D
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Disclaimer: Yes I searched the subforum and couldn't find the proper thread this belonged in so i'm making it here. I don't usually post often so I seriously don't want to be berated with "Stop making new threads for stuff this is already in" because I couldn't find it.
That being said I am a little disappointed with the fact that Doc got no changes in the last and final patch as Sakurai has put it. I still believe in the possibility of a hotfix here and there but i'm certain that this seals the fate of Doctor Mario when it comes to any improvements.
In my personal opinion I believe that there needed to be 4 different changes to Doc as a character that were completely ignored. To sort of preface this, I have been playing Doc since day 1 of Sm4sh 3DS and use only him in and outside of tourney. I have experience with other characters of course but my ability with Doc just completely overshadows them all. Another disclaimer id like to add is that any one of these following suggestions would have been fine in my book as it would increase his viability by a lot, but obviously didn't expect anything to happen, or for all of them to be applied at once.
So to start off I believe that there are four major areas that Doc could have used some tweaking. They are as follows --
Running Speed -
So in terms of Doc's abilities I think he has really good close range game however when it comes to extending off of his combos he can fall short when it comes to followups. For some matchups that are lighter (Luigi included) he can't really extend in the air much less on the ground due to his run speed. I feel like this would help Doc because it would allow him to cover a decent amount of ground and actually make his fthrow much more viable from low to mid percents on lighter characters.
UpB Distance Extension -
I'm not sure if this came as a surprise or not but I'm fairly certain that anyone playing Doc would to some degree resonate with this. I feel like making his UpB lacking in comparison to Mario's was completely arbitrary on Sakurai's part as it exclusively puts them together comparatively and ends up ignoring the entire roster. I'm not saying that UpB is easily gimpable or whatnot because it is, and it isn't and that's based on matchup but my argument to this is that to have an identical character who can recover better and is much faster is like giving the advantaged a two-fold while leaving the slower rendition (despite having much more kill potential) kind of a sitting duck.
To kind of expand on this point I am aware that Mario's UpB is not a kill move therefore it is justified to have the range much better than Doc's as a tradeoff for it's lack in power but with Doc's UpB being so small it can mean a stock majority of the time as it primarily used as a recovery. Personally, I think the trade-off doesn't hold much ground in dissent especially as I said before that it exclusively compares the two and ignores the entire roster as a whole. Doc's viability is questioned 99% of the time for his recovery and I think that this should have been fixed a long time ago.
Less Landing Lag on Pill -
I mean...
Megavitamins (Early) 17-20
Megavitamins 21-44
And..
Dair 11-26 (Rehit rate: 4)
Dair (Final Hit) 27
So to start off on this point let me just say that there's no reason why his Pill should start at 17 frames early whatsoever and end at 44 frames for normal. To me that's just blasphemy (harhar). The Pill in and of itself has a huge arch and I think that in matchups like JIgglypuff, Sonic, Kirby, and anyone with a short frame can easily avoid this.
As an example in the Sonic MU Doc's Pill's are near useless because Sonic can Spin Dash past them all if timed right and by the time Doc can act out of his grounded pill move (for the sake of argument) he will have gotten combo'd or thrown into a string. His aerial Pill leaves him the same amount of defenseless because the Pill arches higher with his height of when he first executed the pill STILL leaving him defenseless. At least if his landing lag/ending lag was less on his Pills he would be able to more effectively punish characters who can easily just dodge this.
Tornado Hitlag Glitch -
I'm kind of in a hurry so i'll link this to another thread that mentioned it but I think it is seriously worth noting and should STILL be considered in any future hotfixes because it's simply just stupid to lose a stock to. I shouldn't have to go in for a punish, land it, and then worry if i'll make it back on stage or not because of some hitlag glitch.
http://smashboards.com/threads/dear...ts-too-late-the-cyclone-hitlag-glitch.420602/
I know my post may come off as entitled but I consider this long post a rant at it's core because it is just so infuriating to me as a Doc main to see him get neglected like a handful of other characters who clearly needed something done to balance them and their weakness (aka Zelda, cough).
