UltraDavid's suggestion would give competitors a voice in the game invest time into

Update: Poll has been updated with final results.

The new Season 3.5 patch for Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition was released just yesterday. Players are now having to rediscover their characters in what is likely to be an altered meta.

While the idea of a new balance patch was originally met with positive vibes, this quickly changed after the patch notes were revealed. There were a number of very questionable changes that were occurring that many competitors did not fully understand.

To many, it felt as though certain top tiers were receiving buffs unnecessarily. Even Cammy players have been expressing confusion as to why their mains were being improved when other fighters were weakened in the way that they were.

Meanwhile, there's also a perception that certain low tier combatants are actually being made worse. Needless to say, expectations fell a little short in this regard. There were also top tier characters that players felt were essentially "deleted from the game" due to their long list of nerfs.

All of that having been said, we have had access to the 3.5 update for less than 24 hours at this point. It is not uncommon for notes that seem strong or weak on paper to actually work out in-game, and it's entirely possible that some of the changes aren't quite as extreme as they seem.

UltraDavid came up with an idea that could potentially circumvent these problems in the future. Essentially, there is a belief that certain players should have a voice in patch updates.



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Notably, Ultra Street Fighter 4 is widely considered to be the most balanced game in the Street Fighter 4 series of titles. Obviously there are exceptions to this on both ends of the spectrum, like Elena and Dee Jay...

Coincidentally, this was also the version that player input was given the most consideration. The concept of consulting players on balance updates has been shown to work.

As fighting games appear to be moving towards a more "eSports focused" climate, this might become more important than ever before. Since competitors are now able to make a career out of playing fighting games, there is merit to rewarding player time.

If a professional's character were to suddenly become unviable due to excessive nerfing, this obviously means that they'd have to invest time and energy into a brand new character. Likewise, if a particular fighter were to suddenly become too strong for the current meta, a number of players will likely feel obligated to switch to said fighter in order to stay relevant in the competitive scene.

This could also potentially be a big win for spectators as it has the possibility to diversify characters in tournaments. Keeping things fresh and exciting means that viewers are more likely to watch the action unfold.

What are you thoughts on the matter? Let us know by voting in our poll.