I know GSP is kinda ******** but...

[FartyParty]

...it still feels ****ing good to finally hit 3 mil GSP on my main

I might not ever break into Elite Smash, but I was total garbage when the game came out, basically average at the start of Jan, and very firmly above average now. Played way more of this game than I expected to, and I had no idea I would wind up getting into 1v1 no items play. I only started doing it b/c people were saying on launch weekend that 1v1 no items bf or omega only reduced lag so I gave it a go, and now it's all I play. I didn't even bother finishing Adventure Mode b/c I just can't go back to fighting the computer.

So yeah, no matter how flawed GSP is as a ranking system, I'm feeling pretty sweet right now. Of course I'll probably get 3-stocked in my next match by someone at 3.3 mil and get swatted back down a couple hundred thousand, but for now I'm going to go hit my bowl and enjoy this moment.

Here's the replay of the match that put me over:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MwDGHj8fQU&feature=youtu.be

 

[RepStar]

They mean nothing at all. It wouldve hit 3 mil on its own. But i see why it means alot to you. Because youre using the joycons aka dreadcons 'cause theres nothing joyful about em lol.

 

[FartyParty]

They mean nothing at all. It wouldve hit 3 mil on its own. But i see why it means alot to you. Because youre using the joycons aka dreadcons 'cause theres nothing joyful about em lol.

Having climbed from the depths of being around 50K, it's hard to accept the notion of the number meaning nothing at all. The system has major flaws (FFA and 1v1 ranked together, items and no items ranked together), but I had to reach a point of winning a whole lot more than I lose to get to 3 mil and in my experience it's clear that there is a higher level of play starting around 2.5 mil GSP currently. If the highest GSPs are around 3.6 mil right now, then I think 3 mil is a reasonable milestone at the moment to use for "I am better than most ppl at this game".

 

[RepStar]

Having climbed from the depths of being around 50K, it's hard to accept the notion of the number meaning nothing at all. The system has major flaws (FFA and 1v1 ranked together, items and no items ranked together), but I had to reach a point of winning a whole lot more than I lose to get to 3 mil and it's clear that there is a higher level of play starting around 2.5 mil GSP right now. If the highest GSPs are around 3.6 mil right now, then I think 3 mil is a reasonable milestone at the moment to use for "I am better than most ppl at this game".

Yea i get what ur saying. My OCD wouldnt allow me to settle for being below 3 mill either even if gsp is dumb, lol. Glad that burden is gone. Havent touched quickplay with my elite character since. xD

 

[MG_3989]

Good job! That is an accomplishment and don’t let people tell you it isn’t. 3 mil is the very top percentage of players so you’re definitely doing something right

 

[FartyParty]

Good job! That is an accomplishment and don’t let people tell you it isn’t. 3 mil is the very top percentage of players so you’re definitely doing something right

Thank you. It wasn't long ago I was stating outright in some of my posts that I was basically average at the game, and it was the true then.

Truthfully, the best strategy I've found lately is getting my ass kicked by high level players in arenas for a couple hours before doing quickplay haha. Most opponents are much easier in comparison after the arena folks have worked me up nice and good. Spend some time trying to read people with insane movement and near flawless timing, and then other people just seem so slow and easy to track.

 

[MG_3989]

Thank you. It wasn't long ago I was stating outright in some of my posts that I was basically average at the game, and it was the true then.

Truthfully, the best strategy I've found lately is getting my *** kicked by high level players in arenas for a couple hours before doing quickplay haha. Most opponents are much easier in comparison after the arena folks have worked me up nice and good. Spend some time trying to read people with insane movement and near flawless timing, and then other people just seem so slow and easy to track.

That works. Just playing people better than you constantly is a huge way to improve super fast. I’m glad you’re improving fast and continue just working at it. Maybe see what your local tournament scene has to offer. You’ll probably be in the lower end of players there at first but you’ll be good enough to compete and maybe take a set or two but that’s not the important part. The experience and the friendlies and the high level practice against high level players in person is really valuable

 

[leafgreen386]

Congrats. Don't let people tell you it doesn't mean anything. GSP may be a flawed system, but it still roughly correlates with skill. Over 3 mil is top 20%, which is something to be proud of.

