements[/h3]
The average kill rates (how many Survivors are killed each trial, on average) are a little lower than we’d like – a sentiment echoed by many community members. To ensure the Killer feels like an unstoppable force to be feared, we’re making slight improvements to many aspects of Killer gameplay.
We’ve reduced the time it takes to break walls and pallets by 10% (now 2.34 seconds, previously 2.6). Generators can also be kicked 10% faster than before (now 1.8 seconds, was 2 seconds). While these changes may seem small, a fraction of second can be the difference between hitting a Survivor and them reaching a pallet.
Next, we’ve reduced the cooldown for successful basic attacks by 10% (now 2.7 seconds, previously 3 seconds) and reduced the duration of the Survivor’s speed boost upon being hit by 10% (now 1.8 seconds, was 2 seconds). Moving forward, Survivors will gain slightly less distance upon being hit, making it more difficult for them to run long distances to a safe area.
Finally, we’ve tweaked Bloodlust to increase in power quicker than before. In most chases, Bloodlust does not activate, though there are rare cases where it can be necessary. The long build up often leaves the Killer in a bad spot even if they eventually get a hit. We are adjusting Bloodlust tiers to activate after 15/25/35 seconds of chasing rather than 15/30/45 seconds
As the first tier of Bloodlust has not changed, it will not be any more prevalent in the average chase. Bearing in mind the general improvements above, we expect Bloodlust will become even more uncommon outside of exceptional circumstances.
Though slight, these changes affect every Killer and can have ramifications on the game. We will be watching closely to ensure that nothing gets out of hand.
[h3]Camping & Tunneling[/h3]
On the Survivor side, there is a clear preference for perks that grant a second chance. Borrowed Time, Decisive Strike, Dead Hard, and perks of that nature help a Survivor avoid certain death, leading to an extreme usage rate.
A benefit of these second chance perks is how that they help prevent unfun situations, namely being camped or tunneled out of the game (repeatedly being targeted after being unhooked). In order to incentivize a meaningful change to the meta, it was clear that we needed to address these controversial tactics. Second chance perks should be nice to have, not essential to ensuring enjoyable gameplay.
Moving forward, Survivors will receive a 5 second Endurance effect after being unhooked. This gives the unhooked Survivor an opportunity to reach a nearby window or pallet, or for another Survivor to position themselves for a Protection Hit.
Additionally, the unhooked Survivor will receive a 7% Haste effect for 5 seconds. This will make them harder to catch and encourage Killers to shift focus to the unhooking Survivor.
Both effects will be cancelled prematurely if the unhooked Survivor performs what we now call a Conspicuous Action. These are interactions – other than being chased – that would improve your chances of survival. This includes:
With these base changes, we hope Survivors can switch up their perk loadouts without fear that camping and tunneling will cut their next match short.
[hr][/hr]
As always, these changes will be available for testing next week in the PTB. Given the number of changes made, we’ll be keeping an extra close eye out for feedback. We’ll also be holding a livestream in the near future to preview the update and answer any questions you may have.
Learn about the meta-shifting perk overhaul here.
The Dead by Daylight team
During our 6th Anniversary Broadcast, we announced a new progression system and a meta-shifting perk overhaul. We’re thrilled to say that both initiatives will headline the upcoming Mid-Chapter.
From the onset, it was important for us to release these changes as a package. Our objective is to shake up the current meta, provide alternatives, and make perks easier to earn. We were also careful to consider the reasons why this meta exists and address any base game issues it may have been concealing.
In this post, we’ll be detailing the upcoming progression system overhaul, matchmaking incentives, and gameplay updates. All these changes will be available for testing in the Public Test Build (PTB) next week.
[h2]Overhauled Progression System[/h2]
Collecting all the perks has been an important goal for many players. However, since both the number of perks and characters are constantly increasing, the grind expands at an exponential rate with every new Chapter. To address this, we’re completely overhauling the way perks are earned, adding new rewards, and making completion easier than ever before.
