Though the change might have just discouraged people from playing VR in the first place.
Because....
If the game goes long enough for Kostura cannons to be used, I don't know why they wouldn't be used.
VR picks are pretty rare....I think a large part of it has to do with the fact the VR early game is not really different from the VL early game, and VL have the better titan by far...unless you knew in advance that you'd be eco, there's not much advantage in picking VR over VL...even if you are eco, most players would still want to be VL because of the superior titan, which comes out far sooner than jumping Orkies and kostura spam could...
Some things I'd like to point out....
First, a major reason why people used to be big advocates of jumping Orkies needing 1 or 2 SB upgrades was because that solution actually could have been implemented with no changes to the engine...the devs had to make a new research modifier to give us the current system where jumping Orkies need a phase node...since we now have the modifier, there is no longer a big push for SB upgrades being the solution...
Second, Stripped to the Core and Wail of the Sacrifice used to be in the same boat as jumping Orkies....they were too easy to get, too powerful, and too game changing to the point where either they or the factions that used them were banned...you will occasionally see SttC used, but honestly it is not all that common in MP games these days...as for wail, the only person I've seen use it in recent memory is in fact myself, though to be fair other players probably had it and the threat of it was relevant to the game...point being, jumping Orkies is not the only end-game that has been heavily nerfed to a point where it is rarely relevant....personally, I like the current situation: wail, SttC, and jumping Orkies are viable strategies but not the strategy...
