I'd say they need to find a balance between 3.02 and 3.6. Yes keep the balancing but try to ramp it up to fox's level of speed and options for every character. If a character has no other viable options we get the Hungrybox case at EVO against Mango.
Right now I don't know if its cause I'm just to casual of a player to go beyond this(I've just started to tech somewhat consistently in both games), but project m feels more stiff than melee. I know I don't have input assist on so its not a frame buffer problem but just something about how movement between inputs feel. PM feels like a rugged, rigid, quick. Melee feels like a smooth quick, that is more flexible. (Personal opinion ofc) If you wanna attract the hard core fans don't nerf what makes a character fun make it harder and less viable to do whats fun all time, or make something else fun to do as well.
There is also the problem with the Nintendo not liking PM for obvious reasons, and just the great difference there is between melee, pm, and smash 4. PM and Melee do have similar techs but not everything is quite the same(I find this a good thing you know people think otherwise). As for smash4 their tech is quite different and since pm is from an older game it feels like they are going backwards in deciding to play it(casuals). So in that sense the newcomers from the latest smash are not attracted to it.
I feel if we could just get dolphin to be much more accessible and as close to lag free as a crt console setup without really trying then we'll really be getting people attention. Right now playing on wii and crt is just not most players who are on the fence on playing smash competitively so smash 4 becomes the obvious option. I think for pm and the melee scene to keep on thriving they need to do what steam and hardware companies did for pc. Where steam made software extremely easy to handle and cheap to get, with hardware companies making hardware that is actually extremely affordable and get if you actually spent an hour doing some research instead of just buying after running into a store. So what do you do for this, make it stupid easy to at least install dolphin on pc and get them playing the game even if its not completely authentic to gameplay on a more traditional setup. If they like the game and scene enough they will transition to more hardcore setups.
This is pretty much where I am in a way. I started out differently since I'm older however, I played melee on gc causally but was to young to ever even know about a competitive scene or have anyone in it. Moves on to play other games, gets wii plays brawl its ok does a lot of custom stages, beats it leaves it alone. Then I find Project M first (around its early versions) at a friends house. Starts playing melee as a friendly competitive thing don't go crazy with it since I like to many different games to get stuck to playing just one. I eventually learn basic techs in melee and then apply them in pm. Why? Because for some reason like I said techs in melee feel more fluid I dunno why. BUT, PMs basic move set is more straight on so its easier to get precise timings down. Now I'm getting the point that pretty soon I'll be visiting a weekly tourney at FIU down here in Florida, then to the next CEO. I just need to make techs second nature before I feel comfortable with that. I probably won't be getting a crt at any time since I'll just most likely getting a high refresh rate monitor instead.
Now for those who did not have melee, or barely touched a wii and have a freight for doing anything not mediocre with computers what are they gonna do? Well if they have no friends with pm to show them how its done(like I've done for plenty of my friends), they'll just buy a wii u and get into that community. They need to see how easy it is to setup or be able to aquire a predone setup for themselves at an easy way.
Maybe some preconfigured 2gb sd cards? Maybe sell them online and at tourneys that host PM with instructions given? A wii with brawl combo coupon to buy online? Automatic installer to sd card plugged into pc that you can download form PM website. This kind of ease of use works wonders.
We have already everything a causal smasher wants who could get really into the scene. We have graphical improvment mods make the game more appealing, ways of playing PM without a wii. Local venues are hosting it and there are plenty of content to see of competitive matches. What I think is missing is the middle ground and find polish to accessibility, and cleaning up the last bits of iffy gameplay that keep it form being easily a major competitive smash game that does not fall short in attendance at tournaments.
TL;DR:
- Make PM tech more fluid in inputting so it feels as satisfying as Melee.
- Make characters balanced as they are in 3.6 without losing sight of what makes each character fun to play.
- Allow for the use of maybe some tech similar to Smash4 to be used in pm so that newcomers from the game are more attracted to PM maybe.
- Make getting PM stupid easy. Have preconfigured 2gb sdcards ready to be sold, have recommended equipment shown on PM promoting sites (CRTs,HFR Gaming displays, etc), dolphin with project m ready(just need brawl rips), Stations at tourneys that will mod your wii on site so that its easy to play pm (same can be done with laptops or desktops if people are willing to bring.) Project M official downloads having installers that automatically put PM into an SD card, or setup dolphin for you. Make mods for pm have installers straight to sd card, dolphin etc, have them on CDs at the venue.
