I don't see any of the suggested changes in the OP being anything but reasonable requests. Ball attacks having no priority is definitely something that needs to be addressed. In MK9 I never got hit out of upball with jump kicks and punches when using it as an AA (online!). Why does the move have to be less reliable as an AA in MK X now at certain ranges, (offline mind you)? With the absence of vanilla b1 in Cutthroat Kano's AA options are reduced to the following situations:
Opponent jumps too close - they are within range to be hit by upball before the highest point of their jump, allowing for a reliable upball AA.
Opponent jumps too far away - walk back to make the jump attack whiff, then full combo punish with f2 as they land.
Opponent spaces their jump in perfectly - wait in crouch block or neutral crouch (not an option against divekickers) before uppercutting them at the last possible time, many times even uppercut will still trade with the jump attack, giving you whopping 7% damage advantage from the trade. Damn, I sure showed him, maybe now he will stop jumping so I can try to play the game on the ground, where my character doesn't suck and I dunno, god forbid, initiate offence without having to worry about getting tagged by random range 2 NJP's or whiffing a string when my opponent is majestically soaring over the skies, landing on the opposite side of me, maybe even punishing me for a full combo, just because his character can jump, with little to no repercussions, no fucks given... But seriously, punishing jumps reliably is crucial for Kano's gameplan.
What other options do I have besides uppercut for this godly spaced jump-in that took an extraordinary amount of skill to space properly? Jump back air ball for a potential 9% into no oki and maybe even get hit out of the air ball? Jab to get full comboed? Walk back to sweep or low profile with d4 xx special cancel at a distance where it's no longer possible? Pre-emptive jump at my opponent to win an air-to-air trade with Kanos shitty jump attacks or YOLO air ball if you see them trying to walk back to evade your jump-in? Pre -emptive neutral jump to NJP? Kano's NJP doesn't even AA crossovers reliably ON A READ, opponents will go through it lol... a fundamental aspect of MK9 that did not carry over to MK X (NJP beats crossover jump every time in MK9). And mind you cyber/commando b1 still gets beat out by the better jump attacks in the game when the jump is properly spaced. My opponent only has to choose 1 option, the best jump attack at his disposal, moves that stay active for almost one third of a second, limbs out in front of the character, plenty of priority. If he beats me out he gets his heaviest damaging juggle. With upball I get 10% into a neutral knockdown that doesn't give oki, uppercut is a neutral KD as well. Lots of characters can convert into full combos if they hit Kano out of upball in the air.
The risk/reward of jumping is heavily in favour of the player doing the jumping. If you are Kung Jin, Kung Lao, Sonya, Scorpion, Quan Chi, Kitana or even Kotal, Ferra/Torr or Takeda. There is no reason not to either forward jump or fish for NJP's. Kano is gonna hit you out of the air for non-existent damage where as if you hit Kano, you get a fuckload of damage into all sorts of braindead offensive options.
Kano's specials are used for zoning/punishment and to extend combos. CT and Commando knives are supposed to keep the opponent in check, on the ground and duckwalking, mid-range Kanoball or bladeslice will hit people who don't duckwalk properly, Kanoball works as a punisher as well, air ball is a primarily a counter zoning tool but also works as a weak aerial mix-up and upball is supposed to be a an AA and a punisher. Right now upball isn't doing what it's supposed to do. I don't believe that the buff from 7 frames of start-up in MK9 to MK X's start-up of 6 frames warrants the move to become unreliable as an AA and have shit priority. Kung Lao still has his spin even though it's up from 6 frames to 7 in MKX. There are other characters as well that will murder you far more effectively for jumping than Kano.
Is it really too much to ask for Kano's upball to AA everything every single time? Ez-mode AA that does 10%, gives no oki and works 100% of the time? All properly working special moves with every damn character command respect, they are options you have to be aware that the opposing character has and you have to be aware of them 100% of the time, you disregard your opponents option to use their specials too many times, they will hit you with them, as simple as that. Why is upball an exception to this rule? Why is upball a fucking joke? AA laser is also useless as it is. A move designed exclusively for AA'ing and it is useless. Kotal got his AA throw fixed didn't he? Why can't we have ball attacks and AA laser fixed?
