What Happened, NRS?!

[_call_of_the_void]

I like this game, though I do agree the single player experience is lacking compared to prior games. Balance seems to be headed in the right direction, and everything doesn't feel watered down and boring like mk11.

I do not understand the rose colored goggles over mk9. That was the most imbalances nrs game I think I have played. Do people forget some characters like Kano and Jade were in the dumpster and borderline unusable? Do they forget kenshi has 8-2 or even 9-1 matchups because of how broken he was? Or how Kabal could abuse flash parry and make over half of the roster obsolete? A lot of things in that game were not fun when people knew how to exploit it.

 

[Juggs]

So I’m gonna say it…
At THIS point this game is not very good. For the first time I feel ripped off by a MK/NRS game as far as what we were given.
Every other MK and IJ game I’ve been able to play for a long while and not get bored.

I don’t know if they were pushed to release this too early, or if it’s a marketing thing to slow trickle everything and charge along the way, or what but this game is SEVERELY lacking.
Yes the mechanics are good, which is core, but even with that.. 23 characters? Correct me if I’m wrong but that’s the least we’ve started with since MK9, AND you had two fully developed characters that you sidelined (Quan chi and Ermac) to later sell as DLC instead. We barely started with any skins, palette varieties, and almost know character gear variation because again presumably we will have to pay for them in the future. They slow trickle the DLC which normally would be ok but its somewhat frustrating given the lack of content to begin with. Invasions is fun for about 3-4 days until everything is unlocked (sure it’ll be the same for season 2). You’re not even releasing costume packs with the DLC like in the past. Hell, even as far as Kombat Kasts we had what, 3 leading up to launch?? 1 being on the music behind the game?!
Either NRS has been handcuffed by WB which is and will ruin this franchise, NRS has gotten EXTREMELY greedy and cares more about money than fandom and delivering a good product (don’t even want to mention the $10 pumpkin fatality here…) or they as a company were set WAY back because of Covid.
Either way, I can’t help but feel somewhat disappointed in this game thus far. Hopefully, by the end of everything, this game will be everything I wanted it to be (tons of characters and variety, mini games, hidden lore and content, replayability, etc) but who knows how long (years?!) and how much money that will cost in the end.
Rant over.

As far as the gameplay is concerned, this is by far the best NRS game starting out. Like, it’s better starting out than some of the games were by their last patch.

But there’s clearly a ton of QoL issues. There’s a lot of SP stuff that can make the game so much better even as a competitive player. The customization mechanic itself is a good mechanic, but the options are horrendous. Idk how you can go from MK11’s customization options, which weren’t amazing but there at least were a bunch of different options especially compared to what we have in MK1. Little stuff like this, believe it or not, has a huge impact on the overall atmosphere, fun & quality of the game. Same with SP modes where you can unlock gear for said customization mode. When these modes are lackluster and have limited options, it gives off a feeling of incompleteness. Which a big reason so many have been critical of the incompleteness other than the obvious is because they had more than enough time to NOT have issues like this. They had more time developing this game than they’ve had with I believe any other NRS game. There’s really no good excuse for why the game feels unfinished, why the ending of the story mode feels rushed, why a lot of modes are barebones, etc etc.

Thankfully they’ve been adding stuff in the patches, but these things should’ve already been in the game. Also, does anyone know where you can see the # of sales for this game as well as for previous NRS games? I’m wondering if MK1 didn’t sale as well and is why they’re doing expensive microtransactions this time around that AREN’T going towards any prize pools or anything like they did for I believe MKX.

Other than all of that, the other issue I have is the balancing decisions so far. Or rather, seemingly the philosophy. But that’s another discussion for another topic and one I’ve talked about ad nauseam.

 

[Bulletz4Breakfast]

My biggest issue with this game is the following and its like 1 step forward 3 steps back imo.

1. QOL issues
2. No way to invite my friend which i play all NRS games to a king of the hill match thats not private
3. servers are weird. I can play MK11 with my friend on PC lives next building over Ping in game is 30-40. In MK Uno we play and pings can be good and at times 300+ for no reason. Its like the game connects you to any server and doesn't look at local servers as a priority.
4. Pumpkin fatality
5. PC version dropping frames for no reason on a POWERFUL gaming PC
6. Cross play not even out yet

Game play wise i like the game. but i feel this game is just missing so much stuff and I legit want to play it but i find myself annoyed. Gameplay better then 11 no doubt and reminds me more of 9 but it feels like a beta right now and i am tight at spending 100+ for early access beta.

EDIT there are other issues also i feel.
I feel this game needed more time in development and it had to be released by 4th quarter because of a stock meeting earlier this year talking about the game coming out.

