Before my post, I want to make this clear: I do not want Quan nerfed nor believe he needs to be. I don't think characters, MOST of the time, should be nerfed (some exceptions of course, sometimes shit just needs to be adjusted). I would *much* rather see buffs to the guys at the bottom, than nerfs to the guys at the top.
Ok, I'm gonna throw my opinion in to this. I am sadly, not a newb any more. I say sadly, because I have enough game knowledge and understanding to qualify as a seasoned MKX player, but I'm still utter fucking garbage and will lose to most newbs. I blame my hands. Any way, take what I say at face value.
First, Dave, honestly.. Shut the fuck up with the insults. Calling people fools and railing so aggressively when a stated opinion is against your own? Using
@YOMI FOREVER KING as a direct example, I don't see anything in his posts as being aggressive and hateful, yet you sure come at him (
@GGA Dizzy too for that matter) pretty viciously. Anti-zoning zealots spreading propaganda.. Do you have any idea how stupid you sound? How paranoid-stupid it is to think that these guys are sitting down and concocting, then enacting, schemes to harm zoning and zoners and players who want that playstyle.. in a video game. There is no anti-zoning Illuminati, or groups, or propaganda.
Second.
Quan does not have terribly good tournament results, because he is a character based around guesses. We can call them hard reads all we want, but most of the time players are guessing what will come when playing in a tournament setting. Yes, prep and video as well as prior knowledge of your opponent will help you educate those guesses quite a bit, but in the end, when you get stuck in Quan's vortex, you are guessing your way out. In a ft2-3-5 you are not generally able to download a good player. You aren't. And if you do, if they are a GOOD player, they will identify that and change something(s) up.
So. Quan's defense sucks in Summoner, we all know this. The whole thing is a guessing game. If you guess wrong and Quan guesses right, he advances. If the opposite is true, he's pushed in to losers, then at some point eliminated.
Now, this is a silly little theory of mine, but hear me out.. If the nature of Quan is chance, even if the odds in any individual situation are in his favor, the odds of the tournament as a whole are against him due to the way tournaments work. On the surface, it seems like, *if* Quan matches are a guessing game in his favor (as most people believe they are), then he should be winning tournaments all the time, or at least be placing very high. But lets look at how this works.. Quan, to continue through the tournament, must keep guessing right. (I say this encompassing his opponents guessing wrong as well, it all leads to a roll of the dice in Quans favor) Even with heavily stacked odds, he must make his correct guesses in numerous matches. Over and over. But the penalty for guessing wrong is much more severe, he can only do that, more or less, twice (When i say guess wrong, again, its a blanket statement that basically means Quan lost the match). Odds in his favor or not, Quan must guess correctly far more times than he can afford to guess incorrectly, and in that, we find the reason for his lack of numerous high placements.
Yes, this is abstract and its hardly that simple, but honestly, watching a lot of Quan tournament play, I start to wonder.
This talk of him *not* being top tier just seems silly. I don't understand it. Sure, NUMBAH ONNEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS OMGOOSES is debatable. So is top 3, *MAYBE* top 5 (Not by me, but I can see a case being made).. but mid tier? You bitch and moan about people having agendas and spreading propaganda, but if I have ever heard a statement that smacks of an agenda, its that Quan is mid tier.
He has FAR too many options and one touch, by a competent Quan player and you just have to sit there and wait. Make a guess and play MKX for a split second and if you guess wrong, with the odds stacked against you, Quan can force another guess and sometimes another, before being given the chance to move or play MKX again. The rest of the time is spent watching your character stagger like an idiot and a giant bat pop up out of no where and occasionally Quan yelling gibberish that sounds like 'I LIKE MY BONE' or something.
You bitch about 'rushdown fools' but, what exactly does Quan do? . A rushdown character gets in your face and locks you in place with your finger on the block button until its your turn to make a guess or a read or try to poke or whatever. You sit, watch and wait - then react. If you react incorrectly, the process starts over. The end result is you are sitting there holding block, hoping and waiting to play the game again and not guess wrong somewhere along the way and get opened up... How does this differ from what Quan does to his opponent? Sure, he's not in your face spamming a string that's plus over and over, but the over-all effect is the same and so is the idea.. A pressure character pressures you and tries to open you up, then you go for a ride. Quan's guessing game, for the opponent plays out in much the same way. Wait. Watch. Guess. Hope. React - and if its wrong, the whole cycle repeats.
I dont think Quan is OP. I just think he's really good. The reason we get so much Quan salt, is the nature of HOW he wins. He's one of the least fun characters in the game to play against. Its miserable. It tends to be either you pounding him in to pudding in the corner, or spending 95% oft he match just watching as his combos play out. It doesnt help that they are slow as well, the trance, and the moves, its not some quick damage and then the guessing game, its a slow, annoying little opera you have to watch Every. Damn. Time. He. Touches. You. and that's obnoxious and super-duper not fun. So, while Lao may beat you to death and pressure the shit out of you with answers for everything anyone could do forever, his combos are fast and to the point. Short, sweet and painful. Losing to Lao (to most characters) still lets you play the damn game. Losing to Quan does not.
I think Quan is a shitty design personally. I know
@GAV believes his design is amazing, as do many, but I feel like such a purely offensive fighter based around guessing with one million options that has slow-mo, no control combos.. is just terrible. Hyper-polarizing characters are usually not that great an idea and *any* character designed in a way that he is miserable to fight AGAINST is a bad design.