I tried to make an effort to think about these questions with the community and the prolonged competitive health of the game in mind, have been discussing the game and mechanics with other players, and will give my open and honest opinion while attempting to explain my answers.
It seems important for this community to bear in mind that there should be a balance between asking for changes too quickly before the game is thoroughly explored in its presented state and staying silent or being complacent about (potential) problems that could be costly for the game's eventual competitive quality or frustrating to the players if they are changed after release.
That, said, I sincerely hope that @16 Bit and the NRS crew – who have done an amazing job with MK11 thus far, and seem to have a mindful and clear vision for the game – will consider the feedback that has been given in this thread.
1. Do you like the breakaway mechanic?
In the matches that I've played and seen, the mechanics seems fine, especially when considering that it expends a lot of resources. It does seem like something to watch closely, though, and I feel tweaking it might end up being necessary; for example, if the wakeup recovery after performing Breakaway were increased in to prevent punishes after Breakaway, or if only one per round or one per game were allowed. Even that, though, is not something I would necessarily suggest to be implemented until we see how the mechanic plays out in its current form.
2. Should combo breakers return?
If they did, they would have to replace Breakaway, which might (or might not) not be preferable.
3. Should chip damage kill?
Yes. There are a number of defensive options to avoid chip already.
4. Should Fatal Blows be full combo punishable (e.g., -30 to -40 frames on block)?
Probably. They already seem to be unsafe, but making them more unsafe might be necessary.
5. Should the cooldown/timing for fatal blows be changed?
The cooldown seems pretty fair, especially if they end up being very unsafe.
6. Should fatal blow damage decrease?
Maybe just a bit for raw Fatal Blow. It already scales in combos in a way that seems reasonable (for now).
7. Should damage over time (DOT) attacks be able to kill?
I prefer if it doesn't, but would not be outraged if it does.
8. Should the popup damage after a flawless block be scaled down to reduce damage?
It totally depends upon how difficult it ends up being, what level of resources it will require, and the risk. It seems fine as it is for now, but very few playes are doing this. However, players will become better at it, and it may end up making simple pressure very volatile whenever someone is defending and has meter. In this case, having it scale, at least to some extent, would make sense. It might also be best to add some risk to attempting instant block (like Slashback in Guilty Gear) where one can only attempt it so much, or it costs resources to attempt. The game really needs to be played more by the community before we'll know for sure if this should be changed at all, though.
9. Should Dash Speed Be Increased (Pretend Ed Boon didn’t confirm movement would be buffed on release)?
Slightly. As it was in the stress test beta, it almost felt like dash wasn't worth using. It would be a shame to see dash become so strong that neutral movement doesn't feel nice and calculated as it did in that beta, but improving dash to the extent that it can be a considerable factor would be nice.
10. Should Walk Speed Be Increased (Pretend Ed Boon didn’t confirm movement would be buffed on release)?
No. Walk speeds feel nice, and are enough to control space and play neutral.
11. Should jumps be less floaty (for example, by increasing overall jump speed)?
No way. Especially considering how good certain jump normals are, the jumps are a very reasonable speed – they can be used to start pressure or get damage against big commitments and mistakes, but are reactable by those who are vigilant.
12. Should neutral jump punch launches return?
Nah.
13. RANDOM: Should MK11 allow custom variations in competitive play?
This may end up making the most sense and allowing greater freedom in the game. For it to be implemented, there will need to be a quick way to select these in tournament mode, and a way for the selections to be easily conveyed to the opposing player. Perhaps it would be enough to have them selectable on the character select screen and to have the moves shown with the names and silhouetted animations for each move there and on the loading screen.
14. RANDOM: Should MK11 Tournaments run a best 3 out of 5 round format (at a minimum) for all matches?
While having extended sets is great, this will not be practical for many tournaments, and doesn't feel necessary for this game due to its match length, pacing, amount of player interactions per round, and level of "random factor". In other words, it feels like 2/3 will be sufficiently decisive for pool play and for non-finals matches in most brackets. For invitationals, very small brackets at tournaments with enough time, top 32/16/8 at larger majors, and in some other cases, 3/5 will be preferable.
