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I have been near high diamond for awhile now, massing tons of games to try for masters league. At first it seemed like I was slowly improving, but now it feels like I am going backwards. I got as high as 2700 and now I am back down to 2550.
I really don't think my macro is the problem, though there is always room for improvement, if I actually make it to a macro game, I feel very comfortable and even if I lose I have a much better mindset where I am much more willing to go look at my own mistakes and see how it costs me the game.
What really seems to be holding me back, is cheese and all ins. So on my side I guess it would have to be a lack of game sense and scouting, though honestly I don't see how zerg scouting can ever be 100%, even out side of the possibility of hidden tech somewhere on the map, there is no guarantee your overlord will spot a hidden stargate or starport in some corner of the base.
So common losses for me are things like two unexpected void rays showing up in my base, unexpected banshees showing up in my base, or a really nasty one for me is hellion harass followed by banshees - where I focus too much on stoping the harass and don't tech or advance my own play in any way.
Sometimes I don't have enough queens, sometimes I don't have detection, sometimes I have plenty of queens but I just completely fuck up the transfusion micro.
I think this is mostly due to tilt, like I said, I am better at accepting a loss in a macro game, but I rage pretty hard when I lose to cheese or all in or anything that is small but I'm just not ready for it. I don't rage right away, but I get too caught up in my record. Instead of just focusing on the game at hand, and trying to learn, I am freaking out because I just lost four in a row. Then I become stubborn and all I care about is winning a few games so I can break even and call it quits, only I am getting more and more pissed off with each loss, and I should probably just quit.
Though the thing is I also don't want to just quit every time I get angry, I want to be able to play a lot to practice, and to do this I need to get better at staying calm.
When I step back and think about it, I can realize how much easier things seem when I am calm. I just think about what I need to do, and do it. Doing it quickly, but at the same time, not feeling rushed, doing it at the speed I am capable of. Queen micro is the best example of this, if I am calm, it feels very easy, it almost feels like the game is slowing down for me. When I am on tilt, as soon as I see the void rays, I become angry, and then I try to micro my queens as fast as fucking possible, already expecting to lose. Which only causing me to be clumsy, miss a transfuse, and lose.
I know there are plenty of threads already posted on tilt, but I would like to hear how much of this sounds like a "normal" part of learning the game, and how much is more like WTF this guy has anger problems. Practice partners definitely help, because I don't freak out about losing my rating, losing 10 games in a row to a practice partner never feels like that big of a deal, but even losing 5 games in a row on ladder will make me flip out. Unfortunately I lost both my terran and protoss buddies, they quit the game to focus on school work, and I have been kind of anti-social about finding new ones.
Anyways comments are always appreciated, and to be honest I think just typing this out will somehow be a step towards overcoming it. I have never really stuck to a game to become extremely good at it, but I am too old to always be learning new games, so I have decided that SC2 will be the last game I play. I know I won't become pro or anything, but I would like to get to the point of being considered good at the game.
 
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Wow, man. You sound exactly like me, not that long ago. Except, I have way to go into Diamond/Masters or whatsoever. I know how frustrating it is to not see results. It seems you too consider your ladder performance as proof of an improvement, progress, which is something most of SC2 players aim for.
I think this is mostly due to tilt, like I said, I am better at accepting a loss in a macro game, but I rage pretty hard when I lose to cheese or all in or anything that is small but I'm just not ready for it. I don't rage right away, but I get too caught up in my record. Instead of just focusing on the game at hand, and trying to learn, I am freaking out because I just lost four in a row. Then I become stubborn and all I care about is winning a few games so I can break even and call it quits, only I am getting more and more pissed off with each loss, and I should probably just quit.
This pretty much sums it up for me as well. I believe that this mindset you have is not that uncommon, man. The key is to try and fight that feeling - to me, what helped, are few people who are working with me and literally kicked some common sense into my head, where I'd have to be totally blind to not see at least a bit of progress. I'm still not over certain issues regarding mindset but I'm hoping I'll get over these as well.
