Dead by Daylight has changed matchmaking. There is chaos and all sides are dissatisfied. Again.
The developers of Dead by Daylight have made decisions that don’t sit well with players, which most have gotten used to by now. But now there has been a sudden change in matchmaking that turns the whole game upside down. There is complete chaos and frustration on all sides. For the first time in a long time, survivors and killers are in agreement: The adjustments to matchmaking were ineffective.
What was changed? A new form of matchmaking went live in Dead by Daylight a few hours ago. This is a test where the developers want to collect data on the performance of the system.
During the test, player ranks are not considered for matchmaking. Instead, a “skill-based matchmaking” (SBM) runs in the background. For this purpose, each player gets their own SBM rating for each killer. If you are extremely good with the Trapper but not with the Nurse, you should face stronger survivors as the Trapper than with the Nurse. At least that’s the theory.
The system does not work: Complaints have been piling up in the Dead by Daylight subreddit and the official forum since the system went live. Many players report that despite never having played a killer before, they are facing extremely strong survivors who completely wipe them out within minutes while mocking them. For example, it is often said:
- “I picked the wrong day to do my killer dailies. I would never want to be so humiliated in my life.”
- “I know some people will probably like this, but as a baby survivor getting matched against rank 3 players all the time: Please, no, thank you.”
- “I played 5 games last night and now I have to stop before I break something. I’m still relatively new to the game, but this new matchmaking is the worst I’ve ever seen. I’m rank 18 and facing rank 4 and rank 5.”
- “Okay, this does not work for me. I played the Plague for the first time today, a killer I literally have NEVER played before, and I’m matched against people with red ranks [rank 3-1]. What the hell is happening here?”
But survivors are also dissatisfied and apparently often have the opposite experience:
- “The number of matches in which I died at the first hook today is staggering.”
- “These 24 hours are more magical than Disney’s Fantasia.”
- “I am a solo queue player with hundreds of hours of experience and I keep getting matched with the most incompetent survivors I’ve ever seen. For 3 hours straight, I had games where I was either the only one doing generators or the only one who wasn’t caught after 5 seconds of a chase. Game after game, my whole team gets slugged with 3 generators remaining and I’m the one who did both generators.”
Much criticism of matchmaking: The plan to tie the matchmaking of Dead by Daylight to an SBM is viewed critically by many players. The problem for many is that the two sides in Dead by Daylight have very different tasks. The tasks of the killer and the survivors are difficult to compare. What constitutes a “success” for killers and survivors depends on many factors – too many to create a skill-based matchmaking.
Allegedly, the system has been collecting and evaluating player data for months. Now, the fruits of this work should actually come to light during the test.
Additionally, players are upset that they have to serve as “test subjects” in the live version. Such massive changes should be tested on a test server and not thrown at the existing player base at the beginning of the weekend. This would only scare them away and ensure that Dead by Daylight becomes a frustrating experience.
For those who want to see the chaos of the current system for themselves, there are still a few hours left. The test should be completed later this evening and matchmaking should be reactivated.
But perhaps Behaviour will surprise us in the long run with a system that still manages to find its way.
