Link to original post: [drupal=598]How To Change Moves[/drupal]
It's easy to say a character should be changed. It's still easy to say which moves should be changed. However, deciding how they should be changed is a significantly more difficult topic.
Moves have the following properties:
-Initial Lag
-Duration
-Ending Lag
-Hitbox Size/Position
-Damage Dealt
-Base Knockback
-Knockback Growth
-Hit Stun
...and that's just the basics. Some moves have super armor, invincibility, or IASA frames, some moves have charge time and vary in power, some moves inflict status such as fire, some moves even contain an entirely second move! (Sweetspot vs. sourspot.)
Once we have decided that a move should be changed, how do we decide which attribute(s) to change? Arguing for change is pointless unless you are specific.
I will first state, since this is my blog and me making the rules, that I don't think hitbox size should ever be changed. It would be one thing if we could go back in time before anyone had played the game and change Snake's u-tilt, but my hypothetical changes to the game include the fact that people have played the game. Reducing Meta Knight's aerial range might make him a more reasonable character, but it would not match his model or animations, and would only confuse and anger players who are used to the original hitboxes... I also don't see any reason to change any of the durations of moves in the game; it is bad enough to consider changing the lag timings.
Almost all moves are KO moves or damage moves. The first and easiest category of overpowered moves to address is those that are both. In this case, we just want to make the attack one or the other; we can take away it's linear knockback growth to make it a damage move, or we can reduce it's damage to the point where stale moves restricts it to being a KO move. Simple.
If a damage move is too good, that means it is doing too much damage for too little risk. Obviously we could decrease the damage, or we could add ending lag to make it more punishable. The latter is normally a better option, since the first only makes the attack more annoying, not less effective.
On the other hand, an overpowered KO move normally means that knockback is too strong for how easy it is to hit with. We can reduce knockback, both base and/or growth, or increase initial lag to make it harder to hit with. Which fix is more appropriate depends on the nature of the character and the rest of the moveset.
Of course, these are only general thoughts. Specific moves, especially specials, require individual consideration.
In some cases, characters are over- or under-powered in general. This may be because of their physics, or the meshing of their moveset. For characters with approach issues, specific buffs or nerfs to fairs, dash attacks, ranged ground moves, grabs, and projectiles can be examined. For characters with mobility-centric imbalances, dash speed, fall speed, and horizontal aerial mobility can be changed. And of course, if it needs to be changed, weight is an obvious category for every character.
It's easy to say a character should be changed. It's still easy to say which moves should be changed. However, deciding how they should be changed is a significantly more difficult topic.
Moves have the following properties:
-Initial Lag
-Duration
-Ending Lag
-Hitbox Size/Position
-Damage Dealt
-Base Knockback
-Knockback Growth
-Hit Stun
...and that's just the basics. Some moves have super armor, invincibility, or IASA frames, some moves have charge time and vary in power, some moves inflict status such as fire, some moves even contain an entirely second move! (Sweetspot vs. sourspot.)
Once we have decided that a move should be changed, how do we decide which attribute(s) to change? Arguing for change is pointless unless you are specific.
I will first state, since this is my blog and me making the rules, that I don't think hitbox size should ever be changed. It would be one thing if we could go back in time before anyone had played the game and change Snake's u-tilt, but my hypothetical changes to the game include the fact that people have played the game. Reducing Meta Knight's aerial range might make him a more reasonable character, but it would not match his model or animations, and would only confuse and anger players who are used to the original hitboxes... I also don't see any reason to change any of the durations of moves in the game; it is bad enough to consider changing the lag timings.
Almost all moves are KO moves or damage moves. The first and easiest category of overpowered moves to address is those that are both. In this case, we just want to make the attack one or the other; we can take away it's linear knockback growth to make it a damage move, or we can reduce it's damage to the point where stale moves restricts it to being a KO move. Simple.
If a damage move is too good, that means it is doing too much damage for too little risk. Obviously we could decrease the damage, or we could add ending lag to make it more punishable. The latter is normally a better option, since the first only makes the attack more annoying, not less effective.
On the other hand, an overpowered KO move normally means that knockback is too strong for how easy it is to hit with. We can reduce knockback, both base and/or growth, or increase initial lag to make it harder to hit with. Which fix is more appropriate depends on the nature of the character and the rest of the moveset.
Of course, these are only general thoughts. Specific moves, especially specials, require individual consideration.
In some cases, characters are over- or under-powered in general. This may be because of their physics, or the meshing of their moveset. For characters with approach issues, specific buffs or nerfs to fairs, dash attacks, ranged ground moves, grabs, and projectiles can be examined. For characters with mobility-centric imbalances, dash speed, fall speed, and horizontal aerial mobility can be changed. And of course, if it needs to be changed, weight is an obvious category for every character.