I enjoy the guest characters, but they do feel out of place sometimes when doing tower playthroughs. Maybe they could add a setting to disable them in tower runs?

As much as I'd love to see a roster FULL of MK characters it's unrealistic at this point remember NRS is now backed by WB and they are interested in making a boatload of money first and foremost long gone are the days of Midway and them doing it for the love of the franchise. Guest charcters have been proven time and time again that they PRINT MONEY for WB they are not going away anytime soon, as for shoving them in a side character menu. I don't think it's the best idea because you could alienate those casual fans that really love those specific characters, buy the game game and end up having no idea how to access them

I am 50/50 on this one.

I do like guest characters but like 2 guests are just enough.

Guest characters spilling slots, are a waste of time

I've always been one of the loudest voices against guest characters. I've always thought of them as a waste of space and that MK is far more than good enough to stand on its own two legs when it comes to roster construction. However, it's simply a pipe dream to expect them to ever ditch the idea. They sell well because of casuals and because of the intersect between MK fans and horror fans. We can only hope that they don't waste the slots they set aside for MK characters like they did in MKX. I can't speak for everyone but I felt that Triborg was quite lazy in design and I could've done without Tanya for sure.

Ideally they'd just make a separate game for the horror characters so that MK can be MK again.

I used to hate on them as much as the next guy. Even made a dumb petition around MKX's DLC announcement against their inclusion. As the years have passed though, I have realized they dont bother me as much. I ignore them being there and at the same time they give NRS more money which allows them to branch out and accomplish more for us.

I've never liked the idea of guest characters in Mortal Kombat, and with each game the guests got worse.

I'm personally glad guest characters in MK are almost always DLC, so I don't actually have to deal with them. However, the fact that guest characters are being chosen over MK characters is appalling.

The only potential guest character I ever felt would make a decent guest in MK is Spawn, but even then, I'd rather have a MK character than him.

Okay, I will be the odd man out among hardcore MK fans and fighting game fans in general and say that I DO like guest characters. When done right. Done right to me means they are characters who fit the tone of the franchise they are making an appearance in, and are actually fun to play with beyond the novelty of, "oh I'm playing as this character in this franchise!".

I didn't care for Kratos in MK9. I liked Freddy a lot better but still his gameplay wasn't fantastic. MKX on the other hand did an amazing job with guest characters, IMO. They all fit the tone of the franchise and they were all pretty fun to play with, especially Leatherface.

It's just stupid that you have to pay in order to play for guest characters that have no business in Mortal Kombat. I would prefer guest characters that have some element to the game. Eternal Champions, Killer Instinct are two games that come to mind.

I used to hate on the guests, but Jason, The Predator and Alien changed my mind. Had so-o-o much fun with them! I use my own imagination to justify their existance. It's not like they are in the Story Mode, so.. I have no problem with that.

The main reason people do not like the guests is that they take roster slots that could have been used for MK characters. I get that and I agree to a certain extent. But if the roster is good as a whole and many fan favorites do return, 2 guests are welcome, I guess. 4 guests... that was an overkill in MKX, and Leatherface was an obvious PR push on behalf of WB, but they still made him somewhat enjoyable.

Me neither.

One of them. Acceptable

Two of them. Passable

More than two, there is something wrong. MKX was the perfect MK game for me, but 4 guests are too many. They should have used just Alien and Predator and saving Leatherface and Jason for MK11.

Also guests would be more bearable if they were fighters. Alien is everything but a fighter. Jason the same. Leatherface without weapons is weak as fuck and lack intelligence. Only Predator somehow fitted MK tone.

You want to use guests, then use characters that would fit in MK: Deathstroke, Lobo (from DC), Kenshiro (from FIST of the north star), Guts (from Berserk), heck even Mad Max or Talion from shadow of Mordor would be a better choice than horror icons that were popular 20 years ago and now are just nobodies.

One or two guests are fine, but when NRS gives us guest characters, they're not sending their best. They're not sending Spawn. They're not sending anybody from Killer Instinct. They're sending guest characters that suck ass, and they're shitting up the roster. They're bringing Leatherface. They're bringing Alien. They suck ass. Some, like the Predator, are good picks and add to the value of the roster.

It's time to make MK great again, Boon.

I don't mind one or two guest. MK9 got it about right, one in the base roster and one DLC. MKX had far too many.

It all depends on the amounth of DLC and tbh a little on whether any if my personal big characters are missing over a random guest I'd never use. No Sareena in MKX meant I grudged every guest space.

