I wish that if NRS wanted to make an assist game, they would have made a spinoff. I prefer straight up 1v1 fighters over anything, and MK has always been primarily this. I had that bad gut feeling that this wasn't the game for me back when "Kameo," and the idea of assists for this game first leaked.
I don't like the monetization, but can accept that it's the way of video games these days, outside of a few franchises.
I don't like the supers becoming available for being low health in any game. I think that's been talked about to death.
I don't like the lack of hard character arctypes. When everyone can do anything(with kameos) the game feels homogenized, even though there's many possible team options.
I wish MK would make a better Ranked Mode, and better online modes in general. The lack of content both aimed toward casual and competitive players is a huge L to me.
I don't like that the support for MK games is so short, but again, I know it's very profitable for them to release new games vs DLC.
I think the story, or more so, the writing has gotten really generic and not appealing. The story has beats that could be interesting, but they mostly aren't. I'm fine with a new era, but its mostly a similar era with some cool changes(Baraka, Reptile, Sindel) and some really awful ones(Raiden, Scorpion, Kitana).
I really think Mortal Kombat more than any other series benefits from leaning into the nostalgia of the 90s. Doom doesn't have rap now because that's what's considered edgy and cool in the mainstream, it's still metal. I feel MK has tried to sorta become pop instead of staying techno. Weird ass analogy, but maybe it makes sense to someone.
Also, I put over 1000 hours into MK1. I think I can have an opinion.