[h3]Comparison[/h3]
In the current system, you must reach level 40 on a given character to unlock all their teachable perks, then find those perks in the Bloodwebs of every other character.
In order to unlock all the new perks on every character by the time next Chapter releases, you would need to play an estimated average of 4.1 hours every day. With this new system, that estimate decreases to an average of 1.01 hours each day – and that’s not even factoring in Bloodpoint bonuses from events, perks, or offerings.
In other words, this is the single largest reduction to grind we’ve ever made, cutting it by roughly 75%.
[h3]Unlocking Perks[/h3]
The teachable rarity is no more. Now, perks are tied directly to prestige. Prestiging a character for the first time will instantly unlock the Tier 1 versions of their unique perks for all other Killers or Survivors, making them immediately available for use without ever opening the Bloodweb.
Prestiging a character for the second and third time will unlock the Tier 2 & 3 versions of their unique perks. Alternatively, higher tier versions of their perks will appear randomly in Bloodwebs once the first Tier has been unlocked.
Say you prestige The Trapper. This will instantly unlock Tier 1 versions of Agitation, Brutal Strength, and Unnerving Presence on all other Killers. Tier 2 & 3 versions of these perks will now appear randomly in the Bloodweb. Prestiging The Trapper again will make Tier 2 versions of these perks immediately available, and so on.
This way, you’ll only need to earn the perks once to use them on every character. The perks you’ve unlocked will be instantly available on any new characters as well, making them easier to pick up and play without a substantial Bloodpoint investment.
[h3]No More Resets[/h3]
Prestiging has always been a bit of a dilemma. Do you give up everything for bragging rights, or do you keep what you have to minimize the grind? Now that prestiging is the main way to unlock perks, we wanted to make the choice clear. Prestiging a character will no longer remove their perks, items, add-ons, or offerings. Perk slots will also remain unlocked after prestiging.
With no reason not to prestige, prestiging a character is no longer optional. After reaching level 50, you’ll receive a special Bloodweb with only a single node. Purchasing this node will increase your prestige level and reset your character’s level to 1.
[h3]Expanded Prestige[/h3]
With prestige now being the main way to progress, it’ll no longer be as impressive to have your characters maxed out at prestige level 3. It only made sense to have a new way to recognize our most committed players, so we’ve increased the prestige limit to 100. But what would more prestige levels be without rewards?
Reaching prestige levels 4, 5 and 6 will now award that character’s bloody prestige cosmetics, once again signifying those who went above and beyond. Now that prestiging for the first three times awards perks, it only made sense to move these higher. If you’ve already unlocked these cosmetics, don’t worry, we won’t be taking them away from you. You’ve earned it.
For the completionists, prestige levels 7, 8 and 9 will each grant one of that character’s unique perks as a charm. We also wanted to highlight your dedication to your favourite characters no matter how many times you’ve prestiged them. Once a trial is over, your prestige level will now be shown in the space previously occupied by grades. Those who spend millions of Bloodpoints stockpiling add-ons for your favourite characters will now have a way of showcasing your hard work to the world.
[h3]Shrine of Secrets[/h3]
Unlike before, where The Shrine of Secrets would offer teachable perks that then needed to be found in Bloodwebs, the Shrine will now allow you to purchase perks directly. Purchasing a perk through the Shrine of Secrets will make the Tier 1 version of it immediately available on all Killers or Survivors, much like prestige. Subsequent Tiers of that perk will also begin appearing in Bloodwebs.
You may also purchase a perk again to increase its Tier. This works seamlessly with the prestige system, as purchasing a perk you’ve already unlocked through prestige will instead increase its Tier.
[h3]Transitioning to The New System[/h3]
With many spending hundreds if not thousands of hours playing Dead by Daylight over the years, we want to make sure that everyone is rewarded fairly. When the system releases, we’ll be automatically awarding existing players an appropriate number of prestige levels based on how many perk tiers they’ve unlocked. If you’ve left all your characters at level 50 and focused on unlocking perks, your work won’t be for nothing.
