I think I'm starting to see a pattern here that all character mains (including myself) are guilty of. Something that sounds obvious! But something that I think needs to be addressed in order for this game and community to flourish.
Tl;dr Most character mains are biased towards their specific character because of their character's particular inherit flaws (that may or may not be completely obvious to others), while also ignoring other character's specific flaws and only focusing on the that particular character's specific strengths. Aka not labbing.
When anyone picks up a character a couple things become very apparent to that person after some time; e.g. What that character can and cannot do, or what the character does and doesn't excel at. I think most if not all fighting games follow that sort of min/max philosophy to better balance characters. Keeping that in mind, knowing personally what's bad about your character, what match ups to avoid, or what your character lacks and cannot do. Some people start to build this sorta philosophy "If my character can't perform X, Y, or Z like these other characters, or loses to X, Y, or Z character then my character isn't that bad in comparison to the others and should not be adjusted." This can be true for some characters. But not all. Some characters either truly have every tool with no downsides, a few tools that are too overwhelming to deal with in conjunction with one another, or a specific tool that works way too well by itself. Either situation breaks the game. A few losing match ups doesn't mean the character is 'balanced' per se either tbh. It could just mean that one other character's 'broken' tools work better against that specific character's 'broken' tools. I use the word 'broken' lightly here. I understand that every character needs some form of 'dirt' to keep things fun and interesting. Something that works very well for the character that stands out. But some characters truly do have too much 'dirt' and need to be adjusted.
What I'm trying to suggest here is that for everyone to stop looking at their own character with rose-colored glasses and just admit it if that character has some truly BS tools. The game can reach a better balance sooner that way. NRS' balancing attempts, while admittedly very good so far, haven't addressed every problem string or tool yet. Some are strings/tools are too overwhelming in conjunction with one another to the point where any inherit flaws that the character may have become a moot point. But since the game is only a few months old it's expected. It's a damn miracle it's even as balanced as well as it is right now. NRS truly deserves more credit for how well they've been handling balancing the game so far. But in order for things to truly be 'balanced' (in a way that's fair but still fun) we're all going to have to be honest with our characters.
