I wanted to update from my post above where I said I was 4-20. I am now 6-38. The fun is being sucked right out of me.
Start going to offline gatherings. Even once a month or so if things are far away from you.
Just looking at your location, that’s all.
And glass is half full / half empty… at least you didn’t go 4-40.
Losing that much you need to focus on whether it’s the lag (probable), or things that you fall for every time (bad habits, opponent styles).
Not just go into the match with the aim just to win. You’ll continue to be a free win otherwise.
Search for nice people and go to Endless with them
- It feels less bad to lose if you don’t ruin “Stats”
- It feels less ‘useless’ if people give you pointers after a match
- Chatting in between is relaxing
- You might squeeze a win in against technically much better people if they don’t use their mains
To cut it short, it’s a much more enjoyable atmosphere and you improve at four times the pace.
Offline would be even better, but not everyone got that option (let alone it’s embarrassing :3 ).
You’ll still need a thick skin. You’re going to lose a lot. That’s just the way it is.
Ok take this from someone who started playing online fighters with MvC3. You will get hammered at first. You will suck, and it will seem like you will suck forever. You will toss controllers, rage, blame the game, and all the rest. I almost sold my game twice because it made me so mad. But in time I learned.
If you are loosing, you need to do a few things.
- analyze your team. A bad team will have no return. For the longest time I tried to force Wesker into my team, until i realized that he didn’t work in my set up. I spent about 6 months before I got a team I truely liked to play as, and be successful with.
- Play unique characters. People think that if you use Wolverine, Wesker, Dante, Doom, Hulk, Akuma, or Magneto you will win everytime. Simply put you wont. I will see at least 1, if not all 3 of those characters in every game I play it seems. I have developed specific counters to those characters, and will exploit the hell out of them. My friend (he was #19 in the world on PSN) taught me trick against his team (Doom, Dante, Wolverine) that decimate lower level players. Try out a weird team. Hell put some time in with MODOK or Viewtiful Joe. When you learn how to play those harder characters you get this sense of satisfaction that no one can take away.
- Learn the basics. It amazes me how often I see people who cant pull off a bread and butter combo. If you cant deal damage, you wont win.
4)Learn to adapt. X-factor is a great comeback mechanic, but dont get in the rut of always saving it. Sometime you need to use it to get out of a jam, or place the opponent in a jam. I cant people all the time who plan on level 3 X-factor, but then I happy birthday their character and blow their plans up. Adapt to survive. - Dont give up. Practice offline, online, in training, missions, ect. Find a friend with the game around your level and play them.
Remember, have fun. Getting angry ruins the game. There is a ton of fun to be had in the game. Its supposed to be flashy, difficult, and fun. just stick with it.
Just wanted to drop in and give a status update…
You can truly tell the ‘casual’ aspect of my play given that I haven’t played once since I originally posted. I wanted to get through some sections of the strategy guide before jumping back in to the game… and being busy with work and school and other things… it didn’t come quickly 
Anyways, I’m now much more familiar with terminology and concepts and techniques. I’m also more aware of certain aspects of X-23 and Ryu (which I still want to keep using). I also read up on Phoenix Wright who was part of the multiple stompings I received…
Ultimately it came down to not understanding him… similar to playing against Phoenix and not understanding why she rolfstomped you after you killed her 
I definitely was letting him get into Turnabout mode. Not sure how I’m going to defend against him going forward, but at least I won’t be ‘confused’ by his style of play.
You’re going to lose all the time when you decide to finally get competitive in 2011 with Marvel vs Capcom 3. Reminds me of my cousin who thinks in his head he’ll be a good player just from playing arcade mode on Hard over and over.
Just sayin.
This and the countless hours of Training Mode.
I might be wrong here, but wasn’t the intended question not how he can improve, rather, if there will eventually be a time where better players have stats set at a high enough point where he will not have to play people years ahead of him… and the Answer is no… The ranking system sucks. I am pretty sure that it matches off of win ratio and not games played/any actual rank. (can not confirm this) Your best bet is player matches, as some people have already stated.