So how is everyone liking the overalll balance and the general mechanics/overall style of the game? I've been thinking of getting it but it seems there's some glaring issues that I'd rather just wait on.
As a new player my opinions are as follows:
Lag can pop up and people rage quit. I haven't had much trouble with MMing but I also haven't done a lot of MMing. Balance at low levels is perfectly fine but I understand as you get into high level play Warlord especially is prevelant and massively strong. Conq and Shugo are also monsters, but apparently Shugo isn't widely represented. However, the game is actively being balanced and I feel like they will address the current issues before long.. if they take it easy and don't go nuts they could pull the bottom characters up a little bit and the top characters down just a little bit, and we'd have a very nice mix. Again though, balance in the low, middle and almost high levels is quite good from what I've seen.
The game itself though.. is incredible. My focus is on duels and 2v2, and this will sound like an odd comparison, but FH is everything I wanted SFV to be.. in that it's a protracted neutral, where footies, mindgames, intelligence and knowledgeable play win matches. The game strikes an absolutely amazing balance between having hype, reflex-oriented moments, and carefully thought out, three moves ahead moments. Hitting a clutch parry or superior block counter or getting someone in your mix-ups and succeeding because you have conditioned them to think of.your offense as one thing, only.to switch it up in to something else, is one of the most satisfying feelings I've had in a fighting game on a long time.
The game absolutely isn't perfect, but the gsmeplay itself is superb, and to me, it's so good it was worth the price.of admission all by itself. I can deal with the other issues for the gameplay itself. Like anything though the test will come in how they address these issues and how they communicate with us. No matter how good a game is people will get worn down my problems but from what I've seen they have been pretty pro-active and have listened to the community on a number of things and changed them. So hopefully we have active devs with a budget, a soul and a pulse,.(coughallthingsthatsfvlackscoigh)