NRS Speaks and Confirms MK11 is Officially Done

[xX_APO_Prince_Xx]

Not to forget "the fans" begging for her since Kombat Kast

Yeah, even tho I'm grateful they added her in, I was never feeling the whole teasing and way Ed was dismissing her fan demand, I felt that was kinda lame imo. I honestly feel like them ending support for their games(NRS) is a way for them to quickly keep making titles so they can continue to make money, they did that with MKX where they make an XL version but then they quickly dropped that, and Injustice 2 felt like it wasn't even out a full three years before they stopped after Star, Enchantress and the TMNTs and HellBoy. That's why I haven't even bought MK11 because it's like what's the point if they'll end support within the blink of an eye?

I hope with 12 they don't do this again because it's really pissing me off. I come from the DOA community and DOA6 did that quick end support thing and I'm just not here for it...

 

[superbn0va]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1411006897868578821

Literally the best tweet NRS ever dropped. The game is beyond saving lol

 

[Deleted member 5032]

If they would have just tuned a few of the over/under-performing characters and added some recovery after breaker so you can't get punished for hitting your opponent, it would actually be a very solid game. It was a mistake to drop support so soon after allowing kustoms. Air-Gas Kabal is legit broken.

 

[Juxtapose]

... they did that with MKX where they make an XL version but then they quickly dropped that...

As I recall, "XL" released late January or early February 2016. Support for the game ended October 2016, a few months after Injustice 2 was announced. I wouldn't say that was "quickly dropped."

If they would have just tuned a few of the over/under-performing characters and added some recovery after breaker so you can't get punished for hitting your opponent, it would actually be a very solid game. It was a mistake to drop support so soon after allowing kustoms. Air-Gas Kabal is legit broken.

Agreed. I didn't expect an overhaul of the game at this point, but there were definitely some base-adjustments that would have been a huge benefit. I still believe that it wasn't NetherRealm's decision directly to move on just yet, though.

 

[Arqwart]

If they would have just tuned a few of the over/under-performing characters and added some recovery after breaker so you can't get punished for hitting your opponent, it would actually be a very solid game. It was a mistake to drop support so soon after allowing kustoms. Air-Gas Kabal is legit broken.

I know everyone throws out the "Just one more patch..." idea, especially concerning MK9; however, I do honestly feel that way about MK11. As much as I disliked MKX, NRS did their damndest to get things to a good spot for most every character and ~90-95% of variations in the game. While I find end of life cycle MK11 more balanced than end of life cycle MKX, how the custom variation system was left by the end will go down as the biggest disgrace for the game's history in my opinion. A final patch dedicated to rebalancing all variation moves to bring as many of them into viability as possible (and bring down the egregiously powerful ones) would have solidified MK11 as a fantastic game. Instead, they just left the custom variation system to rot, putting the final nail in the coffin of a game they let fizzle out and die a slow, silent death. What a stupid waste of potential.

 

[Barakall]

I know everyone throws out the "Just one more patch..." idea, especially concerning MK9; however, I do honestly feel that way about MK11. As much as I disliked MKX, NRS did their damndest to get things to a good spot for most every character and ~90-95% of variations in the game. While I find end of life cycle MK11 more balanced than end of life cycle MKX, how the custom variation system was left by the end will go down as the biggest disgrace for the game's history in my opinion. A final patch dedicated to rebalancing all variation moves to bring as many of them into viability as possible (and bring down the egregiously powerful ones) would have solidified MK11 as a fantastic game. Instead, they just left the custom variation system to rot, putting the final nail in the coffin of a game they let fizzle out and die a slow, silent death. What a stupid waste of potential.

It shows they really don’t give a fuck about fans experience. I mean, how hard is it to add some extra slots and balance things out as you say? The whole ending w/ KP2 was awful and a cash grab. Should’ve just stopped after Aftermath w/ a great balance, more slots etc.

 

[Deleted member 66057]

If they would have just tuned a few of the over/under-performing characters and added some recovery after breaker so you can't get punished for hitting your opponent, it would actually be a very solid game. It was a mistake to drop support so soon after allowing kustoms. Air-Gas Kabal is legit broken.

