So, I've been having a bit of a problem lately, and I'm sure there are others who share the sentiment. I've been trying to get into sparring, but it hasn't been very "beginner" friendly. I've been towering and pking for years, but I felt like picking sparring back up. I got more than 1000 wins a while back, while still keeping it positive(From side rooms), but now that I went back to it strictly using tournament rooms(since sides are frowned upon for other than beginners), I haven't been doing very well, 191 wins to 303 losses since I started sparring again.

It seems like the best players on at the time rule over the spar rooms, and obviously it's not easy beating them(Not to mention when a room gets taken over by an obviously questionable player). I feel like I've been playing the best I've ever played, and yet I still can't pull off the win most of the time. I'm not a bad player, the matches are always close, but my question is, how do people manage to get such good ratios? Should I be practicing in a guild house with a really good player until I can beat them 90% of the time? Or is it normal to lose so much as you get better? Based on how positive everyone there seems to be, it doesn't seem normal.

I use alts as well to practice, but at this point I don't know how else I can improve, it's only the really good sparrers and some people from certain countries who beat me over and over, I don't really think using an alt is going to make any difference except to hide losses. What do people do to get to that higher level? Like I said previously, you have to beat the best players online to even get wins going, so should I just stick to alts until I somehow get better? Or just keep the grind going, even if it's going south? I play using a tablet, by the way. Would using a PC really make the difference?

It's not really a big thing, it's probably more of a personal problem, so thanks for any advice/jokes that come out of this thread. Thanks for reading!