 

[Dilan Omer]

Good job! That is an accomplishment and don’t let people tell you it isn’t. 3 mil is the very top percentage of players so you’re definitely doing something right

Its like top 10 or 15%

 

[leafgreen386]

They mean nothing at all. It wouldve hit 3 mil on its own. But i see why it means alot to you. Because youre using the joycons aka dreadcons 'cause theres nothing joyful about em lol.

There's a significant portion of the playerbase that will never see a GSP that high. Even if the max GSP grows to 6 mil over the game's lifetime, that would still be half the playerbase under 3 mil. Just because most players on smashboards will be in the upper echelons of the ranking system, doesn't mean you can take a high GSP for granted. In order for there to be high GSPs, there must also be low GSPs.

Right now, 3 mill is prolly a little better than top 20%, given 3M/3.7M = about .81

 

[RepStar]

Right now, 3 mill is prolly a little better than top 20%, given 3M/3.7M = about .81

What.


Im terrible at math so i have no idea what this means.

 

[UltimateXsniper]

What.


Im terrible at math so i have no idea what this means.

3 divided by 3.7 (Or 3,000,000/3,700,000 works either way) is .81, which is 81% and so that also means the other 19% is above 3 million. He is stating that reaching 3 million means you are higher than the top 20% currently and it's true as it actually is top 19% for now

 

[DrakeekarD]

I honestly gave up trying to reach the Elite. My Yoshi score just wont climb very much. I beat 1 match with Roy, 3.1 mil. How or why is what I find myself asking. How is my main abysmal, yet 1 win with any character, they shoot up to where I am attempting to get Yoshi to. I could probably reach it, but playing with the I need to win attitude to increase a number, one that drops heavily when you fail, and against players with far higher numbers then my own, it gets so frustrating that I want to break my switch. However, when I stopped caring about that number, the last 31 matches I needed for the 200 quick play matches played went by rather fast I must say.

I give to you sir a kudo for doing what I could not do myself. Congratulations.

 

[Coolboy]

now i feel like i am actually doing good myself with having multiple characters over 3,0 and 3,5 mil..this thread makes me happy! :D

 

[FartyParty]

I beat 1 match with Roy, 3.1 mil. How or why is what I find myself asking. How is my main abysmal, yet 1 win with any character, they shoot up to where I am attempting to get Yoshi to.

GSP only really reflects skill after you log a decent number of matches (say minimum 50-100, but even that might be too low) w/ a particular character. People getting a few very early wins their first time using a character is one of the biggest reasons for low-skill players with high GSPs. Personally, it took me ~1300 quickplay matches to hit 3 mil on Lucina, and even since then it has not been easy to stay over 3 mil. Reaching a particular GSP is one thing, but staying there is another. The difference now is when I fall below 3 mil, even if I fall really far below it, I can get back to 3 mil within a day. Heck I had a day like a week and a half ago where I dropped from 3.5 mil down to 1.5 mil in the span of about 8 matches, got back to 2.7 by the end of the night, and back over 3 mil the next day.

 

[Sean²]

I honestly gave up trying to reach the Elite. My Yoshi score just wont climb very much. I beat 1 match with Roy, 3.1 mil. How or why is what I find myself asking. How is my main abysmal, yet 1 win with any character, they shoot up to where I am attempting to get Yoshi to. I could probably reach it, but playing with the I need to win attitude to increase a number, one that drops heavily when you fail, and against players with far higher numbers then my own, it gets so frustrating that I want to break my switch. However, when I stopped caring about that number, the last 31 matches I needed for the 200 quick play matches played went by rather fast I must say.

I give to you sir a kudo for doing what I could not do myself. Congratulations.

I felt the same back in December. I eventually made it to Elite in January and haven’t dropped out, and I’ve been above 4 million for a while now. I have a character sitting quite a bit lower than that, also in Elite, that I use as a threshold as to where I figure I’d fall out of it if I drop below that number.

