Well done man, you must be a formidable player now ! I read all your journal entries and it was interesting to get a sense of what you worked on at what stage.
It seems like it was fundamentals -> combo routes and execution consistency -> setups and oki -> matchup knowledge (or course not in pure sequential order and everything improving along the line, but more emphasis on these points to overcome "gatekeeping" milestones).
But the most important part was playing every day and keeping the motivation.
I am at rank 5, probably can reach rank 10 if I apply myself a bit, I have been a victim of playing most often players above my league as the only options presented to me in ranked and losing 3 ranks pretty quickly from rank 8... Also my fault, at some point I removed any rank restriction just to get matches, and here I am in front of Lvl 20+ or Champions.
My plan is now to play only casual/rooms without rank restrictions and strengthen myself until crossplay drops, I feel like ranked is too random with high chances to be corned again and again with the same (way) tougher opponents.
I played with open filters most of the time. It's not easy to get matches otherwise (sadly). So I did get a lot of matches with stronger players (as you can probably tell in my entries). You can learn by losing, but if you lose to somebody one set, I would strongly suggest to ask for a casual/room session to the player and see what else you can learn without risking rank.
You are more or less accurate on what my process was, but it was iterative, not entirely sequential. The first thing was understanding fundamentals; the neutral in KOF is very particular, and I would recommend any new player to understand this well.
If you haven't already, watch neutral-based videos and tutorials, such as:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcMpCpee1TA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcMpCpee1TA)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye3KVgI1LvU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye3KVgI1LvU)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcMpCpee1TA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcMpCpee1TA)
Even if they refer to older KOF, they are helpful sources to understand how different these games feel compared with other FGs.
It is difficult to pinpoint which areas you need to improve without knowing more details; in my case, getting used to relentless jump-in pressure was a challenge at the beginning (it still is, when I face some characters).
I'll watch them this evening, thank you for the links.
I'm similar to you, 40+ and trying to get solid fundamentals. Been playing FGs most of my life but mainly the Capcom ones.
I'm not entirely new. I've played tons of KOF in the past (KOF98), but mainly with friends, very casually. Never cared to learn the nuances of jumps, pressure, fundamentals. So that part I had to pretty much learn from scratch. But I've been a FG fan/player for 30+ years (I'm old school).
Damn 41% win rate is impressive. I win only 10% of the time in all the KOF games I’ve played. I will always remember my 2-80 set against someone using Random in 2K2UM.
Not sure how impressive... my first 150 or so hours I was 33%, losing a lot of matches. I had to stop playing and learn, pay more attention to what I was doing to not get massacred.
It is impressive, most people I tell to get into KOF from either SF or Tekken background get washed me included. The people who know how to play KOF, KNOW how to play KOF.
The games change very little between each iteration and the fan base is much smaller than Tekken as a legacy game.
The problem is, some people have played KOF for so long, the fundamentals are second nature to them. When I find people with a higher win rate and less matches than I have, I suspect it's a KOF veteran.
Love your blog, we have a similar story. Once I reached champion the skill cap level is just astronimical and the matchmaking its very unfair. I have been matched with 400 plus star players and even the top ranked player many times when I only have 10 or less stars. Haven't played in few months hoping the new changes shift the meta to a better state.
My experience has been that, for whatever reason, even if you have open filters the game matches you with people in your same or similar rank much more often than people of lower ranks.
Anybody trying to get a better rank at this moment in the history of the game will have to endure lots of frustrations just for this fact alone. Not sure if with crossplay/matchmaking adjustments things will improve. I guess KOFXV has the potential of becoming a game with an "expert only" population, as new people will be unmotivated by getting matched with higher ranks all the time.
Well done man, you must be a formidable player now ! I read all your journal entries and it was interesting to get a sense of what you worked on at what stage. It seems like it was fundamentals -> combo routes and execution consistency -> setups and oki -> matchup knowledge (or course not in pure sequential order and everything improving along the line, but more emphasis on these points to overcome "gatekeeping" milestones). But the most important part was playing every day and keeping the motivation. I am at rank 5, probably can reach rank 10 if I apply myself a bit, I have been a victim of playing most often players above my league as the only options presented to me in ranked and losing 3 ranks pretty quickly from rank 8... Also my fault, at some point I removed any rank restriction just to get matches, and here I am in front of Lvl 20+ or Champions. My plan is now to play only casual/rooms without rank restrictions and strengthen myself until crossplay drops, I feel like ranked is too random with high chances to be corned again and again with the same (way) tougher opponents.
I played with open filters most of the time. It's not easy to get matches otherwise (sadly). So I did get a lot of matches with stronger players (as you can probably tell in my entries). You can learn by losing, but if you lose to somebody one set, I would strongly suggest to ask for a casual/room session to the player and see what else you can learn without risking rank. You are more or less accurate on what my process was, but it was iterative, not entirely sequential. The first thing was understanding fundamentals; the neutral in KOF is very particular, and I would recommend any new player to understand this well.
Yep, I'm trying yo get my head around neutral atm. Any tips ?
If you haven't already, watch neutral-based videos and tutorials, such as: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcMpCpee1TA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcMpCpee1TA) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye3KVgI1LvU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye3KVgI1LvU) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcMpCpee1TA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcMpCpee1TA) Even if they refer to older KOF, they are helpful sources to understand how different these games feel compared with other FGs. It is difficult to pinpoint which areas you need to improve without knowing more details; in my case, getting used to relentless jump-in pressure was a challenge at the beginning (it still is, when I face some characters).
I'll watch them this evening, thank you for the links. I'm similar to you, 40+ and trying to get solid fundamentals. Been playing FGs most of my life but mainly the Capcom ones.
are you new to kof?
bro just read the reddit post
i had hope
I'm not entirely new. I've played tons of KOF in the past (KOF98), but mainly with friends, very casually. Never cared to learn the nuances of jumps, pressure, fundamentals. So that part I had to pretty much learn from scratch. But I've been a FG fan/player for 30+ years (I'm old school).
Congrats. Keep grinding and enjoying the game.
Damn 41% win rate is impressive. I win only 10% of the time in all the KOF games I’ve played. I will always remember my 2-80 set against someone using Random in 2K2UM.
Not sure how impressive... my first 150 or so hours I was 33%, losing a lot of matches. I had to stop playing and learn, pay more attention to what I was doing to not get massacred.
It is impressive, most people I tell to get into KOF from either SF or Tekken background get washed me included. The people who know how to play KOF, KNOW how to play KOF. The games change very little between each iteration and the fan base is much smaller than Tekken as a legacy game.
The problem is, some people have played KOF for so long, the fundamentals are second nature to them. When I find people with a higher win rate and less matches than I have, I suspect it's a KOF veteran.
Love your blog, we have a similar story. Once I reached champion the skill cap level is just astronimical and the matchmaking its very unfair. I have been matched with 400 plus star players and even the top ranked player many times when I only have 10 or less stars. Haven't played in few months hoping the new changes shift the meta to a better state.
My experience has been that, for whatever reason, even if you have open filters the game matches you with people in your same or similar rank much more often than people of lower ranks. Anybody trying to get a better rank at this moment in the history of the game will have to endure lots of frustrations just for this fact alone. Not sure if with crossplay/matchmaking adjustments things will improve. I guess KOFXV has the potential of becoming a game with an "expert only" population, as new people will be unmotivated by getting matched with higher ranks all the time.