The Variation System

[ramy_92]

Isn't this question kind of contradictory? The word "variations" doesn't tend to imply that what will be involved with them will be limited, it's actually kind of telling us there'll be more options and more ways to play a character.

it'll give u variety in choosing a different gameplay for the character but my question was, will they make each variation limited, I was just asking people chillax

 

[Youphemism]

it'll give u variety in choosing a different gameplay for the character but my question was, will they make each variation limited, I was just asking people chillax

Your question says "Do you think the Variation will make the characters limited?" and also

I was wondering if the characters will be limited due to the variations...

So actually no your question was "will the characters be limited?" not the variations lol

 

[Vulcan Hades]

Then the question doesn't make sense to me. It simply doesn't matter if characters as a whole are "limited" or not, you will be playing as a limited variation of that character every time. And you'll have to counter pick regardless.

For example: If you character doesn't have a counter-zoning variation and you really need to counter zone vs a certain matchup then you'll just pick another character's variation. If you play as Cassie Cage V1, there's no real reason to limit your counter pick options to her V2 and V3 if none of them cover the V1's bad matchups.

 

[Mst]

I was wondering if the characters will be limited due to the variations, if anyone tried the game, does the characters have a lot of strings like in injustice, which gave a lil bit of of variety, I'm just a lil bitch worried about the characters having 2-3 combos max for each variation that's all

TRMK has 14 "combo strings" listed for Sub-Zero and 10 for Scorpion (one not available in Ninjutsu Variation) + possible Variation exclusive strings, in MK9 they had around 10 and 7 if remember correctly. Each Variation gonna have either a similar amount of moves each Character had in MK9 or even more. And at high lvl a bunch of strings gonna be the most used anyway because they are best for each Variation (Push back, Meter Build, dmg, whatever...). I do not see anything bad about the Variation system atm except for the fact that NRS gonna have a hard time to balance everything out.

 

[ramy_92]

TRMK has 14 "combo strings" listed for Sub-Zero and 10 for Scorpion (one not available in Ninjutsu Variation) + possible Variation exclusive strings, in MK9 they had around 10 and 7 if remember correctly. Each Variation gonna have either a similar amount of moves each Character had in MK9 or even more. And at high lvl a bunch of strings gonna be the most used anyway because they are best for each Variation (Push back, Meter Build, dmg, whatever...). I do not see anything bad about the Variation system atm except for the fact that NRS gonna have a hard time to balance everything out.

Thank you that's the answer I was waiting for I don't think this thread should be open anymore then and totally agree they'll suuuuuffer so much to balance everything but it'll be worth it

 

[supernumian]

Just opened this thread to see the general opinion.

When NRS announces the variation system for MKX I was pretty excited and I like this feature so much in the game.
It probably costs lots of work for NRS to develope it.
However, even if the game is new and it's still evolving, it's clear that this system that I totally love is pretty pointless.

In every tournament, it's difficult to see a great player to choose another variation beside the strongest and more mainstream, obviously because that variation is more competitive then the others.

The Raidens are always TG, as long as the Ermacs are always MoS, the Kung Jin are always Bojutsu, the Kotal Khans are always War God, etc...
Very few characters have more that one valuable variation.

I'm a fan of the less used variations.
I use Kung Lao and Raiden and I love Hat Trick and Master of Storms but the game itself seems to dictate me to not use them because these are not good as the others.

So, what's the point of having these if they are not worthy?
Are you happy with this or do you think that they are a waste of potential?

My hope is that one day, every variation have the same potential but it seems an utopia.

 

[juicepouch]

it almost makes me wish that these tournies were character locked so if you wanted to counter you hd to change variations lol

I think some characters really nail the concept of having 3 diverse playstyles with one similar base (jax comes to mind) but some of them I think are too similar to really differentiate and share deficiencies

 

[D4G]

Completely disagree, variations add so much variety and possibilties. Tournament players despite being better than average have a very limited mindset wHen it comes to character choices. They will almost always go with whatever the community or other top players claim to be the best without truly testing and pushing the limits of other characters who aren't as explored. Tier lists change every so often specifically because of this very reason.

Now not every variation for every character will end up being strong but Variations in MKX will cause huge swings in opinion and meta changes over the course of the game's life span. I can guarantee you that.

 

[Vjeekes]

Completely disagree, variations add so much variety and possibilties. Tournament players despite being better than average have a very limited mindset wHen it comes to character choices. They will almost always go with whatever the community or other top players claim to be the best without truly testing and pushing the limits of other characters who aren't as explored. Tier lists change every so often specifically because of this very reason.

Now not every variation for every character will end up being strong but Variations in MKX will cause huge swings in opinion and meta changes over the course of the game's life span. I can guarantee you that.

I totally agree!!

 

[pzea]

it almost makes me wish that these tournies were character locked so if you wanted to counter you hd to change variations lol

That would be so epic. I would really love this.

 

[ResetReptile]

I'd have liked it if they added more if they added more characters than having variations. Maybe 10 more characters, would've been sweet.

When are we going to see some characters from Seido? I want that!

