Trouble Keeping a Character & Progressing as A Player

[CCCPancakes]

I'm not quite sure if this belongs here, but let me start by saying I'm new to the competitive aspect of Smash. It's been a fun game up until I bought a Wii U along with Smash back in April. I've used Sheik constantly, since I used her since melee. I looked up combos/techniques for her, but she's become boring. I moved to Ness. Then Villager. Mewtwo, Roy, and now Lucas. There's also a week or so of no playtime between each switch, witch makes me rust up a little bit, and it's becoming hard to move forward. So why is it so hard to me to pick a character?

After a couple months of using Sheik, I felt I have not progressed at all as a player. There's no competitive scene I know of in central Pennsylvania, and if there is, I'm no where near good enough to even consider joining their ranks. I can consistently beat a level 7 CPU, and that took days of training to get there. Level 8s are on and off and require my full ability. Level 9s are just out of my league. I've never felt so incompetent before in my life. Getting 2 stocked on For Glory for hours at a time really doesn't help me either.

So please, someone give me direction. Where do I go from here? I want to improve, and I want to have fun. It's hard when I can't decide a character and can't improve. I've watched youtube videos providing tips, practicing for hours, watching professional tournaments, how can I compete competitively if I can't fake out a level 8? I'm I a lost cause?

 

[CyberHyperPhoenix]

Level 9 CPU's read your inputs, so don't feel bad if you get beaten by one.

 

[Infinite901]

Level 9 CPU's read your inputs, so don't feel bad if you get beaten by one.

Agreed. There is literally no way to bait an air dodge or anything out of a Level 9.

 

[Kaladin]

Two words: Anther's Ladder.

 

[Sir_Zedd]

I'd say you need to get a friend to play with you locally, you can learn alot when you play with someone enough that you have to start adapting to their gameplay changes on the fly and mixing up strategies to not become readable.

That, or jump into the competitive scene where you live and play as many friendlies as you can and ask for advice wherever possible.

 

[Fapplets]

I live in williamsport. Do you only play sm4sh or are you into melee

 

[CrazyPerson]

CPUs are a terrible way to measure skill.

Developers took the lazy path with AI... instead of making it somewhat human like, and more capable of pulling off higher tactics, they made level 9s read inputs and almost completely negate the air game.

But they are really susceptible to dash and smash attacks.

With that said... I know the feeling. I watch a tournament and want to pick up 3 more characters when I don't have the time to properly train 1.

I have had to mak myself a list... I will train these 3 as mine, and these 2 to know how to play them better. (my friends mains). In theory I want to split time something like 60/30/5/5 between them... If i pick up a new character I must first remove an old one from that list.

I am hoping that once I finally get around to getting pwned at a tournament, ill meet some people to do firendslies with who will push me... and make it fun to keep progressing with a few characters.

 

[McDizzle!]

Since no one has said this yet, it's perfectly fine to have multiple mains. I have three characters that I rotate between (Falco, Kirby, and Lucina). I do this to prevent boredom (as i'm kind of prone to that if I only use one character) and to change up my strategies when i'm fighting other people.

 

[CrazyPerson]

Since no one has said this yet, it's perfectly fine to have multiple mains. I have three characters that I rotate between (Falco, Kirby, and Lucina). I do this to prevent boredom (as i'm kind of prone to that if I only use one character) and to change up my strategies when i'm fighting other people.

This is true... I know I need to change occasionally in order to keep myself focused.

 

[pokelogan89]

I feel the same way. I used to be a Toon Link main, but got bored with him quickly. I then proceeded to go through Ness, Shulk, Shiek, Jigglypuff, Lucina, Meta Knight, and Luigi. Its no problem testing the waters and seeing what characters your playstyle matches. That's how I got good at Mac, even though I've barely mained him for a month or so.

 

[KirbCider]

Don't focus so much on the competitive side of things. The most important thing is to just have fun after all.

If you're focused on improving and winning constantly then you're going to get frustrated and get doubts about the way you play. I also have to note this is natural to go through. Everyone has their off moments or think they aren't good enough or whatever. It is also natural to lose interest in a character you used to main and move onto a different one.

I've made tons of switches over the years...

Before Sm4sh came out I was absolutely determined to main Wii Fit Trainer. I was also crazy hyped for Duck Hunt as well (in fact I made sure he was the first one I unlocked). As hyped as I was it turns out I make a terrible Duck Hunt no matter how much I practiced with him. As for Wii Fit Trainer I was pretty good with her and mained her for a few months, but she didn't quite stick. I also used to main Toon Link in both Brawl a little bit as well as Sm4sh but after a while I sort of, well, just stopped playing as him.

Then there were some characters whom I never expected I would be playing as/maining. King Dedede and Villager are huge examples of this. I didn't like King Dedede as a character at all. I was horrible with him, hated his slow style, and just couldn't get used to him; however just look at me now... I'm a King Dedede main and he's by far one of my very best characters I got!

I never pictured myself using him on a daily basis and the same goes for Villager. I was so terrible with Villager it may as well looked like I never played Smash before, but now I can play a pretty horrifying Villager despite saying I would never use him again.

As for the CPUs it's better not to rate your skill using them. CPU players are easy to take advantage of and fall for the easiest things at times. They're good for practicing certain things like combos or getting used to something, but you're better off playing against actual people because actual players adapt to your play-style. Level 9 CPUs just have an insane reaction time, that's all.

So in short... I suppose my advice would be just to try every character in the Roster and just fool around. Go into For Fun and try out different characters and just see how much fun you have with them. It's perfectly okay to have multiple characters to main cause I will admit it does get boring playing as the same one all the time. Variety is always nice to have. Most importantly...

Don't stress over the small things and just have fun! You'll get better through time. Everyone does.