MK11 Will Launch With 2 Variations Per Character For Competitive Play.

[Circus]

Announced on the Kombat Kast today, it seems there will only be 2 variations to start with for competitive play.

This pretty much ensures they will pick what they believe is the best possible.

They also mention that throughout the lifespan of MK11 that they will be adding more variations.

Additionally, they are also looking into fully kustomizable variations for the future of competitive play.

 

[igotAhalo]

This kind of sucks, but it's a LOT better than what I thought was going to happen. In my opinion by them saying they are looking to adding kustom variations in the future, it pretty much means its gonna happen they just need time. Now my concern is how long... I'm hoping within a couple months, if not then definitely by the end of the year its switched to kustom. All of our feedback did this, so if we keep our foot on the pedal about this issue then they will add it soon enough

 

[98Greener]

I'm glad they at least addressed it and are considering putting in the fully customizable varations for ranked. That'll make a lot of people happy.

 

[Circus]

I was not about the exclusion of kustomization, but seeing that they are universally only giving people TWO variations....

... I'm strangely okay with this....

It means that they won't just slap variations together because they want to put all the moves into at least one variation like I was afraid they'd do.

They will choose what they believe will give the characters the BEST chance to win.

While I would prefer kustomization. I am okay with them wanting to maximize efficiency like this FOR NOW.

 

[MadPropz101]

Poop

 

[SaSSolino]

Knowing that augments aren't actually active online made my day. Damn, I was so bummed!

 

[Juggs]

So incredibly disappointing. My hype for MK11 is at an all time low.

 

[TheJaquio]

They also mention that throughout the lifespan of MK11 that they will be adding more variations.
They are also looking into fully kustomizable variations for the future of competitive play.

What this says to me, combined with the very condensed promotional campaign this time around, is that these decisions are a result of the game being rushed. They have the point and compatibility system in place to balance custom variations, but they didn't have enough dev time to comb through every move and decide which ones should be 2 or 3 points and which should be incompatible. So, when crunch time came, they had to settle on having 2-4 presets per character instead. But, then they didn't have time for that either, so it's just 2 presets per character with the promise that more will be added post-release, and then custom variations may replace the presets entirely in the end.

Everything points to them just simply not having enough dev time.

 

[Tokiwartoothxdk]

not much variation for a variation system

 

[VSC_Supreme]

Can't say I'm really upset as I was advocating for just 2 variations before the games reveal. I'm just happy to hear they are open to exploring more options.

 

[Lt. Boxy Angelman]

Can't say I'm really upset as I was advocating for just 2 variations before the games reveal. I'm just happy to hear they are open to exploring more options.

Same here. The not addressing it forever was a bad move, but what they're actually doing I think is the right way to go. Give things a chance to balance out, stay open to all possibilities, give the community the floor to make its own cases but don't work your way back from it all being open. Better to expand than to have to retract later. This is a real good step the right way.

 

[Marlow]

Hmmm. That's disappointing. I thought they were at least planning on making every move available in at least one variation from the start. With only 2 variations per character I'm not sure how that will work. Hopefully they patch in more variations pretty quick.

 

[Shark Tank]

I mean arguments aside customs vs pre-sets, it took them less than a minute to clear that up. Was that so hard? Could've been stated on kombat kast 1. As of right now while we can assume they might try to include all the moves in future variation additions, some moves are not going to be in ranked play at launch.

And of course we don't know what those are. Anybody want to take bets on which ones?

 

[Circus]

Now it's just the waiting game.

Crossing my fingers, toes, and entire body that they pair Vegemighty/Lumbar Check/Bio-Pull or they at least have those three moves spread across both the variations.

 

[LaidbackOne]

Seems like you guys are finally gonna get a decently balanced game at release and yet you are fucking bitching for different reasons.

 

[DDustiNN]

Two variations isn’t nearly enough to cover the entire custom move list.

I really hope they’re just buying time while they work on an interface for custom variations via character select screen.

But it’s at least comforting to know they heard the community loud and clear!

 

[Juggs]

Two variations isn’t nearly enough to cover the entire custom move list.

I really hope they’re just buying time while they work on an interface for custom variations via character select screen.

The only hope I have is that the competitive preset variations won’t have the same limits as we saw in the beta. I just HOPE that is the case. If not... yeah

 

[SaltShaker]

I can't express how profoundly disappointed I am that after all the backlash, presets will still not include all the available specials in variations. Just wow...

