4/24/19 Emergency Kombat Kast Recap

With concerns popping up with various issues surrounding the initial launch of Mortal Kombat 11, this emergency Kombat Kast was called to address concerns. Items on the docket were fixes related to difficulty of Towers of Time, reward progression, and more.



Derek is back this week, 16 Bit is gone. So first thing they discussed this week was the difficulty of the Towers of Time. Very openly saying that they were "tuned to be too hard", the first initial fix they rolled out (in a hotfix that has already gone out) was reducing opponent health to be more in line with the usual game, with bosses maxing out at 1500. On top of that, the modifiers (like the homing missiles) now happen less often. For the future, with a proper patch, they will adjust the drop rate for rewards on top of some other fixes, like making the unblockable modifiers blockable. The patch with those changes are planned to come end of this week, beginning of next at the latest. The goal with everything is to give a broader spectrum of challenges, as opposed to just making everything easy.

Next up, they went over some details on the Krypt. So the Krypts are randomized for each player, with everyone getting the same 600 chests but in different locations. Certain special chests are static for everyone. So what you will get isn't random, but when you get it is.

Going out to everyone in part of the updates, everyone will get 500,000 coins, 500 hearts, 1000 souls, and 1000 time crystals. No immediate timeline as to when, but that's something to look forward to.

That's it for today. No talk about character changes/fixes, but that'll be coming later down the road. So yeah, go back to playing the game! Or work! Or whatever you were doing with your time right now!

 

What really bothered me about their response was how they kept saying that this was in no way intentional when it clearly was, other wise they would have kept it as it was in MKX. There is clearly no value to the player in setting up the krypt, currency and random placement in chests.

Yes there is. If casual gamers knew exactly where to unlock the skins, intros, and outros they wanted, they would get them quickly and have no reason to return to MK11. Which is exactly what happened to MKX, and MK9 before that, and every other MK title before that. The grind keeps casuals coming back. Static Krypt chests completely undercut the grind. And it's in everyone's best interest that the casual community stays robust for as long as possible. (Which ironically and unfortunately, NRS may have done long term damage to by making the Towers so unwelcoming on launch.)

 

Man why can’t fighting games just be fighting games, why do we need all this currency and towers and shit, I just want a good FIGHTING GAME that is fun to play with good mechanics and roster, damn.

 

Man why can’t fighting games just be fighting games, why do we need all this currency and towers and shit, I just want a good FIGHTING GAME with good mechanics and roster, damn.

If all you want is a good FIGHTING GAME with good mechanics and roster, then enjoy MK11 kasual/ranked/tournament, it's a fantastic FIGHTING GAME with good mechanics and roster. None of this tower business should have any impact on you.

 

Feeling pretty good about the Krypt now that I know everyone has the same 600 boxes but, how the fuck does Kronika's chest reset work?

 

If all you want is a good FIGHTING GAME with good mechanics and roster, then enjoy MK11 kasual/ranked/tournament, it's a fantastic FIGHTING GAME with good mechanics and roster. None of this tower business should have any impact on you.

Maybe they should spend more time on the mechanics and gameplay rather then the towers and crap, but never the less I still like skins and getting skins in this game is cancerous.

 

Maybe they should spend more time on the mechanics and gameplay rather then the towers and crap, but never the less I still like skins and getting skins in this game is cancerous.

I thought you just said that all you cared about is the fighting.

Now you care about the skins too?

Well then you shouldn't have any questions about why they make "towers and crap," it's so that people who like skins will keep playing MK11 to unlock the skins.

 

I think I read where it would cost somewhere along the lines of $6,000 to unlock everything from the krypt. Might have been reddit.

 

I thought you just said that all you cared about is the fighting.

Now you care about the skins too?

Well then you shouldn't have any questions about why they make "towers and crap," it's so that people who like skins will keep playing MK11 to unlock the skins.

Skins are cool as long as they are done right, and this game forces you to play the unbalanced towers and the random krypt, it’s bad.

