For Glory's #1 use (in my opinion)

[Illuvial]

CPU 2.0, that's it! Yeah yeah that sounds harsh, but let me explain a bit. See, For Glory only has 1 stage type (2 if you count wall and walless FDs as separate stages), its online (so lag is always an issue even when its only minor lag), and you're mostly only gonna play maybe 2 or 3 matches with a random person before moving onto the next one as if nothing happened. Most of the time these players will probably be either total trash or they'll totally wreck you.

These matches aren't done in a traditional set-like manner, they don't offer meaningful incentive towards getting better in terms of online statistics mattering, and the general ruleset here isn't at all the official standardized ruleset for actual tournaments or online ladders (like the Nintendodojo.com ladder). Therefore, I see no reason to treat For Glory as a 100% serious environment 100% of the time.

The way I like to view For Glory, and the way I feel it should be used is as a tool for testing out characters, tech and practicing MUs (fingers crossed you fight the character(s) you wanna fight). For example, I want to learn Samus and Pikachu, so instead of jumping into ladders and tournaments or spending hours fighting the horrid AI I can hop on For Glory and practice anytime I want. I don't need friends to be free, I don't need anything but the will to hop online and play the mode to test things out and practice the character in a general manner. Its a godsend in that sense, as its basically a place to play the most casual of friendlies 24/7. Its good for fighting more adaptvie and smarter players overall, and I've found myself sporting a much larger list of characters I plan on learning and playing as since I will always have a solid practice area.

In Brawl, I had local friendlies since the online was void of a 1v1 mode and the netcode was even worse than 3DS'. In Melee and 64 I rely on friendlies in the flesh, which isn't always an option (almost never an option for 64) but with Smash 4 I finally ahve the chance to consistently practice against solid players at anytime, and that's why I stopped caring about my W/L ratio and stopped treating For Glory as though it was some online ladder where winning was all that mattered.

For me its a training resource, not necessarily a super competitive online environment I will only play to win on, if that makes sense.

How do you guys view For Glory, and how do you all use it?

 

[san.]

Playing against poor players, especially in a laggy environment, can also be potentially harmful to your playstyle. They're not good sources for MUs because chances are that you will fight a tough opponent offline who truly makes use of his character's potential.

At least with offline CPUs, you can mess with customs and how they interact with each other.

I think the best way to practice without going to offline tournaments/smashfests is to specifically look up good players within a few hundred miles and play online against them with a good connection.

 

[ConCeal12]

That's actually exactly as I see it as well! Long story short it's just a practice mode.

However this is a better way to pick up a character because you'll get actual human reaction to things vs a cpu that can read and punish by design. You can actually play with mind games and hard reads. Unless they come out with a solid "ranked" match making system it won't be more than that.

 

[The Real Gamer]

Like I said in another thread I've had to stop playing For Glory entirely because the vast majority of people on there just aren't good. In my experience most players on there have really bad habits that simply do not work in a competitive offline environment (such as roll/projectile/dash attack spamming). No matter how pretty my W/L ratio looks I'm not getting better by beating up on people I'm clearly better than. Then when I do finally find someone competent they end up leaving after a match or two just to protect their silly record, which frustrates me more than anything because playing people better than/on the same level as you is the fastest way to improve. I'd rather lose 30 matches in a row against someone and learn from what I'm doing wrong instead of beating up on scrubs to make myself THINK I'm better than I really am... but hey that's just me.

tl;dr - For Glory is a nice little last resort if none of your friends are online, but friendlies, ladder matches, and tournaments are the way to go if you're serious about getting better in an online environment.

 

[Kuraudo]

I got lucky and fought this Japanese Greninja player. I was only successful in taking one game off of them. They played exactly as top level Greninja players (ie; Nietono & aMSa) would and taught me and made me remember that my methods are not working. For Glory, to me, is a way to both pass the time and to warm up for matches against actually skilled players.

