Can we talk about NRS' "support"?

[ForeverKlone]

So MK11 is officially done. The game is in its final stage, leaving little impression since quite a chunk of the playerbase already left the game for other alternatives or older titles. Like that's it? They promise to "support" the game for more than two years, which was basically extended patches. At this point I feel like NRS does not care anymore. They ignore they playerbase, kept us occupied with random tweets and stuff, do half ass adjustments ("health adjustments" lol), releases cosmetics instead of game adjustments (janky hitboxes are still there, hell BREATHING HITBOXES are still a thing).
This is a lot worse than the end of Inj2 or MKX. With those 2 I feel like we still have some values & nostalgia. But with MK11, their attention to the game is ... Idk what to say. Should I rant? Spill my disappointments (already did)? Happy that they moved on or fear that this will be the pattern from now on?
I paid for a game from my favorite franchise and this is just bothering if this keeps going on. Should we continue supporting NRS like this?

 

[Komatose]

To be honest, NRS has always been known for this, so it’s no surprise.

I don’t recall them ever saying that they will give MK11 over two years of support but if they did, that was a blatant lie lol. I would hate to support a company like Bungie fans supported that trash called Destiny 1.

I don’t necessarily think we have to worry about a pattern here, I think NRS is still learning and growing with us as a community tbh, and they are experimenting rather than sticking to what they know works while also trying to appeal to the casual fanbase.

I think the next MK game will not only be better, but have a lot more support behind it. They have to go harder than the last to keep us interested and MK11 was hyped beyond belief and although a good game CASUALLY, the next game has to come harder in every single way and I am sure they know that.

 

[DC King]

WB is to blame for this 2 year cycle they have and NRS is to blame for the asinine patches they do. I can’t continue supporting this company, I just don’t believe they know how to make a good fg and the suits that control them only care about money. So I’ll gladly walk away from the MK and Injustice franchise.

 

[AWG]

Tekken 7 & Street Fighter V are still getting major balance updates, characters, arenas and other stuff. The lamest thing is that the last update for MK11 was like, 8 months ago? That's not even two years of support. Man, that's just sad.

 

[DarksydeDash]

-no balance to custom moves

• no new mk movie skins or skins in general
• No communication or anything for half a year
• no breakaway adjustments

-no major balancing for KP2 characters

• No addressing DDoxing in KL
• Not celebrating or acknowledging the game's 2nd birthday
• Insulting/trolling the fans of the game on social media
• Supporting the Mobile game more than the main game
• No krypt expansion or New Gear from Towers

This is the worst support of ANY game I've ever had. It was unbearable and all they had to do was say something. If they do this again, they will lose a lot of fans.

 

[Marinjuana]

I will pay 60 US dollars right now for NRS to add a patch to Injustice 2 that would fix hurt reactions aka consistently jailing highs after pokes like they did for MK11

 

[Juxtapose]

The lamest thing is that the last update for MK11 was like, 8 months ago? That's not even two years of support

The last patch was a month and a half ago (Mid-May 2021). The last content update was Kombat Pack 2, mid-November 2020. That was 19 months of content additions, and assuming we don't get any additional balance patches, 25 months of patch support. To the best of my knowledge, that is the longest for both categories in NetherRealm Studios history.

 

[Felipe_Gewehr]

Good riddance for me. Didn't enjoy this MK half as much as I did MKX, so I'd rather have them work on whatever new title they are working right now so we can hopefully move along to MK12 in about 3 years or something.

 

[Juggs]

I do think Covid had a lot of collateral damage in the entertainment world, with NRS being no exception as @CrimsonShadow has stated. So many games were delayed, very few movies were released, and games with current support were held in sort of a limbo. Obviously not saying WB or NRS have no responsibility, but I do think not taking it into consideration is a bit disingenuous.

 

[Juxtapose]

I do think Covid had a lot of collateral damage in the entertainment world,

As someone who works in the entertainment industry, it actually has. Different regions were impacted differently and more severly than others.

 

[Revy]

NRS Support? Is that a thing?

 

[xWildx]

I do think Covid had a lot of collateral damage in the entertainment world, with NRS being no exception as @CrimsonShadow has stated. So many games were delayed, very few movies were released, and games with current support were held in sort of a limbo. Obviously not saying WB or NRS have no responsibility, but I do think not taking it into consideration is a bit disingenuous.

Obviously Covid must be taken into consideration. To assume otherwise is completely moronic. What’s on display is how company’s handled it in comparison to one another. I should think this is obvious.

 

[Juggs]

Obviously Covid must be taken into consideration. To assume otherwise is completely moronic. What’s on display is how company’s handled it in comparison to one another. I should think this is obvious.

I learned awhile ago that assuming most people have a general understanding of things without it being explicitly stated is unfortunately not actually true most of the time. People will surprise you with their sheer lack of even the most basic common sense.

 

[Triblorg]

I do think Covid had a lot of collateral damage in the entertainment world, with NRS being no exception as @CrimsonShadow has stated. So many games were delayed, very few movies were released, and games with current support were held in sort of a limbo. Obviously not saying WB or NRS have no responsibility, but I do think not taking it into consideration is a bit disingenuous.

It ends up a useful excuse when it's clear the game wasn't gonna be supported for 3-4 years. game was done late last year, it just wasn't desired to say so then when releasing new characters.

 

[Ashesfall]

Some thought on the "this time we will support the game longer".

This line really got me, back when they said this. I honestly thought about a SF5 or Tekken7 "model".
If I look at the support, I don't see a big change. While I also think that covid should not be an "excuse", I do for sure believe that this took a hit in "time-managment".
(communication from home and watching no leaks happen, is not easy and will cost unnecessary time you could invest in development.) Without covid, I could see Ultimate would have more than 3 characters.

