Do we really need Tournament variations?

[Doomsday_Duck]

So I was wondering what peoples thoughts on being limited to only Tournament Variations for competitive play.

While I recognize that Tournament Variations are in effect due to creating a form of predictability and a an attempt at maintaining balance but I still feel like it is incredibly limiting for the competitive levels of play.

One of the things that was really exciting to me about MK 11 is that it offered such a degree of customization to someone's play style for a given character and the idea of competitive matches where we could see potentially new strategies with these abilities was mind boggling with the creative options pro players might come up with..

Tournament variations I think kind of stifle this creativity of potential. I mean having preset tournament variation is essentially the same as MKX if you think about it, and anybody interested in playing competitively is essentially required to play one of the preset variations and would gain nothing from the move customization available for character. Not to mention that some variations are clearly superior to others for some characters

Also some abilities can provide unique solutions to character problems that might spring up in certain matchups as if there are no Tournament Variations that utilize those particular abilities then the character may ultimately be ineffective against a certain matchup where they could possibly be viable if a player had a choice in abilities.

I feel like competitive players would be able to adapt and overcome potentially "overpowered" ability combinations if given the tools to adapt. And even if someone does find an overpowered setup, I think it would still be better to balance it upon discovery rather than never even having the chance.

But what are your thoughts on this from a competitive perspective?

 

[TaserFace007]

They’re very limiting and characters are much deeper and more developed when you get to tailor them to what you want them to do.

 

[Juggs]

I will be so happy the day that Kustom Variations are allowed for competitive play. Will make the game so much more fun.

That said, I don’t necessarily have an issue with the tournament variations. I just think Kustoms will be better and more fun.

 

[AZ MotherBrain]

The varations are weird to me. I think the tournament legal ones are of the most part wack, but letting customs rock might be opening a can of worms. personally i say get rid of the variations come next game.

 

[Doomsday_Duck]

I feel like the skill customization is the most appealing part of the game. I like how it keeps characters fresh and interesting, (That is if we could actually experiment on the competitive level).

I feel like the core of the game was actually designed by NRS with the idea of customization and the tournament variations were developed as almost an afterthought when the question of competitive play came up.

The reason I think this is actually due to some characters. for example: Erron Black's 52 Kard pickup variation being the dominant variation for him in competitive play and the other one rarely seen. Other characters have this same problem with some having variations with abilities that simply are too good to pass up and won't play the other variation.

The irony is that by creating tournament variations to create a sort of balance, it in turn created imbalances and kind of established a tier list.

Its quite possible that there are combinations for Erron that are more effective then the pre made tournament variations, but because there is no incentive for a player looking to compete they have no incentive to experiment and try to discover new possibilities, or on the flip side each character "COULD" potentially have a solution to Erron's 52 Pick Up variation that would trivialize it, but isn't available in their current variation approved for tournament play.

While we have the freedom to customize our loadouts in casual play, I think the best discoveries and innovations will be found at the competitive level by those who understand the game at the high level.

I think balancing imbalances after discovery would have been better approach than trying to prevent imbalance from ever occurring.

 

[Kroaken]

I ofc want kustom variations plain and simple. The tournament variations are hot trash and, as expected, most characters only really have one.

 

[scrubjesus111]

I'm gonna make a poll