There's legit no flawless block between two jump kicks... so that's technically correct considering the game's mechanics.

 

[CrimsonShadow]

how hard is it to add some extra slots and balance things out as you say?

One of the craziest things I've seen in recent years is people convincing themselves that balancing fighting games isn't hard

 

[Eji1700]

A shame they never really "made it work" imo. Just felt so dry from day 1. Oh well. On to the next. I hope that they at least back away from this spreadsheet balance nonsense.

 

[Lt. Boxy Angelman]

This game as a worthwhile and fulfilling experience was doomed the moment they revealed that custom variations was a lie.

I said it during the Beta, I said it all of Year One, I said when we finally got the Third Variation patch just for it to introduce us to Upgraded Jacqui, and all I heard was "BuT AnGeL, look how much it's sold and how many people are watching! Everything is fine! This game is GREAT!"

Yeah.
We see how that turned out.
Pardon my French, but good fucking riddance.
MK11 is the fighting game equivalent of a woman of unparalleled beauty, who believes with all of her heart that the Earth is flat, and that anyone who disagrees with her is just a hater.
Bring on Injustice 3.

 

[trufenix]

Shameless REO post, bittersweet khaotic post, a couple outrageous comparisons to mk9 from people who obviously never fought Kabal or Kenshi, and somebody officially asked for "one last patch". If we get a 16bit dolphin post that's a TYM bingo.

 

[Arqwart]

Shameless REO post, bittersweet khaotic post, a couple outrageous comparisons to mk9 from people who obviously never fought Kabal or Kenshi, and somebody officially asked for "one last patch". If we get a 16bit dolphin post that's a TYM bingo.

Honestly, my thought is there didn't even need to be "one more patch" technically. There were three different opportunities for them to make the custom variation system not a shitshow. None of those opportunities were taken.

 

[Hellbringer]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1437547089320316929

 

[Revy]

To me it felt like NRS did everything in their power to ruin the game every step of the way since early developer social media interactions when it was first announced but little did we know the game was already fucked from the get-go. With a shit-ton of bad publicity was released about the extreme crunch, how poorly paid temporary staff were while treated horribly & the game being incomplete by I think it was 6 months behind at launch & it was before COVID-19 so the Cyberpunk 2077 excuse doesn't work here.

You have to be seriously delusional to think MK11 follows the typical "one more patch" whine that follows after the end of every other NRS title while it's actually true for MK9 & MKXL if someone actually competent did the patch but MK11 is like dropping a glass that shattered on the floor, no matter how many pieces you struggle gluing back together it's never going to be completely fixed & be the same, you're better off simply replacing it.

 

[Juxtapose]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1437547089320316929

Yup. At the end of the day, don't complain about something being broken, ask how you can improve at it, how you can use the tools available to you, and how you can meet the challenges you face.

Of course, if you're not keen on a game and it's systems/design, it's better to move on to a title you do enjoy instead of forcing yourself to play something you don't.

 

[trufenix]

Honestly, my thought is there didn't even need to be "one more patch" technically. There were three different opportunities for them to make the custom variation system not a shitshow. None of those opportunities were taken.

They were / are a shit show? This is news to me.

 

[trufenix]

Did the meaning of the words successful or popular or good change at some point? There seems to be confusion in here.

 

[Deleted member 5032]

They were / are a shit show? This is news to me.

I don't know about "shit-show", but there are certainly some big issues present due to how kustoms were implemented. Some abilities being non-legal for dumb reasons, some bad moves being 2-slot while some broken moves are still 1-slot. Allowing characters like Kabal to access much better default moves by not taking bad moves from their kompetitive variations, essentially giving these characters an extra free special move (talking about straight air buzzsaw and downward air buzzsaw). I believe there are plenty of valid complaints about the current variation system.

