There are a lot of strings in Mortal Kombat 9 are unnecessary and have moves within them that could be their own attacks. For example, Scorpion's 1,1,3, 2,1,2, and 1, 1+2 strings. There is no mix up between 1,1,3 and 1,1,1, so I don't see a point to having both, but that's just my opinion. But for a string like 2,1,2: the only reason I can see people doing this move is to get the hard knockdown at the end of the string, so why not just give them the 2 that knocks down as a command normal. Instead of doing 2,1,2 for a knockdown you could just do B1 and get the overhead. Again, there is no mix up with Scorpion after doing his standing 1. So I don't really see a reason for the input to be 1,1+2. The only thing the 1 does it tell the opponent to block high, because there is 33% you might get hit with an overhead. A player could cancel their 1's into takedowns to create a mix-up, but it would just save a lot of time if you could just press raw 1+2 and get the shoulder, and you could still do takedown/sweeps to make them block low; you would just get this overhead quicker. The only problem I see with that is: scorpion has four overheads, 212's, 1,1+2's, F3, and B2, and they all need to serve a different purpose, otherwise you make a move not viable, because there is another move that does its job better. B2 is used for scorpion's vortex, if players could just 1+2 for an overhead combo starter, then they may stop using B2, making it pretty useless.
Let's also look at Kabal's F4, 1+2 string, if you separated this string into two normals, you could have a mix-up. Let's say 1+2 hits low and causes a hard knockdown, while F4 hits overhead and resets. Hitting them with the F4, you could make them guess all over again or cancel into nomad dash for a combo, which could end with a F4, making them guess again.
So for MK10, should most of the moves be in strings like in Mk9 or should some strings be separated into different attacks?
Let's also look at Kabal's F4, 1+2 string, if you separated this string into two normals, you could have a mix-up. Let's say 1+2 hits low and causes a hard knockdown, while F4 hits overhead and resets. Hitting them with the F4, you could make them guess all over again or cancel into nomad dash for a combo, which could end with a F4, making them guess again.
So for MK10, should most of the moves be in strings like in Mk9 or should some strings be separated into different attacks?
