This is something most people don't understand, but there is something that could effectively be called "the dream" which effects a lot in regards to customer loyalty, even among the non-competitive players.
The Dream represents the general player's dormant fantasy to compete and be recognized. Most people never get to this point, but in order for the fantasy to seem more like a reality it has to be made possible.
Take a game like League of Legends. If the game existed in all of its glory, but there was no opportunity to compete in it for whatever reason, would millions of people play it? No, they would not. Even casually the game would take a massive hit. Because to some degree, every casual player has the dream. If, one day, they were to wake up and suddenly realize how to play at a high level, then there is an opportunity waiting for them. And that keeps them playing, because there is a culture around it and people strive for that recognition and excitement.
Players need to be able to dream. If they can dream, they can keep playing regardless of reality.
Money and player investment in the tournament scene is investment in the dream. And the dream keeps everything going. If there is one failure that can be made, its not making its presence more known to the average player.
At this point, the average player knows. I get on PSN, and if someone wins 10 matches in a row, it instantly goes to tournament talk. I would agree that some people out there do have this dream, it's not enough to keep a game afloat. You see, you get that build up, everyone's like "yo, you should try the tournaments." And then the usual excuses occur. While playing on a stage sounds awesome, the suggestion immediately brings you back to reality. Most people do not see the investment worth it, even if they would win first place. Not everyone has the same big dreams, hopes, and desires. Me, personally, I would be happy to get skilled enough to have a match with some of these guys online and actually win one out of the 4 rounds. I would be happy with that. I can't speak for anyone else, but i would like to say that many others feel the same way. Esports do not bring in scholarships. Esports don't make multi-million dollar careers. Sure, it's gained in popularity. I would go as far to say that DoA's popularity as a sport has gone up by 200%. But 200% of 10 people is 20, making a total of 30 (yeah, i'm pulling numbers out of my bum, but i'm hoping my point gets across). I don't mean to insult anyone's dream, but as it stands right now i think some people have stars in their eyes as they start talking about esports. Esports is nowhere near mainstream, even in the gaming community as a whole. Sure, certain games are fun to watch, but no one's paying to watch them (outside of advertisements).
I keep forgetting that you guys live in the Casual States of America where it hasn't quite caught on yet. But in the rest of the world, especially here in the east, Esports does matter to the average customer and games targeted towards Esports tend to make more money in the long run than the usual AAA games.
I don't know about the east. The east would indeed naturally cater more towards esports than the west. In the US, we don't talk about esports very often (unless you're a "hardcore gamer/nerd/geek"). The notion is very foreign to the average Joe on the street. In fact, video games themselves are just now becomming more popular for adults, as opposed to "that stuff's only for kids." You'll still hear those comments, though. For perspective, people know and understand that Golf, something we normally don't watch, has a following and makes lots of money. Esports as a concept is so foreign most people would assume you're trying to start the concept yourself.
The problem is that DoA's signature defensive option, holds, cannot be made to be easy to do. That's what 4 did and we know what 4 is competitively (starts with "s," ends with "hit").
Holds themselves aren't the issue. IMO, holds should be a little more damaging, and 6 points (honestly, do you react to high kicks the same way you do punches [high kicks you block the same way, but that's about it]?), and/or maybe a little faster. The idea is to reward the magic ninja-reflexes, just like you would in real life, but they better be reflexes or really good reads. We have other defensive options that seem to be a little harder on the when-the-hell-do-I-do-it level. Holds are a feature that sets DoA appart from every other fighting game, and gives it a level of realism that no other fighting game has. However, they're hard to pull off without knowing your opponent's moveset. The main enemy to a move with lots of startup frames should be a hold, not a faster move (not to say that faster moves shouldn't beat out slow ones and cancel them, so much as to say that if i see Marie rolling, i know that heel kick is coming so she should be regretting that if i'm not off balance [in recovery frames]).
On the same note, the same principle is true for most competitive fighting games. Mike Z, who designed the systems of both the rebooted Killer Instinct and Skullgirls (being the lead of the latter) has stated that for fighting games "combos are supposed to be easy and reversals are supposed to be hard". Which is something you can see in most competitive fighting games.
Indeed, which is why new people feel overwhelmed when they get beat. You get hit with a stun, then you go for a ride which costs you half your health bar unless you can hold out of it. Either i'm doing something wrong, or stagger escape needs worked on. I have trouble doing it consistently in tutorial mode, so. And this is exactly what happens to me in matches. I'll get a stun, start my combo, it's too predictable, i get held, and i go for a ride. I get back up, and either i'm plowed into with a stun, or i get a stun, and the cycle repeats with me riding. Maybe this is OK for competitive, but new people rage quit for these reasons. I'm all for getting the hell out as opposed to a reversal, but something has to be done to keep the controller in the hands of the new person, or the new person is going to become the quitting person (which is why we're not doing so hot right now).
I've wavered back and fourth on the difficulty of the hold. The hold being difficult is not the only answer though. As I see it there are three or four viable ways for the hold to work without alienating either audience.
Right now holds are harder to use than they are to abuse (except for hold spamming which could use some harsher punishments). They don't need nerfed. I really don't think they need augmented, either. There are some nerfs and augments i'd love to push on them, but what the game needs more
1. Extremely easy to do, even venturing into 3-point territory, but punishment for guessing wrong can mean immediate death ala DOA 3.1. This makes a game incredibly accessible for every kind of player, but also gives the pro-player a "Get Fucked" option.
Better up the reward, then, or you won't see holds, which effectively kills DoA's most uniqe aspect.
2. About where we are now, but with decreased damage on holds/increased damage on CB juggles.
Which increases the panic mode on hold spam.
3. About where we are now, but with removal of damage on holds in stun. This creates more of a combo-breaker system rather than immediate damage reflection, and increases the importance of getting the first hit. Holds outside of stun remain damaging.
That makes no sense (arm bars do no damage?), but neither does all this damage when people are off balance (stunned). I'd be OK with decreased damage, at the cost of simplifying the holds.
4. 3-point hold system with wide frames and sane damage, but based on a currently nonexistent meter mechanic which makes it easier to contain.
Which would, once again, make no logical sense.
The overall issue with holds is that even a 33% guess is useless without knowing enough about your opponent to make an educated guess. Really, the game has the issue of... How about i just show you the mentality of someone who's still in the low end, after playing the game way too long to still be in the low end of the skill levels...
You hear "Fight!" Immediately you're trying to get your stun. If you get a stun, you're going to try for CB. If you pull it off, cool beans, you're in the lead. If you don't, you're in the same situation as if the opponent stunned you at the beginning of the match. When you're stuned, you go into panic mode and try to hold like crazy since it's really your only hope of getting out of this beating you're taking. If you manage to hold, go back to "Fight!" mentality. If you don't, you take damage, you're behind, and you know you have to go in swinging again. If you get told you need to block, you choose not to, because people adapt to turtle tactics quickly by throwing (especially offensive holds when available), so you quickly learn that you have to keep (attempting) striking (and thus the mashing). If i try to sidestep, i'll just get hit with the retrack of the next move in the string. If i KBD, he'll probably end up using a string that's long and reaches out longer with every strike. Paries never seem to time right, either. High crushes don't seem to stun, and low crushes are rarely usable (since rare hits are low).
Usually, what ends up happening is that i manage to sucker people with my KBD out of range, then i can wiff-punish to get my stun. Afterwards, i hit about 1 out of 5 CB combos after that. And this is why DoA has so much trouble getting players out of the mash stage, since the game pretty much teaches it to you.