 

[D4G]

I'd have liked it if they added more if they added more characters than having variations. Maybe 10 more characters, would've been sweet.

When are we going to see some characters from Seido? I want that!

Character roster is fine I think. Everyone always wants 50+ characters but every character added costs a cap ton of money to design and create. After the last 3 kombat characters are released we'll be at 27 characters (I think) plus variations, that's actually a cap load of content.

 

[LaidbackOne]

Variations are awesome. Some of them are a bit lackluster but nothing the guys at NRS cant change from what we have already seen. Great idea, so so execution.

 

[Plop]

I'd like to see them back, but...I dunno...
Something needs to be altered about them next time, I just don't know what

 

[Orbit Aquary]

I like the variation system. I use Sonya, and I love special forces and covert ops equally. I use special forces if I feel like I need to have more zoning tools and play a more defensive play style, and I choose covert ops if I feel like I need to play rush down and offensively. I've switched between these two several times, and it has helped me win many times. Most characters can change their whole play style just by changing variation, and I love that. It's true that people tend to lean towards the "mainstream variation" though, but the game hasn't been out that long, so there's still a lot to discover in other variations.

 

[Farpafraf]

The variation system only makes sense when the variations are balanced, NRS will have to work on this but so far they did a great job with this game.

 

[xWildx]

I personally think the variation system is a bill of goods being used to push sales to casuals. At this point it's becoming exceedingly clear that in tournament play the characters have 1-2 viable variations max. I wish they would've just worked on balancing a single, perfect playstyle for each character (and thus, having more characters as a result), than having a game with 78 characters, 2/3's of which are hardly worth using.

 

[Jaku2011]

I'm actually really curious to see if they'll do this for Injustice 2

 

[TONY-T]

I like the variations , but i would have preferred single character with all the moves of their variations.

NRS games for the most part are quite easy to learn, as the characters don't have many moves or inputs that you need to memorize.
Games like Tekken on the other hand and each of its characters can have over 100 moves, some almost 200. I'd like to see MK become like this at some point. The in game depth would increase drastically. MKX has depth, no doubt, but its depth lies in its character variations. MK9 actually has more depth than MKX because it had a tag mode. MK9 tag mode was crazy good, it was such a shame not many people took it seriously. I realize it wasn't perfect , but god damn it was fun.

MKX single character with all their variation moves plus tag mode would have been WAY better then what we have now, but i'm not complaining. I do like MKX as is.

 

[EndofGameBoss]

In short, no I'm not happy, but that's because I play Mileena. Outside of piercing, her variations are pointless as of now.

 

[cyke_out]

Depth does not come from the amount of moves a character has, but the tactical decisions needed in a match. Street fighter has less moves per character on average than MKX but it's in no way less deep.

The variation system works for some characters that have two or even all three styles being viable- Kano, Sonya, Cassie- and doesn't work with some characters that only has 1 variation being used like Kung Jin or Raiden. However, that is a balancing issue, not a problem with the variation system and can be corrected with patches.

 

[RYX]

yes

i think it's a great idea to give characters a lot of different tools for each variation so they don't clutter up the moves list and offer different ways to play him

the problem is that there's a lot of variations that suck or are so lazily done (reptile reptile reptile) that there's really only gonna be one viable variation for some of them. people like Erron Black are what it should be; offering completely new ways to play the same guy while not losing anything in your move set

I'm disappointed in weapon variants too. I would think they'd be used more than outside of one string or as a small few specials

 

[EndofGameBoss]

I like the variations , but i would have preferred single character with all the moves of their variations.

NRS games for the most part are quite easy to learn, as the characters don't have many moves or inputs that you need to memorize.
Games like Tekken on the other hand and each of its characters can have over 100 moves, some almost 200. I'd like to see MK become like this at some point. The in game depth would increase drastically. MKX has depth, no doubt, but its depth lies in its character variations. MK9 actually has more depth than MKX because it had a tag mode. MK9 tag mode was crazy good, it was such a shame not many people took it seriously. I realize it wasn't perfect , but god damn it was fun.

MKX single character with all their variation moves plus tag mode would have been WAY better then what we have now, but i'm not complaining. I do like MKX as is.

While Tekken can have 100 moves for a character not all of them are used. The first thing most players do is weed out the pointless strings. Increasing the in game depth by adding pointless moves would not help anyone. A lot of people get overwhelmed by Tekken early on and quit. Would we want that for MK?

 

[Pterodactyl]

I happy with what it can be.

With certain characters like Jax, or Kano you can see how awesome this system can truly be.

But with characters like Raiden, or Johnny, the flaw of it really obvious.


I think for it's first appearance it did a fine job and there's still more than enough time make a lot of "unviable" or "not as good" variations better.

I think the main problem is that for a lot of characters they seemed to have strayed a little too far from the "this variation will be good for this" mentality and went balls deep into the "this variation does this thing, because it seems cool" mindset, effectively making them more gimmicky than practical.


I want them to improve on this system, because when it works it really fucking works and is super cool.

 

[ZigZag]

Yes, that is all.