The matchmaking in Dead by Daylight is a recurring problem. Now the developers want to tackle it again and say goodbye to ranks.
Anyone who has played Dead by Daylight in the past days and weeks has likely faced one main issue: questionable matchmaking. It’s not uncommon for newcomers to face experienced killers as survivors or for new killers to be simply overrun by a pro squad of survivors.
This topic has sparked many heated discussions in the Dead by Daylight subreddit, but now the developers have spoken. The matchmaking is to be fundamentally rebuilt. The rank will no longer play a role; instead, there will be a hidden skill rating.
What is currently the problem? Basically, Dead by Daylight tries to create matches that consider a balanced weighting of three factors. These are:
- Wait time
- Fairness (skill of the opponent and teammates)
- Latency (ping to the server)
Additionally, there is a fourth factor, namely the appropriate distribution of players across roles. In an ideal world, there would always be four survivors for one killer. Whenever emphasis is placed on one aspect, such as a shorter wait time, the other factors like fairness and ping will suffer.
However, the biggest problem is fairness, as killers and survivors have very different roles and tasks in Dead by Daylight. It is almost impossible to compare them directly. In the past, this was attempted through ranks and emblems, but here the developers say:
We have concluded that rank does not necessarily correspond with skill. While a player who plays a lot will usually be better than someone who plays little, there are also some players who are very good but do not play enough to achieve a high rank.
Much time means a high rank: Basically, it can be said in Dead by Daylight that players automatically rank up if they just play enough. Survivors have it a bit easier than killers, but generally, both roles keep ranking up as long as they invest enough time – regardless of the actual skill of the players. Conversely, this also means that extremely good players who play very little will always have a low rank.
What will change? In an upcoming patch, Dead by Daylight plans to implement a “hidden” skill rating. This will not be visible to players and will match them against others with a similar skill. It will resemble other MMR systems, such as those found in shooters or MOBAs.
The system will be tested first and will provide each player with a skill rating for killers and survivors. In the future, the developers want to introduce individual skill ratings for each killer. This way, experienced players can try out a new killer without immediately having to fear that they will have no chance.
If you’re still looking for the perfect killer for you, you’ll find it here.
When will the changes come? The changes will still take a while. With the release of the next mid-chapter patch (about in 10 weeks, around April), Dead by Daylight will begin to record and evaluate player skill ratings. However, placement based on this rating will not occur yet. They want to collect more data first.
What role will the rank have then? Once the changes are all live, the rank will essentially be of no use anymore. It can still be regarded as a personal goal or needed to unlock certain achievements. However, it will then have no more evaluation in matchmaking. It will no longer be displayed at the end of a match.
What do you think of the planned changes? Is this a good thing to create fair matches? Or should the developers rather properly revise the rank system?
