GamerBlake90
Blue Blurs for Life!
I've come to consider the term "bandwagon" as somewhat disrespectful, not to mention pointless. Let me explain.
Some simply define "bandwagon" as joining a growing crowd of players catering to a particular character in the game. This is often due to game-breaking discoveries about a character's mechanics that lead so many to believe he or she is top-tier, has a random gimmick that cannot fail, etc. An example of this is when the Smoke community climbed in numbers when his EX Smoke Bomb resets and EX Shake glitch came to light. They call this the "Smoke bandwagon."
Now, some don't mean this as any offense, just a casual remark. But others take this as players losing faith in their own skill and instead migrating over to a bandwagon just to abuse something that they feel will improve their game to the point they are unstoppable.
This is in particular reference to those who feel it is easy to pick up a character and master the "gimmicks" involved, because they see other players using that character and succeeding so well with him/her. For example, some say Johnny Cage is easy to win with because of his f3 frame traps, which are admittedly powerful...but if that was all he needed to win, we'd be seeing only Cage players win every major and/or local.
Well...I know my voice will likely not be heard, but I think you all need to wake up and throw such misconceptions aside.
Jumping on a "bandwagon" only means you are going along with the crowd and learning a character that has gained the spotlight. This does not guarantee you any success with that character. The reasons I say this?
Some characters have some playstyle mechanics that may or may not work for you. Every player is different in their own way. Some characters you just can't click with. When that happens, you move on and find something that does click with you.
It is very remarkable that vVv CD Jr took his Jax and Smoke up to the top and won MLG just a couple of weeks ago. But does this mean you jumping on the Jax and Smoke bandwagons will make you just as successful as CD Jr was? Uh...not if you aren't willing to put your work into the characters you're using, or if you won't take hours of your time learning the match-ups. CD Jr didn't just scrub his way to victory using only the strong points of a character. He had to study much about his options in the game.
We need to do away with the disrespect some players get just for feeling inspired to learn a character, even if the said character doesn't work out for that player. The game is open to all players. Its roster is free-for-all. So let the players explore their options at their leisure. You walk away with something to learn, regardless of the outcome.
In addition, the players need to stop thinking that a strong tactic makes a character broken and thus easy to win with. It doesn't work that way. The roster is so diverse that the capabilities of each character, even the underrated ones, are plentiful, and every factor is vital for their success. Normals, blockstrings, mix-ups, zoning options, meter-building - the list goes on.
As a Sonya player, if I thought her Military Stance mix-ups were all she needed to win, that would be narrow-minded of me. Her negative edge is a pain to contend with. I can't speak for anybody else, but I would like to see you inputting a Kiss by accident when trying to go for a d1 xx Stance string, or doing an Arc Kick when you instead want to cancel either a d4 or 1 1 4 into Military Stance.
Do you know how long I have played with Sonya? Right when the game came out. Even after months, negative edge is always a concern. With practice, you can make it less of an issue, but take it for granted and you will have no hopes of playing Sonya at a maximum level of skill. You will get sloppy with your timing and it will fuck you up in fights where every correct move counts.
So to anyone who is considering jumping on the "Sonya bandwagon," or any other bandwagon for that matter, don't go into that training room thinking it will be easy to master the character. It took me months to get my main character memorized by heart and muscle memory. Don't think you will be any different.
What are your opinions on this bandwagon topic? Do you agree or disagree with it, or are you neutral? Please feel free to add your input.
Some simply define "bandwagon" as joining a growing crowd of players catering to a particular character in the game. This is often due to game-breaking discoveries about a character's mechanics that lead so many to believe he or she is top-tier, has a random gimmick that cannot fail, etc. An example of this is when the Smoke community climbed in numbers when his EX Smoke Bomb resets and EX Shake glitch came to light. They call this the "Smoke bandwagon."
Now, some don't mean this as any offense, just a casual remark. But others take this as players losing faith in their own skill and instead migrating over to a bandwagon just to abuse something that they feel will improve their game to the point they are unstoppable.
This is in particular reference to those who feel it is easy to pick up a character and master the "gimmicks" involved, because they see other players using that character and succeeding so well with him/her. For example, some say Johnny Cage is easy to win with because of his f3 frame traps, which are admittedly powerful...but if that was all he needed to win, we'd be seeing only Cage players win every major and/or local.
Well...I know my voice will likely not be heard, but I think you all need to wake up and throw such misconceptions aside.
Jumping on a "bandwagon" only means you are going along with the crowd and learning a character that has gained the spotlight. This does not guarantee you any success with that character. The reasons I say this?
Some characters have some playstyle mechanics that may or may not work for you. Every player is different in their own way. Some characters you just can't click with. When that happens, you move on and find something that does click with you.
It is very remarkable that vVv CD Jr took his Jax and Smoke up to the top and won MLG just a couple of weeks ago. But does this mean you jumping on the Jax and Smoke bandwagons will make you just as successful as CD Jr was? Uh...not if you aren't willing to put your work into the characters you're using, or if you won't take hours of your time learning the match-ups. CD Jr didn't just scrub his way to victory using only the strong points of a character. He had to study much about his options in the game.
We need to do away with the disrespect some players get just for feeling inspired to learn a character, even if the said character doesn't work out for that player. The game is open to all players. Its roster is free-for-all. So let the players explore their options at their leisure. You walk away with something to learn, regardless of the outcome.
In addition, the players need to stop thinking that a strong tactic makes a character broken and thus easy to win with. It doesn't work that way. The roster is so diverse that the capabilities of each character, even the underrated ones, are plentiful, and every factor is vital for their success. Normals, blockstrings, mix-ups, zoning options, meter-building - the list goes on.
As a Sonya player, if I thought her Military Stance mix-ups were all she needed to win, that would be narrow-minded of me. Her negative edge is a pain to contend with. I can't speak for anybody else, but I would like to see you inputting a Kiss by accident when trying to go for a d1 xx Stance string, or doing an Arc Kick when you instead want to cancel either a d4 or 1 1 4 into Military Stance.
Do you know how long I have played with Sonya? Right when the game came out. Even after months, negative edge is always a concern. With practice, you can make it less of an issue, but take it for granted and you will have no hopes of playing Sonya at a maximum level of skill. You will get sloppy with your timing and it will fuck you up in fights where every correct move counts.
So to anyone who is considering jumping on the "Sonya bandwagon," or any other bandwagon for that matter, don't go into that training room thinking it will be easy to master the character. It took me months to get my main character memorized by heart and muscle memory. Don't think you will be any different.
What are your opinions on this bandwagon topic? Do you agree or disagree with it, or are you neutral? Please feel free to add your input.
