Before switching mains I think there is still something we can do, but we need unity on the issue.
The changes in the loke test build are tentative and IIRC Combofiend said there would be more than one period where they would be open to suggestions. To increase the chances of Capcom making a Bison we would be content with, we are going to need to be thorough and united. This democratic method Capcom is using for suggestions isn’t in our favor. From my rereading the Bison suggestions thread, it seems that Capcom merely took every suggestion and counted how many times they were repeated or paraphrased(I want LK Knee Press to be -1; I want LK Knee Press to be unsafe; I want LK Knee Press to be negative on block). That’s the most obvious way to nerf Bison. Because of that, many players used that as their suggestion for a revenge nerf to make their character’s match up more favorable. There are many attractive ways to buff Bison known to Bison players. I saw people requesting some stuff I never thought of. Because of that, our chances at a better Bison were decreased. Instead of us separately putting forth our varied suggestions that won’t tally up, we should come to a consensus on one post that we would all copy and paste into the thread when it reopens. Aside from posting it in the suggestions thread, I also have ideas of sending it to Combofiend as an appeal. If we send it ASAP then Capcom will have more time to process it to see if Bison would be balanced with these changes, maybe even run it in the next loke test.
It should be more than a wishlist. To increase the chance of success this thing needs to be exact and include Bison’s current strengths, weaknesses and how our proposed changes would improve him but not too much. We assumed they wouldn’t nerf LK Knee Press’s recovery so we’ll have to be proactive there(getting Bison’s short scissors back to 0 on block should be the top priority). To ensure that our proposal isn’t too much to ask for in the grand scheme of balancing, I think we should make two lists. A conservative “essentials” list which would be 2 changes we want most for a more competitive Bison, and then a liberal “non-essentials” list of 2 changes that would be less important stuff added on top of the previous 2.
I’m thinking of something like this:
Current strengths: [Ways competitive Bison players get wins outside of punishment and gimmicks and why these methods shouldn’t be nerfed]
Current weaknesses: [Bison’s deficiencies against competitive opponents]
Essential buffs: [2 agreed upon buffs that would make you content and the prospective effects they would have on Bison and overall balance]
Non-essential buffs: [2 agreed upon buffs that would be nice to have also and the prospective effects they would have on Bison and overall balance]
DO NOT NERF: [Stuff you want to make sure doesn’t get nerfed after a bunch of “simple-minded players” ask for it(st.HK and LK Knee Press, Psycho Crusher cross up, dash speed/recovery, etc)]
Do you guys think this is a feasible plan? Would you support this? If so, I’ll have to create a new thread since this all goes beyond the scope of this thread.
