I've spent more time in the lab and online this weekend than I ever have before, and this character has NEVER felt as good as he does now. Is he perfect? Fuck no. Is he top tier? SUPER fuck no. But he WORKS THE WAY HE WAS FUCKING INTENDED TO FINALLY, which is all I have been waiting for for the last year and a half.
I don't give two fried eggs worth of fuck what the meta was like before this patch, because literally NONE of it matters. I've been dealing with these godforsaken games and patches and tiers and oh my for five damn years, which is long enough to know the difference between a character that's worth bitching and moaning about and a character that isn't, and at this point, the devs have done all they can do to out the sword back together, and I for one think they did a fucking solid job.
Balanced is in OUR hands now. Enough hand holding and waxing nostalgic. Either put up or die. Even MK9 Sheeva and Kano had Michael Bolton and Beenee Weenies behind them to the end, and those characters were GARBAGE compared to what Balanced is capable of in this meta. Find a better character if it's that depressing, because I really don't see what the hell it is about him that's bad enough to warrant anyone still being salty. Yes, he could've turned out better, but he could've turned out a whole lot worse, too.
tl;dr: I'm taking my sword to NEC, turning my inner Bear Jew up to 100, and bringing home some Nazi scalps. anyone wants to join me or test my blade, I am not a difficult Box to find. I'll be the crazy Puerto Rican with the black nails, the Slipknot t-shirt, and the stuffed monkey in a Tremor costume draped on his shoulder like a pirate's parrot.
I'm the fucking captain now.