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Question Why aren't you a top player/what is your skill level with your main?

gdf

Warrior
It's mostly all my fault. I am a student, with a scene at max 30 minutes away from me.

If I had worked in high school, and tried to get a car, and my own MK setup I would have leveled up far beyond what I am now.

Kung Lao - 6
Noob Saibot -3
 

G4S Ermacio

Orbs... Orbs everywhere
i use kabal, kenshi and rain as of now, but i just picked up kenshi and rain so honestly speaking ill say
my kabal is a 6-7ish
my kenshi is a 3-4ish
and rain is a 3-4ish
idk maybe thats about right, i hate saying how good i think i am outside of with my close friends. I guess if anyone i play thinks these numbers are wrong feel free to say so

Edit: the reason i dont do well in tournament is a combo of nerves and the fact that i play 3 people offline on a regular basis and thats it as well as being unable to travel outside of the general area of philly
 

Lawls

Noob
Mileena: 1

No local scene as far as I know, so don't really have anyone but my little brother to play with.
 
Ermac: 6.5
Sektor: 5
Sub Zero: 4
Smoke: 2

Why am I not a top player?

Time: I don't have the kind of free time that I know I require to get to a pro level. Adult life, and the responsibility that comes with it, is upon me. And to be honest, I don't think I would like to spend that much time playing this one game or doing any one thing for that matter. Too much of any one thing is no fun for me.

Experience: This is the first time I am really making a concerted effort to learn and get better in any fighting game. A lot of what I am learning now is already ingrained in those who have been into fighting games for a long time.

Competition: I have only recently started to reach out to ppl in different regions to try and get some offline experience in. As long as my job continues to take me around to different cities, finding a solid group of ppl to play with will be a challenge. I mostly play online which is bogus as far as combo timing goes.

Combo Execution: I am actually quite capable when it comes to getting the feel for almost any combo down as long as I put enough practice into it. The only problem is when I am playing offline against someone who is pressuring me I tend to rush my inputs and end up on the wrong side of negative edge. Also, in general, when I am under pressure there is at least a 40% chance that I will sort of lock up. I think of the three different way I could punish my opponent and by the time I decide what I want to do the moment has passed me by. Other times I do a combination of all three things, and well... you can imagine what that looks like on screen.

Match Up Knowledge: I study my main characters to great length, but have yet to commit the whole rosters weaknesses to memory. This also ties into limited competitive experience. How can I punish or even poke out of a block string if I have no idea where the gaps are in it? This also ties into formulating strategies for each of my match ups. I have got to sit down and just take a look at each character and figure out their weaknesses and then sort of jot down my own living guide on what I can do with my main characters to exploit them. Until I do this, I will always be the guy who throws out my one or two setups in the hopes that my opponent lets go of block.

Bad Fundamentals: As I mentioned before, this is my first time diving into a fighting game to this extent so I know I suck at all of the following - Footsies, Making Reads, Spacing. To be honest I'm not even fully sure I know what all of them are. Just now getting used to the "footsie" range which is from what I've been told, damn near full screen, especially for a keep away character like Ermac. Correct me if I'm wrong but footsies is basically doing different things from the same given situation so that over time the opponent doesn't know what you will do next. This all comes down to a variety of setups which, once again, I have to sit down and brainstorm instead of just continue with the one or two patterns I have in my muscle memory. Making reads ties into match up knowledge as listed above.

Reaction time: My reaction time, especially when under pressure, is poop. Of all the problems I have with fundamentals, I believe that I have a way to fix this. The way I look at it, as long as I am unfamiliar with the entire cast I will continually be "suprised" by what my opponent is doing. So the way I see it, if I can just study up on all of my matchups I will in turn be more adept at making reads which will in turn alleviate the stress that is currently being put on my reaction time. Not sure if that made sense so I will put it this way. If I can read what my opponent will do, then I can be ready for it before it takes place.

Overall I just need to spend more time playing this game against as many ppl as I can. Really enjoyed this post by the way. From the outside looking in one might think that everyone across this message board is on par with the players seen at MLG and the like. Its nice to hear there are others facing many of the same challenges as me.
 

Lulzlou

Kombatant
Bullshit.
No but seriously, I lose confidence in myself when I start to get nervous so it gets really bad. It doesn't help that I have depression lmao. Plus in order for me to have excellent execution I need to practice a shit ton before the tournament. The reason I did that bad at NEC was nerves on top of not even being prepared for it. I barely played for 2 weeks and didn't even play the week before it because I thought I wasn't going.

What I learned from my mistake is keep practicing even if I don't think I'm going to a tournament. I practice execution around 3-4hours a daily now as a punishment for slacking. All I need to do is get rid of nerves and I'm trying to figure out all my options to keep myself from being nervous.
 

9_Lives

Kombatant
Liu Kang - 3​
Kung Lao - 2
Sub Zero - 4
Ermac - 3
Cage - 2
Jade - 1
Cyrax - Over 9,000 (I promise I'm not trolling. XD)
Smoke - 2
Sektor - 4
Jax - 4
Kabal - 5
Raiden - 2
Kenshi - 4
Quan Chi - 3
Rain - 4

This is the first fighting game I've ever played seriously, but I practice everyday and hope to see you guys at Frosty Faustings when I finally figure out which damn character I want to use. XD I'll probably just go Kaballin'.
 

haketh

Champion
Sub Zero: 6
Ermac: 6

Just not able to get out enough, which after the 7th of January I hope to start solving.
 

Miss Kanzuki

*KANZUKI GOON SQUAD*
I honestly think I have good reaction times, but I don't adjust well to lag. I think if I went offline, and trained offline, I could be good, but maybe not top-player good. I was thinking this week of going offline sometime when I get the time and money because I'm tired of the laggy scrubs and I almost broke another controller last night in anger ;_;
 
I've been playing this game since it's release. I initially mained Sub Zero after seeing Tom Brady's Sub at Power Up 2011. After frustrations felt from multiple bad match ups, I switched to Kabal and haven't looked back.

Recap: Over a year after the games release, I can only use 2 characters. :-(

Sub Zero - 4
Kabal - 5

Like a lot of other players, I'm responsible for a lot in my personal life. MK is fun but I am unable to go into depth with it. I have tried using other characters but I find them to be too difficult. Kabal is fun to play with and I don't cheese with him, I just play for fun. I will never be an elite player because of my stubbornness to incorporate frame data, footsies and character knowledge into my game play. At this point, I simply do not have the patience or time to catch up to other HIGH LEVEL players at this point in the game.

I expect to change that with Injustice, I would like to become a high level player.