Can we talk about NRS' "support"?

[NaCl man]

There was alot going on I guess with covid and the buyout. Maybe they couldn't announce anything until things were final?

No Ash after the kp1 announcement was a massive let down and no info on why just a unfinished joker popping up. That was where I really lost interest.

I'll still get the next mk game. Hope it's a good 1

 

[Komatose]

NRS Support? Is that a thing?

No.

 

[OfficialCasti]

You cannot introduce custom variations and then never proceed to tweaks frame data and properly adjust moves. This is undeniably an unfinished game and in the worst state an NRS game was left at the end of life cycle.

 

[NaughtySenpai]

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.

The difference is that both Tekken and SF have comitted communities that compete actively and maintain a decently sized online playerbase. You just gotta check the tournament entries for NRS games 1 year down the line. When no new game recently came out the turnout is pityful for a game that sells more copies than SF and Tekken together.

NRS games draw in people that play the game for a month, never go online and then are done with the game. The reason why the FGC doesn't flock to those games are the shallow fighting game mechanics and the janky visuals.
I dunno if that will ever change unless NRS hires game designers that actually care about making a good fighting game first and a good video game second.

 

[colby4898]

the patches were so meh. I seem to remember with each major MKX patch the game would feel drastically different. Changes to the run mechanic, the fact you lost stamina after getting your combos broken, the 2 hit armour stuff, as well as considerable character changes to pretty much all 100 variations. In MK11 its like take 50 health off this person, change about 5 characters in pretty small ways. The only major thing was the armour break addition, and the custom being tournament viable (however this should have been done day 1, and customs were always in the game if you wanted them so I dont give them much credit here). They also favoured nerfing the strong (and interesting gameplay wise) characters too hard at the start, insteas of focusing on buffing the lower tiers, which makes for a less fun game.
There were no changes to slot numbers, how many slots a move used, buffing the unless moves, no changes to fatal blow (I for one think you should get 1 attempt per round, no timer). All just seemed half arsed and few and far between. The game felt identical from day 1 to year 2. And I'm saying that having literally taken a 2 year gap before coming back to it.

 

[M2Dave]

I dunno if that will ever change unless NRS hires game designers that actually care about making a good fighting game first and a good video game second.

I am sure the game designers care. The executives, on the other hand, do not because they see no financial incentives in appeasing a tiny fraction of their customers. As you accurately stated, most people who play this game quit playing a long time ago. I doubt the executives find any value in acquiring and/or moving resources from the new project to continue supporting Mortal Kombat 11, a game that has lost the majority of its players.

The primary issue with NRS fighting game is and always will be the two year cycle, which is not conducive to the creation of a quality fighting game. Street Fighter 5 and Tekken 7 were also considered unfinished two years after their release dates, but their meta has kept on evolving over the course of five years and counting. The hardcore player base must acknowledge this reality and stop complaining, obviously me included, at some point. I am not making any excuses for NRS, though. I think people have every right to criticize them vehemently for their broken promises. NRS's lack of communication has been particularly egregious in contrast to Capcom, Namco, and Nintendo.

 

[Immortal]

NRS games draw in people that play the game for a month, never go online and then are done with the game. The reason why the FGC doesn't flock to those games are the shallow fighting game mechanics and the janky visuals.
I dunno if that will ever change unless NRS hires game designers that actually care about making a good fighting game first and a good video game second.

No, this will never change; coz those people are your 99% of sales and to be frank it's smart as a bussines decision. You always want to get to the 99% and make the game around them and not the 1% (less) of hardcore fans which are well... nothing in terms of sales, which is the only metric that matters for corporations like ATT or WB earlier.

You want people to play the game for a month a then move on (they usually dont see the less obvious flaws / bugs coz "there is so much to do" on which they focus), come back to buy DLC and then move on again - awaiting the next title from you - cycle repeats itself. This is a proven bussiness model in gaming industry (not only in it) and it will never change.

 

[M2Dave]

No, this will never change; coz those people are your 99% of sales and to be frank it's smart as a bussines decision. You always want to get to the 99% and make the game around them and not the 1% (less) of hardcore fans which are well... nothing in terms of sales, which is the only metric that matters for corporations like ATT or WB earlier.

