LOL. Speaking as someone who was number 5 on the xbox live leaderboards for an extended period of time in this game and the only green arrow main I know of in the top 10:
Online is irellevant. I have no claim to be considered a top Green Arrow player, let alone *the* green arrow character rep. My best placement was top 16 at texas showdown, and I'd cite that before I did any of my online achievements as a representation of my skill.
Wow, is he really that tall? Lol, he looks so tiny on stream XD. I was actually worried about getting the heights right for everyone since its so hard to judge....nobody I showed mentioned it though, lol.
1) There (can) be differences in frame data from offline to on, depending on what type of fighting game were talking about and who made it. NRS (obviously) has a reputation for having poor netcode over it's past 3 consecutive titles, but the truth is that Injustice in particular had some pretty solid online play of where I'd say the difference in frames from online to offline is quite minimal (before April, 2015, for me).
Once April rolled around, Injustice was consistently more laggy online.
2) The difference between the top online players and the top tournament players (in games where the online frame data is similar to offline) is that there really isn't any difference. I've played against the best players where they are able to consistently land tight window combos easily and with no problem.
3) Some of the good online players are sleepers, and aren't interested in playing people at tournaments for money. This means that if you are exclusively an offline tournament player, then you can only offer a skewed version of reality to spectators on this matter. There are trials and tribulations you go through to become a top player online and if you can't speak to these trials, your opinion is completely invalid.
4) Also keep in mind that regardless of the fact that some games feature POOR ONLINE MODES, some other games do not. A good example would be how Gears of War 3 features dedicated servers (or did feature them at one point), and how MLG battles themselves actually take place online. I've played online in exhibition play for Gears, as well as in MLG play, and it runs clean.
The community for those games doesn't really get into this same type of argument talking about extreme differences between online and offline play because everyone simply knows that good players are in both areas. Is that partially due to cleaner online play for Gears 3? Probably... But Injustice (at least for PS4) had some pretty clean online play as well...
So there's a bit of a delusion being perpetrated by people who only play NRS fighting games at offline tournaments, and I'm just here to tell you that it's exactly that: A delusion.
5) It's also important to understand that I respect the fact that you're (claiming) to be a top Xbox Live player. I just got done playing some Xbox Live Injustice the other day, and just like any other console, or even with offline tournament players -- there is sort of a TIER LIST corresponding to the top players.
In the top 100 Ranked for Playstation 4, there are S Tier opponents, A listers, B listers, and right on down to very poor players. There are people right in the top 15 (or even the top 10) that truly are pretty bad, but it's (generally speaking) just a couple of people. Right in that same top 10, there are also very high level S Tier opponents. So just because you're top 10 doesn't automatically mean you're an elite Xbox Live Injustice player. It can possibly indicate potential, and yes rank matters, but I'm well aware of the fact that there is a small group of high ranked players who aren't really that good (on any game). But GENERALLY SPEAKING, based on my experiences with high level opponents on dozens of games -- the higher ranked players are usually pretty good, and the higher ranked players that are BAD are the exception. People who hack their rank obviously shouldn't even be included in a debate.
People who don't believe me would get a real wake up call if they actually played the top people online... And a good example would be the #1 rank from a game called Snoopy Flying Ace for the Xbox 360. Despite it's theme and name, this game was actually a really good third person shooter and a dog fighting game. I thought I was one of the best in the world at it until the #1 rank (From Japan) started repeatedly coming into my lobbies, and this person only ever played this particular game and won just about every match he played in the Dog Fight mode -- which was every man for himself in about 25 person lobbies.
Another good example is Gears of War 2 Guardian, where I personally know most top players... I used to spar with the #1, #3 and #9 rank when I was about #8. The #1 rank (from Jamaica) certainly isn't that great, but all his stats are legit. The #3 rank (from the U.K.), and myself, were both really, really great, and the #9 rank (from the U.S.) was constantly distracted by his family in the backround. But he was the type of guy when he got on fire (without distractions) turned out to be pretty solid.
So it really varies, and it requires complex analysis. Unfortunately the needed analysis cannot be given by someone who exclusively plays offline thinking that he's the cream of the crop. But the truth of the matter is that there's good players both on and offline. A rule of thumb is that if a game is console exclusive and does not feature offline tournaments, then the (top) online players are going to be the best in the world.
^---An example to that is Gears of War Judgement... This was a game that was exclusive to the Xbox 360. As far as fan reception goes, it turned out to be (overall) kind of rejected by fans -- but that was well after it's release where it had an absolutely MASSIVE online community during it's first few weeks or months. So this is a game that had a very strong online competitive scene, but wasn't well received enough to be consistently featured in high level tournaments. So as far as online ranking is concerned:
a) First of all, there aren't regional differences with the Gears of War Judgement leaderboards, since the entire planet is fused into one ranking system.
b) Since this game is also exclusive to only one console, that means that you only have one #1 rank per game type.
The most played game type at launch for that title was its highly advertised (class based) Over Run mode, where you'd probably end up playing different people almost every new game you go into (at launch). I got the game a couple days late, but was still able to secure a Top 25 all time ranking in the first couple weeks -- where I was also the most lethal player in the Top 100 (with a 7.0 K/D). So I was a pretty effective Top 100 player, and I played against the #1 rank, who worked with an actual team (his name was Mike), and he was also very good.
Even deeper analysis from game to game says that SOME high ranked players on team based games tend to kind of work with full teams (or clans). This is partially because some of these people use the online environment to practice for MLG tournaments and/or Ladders. This type of practice can be somewhat innefective, though, because you end up (in many cases) just bulldozing lesser tier players who don't know what they're doing and when they can't get coordinated.
So the 'True Skill' ranking (as fighting game people may call it) of certain people on team based games might be lower since they tend to pick on less coordinated teams using their full squad. That's why I'd basically require any people on my team to probably break into the top 100 while playing with complete randoms so they are forced to sometimes carry full teams to victory, while also having to work with a variety of different styles (in order to have better adaptation).
^---This type of analysis and insight is less meaningful when it comes to 1 on 1 fighting games, or when talking about the #1 Rank on Snoopy Flying Ace (from Japan) where he does not have any team mates to fall back on.