I guess my suggestion to you would be to play arenas. I quit rolling the dice with quickplay recently and now make my own arenas with only 2-3 spots, so there’s no waiting and I’m guaranteed to get the rules I want every game. It’s a way better experience overall. You’ll get the occasional lagger or troll but less so that you’ll get on quickplay. You can actually try to learn matchups, versus being forced into rules you don’t want, or having to play to win against someone who lags or plays like a tool.

 

[RealPokeFan11]

I broke 3 mil with Palutena! Then I lost a few matches and dropped to 2.3 mil. Story of my life.

 

[DelugeFGC]

There was a point when I REALLY looked forward to ES, but now that I have over half the roster there, I find myself enjoying regular high GSP quickplay a lot more.

Elite Smash is a lot of people using whatever character was at the top of the most recent tier lists and fighting the same matchup 40 times tends to get boring after a certain point. Or it's a Ganon that got into ES via early BAir/FAir kills that makes you go check which version of quickplay you're playing after the match ends with you having all your stocks still. Ironically, my highest GSP character IS Ganon, whom I have at 4.2M. Elite Smash also isn't a promised land where lag doesn't exist and bad rulesets don't happen, either.. it's still there, just to a lesser extent.

If you can intentionally keep your GSP JUST under the Elite Smash numbers, I'd say do it. I'm not exaggerating when I say I have more fun and get better matches on regular High GSP QP.

I felt the same back in December. I eventually made it to Elite in January and haven’t dropped out, and I’ve been above 4 million for a while now. I have a character sitting quite a bit lower than that, also in Elite, that I use as a threshold as to where I figure I’d fall out of it if I drop below that number.

I guess my suggestion to you would be to play arenas. I quit rolling the dice with quickplay recently and now make my own arenas with only 2-3 spots, so there’s no waiting and I’m guaranteed to get the rules I want every game. It’s a way better experience overall. You’ll get the occasional lagger or troll but less so that you’ll get on quickplay. You can actually try to learn matchups, versus being forced into rules you don’t want, or having to play to win against someone who lags or plays like a tool.

^ This man knows what's up. I've been doing the same thing, I often create 2 slot BA's and just sit and do 1v1's with randoms. If they lag or troll, I kick them and keep going. This is far superior to quickplay, and with a few tweaks BA's could make the online in Ultimate quite valuable. BA's are by FAR the better place to be when compared to Quickplay, though I have been playing QP more than I was in the past now. Once I got good with certain characters, it was entertaining to see how far I could take them without losing, often I'd hit Elite before the first loss. The skill you get on QP is.. wildcard tier, I've fought people who (in that match, at the time) could've bodied Top 8 pros, and I've also fought plenty of people who had me questioning how they even got that high up into the GSP ranks.. it's a weird place.

 

[Sean²]

If I'm doing quickplay, I honestly prefer even lower GSP than that. Talking like 1-2.5 million. My Jigglypuff constantly sits around that range and that's who I pick when I want to just have some fun. No one knows what to do against a Puff that just bullcharges them. I just do arenas if I want to be super srs. Most of ES has devolved into hardcore camping and timeouts. At least when they play against me. Not very fun.

I started bodying a Palutena the other day and the guy stopped interacting with me, and started teleport camping into ledge cancels on the BF platforms so it was hard to hit him without putting myself at massive risk. I ended up just waiting for him to teleport down and was buffering heavy hitting moves where he kept landing. It was a satisfying win, but not fun at all. That's your Elite Smash in general nowadays. Lots of camping, especially under a BF side platform.

 

[Crazy Hand 2001]

Perhaps they should've taken for fun and for glory instead of the terrible online here

 

[Fell God]

GSP may not be an entirely accurate assessment of skill, but it's not entirely meaningless either. Though it's kind of strange to think that, at launch, 3 million seemed like an impossible goal, now it's not even high enough for Elite Smash.

