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A few people have been doing it and it's my turn.

I wrote that mental stack article like a decade ago. And I always knew delay added to the stack. I'd be like "Rollback doesn't always help you respond to stuff The latency tax has to be paid somewhere" but I'd also admit that there was a burden to playing on fluctuating delay based netcode that at least speeds you up a little. An understatement.

For most of my two years coming back to Guilty Gear, learning Rev2 after not playing Xrd since launch, I'd say "Even though I put more work into Rev2, my +R Johnny is better. I dunno why. Just a lot more time with the character and X2?" and like, there is a little truth to that. There is also a little truth that the slippery nature of +R allows a lot more flexibility and how that leans into my 'feeler/heart' play style but a lot of it... was rollback.

I never knew Rev2 offline. And I didn't play Sol in +R or ever at a high level throughout X2 (I'd just mess with him and do dustloops). So the feeling I had of feeling like I was on rollerskates, mentally trying to catch up to where I was supposed to be, skidding from side to side... I kinda just took that as Rev2, Sol, and my deficiencies as a player. And while I'd occasionally play offline, it was never long enough for stuff to really sink in. I wasn't able to play the players who truly would test me on netplay. But right before Rev2 rollback got announced I started playing Strive and just the way I'd respond to stuff felt so different and familiar.

So playing rollback Rev2 with those eyes just... changed so much. Not even just let me play better because let me be honest, I can still play like a stubborn dumbass. I still had plenty of my flaws. But I could start picking at them. I had clarity. It felt more like the level of comfort I had in +R. A weird thing was... I got way less tilted? Like it could happen still, but players who would tilt me all the time (Sorry, Zwei) just... didn't. And like sure I was playing the matchup better, but I was still mostly getting bopped. I just no longer felt like I was chasing my own brain. I felt like my decisions were my own and it was much easier to just accept when I fucked up. The game didn't feel like offline competitively, it started feeling like offline emotionally and I know a few people who felt similar.

I also saw friends who struggled for years suddenly realize "Wait I can anti air" or "Wait, I have coordination?" and while they didn't suddenly become great players they started to feel like their effort and decisions were being rewarded.

And sure, there was some honeymoon to it. Later in the two weeks I got tight about a few matches, but it felt different, and the mental recovery was easier. I can't go back to delay, at least not as much as I did previously. The amount of weight that rollback took off my shoulders was immense. I originally picked up Rev2 to play during he pandemic cause I couldn't compare it to games like +R where I knew how it was supposed to feel. Now I know how Rev2 is supposed to feel and as such, I'm gonna be taking it easy with streams for a few months until it's back up. Maybe some Strive and +R. Still Fight Nights and Monday ST, of course, but less Wednesday streams.

I will say, I'm a bit sad I didn't "get out more" or hit up more rooms and play with more people I had bad connections with previously. Not only was I busy with a lot of personal stuff, I still, at heart, am a shy reclusive introvert. I can talk loud on the internet, but I'm not one to go out and 'ask for the set' or w/e. Look, I'm a bottom, I'm not going to pick where we eat for dinner, either. Part of the appeal of Strive is I could training mode in the tower and just have opponents handed to me with no decisions on my part. The game is popular enough that I am functionally anonymous. There is something really intimate about fighting game for me that make me play like a recluse... but that intimacy is also a large part of the appeal.

Oh well, next time I'll have all the time I need.

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