Is online worth paying for?

[Yawshi]

I want to play online, but I've seen videos and most are saying that its bad so should I still purchase it?

 

[Shmickle]

I've had very few issues with lag online and the matchmaking is much better than it was at the start. It's definitely worth it based on my experiences.

 

[Deleted member]

Afaik enough people have bought the service for Nintendo not to care about doing any marginal improvements.

The online has a lot of major issues, but we're all pretty much hoping to see something happening.

For now I can say no to the recommendation.

 

[pollo20x620x6]

I don't have the best internet, but with an ethernet connection, most of my matches are lag free.
Match making has improved immensely since the update. I'm no longer put in the 4 player ffa that I once was.

I'd say its worth getting now if you have a decent internet connection.

 

[Tubby_Squirrel]

Most of whats criticized about the online service is VASTLY over exaggerated. Is the ability to play Mario Kart, Smash Ultimate, Splatoon, ect worth 20$ a year to you? If yes, buy it!

If you don't think Smash Ultimate is a good enough game to warrant what amounts to less than 6 cent a day, then don't.

But if I were you I would only take negitive reveiws at about 20% or less face value. People tend to blow tiny issues way out of proportion and over exagerate like crazy when giving criticism.

 

[zipzo]

Even if you have one single friend to play battle arenas with now and again , I think that's worth the 20 dollars a year, and that doesn't even factor all the games it's necessary for.

 

[RepStar]

No. The online is worth getting the game for but, not paying for. But since online is an essential part of a fighter and mp game, paying to play online seems intuitive.

 

[Luigifan18]

In before CH2001 sees this thread and barges in yelling "NO IT ISN'T AND YOU'RE A COMPLETE ****ING MORON FOR BELIEVING IT MIGHT BE FOR SO MUCH AS A MICROSECOND!!11!!!one"

 

[Tubby_Squirrel]

In before CH2001 sees this thread and barges in yelling "NO IT ISN'T AND YOU'RE A COMPLETE ****ING MORON FOR BELIEVING IT MIGHT BE FOR SO MUCH AS A MICROSECOND!!11!!!one"

I think you should give this guy the BOTD, don't start a flame war before he even gets here.

I'm sure we can lay out the strengths and weaknesses of this service in a rational way.

 

[Dark 3nergy]

A couple of things to consider when purchasing the service:

1. Do I have a situation where I can use ethernet to the router?

2. Do you have family or roommates who use internet frequently?

3. Do you have a wifi connection that is at least 10mb up and down?

I run off of ethernet cable using a 3rd party device, and since I've run it off that my connection overall has been very smooth. I still run into lag, but more often then not it's the other guys fault whose fighting me.

 

[SenSx]

HELL NO !!!

What Am I reading here, online is a disaster.
I have a very good fibre connection, with LAN adapter.
I can always feel the input lag spoiling everything.

I suspect people don't even notice it, or try to play with it.
I just can't.
And since online is the only thing I care for, I am just giving up this game.
What a waist it was, and K.Rool inclusion was not enough.

 

[DairyOrange]

the online is genuinely awful in every majorly online nintendo title on the switch and they have no interest in improving it whatsoever. buuuut, if you want to train, you may have to. at least it's only $20.

 

[Bigg_Official]

While far from the likes of Xbox and PlayStation, I'd say the Switch Online is definitely a step up from Wii U. I bought the yearly plan on day one and for a mere $20 that's certainly a steal. I play nothing but online matches in Ultimate and I've only had one or two instances of lag or a disconnect, both of which were on my end due to having a faulty connection.

 

[Melon launcher]

Personally, the online feels the same as it was with smash 4. Gets laggy now and again, but nothing horrible. I think a lot of people believe there is lag when in reality they are getting juggled. Its 20 bucks. One night at Dave and Busters or a year of smash. You decide.

 

[golf?]

Gonna break my silence to chime in and say. Only get it if you want to play smash online with friends you are in direct contact with, the matchmaking is a crapshoot of non static rules (which is insanely lazy) other than that it is a huge step back. It is quite hilarious to have replay features and not be able to send them as per sm4sh, or message friends to start matches but you know... "it will get better" ...kek

 

[REZERO]

I want to play online, but I've seen videos and most are saying that its bad so should I still purchase it?

There will be lag because of how matchmaking is, it got better after release but occasionally you'll get it because it is p2p. I wouldn't say online is good but if you want to play online you gotta pay that $3 man.

You also get some classic games as well so not too horrible but still p mediocre for something you have to pay for.

