Those who know me from the forums will know that I'm in the habit of writing up highly comprehensive summaries of each dev stream, and for the second time now I've decided to share one here as well. I am aware that a short summary of the stream has already been posted by
u/mudmallow, but I would have made this to post on the forum regardless and I figured more in-depth information is always useful, so why not share it with the community here as well in the hopes that someone will find it helpful.
Please bear in mind that this is official information, unofficially worded. While I of course did my best to be as true to what was said on stream as possible, these are my words, not the developers', so don't read too far into the way anything is worded, unless it is in quotation marks " " in which case it is a direct quote from the stream. Anything in square brackets [ ] was not explicitly stated on stream, but is my own note or conjecture.
If you would like to watch the stream for yourself, you can find it on Twitch at the below link:
http://www.twitch.tv/videos/737094054
The following members of the development team were featured on this stream:
not_Queen - Lead Community Manager
Louis McLean - Gameplay Programmer
Joris - Product Manager (working on the graphical update as well as cross-play and cross-progression) and Owner of Cute Dog
The stream opened with a screening of the Descend Beyond Spotlight Trailer, followed by some announcements.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evHalWCdonU
Announcements
- The Descend Beyond chapter released this week on all platforms.
- The server tick rate was increased to 60Hz last week as part of the team's work to improve game quality. An increased tick rate should make the game smoother and reduce the ping. So far it appears to be working well, although they will continue to monitor it going forward. They are also looking into implementing further optimisation improvements in the future.
- There was a new “promo code” feature introduced recently, which allowed the developers to give out in-game cosmetic rewards through a live mid-stream raffle for the first time. This practice might be continued on future developer livestreams.
- If you would like to opt-out of Cross-Play but find the option greyed out, try accessing the settings via the main menu instead.
Current Known Issues
The following are issues in the current patch which the developers are aware of and are working on fixing:
- Killers are sometimes unable to hook survivors. If you encounter this problem, dropping and re-hooking the survivor is a possible workaround, although this doesn’t always work.
- Some totems on the Badham Preschool maps are not able to be cleansed.
- Decisive Strike sometimes does not stun killers.
- There are a lot of stuttering and FPS issues in the game currently. The developers have identified a particular performance issue, mainly affecting players using 2K or 4K monitors. This should be resolved in the next bug fix, which is planned to roll out next Tuesday. They will still be seeking player feedback, possibly through an official survey, after the fix is deployed to ensure that it is working as intended.
- Sometimes killers don’t have audible heartbeats. Initially, this was thought to be a Blight-specific issue, but it has been revealed that other killers are also having this problem, so it is currently under investigation.
- There is a black screen bug currently on the Switch, which is fixable by restarting the console.
- It is also possible for graphics on Switch to appear blurry or washed-out while in dock mode. Un-docking and re-docking the console should fix this issue.
- The developers are currently compiling a list of friend list-related issues to be fixed. If you are having trouble inviting friends to a party, try restarting the game.
Recently Resolved Issues
- The bug where players could get stuck on the hill tile was fixed in the most recent patch.
- DXGI.DLL errors were being experienced by players on Windows 7, locking them out of the game. This was resolved in a recent hotfix.
Changes to The Blight between PTB and Live
- The biggest change was to do with The Blight’s collision. A lot of the feedback from the PTB was around the fact that it was too easy to bump into objects, making The Blight very difficult to control. They have fixed this in two ways: firstly, by shrinking the collision box in front of the killer, and secondly, by adding a “second collider”, so there are collision sensors not only in the direction the player is moving but also on the camera. In other words, any close object that you look at while playing The Blight, you will bounce off.
- The turn rate has also been slightly increased, and some issues were fixed which were causing a “double cooldown” after hitting survivors.
- The Blight’s initial speed after he bounces off an object has been very slightly reduced due to technical issues it was causing. They have also increased his initial speed when attacking during a Lethal Rush. Many players were having difficulty landing these hits because Lethal Rush is much faster than normal attack speed, making it feel as though the killer was slowing down very suddenly when he initiated an attack. The speed increase is just to smooth this out so it feels less jarring.
- If you attack while dashing, you will continue to move forward – this was implemented to prevent players from using attacks as a way to easily cancel the dash.
- The Blight’s height and difficulty descriptors have also been updated.
- All of The Blights add-ons were revisited, and 16 of the 20 received major changes.
Q&A;
The selected questions were taken from among the most popular asked on both Twitter and the official forums. Questions that the developers are not able to answer (such as ‘when will X get added to the game’) were excluded.
