don’t think I’d say the move was gutted
I wouldn't say it was completely gutted it does still have the moves available to use but forward Chopper won't be used in competitive play and if it is it will be very situational.
You lose full Kameo, have 24 seconds of Regen delay, you lose ability to forward throw, ability to meat shield, lose ability to breaker and ability to use any of Cyrax's other assists for 1/3 the match.
I don't see any reason to use it when meter is this important and with the new Flawless Block they won't be building meter fast at all.
The meter building was insane – with some super moves combination some characters had way much more meter. We all remember what Millena was doing in MKX etc. By the time you manage to get to your opponent, he’d be already pissing on your offense having full stick.
Cyrax wasn't needed to address meter build. The very same patch addressed meter build with the upgraded flawless block completely holding meter buildup for the entire blockstring/frame trap sequence. So if they frame traped 3 strings with two forward Choppers in between and you flawless blocked the begining they have no meter, no chip. That's a very good change IMO
Why did they do multiple Nerfs to achieve the same thing?
The solution to lower-mid tiers shouldn’t be an assist. If you look at the TOPs, you will realize that they can be played without assists – kameos are addition. I hope, and believe, that NRS will buff low-mid tier with time. This is the only path that for me makes sense. Going after Kameos, not characters.
I agree the mid to bottom of roster needs minor buffs every 2months, I'm talking slight buffs not 20+ buffs and see where it goes at tourneys and game data. Then stop when they have better matchups in high level play vs S Tiers.
But I don't think anyone should trust NRS to do that in MK1. They have always done drastic changes up and down. They nerf 5 S-A+ Tiers leave 3-4 that become S and then over buff bottom and leave half the cast to rot. I'm talking MK9, MKX, MK11. I was around in every one and my characters got nerfed hard every time.
Now here the assessment will depend on the analysis. I could agree here with you but if you sit for a while and think about all the damage in certain scenarios (think of different ones on both sides) I can see reason to it. The best answer I see for this is to prevent matches from ending often (as quickly) with assist juggles. This change may allow the rounds to finish in diverse endings (like footsies, block string, throws etc). IMO too juggles ending in mid 48%-50-ish% damage with two assists at some point will be boring to watch, and will shrink the depth by maintaining strong focus on this tactics solely. But as I said, this is a thin ice, and really difficult to be certain here.
I think the high % is hype after they scale damage and the FGC pulls out unknown high damage in tournaments.
But I feel having only 5-8 characters be S Tier through the first year will make it stale. Who wants to watch Raiden, Johnny, Baraka, Kenshi, Ashrah every tournament. Then after nerf whoever replaced them.
Imagine Reptile, Nitara, and Sub becoming A+ and showing up in every tournament, that's Hype when a Reptile who is A+ beats a Godlike S Tier that's dominated every tournament. Buffs
NRS did terrible job in balancing characters in the past early in the game. As I said, fixing the problem with low-mid tier IMO shouldnt be via kameos. Not that I don’t like the idea, I do, but it is not valid anymore when you have TOP’s that don’t need Kameos to be where they are. Either all characters fall in to a spot where the assist is the answer to overcome certain discrepancies or we go with the idea that assist remains only an add-on.
I completely agree other than Assists being an add-on.
They are the main feature advertised and literally the only thing holding a good chunk of the roster above bottom tier.
Rain was bottom 5 according to Sonic until Rain/Cyrax. After nerf he claims mid tier at best.
I have zero faith in NRS when it comes to balance patches early on. It's after 6+ months that I think they may have a chance. Only reason I have faith is because of the several high level top players they have working for them that have a deep understanding of previous MK/Injustice games, what's broke, what's not, what makes a character great/lackluster. ForeverKing works for them and can't compete in majors of MK1 and I know he's dedicated to saying what's true about each character. He has no agenda since he isn't competing.
He is of the same mind as Dragon, Rewind and Sonic which is don't nerf every character that seems strong, slightly tone them down and then do minor buffs to the mid and lower.
How can this be true?