The whole ping issue I hear is being fixed. Ed Boon asked the community what they want first to come. They are working on a patch.
1. They are having server problems, I guess this game is coded in servers and a server problem causes glitches like the player 1 advantage they fixed at least Paulo said that and EX Clone glitch on Sub Zero character is also a server glitch. Have no clue how but that's what they said.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1720537768068039146

So 1 or all of these features are coming next patch and the others to follow:
Crossplay, Ping Filter, WiFi Filter KL, Ranked to FT2 instead of FT3.

They are working on the single player and also hear they are changing the Invasions Mode to make it more fun. I hope they expand it x3 and make it free movement like the Krypt or at least remove the constant Ambush/"Secret Fights" and throw in a bunch of Boss battles and MK Knowledge Riddles/Puzzles to unlock secret zones.
I know currently there are hints on locked areas I haven't got in even though I've gone through every Mesa.

My biggest issue with single player is constantly being disconnected from servers.

 

[Immortal]

The whole ping issue I hear is being fixed. Ed Boon asked the community what they want first to come. They are working on a patch.

That pool makes no sense, they already know when they gonna do what and in what order. Also Crossplay req a TON more of work than for example wifi/ping filter which they could add in few days work if they really wanted.

Imo ranked play should'nt be switched back to 2/3, 3/5 is just fine with latency/wifi filter.

 

[Eddy Wang]

44H, it's the amount of time i've put into this game.
The sad part is that i don't feel the need to boot this game up and play it, it's weird, i feel like i definitely wasted 110 dollars away purchasing this game, there is so much lacking.
The way the game handles the inputs are very bad
The online is bad
The training mode lacks key features it used to have

While the gameplay it's good, there are definitely things i'm not the fan off, like they way character jumps, how janky some hitboxes are hitting

My tekken CBT experience which was 3 days, led me to over 60H of play for 3 days

 

[CrimsonShadow]

That pool makes no sense, they already know when they gonna do what and in what order. Also Crossplay req a TON more of work than for example wifi/ping filter which they could add in few days work if they really wanted.

Imo ranked play should'nt be switched back to 2/3, 3/5 is just fine with latency/wifi filter.

I agree about 3/5.

Not sure about the other part. Slapping a feature in in a week is just not how these things usually go, unless you want to create more issues than you fix. I think it's fair to ask if something like that takes a month to develop, test/QA, if people mind crossplay being set back by another month, or if they'd rather have it ASAP.

Reaching out to the community first is just good policy. If everybody says "rather have the WIFI filter" then maybe the decision is that if crossplay takes an extra month, it's ok, etc.

 

[Arqwart]

This may be a little random, but I am playing the game now, and I noticed that one of the other little things really missing in this game is the character dialogue at the start of the game. You only see these if you are online or playing 2 player. You literally see none ever if you are in single player mode.

It may sound silly, but these are characters we have known for such a long time that it makes the game feel a lot less personal if you are not seeing those interactions. Again, this is a little fan service that I mentioned before that is missing. Having a little bit of interaction is important as it gives a little distraction and personality to the game while you are grinding something like invasions or towers. At the moment, it is just the same few fight intros over and over again. Perhaps this could have been a toggle?

This is a big one for me. The pendulum swing from MK11's sense of character to MK1's is pretty staggering. I have a blast playing MK1, but it also feels so... mechanical? Hollow? I've nothing to do except lab or play online, neither of which modes result in either character saying a single word. There's only 1-2 strings or specials per character that trigger mid-round voice lines (and Kitana's is her mostly useless Square Wave on hit). Characters barely talk, if at all, in their round win animations. Intros only play in casual or offline local.

People can hate on MK11 all they want, but that game was the ultimate love letter to the entire franchise history of Mortal Kombat. In contrast, MK1 is.. here. I guess. ‍

 

[Immortal]

I agree about 3/5.

Not sure about the other part. Slapping a feature in in a week is just not how these things usually go, unless you want to create more issues than you fix. I think it's fair to ask if something like that takes a month to develop, test/QA, if people mind crossplay being set back by another month, or if they'd rather have it ASAP.

Reaching out to the community first is just good policy. If everybody says "rather have the WIFI filter" then maybe the decision is that if crossplay takes an extra month, it's ok, etc.

Since i work in the same industry and im doing the same thing it's hard for me to agree with your assesment. There are many things which really req weeks, months even more time to develop, test and deploy but adding wifi/latency filter is not one of it for sure. Crossplay is but not the other 3.

