Elite smash does not foster practice or improvement

[collint0101]

The more I play smash ultimate online the more i realize there are some pretty major issues in how it handles its ranking system. There are tangible benefits to remaining in elite smash, a higher skilled player base and lower chances of encountering non competitive rule sets being the biggest 2. The problems with this crop up when you realize how easy it is to loose access to elite smash which impacts not only your play style but how your opponents play the game as well. If you want to hold on to the benefits of elite smash you should both play defensively without a lot of experimentation and you should avoid opponents that you consistently loose against like the plague. You cant practice against a player that's better than you because if you go on a 5 or 6 game loosing streak there's a legitimate chance you'll be bumped down to the lower ranking even if  you actually are getting better by figuring out an unfamiliar character or play style. I held on to elite smash for well over a month without any problems but after practicing against a snake that was pretty well out of my league for nearly 10 matches I'm constantly teetering on the verge of either gaining or loosing elite smash. I'll get knocked down to regular solo play where the player base is way below my level then grind through half a dozen or so matches to reach elite smash where I'm forced to avoid rematches against everyone I barely win against because I cant afford to take the loss. On top of that I feel like I'm not the only one that's paranoid because I feel like the chances of me getting a rematch against a player I either beat or barely loose too are extremely low as if they're also trying to horde their GSP. Am I the only one that feels this waY? Its almost starting to feel like a major strike against the game for me

Last edited by collint0101 - on 21 January 2019