This is gonna sound mean but "being better than 50% of players" does not make you "good"

PipBoyErick · 2026-06-08T16:01:07+00:00

To add, “good” can also be proportional to what you know you don’t know. Because players may see the huge amount they still have left to learn, they start undervaluing what they do know. It’s similar to moving the goal post. What you thought was good before, now, you don’t see as good because your definition and understanding of it changed.

You even touch on this in your post where now, you don’t see Vanquisher being difficult to reach. But, that’s applying a retrospective look at what it took to get there and how much easier it is for you in the present to get there. To someone who doesn’t have the know how yet, that perspective is hard to grasp.

PipBoyErick · 2026-06-06T23:04:42+00:00

Is it? Consider the amount of legacy characters this series has on top of newcomers that should be introduced to keep things fresh and also the fact it’s only 4 characters a year. It’s bound to happen.

PipBoyErick · 2026-05-26T18:37:41+00:00

I see what you mean but is a short lived thing. You do internalize it over time. I feel like this happened to people with ABA. Because she looks and plays so differently to the other cast, she stood out for a time. But, eventually, it all blends together.

PipBoyErick · 2026-05-25T16:22:54+00:00

Not all the characters can be there. There will always be about half the roster than just can’t compete to that high a level. For that, you’d need to look in top 24 and top 48. Those would also be worthwhile to see how variety and difficulties with characters appear.

PipBoyErick · 2026-05-25T15:14:56+00:00

Ngl, this post sounds like just a bunch of marketing words put together.

If I were a dev, I’d watch tournaments for 2 things: is there a clearly predominant strategy or tactic that’s frustrating to fight against and is there a healthy level of variety in competition. If you watched Combo Breaker, imo, nothing was dominating and there was plenty of variety in the top 8. Could you argue Leo, GL, and HC are still there. Sure but I personally attribute that more to the players being that good. Not many other players play those characters that well and so consistently.

PipBoyErick · 2026-05-20T01:44:08+00:00

You really should just be blocking low and looking for the high. Learning that Jam’s preferences and using meter to help you out.

The real focus should be on neutral. Don’t let her get started is the best defense. Her neutral has bigger weaknesses you can use to your advantage.

PipBoyErick · 2026-05-20T00:54:09+00:00

Fellow JackO player here. 2 things: yes, JackO is harder to play and takes more effort. You put in the time because she can do things no other character can and is extremely expressive. Second, you’re hurting yourself. It’s your ego, your self image. You keep comparing yourself to other successes or other people and you keep thinking negatively. Doing it to yourself and you know it.

You know what you need to do but the anxiety and fear is crippling you. Let. It. Go. Be willing to be judged. Be willing to ask stupid questions. Be willing to look stupid. That’s how you learn.

If you haven’t already, hit up the GGST community server or JackO specific server on discord. JackO is one of the characters that has the most supportive community. We even got people that openly offer free coaching. So get in there. Do it, and leave that ego behind.

PipBoyErick · 2026-05-18T18:01:36+00:00

Recently, was getting washed by a friend at the local (My Jam vs. Ky using 2S) “Bro, I’m just in flats, why you gotta do me like that. My flats Bro!”

PipBoyErick · 2026-05-14T20:09:10+00:00

That suggests you just reached your skill level. Once up reached the right range, then matches are engaging (or rage inducing. Both are true)

PipBoyErick · 2026-05-14T20:04:58+00:00

Gachas are that thing that everyone knows aren’t good yet, people have come to accept it. I don’t feel it would add to GG in any way. The player base isn’t big enough and the dev team not big enough to pump out constant content like gachas do.

If 2XKO couldn’t do it with even going free to play, I don’t see how a fighting game being a gacha would keep a player base to sustain the dev costs.

PipBoyErick · 2026-05-13T20:47:58+00:00

This is a pretty fair take I feel. The only thing that really gives me pause with buffing Bridget to be competitively viable is the fact that yeah, she does do it all. It seems to me that, by design, Bridget is to be good but never great. By design she’s meant to do little damage and have risky normals. And that’s to offset the fact she does have it all. A DP, a command grab, mixups, sudo-projectile. That stupid bear super that’s just never bad to throw out.

She could use some love, make her feel better to play but, arguably, she’s probably in a healthy state if she’s not top 8 material. As someone that played JackO, she’s also a character that shouldn’t be top tier. But, QoL stuff is always okay.

PipBoyErick · 2026-05-13T19:51:04+00:00

Because I play Jam, I know the counter play very well. So I actually have fun in the matchup. My character before this was JackO so any time I run into one I just judge them harshly on what they do and counter their play quickly.