It's also important that you don’t lose anything when the system is updated. You will keep any perks and bloody prestige cosmetics that you’ve already unlocked.
Those who reach prestige 3 before the update will receive a special prestige icon to recognize their achievements (and commemorate the perks and add-ons they lost in the process).
We’ll be hosting a livestream soon to show the updated system in action and answer any questions you might have ahead of the PTB.
[h2]Matchmaking Incentives[/h2]
Matchmaking has been a major focus over the past year, and we’re maintaining that throughout Year 7. Though many changes are planned to improve wait times and match quality, there are variables that we can’t control through code. Chief among them is the distribution of people playing each role. If there’s simply not enough people queuing for one role, the matchmaker’s ability to create quality matches suffers.
Being an asymmetrical game, Dead by Daylight works best when there’s roughly four Survivors to each Killer. If this 4:1 ratio deviates too far, matchmaking time and quality will start to degrade. Too many Survivors will cause Survivor queue times to increase, while too few Survivors will cause Killer queue times to increase. To complicate things further, this ratio varies greatly depending on your region, rating, and time of day. In some regions, we’ve observed an excess of Survivors queuing while in others, too few. Oftentimes this will change over the course of the day.
So, how do we go about improving this? Enter matchmaking incentives.
Whenever the number of Killers to Survivors differs too much from the ideal ratio, we’ll offer a Bloodpoint bonus to anyone who opts to play the needed role. This bonus ranges from +25% to +100% depending on demand levels. These bonuses will be shown on the main menu beside each role’s play button, as well as beside the ready button.
These bonuses double as an indicator of which role currently has the fastest queue times. If you want to get into a match as soon as possible, keep an eye out for incentives!
Matchmaking incentives are unique to you and dependent on your matchmaking ratings and region. You may see a bonus for playing Killer while your friend sees one for playing Survivor. This is intended. Bonuses are dependent on which roles are needed to improve matchmaking at the time. For example, Killers may be needed where you are, but there may be an excess of Killers where your friend is playing.
Playing in a group can also net you a bonus if Survivors are needed at the time. However, this will only apply if your group’s average matchmaking rating is currently in demand. We believe these matchmaking incentives will improve both queue times and the matchmaker’s ability to create quality matches.
Heads up: Matchmaking incentives will be disabled if cross-play is turned off. As most players play with crossplay on, the system would be highly susceptible to manipulation, and switching roles would have a negligible effect on matchmaking. If you’d like to take advantage of these incentives, we strongly recommend turning on cross-play through the settings menu.
[h2]Gameplay Updates[/h2]
Some of the most consistent feedback we receive centers around the perk meta. A handful of perks have a dominant usage rate, especially in higher-skill matches. Naturally, the gameplay can feel stale when you see the same perks again and again.
In the past, we’ve addressed individual perks through various updates, but the odd meta change is not enough to shake things up. In this update, we are reworking and rebalancing 39 perks, meta included. We aim to reduce the reliance on the current meta while also providing many new options to experiment with.
Before we can make meaningful changes to the meta, we needed to look at why these perks are so heavily used in the first place. While some perks are popular because of their strength, others are popular because they reduce the likelihood of an “unfun” situation. Therefore, we’ve prepared a few baseline changes to address some of these core gameplay issues.
[h3]Generator Speeds[/h3]
When looking at the perks most used by Killers, there’s a very clear trend: any perk that helps prevent generators from being powered - slowdown perks for short - are favored. Corrupt Intervention, Pop Goes the Weasel, Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance, and Hex: Ruin are a few notable examples, and each are amongst the most popular perks.
Many players feel like generators are powered too quickly without these perks, so we knew we needed to look at generators before making any perk changes. Slowdown perks should be an option, but not the only option to stay competitive.
First: We have increased the time it takes to power a generator to 90 seconds (up from 80 seconds).
