I think Killer Instinct has a good ranking system maxing out at level 40 per character
I’ve always felt you should be rewarded based upon performance not just winning or losing. And they should be best of 3, I rarely come across people that don’t mind a runback anyway!
However With less emphasis on the “Winning” and more emphasis on being rewarded for your play there will be less disconnects and rage quitters.
Hell Call of Duty rewards you for finishing a match! How about earning 5 pts simply for finishing a match
Personal opinion, which I know doesn’t mean much around here; you shouldn’t ever LOSE points. Every match gains you experience!
I know the argument of grinders will pop up from me stating that and your opinion is justified, however the level of play will speak for itself. You can grind experience all day, but if you still suck…you’ll get blown up.
W/L only matters in tourneys so if that is your thing - Go compete with the big boys!
The people who go to tourneys are the people who really care about competitive play. Everyone else either doesn’t want to put forth the effort or simply like fighting games in a casual capacity.
I’m not even sure how that is relevant to what I posted. That doesn’t change the fact that people who go to tourneys are in the very VERY small minority of people playing the game.
I think having a more fleshed out online experience would be good. Having better netcode keeps people from learning strategies that are completely invalid offline. Having better a ranking system would help people find players who are closer to their own level of play. Playing against better players helps you get better, but sometimes having a string of only opponents that are better than you can make hard to notice you’re own improvements.
Why not use the Smash Bros ranking system?
http://www.ssbwiki.com/Global_Smash_Power
Basically the system is:
You are ranked higher than this many players.
Rather than:
You are ranked lower than this one player.
So being ranked 140,053 would mean you are BETTER than 140,053 players.
Dug an old one but
I think the logic behind sf4 execution requirements is trying to cather to a large audience. Hard combos would look flashy and be recognized as a skill. And on the other hand having your moves not come out would be the n1 frustrating cause for new players (hence the input shortcuts and reversal window).
Personally I really like drilling my execution, so I hope at least some character offers a high execution ceiling. I do believe the reversal window is too large in sf4 though and makes the game extremely defensive.
I still have the old EGM issue where that was mentioned. What they basically said was that they put in 1 frame links to “please the hardcore”. The problem is that combos require them now became the standard go to BnBs for most of the cast.
I’m shocked he said that. Because Skullgirls combos aren’t easy. I mean, technically they’re easy but the game is so reset heavy it’s anything but easy to pick up.
Skullgirls has kinda’ the opposite problem of SF4 in trying to make something appealing to the masses:
SF4 had easy inputs but was very, very 1-frame link heavy.
Skullgirls basically forces you to learn at least two characters, learn the long combos and the resets that go with them.
But you’ve said it yourself, technically they’re easy because the execution required for the most part is easy. What makes them long is because people have found out how to extend them, thanks to how combo happy the game is (without IPS and undizzy, it would be almost like XvSF all over again).
In other words, the game only because tough to master because players made it that way. The problem with SFIV is that the execution barrier was flat out arbitrarily added by the developers and not emergent, coming from the players.
In all honesty, I prefer the 1F links to the Alpha style of not having almost ANY links whatsoever and many characters only having combos like crMP xx whatever or LP xx LP xx LP xx whatever because the only hit confirms were chaining a light or using Xism to do the CPS1 chains.
That is like the one thing I never liked about Alpha series.
Right, but because of the resets you have to learn that shit. It’s not optional. Neither is rocking a single character except in very rare cases.
It’s like, easy combos, but there’s so many different ways to do it but you have to learn the optimum ones that give you x number of resets.
And as someone who’s dealt with corner Aegis setups, I can tell you that guess blocking is never easy.
Again, it’s only that way because the players made it that way, which is the important bit.
There’s a difference between having a game’s execution/skill requirements develop in an emergent manner, and adding execution/skill requirements arbitrarily.
But Alpha in general was more footsie oriented than IV (especially 2, Valle CC notwithstanding). You could get so much more out of single pokes from mid range and hit confirms, so you never really needed anything like the shit that IV makes you do.
Wow that is some of the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard. Hardcore players will stretch the combo systems themselves to come up with longer more execution heavy stuff anyway, no need to put something in just because. Yeah casual players, we got ultras for you, but to learn your basic bnb you’ll have to spend countless hours drilling 1f links! Otherwise your damage output will suck balls, have fun!
I think the current rank system in SF4 is actually okayish. I would make a couple of tweaks to it though:
Make the numbers bigger. Bigger numbers are more fun.
Balance the risk/reward ratio a bit. You can potentially lose over 250 PP in two losses depending on who you fight. Considering that the rank system generally only allows for you to be sitting at around 4-5k at most (barring either being the best player ever or boosting) that’s a pretty hefty penalty.
Make the higher ranks like Master and Grand Master a bit more obtainable. I understand wanting them to be hard to reach but currently only like a dozen players ever got there legit. That’s a bit silly considering the size of the playerbase.
Otherwise I don’t feel the rank system needs a dramatic overhaul.
