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Dear NRS: Why was the Joker Nerfed so badly from Injustice 1?

I watched the stream, and I literally don't remember that even as an accurate paraphrase. I get that you're frustrated, but I don't think misquoting and shaming people for no reason is going to change anything.
He may be referring to 1:01:10 of this video or maybe before that. It's kind of weird because he acknowledged that he was bad, and he says things like "he still maintains what makes him good" even though they got rid of a lot of things that made him good. He also says "we built upon what makes him good so he'll be a lot stronger..." even though they really didn't build upon, they just deleted and inserted other things. I understand that this was a livestream and a promotion of some sorts, but it's a tad bit frustrating to hear an underplaying of what they truly changed in the character

 

Jack White

The Clown Prince of Crime
I watched the stream, and I literally don't remember that even as an accurate paraphrase. I get that you're frustrated, but I don't think misquoting and shaming people for no reason is going to change anything.
He did say something along those lines:


Sorry for not providing proof earlier.

"In the original Joker was considered to be one of the weaker characters in the tournament scene, but it's not because he didn't have good tools... [talks about his corner game being good]... and now his mid range game has been helped out, and he still maintains what made him good."

There were a lot of problems with this statement.

1. Joker was considered weak because his toolset wasn't strong enough. He had a number of horrendous matchups against top tiers, completely fell apart against zoning characters and had a very tough time opening people up outside the corner. His whole game was the corner.

2. His mid range game wasn't helped out at all. They added more gimmicks, but they didn't bother fixing his core problems.

3. They didn't maintain what made him "good". They took away a lot of his strongest tools, most notably in the removal of his wakeup, the butchering of his J2, and the removal of his OTG.

I don't blame 16Bit for not understanding what he was saying. If you watch that whole vid, it's clear that no one in that room has even touched Joker for more than 5 minutes (they didn't know how any of his comboes worked and just told the audience that Joker players will figure it out). They didn't play the character, so the best they could go with was our word, but we didn't speak up loud enough.

PS: I definitely should have included proof in my original post, but if you're going to accuse me of lying at least check the stream again yourself if you didn't remember.
 

KingHippo

Alternative-Fact Checker
His whole game was the corner.
Most would argue this was a very very good part of his game. I don't think it was intended to be a "those tools" argument, just arguing that the tools to have something very good were there, just maybe not put together in a decent package.

2. His mid range game wasn't helped out at all. They added more gimmicks, but they didn't bother fixing his core problems.

3. They didn't maintain what made him "good". They took away a lot of his strongest tools, most notably in the removal of his wakeup, the butchering of his J2, and the removal of his OTG.
Well, I think that is pretty much the reason why there seems to be such a disconnect. Could it not be that the developers just think you're wrong? Like maybe the people who were in QA just think his mid range is good?

And I know the response would be "Well then why don't they tell us?" And then I would say "IMAGINE them doing that."

I don't blame 16Bit for not understanding what he was saying. If you watch that whole vid, it's clear that no one in that room has even touched Joker for more than 5 minutes (they didn't know how any of his comboes worked and just told the audience that Joker players will figure it out). They didn't play the character, so the best they could go with was our word, but we didn't speak up loud enough.
I do not mean to say that players known for their skill are entirely infallible, but wouldn't it stand to reason when you look at the people who are in QA, the people who play tested, the word of players like SonicFox, etc. that maybe they might have a perspective that you didn't consider?

I don't mean to minimize whether or not you guys are losing a bunch/struggling, but don't you think there's a decent chance that things haven't been explored/used effectively? Fuudo for thought
 

Jack White

The Clown Prince of Crime
]I don't mean to minimize whether or not you guys are losing a bunch/struggling, but don't you think there's a decent chance that things haven't been explored/used effectively? Fuudo for thought
We've had 4 years to explore the character, we know what we're talking about. And QA testers aren't infallible, they miss huge things all the time. It's getting kind of frustrating to be hearing this all the time. "Oh maybe you guys just haven't figured out the secret trick that'll make your character good yet. Maybe you just haven't researched it."

I'm sorry, but we've been playing Joker for a very long time now, and he wasn't a great character in the first game. Now imagine a character like that going into the next game with many of his best tools stripped away from him. Not changed slightly, not tweeked, not even "normalized", just straight up removed. You're sitting here and telling me I haven't explored my own character, but that's all I've been doing with this game series and I know for a fact that they nerfed a character that really didn't need it. You probably don't even understand why the things they removed are such a huge deal.