 

[DelugeFGC]

If I'm doing quickplay, I honestly prefer even lower GSP than that. Talking like 1-2.5 million. My Jigglypuff constantly sits around that range and that's who I pick when I want to just have some fun. No one knows what to do against a Puff that just bullcharges them. I just do arenas if I want to be super srs. Most of ES has devolved into hardcore camping and timeouts. At least when they play against me. Not very fun.

I started bodying a Palutena the other day and the guy stopped interacting with me, and started teleport camping into ledge cancels on the BF platforms so it was hard to hit him without putting myself at massive risk. I ended up just waiting for him to teleport down and was buffering heavy hitting moves where he kept landing. It was a satisfying win, but not fun at all. That's your Elite Smash in general nowadays. Lots of camping, especially under a BF side platform.

Elite Smash feels a lot like tournament pools. Tons of people doing literally everything in their power to win, even if it completely halts the momentum of the match and makes finishing it out a total slog. The amount of people who started camping and throwing out projectiles and disjoints on their last stock in ES is staggering, combined with how people on ES bandwagon on tier lists.. it tends to get REALLY boring.

Low GSP (1.5M>) tends to either be someone surprising (a very good player who just got the game or a very good player who just got off a losing streak) or someone who struggles to take even a single stock from you. There's also a lot of jank rulesets below 2M. I can't really get down with it anymore, but my lowest characters are all at like 2.3M or so, so I'd have to do a fair bit of losing with the characters I don't often use to get consistent games in that rank range.

I like BA's, if they can fix the **** with spectators causing lag, not being able to change characters while in line and some other things.. I'll actually be satisfied to a point with the online. If you get into an Arena with someone you know or a random with a good connection / LAN, there's usually never even a SPOT of lag, it feels very close to offline play.. and that's a good thing. Simply being able to play with people who aren't physically nearby is a huge deal for someone like me who competes but doesn't have a big local scene to dive into for practice. I don't have a lot of interactions with Smashers offline until I roll up at the Tournament, so good online means a lot to me because it's one of my only ways to consistently practice outside of two people I play in RL. BA's along with Smash discord servers make this a non-issue for me.

 

[Golden Icarus]

If I'm doing quickplay, I honestly prefer even lower GSP than that. Talking like 1-2.5 million. My Jigglypuff constantly sits around that range and that's who I pick when I want to just have some fun. No one knows what to do against a Puff that just bullcharges them. I just do arenas if I want to be super srs. Most of ES has devolved into hardcore camping and timeouts. At least when they play against me. Not very fun.

I started bodying a Palutena the other day and the guy stopped interacting with me, and started teleport camping into ledge cancels on the BF platforms so it was hard to hit him without putting myself at massive risk. I ended up just waiting for him to teleport down and was buffering heavy hitting moves where he kept landing. It was a satisfying win, but not fun at all. That's your Elite Smash in general nowadays. Lots of camping, especially under a BF side platform.

Yeah I find that Arenas are way more enjoyable. On Elite Smash, people care so dearly about thier precious GSP that they use the most campy, unfun, degenerate strategies possible. Since Arenas are unranked, people are still able to play the game seriously, but without being so anal about thier wins and losses.

 

[DelugeFGC]

Yeah I find that Arenas are way more enjoyable. On Elite Smash, people care so dearly about thier precious GSP that they use the most campy, unfun, degenerate strategies possible. Since Arenas are unranked, people are still able to play the game seriously, but without being so anal about thier wins and losses.

Like I said, ES is basically tournament pools, at least right now. They don't care about playing well. They don't care about being technical. They don't care about having fun. They don't care about what you or anyone else thinks of them. They don't care about your skill level. They care about ONE thing, winning.. and they will do WHAT EVER it takes to get there, as scummy or momentum-killing as it may be.

