Imo the ratio system is a great idea and am glad that AI is looking into it.
It basically brings further balance to an already decently balanced game without banning anyone or any move. No noob to the game will hate you for not kicking the shit out of him with a team of Raiden, K' and Liz or whatever.
Whoring tiers only leads to more whoring, a scenario where there are a few tier users and the other players try to take them down with other characters just doesn't happen.
Like I said earlier, the game is overall pretty balanced so the vast majority of the cast is viable for competitive play, its not like if you pick Raiden or K' you are left with cannon fodder.
Also, since under this system all characters are usable and no one is banned, you will still get to fight every character. As a result you won't lose out on experience fighting whatever character, so even if you show up to a tourney without a ratio system you are still good.
Seriously, if two rooms are being hosted online, one with a ratio system and one without, which one do you think you would have more fun playing in?
The arcade spent $10K on, one of the SFIV setup the year before that he is losing money on already (on top of losing money to XII).
Started at .50 cents now at .25.
Damn, and it was mentioned on Madman's cafe that they are going to sell the arcade edition of SSF4 for over $28K. Crazy stuff.
How has XIII been for him? A success or failure?