You know their ideas for guest characters were running dry when Alien couldn't even get an original moveset. It had to be a semi-clone of Baraka.

I think there's a bit more to that one, my guess is that they still wanted to include Baraka's abilities in some way and also wanted to put their own spin on the whole host DNA thing. My only complaint with the Alien is that it's head isn't long enough.

I’m of the belief that if any of us had their way, there would be no guests. That’s just not the world we live in these days, however. You can do one of two things...

• Vote with your wallet and not buy them.
• Accept it and just have fun with it.

I have chosen to just have fun with it, but neither is a bad choice in my opinion. Different strokes and what not.

This is presumably correct. Seemed like they wanted to throw Baraka fans a bone without actually making him playable. It didn't really work, but it's still better than what Rain and Sindel got, for example.

Here's an age-old dilemma that has become less desirable as time has gone on, with developers and publishers pushing content that is exclusive to bundle purchases (like, say, a Kombat Pass). For example, I've sunk the better part of the last three years into Smite, and they (being HiRez/Titanforge) love to pull that shit on their players. Their flavors of this practice are either peripheral content like ward skins and loading frames, or a super cool character skin that goes away forever after the promotion ends. The problem at hand becomes a lot less simple to answer when it's not just a question of saving money by abstaining from something you don't want. If there's other, more worthwhile content that you miss out on by not buying one piece of a larger puzzle, then they've kinda got you by the balls. Here's hoping we don't have to deal with that when MK11 releases, but I'm not holding my breath.

I liked the route that they took with MK9 in that there were a more acceptable two guest characters that were unrelated to the canonical story. Bringing in Alien, Predator, Jason Vorhees, and Leatherface was overkill (barely played Jason or Alien). To me, there really is no point (excluding profit potential) in bringing in characters that have no possibility of being tied into the main storyline, thus never making a return. Hopefully, with the release of the most recent Terrordrome installment, NRS will be convinced to stray away from integrating horror movie characters into the roster. We don't need any more one-and-done characters who have nothing and will never have anything to contribute to the MK plot. Though, I'm not expecting NRS to avoid repeating a practice they've been exploiting for the past two installments simply for the sake of turning a bigger profit. Oh, do I miss the days of walking into a store, buying a game, and knowing that I was getting the finished product and not what is essentially a high-end beta release.

Not me. I like them. I am hoping for Michael Myers, Pennywise, Spawn, and Ash Williams in MK11.

I'd like to say I'm an MK purist, as I've been a fan since 92-93 and I've played and loved most of the games. I root for underdog characters to return almost all the time and I hope to see NRS breathe life into the the deepest depths of the lore's roster, but I really do enjoy the guests they've been putting in.

I'm also a huge horror buff, too and I blame my upbringing of Doom and MK on that - so it's natural to me to think these characters would fit. I also see why folks would be mad because that spot could go to an MK character, but to be honest - and knowing how these things work, WB saddles them with a number of spots and says this is what you can have - and this is what we want. So, I get it.

But I'd be lying through my teeth if I didn't say I loved Predator, Jason, Alien and Leatherface duking it out in one of my favorite games. Do I wish they'd included Freddy over Leatherface? Maybe but they used him in MK9 and they don't usually repeat DLC.

I'm looking forward to the eventual addition of Spawn, Pennywise and others.

This is true, but not something I’d considered in this situation. NRS (thus far) has been fairly good about making all of their content available once a certain period of time has passed. Buying their packs has basically just given you a bit of timed exclusivity on content and outside of being sure to jam a guest into each pack, I’ve seen nothing as insidious as what you’re describing here...

Unfortunately, with the advent of cosmetics, the odds of what you’re describing happening here have shot up. But even in Injustice 2(a game I have criticized for the way cosmetic drops were implemented) everyone was still able to earn rare gear through multiverse towers.

Hopefully NRS does the right thing here, but your concerns are well founded, especially considering the current state of the gaming business.

I hate guest characters. Hated 'em since day 1. Cyber-Smoke, Tanya, Tremor, Bo Rai Cho, or friggin' anyone could have taken Freddy's spot in MK9. Same goes for MKX.

That actually makes it worse.

That means they deliberately chose a guest character over their own, took from that same character as an attempt to make up for it.

This is indeed true.

I for one prefer voting with my wallet. Still, I wish they would maintain some degree of integrity when it comes to developing DLC.