I was playing a Zero Suit Samus on ES the other day and it was a good match up until the last stock. I got her into a DThrow with my Captain Falcon at like 22% and it lead to a couple of NAirs which then lead to her (or him?) going off stage, only to try to read me coming out wrong which ended in them taking a knee (FAir) and dying at like sub 55%. After this, I had 3 stocks at like 90% and she was on her last a 0%. This is where the match died. Every second of play from that point forward consisted of her playing keepaway and doing wavebounced Side B's and Neutral B's or doing constant retreating short hop FAir's near the edge. Never went for a follow up, never committed to a combo.. just played super defensively the rest of the match and camped when possible. Falcon doesn't have projectiles or big hitboxes, and Falcon Kick is very punishable, so this left me with few options to finish. I ended up reverse Falcon Punching her out of the air around mid-stage which had enough launch to get her off stage, allowing me to finish it with BAir as they misread that I would go for DAir and put out an UAir.

^ This is Elite Smash. 90% of people will regress into a defensive, campy degenerate the second you start winning.

 

[Xquirtle]

Like I said, ES is basically tournament pools, at least right now. They don't care about playing well. They don't care about being technical. They don't care about having fun. They don't care about what you or anyone else thinks of them. They don't care about your skill level. They care about ONE thing, winning.. and they will do WHAT EVER it takes to get there, as scummy or momentum-killing as it may be.

I was playing a Zero Suit Samus on ES the other day and it was a good match up until the last stock. I got her into a DThrow with my Captain Falcon at like 22% and it lead to a couple of NAirs which then lead to her (or him?) going off stage, only to try to read me coming out wrong which ended in them taking a knee (FAir) and dying at like sub 55%. After this, I had 3 stocks at like 90% and she was on her last a 0%. This is where the match died. Every second of play from that point forward consisted of her playing keepaway and doing wavebounced Side B's and Neutral B's or doing constant retreating short hop FAir's near the edge. Never went for a follow up, never committed to a combo.. just played super defensively the rest of the match and camped when possible. Falcon doesn't have projectiles or big hitboxes, and Falcon Kick is very punishable, so this left me with few options to finish. I ended up reverse Falcon Punching her out of the air around mid-stage which had enough launch to get her off stage, allowing me to finish it with BAir as they misread that I would go for DAir and put out an UAir.

^ This is Elite Smash. 90% of people will regress into a defensive, campy degenerate the second you start winning.

I'd say this is a majority of the ladder. People certainly care more in elite and are even more likely to revert to only defensive play, but I basically see this everywhere. The game just rewards defensive play disproportionately, especially online, and the means to dealing with it are just annoying and not fun. Like, refusing to actually play and just punishing the other players attempts to open you up is sooooo much lower skill than actually opening somebody up over and over again.

 

[DelugeFGC]

I'd say this is a majority of the ladder. People certainly care more in elite and are even more likely to revert to only defensive play, but I basically see this everywhere. The game just rewards defensive play disproportionately, especially online, and the means to dealing with it are just annoying and not fun. Like, refusing to actually play and just punishing the other players attempts to open you up is sooooo much lower skill than actually opening somebody up over and over again.

That worked for Sm4sh, but not Ultimate. The game doesn't heavily reward defensive strats, it's far more offensively focused than Smash 4 and Brawl, and I like it more than even Melee.

The problem with people on quickplay isn't that what they do works, it's that it completely halts the momentum of the match. Any player worth their salt in Ultimate can outplay that **** easily with over half the roster, almost every defensive option from rolls to air dodges has been nerfed into the ground since Sm4sh. Unless you consider all of neutral to be defensive play or something, I truly cannot understand what you mean. I get that for 4, especially so for Brawl, but not for Ultimate. Melee feels (to me) like it focuses too much on tight, frame perfect inputs and throws out a lot of the nuances that I like. I vastly prefer the neutral in Ultimate which feels like a chess game, constantly making moves until one nets you an opening you can take far as hell.

In combination with the heavier neutral, the game has a combo-heavy disadvantage state similar to Melee, so when you win neutral it feels so rewarding. Ultimate has a ceiling and tech, the buffer system is a bible to learn basically, but the thing that sells it for me is its transition from a very steady neutral into an on-the-edge-of-your-seat disadvantage state with combos strings that take characters from low percents to death quite often. That's not a heavily defensive game.

