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Question Why aren't you a top player/what is your skill level with your main?

Jim

Emperor of the Moon
Top players dominate the discussion here, rightfully so, but no need for it to be exclusively about them.

What I want here is an honest assessment from non-top players on why they are at the skill level they are at, what is that level, what would it take to change it, where are your weakest and strongest points?Part of the reason I'm writing this is to force myself to examine myself as a player and hopefully that will help me out, maybe it will help you too.

Skill level with main/alts:

Freddy Krueger: 6
Kenshi: 5
Sub-Zero: 6

The number one reason I'm not a top player is I'm bad with patterns. Meaning I will do the same thing over and over but also fall for the same thing over and over. When I played online I actually coached myself out loud by saying "he's going to go for the overhead, don't fall for it." but still I often fell for it. Whiff a throw? Time to try it 3 more times in a row, that'll work for sure! Sometimes I too get stuck on going for a setup, not because it is the right one, but because I want to do it for some reason. Freddy for example, I'm in the M2Dave camp that he is strongest as a zoner. Yet what do I do way too often? Dash forward and go for a b2. Great they read the dash backed up, I wiffed the b2 and they are going to kill me.

Freezing on punishes. No idea why I do this. It is worse in tournament but I do it in casuals too. I can't tell you the number of matches I lost because my chance for a 40% combo turned into a short block string followed by them punishing me.

Last second panic. What you have a life lead, a round win and the clock is running down? You'd better recklessly go in for an attack instead of play it out. This is especially bad for me because I started off maining Sub-Zero, how the hell does that mind set work with that character?

My worst skill by far is footsies. I think the biggest reason is for so long I've played characters that don't want to do it. Sub-Zero, Freddy, Kenshi are the definition of 'Stay the fuck away from me, we'll fight from over here thank you very much' Works great when it is working but they all eventually get in. Then I let their pressure get to me and it is usually over. This week I plan on starting to play Cage for the purpose of forcing myself to play footsies.

Thing is I have one of the greatest offline scenes in the community. For those that don't know I play at GGA, I go every chance I can get, which is usually about once to twice a week. No doubt I've leveled up since playing with them on a regular basis but I'm nowhere near what I should be considering the level of talent I play with.

Please don't get me wrong, this isn't meant to be an emo or props fishing thread. I really want other players to examine their own issues and help one another out.
 

Axel_Redd

Vampire Jesus....he wants YOUR blood now!!
hmmm...

Kung Lao: 8
Kitana: 8
Reptile: 7

might be dropping 1 soon tho.
 

NKZero

Noob
I'd honestly put it down to lack of practice and not having a consistent offline scene. I levelled up tremendously over the summer but now I haven't played in like 3 months it's all gone for shit I guess. Not to show off but I am an intelligent player who adapts quickly so I feel had I practiced as much as I could have I may have made a name for myself. My main weakness though is implementing all that I think about into an actual game....and sometimes playing too risky.

Anyways here's my self-rating chart:

Sub Zero: 8
Sektor: 8
Cage: 7
Raiden: 6
 

Jim

Emperor of the Moon
#1 reason I'm not a top player:

KABAL
Come on, give a real answer. I don't know your tournament history but I don't believe that every match you've lost in tournament is from a Kabal. Where did the damage come from on those non Kabal loses? And come on we all know Kabal is not unbeatable.
 

Blind_Ducky

Princess of the Sisterhood
Is the # out of 10? Ill assume it is.
Kenshi:5
Sub:4
I lose my patience and make mistakes. Fall into patterns. Make good reads but don't follow up. Get to scared of what my opponent can do when I'm moving in on them. With kenshi I use his sc way to much, I can't aa with 1 or 2. With sub I throw ice balls to often against characters I shouldn't throw them at, I don't use d4 enough. There's other stuff that I'm probably forgetting too.
 
I think my reaction time is a little slow at times, but also, I mainly play online, so most of my tendencies and strategies are built around dismantling online play. This works pretty well, until I play someone who is really good, and then those tendencies and strategies work against me.

I think the best way to become a top player is to play against top players. Oh and I'm free with everyone I use :)
 

TakeAChance

TYM White Knight
Dem tournament nerves are huge factors to why I don't place well :( I can't wait until I get over dem nerves. Y@'ll iz dun wen i iz guud wif dem nurvz
If you play like you do in casuals, you would be top 8 in every tournament. You should setup local tournaments and see if you can get used to playing under pressure, or drink a few beers before playing. Whatever settles those nerves down and lets you tap into your true potential.
 

