Levelling Up – Character Loyalty vs Top Tiers

Welcome back to Levelling Up, the one stop shop to find some knowledge diamonds in amongst the rough journey to being a better player. This week we dive in to the immortal question: is it better to stick with your favourite character or will picking a top tier better you in the long run?

It’s easy enough to say “pick a top tier”, the attraction is obvious, it is simply because they are the best of the best. Almost untouchable in certain circumstances. Yet many will argue that there is no heart in it, you are not playing for the love of the game when you deliberately pick a top tier, it’s purely because you want to win; then you have those fortunate enough to have an eye for the best of the best and a taste for the elusive top tier.

The character loyalist is defined by their character

The hardest part of picking a top tier is that as a game’s meta changes, so do the top tiers. Originally it might seem like your character is top tier, like those who believe Iceman was really good in MvC2 and then moved to Cable, until ultimately the game boiled down to a select few teams. Most notably M/S/P and M/S/S, that’s Magneto/Storm/Psylocke and Magneto/Storm/Sentinel, in MvC2 dominated the competitive scene at the game’s peak. Yet these teams weren’t always the cream of the crop, some weren’t even considered that great until the game had fully evolved. So trying to stick to a top tier character might result in learning new characters as your game evolves.

There are just some characters you can't stay loyal to.
There are just some characters you can’t stay loyal to.

Whereas the character loyalist is defined by their character. They know all the ins and outs of their team. Every last detail and match up flows in their blood because they have given everything to represent their character and playstyle. The most notable of which is arguably (he has faltered at points and opted for top tiers like Ken in 3rd Strike and Yun in SSF4) Daigo, who is well known for his Ryu around the world. Daigo is the epitome of a character loyalist, he has played Ryu in almost every iteration of Street Fighter to date; what is more important is that his heart is behind his character. Everybody knows Ryu is his character, even when he states he might try pick up another character, we all await his new fireball techniques and patented “UmeShoryu”. That’s the beauty of a character loyalist, you root for them and they have a distinct playstyle. They are sometime the underdog and that’s why you root for them. They acknowledge their character isn’t the best and they still give it all.

Then you have the opposite side of the spectrum, those who do flock to the top tiers. The most current “tier whore” who is arguably the best player in UMvC3 to date is Chris G. Although Chris G was not the earliest adopter of Morridoom he has got the furthest and it’s nasty. Chris G has dominated the majority of tournaments he has attended since his team’s inception, collusion and laggy PS3s excluded, for the most part of a year. What’s more important is his choice of anchor, he even opted for arguably the best; Vergil. His team is the M/S/P of UMvC3 and very few truly stand a chance against a team of this calibre unless they are of equal tier quality. It works for him and it definitely brings home the bacon, who knows he might like or enjoy his characters a lot but it was certainly not his first choice of characters.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGh4ZU4H5Hk[/youtube]

For me the choice of character loyalty versus tier whoring is game specific. I will always gravitate towards my favourite characters regardless but there is an obvious lead to those in certain game like SF4 in comparison to UMvC3. For the most part in SF4 every character is viable to an extent, even as we speak Wao is dominating in the Topanga A League with his Oni, a character previously thought to be one of the lowest placed characters in SF4. But in UMvC3 we will not see a team of Hsien-Ko/Arthur/Jill any time soon, it’s just the way Ultimate Marvel Versus Capcom 3 has turned out. So whether you think you’re a character loyalist or a tier whoring trend follower always remember to level up.

I'm a Dead Rising fan through and through. No way will I give up on Frank.
I’m a Dead Rising fan through and through. No way will I give up on Frank.

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