[quote=“xCrimsonLegendx, post:55, topic:3080”]
This community tends to treat its lessors like complete and utter garbage.
[/quote]Not from what I’ve seen online in KI or especially on this site. In any case, I’m sure there’s a small percentage of players in every FG that will act that way - KI’s community is no exception to that very simple, EXPECTED fact, and although true, I think there’s a lot less of it here than when compared to other online FG communities. You just have to learn what TJ does naturally when you take a beating: roll with the punches and get right back up. 
This is a defeatist talking… Don’t be 1 of them - they have a tendency to get nowhere fast. Here’s what you need to know and understand on what you referred to in the above quote:
timing - comes naturally over time (in other words, your brain will eventually click).
reactions - comes with experience (the more you play the better).
manuals - I still can’t manual very well myself*.
final dojo lesson - I haven’t beaten it yet either*.
AD animations - comes with practice and patience.
elite talking trash - mute them.
guess breaking - a natural (and expected) part of any FG; anyone who says otherwise is ignorant.
can’t do better - everyone gets better at anything provided they have time and determination.
not for lack of trying - never give up; try something different/new.
guides - not perfect and not for everyone; try hands-on training with someone (like me!).
No, seriously though… Play with me some time, I’d be happy to let you wail on me for a while so you can “get things down” and get the practice you need and want in order to enjoy the game. I can talk you through it and show you what things are supposed to look like when you do them, as well as share some tried and true methods for how to read your opponents, see patterns, and get the timing down for doing various things. And when think you’re ready, well, I’d be even happier to show you just how much you’ve improved, whether they’re small baby steps or by leaps and bounds…
*Please note that I’m good enough to have reached the #95 spot on the KI leaderboards and these are things that even I still have yet to accomplish myself - it goes to show that this game truly does have a very high level skill-cap, despite what many naysayers might say or think of the game.
You can go Domi and play without breaking at all. Manuals aren’t neccessary if you can win the counter breaker mind game.
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As others have said, several of the things you associate with high level (or even just “good”) play are actually not all that critical to high level or good play.
Dojo level 32 is purely for style points. There is little practical benefit to your being able to complete that lesson - Jago (and most other characters) have far more efficient ways to rack up damage than crazy instinct cancel juggle shenanigans, and in general such things tend to waste valuable instinct time.
Manuals are nice and certainly have their uses, but they are hardly essential in many cases. Far more important is your ability to pattern opponents and vary up your own combos in general. For a poor man’s manual, however, simply go immediately into a linker after an opener - opener->linker is a reliable bait for catching mash breakers with a timing lockout.
Not being able to read everyone’s auto doubles is also not much of a barrier except at the highest levels of KI, and even then is not an immediate disqualifier within a match. Again, your ability to pattern or read an opponent generally matters more than whether or not you can reliably break every single medium AD you see on reaction. Even for the players who can do that, they also routinely run up against things that cannot be broken on reaction, i.e. manuals and resets. It isn’t important that you don’t/can’t recognize every single AD that you get hit with, what is important is whether or not you can recognize patterns within your opponent’s combos as they are performing them. Trust me, I have old man reactions most of the time, and generally do fairly well on breaks and counters.
Overall, I tend to agree with @Ziarist that what is probably holding you back is far less your ability to do manuals or break consistently than simply a collection of bad habits that you have built up over the past two years. Mash breaks, dropped manuals in lieu of simply utilizing AD’s, poor spacing or neutral - those are the things that will make you lose games. I would recommend taking up some of the offers in this thread to play with you and offer constructive critiques; I submit that you will likely find that far more beneficial to your overall play than simply trying to grind manuals or breakers in training.
Also - TJ roll on wakeup should get you out of any meaty jump-in setups that are not OS’d. If your friend is as new as it seemed from your post, that probably would have been a solid way to get out of the pressure you described.
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Ive had a game a whole year at this month and just now got to gold rank in multiplayer and man it is a change. Seems like everytime i log in to play now i get thrown in with people in the killer rank and i just get destroyed without mercy. It gets frustrating but i still love the game i just tend to shy away from ranked right now as i get tired of losing every match i get into but this is still my favorite Xbox game bar none!
I was once in that position, I definitely understand that feeling. It took drilling inputs/scenarios in practice mode, playing exhibition matches/longer sets and doing a bit of reading for me to get over that Gold Rank hump.
Feel free to add me if you want to run sets and talk shop! 
Sure thing Ill add you. Sounds like fun
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I’ve been watching Max since about January and he was one that really got me into fighting games. I also enjoyed PaulB from the few tournaments as Sabrewulf seemed like a good starting character. But let me say the first time I watched PaulB on stream was like a complete 180 compared to how Max acts lol.
I’ve played a total of 5 matches online I think, three against a friend. Think otherwise I’m 1-1 against randoms in exhibition. Never have tried ranked although somehow it gave me a couple achievements. Anyways, having played this game since January, I’ve thought about finally trying ranked mode, and maybe waiting until the last week or so of the current period in hopes I’ll bypass all the killer/gold players. Anyways, I can beat AI on medium with any character, and most AI on hard with at least Sabrewulf. If that gives you any indication as to my level, feel free to add me on Live to give some matches a try. Tag is ToxicVampire.
Otherwise my main issue is just not playing the game enough and just randomly going from character to character and not spending enough time with one to learn as much as possible.
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awwww dude! keep going you will get better!
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Im sick of being a silver scrub anyone wanna add me help me out gt is the same as this
Feel free to add me! I’ll be busy making videos over the next few days but I’d be happy to shoot you an invite when I’m online and down to play sets (which may or may not involve other forum members in the same lobby)
What are you making videos for? o.O
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I’ve got a Hisako instinct combo video in the works, but first, I’m making a “How to Avoid Annihilation” video. 
Looking Forward to it. I want to exploit the “false” hope people will have with this video…
Inb4 Ostrich pops instinct, dashes under & Annihilation.
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If I had a desktop, I’d be making videos as well. My last tower literally caught fire because of stupid roommates.
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That’s actually…impressive 
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THIS. I just hit gold in ranked and a lot of my matches throughout silver I faced a lot of gold and killer players before I used to see their rank and just instantly assume I was gonna lose I don’t think like that now so I guess your state of mind and confidence can be beneficial to you winning matches I spent like 500 matches of my ranked career I’m silver and I made it through