Also i just think Boon is just doing PR with the pool, the real decisions about these things were already made, at least that's pretty much the industry standard and i doubt NRS is different in that matter not to mention WB.

There is no such a thing(in reality of this bussines) as "reaching out to community first". Not in my experience. Unless it alligns with making (more)money.

 

[Shania Twain]

you guys can say it's fun all you want. but it's getting stale very fast.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

Since i work in the same industry and im doing the same thing it's hard for me to agree with your assesment. There are many things which really req weeks, months even more time to develop, test and deploy but adding wifi/latency filter is not one of it for sure. Crossplay is but not the other 3.

Also i just think Boon is just doing PR with the pool, the real decisions about these things were already made, at least that's pretty much the industry standard and i doubt NRS is different in that matter not to mention WB.

There is no such a thing(in reality of this bussines) as "reaching out to community first". Not in my experience. Unless it alligns with making (more)money.

Yeah how many times does Ed Boon need to lie directly to your face for it to not become obvious? “Oh yeah guys the MKX PC version is gonna launch great”

“oh here’s some surface level “interaction “ after being dead silent leading up the games release and barely acknowledging how stripped down this shit is.”

“yes please Ed please give us an acceptable game one piece at a time, I’m so glad to buy your shitty skins and fund your finishing of the game”

Actions speak louder than words, they don’t care what about our preferences, they will doll out shit one at a time that the game should’ve launched with and people will lap it up. What they actually think of us is that we’re addicted goblins whose dopamine receptors are so fried that we’d spend $10 on a stupid fatality or Scorpion skin. And people are proving them right.

 

[CrimsonShadow]

Since i work in the same industry and im doing the same thing it's hard for me to agree with your assesment. There are many things which really req weeks, months even more time to develop, test and deploy but adding wifi/latency filter is not one of it for sure. Crossplay is but not the other 3.

It can take more than a week just to QA something that requires changes to the matchmaking system. Expecting it to happen overnight is just not realistic.

 

[Juggs]

The whole ping issue I hear is being fixed. Ed Boon asked the community what they want first to come. They are working on a patch.
1. They are having server problems, I guess this game is coded in servers and a server problem causes glitches like the player 1 advantage they fixed at least Paulo said that and EX Clone glitch on Sub Zero character is also a server glitch. Have no clue how but that's what they said.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1720537768068039146

So 1 or all of these features are coming next patch and the others to follow:
Crossplay, Ping Filter, WiFi Filter KL, Ranked to FT2 instead of FT3.

They are working on the single player and also hear they are changing the Invasions Mode to make it more fun. I hope they expand it x3 and make it free movement like the Krypt or at least remove the constant Ambush/"Secret Fights" and throw in a bunch of Boss battles and MK Knowledge Riddles/Puzzles to unlock secret zones.
I know currently there are hints on locked areas I haven't got in even though I've gone through every Mesa.

My biggest issue with single player is constantly being disconnected from servers.

They really need to change the ranking system to be based on the characters like a lot of modern fighting games. Right now, you have to make a new account if you wanna go through KL with a new character. Wouldn’t have to do that if the rankings were character based. It’d also make KL waaaaaay more fun

 

[Juggs]

It can take more than a week just to QA something that requires changes to the matchmaking system. Expecting it to happen overnight is just not realistic.

He didn’t say overnight though. He said that adding the wifi & ping filters could be done in a few days if they really wanted to.

 

[CrimsonShadow]

He didn’t say overnight though. He said that adding the wifi & ping filters could be done in a few days if they really wanted to.

That's what I'm talking about. The QA part of anything that requires adjustments to matchmaking can take longer than a few days by itself. Adding to that everything else that has to be done, you're not going to see this happen in a few days.

 

[Immortal]

That's what I'm talking about. The QA part of anything that requires adjustments to matchmaking can take longer than a few days by itself. Adding to that everything else that has to be done, you're not going to see this happen in a few days.

You will if you want to. While matchmaking is a pretty complicated topic as a whole from programming perspective, minor things like wifi filter or latency filter can be added and tested within days. We have done a lot harder things in several days with QA. Especially if you have several programmers and QA people working on it.

I work in a game studio even bigger than NRS, you would be amazed how much you can do in few days time when several people are put at the task. And while things like crossplay req a lot of work and QA, back and forth for months, some simple things can be done very quickly but again i want to really emphasise -> if we really wanted to.

Maybe NRS is special and it doesn't work like that for them - i can't speak to that but i sure can about what's doable and what's not in game making.

 

[chud_munson]

That's what I'm talking about. The QA part of anything that requires adjustments to matchmaking can take longer than a few days by itself. Adding to that everything else that has to be done, you're not going to see this happen in a few days.

