Official Smash Ultimate Online General Discussion

[Sucumbio]

Welcome to the Official Smash Ultimate Online General Discussion thread!

Post here any questions, comments or discussions regarding online play.


Posting Guildelines:
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• Please be courteous and respect each other's opinions. We are here to have fun! So try not to let your personal views ruin the experience for others.
• Please use the Search feature before making a new thread. Your fellow smashers may have already answered your question or engaged in the discussion, and it'll be much quicker for you in the long run.
• Follow the links below to avoid unwanted clutter. Match-making can be done via PM/Friend Code Sharing thread.

Helpful Links:
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• If you wish to find others to play with we have a dedicated thread for that here.
• If you wish to share recorded matches/live stream, please post in this forum.
• Questions/Answers regarding online modes
• Getting an error message? Check out this thread for possible solutions.

 

[Zoneyboi]

Hope they optimize the net code or whatever. From my preliminary experience there is at least a half second of lag always (had it much better on 3DS) and preferred rules basically dont matter.

 

[BigMac1304]

I hope there is less lag.

 

[Shieldlesscap]

Who else is excited for the Battle Arenas? I think it could be really good for Netplay, creating Arenas dedicated to improving specific matchups, and setting aside specific Arenas designed to test specific stages for being potentially legal.

 

[1FC0]

Who else is excited for the Battle Arenas? I think it could be really good for Netplay, creating Arenas dedicated to improving specific matchups, and setting aside specific Arenas designed to test specific stages for being potentially legal.

What are Battle Arenas? I searched it but not much turned up.

 

[Shieldlesscap]

What are Battle Arenas? I searched it but not much turned up.

Basically you can make rooms online now instead of using the normal matchmaking system. Take the "With friends" option in Smash 4, expand the options, and make it public.

 

[1FC0]

Basically you can make rooms online now instead of using the normal matchmaking system. Take the "With friends" option in Smash 4, expand the options, and make it public.

Sounds good. But after a while no one will join my rooms because they get tired of losing all the time.

 

[MasterOfKnees]

Quick Play has been a complete mess for me so far, after 6 battles I only got into a single game with my preferred rules (1v1, 3 stock, 7 mins, Battlefield, no items), the others were a 4 player FFA on Kalos League, 1v1 on Mario Bros + Brinstar, 2 stocks on Windy Hill Zone, and a 1v1 on Smashville but with items on. They really ought to up the priority on matching rules rather than fast queue times, I'd be able to accept a few differences like FD over Battlefield, less minutes, or even 2 or 4 stocks, but the matches I mentioned were so far off that I'd rather just not play them at all.

As is it's completely unusable, the only way to play Online like you want to is to create your own Battle Arena and hope people will join. I'm glad that I saved my free week's online trial for today, because I definitely wouldn't pay for this.

 

[「 Derk 」]

Online is garbage. Why even have a preferred ruleset if you can't even find a match with it. Literally all I have been stuck in is 90% free for all. For Glory wasn't the greatest in the world but this is much worse lol. Battle arenas are the way to go atm.

 

[StormC]

I don't suppose there's any chance they just bring back For Glory in a patch...

Haven't paid for the online yet (gonna use a family plan to save money) but that's disappointing to hear.

 

[1FC0]

I don't suppose there's any chance they just bring back For Glory in a patch...

Little Mac mains would be mad if they did.

 

[DiamondDust132]

It picks my Preferred Settings most of the time it feels like, but I do get throw in a random free for all once and a while. And then when I do get my preferred settings, we play one match and the other person quits. The online seems alright if both people have a decent connection. The last match I had was great. But I've also had matches where there feels like a whole second worth of input delay.

 

[Sucumbio]

I don't know it's so different than past online versions but the lag issues are better for the few matches I tried. I couldn't switch characters in between matches tho, like you gotta drop out and go back in which is odd.

A lot odd about this mode lol

 

[Roxas215]

They need to fix public arenas. As it is now when the host of the arena lose he/she leaves the arena and the entire arena closes down kicking everyone (which is up to 7 other people) out with it.


