Possible solutions to the game's terrible online: A project

[Mogisthelioma]

(If a thread like this already exists please close this one)

Everyone and their mother is calling Ultimate's online a pile of horse ****, some going to say that it's strictly worse than Smash 4's experience (I am forced to agree). That being said, we have already seen one patch that slightly improved the online experience by prioritizing one preferred setting (matchup type: 1v1, team battle or FFA) over the rest, so we know it's possible that some of the current problems can be fixed.

The intention of this thread is to have a discussion in which users can post their ideas for possible solutions to the problems that plague the online, and maybe one day we can rally together and offer our suggestions to Nintendo if they ever ask for player feedback.

Here are the biggest problems people complain about:

Overall Problems:

• Laggy connection/being timed out
• Being forced to pay for online
• Needing a LAN adaptor or an extra cable to increase chance of stable connection
• Suicide moves/dragdown suicides can possibly result in one being banned if used frequently

Quickplay:

• Not getting preferred ruleset
• GSP:
  • Not gaining any when opponent quits
  • Losing more GSP than gaining when a match is lost versus when a match is won
  • Elite Smash not having a set GSP and the requirements for it constantly rising
  • GSP being per individual fighter
• Being forced to practice with items in wait rooms (minor issue)
• Being forced to unlock Elite Smash with every fighter one at a time
• Losing Elite Smash if a fighter is not played after some time
• Fighters cannot be switched without leaving an opponent
• No taunting

Battle Arenas:

• The entire game is shut down if one player quits
• If the host loses and is forced to wait, they can simply shut down the arena
• If someone in the spectator stands has a bad connection, the entire game is slowed
• Switching fighters/stages removes you from the waiting queue
• Sometimes the host and/or another player can be trolling everyone else (teaming in a FFA for example)

Here are some basic suggestions of mine:

• In Quickplay, you should only be paired with people with the exact same ruleset as you
• Quickplay should open up servers like Smash 4, and allow players to switch fighters and costumes
• Let us taunt in Quickplay. The removal of taunts was pointless and only encourages teabagging
• Players should be given the option to decide the settings of the waiting room (stage, music, form, etc.)
• Hosts should be able to temporarily vacate and then return to arenas (or maybe Nintendo hosts official permanent arenas for public use)

What do you think? I want this thread to be somewhere where we can all offer suggestions to fix the online, so if you have an idea on your own or if you think I missed an issue in my list, please let me know!

 

[USAnyan]

A couple of problems I’d add:
-Really a “play and run” playstyle of people. Basically people are ENCOURAGED to not rematch people or characters that give them trouble due to the risk of losing more GSP, and no real incentive to not do so-and learn the matchup or the opponent( I admit even I am a culprit in this-but not because I want GSP).
-I wouldn’t say people are “encouraged” to do this or that this is a super common issue-but people do indeed take advantage of their bad connections to give the opponent input lag-and with certain matchups this practically gives the opponent huge advantages(super noticeable with roys, clouds, zeldas, and overall campy characters)

Overall suggestions:
-offer incentive to rematch and if you win not only will you get your GSP back+regularly obtained GSP but + a bonus for going back and recognizing how the opponent plays and getting past an annoying matchup.
-Let players see opponents connection beforehand-then let the player decide if it’s good enough to warrant fighting.
-make GSP Gained at least realistically parallel to the GSP lost, I’ve seen people lose a ton of GSP while basically gain almost none.
-make elite a separate mode than the regular one, since once you’re in it you can’t go back to regular qp with that character.
-all around just minor fixes and add ons I guess to make it better:seeing how much GSP is needed for elite(seriously wtf),actually using your alt, and an actual option to not automatically rematching when continuing to play come to mind.

 

[MrGameguycolor]

Here are my suggestions:

Quickplay:

-Let us pick our own stage, while it doesn't matter much when playing Omega or BF forms, it does when playing regular stages. I imagine casuals aren't happy to see they're stage choice is locked under random. Plus it would be great to play on legal (or legal-ish) stages under no-hazards.