Was there any console optimisation in the update? (from
@Pulsar)
The biggest part of the graphical update is overhauling all the assets on the different maps. The team working on this are also taking the time as they go to ensure that these new assets are well-optimised, meaning that some may even be better optimised than the old assets were. For example, there was a particular box that used to have a lot of polygons which they decided was not actually crucial enough to immersion to justify that level of detail, and so the polygon count was reduced in the update. According to player reports on Reddit, console players in particular are already experiencing improvements in performance on the updated maps. Optimisation is an ongoing process, so it’s not perfect yet, but it is definitely being consistently worked on.
Will characters receive graphic improvements as well? (from RubyRose588)
Yes. Character outfits are planned to undergo improvements as part of the graphical overhaul, along with updates to animations and skin textures. There will be more information about this in future updates.
Have you guys ever considered dedicating a chapter just for game health? (from
@CreatorTH)
This is something that has been discussed internally. The team has grown a lot recently – over the last two years, its size has in fact doubled – meaning that they are able to more easily work on both new chapters and game health related features, such as matchmaking, hit validation and performance, at the same time. [In other words, what they seem to be saying is that because they now have enough people to work on game health and new content simultaneously, they have deemed it unnecessary to compromise one for the sake of the other.]
Any chance bots and training mode will come to PC and consoles? (from
@JMTG)
This is not a planned feature for the moment, but it’s definitely a possibility in the future. Bear in mind that mobile is a separate game with a separate team. This doesn’t mean that certain features can’t be introduced on both platforms separately, but this particular feature is not something that is currently in the works for the main game on PC and consoles.
Will killers receive new animations too? (from
@A_Can_Of_Air)
Killer animations will indeed be updated, though it is likely that older killers will receive more attention in this regard than newer ones. They are unable to identify anything specific, but changes to killer animations are being worked on. Some, such as new wall breaking animations, have already been implemented into the game.
Are you saying we are getting full new moris? (from the live chat)
When they talk about killer animations, they are speaking mostly in terms of gameplay animations such as movement and attacks. The priority for now is to make the gameplay feel smooth and up to their more recent standards, so no new mori animations are currently planned.
Will there be another HUGE killer rework this year? (from
@AlphaKing0077)
That depends what you mean by “HUGE”. There is nothing on the scale of Freddy’s or Doctor’s reworks planned, but there are some smaller changes in the works. They can’t go into details, but they can confirm that there are further changes planned for Clown in particular.
Will legendary outfits get unique voices? (from
@EmotionalDaisy)
This is something they would like to do, but they haven’t had the opportunity to yet.
Can we know which maps are next up for a graphics update? (from
@Boss)
“Almost all maps” will receive a rework as part of the graphical update. They cannot confirm yet which map will be next, but apparently we will hear about it “super soon”. They are prioritising the realms which they think will benefit the most from a graphical update, especially older ones.
Is there any more info on new prestige rewards? (from
@hagling)
They don’t have any new information to share right now, but it will still be coming eventually. More information will be coming closer to the feature's release.
Why aren’t more resources devoted to perk adjustments? (from
@AGM)
There are actually a “bunch” of perk updates planned for the next mid-chapter patch, and it’s likely that perk change “bundles” like this will become more frequent in the future. Typically, most perk changes, balance and quality-of-life updates will come in mid-chapter patches. They have made many and fairly frequent balance changes in past patches, but they also understand that questions like this are an indication that players are interested in seeing more of that sort of thing, so we can expect to see more changes to perks coming in the future.
Will you ever add a new item? (from
@FFabeq)
“This is a big, fat maybe”. It’s definitely something they have thought about, but bear in mind that there are many things to consider where items are concerned, such as new add-ons and how they would fit into survivor bloodwebs. They are keen to hear any cool ideas that players might have for new items. (not_Queen suggests having party starters as a permanent, non-event item in the game.)
Do you plan on revisiting Pyramid Head’s power? (from
@SkipRec)
They have been working internally to improve their live balancing process – that is, how they go about adjusting killers who have already been released. Until now, they have just been watching killer progress and making tweaks where they can, but they have recently introduced a more formal, structured process which Pyramid Head “has been the first to benefit from”, and we will see the results of this implemented into the game “soonTM”. The new process follows a timeline structure, which dictates what types of changes get made to killers post-release and when. It is important to remember that new killers in particular often need to be observed for weeks or even months after their release to see how their usage changes and how players adapt to them before making any dramatic adjustments to the gameplay.
