Overhauling Smash Ultimate’s Online Mode

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Overhauling Smash Ultimate’s Online Mode

Kept you waiting, huh?

Well hello everyone, it’s been a while. I’ve been quite busy over the past couple of months so I never got around to doing many things that I promised, so I’m sorry about that. But to those new s that ed while I was on my break you probably don’t care, let’s talk about the subject at hand, starting with one big statement…

Smash Ultimate’s online kinda sucks.

But instead of just complaining about why it’s bad, (since everyone’s already done that), I plan on providing solutions on how to improve the online mode. Or, in better words, to completely overhaul it. I want to divide this bto a couple of sections. So you know what that means, a table of contents!

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-Table of Contents-

Overhauling Quickplay

Global Smash Power

Fixing Battle Arenas

Adding More

Conclusion

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Overhauling Quickplay

Quickplay sucks so much ass holy hell. This is honestly one of the worst matchmaking systems I’ve ever seen. How quickplay works is that you have a set of preferred rules in which you can play with, then you’re matched up with someone with similar rules. But you know why this doesn’t work? Well, it’s pretty simple. It doesn’t work.

I’m constantly being matched up with 3-player stamina matches with items on, even though I wanted the exact opposite. I’m gonna bring up a proposition, just hear me out…

BRING BACK FOR FUN & FOR GLORY.

Yes I am suggesting this, but, not as much like it was in Smash 4. I’m gonna fix this up as well. What I suggest is to add sort of a mixture between the Fun Glory system (I’ll call it that) and the Preferred Rules system. First I’ll talk about For Fun just so I can get it out of the way.

Here is where the preferred rules apply, in For Fun you can have any ruleset you want, from 4-player smash to team battles. Though 1v1 battles aren’t enabled here. Once you have the rules set you can pick a stage, then a character. Then it sends you to another lobby with up to 3 other players. Then the game picks randomly from one of the 4 stages selected by the players, once everything is set, the game begins.

Then in For Glory, the standard ruleset is strictly enabled, being 1v1 (or 2v2 if you decide team battle) matches with 3 Stocks and 7 Minutes. But when you enter the mode, you’re brought up with another menu. Giving you the option to either select Omega stages, Battlefield stages, or both. If you select one of these options, you will play on that stage. But if you select the random option, you will play on the stage that the opponent selected. Or if you’re paired with someone with the same selection, it will be randomized between the two.

Of course in these modes you will be able to change characters when you’re fighting the same opponent, you’ll be able to taunt a limited amount of times, and you’ll be able to see the internet connection strength of your opponent before the match starts, much like how it works in Mario Tennis Aces. From the lobby you’ll be able to leave before the match actually starts.

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Global Smash Power

As I went over quickplay I missed a certain aspect of it which people constantly complain about, Global Smash Power. That’s because I have another entire section where I wanted to talk about it, so here it is.

You honestly can’t even call this a ranking system, Nintendo claims that they try to rank you with people of similar skill level, this is only true to some degree. The way that GSP works is some bullshit, you gain minimal GSP from winning a match, but lose up to a million when you lose a match. If you level up high enough, you reach elite Smash, where you fight “better” players, even though most of the time I still had to fight in free-for-alls with items on. Even then you’re never guaranteed a player at your skill level since the GSP system is so flawed in so many ways. So I’m gonna fix it.

Here’s what I propose, make GSP into a proper ranking system. I’m gonna bring up a game which I believes has a much better ranking system, Splatoon 2. This game, along with many others, have a system in which you level up until you reach a certain rank, then you battle against players in this same rank, or along the + and - scale.

Smash could’ve used this exact same ranking system and it would have worked perfectly. This proposed system will only apply to For Glory matches of course. The more matches you win, the higher your rank will go, the more you lose, it will lower. But of course there are several factors of adjusting your ranking. Stats such as K:D ratio will take into how much your rank is adjusted. Such as you will rank up more if you 3 stock your opponent rather than it being a close game, same for the other way around.

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Fixing Battle Arenas

The best thing to come out Ultimate’s online mode are the battle arenas. I absolutely love them. Finally I can play with randoms online on Town & City without going through the hassle of adding them. But of course, some things can be improved.

First let’s go over what they are and why I love them. Battle arenas are what they sound like, you open an arena up either to the public or just for friends. With the battle arenas you can have your own custom ruleset, taking them directly from the regular Smash mode. You can also pick what stage you play on, so yes, hazardless Pokemon Stadium aka Ultimate’s Smashville is available to play on.

But there are a couple of problems with this, the most obvious is that you can’t check the full ruleset before entering a battle arena, a couple of times I entered without checking only to find out Final Smash Meter was enabled. Also, you are kicked out of the line whenever you want to either change the music, preferred stage, or character.

So in order to fix battle arenas, I’m gonna fix all the issues I mentioned above, and add a couple of more smash details. So I’m gonna make it possible so that you can check the complete ruleset before entering an arena. As well as being able to select your character or any other setting without being kicked from the line. If your match is up while on a selection screen, you are alerted asking if you want to start the fight. If you say no, you are moved back a spot from the line, but if you say yes you are brought back to the main screen immediately to start the battle.

Some other minor details such as having Squad Strike rulesets also being available, and being able to have one other local player in a battle arena. Their token will simply just be the same as your with a “2” at the end of their name.

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Adding More

There are some other things that can be added to Smash. Such as the return of Smash 4’s tourney mode. But with some other options, such as being either For Fun or For Glory, and having the option to edit the bracket to make it a double elimination bracket. Participating in these tourneys will also effect your ranking.

Nintendo could also host events, much like how Splatoon 2 or ARMS do. With online tourneys being hosted where the winner receives a prize, like an exclusive spirit or a badge on their Smash Tag. I don’t have many more ideas so comment what you think they could add to make the online experience even better!

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Conclusion

Thank you for reading! I honestly hoping Nintendo gets a grip and fixes the online as soon as they can. I’m not expecting them to get rid of the preferred rules system but I’m hoping for them to allow players to restrict matches to only those rules.

I can’t promise that I’ll do blogs as regularly as I used to, I have a lot on my plate at the moment. But thanks for reading anyway! Cyyyyyyyyaa!~