How Mortal Kombat 11's Custom Variations Will Work In Competitive Play

[portent]

Part 1 of my hope has come true.

Now I can only hope that any kustom variation we've seen so far that looks and feels remotely like MKX (I'm looking at you Misery Blade) are not equipped to any set/base loadout and MKX is eradicated from 11 entirely.

Hold that, unga bungas!

 

[Xanne]

Whelp... that’s too bad. Still excited to play the game but still feels like a letdown somehow. Could’ve been more interesting going with custom variations in my opinion on but I understand not wanting to take the risk.

 

[Juggs]

I would like to hear it officially from NRS. Also, if this is their decision, it was likely made because they thought it would be what tournament players wanted. I don’t think the majority want this, most people I’ve seen (that have actually played the game) want custom variations.

 

[Kroaken]

I would like to hear it officially from NRS. Also, if this is their decision, it was likely made because they thought it would be what tournament players wanted. I don’t think the majority want this, most people I’ve seen (that have actually played the game) want custom variations.

I was thinking that this was a bit of a weak way to finally give a definitive answer.

 

[Xelz]

Yeah.. No... You can turn your aguments on, and its up to your oponent to do the same. So fi you are both feeling (soap bar in my mouth) you can go for agumented match.

I hope you're right, and the Gameinformer quote suggests that, but when Edwards states that your opponent must "want to do that too" he may be referring to you both having decided to play in unranked rather than ranked. I haven't seen a quote yet that confirms augments will be disabled in unranked if I leave mine off but my opponent turns theirs on.

IIRC, in I2 my opponent could turn on their custom gear even if I disabled mine. We need clear confirmation that MK11 deviates from I2's precedent.

 

[chr1sam]

This is disappointing. They are limiting the ability of the players to be creative for the sake of balance. But we all know the balance is going to be shit anyways. Injustice 2 at launch had terrible balance without the extra moves. Hell, maybe the extra moves would have allowed some low tier characters to stand a fighting chance in that game.

All thats going to happen now is, some characters will have good preset variations...some won't. The ones that won't will have to beg big daddy NRS to make a variation with a specific set of moves that allows their character to be viable.

 

[Rathalos]

Just straight up the way the moves and game are designed, those presets are not going to make anyone happy.
Like if I was actually going to use Jade past the beta, all her variations sucked. She only felt decent when I found something that worked for me.

I would understand if they had issues with getting a UI up and running in time, but it's just a bad decision.
Kustom variations are kinda a huge part of the game right now, and to not use them is crazy.

 

[BlackShade]

Custom variations never appealed to me. Honestly, i would prefer if they got rid of the varations system altogether. They should also get rid of the useless moves that nobody is going to use and allow each character access to a core moveset. Just like the good old days.

 

[MadPropz101]

So fucking lame. Not having custom variations means that I will probably not play a lot of characters that I otherwise would.
GG NRS

 

[ismael4790]

I hate that they force you to play ranked to be able to play vs people with preset variations. There should be rooms for pvp and/or pvp matchmaking with preset variations too.

 

[legion666]

Paolo Garcia said that fixed variations will be the tournament standard to the Game Informer magazine on the 18th of January. And said that the preset variations will include all the moves, so nothing is left out of competitive play.
Months later NRS advertises the Kustom variation as the game’s standard on numerous Kombat Kasts, where they don’t even talk about preset variations (they don’t even exist at this point it seems). Instead we are only shown the variations Steve @16 Bit has created which, of course, makes everyone believe it is going to be different from MKX (there we were shown fixed preset variations in Kombat kasts)
When asked about the tournament standard directly Ed Boon says ( both on Kombat Kast and on C2E2 reveal) that they can’t talk about it at the moment and have something special planned for that.
Now they just state the same thing they said in January to the same magazine. I mean everyone reacted to it just fine in January, because they thought kustom stuff will be left to casuals just like in I2. Why go and not talk about preset variations for months, advertise kustom variations on Kombat Kasts, promise some special news concerning tournament standard, release a beta with kustom variations available in the online mode, and then just state the same thing all the way back from January ?!? Just to make everyone pissed about it this time around?!? Makes zero sense.

 

[just_2swift]

[QUOTE="Afumba, post: 2465626, mode for custom variations(with augments banned)[/QUOTE] IF INJUSTICE HAD THIS IT WOULDN'T HAVE DIED SO THANOS LIKE.

 

[pure.Wasted]

This is old news guys, Ed Boon confirmed that way back in december, january in an interview with AngryJoe. You can be only mad at yourself by now.

No he didn't. That is 100% not true.

He said they were LEANING toward making it preset. Not that that is how it was going to be.

And he said that before their marketing campaign/Kombat Kasts started, which featured custom variations exclusively, and before the beta came out, in which players used custom variations almost exclusively.

Last we heard, when people were asking Ed/Tyler point blank how it would be, they were saying "we haven't announced how it will be, wait and see."

 

[CrimsonShadow]

Paolo Garcia said that fixed variations will be the tournament standard to the Game Informer magazine on the 18th of January. And said that the preset variations will include all the moves, so nothing is left out of competitive play.
Months later NRS advertises the Kustom variation as the game’s standard on numerous Kombat Kasts, where they don’t even talk about preset variations (they don’t even exist at this point it seems). Instead we are only shown the variations Steve @16 Bit has created which, of course, makes everyone believe it is going to be different from MKX (there we were shown fixed preset variations in Kombat kasts).

First, they didn't "advertise" anything as the game's standard -- they specifically said that they wouldn't be discussing that.