+1 Lots of times in software, the actual change takes a trivial amount of time, but finding out the effects of that change or deciding whether the change is a good idea can take weeks.

 

[Shania Twain]

That's what I'm talking about. The QA part of anything that requires adjustments to matchmaking can take longer than a few days by itself. Adding to that everything else that has to be done, you're not going to see this happen in a few days.

Disagree here. This stuff has impacted two months of sales, misleading pre-orders. The entire game was leaked on reddit a year ago. They advertised everything. Several glitches were not repaired for nearly a month. The outfits are 90 percent just recolors. Even the ONE gear piece each character has. Invasion mode is okay for like a minute but not worth it. 23 characters. One you have to either pay for or had pre-order or now buy and the other you have to play the story. Many of the talent did all of their work years ago. This game is going to hell in a handbasket FAST. and the story mode....my goodness. the pandering is getting old. If a character is going to be gay, lesbian, trans. straight, naughty, then GO THERE. and the Superman, I mean Supergirl, I mean Omni-man trailer. give me a break.

 

[Shania Twain]

+1 Lots of times in software, the actual change takes a trivial amount of time, but finding out the effects of that change or deciding whether the change is a good idea can take weeks.

ummm...they had the Next gen tech in 2018. All games for the PS4 had to be made to be playable on it. Boon himself and the company had their hands on it. Steam/PC and the switch have been out longer and the game is on that. The backgrounds are gorgeous but man....

 

[CrimsonShadow]

Disagree here. This stuff has impacted two months of sales, misleading pre-orders. The entire game was leaked on reddit a year ago. They advertised everything. Several glitches were not repaired for nearly a month. The outfits are 90 percent just recolors. Even the ONE gear piece each character has. Invasion mode is okay for like a minute but not worth it. 23 characters. One you have to either pay for or had pre-order or now buy and the other you have to play the story. Many of the talent did all of their work years ago. This game is going to hell in a handbasket FAST. and the story mode....my goodness. the pandering is getting old. If a character is going to be gay, lesbian, trans. straight, naughty, then GO THERE. and the Superman, I mean Supergirl, I mean Omni-man trailer. give me a break.

Not speaking about skins, story mode, etc.

Just the basic understanding that even a 'small' change can have knock-on effects, and that for a design team to figure out how to go about it (or test a couple different ways, for example declining vs. a complete filter where you never see matches), and then for others to test and make adjustments to account for unintended consequences, and then certify a patch, can take a few weeks.

People will complain if changes are rushed and it ruins something else. Take the time to get it right.

 

[trufenix]

Whoever axed the dialogue before fights needs to just be fired, the entire user experience is a step back from x and 11.

WB knows what they've done, and they're absolutely fine with it. They did it to Hogwarts, they did it to Gotham knights.

I'm sure the numbers are just fine.

 

[Gito666]

What does everyone have against 3/5 in KL? I think that's the perfect length, with enough time to really figure out your opponent. The only time it frustrates me is when I get stuck playing some McDonalds wifi warrior with a 200 ping for 3-5 matches

Edit: and funnily enough, it's usually those same players who spout the most toxic shit after you kick their ass...

 

[MateoFoShizzle]

Whoever axed the dialogue before fights needs to just be fired, the entire user experience is a step back from x and 11.

WB knows what they've done, and they're absolutely fine with it. They did it to Hogwarts, they did it to Gotham knights.

I'm sure the numbers are just fine.

Actually now that you mention it, Gotham knights had that same empty, incomplete feeling when playing after the Arkham series. Guess this may be WB’s M.O..

 

[chud_munson]

I've been thinking about this game a lot the last couple days. I got the whole weekend to do whatever I want because my wife's out of town, so the plan was do the requisite responsible shit (work out, clean the house, run some errands), and then just 4 straight days of fancy beer and MK.

The first night I grabbed some bangin poke from the market, cracked open a Rochefort 10, and played MK for like 3 hours. And then, the next day I downloaded the SF6 demo and got back into Halo Infinite and that's what I've been doing since. It's really wild and very difficult to describe the whiplash I'm experiencing from being obsessed with MK1 to being powerful bored. I really do think it's just the lack of content and feeling like I'm not making progress toward something.

For me, with MK11 and Injustice 2, there was this really addictive loop of "do a few matches online, take a break to go grind out some cosmetic goofy stuff, tool around with all the gear, play dress up, go back online, etc." That loop is just broken here; all there is to do is go online and play matches. That's cool and gratifying for a while, but I need something to break that up, or some way to make online more interesting than "maybe get closer to getting a new sword for a character I don't play".