You'll probably still call us crazy, or whiners, or scrubs who can't handle losing. That we don't know what we're talking about. You're wrong though, just like you were wrong when you called me a liar with zero evidence. Here's the thing, I'll repeat it in this thread and beyond:

The gas light IS dimming.
There are FOUR lights.
The Joker WAS nerfed.
 

Vengeance135

Saltiest Joker Player
We've had 4 years to explore the character, we know what we're talking about. And QA testers aren't infallible, they miss huge things all the time. It's getting kind of frustrating to be hearing this all the time. "Oh maybe you guys just haven't figured out the secret trick that'll make your character good yet. Maybe you just haven't researched it."

I'm sorry, but we've been playing Joker for a very long time now, and he wasn't a great character in the first game. Now imagine a character like that going into the next game with many of his best tools stripped away from him. Not changed slightly, not tweeked, not even "normalized", just straight up removed. You're sitting here and telling me I haven't explored my own character, but that's all I've been doing with this game series and I know for a fact that they nerfed a character that really didn't need it. You probably don't even understand why the things they removed are such a huge deal.

You'll probably still call us crazy, or whiners, or scrubs who can't handle losing. That we don't know what we're talking about. You're wrong though, just like you were wrong when you called me a liar with zero evidence. Here's the thing, I'll repeat it in this thread and beyond:

The gas light IS dimming.
There are FOUR lights.
The Joker WAS nerfed.
I'm weak lmfao and you see why I'm getting frustrated with these people? You and @BrianTheBEAST literally explained multiple times to multiple people why he was bad and we've had a long time to figure this character out and they literally hit you with a BS answer and to top it all off, they have no actual knowledge of the Joker, they just sit there and say maybe there's something wrong with you... even when the ENTIRE joker community is complaining. People like that are useless in my personal opinion.

They'll fight you with absolutely no support to their argument. It's almost like they want to purposely get you pissed off for no legitimate reason.
 

Jack White

The Clown Prince of Crime
New parry is better and I like it as a taunt
The Joybuzzer is an awesome move as far as counters go. It's the only genuinely good addition to Joker's moveset... although it really shouldn't have come at the cost of his acid flower. While I wish there was a low variation, it's still a powerful move in its own right. I just hope they replace his current trait with some kind of acid flower move.
I'm weak lmfao and you see why I'm getting frustrated with these people? You and @BrianTheBEAST literally explained multiple times to multiple people why he was bad and we've had a long time to figure this character out and they literally hit you with a BS answer and to top it all off, they have no actual knowledge of the Joker, they just sit there and say maybe there's something wrong with you... even when the ENTIRE joker community is complaining. People like that are useless in my personal opinion.

They'll fight you with absolutely no support to their argument. It's almost like they want to purposely get you pissed off for no legitimate reason.
It's strategy to them. No one wants to see another character rise through the ranks because everyone has enough on their plate between Batman and Black Adam and Superman and a host of other ridiculous characters. They don't want another IJ1 Bane on their hands. The thing is though, Joker REALLY does need help. It isn't some cynical ploy like a lot of folks patronizing us seem to think.
 
I'm weak lmfao and you see why I'm getting frustrated with these people? You and @BrianTheBEAST literally explained multiple times to multiple people why he was bad and we've had a long time to figure this character out and they literally hit you with a BS answer and to top it all off, they have no actual knowledge of the Joker, they just sit there and say maybe there's something wrong with you... even when the ENTIRE joker community is complaining. People like that are useless in my personal opinion.

They'll fight you with absolutely no support to their argument. It's almost like they want to purposely get you pissed off for no legitimate reason.
I just kinda see it as ignorant (I don't mean this is a derogatory way). They simply don't know. It does get a little frustrating when I'm supposed to "provide evidence" when I already did. But this is all in the name of Joker, and I'm willing to write paragraph after paragraph explaining why this character needs help.
 

Sage Leviathan

I'm platinum mad!
Joker genuinely seems like a better character in this game as opposed to the last one, regardless of his position within whatever tier list you could (ignorantly) posit at this time.

This thread shouldn't even exist. Looking around the Joker forums, you poor folks don't even have a matchup discussion thread and you have two combo threads. General discussion is pretty empty.

