The first 6 days of Fever were amazing. Instant matches in any mode (singles or doubles, fever rackets or not), and people were reasonably happy with the game. Some mechanical changes from Aces are certainly questionable and make the game feel less precise in comparison – and DK/Petey need nerfs – but overall, I think the Mario Tennis community as a whole was enjoying the game!
Then, 6 days in, Camelot decided to activate a region lock. Up until that point, online ranked matchmaking was completely unlocked – I, as an EU player, could play with NA, Japan, or anyone else from across the globe. In the eyes of most of the competitive community, this was the best thing about Fever. Aces had region lock right from its launch, so upon Fever’s release, it was SO fun to be able to play ranked against foreign friends, having not been able to do so in the previous game!
Now, since the lock, it’s already becoming harder to find games. The singles modes are alright at active times of the day, but the doubles modes are really struggling. Players are already resorting to using VPNs just to get matches. I don’t know a single player who is happy with the regions being locked – most people reported perfectly fine connection even with regions very far away from them. In addition, east coast NA cannot match with west coast!
Giving us 6 days of beautiful activity and then taking it away just seems cruel. They didn’t even announce the region lock – they just did it with no communication, and who knows if they’ll ever reverse that decision. I do know that the ranked modes of the game won’t last much longer if they don’t 😞
TLDR: rantrantrant let us play the game ffs
edit – Hooky’s video here is a great summary of the situation!
by Spare_Ant3540