So basically more nerfs? No please. We have enough as it is.
Things need to be toned down. TN is somehow disillusioned by thinking that Christie is so underpowered that she needs buffs. Give me another character that can get a guard break that guarantees a follow up after 30 frames? 37 frames is the ballpark where characters tend to be granted a guard break that allows a guaranteed follow up. Her Jaheiko sidestep is also ridiculous. What makes it more ridiculous is that most characters only have good low and high moves that have tracking. The problem with that is that high tracking moves go over Christie's sidestep, and low tracking moves are normally slower. Mid moves that have tracking are mostly standalone moves that leave you at a crazy disadvantage when blocked, or are only present in the middle of a string. Either do something about the sidestep, or give everyone a quick mid tracking move that starts off a string. Personally, I vote for the former, because if the latter were to happen, sidestepping would be almost useless in general.
Gen Fu needs to be toned down in regards to getting -7 on block, because in older DOAs, those moves were low throw punishable. His sit down stuns are also crazy because the only way to escape getting hit with a critical burst is only if you time your slow escape perfectly. That happening is really rare. Christie gets a guaranteed critical burst after her QCB P, but only after a certain number of hits before it. That is balanced. Kasumi gets a guaranteed critical burst after 66kk, but the second kick is easily counterable, so that is balanced. It doesn't help that he has excellent recovery off his mid parries, which guarantee a follow up after it is successful. If it fails, he recovers very quickly, and his 11 frame elbow tends to beat out anything you can do.
Kokoro's 18 frame 6 p+k stuns on normal hit, and allows follow ups after. That move is too quick to react to, and if you sidestep the first hit, you will get hit with the second hit. As a trade off, her 2f+k k string should have the second hit stun as it did in DOA4. It will also make her mix ups better in regards to whether she will follow up with a low kick, or a mid punch, or her temporary stance after the first kick. Most low moves that stun on normal hit (and allow a follow up) activate in about 22 to 23 frames, and low moves that activate quicker normally have some sort of hitch, like being backfacing, or in a stance, at which point doing a low becomes more obvious. 18 frames is a bit much.
Ayane is already chock full of mix ups. She can easily go into forward facing or backfacing and critical burst you after a stun. Certain characters need different critical bursts to vary their game, such as Zack and Lisa, but Ayane does not. Helena's bokuho critical burst is mid punch, just like her standing critical burst. Ayane should have the same thing.
Alpha's parry is overpowered. (not her counters) The thing that makes it OP is that if the opponent can turn around in time and guard, they will get hit with a guard breaking move that leaves her at about +17 on block. That move should not guard break, and should leave her at about -5 on block. As for her low throw, there is no reason why she should have a 3 frame low throw. Make it 4 frames like it is for the rest of the grapplers.
Pai's counters are too weak, and they should function like they did in VF4, where they did considerably more damage. Her pppk, ppp2k, and ppp4k strings were also much faster then. In DOA5, the mix up is stupid because it is so slow and obvious.
As for Lisa, there is no reason why her booty bump move from backfacing should not be counterable. It's already a great move that leaves her at like -3 on block if I am not mistaken.
and Emperor Cow, jumping punch and kick like the way it was in DOA4 allowed for a better mix up game, especially when it came to dealing with wake up kicks. It is much easier to time than doing a regular move that evades lows. The only time where I can see jumping punch and kick causing trouble is when it came to doing Hayate's raijin in DOA4. But I believe they changed the moves' input in DOA5.
I might pass on being able to sidestep offensive holds, except for jumping offensive holds, like alpha's 8T. That should be sidesteppable. But the trade off with parries is that when they are used (while not stunned of course) the chance of a successful parry is increased because a mid parry will parry both mid kick, and mid punch. Parries should be used in a more skillful manner than simply being spammed and hoping to randomly get a parry off.
