Online Play Actually Good For Practice?

[Chaosblade77]

Often people suggest playing online over playing CPUs. I'm starting to wonder if this is actually valid.

When playing CPUs, they don't move or react in the same fashion as a human would. This, of course, leads to issues when using them for practice since you get little out of it aside from learning how characters work and priority; you gain no strategy or mindgame value out of it, especially on level 9 CPUs.

Now, online... one thing I am noticing is that it plays very differently than matches on offline. I seem to be affected more by the buffer, and the reaction from the controller to when it happens is naturally longer. An example, since I usually play Ike online, is that I often have trouble recovering due to attacks going through late; an attack that was supposed to happen on the ground doesn't happen until I am falling to my death if I get pushed/knocked off the edge.

That said, even if you are able to formulate strategies against human players, are they going to do much good against a person if you are sitting next to them, playing on the same console, due to the reaction time being so much faster?

I honestly don't think it helps much anymore. This may not be an issue for other people, but after long periods of online play I have to adjust to playing offline again, the timing is just completely different. The same goes for the reverse, when I play offline for long periods of time, I tend to lose all of my matches before I get back into the swing of things online, and even then I never play nearly as well online.

 

[BOTA]

i doubt find playing a 4 player FFA would help someone because there are items on, hardly ever is a good stage chosen, and most of the kids are like little crappy 8 year olds. Then you have to factor in actually getting the match :/

 

[Andromeda]

In two days, I became better at smash than I've ever been before. But only thanks to FC-matches with low lag.

 

[SmashMan Marth]

I understand your pain. One day i spent 3 hours playing online with friends, and i had to adjust to a pretty bad lag. After the first hour I was able to play normally, but once i switched back to playing level 9's I lost to them about 4 times before I started winning again.

Even though online matches don't run "smoothly" I believe that playing against actual players is better for practice. If you look at the level 9's they shield and dodge at the perfect moments which are almost impossible for the average player. Also since they do not have a human brain they cant fall for mindgames and they can usually tell what your gonna do before you do it. So if the lag that you have to adjust to whenever you switch bothers you then I guess playing against computers is the choice for you. This is only a suggestion and personal opinion so do whatever you think is best .

 

[yoonkwun]

Find people in the same state as you, I found great difference in lag between playing somebody in Cali than somebody in my state, Pennsylvania. That might help with the delay issue, because doing this I never really had to 'adjust' back to regular matches.

 

[Chaosblade77]

I think it's just my ISP, more so than the distance. I've had very nice matches with people upwards of 400 miles away, but had matches that were quite laggy with people who live pretty close.

AT&T/Bellsouth does not provide a reliable service at all, sometimes my response time randomly goes through the roof.

Hopefully if we change ISPs things will get better.

Even though online matches don't run "smoothly" I believe that playing against actual players is better for practice. If you look at the level 9's they shield and dodge at the perfect moments which are almost impossible for the average player. Also since they do not have a human brain they cant fall for mindgames and they can usually tell what your gonna do before you do it. So if the lag that you have to adjust to whenever you switch bothers you then I guess playing against computers is the choice for you. This is only a suggestion and personal opinion so do whatever you think is best

Well, I gave the positives and negatives of both. CPUs will offer more reflex practice and are still good for learning characters attack priority and openings in their attacks for you to punish, but they are not good for actually formulating strategies or mindgames.

Choppy, fairly laggy online play offers the same advantages as a CPUs on a slightly smaller scale, but what I really wonder is whether you are actually able to come up with strategies that work against other players that still work, even when you aren't online. Response time is much faster offline, and things that may be easy to do online could possibly be easily shielded or dodged, possibly leaving you open for punishment.

I'd rather play a person who lives down the street offline, but I live in the middle of nowhere

 

[rigapeen]

if the goal is to beat lvl 9's, then play lvl 9's.

 

[thewiredknight]

An example, since I usually play Ike online, is that I often have trouble recovering due to attacks going through late; an attack that was supposed to happen on the ground doesn't happen until I am falling to my death if I get pushed/knocked off the edge.

Oh thank God I'm not the only one with that problem. I didn't realize that partial second lag was so bad until I tried to recover with Ike and I've died some stupid number of times because a move activates late and by the time Aether goes through I'm too far to recover.

 

[Necrochild313]

I've been getting lucky lately and I've had games that were nearly lag free.

 

[captainfalconmute]

i dont think someone can become a REALLY good player if they just play lvl 9 computers all the time.

i think playing online regurlarly against human players will make you a better player. youre encouraged to try out different tactics.

 

[Plairnkk]

The lag is bad no matter what online. Online play is awful for Brawl, period.

Practicing against computers is rather useless too since the only thing to practice in melee was combos and those dont exist in brawl.

Overall, play as much in real life with your friends as possible, it's the only truly effective way.

 

[FerretStyle]

Oh thank God I'm not the only one with that problem. I didn't realize that partial second lag was so bad until I tried to recover with Ike and I've died some stupid number of times because a move activates late and by the time Aether goes through I'm too far to recover.

Yeah, I get that a lot. It's kind of annoying when I try to shield on the ledge, but get pushed off, airdodge instead, and fall to my death (Bowser ftw).

The lag is bad no matter what online. Online play is awful for Brawl, period.

Practicing against computers is rather useless too since the only thing to practice in melee was combos and those dont exist in brawl.

Overall, play as much in real life with your friends as possible, it's the only truly effective way.

You're wrong. Lag is not always bad, though there's always going to be a slight response delay. Sometimes it's hardly noticeable, like playing on a TV with video lag.

It's natural to play poorly after using a laggy TV and switching to a non-laggy one, and it's the same thing with online play. You need to adjust again to normal input recognition but you're still learning. So it's still beneficial to play against other players, to fight against human strategies etc.

That's what I think, at least. I don't have much trouble adjusting to the response lag, though, maybe I've just gotten used to the randomness of it.

 

[Kye L]

The lag is bad no matter what online. Online play is awful for Brawl, period.

Completely untrue. I've had many lag-free matches (both visual lag and button lag), whereas I've had only a few unbearably laggy matches.

The thing is, I'm still not sure if all players suffer the same lag or if one person can be just fine whereas the other can barely get a move in.

 

[That_Move_is_Key]

the thing about the lag of online, is that it allows us to see patterns in an attack, and ultimately will allow us to quicken our reflexes when battling on the same Wii.

 

[D20]

Anyone that disagrees with Plank is just plain wrong. Just because you aren't good enough to recognize the lag doesn't mean it isn't there. You guys are simply uneducated on the topic... only 1 frame of lag is enough to ruin the competitive nature of this game.

I've been playing Pikachu in Brawl, and he has several techniques that need very precise timing (such as quick attack canceling). I can't practice them whatsoever online, so I just go into training mode (which allows you to use the c-stick now) or walk down the street to play my friends (who happen to be many times better than any scrubs online).

 

[freeman123]

Delayed button responses aren't nearly as bad as no button response at all. Like when you try to short hop and your guy doesn't jump for some reason. Or you try to roll and your guy just stands there shielding.

For some reason I seem to lag more often playing FC matches then I do on with anyone. I'm thinking it's because with anyone tries to search for people close to you.

 

[Plairnkk]

Anyone who thinks online play is legitimately good practice isn't good, period.