I genuinely think deathmatch would be better with less players. Right now the mode barely feels like actual practice because the second you make noise, three people swing you instantly. You either have to walk around the whole match listening for footsteps like it’s ranked, or you risk getting prefired the moment you peek anything.
The maps are made for 5v5 so in theory you’d only have to worry about 5 people coming from angles you know they would be around but actually it’s a 1v9 and they will just spawn behind you after you just killed him infront of you
The whole point of deathmatch for me is practicing real gunfights and improving mechanics, not playing a game of chance with if they flank or don’t
Besides that you also have the constant need to recheck every possible angle you are vulnerable to at that moment, so either slow walk and recheck 4 angles at once hoping you won’t get caught off guard (you will), or run past angles and get prefired. It’s an illusion of free choice both leading to your death.
I feel like lowering the player count a bit would fix a lot of that. Fights would feel more natural, there’d be less random third partying, and people could actually focus on taking proper duels instead of constantly worrying about getting swung from behind every two seconds.