FYI: 'Extreme' is my word of the day. Ha. Stay with me though.
Damn. I didn't think the Fortress Hogging change would turn out a discussion like this. Anyhoo. I myself do have some mixed feels about how it works in 3.0, but I genuinely feel it's not a HORRIBLE change (still fairly drastic) because of Bowser's general extreme design (in my eyes). I think this attribute is more important to observe than simply his forte in ledgegames. I still think 3.0 Bowser is 'lacking' a little som'nn som'nn. His style now is just a little off because of, what I think, a lack in extreme
I wasn't competitive with melee and played Bowser less so, but I am familiar with how forthogging worked then. Since PM 2.5 , Bowser got me intrigued into his playstyle, but more importantly, his design. The differences i'm referring to is how Bowser actually plays/shows his stance on the field versus his general attributes as a character. His playstyle is heavily based on ledge games and we all know that. Once I saw how stupid easy it was to hold and keep that ledge, I had to know more. We all have a rival we want to show up, right? The more Bowser I learned, the more his attributes started becoming clear to me. Maybe Melee Bowser really was all about forthogging? I can't objectively say. PM Bowser is surely an advancement to whatever melee bowser was in most every way, but especially on the stage. How? His design became EXTREME. They made him the biggest, heaviest, strongest, slowest, laggiest(?), comboable, edge-happiest character in the game. Let's not forget the plethora of defensive options in the form of upb and red/crawling armor. I could be wrong here, but i'm certain some would agree.
So why do I think 3.0 forthogging was a proper change?
Let's looks at the move in a vacuum or whatever you guys call it. Compared to what forhogging was to us boozers are super used to, 3.0 forthogging is obstructive to developed meta(am I using this word right? I can never tell), unintuitive, and borderline nerve-racking. Seemingly the safest and fastest move to the ledge that allowed Bowser to be surprisingly nimble and incredibly SAFE, and now theres an extreme punishment for doing it wrong? What the shell, PMBR?
Well, let's take this out of the vacuum now.
Pre-3.0, due to the incredibly mild drawback of the move and the MAJOR role it plays in Bowser's playstyle, (which is edgeguarding(which is the FASTEST way to take a stock) it was daunting to other characters and I can see how this could be a little detrimental to general gameplay, but this is what the PMBR gave us, and it was glorious. With the use of extreme hitboxes and armor, getting someone off the stage was relatively easy, and then it was bad juju for the opponent after that because Bowser's most extreme edgeguarding weapon was also his safest (not to mention the other uses). This is too much of an extreme even for Bowser, and i'm hoping even you bitter dudes can admit that forthogging was incredibly safe because it was so easy. No wonder people get so salty! The fastest method to take a stock, and the biggest comboable "low-tier" character had these tools to seemingly ignore the opponents skill and advantages once you got in some red armor and took their stock at the ledge right in the middle of their kill setup. I think this is where the PMBR thought Bowser was faulty. They made the extreme character too extreme in certain aspects.
Come 3.0, and that extreme move not only got TONED DOWN, but now has an EXTREME drawback in the form of your own stock being taken at the ledge without much effort. While I really don't like that Boozer's defining playstyle got toned down, I think it's more fitting in his overall design of extremes. Why? Forthogging is STILL one of the best ways to keep someone off the ledge, but there's an extreme drawback. I've already mentioned how i've received the change.
Here's the nail in the coffin in my opinion: Boozer got nothing else to make up for those changes to his extreme powers. This is where some might feel cheated, including myself. If anything, the reduced IASA of Bair IN ADDITION to the forhogging change WITHOUT any other buffs to compensate for the impact all of this does to Boozer mains' playstyles made Bowser feel significantly less extreme and simply more polarizing. To me anyway.
3.0 Bowser isn't as ledge happy anymore, so he has to be better on stage. On the other hand, his generally extreme design and very minor changes/very major airgame nerf didn't really help his neutral game, so we still need to heavily rely on ledgeplay, which CAN be risky now because of the extreme punishment that you may receive.
If ANYTHING needs to be improved on Bowser at this point, though there's not much that needs it, it's definitely his neutral/airgame.
TL;DR: Bowser is a character of extremes. Extreme strength, power, size, lag, etc. Therefore, 3.0 fortress hogging fits this frame fine. Most extreme ledgegame meets most extreme whiff, aka a stock. I'm fine with that.
Once you add in the other changes(or lack of), then he just does not FEEL as extreme anymore. If ANYTHING needs to be better, it really should be his neutral/air game. I WANT 2.6 BAIR IASA BACK DANGNABBIT D:
