NRS did a great job with the balancing with patches, quick fixes etc it's just a shame it came down to "shitty variation vs. good variation" at the end of the day.
I think it was alright, what I love about NRS is they're not afraid to try new things out then based off the feedback determines if they do it again.
I don't think we'll see them done the SAME way if they do return however don't be surprised if they do something similar for Injustice 2 with a modified character, I just hope we have full freedom of aesthetics, and personally I want to see the KAK back again but just like MKA keep it separate and a KAK mode only. People this way can create their own Khrome, better yet they should hold a contest for best KAK THEN winner gets picked and their dream characters gets made into an official MK character. THAT would be awesome. It would also give the artist MK players a chance to shine and not just tourney players.
It would be cool if instead of a GEAR system with armor, defense, offense etc have aesthetics/pieces of clothing unlockable with a MT option to unlock everything for a small price. Also this nobody should bitch about because it would have no effect on the gameplay, I'm talking from a aesthetic point of view to make our MK characters unique to the player. I hope to see this in tourneys for Injustice 2 as I've said already but given the way the gear system seems limited with trim presets IDK if this will be the case. We'll see.
I don't think we'll see variations though, first we had the 3-2 martial art style system, then we had variations. So I think they need to just have a base character BUT maybe have something similar to Injustice 2 where as you level up you can choose certain MOVES for the character, different than Injustice 2 and different than variations. I'll explain, say Sektor or Triborg is in MK 11. You can choose the "zoning level up option" or the "rushdown" level up option as you unlock moves to add to your character. Of course this wouldn't be unlimited and balanced when need be. Example, say I choose Zoning for sektor, you'd have missiles, flame thrower, teleport punch already. So you'd have options to improve those moves say flame thrower has upgrades for range that are safe from far to mid screen while the rush down version of this move would stun you thus you can get a combo...depending on your play style.
Missiles zoning would perhaps push Sektor back a little as he shoots them, standard would be one missile, ex would be 2(as he's had) but zoning option would have 3 and we could choose maybe how he shoots, example for rushdown maybe this move juggles them on the last hit in the air for combos, where as the zoning version shoots 3 straight but faster but pushes them back away from you. Etc, etc
I think they should do this or all character, not a variation system but I think this is better because it allows the play to play the character how THEY want without being fully broken or OP like a pure KAK from scratch. This would be different than injustice because their gear system will have new moves all together and honestly the Injustice system sounds more complex with gears for different things. MK 11 should be more simple AND offer both the upgrade for zoners and rushdown options as well as the pure aesthetic option with full 100% color palette freedom like KAK in MKA, so if someone wants a purple Scorpion with yellow belt buckle and orange mask they can do that. Offer the options that a PC modder would be able to do, let's put it that way.
That is what I want in MK 11.