I would like to preface this with the fact I am not looking or interested in debating Top Tier Characters in this game. I am not attempting to begin or further any existing witch hunts, nor am I complaining about any character in particular. All I'm looking for is to have a civil discussion with peers regarding the creation or maintaining of Top Tier characters and the thought process behind them.
Now, it is no secret that certain characters throughout the course of this game have either come out of the gate very strong or have been made that way through patches/hot fixes. Examples of original higher tier characters would be the likes of Quan Chi, Raiden, Kung Lao, Jax etc. Whereas there characters who were made stronger over patches such as Takeda, Kano, Ferra Torr.
Some characters such as Scorpion, Raiden, Quan Chi as mentioned launched at higher levels and were then nerfed in some way. While others, D'Vorah, A-List Johnny Cage, Jax, were released at a higher tier and have either been further buffed in some ways, or left alone for the most part. What I'm mostly curious about is Why? To reiterate I'm not asking for any of these characters to be nerfed or 'normalized'. Though what is the thought process behind it? Are there some characters who are chosen to be top tier during the development process? If so is it a random choosing, or is there a purpose behind it? Or, does it just happen at random. Characters receive adjustments that Colt or another power determine are necessary and voila, you have a top Tier character? If a character remains at a very high level or is over buffed (in the opinion of some not all) what is the deciding factor to let the character remain as is, or be adjusted?
ex: (Not a witch hunt) A-List Cage is a very potent character in the right hands. Great D4, plus frame ex fireballs, a re-stand and multiple jailing block strings. A-List from what I know has been the same way he is now for some time, yet no adjustments were made to him like they were to other FBC type characters (Liu Kang, Erron Black) Was he originally planned to be this way? Or was this just his accepted nature at this point in the game?
I may never receive answers to these questions directly from NRS, which is fine. Though I'd be fine in talking with those in the Community whose roots in this franchise or others run deeper than mine.
What do you think?
