Lately I’ve been feeling like I spend a lot of time in this game practicing combos and setups but once I get online I either get crazy good results or crazy bad. I feel like this game is completely random and some times I feel like I haven’t improved at all. Should I stick to offline? Sick of putting so much practice into a game and still feeling like it has not mattered.
Let me introduce you to the almighty skill-equalizer:
That’s the problem. You can’t do them online.
Pretty much this.
Just play online for fun, and if it makes you upset, then just play offline. Do whichever you enjoy more. 
Take a break. Also remember to have fun when you play otherwise playing the game becomes a chore.
Game isn’t really random. People just aren’t as good as they think they are.
This is one of the best things I’ve read on SRK in a while.
Online should never be the full measure of your progress. There are simply too many variables due to online connections on top of human error that will prevent you from playing your best.
Alright so what can i do to improve? I acknowledge the fact that I’m not the best however I know for sure I’m not the worst. What can I do to get over this block and improve? Is it my team maybe? I’m runnig Nova-Dante-Doom and I have a blast doing so.
Do you have someone who you play regularly that more often than not beats you? If so, you should try asking him/her/them how you could improve. Acknowledging the flaws in your play is the first step to improvement. This seems to be a problem especially for training mode monsters. You feel like you should be winning because of the time you put in but you don’t realize that you haven’t been practicing the right things.
As others said - online is buttcheeks.
If you truly want to get better:
[LIST=1]
[]find the scene in your area
[]hit up those casual sessions
[]Find a better player than you and get your butt kicked for an hour or two
[]Repeat Step 3 until you start to REALLY learn how to play the game
[]Go back to Step 3
[/LIST]
*You might cry, don’t tell anybody.
Wishful thinking.
Anyway online is trash…not just because of how hard it is to play the game properly but also the ugly mentalities of many online players. It’s very hard not to get frustrated by it on multiple levels…hopefully you got some offline buddies.
the game’s only random elements are Wright’s evidence and Hsien-Ko’s item toss. everything else is entirely set.
I dont have buddies who can consistently kick my ass but I think I can make it to some casual sessions in my area. So what should I be practicing in training mode at this point? Samething as always? Combos and setups? Then apply them offline while also learning the flaws in my game right?
I think this post worth reading for you. Especially the part about learning from your losses. If you can pinpoint the things that cost you the match, you might be able to work that out in training mode.
honestly just play some matches without worrying too heavily about your combos. focus on your setups, your defense, and keeping yourself out of bad situations. no other skill is more important in this game than preventing your opponent from setting up their stuff.
I’d argue that Wesker’s hyper crossing up is fairly random even though I guess technically you SHOULD be able to block it if you were a robot.
Anyway, game still isn’t random. There are just so many more variables in this game and each decision affects players to a greater extent (well, not really but they feel that it does). If you’re a better player and your team is set right, it’s hard to lose (see: Chris G with Morri/Doom). If you have a great strategy it’s hard to lose (See: Viscant). If you are a great player with a flawed team, it’s easy to beat most people but easy to lose to teams that counter yours (See: Justin Wong). Just because sometimes people can guess correctly and win doesn’t mean the game is random. It means the “better player” shouldn’t have put the other player in a situation where they could guess and win the game.
I’m sorry if you rush down the other person when they’re in level 3 x factor and then you get happy birthday’d, that’s your own damn fault.
Thanks for the input guys. I’ll definitely check that post out. I’ll keep playing and work on improving my flaws now. Thanks guys. However I have one final question. Online is so butt yet you have highlords and really high ranking players. How did they manage that on like 15 frames of input lag? It always annoys me because I compare myself to them. I tell myself if they can do it. So can I
lag tactics. a lot of the people you meet at higher ranks are running things that work exceptionally well in online (lots of Weskers, Vergils, and Dooms) while being significantly less oppressive offline. Though this doesn’t by any means guarantee an easier matchup against those teams offline, just matches where you can actually react to mixups when they happen. i swear there’s times online where even if you switch blocks the instant you get crossed up the game takes too long to register the fact that you’ve changed directions.
Sorry, but you seem to lack competitive motivation.
If you enjoyed competition, then you would be glad that there’s so many people that force you to get better.
If you’re just waiting to get to the point where you don’t have to worry or improve anymore, then you’re in the wrong genre my friend… you might as well just quit and go back to play games that don’t demand constant effort…
I’m personally really glad that there’s still so many people out there who are better than me. I still have lots of competition to look up to, and that’s really exiting.
Just go to EVO bro… its a life changing experience I promise…