What is your opinion on Tier Lists? Do they matter, and should we follow them?

[ToxicJared]

I'm making a YouTube video regarding the controversy of this topic rather soon and would love some feedback from all you guys!

I'd like some honest responses, so pour your heart out.

 

[Hat N' Clogs]

Hiya.
As far as my own opinion on tier lists, here's what I think:

If you're in the competitive smash scene, then tier lists can be a great help determining who the best and worst characters are (and everything in-between) so you can know which characters to watch out for and how the meta in general is developing.

If you are a casual Smash player, then you don't need to worry about tier lists because tier lists are for the competitive scene rather than the casual scene.

Their value is ultimately very dependent on the person. If you are a competitive Smash player, they most certainly matter. If you are a casual player, they barely matter at all.

Those are my thoughts. I hope it helped

 

[Crooked Crow]

Yes they matter.

Yes you should follow them. At top levels of play, at least.

 

[Rizen]

Tier lists are only as good as the person or people who made them. With that said, official tier list are usually on the mark.

 

[MercuryPenny]

you can't really 'follow' a tier list. they're effectively a chart of relative character strength rather than a guideline for what character you should pick.

you can pick a high tier but that's not really following a tier list, in the same way that investing in a highly profitable business is not following a chart of the most marketable businesses. logically, you will likely see the most success if you go for what's successful now, but sometimes you can invest in something lesser known and less immediately profitable and see just as much success in the long term.

(im hoping that analogy worked)

 

[A Scrub]

Hiya.
As far as my own opinion on tier lists, here's what I think:

If you're in the competitive smash scene, then tier lists can be a great help determining who the best and worst characters are (and everything in-between) so you can know which characters to watch out for and how the meta in general is developing.

If you are a casual Smash player, then you don't need to worry about tier lists because tier lists are for the competitive scene rather than the casual scene.

Their value is ultimately very dependent on the person. If you are a competitive Smash player, they most certainly matter. If you are a casual player, they barely matter at all.

Those are my thoughts. I hope it helped

This is right on point. If you're looking to get into the competitive scene, it's a good idea to have a main in high tier/top tier. If you're a casual, then tiers, frame data, and anything else that the competitive scene discovers and utilizes is largely irrelevant.

 

[FamilyTeam]

Tier Lists matter as much as you want them to matter.
If you're playing at a higher level it might be good for you to at least be aware of what's on it, but you should never follow what's there religiously. We only get one official one per year and it's usually outdated in a matter of months. If you're at lower levels or casual, they don't matter at all.
Heck, they might not matter to you even if you're at high level, if you just want to keep playing a character you enjoy no matter where they are.

 

[zoyy2007]

Tier lists are stupid and ****ing gay whatever character to you is the best is the best




Falcos #1 in melee btw and should be #1 on the tier list .. suck my **** if u disagree

 

[McChicken]

Tier lists only matter at high levels of play. That's at least how it's supposed to be and luckily it's true for most games. So if you don't play a game at the highest level, they really don't matter. But even then, they shouldn't be taken too seriously, as some players just counter another players playstyle.


Except for Mewtwo in Gen I Pokemon. **** that

 

[Deleted member]

Hiya.
As far as my own opinion on tier lists, here's what I think:

If you're in the competitive smash scene, then tier lists can be a great help determining who the best and worst characters are (and everything in-between) so you can know which characters to watch out for and how the meta in general is developing.

If you are a casual Smash player, then you don't need to worry about tier lists because tier lists are for the competitive scene rather than the casual scene.

Their value is ultimately very dependent on the person. If you are a competitive Smash player, they most certainly matter. If you are a casual player, they barely matter at all.

Those are my thoughts. I hope it helped

Tier Lists matter as much as you want them to matter.
If you're playing at a higher level it might be good for you to at least be aware of what's on it, but you should never follow what's there religiously. We only get one official one per year and it's usually outdated in a matter of months. If you're at lower levels or casual, they don't matter at all.
Heck, they might not matter to you even if you're at high level, if you just want to keep playing a character you enjoy no matter where they are.

This could not be any more true. I've been playing Smash series since 2005 beginning with Melee but I'm nowhere close to tournament level myself. It wasn't until the early days of Brawl that I noticed tier lists and subscribed to them. That said, a tier list should not have any influence on who you need to play unless tournament success is one's aim. Y'all notice how in Smash 4 I main not because they're top/high tier but rather I enjoy their character design and playstyles.

