Lets be serious here Alpha-152 needs to be banned.

[DR2K]

If that's the case then Alpha would be head and shoulders above everyone in the tier chart based on what's being said here. But she's not, because there are better characters.

Which character has all that she does and does everything she can do? She's disadvantaged on knockdown, yes, but incredibly potent at the neutral game. Not sure how a 9 frame jabber also got OHs, long uninterpretable strings, the best throw damage in the game, insane mobility, etc. . . I'd rather she get altered to have wake ups, un-delayable strings, and normalized damage wise.

 

[Berzerk!]

The other reason Alpha is not more prevalent in tournaments is because she's not widely available to all players - unlocking her is a drawn out exercise, followed by bothering to learn her. So the player base for the character would be extremely low, yet we've seen her represented in a number of tournament top 8's and finals.

I'm satisfied that the above explains her presence at tournaments, and the arguments made about her overly-powerful advantages are very compelling. I usually say "wait and see" but in this case happy to support.

There will be opportunitiy to inspect the character's (over) viability with DOA5U having her unlocked at the start, easier to test.

At this point, you either ban, then request patch so she can come back to tournament play, or allow it and ask for patch, hoping for the best.

The problem with the second scenario is the potential damage to the quality of tournaments before a change. My feeling is Alpha warrants ban, then patch, while Sarah warrants "watch", then patch.

A few other characters are in the "watch" category, but more for not having good enough tools/too many restrictions (eg Bass, others have argued Eliot)

 

[deathofaninja]

You are making absolutely no sense. You shouldn't even be arguing anymore if that's the case.

I'm not. So now it should make perfect sense.

 

[Crext]

With all due respect, everyone is getting buffed/changed, and there are balancing all over the place. As a Hitomi player in 1.03, (with a tremendous change in move sets for 1.10) and probably Ein player in 1.10, I have no way of telling one way or another from that standpoint.

And we are talking 1.10 here, not 1.03 (though from my experience Hitomi outplays Alpha 152 somewhat in 1.03).

If the other characters don't have any answers, then fine, we may discuss a ban. However, before we know the complete system it is accusations without proof. In my opinion this discussion should be held in 1 month and not now.

 

[synce]

The discussions going on in the "Tier List Thread" aren't always the best. You get someone knowledgeable on one character deciding their match-ups with every other character. Many of the best players don't participate in those discussions, and so we often see strange results.

Basically what I'm seeing is that everyone has studied Alpha and realizes she's ridiculous except the few who "main" Alpha who just so happen to claim that she is not cheap and they have to work oh-so-hard to use her, but still refuse to explain why exactly that is.

What I'm saying is Alpha's not ridiculous... 1.02 Alpha OK sure but not the current one. I can't believe some of the stuff xcal gets away with in a tourney and it's all because people don't know the MU that well. I've NEVER had an Alpha give trouble against my Pai or Lisa because I know what to look for and how to approach her.

The argument about her getting stuff stupidly easy is laughable to me because this is DOA. Everything is stupidly easy. Try doing a link in SF4 or some of the longer juggles in TT2.

 

[deathofaninja]

Yeah everyone's going to have buffs to counter Alpha's buffs. That has got to be put into consideration for this ridiculous ban.

 

[Matt Ponton]

I have this odd feeling Alpha hasn't changed a whole lot in 5U....

Might as well get it over with LOL

Two things:

1. At least she now has an opaque outfit so she isn't predator transparent depending on the stage anymore... for one player at least.
2. That new Knee from F.L.O.A.T. is 11 frames startup.

 

[Brute]

What I'm saying is Alpha's not ridiculous... 1.02 Alpha OK sure but not the current one. I can't believe some of the stuff xcal gets away with in a tourney and it's all because people don't know the MU that well. I've NEVER had an Alpha give trouble against my Pai or Lisa because I know what to look for and how to approach her.

Why? Explain why all of this great stuff we're talking about is not threatening.

The argument about her getting stuff stupidly easy is laughable to me because this is DOA. Everything is stupidly easy. Try doing a link in SF4 or some of the longer juggles in TT2.

Stuff is difficult to get in DOA because the opponent has more options to get out of anything you do than in otehr fighters. Alpha is great at limiting those options, making it easier for her to get big damage off minimal guessing. If this concept confuses you, you are not approaching DOA right.

Yeah everyone's going to have buffs to counter Alpha's buffs.

Eliot's not.

 

[Blackburry]

Yeah everyone's going to have buffs to counter Alpha's buffs. That has got to be put into consideration for this ridiculous ban.

Like I said before Team Ninja would have to completely change her character design for this to make a difference.

 

[CyberEvil]

The poll is really quite unnecessary since it's closing in several days anyway.