The time it takes to complete a generator hasn’t been changed in a long time, but it’s clear that they are being powered quicker than we’d like. By slowing them down slightly, we hope to give Killers a bigger window to interrupt Survivors, particularly at the beginning of a trial.
Second: Kicking a generator will now instantly remove 2.5% of the maximum progress.
This change makes kicking generators more meaningful, even if a Survivor stops it from regressing shortly after. Additionally, Survivors must now decide whether they should tap a generator to prevent regression, as this allows the Killer to kick it again and knock off even more progress.
With these two changes, we hope to reduce the reliance on passive slowdown mechanics and promote increased interaction between Killers and Survivors.
[h3]General Killer Improvements[/h3]
The average kill rates (how many Survivors are killed each trial, on average) are a little lower than we’d like – a sentiment echoed by many community members. To ensure the Killer feels like an unstoppable force to be feared, we’re making slight improvements to many aspects of Killer gameplay.
We’ve reduced the time it takes to break walls and pallets by 10% (now 2.34 seconds, previously 2.6). Generators can also be kicked 10% faster than before (now 1.8 seconds, was 2 seconds). While these changes may seem small, a fraction of second can be the difference between hitting a Survivor and them reaching a pallet.
Next, we’ve reduced the cooldown for successful basic attacks by 10% (now 2.7 seconds, previously 3 seconds) and reduced the duration of the Survivor’s speed boost upon being hit by 10% (now 1.8 seconds, was 2 seconds). Moving forward, Survivors will gain slightly less distance upon being hit, making it more difficult for them to run long distances to a safe area.
Finally, we’ve tweaked Bloodlust to increase in power quicker than before. In most chases, Bloodlust does not activate, though there are rare cases where it can be necessary. The long build up often leaves the Killer in a bad spot even if they eventually get a hit. We are adjusting Bloodlust tiers to activate after 15/25/35 seconds of chasing rather than 15/30/45 seconds
As the first tier of Bloodlust has not changed, it will not be any more prevalent in the average chase. Bearing in mind the general improvements above, we expect Bloodlust will become even more uncommon outside of exceptional circumstances.
Though slight, these changes affect every Killer and can have ramifications on the game. We will be watching closely to ensure that nothing gets out of hand.
[h3]Camping & Tunneling[/h3]
On the Survivor side, there is a clear preference for perks that grant a second chance. Borrowed Time, Decisive Strike, Dead Hard, and perks of that nature help a Survivor avoid certain death, leading to an extreme usage rate.
A benefit of these second chance perks is how that they help prevent unfun situations, namely being camped or tunneled out of the game (repeatedly being targeted after being unhooked). In order to incentivize a meaningful change to the meta, it was clear that we needed to address these controversial tactics. Second chance perks should be nice to have, not essential to ensuring enjoyable gameplay.
Moving forward, Survivors will receive a 5 second Endurance effect after being unhooked. This gives the unhooked Survivor an opportunity to reach a nearby window or pallet, or for another Survivor to position themselves for a Protection Hit.
Additionally, the unhooked Survivor will receive a 7% Haste effect for 5 seconds. This will make them harder to catch and encourage Killers to shift focus to the unhooking Survivor.
Both effects will be cancelled prematurely if the unhooked Survivor performs what we now call a Conspicuous Action. These are interactions – other than being chased – that would improve your chances of survival. This includes:
- Repairing a generator
- Healing yourself or others
- Cleansing or Blessing a Totem
- Sabotaging a hook
- Unhooking others
- Opening an exit gate
With these base changes, we hope Survivors can switch up their perk loadouts without fear that camping and tunneling will cut their next match short.
[hr][/hr]
As always, these changes will be available for testing next week in the PTB. Given the number of changes made, we’ll be keeping an extra close eye out for feedback. We’ll also be holding a livestream in the near future to preview the update and answer any questions you may have.
Learn about the meta-shifting perk overhaul here.
The Dead by Daylight team
