gaming What is your view on tier lists?

[Gernia 690]

Pretty much every game that's being played competitively today has a tier list, so I just want to hear your opinion on them in general.

 

Personally, I don't take them as iron-clad fact, but I believe they have some reliability. The gamers that make them spend a lot of time playing the game and would know more about it than me, so I think they're good when ranking characters, classes, etc. Not perfect, but good.

[CMQuickfireTK 751]

They work out... Xaero really is l33t!

but... I'm even moar so.

[-Lyra Heartstrings- 100]

i dont really have one.....so yeah

[Shimmer Down 668]

I think that often tier lists tend to be based on which characters/builds/races/decks tend to be the easiest to win with.

 

The first example that springs to my mind is Street Fighter. In SF4 (vanilla), Sagat was stupid strong. Easy combos into ultra, good fireball pressure, a lot of strong normals and good health. This didn't stop people from topping tournaments with other, lower tier characters. What it did mean is that those people had to put in more work in terms of execution, mindgames and spacing.

 

TL;DR - tier lists are a thing, but in a well-balanced game (whether it be video, card or board), they're compressed and any one can win if they put in enough work.

[CloserToTheSun 732]

I'm okay with them. Sadly some characters are better designed to be played easier, better, or whatever. But just because a character is higher up on a tier list doesn't mean I'm going to play exclusively to them. Heck, when it comes to Smash Bros./Project M, my two main fighters are Ganondorf and Lucas. Both are at the bottom, but I don't care, I like playing as them. When it comes to Tekken, I love playing King. Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 (vanilla and ultimate), I use Tron and Nemesis. Basically, I play with my favorites. And I do win with them, so it's all good. xD

 

tl;dr: I play and win with who I like, regardless what some tier list says.

Edited April 12, 2014 by CloserToTheSun

[CMQuickfireTK 751]

I'm okay with them. Sadly some characters are better designed to be played easier, better, or whatever. But just because a character is higher up on a tier list doesn't mean I'm going to play exclusively to them. Heck, when it comes to Smash Bros./Project M, my two main fighters are Ganondorf and Lucas. Both are at the bottom, but I don't care, I like playing as them. When it comes to Tekken, I love playing King. Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 (vanilla and ultimate), I use Tron and Nemesis. Basically, I play with my favorites. And I do win with them, so it's all good. xD

 

What would donkey kong rank as? It's he that I play as the absolute most. lol

[M'aiq the Liar 5,804]

They are fine in most cases. But often certain characters or classes, or in the case of starcraft, certain factions are easier to play and win with. Or for example in fighting is magic, it is harder to win a ranked bout with fluttershy than it would be with useing rainbow dash. So while it can rank players better for competitive purposes, it often also becomes more of a "use this character to win" list. 

[CloserToTheSun 732]

What would donkey kong rank as? It's he that I play as the absolute most. lol

In the original Smash, DK was Tier C.

 

In Melee, DK was Tier D.

 

In Brawl, DK is Tier D.

 

In Project M (which is still being worked on and improved all the time), DK is Tier B-ish and on par with Jigglypuff (a big improvement for him)

[Radiance64 7,052]

I look at them for some games I play(Smash Bros., Pokémon), but haven't ever really religiously followed/sweared by them. It's interesting to see what the general communities of games think the best/worst characters are though.