Killer players in Dead by Daylight will have their fears alleviated. A new matchmaking system encourages players to try out different killers.
Playing as killers in Dead by Daylight can be an unpleasant experience. Those who repeatedly face off against pros, against whom they cannot gain any ground as killers, can quickly become frustrated. Many players therefore focus on mastering just one killer. However, this has caused many issues that Dead by Daylight aims to address in the next patch – while overhauling the ranking system.
What is the problem? Killer players currently have a uniform rank that applies to all killers. For example, someone who has invested 500 hours just to become the best killer with the Trapper has a problem. As soon as the player wants to switch characters to try out one of the 20 different killers, they face harsh reality. Because the matchmaking still assumes that the killer player is extremely skilled – even if they have never played this new killer.
Since the killers drastically differ in their play styles, it leads to frustration. Veterans are “afraid” to play a new killer because survivors still maintain a very high level.
Separate MMR for each killer
What will change? In the future, players will receive a separate internal matchmaking rating (MMR) for each character. So if someone is an incredibly good killer with the Demogorgon, but a complete amateur with the Huntress, they will face survivors that correspond to their skill level with each respective killer.
This aims to create more balanced matches and simultaneously increase the variety of killers, encouraging killer players to try something new.
However, a small downside of the new system is that killer players have to commit to a killer before entering a lobby. Switching killers in the lobby will no longer be possible.
Ranking system becomes obsolete: This change also means that the ranking system becomes unimportant. The ranks obtained in Dead by Daylight are not a good indicator of a person’s “skill”, but merely for the time invested. In the future, it could happen more frequently that players at rank 1 compete with or against players at rank 20. This is only logical, since the basis for calculation for matchmaking will then be the MMR rather than the rank.
Ranks will hopefully acquire new significance and possibly be linked to other rewards.
Testing on Xbox One, then all platforms
When will the change come? With the next mid-chapter patch, which will occur in the next 1-2 weeks. However, this change will initially be tested only on Xbox One before expanding to other systems.
The developers occasionally test certain changes on individual platforms to evaluate various specific adjustments simultaneously.
However, it is still unclear when all players will have a separate internal rating for each killer.
To be honest, this change is the big update for me in Dead by Daylight in 2020, even more important than the graphic update or crossplay. I know many players who hesitate to try out new killers after being successful with 2-3 killers. Learning a new character is extremely frustrating when you only face professionals. This change should increase the variety of killers played for me and many others.
Cortyn Nightshade
Passionate killer from MeinMMO
What do you think of this change? Will you try other killers too?
