The element of surprise (if there was any to begin with) wears off quick the moment you or your opponent hits the assist command. By "free hit" I'm assuming you play without getting a feel for your opponent first to bait responses?
- My opponent runs Filia/Squigly/BBand. Calls BBand a bunch, it's Brass. So far so good, we just play a bit. Then Filia has me in blockstun (shit happens), and I see Squigly come in. Crouchblock, because it's most likely going to be c.HP or DnB, and watching out for Filia doing Ringlet Fake into silly overhead stuff. Then I get hit, because his Squigly was using 6HP assist.
- My opponent runs Val/Parasoul. I try to feel him out whether he's gonna recklessly call Pillar at all the spots - it doesn't happen, woo he's not that easy to bait! I do a surprise dashin c.MK, land a hit, then expect him to call assist as his defence option on my reset and back off as another bait; planning to punish his inevitable Pillar call with a dashin+assistcall on my own. I see Parasoul come in, read correctly! Do my dash back in (being at a range where Pillar is just gonna whiff) + assistcall, get hit by Tearshot in the face, my assist looks silly and I get happy birthday'd by Val, who proceeds to Doublesnap me and kills my Parasoul in the corner with Val+Tearshot incoming mixup.
- My opponent runs Parasoul/Double. I start the round with backdash, he starts the round with dashjump + Double call. I countercall with my Fukua Drill and am standblocking so I can absolute guard + be ready to PBGC Pillar after the Butt lockdown. Get hit low by Cilia Slide, die.
- My opponent has Fortune/Bella/Double, calls Butt a bunch, gets me to block, calls Bella first time, I upback cus I don't want any of that Diamond Drop garbage gimmick shit, EXCELLEBELLA
- Bonus points: I play the Filia/Squigly/BBand player from the first match again, see his Squigly come in, standblock AND GET HIT BECAUSE THIS TIME HE PICKED C.HP ASSIST
There are endless examples of this, all of them are retarded, and stating "You can just play around it" or "The advantage won't last long enough to make a difference on the outcome" is laughable.
I especially have to play more cautious since solo generally can't afford numerous mistakes.
Are we playing the same game?.?
Players can keep their quick match gimmicks. Lobby sets are what matter.
Of course Lobbies matter more than QuickMatch. FT1 is a silly format, due the nature of the Leaderboard Rankings simple massgaming is king, etc. Of course offline is even better.
That doesn't mean "Might as well add tripping in QuickMatch", though. We should still try to make it usable rather than just infuriating.