Free Step Dodge

Was it a combination of Net-code, lag tactics, and kids who think they're good while being asses?

Yes. The level of fraudulence is so high its extremely laughable to me.

All the things my play revolve around lose effectiveness online as well. Footsies, Korean Back Dash, reaction to whiffs etc.

I legit have to adopt a playstyle that just isn't me. I can't do that nor will I force myself to.

Reaction to whiffs seems non-existent. I don't even go for them anymore. I think next-gen online might bring DOA into glory.

and perhaps with it we will see a rise in the average players skill level.

Lol, everyone's gotta break sometime. After some regular offline sessions, I quickly discovered how redundant DOA online is for practical practice in the sense that it's impossible to play the game properly. My main, Ayane is a perfect example of a character that has to be played in an unintuitive way online in order to win (i.e. abusing her normally unsafe shit). It's frustrating as hell.

IMHO, no online wins or matches are ever legitimate, not even in "4" or "5 bars". When I do play online, I usually use it to fuck around or play with anyone that has invited me for fun. I also agree that the ratio of "fraudulent" online players to non-fraudulent is at an unhealthy balance (along with the mind-numbing amount of stupidass Tag & Largest rooms).

Lastly, I unfortunately don't believe the average level of online players will ever rise until: (A) More people play offline (B) The netcode reaches a level that legit rivals offline play (C) The average online warrior is able to properly discern Legit vs. Online-only tactics.

If you watch the videos I upload, you'll get a pretty good idea of how seriously I take online play.

No matter what match I watch from you, all I see is Izuna spam. If you developed DOA, the criteria for winning would be the player that hit more Izunas. Izuna is serious business for you .

@Force I agree with everything you said. @Brute You're slackin its about time for you to break 20 izunas in one match. Come to think of it does the health bar even allow that lol?

Lol, Largest allows up to 15 unless you set the match to 5 rounds/Largest xD.

The weakest Izuna you can do that I know of is 64 damage (a NH Critical Izuna hold). So technically, if you did nothing but critical hold Izunas, you could get 5 Izunas in one match on Normal life setting. So you can get 15 in 3 rounds, 25 in 5 rounds, etc. That would be extremely risky to bait out.

With standard NH Izunas (80 damage), you can get 4 in one round. Which I have done, but not for 3 consecutive rounds... yet.
With this method, you get nearly 60 points of leeway damage you can expend on tick damage, meaning you can use a Shoho or two (both of which are over 80 damage).