 

[Tesh]

I wouldn't recommend paying for it if just for smash unless you intend to get the ethernet adapter and you have no one to play with offline.

I believe there is a 7 day free trial you can get right? Try it out, see if its worthwhile. As another poster said, its 20 bucks a year.

 

[Ice Climbers P and N]

I am not an experienced player but I enjoy playing against humans over bots so IMO, yes.
Trying to get used to lag.

 

[zipzo]

I am not an experienced player but I enjoy playing against humans over bots so IMO, yes.
Trying to get used to lag.

Black font over a dark gray post background...why do you torture us?

 

[hhung]

In my opinion, online play is too laggy to enjoy if you are looking for a solid competitive experience. It's entertaining if you want a casual smash experience and to see a variety of play versus just Smashing against bots.

I have a LAN adapter for my switch, and I've tried all the tips to enhance the online experience, but I still feel that lag prevents precise play (and results in an impact to how I play locally, which is annoying).

 

[RichWalk9891]

I'm probably just being too tight with my money, but I find it a little strange that I need to pay to play against other players online this time around.

Is there any reason for this? Street Fighter 5 did the same thing too.

 

[Crazy Hand 2001]

I think you should give this guy the BOTD, don't start a flame war before he even gets here.

I'm sure we can lay out the strengths and weaknesses of this service in a rational way.

Pros: NES games & the ability to back up save files.
Cons: NES games are mostly alternating multiplayer and save file backup being locked to the subscription is pathetic. The online itself does not change much compared to what the Wii U offered and games such as Ultimate removed options that were in previous games, including the ability to taunt in randoms, have multiple players on the same console in friend matches and add in CPUs for friends. This is an incredibly strong indication that the online will not improve at all and Nintendo is charging because drones like several people I met (I wouldn't say anyone on Smashboards falls in that category) would defend Nintendo on what they do.

 

[NewZen]

Two options, honestly:

>Do you have friends and acquaintances you can play with online on the regular? If that's the case, make sure you get a LAN adapter or something to ensure a stable connection.

>If not the former, do you actually want to play against other humans that badly, because if so, then you're going to just have to pray for the best...

Seriously, the online for this game is a step down from 4's in many a way. If not the usual lag-infested crap that's bound to occur (Which isn't helped by the input buffer the game already has naturally), then the options for Modes will not do you any favors. =

-Quickplay is not that good, considering preferences are still not as good as they could be even with the Update for some folks, you aren't allowed to swap out characters unless you leave the opponent outright (Same applies to Elite Smash, as well), and even then, pray that you don't end up having a D/C happen on your end, lest you face a small-to-severe ban.

-Lobbies are rather insufficient, as the same rules kind of apply from Quickplay: there's a line and the rules in place that the Host can set up, but if anyone so chooses to swap characters or a stage, then they will be kicked from the Line/Ring and thus lose their spot if someone else was waiting, making for a rather cumbersome experience against Randoms. Even then, if the Host leaves for any reason, the room is outright disbanded, and it does not choose a new host.

Suffice to say, only get this is you really, really want it, otherwise, save your $20.

 

[Crazy Hand 2001]

If you really want to play online, I suggest hacking a Wii instead

 

[Deleted member]

I prefer to wait for improvements on the Online Service before buying it.

My internet is good, but i need more than the multiplayer and some NES games to jump into it.

 

[Fatmanonice]

Online is pretty much the only way to go if your area doesn't have a serious competitive scene. When your options are potentially bad online or fighting CPUs between tournaments, I'd go ahead and take the risk because $20 is still a steal anyways.

 

[Madison Turner]

I think Smash Ultimate is pretty solid online. Using quickplay (I've spent 50+ hours with quickplay): I experience lag rarely, button latency is generally low, only get stock 1v1s, and almost exclusively get no items matches on battlefield and final destination variants (I have mine set to battlefield). My main characters are all either in the low end of Elite or the high end of regular. However, all of this still applies with characters that I'm awful with and play for fun, like the Mii characters, whom I'm in the 1.something GSPs with right now, I still typically get games either with my ruleset or close (like a final destination variant or a 2 stock battle instead of 3). If you're looking to queue up games one after another, I don't think it's perfect but I think it works well enough. At $20/year, I think it's worth it.

 

[SonicCraft16]

In my opinion online is only worth it if you can’t go to any offline gatherings often and to help you practice. The things is the match making is determined by distance and GSP (at least generally, you’ll still get players who’ll use items and all stages) It also will take your preferred rules. Almost everyone I play with are battlefield 3 stock. LAN adapters are also not required to have a good online experience but are definitely appreciated.

