Ed Boon: "Which four fighters do you feel need the most love in Mortal Kombat 1?"

[Trickywizard]

I know a lot of people will laugh with this, but Kitana also needs more help. She's way too honest of a character.

Most people say that she's dumb af, but they keep getting caught mid air and by her mid. That doesn't make her broken. All of her strings have gaps, and if you're patient you can simply outplay her.

As the game has aged, she hasn't received buffs to her kit, only some minor changes to her combo routes, and new abilities.

I do think that she'd benefit from a better B1 and B3 strings, along with possibly her old flutter. I wouldn't mind the gaps and the non existent mixups (don't even care about them), but I do think that she needs to be good at what she does, and is just meh.

If Kitana was this broken as people say she is, we'd see her in tournaments, yet we see more and more of "low tier omg pls buff" sub zero, who is in every tournament, and "omg he's trash now" T-1000's than ever.

I know tournament representation isn't always indicative, but the fact that we so rarely see her says something. With kitana, you simply have to outsmart the opponent which in itself isn't viable longterm, and good against top tiers.

I also don't want to hear arguments saying that she got one million buffs each game that she's been in, which is true, but have people ever thought that she launched in a bad state in almost every game she is in? Lol

Skill issue, Kitana does not need anything.

 

[Felipe_Gewehr]

I know a lot of people will laugh with this, but Kitana also needs more help. She's way too honest of a character.

Most people say that she's dumb af, but they keep getting caught mid air and by her mid. That doesn't make her broken. All of her strings have gaps, and if you're patient you can simply outplay her.

As the game has aged, she hasn't received buffs to her kit, only some minor changes to her combo routes, and new abilities.

I do think that she'd benefit from a better B1 and B3 strings, along with possibly her old flutter. I wouldn't mind the gaps and the non existent mixups (don't even care about them), but I do think that she needs to be good at what she does, and is just meh.

If Kitana was this broken as people say she is, we'd see her in tournaments, yet we see more and more of "low tier omg pls buff" sub zero, who is in every tournament, and "omg he's trash now" T-1000's than ever.

I know tournament representation isn't always indicative, but the fact that we so rarely see her says something. With kitana, you simply have to outsmart the opponent which in itself isn't viable longterm, and good against top tiers.

I also don't want to hear arguments saying that she got one million buffs each game that she's been in, which is true, but have people ever thought that she launched in a bad state in almost every game she is in? Lol

Give her back sharpen, a 7 frame holding parry and her air fluter, you cowards.

 

[Promethium77]

Omni Man, Smoke, Tanya, Ashrah

 

[Kiss the Missile]

BARAKA.

Second game in a row where he is excruciatingly plain to play. All of his cool strings went to T-1000 and his fatal blow buff thing is not nearly enough to make him interesting (or even good enough to get used in the first place). He's looked awesome in both mk1 and mk11, animations are on point, sound effects are incredible, but he gets the most bare bones gameplay of any character.

Give him a flag set up that grants a grapple or a new move,normal, let him call in a tarkatan homie, anything really. Let ex blade spark be cancelable?? He just needs sauce desperately.

Exactly. His new Fatal Blow buff looked awesome, until I actually tried it and realized you can only cancel special moves into specific specials. I'm gonna give up my fatal blow and have rapid health drain so that for one round I can cancel my projectile into baraka barrage?

 

[Trickywizard]

Omni Man, Smoke, Tanya, Ashrah

Hell no, Ashrah is dumb af already

 

[Jynks]

Yeah... Ashrah is in a good place right now.. I do not think she needs anything to make her even stronger.

 

[M2Dave]

Absolutely none of that has to do with setplay supposedly dominating everythying.

There are a number of players who are doing well and/or winning things, without relying on setplay-heavy teams or gameplans. When I bring up that fact, you deflect to talking about 5 other things.

Where you are reading these imaginary posts of mine? LOL.

I never said that set play "dominated everything".

If you had bothered to read the original post, which I tried to keep as concise as possible, I said the following.

To assign arbitrary numbers, I believe that the meta consists of 70% of offense/rushdown and 30% of defense/zoning.

While I support offense/rushdown being more prevalent in the contemporary fighting game meta, I would prefer if the aforementioned percentages resembled 60% and 40%.

Stop straw manning because you are unable to disprove my actual argument.

 

[CrimsonShadow]

Although Mortal Kombat 1 finds itself in a respectable spot in terms of its balance, set play clearly dominates the meta, as observed from offline and online tournaments.

Where you are reading these imaginary posts of mine? LOL.

I never said that set play "dominated everything".

I don't even know what to say at this point

 

[Roy Arkon]

Hey @Trickywizard guess what?