Enenra

Go to hell.
Can't go to tournaments, online gives me bad habits, and recently a lack of desire to even play for anything but teh lulz.
 
Jax: 7
Cage: 5 (Dropped him for the most part)

This is pretty much all about Jax

Strengths:
-Execution with Jax's corner combos.
-Footsies leading into up close pressure.
-Ground pound people up close when they least expect it
-Fighting most high-hitbox characters <3<3<3<3<3

Weaknesses:
-AAs
-Neutral Jump punching crossup-happy opponents
-Getting out the far Ground Pound
-Kung Lao, Kenshi, Freddy, Sonya
 

Rampage254

Ayy Lmao
I'm not a top player because I have a very easy to read pattern. I never adapt on time, my reactions and execution suck, and my overall fundamentals are weak. I have no patience, my spacing is bad, I get nervous during close matches, and I get frustrated way too easily, and I lose to the most simple things at times.

Stryker:4
Rain:4
Baraka:2
Jax:1
 

Qwark28

Joker waiting room
My reactions are good, knowledge of all string holes, depending on the character ill always attempt to crossup aa, only time i jump is for crossups and jumpkicks, i love jumpkicks, i play safe until i can safely add in extra shit and make sure i that my downloads come from their patterns instead of me doing stupid and easily punishable things.

i like poking balls with my d1

then bitch slapping them in da face

sub= 8
everyone else=6
 

EGP Wonder_Chef

Official Quan Chi Nerf Demander™
Come on, give a real answer. I don't know your tournament history but I don't believe that every match you've lost in tournament is from a Kabal. Where did the damage come from on those non Kabal loses? And come on we all know Kabal is not unbeatable.
Well, if I knew I could probably fix it.

Maybe the people who play me know?
 

Pig Of The Hut

Day 0 Phenomenal Dr. Fate and Darkseid player
Is the # out of 10? Ill assume it is.
Kenshi:5
Sub:4
I lose my patience and make mistakes. Fall into patterns. Make good reads but don't follow up. Get to scared of what my opponent can do when I'm moving in on them. With kenshi I use his sc way to much, I can't aa with 1 or 2. With sub I throw ice balls to often against characters I shouldn't throw them at, I don't use d4 enough. There's other stuff that I'm probably forgetting too.
youre underrating your kenshi
 

ABACABB

End Of Humanity
idk I play only online , I can use a lot of characters but im free with them :p With freddy well .... Im good at zoning :p knowledge of character is good . Combos too but I f**k up a lot due to lag . I often panic and do stupid things ;/ mostly at the end of fights ... I think im not good but not bad too :p average :D
 
CSZ: hard to tell... nobody uses him to compare against :(
Reptile: maybe 5

Reasons: not much offline experience. I have a little, but online is my main arena and I get shitty practice/bad habits/bad timing from it.
 

Lord Beef

Death Metal and Trance
Ehhh here we go

Sub 5
Scorpion 4

My biggest issue is spacing, forcing whiffs etc. Granted I play sub so traditional footsies are out weighed by the fact that I have the clone, but nonetheless I really need to work on it. I will also clone on habit sometimes, effectively giving my opponent the opportunity to use the cool down against me.

I also can't seem to find the balance of respecting options of my opponent vs going HAM. Anyone who's played me will tell you that I eat wake ups like crazy.

Also I do not adapt fast enough, this is my #2 issue. I will fall for a setup 2 or more times before I realize I need to bait then punish. ExNutPunch I'm looking at you.

And then comes patience. I will straight up forego working my life lead and keep going with risky corner setups/reads or 50/50s in scorpions case. I guess over all, this all falls into going into autopilot mode and needing better situational awareness.
 

Smarrgasm

What's a Smarrgasm?
Id say im probly around 6 or 7 with rain. I can compete pretty well with him. Things keeping me from getting to the upper eschelon of players are a lot of it being my mindset of play. Another major part is not being able to find a character i really like thats good. All the top tier characters dont fit how i play or i hate playing as them. This is also my first competitive fighting game so it took me a long time to reach the learning curve of already skilled players.