 

[Luigifan18]

If you really want to play online, I suggest hacking a Wii instead

How is that supposed to help? A Wii can't play Switch games.

 

[Deleted member]

I'm sure we can lay out the strengths and weaknesses of this service in a rational way.

I think that's a good point, so I will start with the strengths:

1. It's a cheap service. Negligible investment, especially considering there also are family pack options alongside the 20USD a year pricetag.
2. Being able to play classic NES titles legally with some cute little alteration portjobs is fun enough.
3. The service has not gotten worse past our year long free demo (aside from it actually costing money now).
4. In regards to Smash, I think the lag problem has been inconsistent, but overall better than in Smash 4.

As for my asserted weaknesses regarding the service:

1. No integrated voice chat. The app exists, but it's so cumbersome you might as well use Discord instead. The Splatoon 2 implementation is fun, but it still stings that you can't see the Salmon Run schedule on the dang thing.
2. The NES library replacing any kind of Virtual Console for the Switch is a sad move. NES games, in my opinion, hold no candle to previously available later gen Virtual Console titles such as Paper Mario, A Link to the Past, Super Metroid, Super Mario RPG, and so forth and so forth. We may get SNES stuff for the same service later, but since we don't know I simply can't count that aspect as a positive.
3. They still expect us to use friend codes for online friendlists. It's unintuitive and has always been annoying.
4. Nintendo is still being vague about certain aspects of the online. There is a new feature later down the line that they announced, which simply won't live up to expectations because they refuse to even hint to what it's about. We don't know and therefore that will get our imagination going. And if it isn't awesome that will further hurt Nintendo's online image.
5. In regards to Smash, everything else about it has been kind of a downgrade from Smash 4, especially in terms of options. No local 2nd player in battle arenas, no guaranteed rulesets for ranked, no guaranteed casual 4p FFA matches for those who wants to enjoy the party game aspect of it, and they've gotten rid of the events we admittedly didn't care that much about in Smash 4. What I know is that some of my best online friends have had to switch places when playing online because they're married and want to be able to play with me on the same console. They simply can't. And that's without the nitpicky stuff.

I could probably look more into either sides, but I think that could be a start in terms of at least my own thoughts.

 

[Crazy Hand 2001]

I could probably look more into either sides, but I think that could be a start in terms of at least my own thoughts.

Well the online hasn't exactly gotten worse but it hasn't been better either.

 

[Sans3546]

in my experience the online service with most games is actually pretty decent. splatoon's online is incredible, mario kart 8 deluxe runs fine, and smash ultimate on a connection standpoint is pretty good.

the downside is a pretty big one if you like smash ultimate. i did say smash ultimate on a connection standpoint is great, but unfortunately, that is literally the only good thing about the game's online right now (unless you like casual rule sets, in which case, online for you should be fine). preferred rules are completely broken right now which, on a competitive standpoint, hinders matchmaking too.

if you plan on getting the online service for smash ultimate and smash ultimate only, don't even waste your money, but if you want to play any other game online, i highly recommend buying the online service.

 

[R208]

in my experience the online service with most games is actually pretty decent. splatoon's online is incredible, mario kart 8 deluxe runs fine, and smash ultimate on a connection standpoint is pretty good.

the downside is a pretty big one if you like smash ultimate. i did say smash ultimate on a connection standpoint is great, but unfortunately, that is literally the only good thing about the game's online right now (unless you like casual rule sets, in which case, online for you should be fine). preferred rules are completely broken right now which, on a competitive standpoint, hinders matchmaking too.

if you plan on getting the online service for smash ultimate and smash ultimate only, don't even waste your money, but if you want to play any other game online, i highly recommend buying the online service.

I don't understand your ruleset statement. I literally did a 1 GSP to (near) elite challenge with Snake and I had a good, competitive ruleset 95% of the time. In Elite, I've only had 1 game in the last several hundred with something that's not Timed, Stock, No Items, and that single game just had Smash Balls on. Preferred rules are anything but as broken as you're claiming.

 

[Sans3546]

I don't understand your ruleset statement. Preferred rules are anything but as broken as you're claiming.

i have stated this before, and if you still want more details after reading this shortened version, i recommend reading that post.

long story short, all those complaints about online in 1.1.0 where players were getting placed in matches without competitive rule sets still seems to apply to me even in 1.2.1. i do have preferred rules turned on with competitively based rule sets, but one or more of the rules that matter to me (1v1, stock, legal stages, no items) is not what it should be in 90% of the games i play.