This is right on point. If you're looking to get into the competitive scene, it's a good idea to have a main in high tier/top tier. If you're a casual, then tiers, frame data, and anything else that the competitive scene discovers and utilizes is largely irrelevant.

Not to me. I, a woman 56 years of age, may be staying away from tournament play but frame data, advanced tech, and other such tidbits I find to be invaluable information. I don't know about you but I aim to sequester myself from the casual group.

Tier lists are stupid and ****ing gay whatever character to you is the best is the best




Falcos #1 in melee btw and should be #1 on the tier list .. suck my **** if u disagree

Honey, would you mind toning down that harsh language? You can have an opinion without it.

 

[SuperDoom1]

For casual play, it doesn't matter; nobody's all that good and you can pick whatever character you like and you have an equal chance of winning; it's like CPUs.
For championship play, it doesn't matter; the ultimate objective is to be the best at every character so that when one character's banned (dual Metas), you can go down through the tiers and still come out on top.
For middle/Wiimfi players, that's where it matters; everybody's stronger than their amiibo but nobody's training with Jiggs.


(Yes, I know that I used Brawl and Smash 4 logic as if they're the same thing.)

 

[Desu_Maiden]

While some characters are definitely better than others, most characters in Smash Bros are fairly even in their performance to kick a** and compete against other characters in my experience. Every fighting game is definitely going to have some characters that are op (over powered) and some that are underpowered (UP), but most characters probably fall between op and UP, (let's call these characters that are neither OP or UP as non-OP characters). Most characters are neither OP or UP. But there will always definitely going to be a few obviously OP and UP characters in any fighting game.

It ultimately depends on your preference. I tend to like to play as non-OP and OP characters because I don't like handicapping myself while playing against other players in a fighting game, whether in a causal or competitive setting. But sometimes when I am in the mood to handicap myself against a less experienced player, I play as an UP character. But that is rarely the case because I am a fairly competitive person when playing fighting games, and I don't like handicapping myself the overwhelming majority of the time.

 

[FirestormNeos]

It's like the rotten tomato score, in that on its own, it's a terrible measuring device in deciding the movie or character you're going to have the most fun with, but when you're using it purely as a sociological (or in the case of tier lists, statistical) mechanism, it becomes a lot more interesting and helpful in that regard.

Unfortunately, because the internet is filled with people who stand for nothing and fall for everything, a lot people confuse the latter for the former.

 

[Mr. Oshawott]

My personal view on Tier Lists: I think they're generally detrimental, both casually and competitively. They arbitrarily condition players into using characters that have the "best" stats in terms of power while ignoring less-powerful characters that may have strong abilities to compensate their low stats. The end result: gameplay stagnation.

 

[Kabutops]

Tiers definitely exist, but a distinction must be made between actual tiers and perceived tiers. Perceived tiers all we have when we look at tier lists. They are based on tournament results and analyses of match-ups. None of the rankings are mathematically proven which is why they're subject to change over time. I dare not comprehend the amount of calculations needed in order for us to arrive at the actual tiers - probably a highly sophisticated software program could pull it off [Is Smash really worth it though?]. Ultimately, tier lists, as they currently exist, are a good reference source, but must be viewed with a grain of salt.

Who you should pick depends entirely on your own personal reasons for playing Smash. If you're playing strictly to win, you must still think about your strengths and limitations as a player. The perceived top tier character might not suit your strengths. Furthermore, maining the top tier character may not be as advantageous as mastering several high tier characters and focusing on individual match-ups.

Tier lists are stupid and ****ing gay whatever character to you is the best is the best




Falcos #1 in melee btw and should be #1 on the tier list .. suck my **** if u disagree

>>>/v/

 

[DrCoeloCephalo]

Tier lists only matter if you're playing a tournament setting. Of course a tier list based on matchup data and tournament results isn't going to matter when you're playing against your 3 year old little brother with items on. It's ultimately the developers' fault that the tier lists even exist in the first place if they refuse to put more effort into balancing their games so that the difference in tiering matters less. Look at Project M. That game has a tier list but thanks to it being a fanmade mod that had more free time and effort put into balancing that the tier gap is so much smaller than any official Smash game to this day regardless of whether you consider it a "real Smash game" or not.