Did she delete you too Tim? I only go on like once every couple weeks so I really don't even notice if someone is deleted. I don't actually get to go through my friends list.
So Phoenix, you said that you don't really think the amount of time you play matters, but then you said it would take a long time for you to get good with every character. I think you are misunderstanding me. Not only did I play UMK3, but I played a lot MK3 before UMK3 came out, and I also played MKII and MK1.
Starting with MK1, with only a fraction of the characters, moves, tactics, juggles, properties and overall "game" to learn, compared to UMK3 is significant. You then learn the tweaks moving to MKII but having played MK1 for a year or so, it's like you know half or part of MKII upon release. Then you you master the new concepts for the old characters, new collisions, new game properties, and then then new characters, unless you want to jump into the new characters and learn the other way instead.
As the games come out, and the gameplay developes, it might have been easier for the long time MK players to pick up on the newer games, as in the 2D games as they came out. With a game like UMK3, for anyone who never played MK before that, it's probably going to take them considerably longer if they intentionally try to learn every character.
I find people who do this, tend to lose their touch with other characters. It's almost like a sacrifice. When you play for so long, over so much time, it gets to the point where it's like riding a bike. When you learn all the male ninjas, that's one thing, but when you learn all the other characters in the game, know all their possibilities and potentials at any given point, what they need to do in specific match ups, what is an isn't available to them, and be successful with them, it'll probably be a long time from now. If you've been playing a year or so and somewhat mastered 2 characters, then you have another 10 years or so to go at that rate. It's not like that for everyone, but not everyone is a prodigy for fighting games.