Preface: I play OSRS to PK. I’ve played every iteration of Deadman, and this was definitely a weak addition. Today I will be running through all the new additions and changes that were made to accommodate people into trying out DMM, and why it ultimately failed due to what feels like a massive misunderstanding to what people want out of Deadman. A naive person would look at player retention and gather that this Deadman was the most successful yet. However, you can only get the truth when you search deeper than that. The problem lies within the new design philosophy. Jagex are attempting to get people to try out PVP when they themselves admit to never being interested in it. The only possible way to get them interested in DEADMAN, NOT PVP (which I feel that they are aware of), is to offer cosmetics. To accommodate for this, you make a slew of changes that ultimately make the game easier, but the truth is that no amount of changes you can make will not make these players happy about dying repeatedly. They get understandably frustrated when their only goal was to achieve the cosmetics rewards, and when they do reach the point threshold they just log off forever and share their grievances. On the flip side, a lot of the true PVPers, the ones who ACTUALLY want to play a hardcore PVP mode , are left dissatisfied as well due to the same changes you made to accommodate people who never wanted to play in the first place. You can see a lot of seasoned DMM veterans, former winners even, who chose to not play this version. What ultimately ends up happening is that the majority of players on both sides of the fence are left dissatisfied. What can be done? I believe that, moving forward, it’s better to keep the mode catered towards the PVPer crowd, and not give more incentives for people who hate PVP to try out Deadman. There is already LMS for players who truly wish to learn how to PVP - with the added benefit of not having to deal with people who are in broken weapons/gear and sigils that are not available in the main game. MAKE A GLOBAL REWARDS SHOP BETWEEN ALL SEASONAL MODES (LEAGUES/DMM) - DONT USE FOMO AS A WAY TO MAKE PEOPLE PLAY SOMETHING THEY HATE. I suggest sending out polls to both crowds - asking what people actually want. PvPers and non PvPers alike. What I want, and what I believe what most PvPers want, is a hardcore competitive PvP game mode designed FOR them and for their progress to ultimately have meaning at the end. Removing the finale prizes was an understandable decision due to nearly every Deadman finale being bugged to hell or DDOS’d, but there are solutions outside of outright removing any rewards whatsoever. It could be a name written on a plaque in game, tickets to runefest, anything really. If this take isn’t one shared among all PvPers - SEND US SURVEYS and you can find that out! Ultimately, I feel that the sentiment and appreciation for Deadman can only be improved if Jagex caters DMM to what it was supposed to be - a Hardcore, PVP first game mode that is competitive with a reason to succeed. Poll non-PvPers and ask if they would interact with the mode at all without cosmetics. Even if I’m wrong, you can at least get accurate information by actually inquiring with your player-base instead of making decisions for us. That’s the core design philosophy for OSRS, and what I feel should continue to be the case for Deadman. Thank you. submitted by /u/Eth111
Originally posted by u/Eth111 on r/2007scape
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