Caught in the Middle

[Shuriblur]

So, since I started getting more into the competitive side of things I found myself to be in this unfortunate position right now where I play with all my friends and I can beat them a majority of the time. They even say it's not fun to play with me sometimes because they tend to lose a lot. I try and tell them that I'm not really that good and it just takes a bit of practice. Anyways, few competitive events I have participated in I tend to get bodied. And often times I feel like I'm not really improving.

Is the switch over from casual to competitive usually a tough one?

 

[PCHU]

So, since I started getting more into the competitive side of things I found myself to be in this unfortunate position right now where I play with all my friends and I can beat them a majority of the time. They even say it's not fun to play with me sometimes because they tend to lose a lot. I try and tell them that I'm not really that good and it just takes a bit of practice. Anyways, few competitive events I have participated in I tend to get bodied. And often times I feel like I'm not really improving.

Is the switch over from casual to competitive usually a tough one?

Early on, when I switched from casual to competitive, I was awful.
Solely focused on tech, thought I was all that, got bodied by Iori's Mewtwo and IHSB's Samus.
Similar to you, I was (and still am) disliked by some because I'm on a completely different level than they are, but lots of people have come to appreciate that and actually come to me with questions that I gladly answer, even mid-match.

I've improved a lot over the years because I've been playing a lot, but more so watching.
Watching other people play the same characters I use in a variety of settings so I can start to familiarize myself with what I should watch for/how I should position myself in the neutral as well as during an attack/block string.
I've also picked apart different styles, and tried to emulate them and incorporate aspects I like from those styles into my own.
Still, a big part of how I learn from matches comes from playing safe and treating every stock like it's my last, aiming to make the most out of punishes I get and doing my best to ensure I don't put myself in any position where my move has a high chance of failure.
Sounds simple, but it takes a lot of playing and watching over and over again, and after a while, you'll start to identify patterns evident in many peoples' styles and be able to really start capitalizing on it, and even start to subtly coax players into falling for hard reads.
And while that does sound nice, it most definitely won't happen every match or even soon, but I promise it won't take you forever.

Immerse yourself in the game and keep fighting.
If your friends get too upset over the skill gap, break down what you're doing and help them to see that there are ways around it.
It definitely doesn't always work, but it's worth a shot.
Good luck to ya.

 

[Raijinken]

I'm in the same boat. I just keep playing with my friends, who have fortunately adopted the mindset of "I'll get better gradually".

Though it helps that this is Smash4, where we all started on even footing, instead of Brawl, Melee, or 64, where I had years of extra experience over them. They really didn't enjoy those very much.

One way to lighten it up is to start randoming. Doing so not only lets you (and your friends) learn new matchups, but it also serves as a passive handicap.

 

[ぱみゅ]

You could also stick more to other players you meet at the competitions.
Not telling you to change your friends, but trying something different helps a lot.

 

[Amazing Ampharos]

If your friends don't enjoy playing you because they lose, that suggests they don't even want to improve. Playing stronger players is always an opportunity; losing is so much more instructive than winning. If they want to improve they can, especially if you collectively go to events in your area and learn as a group from the players stronger than all of you. Water is known to seek its own level, and pools of players do the same. If you regularly play with players stronger than you, you'll most likely begin to rise up to their level. If you don't get in quality experience and only play those far weaker than you, you'll probably stop learning and even begin to regress. So stick to it and try to bring your friends too. If they are opposed they most likely simply have no will to win, and there's nothing you can do about that as they'll suck forever. If they are willing to tag along, hey, maybe your friendlies with your pals could become more exciting than ever.

 

[ParanoidDrone]

Playing stronger players is always an opportunity; losing is so much more instructive than winning.

Important caveat: I think it's important that you're able to communicate with your opponent to really learn from a loss. I've had people wipe the floor with me in For Glory (yes yes laugh it up) and I walked away with very little idea what I could have done differently and feeling quite frustrated as a result.

 

[Raijinken]

Important caveat: I think it's important that you're able to communicate with your opponent to really learn from a loss. I've had people wipe the floor with me in For Glory (yes yes laugh it up) and I walked away with very little idea what I could have done differently and feeling quite frustrated as a result.

I second this. It takes a particularly perceptive (and thus, probably already very good) player to walk away from a stomp with an idea of how it could have been fixed. Having some way to ask either the player you lost to (who needs to be helpful and a good sport instead of some condescending elitist jerk) or to grab the replay and ask others (ideally in person, it's much easier to get accurate and quick feedback that way than online) makes the improvement process much quicker and less stressful than "Welp. I got rekt, they did magic I didn't know was possible, I don't know how to do it, so I'll go get rekt more while I try to wrap my head around it."

 

[GhostUrsa]

The recommendation of playing random against friends is a good idea. It allows your friends to have some fun, since variety is the spice that keeps them going. It also forces you to get familiar with another character, which is something that is required for high level play. Most high level play comes from knowing your opponent instead as well as your own strengths and weaknesses. If you have an idea as to your opponents hangups, you have a leg up on them. When I had issues fighting some good Ganondorf players online, I did a few matches locally as Ganondorf to get a feel for his strengths and weaknesses so I could exploit them later.

Watching others play your character helps a bit. Not just watching the best, but others your level as well. I'd recommend going to the Video Critique thread for your character and not only watching and posting advice there but if you can post your own videos for critique. I've picked up on techniques I wasn't quite sure was possible when helping others improve, and in turn they may be able to help you find areas that you weren't aware needed improvement.

The nice thing about being in the middle is that you have enough knowledge of the game to be able to break down things when watching passively and give advice. Most of the issue that most people in the middle level (myself included) seem to agree on from the many posts similar to this one is that we don't have the physical reaction time or match-up experience to either play reflexive or deductive during matches. Practice will help with the first, but the recommendations I and others have stated here will help with the latter option.