Comprehensive Q/A for new players and those returning for Steamworks implementation [Updated 13.06.2014]

Overview

Q&A answering some of the questions after the Steamworks implementation of SSF4Feel free to mention any Questions i did not already answer in this Guide.

New Player

Q: Do I need to use an arcade stick to have a chance?
A: No. There are actually professional players who will switch to Pad on certain characters. While there are benefits to using a stick, a stick is certainly not needed to win.

Q: Do I have any chance online if I am new to SSF or fighting games in general?
A: You WILL lose a lot. Even with very good reactions, not knowing the execution on certain moves and how to react to certain situations WILL mean you will feel like there is no hope to ever win online. BUT if you are perseverant enough to fight through the first 100, maybe 200 online matches, you will find that being able to pull of certain combos and winning in a match where both players go all out is a very satisfying experience.

Q: Do I need to clear Challenge mode to be able to win matches online?
A: Certainly not. Most challenges were designed to show you whats possible, not whats viable. While I certainly suggest you try and at least clear the first 12-16 Challenges with every character, it is certainly not necessary to clear even a single challenge.

Q: Can/Should I jump right into online matches? I dont like playing against bots and I hate practicing combos.
A: You can always choose to do so, but it will be a very demotivating experiance. Try to get through arcade mode on Hard first.

Practicing combos on the other hand is NOT needed to be able to put up a decent fight online, but knowing at least very easy punish combos with your main is always helpful and will make you feel less underpowered.

Q: I constantly lose when playing online. How do I improve?
A: First thing you should do is get a character you feel comfortable with. No matter how strong or weak that character is descibed by others, if that character matches your playstyle, stick with him or her. If you dont know which character to choose, try Ryu, he is generally a great allround character.

After picking a “main”(-character), the character you will play with most of the time, try to get used to his or her Moveset (meaning his or her basic attacks). Dont try to optimize execution and dont try to optimize combos. Just get used to the moveset. It is very important to notice that knowing how to deal 350 damage with a single combo is useless if you dont know how to deal with the enemy constantly jumping at you (jump-ins) or over you (cross-over). On the other hand, if you can punish all these moves with a simple jab, you wont get hit at all and you wont even need to use a combo.

Q: I feel like I always lose to spamming noobs. How do I punish those spammers?
A: While thinking “F§%&ing spammer, you cant play this game at all” is easy, most of the time, if someone is playing at 2000PP+, they will know very well what they are doing. They will see that you are constantly rushing at them and punish it with a shoryuken. They will see that you never block after wakeup and thus throw a fireball at you. Dont try to assume your enemy is a noob. Try to assume he looks right through you because your playstyle is very transparent. Try to change your playstyle a bit and if they keep “spamming”, then punish them by luring the move they keep spamming.

Q: Should i only play one Character?
A: As soon as you feel Comfortable with your main, try to expand your horizon. While most professional players only main 1-2 characters, they know the moveset of every character and can pull off most combos with most characters. While you can only play one character at a time, making only playing one character seem like a good idea, your enemy can always pick every character. If you know what his character can do, you will certainly play a better match against him.

Q: Why are people online such *****? I just want to have fun, not die in a single combo.
A: If you dont want to face people going all out on you, try to find people of the same experience level on the forums and play with them in endless lobbies. You can also just open an endless lobby and set the description according to your experience (ie. 1000 PP and lower).

Street Fighter is a highly competetive game. In ranked matches, even if it is obvious that you dont know what you are doing, your enemy will often just go all out on you in an attempt to improve his or her execution, as everything else would be bad sportsmanship and you both would not learn anything from the experience.

Returning Player

Q: Is Steamworks better than GFWL? Can I finally play without lag?
A: Right now, that is hard to determine. Many players, like myself, feel like the performance has improved a lot, while others report that GFWL was better. The only thing I can assume is that after every player has transitioned to the new system and everything has settled down, onlineplay should be a bit faster and more stable.

Q: Will there be people boosting their ranks? Will Ladder finally be an actual representation of skill?
A: Noone actually knows right now if that is the case. While It seems as if there are no incredibly high PP or BP player on ladder right now, noone can tell if it is still possible or not.

Q: Will my profile keep all the saved data?
A: The steamworks profie, after being imported from GFWL, retains most of the data. Some things, like controller Layout, icon, online play quote and for some players Sound options, dont seem to carry over from the old profile.

Q: I cant mute my mic. Whats wrong with that?
A: [UPDATED 13.06.2014] There is an option to mute your microphone IN the game (audio settings), it is no longer in the GFWL or steam settings.

Q: Steamworks seems to be slower, laggier than GFWL. Whats up with that?
A: It seems as though the transition phase will mean that some people will experience lag while others dont. On top of that, opening certain ports might help with your problem. These ports are:

UDP 3478 (Outbound)
UDP 4379 (Outbound)
UDP 4380 (Outbound)

(Thanks to Steam user Wootles for finding this)

Feel free to tell me any important information missing on this list right now.