Oh, but you sure have a Discord server.
 

Amplified$hotz

I like Tekken 8
Joker genuinely seems like a better character in this game as opposed to the last one, regardless of his position within whatever tier list you could (ignorantly) posit at this time.

This thread shouldn't even exist. Looking around the Joker forums, you poor folks don't even have a matchup discussion thread and you have two combo threads. General discussion is pretty empty.

Oh, but you sure have a Discord server.
And a PM. This isn't a sudden thread lol. The whole character community thinks he's worse and we've all been labbing him for years. That's why it's annoying when people from other communities try to tell us something about our character as if they've put more time into him than all of us.

Same thing different day:

https://testyourmight.com/threads/joker-still-sucks.38698/
 
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Jack White

The Clown Prince of Crime
Joker genuinely seems like a better character in this game as opposed to the last one, regardless of his position within whatever tier list you could (ignorantly) posit at this time.

This thread shouldn't even exist. Looking around the Joker forums, you poor folks don't even have a matchup discussion thread and you have two combo threads. General discussion is pretty empty.

Oh, but you sure have a Discord server.
If you're on the fence about whether or not we're being condescended to by people who have no idea what they're talking about... exhibit A. Provides no reasons for why he thinks this Joker is better than the last even though we've explained several times (point by point) why that isn't the case, literally calls US ignorant even though he knows way less about our character, assumes we never discussed matchups just because there isn't a thread for it, acts like we haven't had 4 years to discuss the ins and outs of Joker vs the metagame...

This post right here is just a lazy, unintuitive criticism from someone who couldn't give less of a shit about our character.

Here's a new rule I'll suggest for obnoxious drive-by posts like this. If you disagree with the OP, please provide a reason why. Explain to me why Joker not having a viable wakeup move anymore isn't a big deal. Do tell me why his cross up being butchered isn't a big deal. Please explain why removing his OTG tech was a good idea. Do anything but say we aren't seeing what we know we're seeing without backing it up with any evidence.
 

Sage Leviathan

I'm platinum mad!
If you're on the fence about whether or not we're being condescended to by people who have no idea what they're talking about... exhibit A. Provides no reasons for why he thinks this Joker is better than the last even though we've explained several times (point by point) why that isn't the case, literally calls US ignorant even though he knows way less about our character, assumes we never discussed matchups just because there isn't a thread for it, acts like we haven't had 4 years to discuss the ins and outs of Joker vs the metagame...

This post right here is just a lazy, unintuitive criticism from someone who couldn't give less of a shit about our character.

Here's a new rule I'll suggest for obnoxious drive-by posts like this. If you disagree with the OP, please provide a reason why. Explain to me why Joker not having a viable wakeup move anymore isn't a big deal. Do tell me why his cross up being butchered isn't a big deal. Please explain why removing his OTG tech was a good idea. Do anything but say we aren't seeing what we know we're seeing without backing it up with any evidence.

I was waiting for either you or that fellow who says "I'm weak" in response to your messages.

Did you even read what I said, mate? Because I didn't say a lot. I implied that creating a tier list at this time would be an ignorant thing to do. Then I pointed out how shabbily your character forum is organized.

I wasn't condescending you and I meant no offense. I mean, I'm condescending you now, but that's beside it.
 
I was waiting for either you or that fellow who says "I'm weak" in response to your messages.

Did you even read what I said, mate? Because I didn't say a lot. I implied that creating a tier list at this time would be an ignorant thing to do. Then I pointed out how shabbily your character forum is organized.

I wasn't condescending you and I meant no offense. I mean, I'm condescending you now, but that's beside it.
"Oh, but you sure have a discord server," was an obvious sarcastic jab. In addition, you said, "This thread shouldn't even exist" because we are "poor folks who don't even have a matchup discussion thread...." Almost your entire post was condescending comments.

You said, "Joker genuinely seems better in this game as opposed to the last one." What is your credibility? Do you believe that your very simple observations are better than the opinions of all joker loyalists who have been grinding this character since day 1? As others have stated, base your observations on some kind of evidence.

I don't mind you giving criticism to us. That's fine, but you're not even giving me a point that I could argue against..... you're argument is nonexistent. Clarify and give points based on evidence. Please.
 

Vengeance135

Saltiest Joker Player
"Oh, but you sure have a discord server," was an obvious sarcastic jab. In addition, you said, "This thread shouldn't even exist" because we are "poor folks who don't even have a matchup discussion thread...." Almost your entire post was condescending comments.