In EVERY other online game when the host of the lobby leaves the game transfer hosting duties to someone else. But no not nintendo. It's comical how out of date nintendo is with online play.

 

[TheBeastHimself]

There's some bug where the game starts lagging and the minute it speeds up again you can't attack anyone else.

On top of that this preferred rules system sucks, and it's a major letdown. If you are planning on playing online competitively, good luck because half the time you'll be paired up with 4 people, hazards on, and items on. No way to guarantee a competitive match like for glory. Online is a big part of the game for me, so this is just awful.

 

[Shieldlesscap]

They need to fix public arenas. As it is now when the host of the arena lose he/she leaves the arena and the entire arena closes down kicking everyone (which is up to 7 other people) out with it.


In EVERY other online game when the host of the lobby leaves the game transfer hosting duties to someone else. But no not nintendo. It's comical how out of date nintendo is with online play.

This I agree with, although considering Smash 4’s “With Friends” menu got it right, I think it will be changed.

There's some bug where the game starts lagging and the minute it speeds up again you can't attack anyone else.

On top of that this preferred rules system sucks, and it's a major letdown. If you are planning on playing online competitively, good luck because half the time you'll be paired up with 4 people, hazards on, and items on. No way to guarantee a competitive match like for glory. Online is a big part of the game for me, so this is just awful.

If you’re planning on playing online competitively you should be playing in Battle Arenas, since they have an actual stagelist.

 

[Next Door Dog]

It's funny that people keep getting FFAs when they want 1v1s, since I basically have the opposite problem (I keep getting 1v1s instead of team battles or FFAs). I thought people were just exaggerating when the online was announced and I that it wouldn't be a problem to find 1v1s, but here we are. Is the Elite Battle mode in the game yet? I would think it would slightly remedy the issue for people looking for competitive matches. It's a shame the online is turning into a monkey's paw situation, where we got modes other than time but completely unreliable matchmaking in the process. It won't hurt me as much if the co-op plays fine, and I'm currently more frustrated with the buffer giving me unwanted dodges regardless.

 

[meleebrawler]

I have one primary rule when playing online:

Treat everyone like they're an *** until they prove otherwsie.

You want to play the mode you want exactly the way you want it, you gotta make it yourself in the form of an arena. Can't trust others to do that for you, let alone play with integrity, and you can't blame Nintendo for others being that way either.

In time I see Quickplay being the equivalent of For Fun where it's best to treat it casually and just take whatever the game throws at you, because it's meant to find matches quickly and prioritize ping, NOT your ruleset because that's what arenas are for. Those will be the For Glory once a meta settles. And no, we can't have both an actual For Glory and arenas at the same time, because then the vast majority will just play the former and leave arenas deserted for all but friends and niche rulesets.

 

[MuddyMan]

They need to bring for glory back with battlefield and fd stages on. Much simpler and this system is not working For me for some reason it always puts me in 4 player smash instead of one on ones despite my settings it’s getting annoying

 

[Sucumbio]

Yeah I'm thinking arenas is the way to go to get what you want. If you go quick match it'll lead to any number of scenarios whereas an arena you're at least getting an exact match.

 

[Lyndis_]

This online is so disappointing to me, honestly. Quickplay is near unusable and battle rooms are incredibly limited and force you to wait in line to play 1v1 instead of just allowing multiple matches to happen at once like other fighting game lobby systems, including a recent Nintendo fighting game, ARMs!! Did they just forget?

 

[meleebrawler]

This online is so disappointing to me, honestly. Quickplay is near unusable and battle rooms are incredibly limited and force you to wait in line to play 1v1 instead of just allowing multiple matches to happen at once like other fighting game lobby systems, including a recent Nintendo fighting game, ARMs!! Did they just forget?

Is there a way to set a limit on how many people can join a particular arena? That would be an easy way to fix long waits. That or just use shorter formats for your matches like 2-stock instead of three. ARMS also only allows 1-round fights in it's lobby system, to give you an idea on how to keep things moving.

