Injustice 2 will possibly receive more patches than MKX

[C-Sword]

Seems like a handful of god-tier builds would bubble to the top. How do you keep players from clustering around a small number of optimal builds?

We have a balance team for that. We're also going to have a live team in place, and their job is to sit there throughout the lifespan of the game and do nothing but work with pro players, listen to the community, and make adjustments on the fly.

So we've actually increased the frequency with which we can update, even from what we could do with Mortal Kombat X, so we can make changes to these thousands and thousands of pieces of gear, the special abilities, and so forth.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/275114/Qamp_A_Injustice_2_and_the_balancing_act_of_adding_gear_to_a_fighting_game.php

@Icepick

 

[Eldriken]

I'm sure this will receive mixed feelings.

My only issue is the balancing of the thousands and thousands (it's likely actually so far beyond that it's ridiculous) of pieces of gear. Unless they have some type of algorithm that modifies the same stat on all the items across the board, it could possibly take them a lot of time and effort to balance them accordingly. End result? Possibly less time on character balance (this includes traits) and various other things.

This is just the pessimistic side of me. It may not be an issue at all. But either way, more patches than MKX isn't gonna sit well with some folks.

 

[Hini]

I wouldnt worry, the people who would do the character balances would probably not be involved in the item balancing.

 

[Eldriken]

I wouldnt worry, the people who would do the character balances would probably not be involved in the item balancing.

That would be great if it's the case. Let's hope so.

 

[Arzumis]

Is the gear even going to affect competitive play?i was under the impression a tournament mode where no gear is allowed is what wed be playing.

 

[Perdition]

This "gear" shit really makes me nervous about the balancing. NRSs "balancing team" sucked for MKX, hopefully there's some open minded and thorough new guy....because now balancing and resolving bugs is doubled with the way the system sounds. Surprise me, NRS team. Have competent balancing this time around. And stop releasing broken characters with the "nerf later" mindset. It is a disgusting way to help sell DLC. But hey, capitalism, I get it.

 

[Eldriken]

Is the gear even going to affect competitive play?i was under the impression a tournament mode where no gear is allowed is what wed be playing.

I don't think it is going to affect competitive play.

 

[Rathalos]

I wouldn't be surprised.

The more people complain about patching the more they seem to patch the games.

Unless something changes, I expect the same fate that happened to MK9, Injustice, and MKX to happen to I2.

 

[Daemantalo]

"NRS needs to pay more attention to their game and support it with patches!"
*A patch comes*
"Why the fuck did you patch the game? Don't you know this hurts the tournament scene?"

Sigh.

 

[Rathalos]

Because they patch too quickly too often.

They need to spread their patches out, and give the game a chance to breath.

The constant patching also hurts the fair weather fans who go to tournaments, as they can no longer keep up with the game.

 

[BowTheDeceitful]

since Netherrealm did classic skins for MKX think they will do classic skins for I2 with new patches?

 

[Eldriken]

It's not the amount of patches, it's the rate at which they are released.

 

[Harlequin969]

The fact that they said they would work with pro players has me feeling optimistic about that live team. They hear us and now they're going to put the best foot forward from Day 1 forward

 

[Arzumis]

I think people would be more happy if they released only a few big patches rather than many small patches and only hotfix bugs and glitches.

 

[Evil Canadian]

yes more patches

MORE PATCHES

put it into my veins

 

[Trauma_and_Pain]

I'm sure this will receive mixed feelings.

My only issue is the balancing of the thousands and thousands (it's likely actually so far beyond that it's ridiculous) of pieces of gear. Unless they have some type of algorithm that modifies the same stat on all the items across the board, it could possibly take them a lot of time and effort to balance them accordingly. End result? Possibly less time on character balance (this includes traits) and various other things.

This is just the pessimistic side of me. It may not be an issue at all. But either way, more patches than MKX isn't gonna sit well with some folks.

The impression is that it's the Diablo loot system. So let's say Supergirl has an [Anal Bead Necklace]. I think it'll have a property range, so anywhere from +4 to +18 Strength and anywhere from +2% to +8% Interactable Damage. What the gear has is just random within that property range.

Balancing is simply a matter of tweaking those ranges; from a programmer's perspective, it's as easy as changing a +4 to a +6.

When they say "thousands of different pieces of gear", what that actually means is one [Anal Bead Necklace] with +4 Strength & +2% Interactable Damage, and another [Anal Bead Necklace] with +12 Strength & +6% Interactable Damage. They're technically different versions of the same gear item.