Is MMR ever going to come back? (from
@herrik666)
Yes. Adjustments are currently being made to the system based on information gained from the previous activation of MMR. It is still running in the background and collecting data, and we should expect to see more live testing happening in the future.
Why are Bloodpoints capped? (from
@GoodBoyKaru)
The myth behind the bloodpoint cap is that it was introduced to combat hackers, and while this was a useful side effect, it was not its primary purpose. The bloodpoint cap is intended to encourage players to spend bloodpoints frequently as they play the game rather than stockpiling them over time. It also encourages people to actually play new characters when they are released, instead of maxing them out immediately and then never using them. Although they are aware that this can be annoying at times, they believe it is a net good for player experience as a whole.
Why do Bloody Party Streamers seem so rare? (from
@DieselWeasel)
The way bloodwebs are programmed, a certain number of nodes of each rarity will spawn on every bloodweb. Because each character only has a selection of possible items, add-ons, offerings etc. of each rarity available, this can create situations where a particular Rare item or offering may appear less often than a particular Ultra Rare, simply because there are more possibilities available in the ‘Rare’ category, even though Rare items in general are more common than Ultra Rares.
What was the reason for hatch placement offerings? (from
@GeordieKiller)
With the introduction of Felix, an architect, they wanted to introduce some architecture-related offerings to the game. They had been wanting to create new offerings for a while, and the blueprint offerings both directly relate to one of the characters and also make sense with the maps’ procedural generation. They chose not to make the offerings secret to give players an opportunity to have their effects in mind and play around them during the match.
How frequently can we expect graphics updates? (from
@LinkNecross)
They are planning to release a graphical update with each major patch (chapter and mid-chapter) if all goes according to plan, but this could change depending on how much they are able to achieve in that time.
Should we expect future map updates to be coupled with chapters? (from
@DyllonKG)
The PTB release of the overhauled Yamaoka and Springwood maps went very well and generated a lot of good feedback, which allowed the maps to be improved between the PTB and live releases. If everything goes well, they plan to continue to push map updates with major patches like this one, as well as on the corresponding PTBs.
Can we get XP offerings on PC and console? (from
@PaulieEsther)
The progression system on mobile is very different to that on the main game, so the developers don’t feel that having offerings to boost XP gain would fit well with the design of the rest of the main game.
Are there plans to give Huntress a second ultra rare add-on? (from
@Malman25)
They have mentioned in the past that they want to revisit the add-ons of older killers who were released before add-on sets were standardised (4 common, 5 uncommon, 5 rare, 4 very rare, 2 ultra rare), and this is something they have been working on (Hillbilly’s and Cannibal’s revised add-ons being a prominent recent example of this). The Huntress is one of two remaining killers who still require this treatment, and they can confirm that she will therefore have her add-ons reviewed at some point, though when this will happen or what exactly will be involved remains a mystery.
Have you considered bringing the PTB to consoles? (from
@HDwasHere)
This is a request that they receive a lot, and something they have discussed internally. It is something they would like to be able to do, in order to receive more widespread feedback from a larger portion of the playerbase, but it is very difficult to achieve and would slow down the process significantly [mainly due to console certification processes] which would get in the way of the PTB’s primary function, live testing, as well as the processes they use to gather data in the background during the PTB that players don’t see. Steam allows the PTB to be easily set up to suit their purposes in a way that other platforms do not. For now, it is not something they are able to do, but they will continue to look into it as a future possibility.
Does the Never Stop Slashing Legion outfit change expressions? (from
@Edgiestfall)
Although this was a feature the developers wanted very much to include, unfortunately it was found to be impossible due to current technical limitations. This was made known to the original artist, who was apparently very understanding of the issue.
Are Memento Mori offerings being changed? (from
@HypixelStone)
This has been addressed before, but yes, there will be changes coming to both moris and keys in the future. However, they can’t confirm whether or not these changes will be implemented at the same time, nor what form they will take (nerf, buff, etc.). Simply weakening a mechanic is one option, but it’s far from the only possibility, and often the approach taken to problematic mechanics is more along the lines of, “how can we find a better way to do something cool with this?” as opposed to just weakening or strengthening it.
Are there any plans to remove Bloodlust? (from TheYoonz)
This has been discussed in recent Q&A; streams. Discussion around Bloodlust is ongoing, but there are no current plans to remove it. Because it has been in the game for so long, it is ingrained quite deeply into the gameplay and mechanics, and has many different implications for players of different skill levels that all need to be considered when thinking about changing or removing it.