The problem is people ONLY throwing out safe, retreating moves in neutral when their losing. The issue is not that this is hard to beat, it's just a slog. The locals I've been to didn't have this problem, my BA's don't have this problem, and a lot of people on quickplay and ES don't have this problem. Online doesn't add any more or less to this, it's just people are putting more weight on GSP than they should, then fighting like jackasses because of it.

Ult is leagues more aggressive than Brawl or 4 and personally, for me, strikes the perfect balance between an input-heavy button masher and a smart-man's neutral fighter. The buffer system and some other stuff opens up an ocean of potential tech and I love it, this game feels like what I wanted Brawl to be all those years ago.

Game isn't the problem, problem isn't new, problem is that some people are sore losers and can't handle the idea of not winning, so they'll do whatever they can to win. This happens in Melee too, go watch the stage that banned Kongo Jungle and see how that feels. Smash Ultimate online is nothing like that.

 

[Coolboy]

even though this defensive playstyle is disliked, it does help which is why people play like this,
i know of myself that i play to aggressive at times but in soms 1v1 rematches when i play more defensely and react to what my opponent does instead, all of a sudden my opponents does not have it as easy as the first match they had against me, even if i don't win the match i still felt like i did well, waaay better then in my first match against them and that tells me that i need to be more defensive to perform better.

 

[DelugeFGC]

even though this defensive playstyle is disliked, it does help which is why people play like this,
i know of myself that i play to aggressive at times but in soms 1v1 rematches when i play more defensely and react to what my opponent does instead, all of a sudden my opponents does not have it as easy as the first match they had against me, even if i don't win the match i still felt like i did well, waaay better then in my first match against them and that tells me that i need to be more defensive to perform better.

Doesn't help if your opponent can read worth a damn and / or has projectiles or disjointed hitboxes. It's a bad strategy in Ultimate, it just halts match momentum and forces one counter strat to play against.

 

[Xquirtle]

That worked for Sm4sh, but not Ultimate. The game doesn't heavily reward defensive strats, it's far more offensively focused than Smash 4 and Brawl, and I like it more than even Melee.

The problem with people on quickplay isn't that what they do works, it's that it completely halts the momentum of the match. Any player worth their salt in Ultimate can outplay that **** easily with over half the roster, almost every defensive option from rolls to air dodges has been nerfed into the ground since Sm4sh. Unless you consider all of neutral to be defensive play or something, I truly cannot understand what you mean. I get that for 4, especially so for Brawl, but not for Ultimate. Melee feels (to me) like it focuses too much on tight, frame perfect inputs and throws out a lot of the nuances that I like. I vastly prefer the neutral in Ultimate which feels like a chess game, constantly making moves until one nets you an opening you can take far as hell.

In combination with the heavier neutral, the game has a combo-heavy disadvantage state similar to Melee, so when you win neutral it feels so rewarding. Ultimate has a ceiling and tech, the buffer system is a bible to learn basically, but the thing that sells it for me is its transition from a very steady neutral into an on-the-edge-of-your-seat disadvantage state with combos strings that take characters from low percents to death quite often. That's not a heavily defensive game.

The problem is people ONLY throwing out safe, retreating moves in neutral when their losing. The issue is not that this is hard to beat, it's just a slog. The locals I've been to didn't have this problem, my BA's don't have this problem, and a lot of people on quickplay and ES don't have this problem. Online doesn't add any more or less to this, it's just people are putting more weight on GSP than they should, then fighting like jackasses because of it.

Ult is leagues more aggressive than Brawl or 4 and personally, for me, strikes the perfect balance between an input-heavy button masher and a smart-man's neutral fighter. The buffer system and some other stuff opens up an ocean of potential tech and I love it, this game feels like what I wanted Brawl to be all those years ago.

Game isn't the problem, problem isn't new, problem is that some people are sore losers and can't handle the idea of not winning, so they'll do whatever they can to win. This happens in Melee too, go watch the stage that banned Kongo Jungle and see how that feels. Smash Ultimate online is nothing like that.

