I have been playing a few games a day recently, and I noticed I am having a real hard time winning..like VERY very hard time. I'm not sure if people generally got much better, or I got considerably worse, most likely bit of both. But anyone feel this way after some time of inactivity? Here are some reps. I feel I could have won these games with ease before, but for some reason, I just can't.

If I were to give some intro of my skills, I did hit A on iccup before (though I was never really a "true" A skill), but I managed to pull through to A- couple of seasons as well. In these three games, I was playing vs C. Not particularly good C's either, I saw their history as like at best C+..

T.O.P.

Hong Kong4685 Posts

January 24 2010 09:28 GMT

Iccup gets harder every season. But probably not to the degree of A rank becoming today's C rank.

Bill Murray

United States9292 Posts

January 24 2010 09:43 GMT

people, since replays came out, have been getting gradually better for years. there arent as many noobs on average. you will still find some (T)

Really bad players, but that's relative. to (T)

Really,

IdrA is bad. well, i'm not sure of that, but i bet (T)

Really beats him if they (P)

Ever play. machine, to (T)

IdrA, is bad, while to machine i'm bad.

madnessman

United States1581 Posts

January 24 2010 09:48 GMT

It's because we've formed a secret, underground Defeat Stalife club where we discuss inside secrets and counter strategies on how to take you down. Our first plan of action was to shake your confidence and make you question your own skills, so mwahaha.

In all honesty though, I'm afraid I don't know D: Gambate kudasai~!!

Mickey

United States2606 Posts

January 24 2010 10:14 GMT

On January 24 2010 18:43 Bill Murray wrote:
people, since replays came out, have been getting gradually better for years. there arent as many noobs on average. you will still find some (T)

Really bad players, but that's relative. to (T)

Really,

IdrA is bad. well, i'm not sure of that, but i bet (T)

Really beats him if they (P)

Ever play. machine, to (T)

IdrA, is bad, while to machine i'm bad.

Anyone else find this funny, because of the TLPD markups?

FirstBorn

Romania3955 Posts

January 24 2010 10:20 GMT

On January 24 2010 19:14 Mickey wrote:

Show nested quote +

Anyone else find this funny, because of the TLPD markups?

Slightly more annoying than funny.

ZpuX

Sweden1230 Posts

January 24 2010 10:23 GMT

I know what you mean, I also just started playing again and I was feeling good over a win at the D ranks.. something is seriously wrong T_T

ProoM

Lithuania1741 Posts

January 24 2010 10:25 GMT

generally, because of the skill level increasing every season, every month. If you haven't played from 2006's or so, then it's very likely that from A- you dropped to ~C+/B- :}

lac29

United States1485 Posts

January 24 2010 10:42 GMT

On January 24 2010 19:20 FirstBorn wrote:

Show nested quote +

Slightly more annoying than funny.

Pretty annoying and not funny imo.

TeH_Mentalist

Korea (South)244 Posts

January 24 2010 10:51 GMT

#10

How long was your inactivity period?

rtschamp

10 Posts

January 24 2010 11:03 GMT

#11

today i went 0-29, im a pro D-

nttea

Sweden4353 Posts

January 24 2010 11:09 GMT

#12

i was inactive forever and i remember i could reach c+ on PGTOUR, which as far as i could understand was not much of an achievement. Then i came back years later and played iccup last season i reached c+ four times, ofc i dropped down again and ended C. But that should indicate that people didn't get much better at all, how long ago did you reach A?

Divinek

Canada4045 Posts

January 24 2010 11:10 GMT

#13

On January 24 2010 19:25 ProoM wrote:
generally, because of the skill level increasing every season, every month. If you haven't played from 2006's or so, then it's very likely that from A- you dropped to ~C+/B- :}

Stalife has been inactive for no where near that long. But even over one or two seasons, your rust plus people getting that bit better can make it seem harder.