 

[Aes2]

Online seems like it was put together was an afterthought whereas it should've been one that was devoted significant resources. I think most of us who purchased this game were planning to play mostly online after unlocking all of the characters. Hopefully Nintendo will get the message once people start cancelling their online subscriptions and stating how awful the current state of online play is as their reasoning. I'm sure they'll make improvements but they have a lot to do...

 

[Zatchiel]

Not quite what I was expecting in translation from Smash 4. Feels like a total downgrade. Preferred settings should not be a suggestion for the people you are paired with, it should line up precisely with what other people want to play too. Otherwise it feels next to pointless and any sort of ranking for it is rendered pointless too.

I don't really know what they were going for, but it feels weird playing online so far. I've had some nice games but mainly from of the arenas. Even with a couple of people I recognize from here.

 

[Blackwolf666]

So... does anyone know if there's a way I can suspend elite smash? It stops me from using all but one character in quickplay.

 

[Sucumbio]

Lol wut.

I definitely hate that you can't leave an arena I've created without closing it. Makes me feel bad for the other players.

 

[Shieldlesscap]

Lol wut.

I definitely hate that you can't leave an arena I've created without closing it. Makes me feel bad for the other players.

I was playing on call with some friends and I needed to kick everyone out every time I wanted to adjust my control sensitivity.

 

[KingofPhantoms]

Hyped as I am for the game, all the news I'm hearing about the online features is really, really disheartening. Everything else about the game has looked and sounded fantastic up to this point. Being unable to play a reliable and fun online matches, especially when you have to pay for such a service, is a real disgrace. This game deserves much better, and more importantly, the playerbase really shouldn't have to put up with such a clunky, unpolished excuse of a matchmaking system.

Granted, I'm sure it'll improve over time, especially if Nintendo gets enough feedback on the current issues (and I see no reason why they wouldn't) but to what degree remains to be determined.

 

[ArcticKat]

I played online for the first time last night.
I’m okay with the quickplay function for the most part — I’m not picky about rules other people prefer.
Honestly, the only thing that really gets on my nerves is not being able to change characters between battles, unless you want to leave the group you’re in….

 

[Gold Pollux]

Online has great potential but I don’t think Nintendo cares about the state they released it in atm. I mean if they get enough concerned players then I’m sure they’ll change something but haven’t they been getting complaints since the beginning of Sm4sh about the same stuff? They probably think all their players have their own LAN adapters because they still don’t have dedicated servers.

 

[tskidless]

I haven't gotten the game yet but the things that I have heard about the online is disheartening but considering that I don't care about ranks at all I was probably never really going to play Quickplay anyways. Plus I have a feeling that Doubles is still bad and still doesn't have Team Attack on, also if someone could tell me if Arena allows you to turn Team Attack on I would be grateful.

One thing that does worry me is the apparent balance changes based on Elite mode or whatever it is called which could result in characters getting nerfed simply because they're newbie friendly or because they do well in a certain environment rather than something that needs a nerf.

Also I wish people would quit complaining about the lack of dedicated servers.

 

[banana29]

Haven’t had a chance to play because I don’t have nintendo’s Online service yet

I’m disappointed there isn’t just a basic Elo-based ranked system though

 

[Shieldlesscap]

Haven’t had a chance to play because I don’t have nintendo’s Online service yet

I’m disappointed there isn’t just a basic Elo-based ranked system though

There is a ranking system that seems to work fairly well, but the problem is that it and distance take priority in matchmaking over the mode you actually picked.

 

[banana29]

There is a ranking system that seems to work fairly well, but the problem is that it and distance take priority in matchmaking over the mode you actually picked.

I hope that’s fixed eventually

 

[Yoshi_smash]

I don't have Ultimate yet, but it sounds like Nintendo should've kept "For Fun" and "For Glory" intact for Ultimate. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".

