I'm no expert, since I don't play that much, but I'm pretty good. Since I'm not great at memorizing complicated movesets I've only been able to play well as Siegfried. From what I've seen playing online on my bro's name, though, most people suck anyways - I've beat people with 80+% records without too much trouble (these guys still fall for the easy combos). I'd probably get owned against the experts, though. I still haven't memorized all the characters, so it's hard to read some attacks (I haven't played much since SC2).
Special mode does sound great, I've always liked the ability to customize characters, since I'm good at math / maximizing in RPG's. I haven't tried it yet online, though. Still, one advantage to normal mode is you can customize the look of characters without worrying about the stats 