You want people to play the game for a month a then move on (they usually dont see the less obvious flaws / bugs coz "there is so much to do" on which they focus), come back to buy DLC and then move on again - awaiting the next title from you - cycle repeats itself. This is a proven bussiness model in gaming industry (not only in it) and it will never change.

I definitely do not agree with everything Namco does, but I think the company has done an excellent job pleasing the casual as well as competitive audiences. Tekken 7 looks more aesthetically appealing than ever, contains more DLCs than ever, including popular guest characters as requested by fans in official polls, and some frustrating gameplay elements, namely throw escapes and the effectiveness of okizeme, have been simplified. However, Tekken 7 fundamentally stills feels like Tekken because few players would argue that the game is boring, shallow, and stagnant in contrast to 65%+ of the NRS community who says so about Mortal Kombat 11. LOL. By the way, Tekken 7 has sold 8.5 million copies and counting, the most since Tekken 3.

 

[Immortal]

I definitely do not agree with everything Namco does, but I think the company has done an excellent job pleasing the casual as well as competitive audiences. Tekken 7 looks more aesthetically appealing than ever, contains more DLCs than ever, including popular guest characters as requested by fans in official polls, and some frustrating gameplay elements, namely throw escapes and the effectiveness of okizeme, have been simplified. However, Tekken 7 fundamentally stills feels like Tekken because few players would argue that the game is boring, shallow, and stagnant in contrast to 65%+ of the NRS community who says so about Mortal Kombat 11. LOL. By the way, Tekken 7 has sold 8.5 million copies and counting, the most since Tekken 3.

Bandai-Namco like pretty much any Japanesse based company is different beast in terms of how they view market, profits, playerbase and while those views now are closer to western corporation views then lets say 20 years ago it's still quite different a less agressive towards making money. I can tell you first hand, since we have worked with Namco in the past and we still do things with them from time to time now and we had (short) dealings with WB on the flip side which were... lets just say... never again. It's a totally different discussion.

There will be no change in bussiness model of ATT/NRS coz the current one works great. They make a new game every 2-2,5 years which roughly sells 10+ millions of copies every time. Tekken sells pretty well but not as good as MK obviously. Also Namco doesn't make fighting game every 2-2,5 years. It's way easier to get X millions of copies sold of one game which you sell over 5+ years (doing DLC for it) than a game, with very few DLC and only a 2 years lifespan.... and yet the later is the better (more pofitable) bussiness model.

What community says means nothing in todays western corporation world. The only thing that speaks to the company is numbers and those for ATT/WB were and are great, that is why they will continue to do what they've been doing for years now with little tweaks to get even more money.

 

[CrimsonShadow]

The difference is that both Tekken and SF have comitted communities that compete actively and maintain a decently sized online playerbase. You just gotta check the tournament entries for NRS games 1 year down the line. When no new game recently came out the turnout is pityful for a game that sells more copies than SF and Tekken together.

NRS games draw in people that play the game for a month, never go online and then are done with the game. The reason why the FGC doesn't flock to those games are the shallow fighting game mechanics and the janky visuals.
I dunno if that will ever change unless NRS hires game designers that actually care about making a good fighting game first and a good video game second.

The ironic thing is that the one exception to this trend is MK11. Two years in we still have online tournaments with 500 players, and as things go offline, numbers are strong atm.

We’ll see what kind of effect this announcement has on everything, but the fact that we’ve been this strong in year 2-3 means one of two things. Either

1. Our community is much stronger now and people aren’t actually allergic to playing the game, or
2. It was never the games themselves, and always only the expected announcement of a newer game that slowed things down.

 

[Wrenchfarm]

I'm giggling at some of these comments I keep reading saying the game had NO support. I'm as disappointed about the end of the game's life as anyone and certainly have my gripes about balance and specific issues, but c'mon. The game got three major character pack updates (not to mention all the story stuff and fluff like holiday and movie skins, KL seasons/skins, and Kyrpt updates to keep things interesting).

Would I like there to be another Kombat pack and balance sweep? Absolutely. But you can't say NRS "didn't support the game at all"

 

[molambo]

The difference is that both Tekken and SF have comitted communities that compete actively and maintain a decently sized online playerbase. You just gotta check the tournament entries for NRS games 1 year down the line. When no new game recently came out the turnout is pityful for a game that sells more copies than SF and Tekken together.