 

[Deleted member 66057]

To me it felt like NRS did everything in their power to ruin the game every step of the way since early developer social media interactions when it was first announced but little did we know the game was already fucked from the get-go. With a shit-ton of bad publicity was released about the extreme crunch, how poorly paid temporary staff were while treated horribly & the game being incomplete by I think it was 6 months behind at launch & it was before COVID-19 so the Cyberpunk 2077 excuse doesn't work here.

You have to be seriously delusional to think MK11 follows the typical "one more patch" whine that follows after the end of every other NRS title while it's actually true for MK9 & MKXL if someone actually competent did the patch but MK11 is like dropping a glass that shattered on the floor, no matter how many pieces you struggle gluing back together it's never going to be completely fixed & be the same, you're better off simply replacing it.

Now we’re talking. This game and NRS deserve all the vitriol in the world for leaving it like this. It has literally conditioned players to neutral duck or jump at every available opportunity. Everything you’re taught in other fighting games not to do… you’re conditioned to do in this one. It’s like they called a conference of WiFi scorpion players and asked them their thoughts of how to develop the meta. I’m about positivity and showing respect moving forward, but they‘ve given no indication that they’re ready to move on from the cryptic nonsense and Boon’s trolling, the latter of which reached a tipping point when he called players entitled for wanting a finished product.

 

[Barakall]

We should've seen it coming when we found out about crunching and a toxic hyper-masculine bullying environment at NRS, that is not a great workplace and I rather they never release a game anymore if that means better working conditions and a place where Stephanie is comfortable. Maybe because she's an OG she's cool there, but cannot imagine it being that great even for her. This game was released unfinished and rushed, that 99% of the time just never works out.

 

[trufenix]

I don't know about "shit-show", but there are certainly some big issues present due to how kustoms were implemented. Some abilities being non-legal for dumb reasons, some bad moves being 2-slot while some broken moves are still 1-slot. Allowing characters like Kabal to access much better default moves by not taking bad moves from their kompetitive variations, essentially giving these characters an extra free special move (talking about straight air buzzsaw and downward air buzzsaw). I believe there are plenty of valid complaints about the current variation system.

I mean, that just sounds like balancing a fighting game to me, which overall MK11 did pretty good. SF5 has shitty V-skills, Injustice has shitty traits, Marvel has shitty assists, MKX has shitty armor, and MK11 has shitty custom moves, that's all baked into the tier list, or its supposed to be. And we all know NRS is known for putting hot useless gimmicky garbage in their games, as we saw with literally everything thankfully banned custom move in Injustice 2.

But whats really shocking is that y'all don't remember the "only 2 shitty builds" version of MK11 we launch with. The one that didn't have gas leap kabal, or crazy legs jacqui, or shang with morphs, or a functional Frost / Kano / Shao build in ranked at all because there were NO customs and NRS didn't have time to balance half the moves.

That they didn't have to go back and rip it all out or even nerf a single custom move to the ground (I don't think?) is the absolute opposite of a shit show, IMO. MKX had characters like Kung Lao and Liu Kang (all 3 variations good) and Ermac and Reptile (maybe 1 good variation, maybe). This is an absolute win.

 

[Deleted member 5032]

I mean, that just sounds like balancing a fighting game to me, which overall MK11 did pretty good. SF5 has shitty V-skills, Injustice has shitty traits, Marvel has shitty assists, MKX has shitty armor, and MK11 has shitty custom moves, that's all baked into the tier list, or its supposed to be. And we all know NRS is known for putting hot useless gimmicky garbage in their games, as we saw with literally everything thankfully banned custom move in Injustice 2.

But whats really shocking is that y'all don't remember the "only 2 shitty builds" version of MK11 we launch with. The one that didn't have gas leap kabal, or crazy legs jacqui, or shang with morphs, or a functional Frost / Kano / Shao build in ranked at all because there were NO customs and NRS didn't have time to balance half the moves.

That they didn't have to go back and rip it all out or even nerf a single custom move to the ground (I don't think?) is the absolute opposite of a shit show, IMO. MKX had characters like Kung Lao and Liu Kang (all 3 variations good) and Ermac and Reptile (maybe 1 good variation, maybe). This is an absolute win.