Not disagreeing with you here. Just pointing out that playing defensively is easier than playing offensively. This is true in every smash game. Waiting for your opponent to make a mistake and punishing them is the first thing that players learn past pressing attacks at their opponents. The lower the skill goes, the more effective overly defensive play becomes because breaking down projectile walls and defensive camp is not nearly as easy as putting up the campy play style is. And regardless of skill, frustrating your opponent into making a mistake is universally effective.

 

[FartyParty]

Kinda crazy that this thread has diverged into a discussion of tactics and strategy at different levels of play.

 

[Luigifan18]

So... how about that lack of unranked quickplay?

 

[Crazy Hand 2001]

So... how about that lack of unranked quickplay?

The mode that should've been an option in the first place? What do you expect from a company that doesn't give a **** about making their customers happy?

 

[1FC0]

What is the point of unranked quickplay? What is so bad about getting a GSP that matches your skill? There is no penalty to getting a low GSP. You will face worse opponents but the alternative is getting souped all the time by much better opponents.

Without a rank there is no way to match you with opponents of equal skill. Some may respond that GSP is not a perfect indicator of skill but GSP is actually much better than nothing i.e. unranked play. In Smash 4 I got people of widely varying skill most far worse than I am while in SSBU the people vary less in skill and are much closer to me. It even takes my character in account, e.g. my R.O.B. got paired up with much better players than my Young Link does.

So why do you want to forgo match making based on skill in favour of random match making? What makes GSP so important besides it's use in match making?

 

[Xquirtle]

What is the point of unranked quickplay? What is so bad about getting a GSP that matches your skill? There is no penalty to getting a low GSP. You will face worse opponents but the alternative is getting souped all the time by much better opponents.

Without a rank there is no way to match you with opponents of equal skill. Some may respond that GSP is not a perfect indicator of skill but GSP is actually much better than nothing i.e. unranked play. In Smash 4 I got people of widely varying skill most far worse than I am while in SSBU the people vary less in skill and are much closer to me. It even takes my character in account, e.g. my R.O.B. got paired up with much better players than my Young Link does.

So why do you want to forgo match making based on skill in favour of random match making? What makes GSP so important besides it's use in match making?

Its better than nothing but its also still pretty awful and creates a toxic experience. The alternative of getting "souped all the time by much better opponents" already exists if you try to play an alt. It matches you against people close to your mains GSP and forces your alt down into low GSP. It doesn't look at the quality of your wins and losses at all, so a 200k gsp alt can lose to a 4 mil player and they still lose like 50k gsp. In between playing people 15 times your rank, you get the actual 87k low GSP turds that play on wifi and jank rule sets to add to the terrible experience.

Unless you're good enough to walk most characters into elite smash, you're going to face the downward GSP vacuum when you first pick up a character - to that end, it would be nice to be able to practice with them without risking getting them buried in a low GSP hole. Also, people just play like such degenerates with that GSP rank always on the line. Would be nice to have an unranked mode WITH HIDDEN MATCH MAKING to just play the game without putting any chips on the table.

 

[1FC0]

It matches you against people close to your mains GSP and forces your alt down into low GSP.

If that is the case then why is Elite Smash per character?

it would be nice to be able to practice with them without risking getting them buried in a low GSP hole.

Why does GSP matter if not for match making?

Also, people just play like such degenerates with that GSP rank always on the line.

They can do that without GSP just as well. Or do people do it solely because they care so much about winning? So basically you want to be able to practice against people that are not motivated to try their best because that leads to degenerative play. So basically you want to practice against people who sandbag. Is that it?

Would be nice to have an unranked mode WITH HIDDEN MATCH MAKING to just play the game without putting any chips on the table.

I expected you to suggest that. But what is the value of hiding information? Segmenting the player base? Motivating people to sandbag?

 

[Sean²]

Let's face it, people sandbag and troll even with GSP on the line. I'm inclined to believe an unranked mode won't change much.