Perhaps you've played too much vs CPU in the past and now fall back into "routine attacks" all the time which usually doesn't work against human opponents.
Take Chizuru for example, if the CPU controls her, you can beat her with lame standing C's and the occasional crouching kick, but try that against a good Chizuru player and you'll get toasted.
Okay, pick 3 of your fave charas and focus on them. Forget about variety for a while and only use these characters. Get their breand-and-butter combos down, but don't try to do too many combos/DMs or other flashy stuff; a normal kick or punch that hits is better than fumbling in the middle of a nifty combo and getting punished.
More tips (not necessarily 2k2-specific):
- Do not roll all the time, makes you vulnerable to throws, low attacks and many DMs. Force yourself to use rolling strategically, e.g. for escape-roll-and-counter.
- Learn to super-cancel (= cancelling a special move into a (S)DM). Try to find easy s-c combos for your favorite characters that start with easy-to-do normals or command attacks.
Example: Iori -
standing C -> f+A -> qcf,hcb+C
The rule here is: If you can connect the standing C, you can connect the whole combo and dish out lots of damage. Practise it until you can pull it off successfully 8 times out of 10, then you have a little "tool" that you can use to deliver the coup de grace to an opponent with low health.
- Try to look at your opponent's chara, not your own. It's important to punish his mistakes instantly, for ex. a missed special where you can use the lag to counter him or close in.
- Forget about tiers - try one chara after another and then decide which one fits to your style.
- Practice makes masters - but only if you hone your skills by constantly playing vs your friends, otherwise you'll only practice the same errors over and over again.
- If you know some cheap tricks, use them - except for exploiting lame engine bugs, anything which works is in order. For example, if you have three power stocks left and the match is about to end, you could either go for an exceptionally flash and damaging mega combo, or you simply could try to corner your opp. and tick him to death with three DMs in a row. Not very refined or skilled, but it does the trick, and if your opp. falls to cheese like that, it's his fault, not yours.
- Learn to CD cancel your opponent's attacks. If you have at least one stock left, pressing CD while blocking a barrage of attacks should become second nature.
