Im almost at the point now where i get so upset at lag that i want to stop playing online all together.
who else here doesnt play online?
i’m in that boat as well, however with ssf4 not getting an immediate arcade release, i’ll be online getting my ass handed to me because of lag.
oh to answer the question, ALOT of players dont really play online… like maybe a match once a week or so.
-dime
Of course offline play is preferable, but most of us do not have the luxury to have that option. Also, anything above 3 bars is definitely playable.
preferred offline. but i do jump online when there is nothing else. to do.
I nitpick all the 4-5 bar games for a decent experience. I haven’t totally given up on online play.
Not all of us are willing to pay $1 per game. Most people here probably don’t have local arcades to go to especially if you’re not in the far WC or EC.
i dont necessarily mean in the arcade as an alternative. i just mean offline weather it be at a friends house, arcade, or whatnot.
If I had the choice, I would definitely choose to play my friends offline rather than online. In the case where there aren’t any local arcades and online is the only other alternative for competitive play, I’ll use it, but I’m definitely not too fond of having random attacks hit me because it takes half a second for the game to register my on-reaction anti-air or block input.
i play online. in fact, i’ll play no matter the number of bars. i’m sorry to those who think otherwise, but 4-5 bars on PSN or XBL isn’t almost like playing offline. in short, i don’t take take online seriously in the first place. so, i’m not going to waste my time waiting for 4 or 5 bars games or whip myself into a rage because it’s online (ie: completely inferior to offline) <looks at the " Ragequitters be damned" and the " “what other players msg you after you beat them” threads>.
I’m a person who plays a lot online and offline. What I noticed was; getting use to offline makes you a much worse online player than the other way around. So my suggestion is, if you are still trying to “up” your game go ahead and do it online (especially if you don’t have a local arcade or friends u can play offline).
The good thing about online is the variety of players you can meet; and the fact you have yourself alone to concentrate on the match instead of someone next to you button mashing and messing up your thought patterns 
I played like 2000 hours online because I wanted to get good at this game. I finally got to the point where I started playing offline and I just can’t go back anymore. The higher level tricks are just too hard to do online.
Martyr84, I hear you when you say playing offline messes up your online game more so than the other way around. I’ve been playing exclusively offline for a few months now and played an online match and wanted to throw my stick through a window. The way I see it, some matchups aren’t fair online. It’s way too gimmicky and there are less options in online play when you have to incorporate 3-10 frames for a match. That’s a lot of reaction time taken away!
In some cases, not always.
I’ve had 4/5 bars turn to frame-for-frame lag before now.
I play anything 3 bars or over & just put up with the lag spikes as they happen. I don’t know anyone who plays the game offline, so if that’s what’s available to me that’s what I’ll do.
Anyway, it beats years gone by where i’d be stuck playing the AI…
Exactly! I can’t even count the number of times where i’ve walked straight into a projectile because the damn lag couldn’t register my block command in time, and I’ve seen this happen to countless other people that I’ve fought online as well! And this isn’t even counting all those punishes that should’ve been.
I cosign this thread. Lag is annoying. I have experienced good and laggy connections from 3 bars to full green bars. It does get annoying, because it forces you to change the timing on your inputs. I do have a way to play offline once in a while. I’ve also discovered there is lag on my 54" Samsung TV in the living room. Never noticed it before, until I got a 23" tv/monitor for my bedroom and been playing on it for the past 2 months straight. The other night I decided to put the xbox in the living room and really noticed it. It appeared to be a delay after I did every move. Lag is annoying. Hopefully, SSF4 will be better especially with all the new online options, though I know you cannot completely get rid of the lag.
that lag on your living room tv is normal for most HDTVs everyone thinks its the game but all it is is your tv trying to convert the picture just a little too slow.
if you dont want any lag try and find a tube HDTV the only ones ive seen only come in 720p but hey its better than 480p
I avoided online play for the first year of console sf4, then got curious last month and have been giving it a try. Its not as bad as I expected, cause I only play player matches and seek good players. When SSF4 comes out I’m gonna ween myself off of it. Online play just rewards bad habits. Most notably jumping at bad times because anti airs don’t work. It frustrates me that the other player doesn’t understand that they’re supposed to be getting hit so they just pretend their character is on a pogo stick.
There are some online tactics that never fail to make me laugh out loud though:
-the infamous double shoryuken
I notice a lot of people main their character quite well, but then switch to ryu and just srk all day. Ryu’s not THAT easy.
-the whiff throw, then throw again. These dudes aren’t even concerned with pretending like they’re not mashing.
-the down, forward, down, forward, down, forward, down, forward, down, forward dance. I had a Dan player just bob up and down for like ten seconds waiting for me to hit a button. Then he just couldn’t take the pressure anymore, and did ultra for no reason.
I would give anything for an offline scene in my city. Using Viper online is just not possible, it just isn’t. I lose with her all day to scrubs mashing DP and stuff but then steamroll said players with other characters. I dream of an offline Utopia where I can actually seismo > burnkick > ultra without having to take random guesses as to when to input the ultra.
Sadly I’m stuck with online till that happens. ;-;
Only double? I’m shocked 
The down-forward thing looks funniest with Gouken. Looks like he’s attempting to play the bongos XD
Pretty much came in here to say this.
I played online-only for the first 4 months I had SF4. Playing offline for the first time was like a totally different game. Mostly because I was inputting stuff way too early. Offline is the good shit, but I’ll still play online since it’s my primary source of gameplay. I stick to 5-bar or solid 4-bar matches only, though. 1-3 bars can kiss my ass, and it’s amazing how many people will join and join and join on your lobby with a 2-bar connection as if they think you must have “accidentally” kicked them 2 times in a row.