Thursday, September 12, 2013

State of the DOA Address: The Rachel Report

I want to address the Rachel problem before Team Ninja makes the irrational decision of nerfing her. This is going to be different from my usual Helena posts, but this really needs to be addressed.

After playing DOA5U for over a week, using Rachel, and having some of the most illogical conversions about the game with other DOA players, I have come to a couple of conclusions. First, DOA players have no idea how to explain their own game and lack basic fighting game knowledge. Second, most DOA players just want to mash buttons all day on wake up. The hot topic lately is everyone complaining about how Rachel can force tech opponents, getting rid of wake up kicks, doing too much damage, she's broken, etc. You DOA players have no idea what a "Broken" character is. DOA players usually only play DOA. They don't know the struggle of Vergil and Dark Phoenix, (UMvC3) Viola and Hilde, (Soul Calibur) or Superman. (Injustice) Just to name a few.

The issue here with Rachel is that she has a force tech stomp you use to end all your juggles. If it hits, it leaves Rachel at +15. If it whiffs, you still can't hit a button against Rachel when you are getting up. I've had people complain to me saying such nonsense like, "I just want to be able to get up off the ground" and "IF THE STOMP WHIFFS, BOTH SHOULD BE AT NEUTRAL..." Are you kidding me? This just goes to show you that when DOA players complain about something and the end game being that Team Ninja nerfs them, they really have no idea about fighting games. When you knock someone down in a 3D fighting game, the attacker can run up on you and continue pressure while you are getting up. I don't know why most players are looking into frame advantage if the stomp whiffs, but this is basic 3D fighting game protocol. When are both players ever at neutral on wake up? How would that even work? In Virtua Fighter, you do also have wake up kicks in that game, BUT when they hit, the one who used the wake up kick is at negative frames on hit.

I've even had someone play the most busted game of Theory Fighter with me that made little to no sense. What DOA players need to understand about their own game is that when you get force teched, you are in a mixup. When you get thrown by a throw that causes a stun of sorts, you are in a mixup. WHEN YOU GET STUNNED, YOU ARE IN A MIXUP! All these things are the same exact concept of what DOA is truly about. It's the Rock Paper Scissors System. How is that any different then when Rachel techs you up? IT'S A GUESS. THAT IS WHAT THE GAME IS. I've pretty much tried explaining how Rachel's Blender worked to another DOA player and what you HAVE to do against it, and to cut this part short, I'm going to explain this in Laymen's Terms:

ME: "If you think I'm going to throw out Rock, then throw out Paper."
THEM: "But then you can throw out Scissors."
ME: "Ok... then if you think that, then throw out Rock."
THEM: "That doesn't work because then you can throw out Paper."
ME: "OOOOK.... THEN THROW OUT SCISSORS IF YOU THINK THAT."
THEM: "That doesn't work because then you can throw out rock."
ME: "...."

DOA is a game heavily based on guessing. YOU HAVE TO GUESS. PERIOD. So why are people complaining about a character that uses this basic idea? One of the main problems is that they complain about throws being too fast and unbreakable, which is the only logical point I can think of from them. This is not Rachel's fault, THIS IS THE GAME ITSELF'S FAULT. If anything, Rachel just points out the issues with DOA's system. Instead of nerfing Rachel, buff the game. Make throws slower, make ducking faster, and make throws breakable. Only make throws unbreakable when it comes to Throw Punishment. If you block an attack that is -5 or higher, then the throw should be unbreakble. (It's the same concept as if you throw an unsafe attack in Street Fighter 4)



CONCLUSION:
Instead of nerfing Rachel, give other characters this same tool she has. Maybe make this the Gold Standard of how DOA should be played. Rachel makes the game honest and punishes players for just mashing buttons on wake up, mashing buttons on disadvantage, and having poor decision making skills. Better yet, other characters don't even need this tool, just take out wake up kicks. They genuinely just slow down the pace of the game anyway, right? I witnessed a man get top 8 at a major tournament from just mashing buttons on wake up, with no fear or consequences. This is not appealing to the competitive fighting game scene. (Hence why tournaments have low numbers and people only showing up when large amounts of money is on the line) With Rachel, she MAKES DOA5U. She takes away this bad aspect of the game, and is why DOA players complain about Rachel because, in conclusion, they just want to be able to press buttons all day... I could share some insight on how to deal with Rachel, because quite a decent amount of people I play with know how, but I have Rachel friends that are going to TFC this weekend and I want to see them Train Wreck everyone.