That said, that first vid that ScattereDreams posted was of me getting destroyed by Bladez. I was trying a new character and trying to figure her out but as you can see I literally had no room to breath at any point. Say what you want about my skill level in 5 or 5U but even someone button mashing should've been able to get more off than I was able to. She's simply an overwhelming force that's getting some insane buffs. She's ban-worthy for sure now. The question is whether or not we pull the trigger.

I say we do it. DoA now has its own Dural. Ban the bitch.

 

[AkaShocka]

Well, since people want her banned and other people want her to stay. She should at least just be the boss charcter. Can we all just agree on that or is that too much to handle?

 

[deathofaninja]

The poll is really quite unnecessary since it's closing in several days anyway.

That said, that first vid that ScattereDreams posted was of me getting destroyed by Bladez. I was trying a new character and trying to figure her out but as you can see I literally had no room to breath at any point. Say what you want about my skill level in 5 or 5U but even someone button mashing should've been able to get more off than I was able to. She's simply an overwhelming force that's getting some insane buffs. She's ban-worthy for sure now. The question is whether or not we pull the trigger.

I say we do it. DoA now has its own Dural. Ban the bitch.

Ban the bitch. Pontius Pilots the lot of you. Alpha is ridiculed much like Jesus was.

 

[ScattereDreams]

Ban the bitch. Pontius Pilots the lot of you. Alpha is ridiculed much like Jesus was.

LMAO That's a huge leap - But you still haven't made one good counterargument

 

[Brute]

Ban the bitch. Pontius Pilots the lot of you. Alpha is ridiculed much like Jesus was.

Alpha will die for your sins.

 

[stinkymonz]

What I (think I) can say is that, coming from 2D fighters where characters are designed to be this unforgivingly good at what they do (in Alpha's case, being a balls-to-the-wall offensive glass cannon), I suppose it makes an elegant sense why Alpha seemed to be a great fit trying to get back into DoA again haha. Assuming your points really do stand Perfect Legend et. al., I'd say tack on more defensive handicaps: maybe lose the invincibility on her tech roll, increase her recovery off a successful regular hold (even more, I guess; not that I've found it incredibly useful to turn momentum as it is -- it's not DoA2/3 Kasumi parry), maybe even nerf regular mobility like take away her run or her 7P -- changes like that would be in line with her design and tip the risk/reward better.

Barring that, I suppose banning does actually sound like a viable case here since she doesn't seem to be playing on the same field as everyone else in the game who can't apparently force as restricting and dangerous a game as Alpha. The only parallel I keep falling back on is banning Akuma from ST and I'm trying really hard to see if Alpha really restricts the game that badly for everyone else, but alas, I really don't know this game well enough lol.

 

[Awesmic]

Ban the bitch. Pontius Pilots the lot of you. Alpha is ridiculed much like Jesus was.

Let it go for now, man.

At this rate, everyone's gonna treat you like shit. You don't wanna go down that road, trust me, I've been there without even trying. If you want, we can talk on XBL. But you're just not ready for this kind of stuff yet.

 

[UncleKitchener]

This may upset Cow or Grunt Dude, but I never thought this character was meant to be played in tourneys or seriously because she really is ridiculous and a troll character, so yes.

I vote for her to be banned.

 

[grap3fruitman]

Convoluted tools are bad for the game, period. You need intelligible options with differences between them so the mindgames actually make the game interesting enough to play. For Alpha, all roads lead to death. All options are unintelligible.

That's great and all but I was quoting the guy suggesting Sarah be banned as well.

 

[deathofaninja]

It doesn't matter Awesmic, I was disliked the second I unlocked Alpha, and I don't care.

I thought it was going to come to this, and now I'm going to be forced to use Rachel (another character Brute complains about) even though I want Alpha because this ban is obviously going to go through, probably before the game is even released. Though according to Rikuto DOA5U is the same game, so that justifies it.

I will talk with you later, I'm about to do what I do best. Burning that tree.

 

[Brute]

It doesn't matter Awesmic, I was disliked the second I unlocked Alpha, and I don't care.
I thought it was going to come to this, and now I'm going to be forced to use Rachel (another character Brute complains about) even though I want Alpha because this ban is obviously going to go through, probably before the game is even released. Though according to Rikuto DOA5U is the same game, so that justifies it.
I will talk with you later, I'm about to do what I do best. Burning that tree.

Really? Awesmic has now convinced you that we're just making ad hominem attacks instead of seriously discussing a character's validity in the tournament scene?

You think we're attacking you. We're not. We're discussing Alpha. Not you, not Xcal, not Synce, not Alpha users. We are discussing ALPHA, and if you wish to defend her tell us why what we see isn't as powerful as we claim it is. We would listen to that. You're just not saying it.