Give him mid armor and it might be acceptable, but as it stands he is way too weak when defending.
And to be fair, I never asked for the old pressure...I just want to be able to execute my stuff properly though
Well you could also look at it this way, like you said he has a 7f poke, so he's not the worst defense wise. If people are just ducking under the shadow kick that gets you your turn back if you block their d4s.
Also, you have a d4 that still low profiles everything and you're complaining about people goin under you on wakeup?
He's STILL stronger defensively than a character like Lao and Lao is pretty good now.
because lao can't run in right now and f2 like a lunatic and get pressure hmmmmm
obviously not as good as what cage could do but this mentality doesn't justify what they did to run cancels because run cancel characters already had to worry more about spacing more than other types of characters because of stamina before this shit
OFC its not as good or even comparable
f2 is - on block first off, doesnt combo on trade, has a worse hitbox and can only be made + in 1 variation.
Lao doesnt just run in with his fastest mid launcher that also gives him frame traps for nothing more than the cost of stamina.
Before run cancel characters had 3 opportunities to throw, just for you being in a slightly minus situation, now they have 2 chances, still not enough for you?
Footsies are massively enhanced when your neutral has a ground AND air game. With little to no air threat that cage has its not as easy as you make it out to be.
Also there is no pressure after F3 (even when at full stamina) its jail a 1 11 or risk a full combo punishable 113 which you can't hit confirm; all of which is a high and easily disrespected. 12 dash cancel is minus so that is not a good option and if you choose not to cancel it then your gonna get poked out or back-dashed. All his other shit is too slow to jail and all highs not to mention cage has no safe special without meter. You can also do 114 but it whiffs on much of the cast its just not reliable.
Cage isn't Lao he can't shotgun B3 in the neutral or stagger windmill punches to condition throws or jump around with the threat of divekick. Same crap with Mileena, Cage in a-list doesn't have those character tools to play with; and getting in range is hard enough as it is.
Now fisticuffs is a different beast. B1 can be shotgunned, its a 10 frame mid thats -3 and leads to full combo. Here you can condition throws and make your opponent scared to push a button its range is shocking but as it stand it might be cages best offensive tool.
Sorry but this is wrong, Cage has more options to condition throw than Lao does, do you know what the other option is rather than jailing? Throw. But NO Cage players throw nearly enough. You have a move that near enough guarantees a throw attempt every single time, and all you lot wanna do is block strings.
Not even applying his offense correctly, just trying to be flashy most of the time.