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Active: 10798 users

He thinks it is the worst race? Why play it?

Blogs > Docta Spaceman
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Docta Spaceman
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
United States74 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-04 23:56:58
May 04 2011 18:38 GMT
#1
Contrary to what many responses to this have been, this blog is NOT 'Why does Idra play Zerg?' I didn't ask that, as not only does it not matter to the question I pose, and we already know the answer.
Last night, I was watching the State of The Game, thoroughly enjoying Idra being his typical self. I think he's a great addition to the show- his knowledge and opinions bring something extra to the table that I don't think anyone else could match. But while he was talking to Sean about balance and whatnot (which I enjoyed for the first 3 minutes or so before it got a little less friendly and less productive), my girlfriend asked me something. I think she normally doesn't really know what they're talking about, but sometimes pays attention to the discussion. But the importance of this question shouldn't take that into account.

Her: "What does he [Idra] play?"
Me: "Zerg."
Her: "Why does he play it if he thinks it's the worst one?"
Me: "He... well, it's like.... He, umm... I couldn't tell you."

Such a simple question, and yet it requires such a complex answer.

So the question I'm asking is not why does Idra play Zerg, but rather what causes a progamer, even perhaps one of the best professionals in the world, to think that their race is the weakest one? I remember watching Huk's stream at one point, perhaps a month ago, and he was talking to Dayvie Kim about professionals and balance whining. Kim told him that his theory was that every professional will gradually start to think that their race is the most UP the longer they play it. Huk responded to this by saying "But I don't think that," and if I remember correctly, Kim said that he would, eventually, if his theory held true. There are certainly many professionals that don't cry UP about their race, but a lot do.

I've got a couple theories, but I want to know what you guys think. One is that they just only want to play the race that they love, but it shouldn't really apply to professionals, as they are trying to win tournaments and love for a particular race shouldn't factor into what race they play. Another is that they become hyper-aware of the weaknesses of their race and less aware of the weaknesses of other races that they have much less experience with- making their race appear to have the most weaknesses and even flaws.

**
Diglett
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
600 Posts
May 04 2011 18:39 GMT
#2
he practices zerg. not terran and toss. his terran and toss are worse than his zerg.
green.at
Profile Blog Joined January 2010
Austria1459 Posts
May 04 2011 18:47 GMT
#3
On May 05 2011 03:39 Diglett wrote:
he practices zerg. not terran and toss. his terran and toss are worse than his zerg.

never thought about it like that. so he does not practice protoss because he practices zerg, thats why he doesnt switch.

i think he just cant switch, he has toi much self respect. he switches -> everyone bashing on idra ^^
Inputting special characters into chat should no longer cause the game to crash.
Bibdy
Profile Joined March 2010
United States3481 Posts
May 04 2011 18:49 GMT
#4
Ego?
ReketSomething
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
United States6012 Posts
May 04 2011 18:53 GMT
#5
If you play a race a lot, you will feel like there are certain things that you can't deal with and those linger in your mind. This causes you to believe your race is weak. Thats what Dayvie is saying.
Jaedong :3
xLethargicax
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States469 Posts
May 04 2011 18:54 GMT
#6
In my opinion it's just pride. He is proud to always be an underdog to himself. Switching races would go against everything he's been saying for ages.
bonifaceviii
Profile Joined May 2010
Canada2890 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-04 18:55:10
May 04 2011 18:54 GMT
#7
Because he still thinks Zerg are awesome?

It's like somebody who plays Skaven in Warhammer fantasy; he knows they're weak but doesn't care because they're awesome. Sure you could play High Elves or Lizardmen or something boring like that, but where's the fun?
Stay a while and listen || http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=354018
Imbu
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
United States903 Posts
May 04 2011 18:54 GMT
#8
When you play a certain race, you become more aware of the things that will kill you. For example, as a Protoss player, I get shit scared thinking about how to deal with baneling drops combined with multiple attack paths from a Zerg player would probably destroy me. I can also see how from the Zerg point of view, and endless maze of force fields would be extremely annoying, making your units feel useless.

I guess my answer would be that as you play your race more, you'll start to really become aware of when you feel the weakest, knowing that if your opponent chose that moment to attack it would be game over.
@DreamingBird
bITt.mAN
Profile Blog Joined March 2009
Switzerland3693 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-04 18:58:57
May 04 2011 18:58 GMT
#9
EDIT: Whoops wrong thread.

