Yama
[09] Warrior
If we were to write a plea of sorts, I think the general consensus would be the same among competitive Natsu players.
When I heard Natsu was getting a nerf, I wasn't surprised in the least. Vanilla Natsu did a lot of damage. It's how this nerf was implemented that rubbed me the wrong way. Scaling her B&B makes some sense, but not destroying the combo itself. You either take away easier options that lead into it or scale the damage. I don't understand how all three factors were implemented: taking away lead ins, scaling the start up and destroying the combo itself. That's just rape.
Natsu (and Taki for that matter) has always relied on mix up and is still supposed to. We all know how Taki used to mix up, but Natsu is a completely different animal. Natsu relies on a lot of wake up mix up and darts were a big part of this. More or less gone are those too. So gone are both her combo potential and darts.
So it seems Namco wants her to compete in a different direction, one more akin to Taki. I would be okay with this if Natsu had more in your face - make it safe rush down, but she doesn't. She was more like a hybrid and ended up being her own animal, one that used a lot of bait and big punish. Admittedly this is not the only way to play her as against higher level comp I find myself winning on pure mix up alone at times, not bait. But unarguably, this is where she got a lot of her damage.
Now, if Namco wanted this transition to be made, I'd be okay with it. But in return we'd need a few more tools to tinker with. How about more normal strings into possession? How about more in your face safeness? Perhaps BB becomes BBB with the third hit being cancelled into PO? How about being able to cancel EXC? Give me something in return if you want this character to play in a different way.
The biggest problem here is they're making her a shell of her former self. The more that is taken away, that Natsu flavor becomes more of a Natsu without her own flavor, attempting to play like Taki without Taki's better moves. Now, before taking that too literal, I do feel Natsu is still good. I will always main her and will still mix people up and pull my W's against good comp. But with that said, Namco has to decide how they want me doing this? If it's in the manner of the patch, give me some more tools as described above. If it's in the flavor of Natsu, allow me to do her B&B's and have some literal reset opportunity again, simply scale down the B&B some and even reduce the air grab damage (the single move that needed some nerfing). As it stands, I feel the character got gimped. I was all for damage reduction, but not cutting away her tools entirely.
When I heard Natsu was getting a nerf, I wasn't surprised in the least. Vanilla Natsu did a lot of damage. It's how this nerf was implemented that rubbed me the wrong way. Scaling her B&B makes some sense, but not destroying the combo itself. You either take away easier options that lead into it or scale the damage. I don't understand how all three factors were implemented: taking away lead ins, scaling the start up and destroying the combo itself. That's just rape.
Natsu (and Taki for that matter) has always relied on mix up and is still supposed to. We all know how Taki used to mix up, but Natsu is a completely different animal. Natsu relies on a lot of wake up mix up and darts were a big part of this. More or less gone are those too. So gone are both her combo potential and darts.
So it seems Namco wants her to compete in a different direction, one more akin to Taki. I would be okay with this if Natsu had more in your face - make it safe rush down, but she doesn't. She was more like a hybrid and ended up being her own animal, one that used a lot of bait and big punish. Admittedly this is not the only way to play her as against higher level comp I find myself winning on pure mix up alone at times, not bait. But unarguably, this is where she got a lot of her damage.
Now, if Namco wanted this transition to be made, I'd be okay with it. But in return we'd need a few more tools to tinker with. How about more normal strings into possession? How about more in your face safeness? Perhaps BB becomes BBB with the third hit being cancelled into PO? How about being able to cancel EXC? Give me something in return if you want this character to play in a different way.
The biggest problem here is they're making her a shell of her former self. The more that is taken away, that Natsu flavor becomes more of a Natsu without her own flavor, attempting to play like Taki without Taki's better moves. Now, before taking that too literal, I do feel Natsu is still good. I will always main her and will still mix people up and pull my W's against good comp. But with that said, Namco has to decide how they want me doing this? If it's in the manner of the patch, give me some more tools as described above. If it's in the flavor of Natsu, allow me to do her B&B's and have some literal reset opportunity again, simply scale down the B&B some and even reduce the air grab damage (the single move that needed some nerfing). As it stands, I feel the character got gimped. I was all for damage reduction, but not cutting away her tools entirely.