That being said I am a little disappointed with the fact that Doc got no changes in the last and final patch as Sakurai has put it. I still believe in the possibility of a hotfix here and there but i'm certain that this seals the fate of Doctor Mario when it comes to any improvements.
In my personal opinion I believe that there needed to be 4 different changes to Doc as a character that were completely ignored. To sort of preface this, I have been playing Doc since day 1 of Sm4sh 3DS and use only him in and outside of tourney. I have experience with other characters of course but my ability with Doc just completely overshadows them all. Another disclaimer id like to add is that any one of these following suggestions would have been fine in my book as it would increase his viability by a lot, but obviously didn't expect anything to happen, or for all of them to be applied at once.
So to start off I believe that there are four major areas that Doc could have used some tweaking. They are as follows --
Running Speed -
So in terms of Doc's abilities I think he has really good close range game however when it comes to extending off of his combos he can fall short when it comes to followups. For some matchups that are lighter (Luigi included) he can't really extend in the air much less on the ground due to his run speed. I feel like this would help Doc because it would allow him to cover a decent amount of ground and actually make his fthrow much more viable from low to mid percents on lighter characters.
UpB Distance Extension -
I'm not sure if this came as a surprise or not but I'm fairly certain that anyone playing Doc would to some degree resonate with this. I feel like making his UpB lacking in comparison to Mario's was completely arbitrary on Sakurai's part as it exclusively puts them together comparatively and ends up ignoring the entire roster. I'm not saying that UpB is easily gimpable or whatnot because it is, and it isn't and that's based on matchup but my argument to this is that to have an identical character who can recover better and is much faster is like giving the advantaged a two-fold while leaving the slower rendition (despite having much more kill potential) kind of a sitting duck.
To kind of expand on this point I am aware that Mario's UpB is not a kill move therefore it is justified to have the range much better than Doc's as a tradeoff for it's lack in power but with Doc's UpB being so small it can mean a stock majority of the time as it primarily used as a recovery. Personally, I think the trade-off doesn't hold much ground in dissent especially as I said before that it exclusively compares the two and ignores the entire roster as a whole. Doc's viability is questioned 99% of the time for his recovery and I think that this should have been fixed a long time ago.
Less Landing Lag on Pill -
I mean...
Megavitamins (Early) 17-20
Megavitamins 21-44
And..
Dair 11-26 (Rehit rate: 4)
Dair (Final Hit) 27
So to start off on this point let me just say that there's no reason why his Pill should start at 17 frames early whatsoever and end at 44 frames for normal. To me that's just blasphemy (harhar). The Pill in and of itself has a huge arch and I think that in matchups like JIgglypuff, Sonic, Kirby, and anyone with a short frame can easily avoid this.
As an example in the Sonic MU Doc's Pill's are near useless because Sonic can Spin Dash past them all if timed right and by the time Doc can act out of his grounded pill move (for the sake of argument) he will have gotten combo'd or thrown into a string. His aerial Pill leaves him the same amount of defenseless because the Pill arches higher with his height of when he first executed the pill STILL leaving him defenseless. At least if his landing lag/ending lag was less on his Pills he would be able to more effectively punish characters who can easily just dodge this.
Tornado Hitlag Glitch -
I'm kind of in a hurry so i'll link this to another thread that mentioned it but I think it is seriously worth noting and should STILL be considered in any future hotfixes because it's simply just stupid to lose a stock to. I shouldn't have to go in for a punish, land it, and then worry if i'll make it back on stage or not because of some hitlag glitch.
http://smashboards.com/threads/dear...ts-too-late-the-cyclone-hitlag-glitch.420602/
I know my post may come off as entitled but I consider this long post a rant at it's core because it is just so infuriating to me as a Doc main to see him get neglected like a handful of other characters who clearly needed something done to balance them and their weakness (aka Zelda, cough).
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I play doc a lot, but I wouldn't have considered solo maining him unless he got some well earned buffs. Wish he got the Marth treatment in 1.1.4. Ah well, we can always hope for more balance patches or a fix for the cyclone glitch. 