So maybe you are just overly critical of yourself, tired of losses and because of that, unability to see an improvement?
Good luck and don't give up on SC2!
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In the beta and at the beginning of the game I thought I was good because I was in Diamond and had a ratio of around 60%...
I realized I was just riding the terran OP train... When they nerfed reapers I started losing 5-7 games in a row. So I felt discouraged of playing, only played UMS, then just stopped playing Starcraft altogether...
yeah I know I'm a pussy for quitting because of this, and having no motivation to actually work my way to the top.
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On February 03 2011 04:50 BabyToss! wrote:Wow, man. You sound exactly like me, not that long ago. Except, I have way to go into Diamond/Masters or whatsoever. I know how frustrating it is to not see results. It seems you too consider your ladder performance as proof of an improvement, progress, which is something most of SC2 players aim for. Show nested quote +I think this is mostly due to tilt, like I said, I am better at accepting a loss in a macro game, but I rage pretty hard when I lose to cheese or all in or anything that is small but I'm just not ready for it. I don't rage right away, but I get too caught up in my record. Instead of just focusing on the game at hand, and trying to learn, I am freaking out because I just lost four in a row. Then I become stubborn and all I care about is winning a few games so I can break even and call it quits, only I am getting more and more pissed off with each loss, and I should probably just quit. This pretty much sums it up for me as well. I believe that this mindset you have is not that uncommon, man. The key is to try and fight that feeling - to me, what helped, are few people who are working with me and literally kicked some common sense into my head, where I'd have to be totally blind to not see at least a bit of progress. I'm still not over certain issues regarding mindset but I'm hoping I'll get over these as well. So maybe you are just overly critical of yourself, tired of losses and because of that, unability to see an improvement? Good luck and don't give up on SC2!
Thanks for the post, could you elaborate on what they helped you with? Was it just paying attention to areas you had improved in?
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i feel ya. the single worst feeling in the world is playing a standard 2base vs 1base, droning up after stopping a 2rax, and seeing 4 banshees fly into your base out of nowhere.
i'm about the same rank as you and have the same problems - 80+% of my losses are to an unscouted or improperly prepared for rush/cheese. i don't have any solutions unfortunately 
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Thanks for the post, could you elaborate on what they helped you with? Was it just paying attention to areas you had improved in?
Well, in my case, the proof of an improvement had to be slammed right into my face. I am very bad at estimating myself, and I often end up critizing myself without ability to see the improvements on my own.
Now, I usually play players way above my own level; simply because similary to you, I am rather shy when it comes to socializing and finding new friends/praccy buddies, and my buddies happen to be in high leagues, whereas I am mere Bronze. As you can imagine, these friends of mine always stomp on me so hard. I've been playing them over weeks and I still kept losing to them. I entered the infamous self-loathing mindset, where I simply would refuse statements of my friends that I was improving. When they even mentioned it, I raged at them that they are lying just to make me feel better.
Recently, I had someone to coach me and they had me to face two Bronze people first, to see how my gameplay looks like. One of them I literally crushed, to my surprise. I mean, I hate to sound like that, but it was one of the easiest games I had in weeks. The other guy, a Bronze Protoss 2Gated me - Yes, yes, I lose to stuff like that and it makes me rage so hard, unlike losing to macro games. The third person I faced during the session was a Gold Protoss; I was told he was in Gold and it immediatelly had me in the mindset of 'I am going to die a miserable death'. But, to my another surprise, I managed to beat that guy. Another example would be, I played another Gold Toss last night, and even though he beat me, I was told that macro wise, we were equal. I simply f*cked up the fight and it cost me the game. But no matter... these things gave even blind person like me hints that I did improve in certain aspects of my game.
I realize on your level even small things matter, so it's even harder to spot an improvement, but really, maybe having a coach for some time may help you in the long run.
Hope that helps. Once again, good luck!
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EPT