M2Dave got exposed!

 

[M2Dave]

I don't even know what to say at this point

"Clearly dominates" =/= "dominates everything"

This pointless semantics argument aside, just watch the North American East and West tournaments from last night.

If you still believe that offense/rushdown and defense/zoning are represented equally, you are delusional.

Knowing you, you will make the case that T-1000 and Cyrax are zoning characters. LOL.

 

[Lt. Boxy Angelman]

"Clearly dominates" =/= "dominates everything"

This pointless semantics argument aside, just watch the North American East and West tournaments from last night.

If you still believe that offense/rushdown and defense/zoning are represented equally, you are delusional.

Knowing you, you will make the case that T-1000 and Cyrax are zoning characters. LOL.

Directly comparing one side to the other, there was no such thing as strong zoning or primarily defensive play in this game even before those two Finals happened, let alone now.

 

[CrimsonShadow]

"Clearly dominates" =/= "dominates everything"

This pointless semantics argument aside, just watch the North American East and West tournaments from last night.

If you still believe that offense/rushdown and defense/zoning are represented equally, you are delusional.

Knowing you, you will make the case that T-1000 and Cyrax are zoning characters. LOL.

Offense vs. Zoning is another argument entirely. The point about setplay is the one I replied to, and setplay does not dominate the meta.

T-1000 is obviously overtuned right now, but that will likely change.

Last night we saw several players do well with defensive gameplans (Yungmonster with Sektor and Ashrah, Retro with Kitana, etc). MK is obviously an offense-heavy franchise (and it should be, that’s the legacy), but this comment about setplay is way off the mark. Every Top 8 now features diverse playstyles.

 

[M2Dave]

Offense vs. Zoning is another argument entirely. The point about setplay is the one I replied to, and setplay does not dominate the meta.

Set play is almost always a part of an offensive character's toolkit.

Consequently, offensive characters dominate the meta, according to tournament results, which is precisely what transpired last night.

You can continue engaging in a semantics argument, but the results speak for themselves.

Last night we saw several players do well with defensive gameplans (Yungmonster with Sektor and Ashrah, Retro with Kitana, etc).

Generally speaking, the character with superior offensive options almost always won the match up.

Besides, you have been expanding the definition of zoning for the past six months.

Just because players are holding back for five to ten seconds does not mean that they are zoning. LOL.

MK is obviously an offense-heavy franchise (and it should be, that’s the legacy).

I respect Mortal Kombat's offensive legacy, but right now the difference between offense/rushdown and defense/zoning is comically lopsided.

No defensive/zoning character is even remotely as good as offensive/rushdown/set play characters like Cyrax and T-1000.

 

[Roy Arkon]

Offense vs. Zoning is another argument entirely. The point about setplay is the one I replied to, and setplay does not dominate the meta.

T-1000 is obviously overtuned right now, but that will likely change.

Last night we saw several players do well with defensive gameplans (Yungmonster with Sektor and Ashrah, Retro with Kitana, etc). MK is obviously an offense-heavy franchise (and it should be, that’s the legacy), but this comment about setplay is way off the mark. Every Top 8 now features diverse playstyles.

Set play is almost always a part of an offensive character's toolkit.

Consequently, offensive characters dominate the meta, according to tournament results, which is precisely what transpired last night.

You can continue engaging in a semantics argument, but the results speak for themselves.



Generally speaking, the character with superior offensive options almost always won the match up.

Besides, you have been expanding the definition of zoning for the past six months.

Just because players are holding back for five to ten seconds does not mean that they are zoning. LOL.



I respect Mortal Kombat's offensive legacy, but right now the difference between offense/rushdown and defense/zoning is comically lopsided.

No defensive/zoning character is even remotely as good as offensive/rushdown/set play characters like Cyrax and T-1000.

Even though that Crimson is once again right in general, I do have to correct you both on something. As I said earlier, only some MK games were offense-foucsed. Original MK1, MK2, MKDA, MKD, MKA and MK11 are all defense-based games. Only MK3, MK Vs. DC and MKX are all offense-based games. MK4, MK9 and current MK1 are in the middle. And it's not just the overall pace of each game, but the playstyles also. MKX clearly had Rushdown and setplay being the best possible strategies, but in games like MK11 it wasn't the case at all.

And as for MK1, no @M2Dave, you are wrong, non-Rushdown chars are NOT clearly outclassed by Rushdown chars. All kinds of playstyles are very equally presented and successful in MK1.