And second, it's probably because variations were still in flux, and if they showed specific variations the community would go nuts trying to set them in stone and gameplan before they were even ready to go. I'll bet that they assumed that people were mature enough to handle this for the time being, while they played things a lot internally and figured out the best way to divide up the moves. Apparently they guessed wrong, and were screwed either way, as very few people understand "pre-release" and will complain endlessly if things don't end up the way they thought they would from -1 month gameplay.

 

[LDA_DIgi]

Guys you have to remember that its up to the tournament t.o's and admin to decide on the rulesets for their local, regional, online, and major events.

Nrs provides the tools, but you...the players...create the blue prints and carry it out. Now by "players", i mean tournament players.

Obviously, what im about to say doesnt apply to casual players:

If nrs creates a UI to allow players to quickly set up character's abilities to create a kustom variation, then thats wonderful. And will quickly save the most amount of time. You dont get to edit the name of the variation. It should say "kustom variation" by default (this prevents players from saying rude/lewd/offensive things titling their load out).

Having visial icons for the kustom loadout, would be nice. But its not necessary.

Well for one: not everyone will know or remember every single preset variation in the game with every character. and which moves are tied to it. U dont know or remember if unique strings or amplifiers have been added to it.

And no one expects you too.

Thats a lot to remember from over 24 characters in the game.

You play and adapt on the fly. If you did that in mkx, you surely can do it in mk11.

So the difference is, with kustom variations....you see right there what your opponent equipped...its fresh in your mind. You'll know what to prepare for.

I dont see the issue here. And you treat it just like the preset variations, you adapt on the fly.

If there isn't a UI present in the character select screen to create kustom variations:

Then that would make things take a lil extra time.

To control this the t.o gives players 20 seconds to kreate their kustom variation (only one, may counter pick with preset variation. But that means you CANNOT go back to make another kustom variation). They should also use this time to configure their controller as well and do a quick button check.

And then they're off to start the match.

But anyways, the point of my post:

Is that it's ultimately up to the tournament t.os if kustom variations are used or not in competitive play.

Any tournament i run here in racine, wi or at any major tournament that im apart of or will play in...WILL ALLOW kustom variations UNTIL THEY ARE PROVEN BROKEN/UNFAIR/UNJUST for competitive play.

I dont see any negatives in using kustom variations, other than time contraints. If we can minimize that with appropriate rules and cooperation from the players. Then everyone will win and things will go smoothly

 

[dribirut]

I really dont understand the "balance" argument made for not having custom variations for competitive play. We had literally zero issues with balance with the 5 characters that were included in the beta. 0 broken combinations, specials, overall characters... Let me repeat that.. 0..

 

[CrimsonShadow]

Guys you have to remember that its up to the tournament t.o's and admin to decide on the rulesets for their local, regional, online, and major events.

Not for anything related to the pro tour -- and it doesn't make since for other majors to not follow suit with the pro tour, which will set the tournament standard.

 

[just_2swift]

Exactly. People already know what they want to pick. They’re not gonna just stare at you and see what you pick first. And if they do... so what? How is that any different than variation counter-picking? Or full characters? It’s not like the select screen will stay on all day.

Make it blind pick online idk about the tournament scene but as we can see in the GIF that's not a big issue.

 

[OzzFoxx]

Seriously. Fuck. This.

 

[xWildx]

It would NOT have been hard to put the custom variations on the character select menu.

DOA lets you pick a costume, hair, glasses, etc. from character select and it’s easy as fuck. It would take no longer for people to go in and quickly choose their specials. Have randomized gear on too, then get in there.

This is just moronic.

 

[CrimsonShadow]

Also, if this is their decision, it was likely made because they thought it would be what tournament players wanted. I don’t think the majority want this, most people I’ve seen (that have actually played the game) want custom variations.

Or they built the game, played it for thousands of hours, tested things in numerous ways and came to the conclusion that this was the best path to take for balance and tournament integrity. Rather than reading Twitter to let 10-20 people who've played the game for less than a week make the call for them.

 

[LDA_DIgi]

Not for anything related to the pro tour -- and it doesn't make since for other majors to not follow suit with the pro tour, which will set the tournament standard.

We have to create that standard ruleset first.

But who ultimately gets to do that?

The community. And it sounds like its gonna be divided on using kustoms or not.

So thus I think its the tournament t.o's/tourney admin's job to decide whats best for their players. and it might vary from tournament to tournament.

Im actually okay with this. Cause id like to see variety for once.

 

[CrimsonShadow]

We have to create that standard ruleset first.

But who ultimately gets to do that?

The community. And it sounds like its gonna be divided on using kustoms or not.

So thus I think its the tournament t.o's/tourney admin's job to decide whats best for their players. and it might vary from tournament to tournament.

Im actually okay with this. Cause id like to see variety for once.

That's not how it works. NRS will set the ruleset for their events and everyone else will follow suit. I accept that you might be new and not know this -- but this is an established thing now for multiple games running.

 

[MikeBreezy92]

Or they built the game, played it for thousands of hours, tested things in numerous ways and came to the conclusion that this was the best path to take for balance and tournament integrity. Rather than reading Twitter to let 10-20 people who've played the game for less than a week make the call for them.

The Devs don't always know best either.

 

[pure.Wasted]

Or they built the game, played it for thousands of hours, tested things in numerous ways and came to the conclusion that this was the best path to take for balance and tournament integrity. Rather than reading Twitter to let a bunch of people who've played the game for less than a week make the call for them.

They backtracked about amplify buttons within several weeks of reveal day, they backtracked about dash speeds two weeks ago, and your argument is "the devs know everything better than the community and we should trust them implicitly"? Really...? They make mistakes.

And judging by the reactions on TYM, r/MK, and Twitter, this was a big one.