SilverSkyLark

Philippines8437 Posts

January 24 2010 11:11 GMT

#14

yeah, it's getting a bit harder...I haven't played for around 4+ seasons and I can't get a single victory.

BlissX1

United States328 Posts

January 24 2010 12:34 GMT

#15

WEll.. I would have to say that people are getting better. Of course though over time if someone is playing, they will get better. I used to find myself never winning, but now i can with at least 50% of the time. at the moment fo this post my stats are 20-5.

Ftrunkz

Australia2474 Posts

January 24 2010 13:12 GMT

#16

It definitely got easier for a point, atleast to reach C-/C ranks (cant comment on higher obv) when starcraft 2 was first anounced and people started flocking back to sc. The constant new flow of people deciding to pick up sc again has died down due to sc2 hype dying down, some of the people coming back (who were not very good) would've given up, some that came back were good players who simply stoped playing sc 2-5 years ago and started again and would be still playing, but either way, with the new crowd not coming in so much anymore and some of them leaving, the general ranks wouldve increased a little bit in difficulty i guess?

And, to state the obvious, a games avg skill level will always keep steadily increasing... We have no idea how long you've been out of the game

. But i'm sure a player who hasnt played for 4+ seasons, even if he somehow managed to have the exact same skill level as he did when he quit, would drop a rank or so simply because of that...

[DUF]MethodMan

Germany1716 Posts

January 24 2010 14:08 GMT

#17

It's just extremely hard to get back from inactivity these days. It's like where just some seasons ago people in the yellow rankings weren't using good BOs, nowadays 90% of them do. I think it's the latest bigger skilljump since replays were released. You have Liquipedia and countless threads on how to put the stuff shown there to use.
Now if you're coming back from inactivity you naturally have low APM, so people with refined BOs can easily kick your ass. At least that's what I'm experiencing, I ranged from C+/B- when I was playing my best. Nowadays I don't even play anymore, because it's frustrating to get raped at C- by people you would've beaten 90% of all times just 2 seasons ago.
To add some off-topic rant to this, I seriously hate Liquipedia, it destroyed the unique playstyle of foreigners, even D newbs are gonna play at least the openings of a good BO. It makes all games on ICC look the same and you rarely win by "doing stupid stuff".

DwmC_Foefen

Belgium2186 Posts

January 24 2010 15:20 GMT

#18

On January 24 2010 23:08 [DUF]MethodMan wrote:
It's just extremely hard to get back from inactivity these days. It's like where just some seasons ago people in the yellow rankings weren't using good BOs, nowadays 90% of them do. I think it's the latest bigger skilljump since replays were released. You have Liquipedia and countless threads on how to put the stuff shown there to use.
Now if you're coming back from inactivity you naturally have low APM, so people with refined BOs can easily kick your ass. At least that's what I'm experiencing, I ranged from C+/B- when I was playing my best. Nowadays I don't even play anymore, because it's frustrating to get raped at C- by people you would've beaten 90% of all times just 2 seasons ago.
To add some off-topic rant to this, I seriously hate Liquipedia, it destroyed the unique playstyle of foreigners, even D newbs are gonna play at least the openings of a good BO. It makes all games on ICC look the same and you rarely win by "doing stupid stuff".

Yea, it's true that the game is becoming generic...

I used to toy around vs my opponents and usually win (back in the days with pgtour)
No I hardly play because I can't keep up lol :p
and I don't have that many hours free/day to get good/up par :s :p

KwarK

United States44033 Posts

January 24 2010 15:29 GMT

#19

I feel I've been improving and I've been unable to to significantly better with each new season. I think the difficulty has been increasing.

FonzeXD

United States220 Posts

January 24 2010 16:27 GMT

#20

The maps are just getting gayer. Remember how easy ICCup felt when every map that was played was Luna(better yet, anyone still remember PGT?). I feel like maps are becoming more standardized and "official" now.. I hate when Terran drops behind my mineral line and I don't even have a robo up yet.

Come on.