IMO, what they need to do to inject some life into this game:

1. Fucking pay pro players so they give a shit. It's so insulting that a company as big as WB can't shell out for some respectable prize pools, and those pro players in many ways really set the tone for the community. It's not just deo and ninja one-off saying "I'm kinda bored", the downer energy is everywhere and the buzz is dying so fast it's crazy. Pretty much every notable player has levied a serious criticism in the past two weeks, whether it's a patch that takes creativity in the wrong direction, the hilariously pitiful payouts for competitive play, the lack of any meaningful goals to work toward in-game, the microtransactions, etc.
2. Make online more compelling and fun somehow. The lack of character intros, the impersonal KL queue up where I just stare at a screen until some rando's banner pops up, the fact that each character has only one intro and outro, something about the whole online experience feels very isolating, empty, and lifeless.
3. Go completely the other direction with broken ass shit with kameos. I'm fully on team Sonic with this where I want this game to be broken and crazy as fuck, where every character and kameo has an incredible amount of dirt. I realize that comes with its own risks and drawbacks, but when the rest of the game is so limiting, I want the actual gameplay to be as fun and limitless as possible.
4. I know this is going to come across like a skill issue, but I am convinced something's up with the inputs in this game. Maybe like there's some weird buffering bug somewhere or something, but the level of precision I have to have to get the direction+button move I want to come out, or the fact that if I want to do a FB or kombo breaker I need to mash relentlessly, it's extremely frustrating. I really do think it's something about this game, because I'm not having this problem with SF6, and I didn't have this problem with MK11.
5. They need to add mountains of content extremely quickly and hand out a cosmetic like every time you do anything, whether it's an Invasions space, a tower, playing a few matches for the day online, etc. Blast the doors off of whatever approval workflows WB has internally for cosmetics and start pumping shit out. Having one gear piece per character is an extremely risky philosophy that did not play out well at all because they didn't couple that with an amazing amount of skins and instances of that gear.
6. Completely retool Invasions. This was obviously meant to be the centerpiece of the single player experience, but they shanked this so wide left with the actual implementation in season 1. I love the concept of the different elemental attributes, the different talismans, the idea of the map, character progression, but they somehow fumbled on every aspect. It's trivially easy by the end of the season, so it makes all of those RPG elements irrelevant for the most part. You very rarely unlock actual content. So why play this mode when what I'm unlocking is coins to use on the mode to make it even easier?

I dunno man, I can't really think of another game where vibes went from resplendent to putrid so quickly. The only one that comes to mind is Halo Infinite, and that's a great example of a game that is now experiencing a bit of a renaissance because of how much content they added. Turns out for all but the most competitive players, you need to give people stuff to do and earn in your game.

 

[Bulletz4Breakfast]

What does everyone have against 3/5 in KL? I think that's the perfect length, with enough time to really figure out your opponent. The only time it frustrates me is when I get stuck playing some McDonalds wifi warrior with a 200 ping for 3-5 matches

Edit: and funnily enough, it's usually those same players who spout the most toxic shit after you kick their ass...

Some pros where complaining on X about 3/5 instead of 2/5 and several YouTubers who have large reach said it feels like a century.
I thinks that's the same reason NRS decided to gut cutscenes to make things take less time. But I don't agree with that, I feel they could just add a skip button and include it for those who want to hear it. Especially offline in single player.

I have Wi-Fi but not by choice. It's my family lives on same property and my house has 3ft of concrete walls and our internet provider refused to run Ethernet through wall.
What they did do is used a low latency Powerline adapter that can do under 30ms with hardwired in modem house, and hardwired in second house directly to PS5. It runs on a low latency frequency and transfers 5G.
I completely understand how people are frustrated with Wi-Fi players.
But what I suggest is they add a Ping Filter and a quick FX test where it runs through high graphics load for 10 seconds before connecting to see if latency goes above 120ms and if it's above that you have the option to decline.
It's incredibly simple but I feel effective. That way the large majority of playerbase can still play if they don't have access to hardwired and server matchmaking isn't crap.

You have any ideas to keep matchmaking numbers up but also allow KL protection from 200ms connections?

 

[ismael4790]

I never saw such a fast decline in people's interest over an NRS game like the one MK1 is clearly having. This affects both casuals and "pros". Game hasn't even been out for two months yet, and I see many, many people not happy with the game overall, playing it less and even dropping it (like I'm probably about to do soon).

Nrs clearly fucked up this time in many areas. In my opinion they need to take a break from the traditional fg formula and try other things with the mk universe, like an adventure game. They are getting burnout, and maybe we are too.