 

NRS: Reduce the Krypt costs or increase the currency reward by NO LESS THAN 10x or don't try to tell us you want to do right by your players. That is all.

 

I'm so glad they are addressing this and are openly talking about it, assuring us that they're listening and are going to make changes for the better. I do see a lot of sceptics around here, and that's alright, but try and stay open-minded and be patient. There's no reason to be doomsayers, calling NRS for liars and deceivers. Let's wait and see what patches they will send out and what changes they'll bring first. ^^

Be constructive, be eloquent, be respectful, be patient, and address the issues at the right channels. And they will listen.

 

I'm glad they're addressing it, I'm sad that no matter what they do short of just unlocking the krypt for everyone people are going to be upset with them. They've designed an absolutely amazing fighting game but the single player aspect of it has issues.

Skins are cool as long as they are done right, and this game forces you to play the unbalanced towers and the random krypt, it’s bad.

Do you realize how little difference there is between the skins? I can't really force myself to get mad that I don't have the teal Jax skin, just the Cerulean one.

 

The game looks stunning and feels awesome to play. I'm not gonna make my experience worse by getting mad for not having every single skin for my main characters.
The only thing I wanted badly was non-revenant Jade of any kind. Her tutorial unlocked that for me. Everything else will come over time, because I feel no need to have everything unlocked a week into the game. I intend on playing MK11 for as long as it remains alive, and the cosmetics will come over time.

 

I spent about 4 hours in the Krypt today, and enjoyed it quite a bit. I really like what they did there. Even the different currencies are fine.

The only thing I actively dislike is the rate at which you earn the currencies. Especially the green and red. Rewards are wayyyyyy too low, for the amount you need to spend.

The other thing is the random chest placement. I just don’t see why that was necessary. If they’re all the same chests, why not put them in the same place for everyone? Because people would just go grab what they want and never return? Well in that case, give them incentive. Bonuses for clearing each area, and something special for clearing everything.

 

If all you want is a good FIGHTING GAME with good mechanics and roster, then enjoy MK11 kasual/ranked/tournament, it's a fantastic FIGHTING GAME with good mechanics and roster. None of this tower business should have any impact on you.

It has, because the game was marketed 100% about the customization, with assurances that "everything could be unlocked by playing the game however you want" and "no loot boxes whatsoever". If someone bought the game on that and finds out they've been outright lied to, it impacts their enjoiement of the game. To pay 60 or more dollars for a fighting game and be told "yeah, enjoy the mechanics, the rest of the game is locked unless you grind for days and days and hope for a good roll" is not acceptable.

I'm an MK fan as everyone else here but we can't continue to justify this stuff.

 

Ok I've seen the kast now. First up its laughable that this "slipped them by" or however they worded it. I love the work NRS do but don't treat us like fools or PR us. If they genuinely regretted the situation Ed would have been there, they would pledge to take out most microtransactions in time and not just give us tweaks and a token gesture.

On another note I'm confused about what they said about the Krypt. So if theres 600 boxes whats to stop me only opening the cheapest boxes and then keep resetting until ive cycled through all 600? Should we ignore all expensive chests?

Anyways I'm sorry I know this is not the guys on the streams fault in terms of what they were told to say but these are not the actions of a company which is sorry. It's a company that was caught out trying to milk its customers/fans for everything they are worth. The core game is amazing, we all love the MK franchise for what it is/was but this is NOT OK. A small gesture and playing up ignorance isn't going to cut it when the fundamental systems in place are exploitative.

I'm sorry this is so harsh but so to is what NRS and WB tried to pull on us. Hopefully this game will get where it needs to be but it will only happen if fans stand up for themselves and not settle for PR and a token gesture.

In the words of gentleman and philosopher Shao Kahn "Make Mortal Kombat great again!".

