I think a lot of interest in the game hinged on Custom Variations being the standard, and without it the game is bland. Trying out new move combinations and seeing what other people are trying while you hone in on what works for you was what was fun about the beta. With that gone, I don't see Ranked being as popular as previous titles, given how trash most of the tourney variations are.
Also, I think they need to go back to allowing punish Krushing blows to trigger mid combo and not just as a combo starter/first hit. There are a large variety of punish/counter KBs that are not only ill-suited to use as a punish or to fish for counter hits with, but are also outdamaged by doing a normal combo that has no KBs. For example, why would I ever directly punish something with SZ's amplified shoulder charge, when I can instead use a faster string into an iceball combo that does 5-10% more damage? And why would I ever play footsies with shoulder charge in an attempt to get a counter hit, when I can just use b14 into a full combo? This is another change that makes the game more bland by taking away combo options and decision making, ultimately making several KBs not even worth trying to use outside or rare instances.