Go and check out "NaDa's Body" in BW General and the Most Sexyful one in SC2 while you're at it
BW4LYF . . . . . . PM me, I LOVE PMs. . . . . . Long live "NaDa's Body" . . . . . . Fantasy | Bisu/Best | Jaedong . . . . .
vectorix108
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
United States4633 Posts
May 04 2011 19:06 GMT
#10
Nice name. 30 rock reference? Yeah you raise some
interesting points. I guess Zerg just felt the most comfortable to him. That's why I chose the race I play.
Aka XephyR/Shaneyesss
illsick
Profile Joined March 2011
United States1770 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-04 19:09:50
May 04 2011 19:08 GMT
#11
He's been making comments about balance, how would it look if he switched race. You have fans that are connected to the race you play. Most zerg players will root for other zerg players and so on; they have somewhat of a connection with one another just as other races do.

Switching would mean to a lot of people, backstabbing. All the time he would be so vocal about other races advantages and then switching to those races would make him seem very hypocritical. Like comments where he would say something like the person won because of their race, not by skill. He would look dumb if he decided to switch to protoss after making comments like that.

edit: Pride has a lot to do with it too
you live and you learn
VIB
Profile Blog Joined November 2007
Brazil3567 Posts
May 04 2011 19:11 GMT
#12
1) The game will always be unbalanced
2) Takes a lot of time to get good with a different race

So can either choose to:
a) play catch up by playing the flavor of the month race. And be always bad due lack of practice
b) gamble that someday the one race you're practicing will be balanced "enough", and you'll be competitive

Most people choose the gamble and pick option b).
Great people talk about ideas. Average people talk about things. Small people talk about other people.
piroko139
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
United States261 Posts
May 04 2011 19:15 GMT
#13
It could simply be answered as he has the most fun playing Zerg. In the end, only IdrA really knows the answer.
Snaiil
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Sweden312 Posts
May 04 2011 19:19 GMT
#14
I assume people want to play the race they actually enjoy, despite them feeling it may be underpowered. The motivation to improve is probably less if you don't even enjoy the race you're playing, but only play it because you consider it overpowered.

Besides, if it actually is imbalanced and it gets fixed in future patches, all that time learning a new race and ALL the timings will be pretty much wasted as you will probably switch back to the race you actually enjoy.
puppykiller
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
United States3137 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-04 19:26:32
May 04 2011 19:26 GMT
#15
I'm pretty sure when he was first panning through races to use he chose zerg becuase he thought it played torwards the macro oriented strengths he developed during BW.
Why would I play sctoo when I can play BW?
Rinrun
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada3509 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-04 19:33:03
May 04 2011 19:32 GMT
#16
Ego seems like a big one. I'd do it, say that its the worst race and then play it and destroy people-
means balance is nothing to your skill level. Or its just him not wanting to look like a turncoat (also another valid reason lol).
MBC/Liquid/TSM always.
Roe
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
Canada6002 Posts
May 04 2011 19:36 GMT
#17
why did Artosis switch to Protoss?
Imerej
Profile Joined March 2011
Canada291 Posts
May 04 2011 19:38 GMT
#18
IdrA has honestly answered this question a million times.... Go do some research before making a thread about it.

Blizzard will eventually patch zerg, so why would he switch races and have to put a TON of time into learning this new race? He's waiting it out, it's better.

This is what idrA has stated multiple times
/thread
Falcon_NL
Profile Joined September 2010
Netherlands236 Posts
May 04 2011 19:44 GMT
#19
If hes switches right now, he wont be ever as good in protoss or terran as he is now as zerg. Its too late for him. Artosis sucks after he switched races and will prolly never come back.
and its a BLACK HOLE !! OH MY GOD BLACK HOOOOLEEE - Tobi Wan
mooose
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Japan200 Posts
May 04 2011 19:49 GMT
#20
He's already stated before that the reason he doesn't bother switching race is because he's spent so much time practising zerg that it would take ages for him to get to the same level with T or P. Then also the fact that Blizzard is still patching the game so it's possible that zerg won't be the worst race (in idra's opinion) at some point in the future; making all the time he spent trying to learn another race a complete waste of time.
www.teamyao.com @TeamYAO
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