The silence on DLC and the Kombat League tells me this game didn't have enough optimization before launch.
NRS are effectively playing catch up. That shadow delay of Kombat League was hilarious.
I think you're right - a lot of the biggest complaints of the game feel like they should have been fine-tuned before release (from Tower difficulty to the rewards/grind to the fact that Tournament Variations aren't default variations/have to be set separately).
My bigger hope is that they saw the reports of a toxic work environment with a history of crunch and are working towards updating the game while valuing their employees' time and work/life balance.
I suspect it's somewhere between the two, though. The launch of the game was rocky marketing/PR wise, so it makes sense to drop the DLC announce, the Kombat League and some further optimizations once the discussion has moved on a little bit.
Yep. The game was definitely rushed.
If we believe the reports then the game was 3 months behind (! by the time of the reveal event. It's basically a miracle the gameplay was so good day 1.
Yes all of this points to the game releasing hotter than expected, also explains the crunch. The first time in a long while they kept the season pass characters in the dark also.
Which is strange, as the ball was in NRS' court, it wasn't like they announced MK11 2 years beforehand with a hard date they had to commit to, but 4 months in advance, they could have waited another 4 months with an announcement and released later, it's not like other AAA fighting games are coming for their market share later this year.
Anyway, eagerly awaiting the Kombat Pack reveal - hoping they will reveal all the characters at once. Doesn't have to be gameplay trailers, just show some Shang Tsung gameplay and the official renderings of the new characters. Ideally I'd like them to release them in pairs of two with a new stage.
Also curious how the gear and costumes of the DLC characters will be handled. Open up the Krypt with a seperate area? Stuff the gear inside the regular Krypt (that would be the least ideal solution)? Doesn't seem likely they will just unlock everything for them from the start....