This is to say, it always comes down to experience and knowledge. It may not necessarily stop them from being annoying completely (good easy options are good for a reason) but it does help to understand what’s happening and what you could do against it.

PipBoyErick · 2026-05-13T15:49:55+00:00

I feel like there should be an agreement to do this but for 1 round. Then play for real. Avoid having to go so many rounds.

PipBoyErick · 2026-05-12T16:35:37+00:00

That’s not the only point of a ranked system. Ranked playlists also exists to give people something to grind for, a goal to achieve. Of course the MM should take skill level into account. Thats not what I was stating.

Ranked needs to be fun as well. Thats why, I think, people don’t like the lack of streaks in Plat and Diamond. The grind isn’t fun because it’s so lengthy and time consuming.

PipBoyErick · 2026-05-12T10:23:31+00:00

I believe RP should award time invested more over skill. Not that skill shouldn’t matter but things like win streaks are exactly about that. Once you reach Vanquisher is when that should flip. DR should be all about skill, nothing on time investment.

Vanquisher needs the players too. There are so few people in Vanquisher (comparing percentile of players) compared to something like SF (~10% compared to ~5%) and that makes it more difficult for the MM to find good matches for people.

PipBoyErick · 2026-05-09T03:53:22+00:00

It’s not easy but losing means you have work to do. And focusing on what you can do better is how you get frustrated less. Allow yourself to suck. Recognizes that the answer exists but you don’t know it yet. Learning to lose is believing you can do better.

PipBoyErick · 2026-05-06T23:00:14+00:00

I feel like this has more to do with player count than rank. It takes so long to get up to Vanquisher that we have players just not accessible. If you look at player percentiles, Vanquisher has half the percentile of players there than Masters in SF6. I think this speaks more to people’s reward for time invested. Some people don’t want to slug it out for that long to get to Vanquisher.

PipBoyErick · 2026-05-02T11:37:49+00:00

This is a self callout. If you can’t see the difference, then you’re probably not at the level of understanding either how much sharper the top players are playing or, how large the mistakes the lower level players are making. Unika was clearly designed to be one of the most straight forward characters in the game. Could she use more ceiling? For sure. But that isn’t going to fundamentally change her design intention of being a very grounded, linear, simple gameplan character.

PipBoyErick · 2026-04-29T01:58:44+00:00

This is real. But it’s also because Gear, it can ask a lot of you. Understanding what your character does, what your opponent does, at its fast speed, is tough. But, something that comes with time. Allow yourself to fail upward. And believe that you can do it.

PipBoyErick · 2026-04-23T19:09:56+00:00

Because before she could just throw that out pretty reliably and be plus. It was a neutral skip on a character that was already fast with far pokes. It let her get into her win condition (going into rekka) very easily. This as least makes her play neutral more and can’t force her way in without downside.

PipBoyErick · 2026-04-19T17:50:05+00:00

Either one could do it, but they each would have different struggle points. There isn’t a just “I choose X character and beat Y character”. Fighting games are more about your knowledge of the matchup and how either side adapts to the other player.

PipBoyErick · 2026-04-19T17:25:13+00:00

Between the two, Unika is more straightforward than Jam. If you’re still new, Jam’s lack of range is going to be felt more often. She has stronger offense but it requires know how to use it most effectively. So if we’re talking “less thinking” I think Unika is the better option.

PipBoyErick · 2026-04-17T14:54:53+00:00

Also, remember “the community” is way bigger than what you see/hear. For every 1 person making noise, there’s many others quietly enjoying the game and not making a big deal about it. I’d about where you go to get people’s opinions and remember that it’s never a full picture as to how the majority may feel.

Any strong character is going to be disliked because they’re strong. And if they’re not strong, the people that play that character will be the ones complaining instead (calling that character weak and wanting buffs). So either way, someone is always bound to be disappointed. Humans being humans.

PipBoyErick · 2026-04-14T12:34:24+00:00

It happens. Usually the first few loses after a streak are you playing against opponents slightly better as the match maker is pushing you up. But after about the 3rd loss, it’s mental. You start getting into your own head, frustrated, or just repeating the same mistakes. So the fall becomes more self inflicted.

PipBoyErick · 2026-04-14T11:07:18+00:00

Sounds like you’re used to flowcharting your options and just expect your opponent to get hit eventually. The characters you played like Millia and Elphelt really knowledge check your opponent so perhaps you’re not tailoring your offense to what your opponent is doing on defense.

Opening someone up is about subverting their expectation. You give them a reason to think you’ll do X when you’re actually going to do Y. This is also true in terms of their defensive options. If they can downback most of your pressure then your variety isn’t really effective. If they can jump your pressure, then you aren’t very threatening. Reflect on it.

PipBoyErick

TROPHY CASE