Thank you, random Greninja player of Japan. I apprecaite the lesson.

 

[The Real Gamer]

I got lucky and fought this Japanese Greninja player. I was only successful in taking one game off of them. They played exactly as top level Greninja players (ie; Nietono & aMSa) would and taught me and made me remember that my methods are not working. For Glory, to me, is a way to both pass the time and to warm up for matches against actually skilled players.

Thank you, random Greninja player of Japan. I apprecaite the lesson.

I had the same experience except it was against a Japanese Bowser Jr... Couldn't take a single game off of that dude.

But thanks to him I was well prepared for a ladder match I played against a Jr earlier.

Thank you, random Bowser Jr. of Japan!

 

[Illuvial]

Well of course For Glory is still not a completely valid alternative to actual friendlies and matches, but its still better than AI no matter how you slice it. I'm not saying its the best training tool available, just that you shouldn't treat it super seriously and should treat it like the training resource it is

 

[DarkestMind]

It seems I can't take videogames like in a relaxed way, idk why I always want to make things competitive (when we agree to play with kinda competitive rules) I always want to go like all in or serious ._. This happens to me since Pokémon back in 4th generation when I became really good at the game and was from tournament to tournament, the difference is I suck at sm4sh haha but I can't help to take FG mode seriously, my win rate is something like 57% or something.

And there's not even a ladder to like really show off your records or anything I just like winning I guess haha.
By this I'm not saying I dont have fun playing it anyway, losing is funny too sometimes.

 

[AdaptiveTrigger]

A good 90% of the people I've played in For Glory are beaten by the most simplest of tactics. I've definitely learned a lot more by challenging people here on Smashboards or Gamefaqs than I've ever learned by playing randoms in For Glory.

Don't get me wrong though, I still play For Glory but more as a "For Fun" thing.

 

[Wyverian]

I know a win is a win, and i respect that, but there are a ton of either really bad players, beginners, or players that are really gimmicky. I do run into quite a few REALLY good players though, it's a shame i can't add them off the bat.

 

[Sleeplost]

I see it exactly the same. I made a thread some time ago speaking of the exact same thing. The lack of stage selection/balance, the lag, and the overall environment do nothing but harm productive training.

I appreciate the thought Sakurai had but honestly For Glory is terrible. I don't even play it For Fun.

 

[ZombieBran]

I got lucky and fought this Japanese Greninja player. I was only successful in taking one game off of them. They played exactly as top level Greninja players (ie; Nietono & aMSa) would and taught me and made me remember that my methods are not working. For Glory, to me, is a way to both pass the time and to warm up for matches against actually skilled players.

Thank you, random Greninja player of Japan. I apprecaite the lesson.

This is really weird but I fought an absolutely excellent Japanese Greninja too. Certainly the single best player I have ever fought in FG and no one since has come close. Completely demolished me.

I'm not super good or anything but I'd say they were definitely top level.

 

[Volt@ge]

I see it the same way as you, Illuvial. I care about my W/L to the extent that a higher number is prettier, but ultimately I'd rather have a 30% winrate against people miles better than I, than a 70% one against people I stomp.

Some games I can go in and 2 stock people taking as little as 30%, other games against the same person I SD a minute in and lose horrendously. I see it more as a method to practice my tech skills and/or judgement against somebody who will adapt, however poorly it may be. Fighting Level 9 Lucina who for some reason goes for a random grounded Dolphin Slash after every throw doesn't really do anything to help your play.

It's also nicer to practice combo strings on players, who don't airdodge 3 times in one short hop like AI seem to do.

 

[Wyverian]

Also lag. I have a good connection, most matches run pretty smoothly, but because im such a technical player, the slight inlput lag kills me. I have to get use to the lag, while often forgetting how to adapt to it.

 

[Sir Tundra]

There's only one real use for glory. And that use is simply trolling. Other then that I really don't know any other good use for it.