NRS games draw in people that play the game for a month, never go online and then are done with the game. The reason why the FGC doesn't flock to those games are the shallow fighting game mechanics and the janky visuals.
I dunno if that will ever change unless NRS hires game designers that actually care about making a good fighting game first and a good video game second.

thats the same nonsense babbling like people who still want to tell you the animations are bad. maybe you want to check the steamcharts numbers for mk games compared to street fighter games aka sf4 - sf5 vs mkx - mk11....might be suprised about the "non" active playerbase.....spoiler...there are more people playing nr games.

 

[Testurmight19]

 

[John Grizzly]

Even NRS knows MK11 is a lost cause. I wonder how all the shills feel currently.

I loved every NRS game prior to this borefest. I really hope the next game takes NOTHING from MK11 aside from the incredible visuals.

 

[Pizza]

First and foremost, I agree with everything @Immortal said. But sometimes I feel like people believe the MK competitive scene is so small, so irrelevant, that there will never be proper support to that part of the fanbase.

Question to everyone: Do you think that more than 90% of MK players don't care about game mechanics? Do they only care about cosmetics? Is it really like that?

 

[Sutter Pain]

First and foremost, I agree with everything @Immortal said. But sometimes I feel like people believe the MK competitive scene is so small, so irrelevant, that there will never be proper support to that part of the fanbase.

Question to everyone: Do you think that more than 90% of MK players don't care about game mechanics? Do they only care about cosmetics? Is it really like that?

Probably really damn close to that amount. I don't think its so much about cosmetics though but more people just buying due to nostalgia and wanting to do fatalities on their lil brother\sister.

 

[Triblorg]

First and foremost, I agree with everything @Immortal said. But sometimes I feel like people believe the MK competitive scene is so small, so irrelevant, that there will never be proper support to that part of the fanbase.

Question to everyone: Do you think that more than 90% of MK players don't care about game mechanics? Do they only care about cosmetics? Is it really like that?

Sounds correct.

MK's big marketing is characters, gore. which is pretty much how it was back in the old days when put against Street Fighter 2.

Also consider on Steam less than half of players completed the story so it's not so much story either

 

[CrimsonShadow]

Also consider on Steam less than half of players completed the story so it's not so much story either

That goes for any game, though. For example, CD Projekt Red said that they made Cyberpunk shorter because the vast majority of people who played the Witcher 3, one of the best games of our era, didn't complete it.

If the story was 20 minutes long, the completion percentage would be far higher.. But that doesn't really make it a better experience.

 

[StormGoddess]

 

[supahotbean]

Why are we ignoring the fact that covid had a big part in their games longevity. I could've sworn that alot of their graphic designers, computer engineers, etc left or dropped out.

 

[xWildx]

Why are we ignoring the fact that covid had a big part in their games longevity. I could've sworn that alot of their graphic designers, computer engineers, etc left or dropped out.

Covid playing a part has literally been mentioned all over this site.

 

[Vslayer]

Even NRS knows MK11 is a lost cause. I wonder how all the shills feel currently.

I loved every NRS game prior to this borefest. I really hope the next game takes NOTHING from MK11 aside from the incredible visuals.

I have to agree with you. But for me, what's weird is, when I was learning a character I was having a lot of fun. But when I realized the gameplay per variation didn't have the depth that I wanted, it became boring again super quickly. Like I'll spend 2 days learning a character and a specific playstyle for the variation, then once I got comfortable, it got boring. I don't know if it's just me, but I really hope they're done with variations.

I know variations won't make it into whatever they're doing next, it seems they like to reserve that for MK, but I just hope they focus on every character being fun for casuals, but have depth for people like us. I think that's what makes a great FG. And combos, yes I'm one of those. I like combos.

 

[Liquid Swordsman]

Warner Bros really tainted this franchise.

 

[Juxtapose]

Warner Bros really tainted this franchise.

They actually salvaged it. The current trilogy is vastly superior to the 3D era of games, and are the best entries in the franchise since the original trilogy, despite their flaws.

 

[NaughtySenpai]

The 3D games were hot ass. Between MK3 and MK9 every MK game that came out that wasn't Shaolin Monks was a dumpster fire. I mean most were alright as video games, but absolutely laughable as competitive fighting games.