What that means is they don't have to rebalance thousands of gear items manually. Probably just a handful of pieces per character.

 

[WarlordRenegade]

This game is going to either be the best thing to happen to our community or the worst.
If they allow gear in tournament play or don't offer a "tournament setting" that disables the gear completely this game is going to be a laughing stock at majors/Evo period.

 

[thesacrifist]

The impression is that it's the Diablo loot system. So let's say Supergirl has an [Anal Bead Necklace]. I think it'll have a property range, so anywhere from +4 to +18 Strength and anywhere from +2% to +8% Interactable Damage. What the gear has is just random within that property range.

Balancing is simply a matter of tweaking those ranges; from a programmer's perspective, it's as easy as changing a +4 to a +6.

When they say "thousands of different pieces of gear", what that actually means is one [Anal Bead Necklace] with +4 Strength & +2% Interactable Damage, and another [Anal Bead Necklace] with +12 Strength & +6% Interactable Damage. They're technically different versions of the same gear item.

What that means is they don't have to rebalance thousands of gear items manually. Probably just a handful of pieces per character.

Didn't Ed Boon say in one of the E3 interviews something akin to "yeah there are literally thousands of items, and millions of permutations of those again"

What you are describing has to be what he meant with permutations, which leads me to believe there will absolutely be an absurd amount of items.

Remember, they probably won't have alternate costumes with this game, instead using all the time required to model and create 50ish alternate costumes on smaller pieces and modifications of those. For a modeller creating a base crown with say one horn and one gem ornament on it is a good basis for creating a "different" crown with a different tint, with three horns and no gem on it so it is actually possible to have them pump out absurd numbers of models like this

 

[shura30]

or they could simply organize things a little better this time

drop a patch, wait a fixed amount of time, rebalance

they should schedule changes with an actual road map, this would work better for them, for gen pop and tournament players
monthly, bimonthly whatever, as soo as it isn't random anymore so you pick a character today because it's the flavour of the month just to see it patched away the day after

 

[Trauma_and_Pain]

This game is going to either be the best thing to happen to our community or the worst.
If they allow gear in tournament play or don't offer a "tournament setting" that disables the gear completely this game is going to be a laughing stock at majors/Evo period.

I'm not concerned about it at all. Boon already said it would have such a mode, and even if it didn't, it would simply come down to tournament rules for choosing a vanilla character.

Didn't Ed Boon say in one of the E3 interviews something akin to "yeah there are literally thousands of items, and millions of permutations of those again"

What you are describing has to be what he meant with permutations, which leads me to believe there will absolutely be an absurd amount of items.

Remember, they probably won't have alternate costumes with this game, instead using all the time required to model and create 50ish alternate costumes on smaller pieces and modifications of those. For a modeller creating a base crown with say one horn and one gem ornament on it is a good basis for creating a "different" crown with a different tint, with three horns and no gem on it so it is actually possible to have them pump out absurd numbers of models like this

Maybe. Just speculation at this point. I'm not too concerned about it in any case because:

1. I don't plan on caring about gear very much/at all. It will only be used in casual matches or against AI
2. Boon said there will be a dedicated team to balancing which will communicate with pro players, for the game's life

 

[CrimsonShadow]

Let's stop the patch hysteria.

Overwatch was just patched, a couple weeks after release. Life went on, absolutely no one complained, everyone just hopped back into the game, adjusted and went at it.

The FGC has some growing up to do

 

[omooba]

all i ask is for the option to ignore the gear changes. don't want to have to deal with the extra variables
imma counter pick your character with this character
imma counter pick your counter pick character with this fly jacket
imma counter pick your counter pick jacket with these jordans
when will it end

 

[Scoot Magee]

I think the most important thing right now is to make sure the game is ready to play on its release. I'm not sure how practical that is but so far every nrs game has launched with a lot of nonsense that people cry about. If we can get a build to last a good year before a patch I think that would be optimum.

 

[SaJa]

They could at least put a new online patch for igau1 on newgen. :/

 

[Pterodactyl]

I can see why the more competitive minded players would want less patching but I love how often they patch their games as it usually feels like a breathe of fresh air for a lot of characters.

I'd hate for it to be like Street Fighter where Gief has been hot garbage for 6 and a half months and hasn't had a drop of improvement since and probably won't until next year.