 

[R208]

I mean, it's just really odd for our experiences to be so drastically different. Granted, I wasn't at the 500k GSP range for my challenge for long, but I don't recall having ruleset-based issues there. I believe the main factor may just be the GSP because I did get off rulesets more often during the challenge, at various levels, then I get when doing something on a high-ranked character.

If that's truly the case, then you should see your issue subside as you get better. At 400-500k, you're about 4-5 wins from mid-1m levels. I know that practicing with off rulesets isn't very fruitful, so I'd suggest sticking to Arenas for now, for a while, until you reach a skill level where off rulesets no longer matter. I've been doing a lot of Arenas to improve characters without worrying about GSP, and I've yet to even see an off ruleset in 1v1 Vets and Glorious.

 

[Crazy Hand 2001]

You know that Nintendo Switch online is pathetic when games such as Super Mario Party have such disastrous online options.

Perhaps this is why Smash Ultimate's online doesn't get updated to include everything that everyone wants. Because Nintendo knows people will subscribe regardless of what they do.

 

[UltimateXsniper]

Well for $20 just for smash online... Usually I'd say no because I hate this service. I don't like being charged on a system where we still can't invite or message people and having to add people with friend codes still. The app blows for communication and is just so backwards thinking on Nintendo's part.

But that's just the switch online in general. For smash, it's been a fun experience to go in alone without friends and just play and rank up. Personally I think it's less laggy than Smash 3DS and Wii U, especially Brawl. I have a better time playing teams in Ultimate than I did with half of my 1v1 games in 4. This is coming from a person who's connection isn't so great but the game pretty much almost feels 1:1 for the most part. I'd still would rather play offline for faster inputs for sure though and not get bad habbits online. But you might as well live with a friend when you want to play together. Seriously, the fact that I can't pair up with a friend and go play online for ranking is a missed opportunity and arena's can be a hassle if you are trying to play with a friend but you also want randoms to join in. You'll literally have to get a friend to come over or you come over to them and just play co-op on one system if you want to play teams online, which is insanely hard to do because I don't have anyone near my area who even plays Nintendo except for one who just got a switch for Christmas and Ultimate being his first smash game.

Basically if you wanna go lone wolf online then you'll won't have much problems except for one occasion of having a laggy match or your rules are not the same with the other player, and if you really like smash then I'd say go for it.

 

[Mischiiii]

20€ isn’t much money for a whole year. Just think about what you waste when going to mc donalds or buying candy at a supermarket. Some people are so sensitive when it comes to paying something for videogames.

I rarely have issues with lag. Most of the matches are fine. If you have just one friend to play with its worth it. Also if you like smash so much that you register at a forum then i assume you want to play the game and improve.

A little tip: you should consider buying a lan adapter if your tv is far away from the router.

 

[Crystanium]

Someone explained it somewhere that it's not too different from For Glory in terms of online game play. I recent bought a $19.99 subscription card for the eShop to play online. I've enjoyed it so far. I only ran into one person who was rude yesterday, and made four other players rage quit for whatever reason. I like the new reporting system because you can be specific and explain why you're reporting someone. Good on Nintendo for that. When you play, you'll be given the option of selecting your preferences and turning it on.

You might end up facing people who have stocks between two and three, as well as a timer range usually between 5 and 7 minutes. You can also choose if you want hazardless stages, but by doing so, you risk going to stages that have run-offs. You're better off going with the Battlefield or Final Destination format. I personally like Battlefield. It's not always guaranteed, but from my experience, you'll more likely encounter those with similar preferences. Avoid SD'ing. You'll get penalized. I haven't been penalized, but you're better off getting hit by your opponent and not trying to return if you don't want to continue.

Another thing is your option of choosing messages. When you enter a battle, you can press whatever button on the d-pad to leave a message like, "Good luck, have fun!" When you're at the result screen, you can press whatever button on the d-pad to leave something like, "You're pretty good!" I like this because it personalizes the matches. I hope it helps those who get easily angered to realize that there's another person on the other end and not some unfeeling machine. I hope it makes the matches better so that when you lose the match, you won't lose your temper.

I'd recommend the online play if you want some quick, fun matches and good experience against a variety of characters.

 

[Crazy Hand 2001]

20€ isn’t much money for a whole year. Just think about what you waste when going to mc donalds or buying candy at a supermarket. Some people are so sensitive when it comes to paying something for videogames.

Difference is that food they have a reason to charge for, but Nintendo's online would remain the same whenever it was free or not. So that means you are paying for nothing