In Smash 4, if one goes to the 1 vs. 1 mode in "For Glory", one has a 100% chance of playing a 1 vs. 1 game. From what I've been reading, it appears that in this new Ultimate matchmaking system, one has only a 20% chance of playing a 1 vs. 1 game (or maybe even lower than that). So with this being the case, it does appear to be a downgrade compared to Smash 4. A system where one did get the battle setup they wanted has been replaced with a system where one might get the battle setup they want.

Ultimate's online mode seems to be chaotic. Instead of one choosing "For Fun" or "For Glory" on one's own time, the game now randomly chooses the style of play, forcing the player to play what the matchmaking system chooses.

Another difference: Smash 4's online is $0, while Ultimate's online is $20 per year ($1.67 per month).
Yet another difference: In Smash 4's online, one can change characters between matches, whereas in Smash Ultimate's online, one can't. If one wants to change their character, they have to leave the person they're playing against.

There is a news article called "Super Smash Bros. Still Can't Get Online Right" on Kotaku discussing the same issues people brought up in this thread. The article said most matches are laggy. The article also says that so many people are complaining about Ultimate's online mode that Reddit (/r/SmashBrosUltimate) has compiled all the complaints into one "mega-thread". These are some of the comments on Reddit:

• "I hadn’t played online till today and thought everyone was exaggerating. What I’ve just played has ruined the game entirely for me."
• "Smash 4's online looks absolutely amazing compared to this trash."
• "Fan since [Smash 64]. I bought a Switch just so I could play this game online with my friends and family. The current state of the [online mode] is a joke and I want my money back."
• "Right now it's almost embarrassing that you can't pick between 1 v 1 and free-for-alls since they are essentially completely different games."
• "Sad thing is that I prefer the online in [Smash 4] more than Ultimate."
• "It's bad, the online is bad, the implementation is bad, the options are bad. It sucks and I miss For Glory."
• "I chose 1v1s no hazards, no items. I ended up getting a mixture of free-for-all, 1v1s with items, 2v2, etc. The system is terrible."
• "For Glory wasn't perfect but it was much better."
• "I don't know how they managed to make [online] worse than Smash 4, but they did. It's really, really bad."

One aspect of Ultimate's online mode that is weird is that random free-for-alls (incorrect matching) affects one's GSP. So if one wants to only play 1 vs 1 matches (with no items) and gets incorrectly put into a free-for-all with items on, that free-for-all battle will affect one's GSP. So a random free-for-all with items on can ruin one's GSP standing. Also, battle arenas do not affect one's GSP.

Will Nintendo put "For Fun" and "For Glory" in Ultimate? Maybe if enough people complain.

Also, it appears that Ultimate's online mode does not have any tournament mode.

 

[RyanTheReptile]

Is anyone else experiencing insanely laggy game play online?! I have a very good router and it still does this!!! It's almost unplayable. SOMEONE HELP ME!

 

[Pyra]

I just wanna see if I'm a ***** or not

I'm having matches that aren't too bad connection-wise, but the input delay is just outrageously difficult for me to get around online.
I don't care about the quick play because I'll probably just use Arenas to fight or just find fights manually

But that input lag though? Im going nuts over that.

 

[Zatchiel]

I've had a bit better luck in arenas with connections and such, but I'm still disappointed by the apparent downgrade from Smash 4's online interface. Too big a hassle getting exactly what I want out of playing online.

Haven’t had a chance to play because I don’t have nintendo’s Online service yet

Would you like to?

 

[meleebrawler]

I've had a bit better luck in arenas with connections and such, but I'm still disappointed by the apparent downgrade from Smash 4's online interface. Too big a hassle getting exactly what I want out of playing online.

Spend some time creating and saving your preferred rulesets offline and it'll only take a few seconds to make arenas with them online.

 

[HopeOfBlossom]

I'm trying to learn frame data across the roster but considering how stupid the online is. A lot of stuff doesn't make sense. Like people being safe whiffing a smash attack or doing a raw dash attack on a shield and not being able to punish them because the delay even minor f***s you. Man nah. Also can I get that god damn Elite smash already I'm at 1200000 GSP overall god dang it.