It didn’t need to be nerfed at all. And that’s an absolute TERRIBLE mindset to “nerf every move people use too often”. That’ll just lead once again to a completely boring game that no one has fun playing. The reason moves like Cyrax’s horizontal kopter chopper was so overused is because one, of course it’s a very good move and it’s versatile. But also, there’s no other Kameo move close to being as good. Especially when you factor in that upwards kopter chopper is also super good and useful. His other Kameo moves are not nearly as useful, his bomb for instance is never used and his net is rarely used. The reason is because both have way too long of a startup, aren’t versatile, AND using them takes away Kameo meter for the much MUCH stronger kopter chopper.
You don’t nerf moves that are used too often, you look at why they’re used as often as they are. For instance if it’s a Kameo move, instead of gutting that move that is used a lot, you’d understand why it was used so much, then you’d reexamine the other Kameos and their moves and why they’re hardly used. Then it’s a matter of fixing these Kameos and Kameo moves so that 1 Kameo and 1 Kameo move isn’t dominating the meta.
NRS seemingly doesn’t care about the competitive longevity of their games. So it’s MUCH easier for them to just gut whatever the overused move is so that they don’t have to worry about it again. This is an abysmal way to go about it if you, as I said, care about the competitive longevity of your game as well as the competitive integrity, freedom of expression, giving players more options not less, etc.
If how NRS games perform competitively have very little impact on their overall sales, why would they not be making balancing changes based on feedback from the competitive community? Like in games like the Souls series, and most recently Elden Ring. Multiple balance patches for the PvP in Elden Ring were almost a 1:1 from what the competitive community wanted and the decisions that were ultimately made. Of course, not everything that they comp community asked for or wanted was implemented, but a very large portion was, which showed very clearly that FromSoft cared about the competitive community and didn’t just do whatever they wanted based on the cries of scrubs. The PvP in Elden Ring or other Souls games is similar to the competitive scene in NRS games. In that the overwhelming majority of sales in NRS games are from casuals who probably will never play the game competitively at all, and a lot never even play the game online. And similarly, in FromSoft games, most of the playerbase never PvP, and only do so when they are forced to via the games system where if you summon other players to help you, that opens you up to be “invaded” by another player whose goal is to find and kill you. So, any balance changes they make to the PvP is solely for the small % of players that actually partake in the PvP. And an even smaller % that participates in the PvP competitively. They do this because the quality of their games matters to them, as well as the games longevity. And the PvP community who plays their games also matters to them.
Just wish NRS cared more about the quality and longevity of their games especially competitively.
How can this be true?