Yeah, the server is messing up my characters too. I'd get stuck for no reason for 30 seconds while everyone else is fine. My character would fail to last hit even though I click on the minions. Things like that.
Anyway, I played like 5 or so games as Skarner, going from AP to AD and tank etc.
I think building him like Irelia is the way to go. His damage before you get Sheen is really, really negligible. Once you get Sheen the dps starts to come in. He's also pretty weak early on when he doesn't have full skills / mana / items. Other than that it's fine.
I think the big thing is that his range on the ult seems pathetically small. It's almost melee range. So while you'd think a suppress that lets you drag people around is incredible, the fact is that when compared to suppressions from Malzahar or Urgot or Warwick, he needs to be right beside the target to suppress. This leads to some pretty nasty situations where for example, you need to cancel Nunu / Katarina ultimate but you can't get there.
I also noticed that in the chaotic mess of a 5v5 teamfight, no one notices your suppress and it doesn't do enough damage on its own to properly finish people off. This is true with all other suppresses, but again, because Skarner's ult is used mostly to identify and mark a target for death (as the range is too short for emergency cancels... when your teammates can't see you doing your thing for that 1.5 seconds... it's essentially wasted.
However, what his ult is damn good at doing is initiating fights. That's why I think tanky like Irelia is the way to go.
Edit: Oh yeah, if you want to win 100% of all your games right now. Play Nasus before they nerf him. It is unbelievably, absolutely incredibly insane how strong he is now. He will win in level 1. He will win in mid game. He will rape everyone in late game.