Really like the discussion here and I think about the balancing of saber styles constantly while I'm playing the game, as well. Figured I'd kind of chime in from a more 'competitive' standpoint for JKA. This is my opinion on it, so feel free to disagree or whatever. This is for MP only as well, considering SP balancing isn't nearly as important (IN MY OPINION, DON'T HURT ME). For JKA Base/MP, yellow/medium is definitely the more optimal and versatile style, if you will (Single vs. Single). absolutely fantastic angles on the swings(A and D swings, in particular, are extremely straight forward), no reduced speed, great range, exceptionally high priority when swinging that even contests red occasionally, poking the swings also give it immense damage, etc. The list really goes on. It's ability to pressure and counter swings is absolutely unmatched in the correct hands and it's defensive options are exceptional as well! Countering low-jumps by fanning mid-air, stopping pressure by forcing trades (yellow fan vs yellow fan), it truly is a strong counter to light/blue AND strong/red. Staff is what really takes medium/yellow to new heights in the meta-game, but I probably won't go into that. Let's talk about Strong a bit: Red, naturally, suffers greatly from a lack of offensive options due too it's absolutely ridiculous slow and long initial start-up animations, reduced speed on the ground, and long swing cool-down animations making it extremely punishable if moving forward. Players in the community have gotten very creative however by jumping right before the speed reduction of the swing occurs, allowing you to have NO speed reduction while airborne. While a great technique and a soft-counter of sorts to medium, it becomes easy to to read by the opponent and even easier to dodge. The most viable way to use this technique is called low-jumping, which is quickly pressing the crouch button once during the beginning frames of the jump animation (around frames 2-5) allowing you to cancel your potential peak height in the jump, making your hang-time in the air significantly shorter. Due to a shorter jump, it's much harder for your opponent react with a counter or dodge and players can take advantage of this further by lowering their jump force level and/or choosing an FPS value of 83 or 142 which allows shorter jump height. Other than that, however, that's really all Strong/Red has for a consistent and viable offensive option. This makes it MUCH tougher to comeback in a match if you're down in score, the red user has to be extremely creative, precise, and careful even with low-jumping. Strong/Red does have a very strong defensive game, however. Swing delays, ranging opponents out with the little range they have over yellow, parrying, etc., can make even the most seasoned medium single or staff think twice before approaching too hard. This is also where the true skill-gap in the game is found, in my opinion. In order to make red viable against medium single and staff, it takes an absolute insane amount of practice and experience, which is why the newer people in the game really struggle against medium and staff. Red requires such precision and footwork mastery at high level it's truly something that should be commended if seen. The EU competitive scene has done a much better job in honing their Red style compared to most USA players, I must sadly admit. What should be changed if anything? Red needs more offensive options against medium single and staff, as well as a tad priority and strength boost against staff, specifically. Like most swings in any style or saber, the farther you are from an opponent when making contact actually gives you LESS priority, this makes ranging out opponents using red slightly more pointless and annoying (this can be read in the source code as well). Buffing Red/Strong offensively will greatly speed up the game-play as well, due to not having to rely so much on defensive/passive play. I'm not saying buff Red a lot or even mildly, but it definitely should be addressed in some way. I can talk way more into specifics about this, but I think I got the message across lol Red also is a bit more viable in JKA than JK2 (1.04), which is a little better for versatility, adding on to game dynamic and the entertainment value of watching the game. Also <3 Cartwheels