The Big MVCI Patch And Why We Need To Chill

Marvel vs Capcom Infinite has had quite a run up to this point, but a run I’ve found surprising. Despite the many many many people saying they wouldn’t buy it, I’ve seen many people online as well as people posting their combo videos. I suppose they came to the conclusion that the game was fun, too. However, within all that fun is the fact that the game is…I don’t wanna say broken. I’ll instead say it’s certainly imbalanced. When you start to face the same things over and over again, perhaps there needs to be some balancing to have a healthy meta. And while I’m not the biggest fan of nerfs, I do understand their use. You can’t simply buff everyone to the point where a certain character is.

Imagine…everyone in the game being as good as Dante.

To be honest, I’m surprised Capcom is taking the time to balance the game. Yeah, they had to fix that Spider Man glitch, but I was certain that we would have to play Dante vs Everyone for a while. Since the patch was announced, there have been those who think “Dante is dead” or “Dormammu is dead” and that…is greatly exaggerated. Thorns will still be good, but not brain dead. Dante will still be ridiculous, but he’ll be regulated. The only way those characters could be bad is if their moves were outright removed. All this means is that now players have to think and work.

What I found more interesting than the Dante nerfs were the Stone nerfs. Reality stone got hit pretty hard: worse tracking, lower hit stun, travels and disappears faster, and it’ll disappear when you get hit? Well. I doubt the usage will decrease overnight, but I do think that the applications will be different. Instead of some insurance move for unsafe moves you throw out, I think it’ll be more defensively for characters who have a bad/no projectile game. Or, it’ll be used just for it’s Storm. As for the Space stone? That’s not even a big deal, really. I’m surprised the Mind stone got untouched though. No buffs at all for it? I thought that was disappointing. I’m also surprised the Power stone didn’t get touched, but as an avid user of it, I won’t complain.

No more Strider’s Gram loops, Chris has more damage (though I would argue that matters even less with the inclusion of Winter Soldier), Thano’s Tyrant Shield sucks a little now, Firebrand’s hurricane isn’t stupid anymore, Ultron’s j.HP isn’t as good, and a few other tweaks are coming. I think it’s fine overall. I’ve said before that I definitely prefer buffs over nerfs, but in this game I don’t view them as being such a bad thing. I’ve said that nerfs make the game less fun to play and I think that this game is so absurd that in order to make this less fun, they’d have to remove mechanics and moves. I’ve had the game since launch and I’m still trying to find my footing in it. However, I’ve had a lot of fun with it…mostly.

Looking at the patch notes though, I found myself asking “is that it?” as I scrolled past the wall of Dante changes. I thought for sure some characters would get buffed or maybe get nerfed badly. I thought Ms. Marvel or Nova would get hit bad. I thought Monster Hunter and Sigma would get hit a little, and I thought Ryu would get touched a bit. Give the man a buff or 3. And how Gamora avoided nerf gun? That’s actually funny. But hey! In time, I suppose. Overall I’m fine with it. Dante will still be dumb, Dormmamu will still be used, and so on.

I hope this won’t be the last patch, though. I do like seeing games change over time with a patch here and there. Not like how Netherrealm Studios does it where you barely have time to adjust before a new patch, but just enough to shake the game up a bit. Let some characters shine who may not have been options before. I may be in the minority with that opinion, and that’s fine. I just hope the game keeps being supported. So! What do you think of all this? Is Dante dead? Is the game better or worse for these nerfs? Let us know what you think.