Sins multiplayer is crap if you want something competitive.

And it's crap if you don't, because there are people like me that know its dozens of hidden mechanics which will make you hate it.

Sins multiplayer is basically designed just for playing only with very close friends.

ThundrGod - Demigod is working for the most part. Most of the connection problems have been fixed. The only majors issues left are allowing different countries to connect to eachother, fixing the stats system, and speeding up the netcode. I bought the game last Friday and I've had no problems getting in and out of games. You mind as well go ahead and get the game now, practice on the single player, and then by the time you've practiced enough and found your favorite character all of the multiplayer problems should be fixed. Although I highly doubt you will run into anything major. Skirmish and Pantheon should work just fine for you.