And before you bring up that "well look at the players, the majority of them choose Rushdown chars", that is only because the players choose to do out of their own choice, but that doesn't mean other chars are not viable. As I said before, Reptile is top 10 in MK1, other pros like Sonic and F0xy have said themselves also that Reptile is strong. It's just that people don't wanna pick him up just because of their own misconception of Reptile not being viable due to him not having a super obvious, easy-to-use strategy, just like that in MKX people didn't Reptile even though he was top tier also from the start for those exact same reasons.

The truth, a lot of players, and including pros, are a bunch of sheep, they would go with that is popular and not necessarily with that is good or not. MK1 is a super-well balanced game, both in between chars and playstyles, it's just false perception of the players that make things look a certain way, just like your false perception Dave.

 

[Trickywizard]

Hey @Trickywizard guess what?

M2Dave got exposed!

Again?

 

[M2Dave]

Original MK1, MK2, MKDA, MKD, MKA and MK11 are all defense-based games.

Deception lacked a wake up system (i.e., no wake up attacks, no armor, no invincibility, no delay, etc.)

The game was infamous for its 50/50 mix ups.

In fact, the meme among older players is that Mortal Kombat X is Deception 2.0.

...I do have to correct you both on something.

You are not qualified to correct anyone on this website.

I rarely reply to you because correcting you would be a full-time job, for which I neither have the time nor the patience.

You are offensively ignorant and have absolutely not the slightest clue what you are talking about.

 

[Lt. Boxy Angelman]

Deception lacked a wake up system (i.e., no wake up attacks, no armor, no invincibility, no delay, etc.)

The game was infamous for its 50/50 mix ups.

In fact, the meme among older players is that Mortal Kombat X is Deception 2.0.

Facts. The catch with MKX is that you didn't get to just mix for free at a snail's pace; you had to be able to keep up. That, IMO, was the true skillgap in MKX, which is why you've never seen an NRS game go that fast again: speed is not conducive to a pseudo-33/33/33 meta.

You are not qualified to correct anyone on this website.

I rarely reply to you because correcting you would be a full-time job, for which I neither have the time nor the patience.

You are offensively ignorant and have absolutely not the slightest clue what you are talking about.

Two things. A nostalgic observation, and a question.

1. It's weird thinking that it's already been five whole years since we spent 2020 locked down debating the semantics of America, and now I'm here providing the golf clap for course-correcting the exact same person who created the monster that was Pandemic Box™ and got me started spending that whole damn year yelling at stuff in the first place. I just can't remember why.

2. Wouldn't it be something if they buff Smoke by giving him back his old MK9/MKX Ball and Smoke Away and accidently make him the best/only true Zoner in the game? Because then, the cancels everyone's hoping will get buffed wouldn't be for offensive strings anymore, but for faking people out into the Ball.

THAT would be a twist...if at the end of all of this, MK1 Smoke played like MK9 Freddy.

 

[CrimsonShadow]

Set play is almost always a part of an offensive character's toolkit.

Consequently, offensive characters dominate the meta, according to tournament results, which is precisely what transpired last night.

You can continue engaging in a semantics argument, but the results speak for themselves.



Generally speaking, the character with superior offensive options almost always won the match up.

Besides, you have been expanding the definition of zoning for the past six months.

Just because players are holding back for five to ten seconds does not mean that they are zoning. LOL.



I respect Mortal Kombat's offensive legacy, but right now the difference between offense/rushdown and defense/zoning is comically lopsided.

No defensive/zoning character is even remotely as good as offensive/rushdown/set play characters like Cyrax and T-1000.

If this isn't zoning, what is zoning?

If this isn't defensive play from Ashrah, what is defensive play?

You're the only person here attempting to redefine the terms.

Generally speaking, the character with superior offensive options almost always won the match up.

You can see above that Homelander, who has superior offensive options, was defeated by pure defense and zoning from Yung. Not only is this not true, it seems like you didn't watch the event.

I respect Mortal Kombat's offensive legacy, but right now the difference between offense/rushdown and defense/zoning is comically lopsided.

No defensive/zoning character is even remotely as good as offensive/rushdown/set play characters like Cyrax and T-1000.

This is like saying no rushdown character was as good as Peacemaker when he was released. Obviously T-1000 is overtuned/will be toned down, but people are doing well with characters of multiple styles.

 

[Lt. Boxy Angelman]

@Tom Brady

On this subject, and the subject of ways you could adapt certain characters to this game - and conversely, how one could step out of their comfort zone in order to adapt to their environment - I have a question, specifically for you, that has been bugging me ever since I started trying to take this game really seriously...

Your MK9 style - no dashing, only walking and baiting, at a methodical, slow pace built for baiting mistakes. Not based in zoning, but in calm, collected space control in a world of reckless, fast-paced damage.

Can such a thing be possible in MK1?