Those are solid points. I suppose my issue is that the game launched with the purposeful design of no kompetitive kustoms, and the tournament variations were designed with that in mind. Like, if you wanted to use one of Kabal's variations, it forced you to replace his amazing Downward Air Buzzsaw with the less-useful Straight Air Buzzsaw. Same with Sub and his slide, along with many other characters. It was a give-and-take that went beyond just slot costs, and these variations were specifically designed to be competitive.

So, one day they change their mind and decide to allow kustoms in kompetitive. That's awesome, but the game wasn't designed to support that switch, so to make the switch with no serious adjustments seems like they kind of half-assed it. They said "here you go, here's a few frame adjustments, aaaaand we're ending support, good luck!". So, now, if you play Kabal, you can ditch Straight Buzzsaw to get access to the better move, all while freeing up an additional slot. Same with Sub and these other characters who previously had to give up something good to get something else good. Now, they just get everything they want.

I do think MK11 is overall a much more balanced game than other fighters, but I believe what balancing issues do exist stim mostly from these issues with how kustoms were handled.

 

[DeftMonk]

I mean, that just sounds like balancing a fighting game to me, which overall MK11 did pretty good. SF5 has shitty V-skills, Injustice has shitty traits, Marvel has shitty assists, MKX has shitty armor, and MK11 has shitty custom moves, that's all baked into the tier list, or its supposed to be. And we all know NRS is known for putting hot useless gimmicky garbage in their games, as we saw with literally everything thankfully banned custom move in Injustice 2.

But whats really shocking is that y'all don't remember the "only 2 shitty builds" version of MK11 we launch with. The one that didn't have gas leap kabal, or crazy legs jacqui, or shang with morphs, or a functional Frost / Kano / Shao build in ranked at all because there were NO customs and NRS didn't have time to balance half the moves.

That they didn't have to go back and rip it all out or even nerf a single custom move to the ground (I don't think?) is the absolute opposite of a shit show, IMO. MKX had characters like Kung Lao and Liu Kang (all 3 variations good) and Ermac and Reptile (maybe 1 good variation, maybe). This is an absolute win.

Sounds more like mk11 was promised custom variations out of the gate then only recieved it as development almost ended. Then they made no attempt to attack the challenge of balancing it at all and peaced out.

 

[Deleted member 66057]

Those are solid points. I suppose my issue is that the game launched with the purposeful design of no kompetitive kustoms, and the tournament variations were designed with that in mind. Like, if you wanted to use one of Kabal's variations, it forced you to replace his amazing Downward Air Buzzsaw with the less-useful Straight Air Buzzsaw. Same with Sub and his slide, along with many other characters. It was a give-and-take that went beyond just slot costs, and these variations were specifically designed to be competitive.

So, one day they change their mind and decide to allow kustoms in kompetitive. That's awesome, but the game wasn't designed to support that switch, so to make the switch with no serious adjustments seems like they kind of half-assed it. They said "here you go, here's a few frame adjustments, aaaaand we're ending support, good luck!". So, now, if you play Kabal, you can ditch Straight Buzzsaw to get access to the better move, all while freeing up an additional slot. Same with Sub and these other characters who previously had to give up something good to get something else good. Now, they just get everything they want.

I do think MK11 is overall a much more balanced game than other fighters, but I believe what balancing issues do exist stim mostly from these issues with how kustoms were handled.

The core mechanics of the game though are those of someone seemingly upset at the idea of losing fair and square. So we have things like universal wakeup smoke towards (sorry wake up forward roll), fatal blow pushback, and break away punishes. It's like when Sakurai gets upset when Smash is called anything other than a party game... it's almost like they consulted him. I do agree with you that I think the roster is fairly balanced compared to other fighters... the fundamental mechanics of the game are just such a slap in the face to anyone who takes fighting games seriously it's a tough pill to swallow. I've been playing it again the last 2 days and it's really hard to go from MKX to this. It's more of an exercise in patience than the fast paced chess experience of other fighters.

 

[Marlow]

If you win in MK11 you’ve earned it. If you lose in MK11 you’ve earned that too. Game is as fair as any other.