 

It has, because the game was marketed 100% about the customization, with assurances that "everything could be unlocked by playing the game however you want" and "no loot boxes whatsoever". If someone bought the game on that and finds out they've been outright lied to, it impacts their enjoiement of the game. To pay 60 or more dollars for a fighting game and be told "yeah, enjoy the mechanics, the rest of the game is locked unless you grind for days and days and hope for a good roll" is not acceptable.

I'm an MK fan as everyone else here but we can't continue to justify this stuff.

When did NRS ever say "everything could be unlocked by playing the game however you want"? Emphasis mine. I don't remember them ever saying anything like that. Sounds to me like you heard what you wanted to hear and are blaming NRS for not living up to a promise they didn't make.

"NRS did something bad" is not an excuse to lie about what they did wrong. Be accurate in your criticisms.

If you want to say "tower rewards are too low," then just say that.

 

NRS needs to understand that even if their intentions weren't pure EVIL and malicious (although slightly scummy I gotta admit), and I sincerely belive they aren't EVIL, the public perception is what counts. If loud voices on the internet believe there's some con in play to drive players to fatigue to have them hand over their cash to unlock things fast then that's the problem they have to deal with. The fact that the things you can unlock through MTX is RNG and on a timer in the Premium Store kind of alludes to this too, to incentivize players who happen upon a skin or something they really want to make an emotional decision to buy currency to unlock it before the timer runs out. Scummy as fuck.

Basically admitting incompetence and saying sorry it slipped past us doesn't excuse them from making this system. This could have easily been uncovered by having a beta-test or external QA/playtesting of their single-player systems, doesn't take game dev genious to see that it was inherently flawed, but when they're in their bubble in crunch time it might not be as easy to see it. They've been playing on dev-builds all along, with probably everything unlocked for them, and never really had the "fresh start" experience where the problem is so easy to see.

This was long and incoherent. Trying to balance family life having a newborn girl (4 weeks old today!) with MK release takes its toll on my sleep.

TLDR: This will eventually be ok, although with a bitter aftertaste for us consumers, and I hope they have learned their lesson for the next game. Don't put yourself in situations where people can suspect you of being greedy dickheads, because they will, and the internet bandwagon is powerful.

 

I want to know when the Switch port is getting de-fucked lol. And also, if we will get these apology bonuses at the same time as the other consoles.

 

When did NRS ever say "everything could be unlocked by playing the game however you want"? Emphasis mine. I don't remember them ever saying anything like that. Sounds to me like you heard what you wanted to hear and are blaming NRS for not living up to a promise they didn't make.

"NRS did something bad" is not an excuse to lie about what they did wrong. Be accurate in your criticisms.

If you want to say "tower rewards are too low," then just say that.

First post reveal interview I found: https://www.gamecrate.com/mortal-kombat-11-developer-interview-towers-of-time-how-gear-works-secret-characters/21980

"And we're always trying to add more progression to things, where you always feel like you're doing stuff and you're moving along. You're always evolving and getting more stuff, and that will encourage people to try other modes.". LIE.

"For the in-game currency it will be straight stuff you earn in-game and then spend in game, there will be no actual MTX monetization." LIE.

"There will be secret characters, sure." LIE.

 

A positive note: I managed to get some really cool D'vorah skins by advancing the Krypt and completing the first D'vorah tower.

 

500000 won’t cut it, assholes

 

"There will be secret characters, sure." LIE.

Frost was secret, but then leaks happened.

 

Dude, the NRS white knighting is strong on this thread.

 

NRS character dialogue
Me: 2.6 user score
NRS: We’ll give you 500000 coins man
Me: You confuse me with Erron Black.

Boon: How about some skins?
Me: I’m not paying you 6k$
Boon: not 6k LOL, only 1000 man!

Tyler: I don’t need your money
Me: What about those loot boxes?
Tyler: Technically I don’t need your money. NRS does.

Me: When are we gonna have a good story mode?
NRS: We got Russo brothers story mode only for 6000%
Me: dies*

 

Frost was secret, but then leaks happened.

He said that after the leaks. And she isn’t secret. You literally can buy her.