Pretty rare to see a combo do more than 15-20% in this unless it was a CC. CCs barely breaking 30-35%. Even most of the supers are doing only as much as an EX Move would do in SF4, around 15-20% on their own. Even jump in combos ain’t breaking 20% without a CC or super. MOST of the time it’s 5-10% damage with characters just hitting each other with single pokes. Meanwhile SF4 the low damage BnBs do 150-200+ damage which is about 15%-20% and high damage characters easily convert a poke to 35% and a jump in can land you 45% with a high damage character.
Even in more modern play where players have grown the meta a bit it’s generally small damage for the entire match and then 1 “big” play of about 30-35% damage tops with a CC or level 3 super. You almost never see a combo doing as much as say: Gen’s super - ultra or a meterless combo as strong as Cody’s F+MP - sMP - crHP - HP Criminal Upper or Dudley’s F+HK - crLP - sHK - HP MGB or a level 1 / 2 super doing as much as Evil Ryu crMK xx Fireball FADC - closeHP - MK Axe Kick - crMP - LK Tatsu - DP or Sakura’s crMK xx Shooken FADC combos.
If you are JUST referring to footsies you still get more in SF4 as I pointed out with stuff like Sakura’s crMK Shooken FADC or Dudley doing sHK xx EX MGB. Even Cody doing crLK - HP Criminal Upper is doing 180 damage which is on the high end for damage in Alpha series. Many characters can convert a poke into 150+ damage meterless and 250-300+ with 1-2 bars while also having a higher capability to do damage up close outside of just footsies damage. Meterless fireball buffers MIGHT do more in Alpha, I think Ryu doing crMK/HK xx FB does a little bit more than SF4 though not much.
Now Super Turbo that could convert big damage from footsies that makes SF4 look extremely low. Same with 3S though that tended to need meter but super meter built incredibly fast in 3S and the damage equivalents on mid or high damage chars were higher in 3S than SF4 for using 1-2 bars compares to using 1 super stock for many 3S chars.
Alpha though, generally is lower in footsies and the super building for a level 1 super is about the same as 1.5-2 stocks in SF4 while not accounting for ultra.
You’re forgetting that hitboxes in general were better in Alpha 2 which is why you could get more mileage out of single pokes. To use a tired example, you could just walk in and out of low strong range and make your opponent pay heavily by just poking with it.
Characters with faster walk speeds in SF4 can do that too. Sakura can walk in and out of crMK range and then counter poke with her own buffered to HP Shooken for 215 or up to 400 damage (if she spends meter for the FADC)
And on AVERAGE the counter pokes you are referencing in Alpha 2 rarely break 15% damage in meterless situations. They can do a fair bit but they usually don’t without a full super stocked but even that is only on par with what SF4 can do but SF4 requires more execution. Meanwhile Viper doing crMK xx MP TK is 18%+ of most characters health while also having the capability of doing a FFF with MP TK ender for 276 or FFF with EX Seismo - Air Burn kick for 323.
SF4 many characterscan do more damage meterless from footsies with A LOT of the cast and can do as much or more than anything barring a max damage Valle CC with using meter from up close or footsies. Especially now with EX Red Focus.
But we’re not just talking about counterpokes into hitconfirm and damage percentages.
The reason I brought the old “Rose low strong” example was that, in that infamous match, all Sirlin did was get just barely inside Rose. cr.mp range and “spam” the move against Thao’s Chun. Sirlin himself admitted to doing 18 low strongs in a row at one point. Using the move, he set up a wall, both in game as well as mentally in Thao’s head that he was tricked into trying to overcome.
You can’t really do that in IV thanks to how bad the hitboxes are in general. Compare to A2 where not only are low mediums very good pokes, but they’re also valid anti-airs for some characters (again, Rose).
You already stated that you got just about the same damage off confirms in A2 as you did in IV, then add in how much better pokes in general in A2 are and that’s where my whole statement about getting more out them comes from.
Damage off of footsies individual pokes is about the same with SF4 still being slightly higher (SF4 easily getting up to 200+ meterless from pokes while A2 is usually topping off at 15% meterless. Damage off of hit confirms in SF4 is way higher. Most of the cast can break 200 off of two lights, with almost half getting 250 meterless. That is just using lights, many chars can confirm off mids for 300ish meterless.
This conversation started with you stating damage was higher from footsies in Alpha, not hitboxes being better. You are changing the discussion. Damage in Alpha wasn’t higher, it was in majority of cases LOWER with only very specific situations being about equal and very rare situations surpassing the above average of SF4.
As for the hitboxes thing only really applies to specific characters in Alpha 2. Not all characters had hitboxes as good as Rose’s crMP, though certainly hitboxes were in general better in A2 than SF4, with a few extreme examples being significantly better. However in A3 most hitboxes are much more inline with SF4.
I never specifically said “damage was higher”. I said “you got more out of” footsies and single pokes, which involves more than just damage.
As for A3 having hitboxes more inline with SFIV, that’s just one more reason A2 is a better game.