It seems like this boils down to 2 major factors:
- Is counter-picking good or bad?
- Just because we've had the same rules for 5 years we should never, under any circumstance, revisit them.
The first point is a matter of opinion. I, personally, can't stand counter-picking. I think tournaments should be won in the battle screen, not in the character-select screen. Allowing the winner to change their variation if the loser changes characters helps alleviate this problem without negating it entirely. It's a rather good compromise. As
@Braindead said, with all of the possible MUs in this game (approximately 2,592, but who's counting), the odds of most variations having multiple 3-7s or worse is almost inevitable. Allowing variation switching will be the difference between a handful of viable characters and a full roster of viable characters. If a variation has even a single 3-7 MU (which again,
will be the case with 71 MUs per character to consider), then that variation will see as much tournament life as Kano and Cyborg.
In fact, with so many MUs, this game has the potential to be utterly dominated by counter-picks or a very elite few variations with no dire MUs, which would be absolute poison for its longevity as a competitive fighter.
For the 2nd point, I don't think "because it's always been that way" is
ever a valid reason for
anything. There should always be some concrete reason to point to. "Because it's always been that way" is
not an argument; it's a brush-off. If it's always been that way, then I need to know why. Maybe the reasons it was that way in the past no longer hold up when applied to a game with 2,592 MUs. All I'm asking for is a legitimate discussion.
To the pro-lock players, I hope you'll take just a sec to consider these arguments. If you still don't agree, that's fine, but please share your thoughts on why. If there's something I'm missing, what is it? If you're just a fan of counter-picking then it's just a fundamental difference of opinion and there's nothing left to debate. I'm in the process of reading through the 9 pages of discussion, but there's a lot of bile in this thread to go through. I know this is a hot-button issue, but I promise that if you tag me in a post with valid arguments I will absolutely hear you out; I will read every word and considering every point you make. Right now I think a lot of people are arguing without really knowing why, or knowing what the other side is taking issue with. Hopefully we can get this hashed out right. Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss the issue without feeding this thread.