 

[M2Dave]

If this isn't zoning, what is zoning?

Who are you arguing with?

I never denied that Sektor could not zone.

I said that Sektor has certain bad match ups, which prevent her from placing more consistently like some of the top tier characters.

If this isn't defensive play from Ashrah, what is defensive play?

Ashrah is not a zoning character, as you falsely implied in previous posts, but I agree that she is a defensive character.

I would like more characters to play similarly to Ashrah (and Sektor) and to be slightly or significantly stronger, depending on the character.

This is like saying no rushdown character was as good as Peacemaker when he was released.

Obviously. LOL..

No rushdown character was as good as release-day Peacemaker, which is why he dominated the meta.

Not difficult to admit, is it?

Irrespective of where you stand on the offense/rushdown/set play versus defense/zoning/turtle spectrum, the facts (i.e., tournament results and character popularity) speak for themselves.

@Tom Brady

On this subject, and the subject of ways you could adapt certain characters to this game - and conversely, how one could step out of their comfort zone in order to adapt to their environment - I have a question, specifically for you, that has been bugging me ever since I started trying to take this game really seriously...

Your MK9 style - no dashing, only walking and baiting, at a methodical, slow pace built for baiting mistakes. Not based in zoning, but in calm, collected space control in a world of reckless, fast-paced damage.

Can such a thing be possible in MK1?

Tom has been too busy discussing shallow issues on Mike's YouTube channel.

Best of luck getting an answer.

 

[Roy Arkon]

Deception lacked a wake up system (i.e., no wake up attacks, no armor, no invincibility, no delay, etc.)

The game was infamous for its 50/50 mix ups.

In fact, the meme among older players is that Mortal Kombat X is Deception 2.0.



You are not qualified to correct anyone on this website.

I rarely reply to you because correcting you would be a full-time job, for which I neither have the time nor the patience.

You are offensively ignorant and have absolutely not the slightest clue what you are talking about.

LMAO And this is coming from the same guy that says "dominating everything" and "dominating the meta" are not the same thing.

Even on the one and only thing you are "correcting" me you're still wrong. MKD had 50/50's yes but it wasn't a Rushdown game, all the first 3 games of the 3D era were super similar games with only minor tweaks. So all 3 of them were defensive games. You played all of these games on a high level and yet you don't understand your own games. And you are resorting into insults instead of trying to debunk anything that I've said because you can't back up anything you say to me or anyone else.

YOU are the one who's pathetically ignorant and YOU are the one who's got no clue what you're talking about. This entire thread is you making excuses, bitching, pissing, moaning and coping beyond any belief. Guys like you are sadly a proof why NRS/WB should never listen to internet players and the MK interent "community" as a whole is an absolute joke. And yes, that same goes to anyone who's actually liking your comment or you in general.

Again?

Oh yeah, and guess what? He keeps doing it to himself. Someone can think he actually likes it, almost like a guilty pleasure.

 

[just_2swift]

My Liu Kang buffs

He has amazing staggers so ...

How about the return of his dragon parry MB pops up for a launch similar to mk11

I'd buff B2 1
If they try to press after the B2 the 1 becomes a counter hit launch crumple like shujinko stun punch.


I would also make his bf3 a stance that has 4 options

Flykick

Cancel it

Pop up

Spot dodge

or parry similar to Jin or law from Tekken.

Make the advantage on a successful parry be a tight link to combo with his 6 frames 12 string (2 frame link)

Also make his current air fire ball his MB and his meterless air fire ball a single projectile and adjust the hit reaction to be used in combos.

 

[Roy Arkon]

My Liu Kang buffs

He has amazing staggers so ...

How about the return of his dragon parry MB pops up for a launch similar to mk11

I'd buff B2 1
If they try to press after the B2 the 1 becomes a counter hit launch crumple like shujinko stun punch.


I would also make his bf3 a stance that has 4 options

Flykick

Cancel it

Pop up

Spot dodge

or parry similar to Jin or law from Tekken.

Make the advantage on a successful parry be a tight link to combo with his 6 frames 12 string (2 frame link)

Also make his current air fire ball his MB and his meterless air fire ball a single projectile and adjust the hit reaction to be used in combos.

So just making him broken. Yeah, good job.

 

[just_2swift]

So just making him broken. Yeah, good job.

Explain how this would be broken Roy....

 

[just_2swift]

Lao the character should be based around doing things with his hat



Z hat from mk11



Hat trap from MKX but with an added twist. He'll still have his hat callback still.



He should place the hat on screen and depending on the button or string the hat should have a different reaction like bouncing off the walls and stuff similar to how Tekken ball works.



This includes his dive kick and other specials as well if they strike his hat.