 

[JSF]

2 variations?? Sheesh. I know it’s probably too close to launch for them to make custom variations rock in ranked and tournament mode but this means they planned to launch with 2 variations which is insane considering we could only use 3 move slots out of around 8 or so moves. So there is no way all the moves will be used
And for a character like scorpion I seriously doubt misery blade is in both so the other is automatically useless unless they really really retooled him. Disappointing.

Also erron black looks great from a design standpoint but gameplay wise looks like a neutered version of himself from MKX

 

[pure.Wasted]

2 variations is fucking awful, it means the VAST MAJORITY of special moves won't be on a preset at launch (and for an unknown period of time after launch).

Just think, what are the chances your favorite special moves are on a preset? And even IF they are, what are the chances that that preset is also competitively viable? A lot of characters need specific specials to have any combo opportunities at all, they might only have 1 variation that allows that (if any) and that variation might just blow.

But the news that they're (very?) open to custom variations for ranked in the future is more than good enough to make up for it.

 

[Circus]

@pure.Wasted @SaltShaker

Is the fact they aren't using all the moves really a bad thing?

Do you think every single one of the variation moves are useful enough that they should have to force a bad move into an okay variation, thus making it a bad variation overall?

Fully kustomizable stuff will always be better because no matter what someone is going to think that they could put together something they could win with more, but I'm personally happy they aren't having a ton of useless variations just for the sake of it.

If they stuffed Molotov Toss or Biomagnectic-Trap into a Kano variation just so they said they did, I'd be more upset than if they just didn't. Again though, if we could make our own this wouldn't be an issue at all.

 

[SaltShaker]

@pure.Wasted @SaltShaker

Is the fact they aren't using all the moves really a bad thing?

Do you think every single one of the variation moves are useful enough that they should have to force a bad move into an okay variation, thus making it a bad variation overall?

Fully kustomizable stuff will always be better because no matter what someone is going to think that they could put together something they could win with more, but I'm personally happy they aren't having a ton of useless variations just for the sake of it.

If they stuffed Molotov Toss or Biomagnectic-Trap into a Kano variation just so they said they did, I'd be more upset than if they just didn't. Again though, if we could make our own this wouldn't be an issue at all.

Is the fact they aren't using all the moves really a bad thing?

Yes, I think it's a terrible, massively dropped ball.

MKX, a game that came out 4 years ago by the same company, had 3 variations. By any measure, going to two variations is a step back. If this was going to be the result they should have

A) Went in with a plan to make Kustoms the default standard
B) Focused on preset the entire time to balance all moves into variations
C) Made whole characters with no variations

One of the main things Inj2 got wrong was the "gear moves" not being balanced properly (intentionally), and being left out of ranked/competitive play. This should have been priority #1 to not do again. Not only have they done it again, they did it in the least PR friendly way imaginable. We even have statements from the company saying "all moves will be included in every variation", "add this to your loadout in a day 1 tournament", and "each character will have at least 2 variations", leading to more false expectations given what we have now.

I'm incredibly, incredibly disappointed in how the whole competitive standard has devolved into what we got. I really can't think of a way this could have been handled any worse than it was.

 

[Rizz091]

Great way to keep the game fresh over time. Kinda like how street fighter added second v triggers to the characters. Sure it'll keep getting better over time.

 

[STORMS]

@HellblazerHawkman if you can, sir... have at it.

 

[LDA_DIgi]

GUYS SERIOUSLY...

YOU CAN STILLLL USE KUSTOM VARIATIONS FOR (Offline/Online casuals...not ranked) TOURNAMENT/KOMPETITIVE PLAY!

JUST DO IT!

YOU DONT NEED NRS' BLESSING TO DO SO.

JUST DO IT!

Before the set starts Player b decides goes into custom.

Sets his abilities for one character. Then Sets his controller settings.

Done.

This should take less than 30 seconds. Both players do it - This should take less than 1 minute.

If anyone thinks that is too long...u are trippin.

You can even hit Triangle to show the opponent what you set your abilities to before the match starts (eventhough i dont personally believe you should have to)

The set begins.

Player a wins a match. It was player b who set a kustom variation earlier. Now before the 2nd match in the set, player b decides if he wants to continue using the kustom variation or counterpick, with a different one (or change character).

What u CANNOT do, is go back to the kustom variation menu since the set started. So if player b decides to pick a different character to counter pick, then you'd have to use the default variations.

This, imo, is the best way to have the best of both worlds in competitive play until NRS sets in the character select kustom variation UI menus.

Oh and lets say player a wanted to set up a kustom variation midset and didnt do so for a character BEFORE the set starts. Thats his loss. You get to set a kustom variation for one character only before the set starts.