You said, "Joker genuinely seems better in this game as opposed to the last one." What is your credibility? Do you believe that your very simple observations are better than the opinions of all joker loyalists who have been
I was waiting for either you or that fellow who says "I'm weak" in response to your messages.

Did you even read what I said, mate? Because I didn't say a lot. I implied that creating a tier list at this time would be an ignorant thing to do. Then I pointed out how shabbily your character forum is organized.

I wasn't condescending you and I meant no offense. I mean, I'm condescending you now, but that's beside it.
You might want to re-read what you wrote the first time then re-read the entire thread. We aren't creating a tier list so here you are false, we are simply stating he is worse then he's ever been AND provided proof multiple times which you obviously missed. And your post defines ignorance, you said he's better and gave literally no proof. Then jabbed our community for a "shabby forum", without knowing how we deal with things. We have a personal message setup for every joker player where we discuss everything and have had it for nearly 4 years. If you're going to comment, give concrete evidence as to why or why not you think the character is bad and not make an ignorant comment like "Oh the character is better then before but I couldn't tell you how or why because I have no knowledge of the character but I'm going to say this anyways."
 

TheBoyBlunder

They love my Grayson
TBH I played a lot of Joker players.
The only one who ever gave me a challenge from IGAU was Emperor Dark. If you can beat him, you can beat the rest. I do feel like Joker needs buffs basically his systematic design gets overpowered by the top characters.
 

Vengeance135

Saltiest Joker Player
TBH I played a lot of Joker players.
The only one who ever gave me a challenge from IGAU was Emperor Dark. If you can beat him, you can beat the rest. I do feel like Joker needs buffs basically his systematic design gets overpowered by the top characters.
Thanks for understanding what we're saying lol
 

TheBoyBlunder

They love my Grayson
Thanks for understanding what we're saying lol
Yea, anyone who thinks Joker has the tools or just over play ability to be even top 15 never played the character against Aquaman or Batman. (a very good Aqua or Bats btw).

Joker has a nice parry now, but everything else is lack luster because it can be negated by other superior normals characters possess and most of the time Joker has to play the "opponents" game since Joker's tools don't dictate the pace of the match unless Joker has you in the corner (which apparently losing OTG crowbar just made Joker's corner game slightly weaker)

TBH, Joker community has been the most shafted and least listen community on TYM by far.

For years Joker community have stayed quiet and were happy with what they had, many stayed loyalty to the character and asked for reasonable buffs. None asked for top tier stuff (unblockable teeth was mostly a joke).

Now in Injustice 2, Joker still is bottom tier material...NRS would figure it out by now they could do a huge service to a community that has been loyal to the character.

People in this thread who deny Joker players and tell them to level up don't play Joker and most likely play Deadshot or Black Adam so they can't sympathize with their struggle.

Joker players, welcome to what it's like to feeling black/brown.
 

Vengeance135

Saltiest Joker Player
Yea, anyone who thinks Joker has the tools or just over play ability to be even top 15 never played the character against Aquaman or Batman. (a very good Aqua or Bats btw).

Joker has a nice parry now, but everything else is lack luster because it can be negated by other superior normals characters possess and most of the time Joker has to play the "opponents" game since Joker's tools don't dictate the pace of the match unless Joker has you in the corner (which apparently losing OTG crowbar just made Joker's corner game slightly weaker)

TBH, Joker community has been the most shafted and least listen community on TYM by far.

For years Joker community have stayed quiet and were happy with what they had, many stayed loyalty to the character and asked for reasonable buffs. None asked for top tier stuff (unblockable teeth was mostly a joke).

Now in Injustice 2, Joker still is bottom tier material...NRS would figure it out by now they could do a huge service to a community that has been loyal to the character.

People in this thread who deny Joker players and tell them to level up don't play Joker and most likely play Deadshot or Black Adam so they can't sympathize with their struggle.

Joker players, welcome to what it's like to feeling black/brown.
You hit the nail on the head. We knew what this community's reaction was going to be with this thread and while some of us got more salty the others (me in particular), we literally just want the character to have a fighting chance he didn't have in injustice 1.

Some of the members of the community sympathized because they actually knew the character, while others ignorantly commented with no viable information given, if any, backing them.

Thanks man