Why do you guys do cosmetic sets? (from isuckatnaming)
It gives the art team more freedom to create outfits that would not otherwise be possible, such as The Oni’s Minotaur outfit, or Nea’s hooded outfit which would create clipping issues if it were mixed with her other cosmetics. In spite of player concerns, they are not planning to make all outfits linked from now on. The only outfits that will be linked are those which need to be for technical and/or visual reasons. Regarding the possibility of certain pieces like weapons being unlinked from the rest of the set, not_Queen was unable to give an answer but is planning to try to get more information and possibly deliver an update on the issue in a later Q&A; stream.
When do you think the graphical updates will be finished? (from
@LynxRecruit)
The entire process is projected to take at least a year to complete. As much as the team are looking forward to the finished product, they also want to take the time to make sure each map, character, etc. is done well and up to the target standard. It will therefore be delivered in sections over time, rather than all at once in a single update.
Frequently Asked Questions
Any update on hit validation? They have fixed some of the major issues with hit validation, in particular one involving the Huntress’ hatchets, and are hoping to re-enable it “very soon”. When this happens, it will be announced on their social media. For the record, hit validation will likely not completely remove instances of being hit from far away, as it is an ongoing process which they are still working on improving over time. Neither will it improve connection issues for those with high latency, but it should help significantly with “close calls”. More information can be found in this blog post:
http://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/185864 Why can’t we switch killers in queue if MMR is off? They are planning to bring MMR back in the future, so in the long run, being unable to switch killers while in queue is a planned permanent feature. Because of this, and for the sake of consistency, they prefer to avoid switching it on and off as MMR matchmaking is enabled and disabled during the testing process. Additionally, MMR is something they can easily switch on and off in the backend, while updating features like the ability to switch killers in queue requires a client update (that is, a patch the players are required to download) every time it is changed. As mentioned earlier, the MMR system is still gathering data on players in the background, so leaving features like this one in place also helps with that process in preparation for the reintroduction of MMR-based matchmaking.
Will you add end-game chat to console? This is something they are looking into, but not currently working on or planning to implement. While PC players can easily use their keyboard to send messages, most console players would need to use the on-screen keyboard, which is more complex and less player-friendly. There are also policies of third-party organisations like Microsoft and Sony to take into account, which adds additional complexity to the implementation of such a feature.
Will consoles get mouse and keyboard support? Similarly to the question above, the developers are not opposed to the idea, but it’s not something they are planning for the game at the moment. Again, third-party policies would need to be taken into consideration when assessing how complicated such a task would be. Final answer is “not a strong no”.
How will cross-progression work? Players will need to create an account in order to share progress between platforms. If they have progress in the game on multiple platforms already, these will be merged by combining “the best of both worlds” and also “merging some values”. If you have, say, Myers fully levelled on one platform and Claudette on the other, with cross progression you will be able to have both characters full levelled on both platforms. If you have more progress on a particular character on one platform than the other, the one on which you have the most progression by character level will be preserved.
Have you considered allowing cross-play between only consoles? The idea behind cross-play is to bring everyone together, so this is not something they are wanting or planning to do. Since cross-play went live, they have been and continue to monitor player activity to ensure that there is no imbalance between console and PC players. So far, everything appears to be going well in that regard. If they find that they need to make changes in the future, they will do so, but for now limiting cross-play only to certain platforms is not a direction they are intending to move in.
Will we ever be able to see which platform people are on? This is not something the developers are able to directly control. The currently used globe icon is the best way to satisfy console requirements – for example, there are complications around displaying an Xbox logo on a PS4, which is not something Sony will approve. Some games have been able to gain specific approval to do things like that, so it is a possibility they will look into, but we should expect the globe to stay for the foreseeable future.
End-Of-Stream Bonus Pet Pictures
Louis' cat:
http://preview.redd.it/njw624y2lhm51.png?width=602&format;=png&auto;=webp&s;=5c16973a4f365a6e6437d4ac22b386723185d18b http://preview.redd.it/184n2e24lhm51.png?width=602&format;=png&auto;=webp&s;=1d15d5519037ab9b270e37467e173329daa14e03 Joris' dog:
http://preview.redd.it/cgc2gkd5lhm51.png?width=602&format;=png&auto;=webp&s;=b301d57e27331b3da808c6d6a25b79db7bacdf29 