MK11 in its current state is a great base to build on and while a lot of people say its "trash", I love to compare it to Tekken7-arcade release, many said it was trash but they buffed the game to a point every Tekken fan basically loves the game. Why do you think this couldn't be the case for MK11, is something I don't understand. Once trash = forever trash, stupid mindset to me ...

MK11 looks great to me, and this was always one of the biggest reasons I played it but the meta feels so limited, that I will switch to Tekken7 again - because I agree with most here, gameplay makes you really stick to a game. I kept sticking to MK11 because I was really thinking MK11 will be supported longer and I didn't want to become "rusty", even tho I don't play that much in the first place.
(for example, the variation system will be tweaked by a lot, or new variation moves - remember when Ed Boon tweeted that Baraka spinning picture? Imagine this move would have acted like Zangif and Ignores projectiles while spinning towards the enemy etc.)

--- (cut line)
Also the argue, "tournament-money by WB is just a nice move to the community", is something I don't agree with. It's for me marketing, a way of advertising your game. So it's for sure also in their interests, not just for us gamers. (You guys should research on how much money some publishers invest in marketing, those who can afford it of course - it's kinda crazy.)
--- (cut line)

The last patch was a month and a half ago (Mid-May 2021).

I feel like without the Sheeva outcry, maybe we didn't had seen this "small" balance patch.
And they maybe thought, while we do a small patch, let's address a little bit more as a last touch to the game. Like giving Shao Kahn a little bit love, while he is at the bottom tier in every tierlist, even tho he is so iconic and beloved.

 

[theotherguy]

This line really got me, back when they said this. I honestly thought about a SF5 or Tekken7 "model".

maybe there was an idea to do things differently. Maybe there was supposed to be another patch coming, maybe some more characters - covid happened and the plans went to shit. The WB bosses may have wanted NRS gameNext out in 2022, but they were behind with the last batch of MK content. They were told to scrap it, all hands on deck for gameNext as the release date is set and not moving.

I'd love to know what would have happened in an alternate timeline with no pandemic. Would the select screen have filled out to a square? would there have been one more major patch, changes to abilities?

And everyone has different ideas of what that actually means. Boon may have meant characters released or # of kombat kasts. It wasn't explicitly said "we're going to release DLC and regularly patch the game with major meta changes for 3+ years, or till the next game comes out".

Regardless of that, NRS isn't the same as the capcom/namco teams. AFAIK they each have their own teams for their fighters. So to have them doing nothing for 5 years between games doesn't make sense. So they have to keep the current one active.

NRS work on a different cadence as well, and is basically the same team game after game. They can't afford (not literally obviously) to have staff working on old stuff when there's a new game in development every 2 years. Does make you wonder why they can't employ a few people to poke around fiddling with the current game, even if they're not major meta changing updates.

 

[molambo]

In direct comparison they did more.
MKX - 24 Base Chars 9 DLC Chars
MK11 25 Base Chars 12 DLC Chars +Second "Cinematic" Story Mode

 

[Juxtapose]

People will surprise you with their sheer lack of even the most basic common sense.

Is it sad that not only does this not surprise me anymore, but I rather expect it?

I feel like without the Sheeva outcry, maybe we didn't had seen this "small" balance patch.

Maybe. Maybe not. The reality is that we did receive said balance patch though, regardless of if it was due to Sheeva outcry or not.

 

[Vslayer]

I still hope they'll release a final patch for those who still want to play it competitively until the next game. I get they haven't done everything right, no company can, but they did give us a lot of content and new characters. It's never enough for some people though, they would have wanted 7 other DLCs. I honestly don't think that would have been wise, they need to focus on the next game.

To all the people who believed KP 3 and 4 were coming, told you so.

 

[Rathalos]

Over the last year or two, there has probably been a lot of up in the air if NRS would even still exist at this point.

AT&T kept trying to sell off the gaming division of Warner Brothers to anyone that would buy it, which could potentially mean all kinds of bad shit for the developers.

A few months ago AT&T announced that it was merging WB Media with Discovery into a new company, and that I would assume includes NRS.

So what ever the plans were, they have probably changed since then, as they probably have to put out something to warrant there continued existence.
I believe the deal is going to be fully completed in 2022. So we will see what happens.

Once AT&T bought Warner Brothers, things were going to ultimately change.

Shit sucks, but it is what it is.

 

[Swindle]

Where’s mattteo?

 

[Kiss the Missile]

Where’s mattteo?

In shambles

 

[Swindle]

In shambles

Everything he knew was a lie.
Prince of Lies.
Was he the Devil?
We may never know…

Haiku.

 

[Whiplash]

This was my first real attempt at playing an MK game. Played for a solid amount of time.
The game is clunky solid 3/10 for game play.

 

[Ashesfall]

In direct comparison they did more.
MKX - 24 Base Chars 9 DLC Chars
MK11 25 Base Chars 12 DLC Chars +Second "Cinematic" Story Mode

Does numbers stand for "longer support"?
Both felt like 2 years and done. Let's not forget the effort for the netcode overhaul in MKX.

We don't know how the workflow from MKX to MK11 is and I am actually sure it's harder to balance out a MKX character compared to a MK11 character.
In MKX a character with 3 variations felt way more like actually 3 versions compared to this little custom move thing you just attach on top of the base kit.

Triborg alone is such a special case, for example.

Or what if the team is just a little bit bigger compared to the past?

I also feel like there was more planned but got "canceled" (a reason why it took so long to officially announce that MK11 is done), maybe in the far future in a retrospective we will get some background infos.