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“Unpopular Opinion” feel free to roast me

Now that the dust has settled and everyone had time to have fun and learn the patch....
the game’s teir list (for the most part) has NOT changed and i would go as far to say that the top tiers are more busted than before and thus making game even more frustrating to play at a higher/competitive level.
I would rather drink bleach than fight the even more upgraded upgraded jaqui, cetrion, lui kang, fujin, and some others.
Dont get me wrong though... the game is overall better, and everyone benefited but so did the top tiers that never got adjusted As the should have been, Only a slap on the wrist for jaqui. People are talking about soo many chatacters like kabal, noob, jade, kotal which yes seems to be super strong and what not (which i can agree with) but the gap between them and jaqui and cetrion is still immense.
 

CrimsonShadow

Administrator and Community Engineer
Administrator
Yeah that’s a roast. The following characters are not in the same position they were:
Kano
Kotal
Sub-Zero
Noob
Etc.

I do think that the top characters are still great, but a bunch of other characters have jumped 1-2 tiers and can actually fight them now. And we’ve been seeing lots of different characters placing now at every event. So anyone saying the tiers haven’t changed at all just isn’t very familiar with the roster.
 

Marlow

Premium Supporter
Premium Supporter
I've never felt the top tiers were that much of a problem to begin with.
 
The gaps between tiers are so small people should stop complaining about it. I think this game does have some issues, but it's definitely not top tier vs low tier issue. I can't think of any 3-7 matchup at the moment, especially when everyone has so much potential with custom variations.
 
I personally only play at a slightly above casual level, but I've been keeping a very close eye on just about every event that I can since the patch. I think there are still obviously different tiers (I can't think of any fighting game without them) but I think the disparity between them is the lowest of just about any modern NRS game.

As another poster stated, I can't really think of a single 3-7 matchup. 4-6 or slightly unbalanced 5-5 is about as bad as it gets. With Kustoms we are also allowed to slot in a single move to cover particularly awkward match-ups (whether vs a character or just your opponent's habits) without tossing out the whole ass variation...which is huge.

Top tiers are always going to be top tiers and it's your goal as a player to learn how to fight them. But I think that goal is the easiest reached it's been since MK 11 launched.
 

DixieFlatline78

Everyone Has A Path
The gaps have closed a lot though. This is probably one of the better balanced fighting games right now. Kano, Jade, Kotal, Jax, Kabal, all are in a much better spot now than they ever were before. Even the low tiers are closer to the rest of the cast now.

As for polarizing matchups, there are a few fringe cases. I think Cetrion still blows Baraka out of the water, though I admittedly am really bad in that matchup and usually just pick Raiden instead
 
The gaps have closed a lot though. This is probably one of the better balanced fighting games right now. Kano, Jade, Kotal, Jax, Kabal, all are in a much better spot now than they ever were before. Even the low tiers are closer to the rest of the cast now.

As for polarizing matchups, there are a few fringe cases. I think Cetrion still blows Baraka out of the water, though I admittedly am really bad in that matchup and usually just pick Raiden instead
And that's also a really cool thing about the current balance. There are no 'old school' S tiers that have zero bad matchups and nearly zero way to counter play.

Jacqui ran rampant in the first day of the Pro Komp last weekend but a handful of people were able to competently fight against or straight up counter play her with good ol' Scorpion.

Being able to challenge the top tiers and even counterplay the top tiers (even if it may be a very specific character) is a great sign of a healthily balanced game.
 

Obly

Ambiguous world creator
I mean yeah, a lot of mid-tier characters have gotten stronger. But at the casual and semi-casual levels, there never were any unviable characters anyway; you could always get Ws with anyone if you learned them well. Some just had an easier time than others. Now more characters are having an easier time, but it's not a seismic tier shift. If anything, the real change is that some characters are just more fun than they used to be, which is great--but once folks get used to their new dirt, it's not clear things will have changed much.

And at the top competitive level... I dunno yet. No one can deny that the tippy-top characters benefitted at least as much from customs as the mid tiers. Everyone knows the top players are the first ones to jump ship when a character moves down and jump on the bandwagon when a character moves up, and that doesn't seem to be happening in sizable numbers. We're seeing ripples but it's too soon to call it a tide change.

All to say, we still need a true balance patch. The era of Jacqui continues on. Shao Kahn and Robocop still live in their parents' basement. It's been like this for a long while. There's definitely more balancing NRS can and should do.
 

DixieFlatline78

Everyone Has A Path
Whenever I'm playing Deoxys in Top 8 at a major I'll be sure to grind out a pocket Liu Kang but I think Raiden/Baraka/Shao Kahn are fine for locals
 

Syzoth

The last Saurian from Zaterra - Syzoth - Reptile
Idk about no 7-3s. There are still some hard counters. Baraka vs dedicated zoner for instance is pretty landslidey. But. I bet after the next balance patch so long as nothing gets overbuffed. We're going to see an even greater competitive variety.