EPTWow, was that a bad idea.
I played horribly in my placement matches, not really even knowing how things worked. I lost four of my five games, winning the other because my opponent was dropped. It kind of pissed me off, as I was used to the instant gratification of games like Halo. I felt like I had been cheated, and that the game was horribly imbalanced. I didn't play Starcraft that much for the next few weeks, neither did my friend.
But then I found Day[9].
I can't remember how I came across his videos, I was just casually browsing YouTube when I found one, though I can't remember which. It might actually have been #100. Watching his video helped me realize that I need to put my ego behind myself and realize that Starcraft is a game of self-improvement. I instantly loaded the game up, and started through the campaign, something I hadn't touched since my friend said it was boring. Playing through it helped me learn the basics, and also enlarged my interest in the game. I began watching many of Day[9]'s videos, and came across other people who made videos as well, like Husky and HD.
Eventually, I found my way to Team Liquid, and honestly, this is probably the best gaming community on the internet. Not only are the people super friendly, but the mods keep the place clean and on-topic. The site also is a limitless portal to endless Starcraft content, what with the dozens of streams and multitude of tournaments. After watching a lot of Starcraft and really getting into it, I decided to jump back into the ladder. To be honest, I still sucked, and Bronze League is really the initiation step, the step that makes or breaks you. Cheese coming at me from all angles, I still didn't play well, and I dropped down to the bottom of Bronze. I went back to the Day[9] videos, and watched many of the Newbie Tuesdays, really taking them in. I worked at it, and suddenly I knew what I was doing. I went back at the ladder, and though I still had difficulty defending cheese, I managed to even off my win/lose ratio before the end of Season One.
Near the end of Season One, I began watching many of my replays, and I honestly felt like a moron when I realized that there was a very key thing that was lacking in my play: scouting. Even after all of those Newbie Tuesdays, I never really realized the importance of scouting, dismissing it as a waste of income and 50 minerals, since I usually lost my scout. I played more custom games, remembering to send out my scout now, and suddenly I felt like I had more control, and I wasn't so blind anymore.
When Season Two started, I was reluctant to play on the ladder. Apprehensive would be a better word, actually. I really did fear for the worst, expecting my first game to be a 6pool, or cannon rush, or something like that. I eventually mustered up the courage to hit that "find match" button, and when I got into that game, I felt like nothing could go right. I screwed up sending my workers to mine, I queued up far too many units, and everything generally felt horrible. This was, however, my first game when I really started to do things right. Though it started slowly, my use of hotkeys became somewhat quicker, and with it came that feel of control one doesn't have when using the mouse. My scout also told me that my opponent was just going one base, and from the looks of it, he didn't know what he was doing. I simply built up (one base, I still didn't really know what I was doing) and sent a small force of marines and marauders at him.
I was rather surprised to find out that I had basically won that game already. My opponent didn't really have anything, so I just pushed in and killed everything. He just left the game. A stunning revelation came across me; I can actually play this game, I just need to put the effort in. The next few weeks had me playing a lot against AIs, mostly just refining my play and making it a bit quicker and more fluid. I got the hang of expanding, and though my macro still isn't perfect, it is getting better. Though I'm still Bronze, I've been slowly working my way up through the ladder, becoming better along the way.
The purpose of this blog is to kind of document my struggle to learn the game, and work my way up through the leagues. I guess it's something that every Starcraft player has to go through, this initiation step, but I feel like sharing my experience with other players. I hope the long post didn't drive you insane, but thanks for reading. I'll respond to as many comments as possible, as quickly as possible.