-Bring back the option to view our opponents profile after a match so we can either send them a friend request or BLOCK them. I can't tell you the amount of times I've left an opponent, only to be paired up with them again, and considering that the game focusing on connections closes to you, it happens more often then you would think... (But don't bring back reporting there, just so we don't give any of the salty players any input during their moments)

-The option to change our characters, stage, tag, etc. during a rematch would be nice...

-Give us more options for our rulesets, like being able to select both Omega & BF forms, etc... (minor)

-When you get pair with an opponent, a box will appear telling you the opponent's ID, tag, connection, region, full ruleset and the option to accept or decline fighting them...

-More options during the waiting room like switching to Omega form, items toggle, music, switch the dummy CPU fighter to a sandbag (since you can grab it again), etc... (minor)

-Better GSP system, you gain more GSP for winning in streaks (bonus points for rematching an opponent) and only lose a set amount after multiple lost games. Losing 2 matches doesn't automatically make you worse then 100,000 players...


Arenas

-Allow more then 8 players in arena, 16 sounds good to me...

-Honestly, most of the issues with Arenas are what they took away from friend rooms in the last game...

In short:
-Let us change rules after the arena was made.

-The owner of the arena passed onto a different person when the host leaves...

-When you're line or in the ring, you shouldn't be kicked out...
I don't know if there should just be a time limit on you while in the other menus, but they gotta fix this since not everyone honors the bro code.

-Speaking of the other menus, when you go to the CSS, stages, rules, music, etc... , it should load all the menus together and you can switch to them allowing you change character and stage rather then having to wait for them to load separately... (minor)

 

[lucasla]

Some of my sugestions:

- Remove the entire GSP System. Just delete it, it's bad. Remove Elite Smash too.
- Add some rulesets for a new competitive (for glory) mode, for 1v1 and 2v2 games (including Squad Strike).
- Add a proper rank system for this competitive mode.
- Add the possibility to select more options for each line of the preffered rules.
- Add a new button of "force ruleset", indicating that you really want you rules no matter how much time the game will look for players.
- Delete everything and build everything again with dedicated servers and with desire to do a good work this time.

 

[Cookie_Crumbs]

Heres some ideas
- Let us customize our stage list in the same way we can customize our rules. (QP)
- Expand smash tags to show connection, disconects and wins and losses (QP and A)
- Allow local multiplayer (A)
- A ban that doesnt allow you to hop right back in (A)
- Lock veteran and up to elite smashers (A)

 

[UltimateXsniper]

-Give an actual ranking. While at it, make divisions like other competitive games have such as bronze, silver, gold, masters, top #. Elite is kind of like this but basically add more divisions.
-Have ranked and unranked play. I don't want to have pressure of losing rank whenever I want to play freely, without arenas.
-Have personal restrictions in prefer rules. Basically have the option to say "I really don't want this". Say you are fine with a stock 2-3, but don't want 1 stock or items on.
-Bring more modes into online such as squad strike and online tournaments.
-Keep the p2p, just rework the netcode and only use dedicated servers in arenas with 4+ people.

 

[ToniestTony]

I played a lot of smash wii u's for glory mode. And for the most part I liked it, it gave me the option to go online and try to get better agaisnt real players and figure out their habits and how to punish them. I remember the one thing that really annoyed me was that it was pure luck weither you'd get someone of your skill level or not and I really wanted a ranking system like SF5, rocket league or any popular competitive game.

I really like that they added a ranking system, even though GSP has some flaws, I get a lot more matches with people of my skill level and elite smash is a nice reward to play more and try to win with other characters. For a king of the hill or just playing with friends online, arenas are great. It isn't perfect at all, but overall I really prefer this online than smash 4's online. The only thing I really miss are the online tournaments modes, but I've had a lot of fun with the local tournament mode!

If we could have a proper ranking system like SF5 or rocket league I'd be a lot more happy, but for now GSP does the job.

 

[Crazy Hand 2001]

Do you suppose the online is terrible because Nintendo is a huge disaster when it comes to listening to customers?

 

[MrGameguycolor]

Here's another for arena's:

-Give us the option to practice in the waiting room while in-line.