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I don't know what it is... but I have been on the worse losing streak I have ever been on. In my last 42 games, I have only won 14. Its not any particular matchup that is giving me trouble... it is everything. Every style of play, every matchup, and on every map. Just two weeks ago I was riding a winning streak; I had calculated I was winning something like 55% of my games in my last 50 or so, and I was up to about 60% of my games within the last 25. I have been in diamond since about February, just a month or two before season 1 ended. At one point I was 4th in my division and getting close to masters. I have played and taken games of mid level masters practice partners before. Now I am losing something like 70% of my games and I have no idea what happened. I tried taking a break from the game for a week to calm me down and come back fresh. I did that and it hasn't helped. I am still losing, and at this point I am afraid that soon I will be demoted back to platinum.
Its not as if I have gotten worse at the game... not that I can tell anyway. I have developed a lot more as a players, my understanding of the game is better then it has ever been, and my mechanics, while not fantastic, are as good as ever. In about half of my games I know exactly what my opponent is doing, but just can't seem to stop it. That, or they do something that I know is really terrible, but I lose because I am not expecting it. I played a melee game just today with a terran who sat on one base for almost 12 minutes, and beat me with the weirdest combination of marine/banshee/raven timing. Stuff that shouldn't work, stuff that should be easily beat somehow always gets the better of me and I can't figure out why.
Its gotten to the point where I am seriously considering switching races. In most of my games I just can't seem to punish my opponent for being aggressive now matter how silly and reckless their aggression is. Its like it never takes winds out of their sails, and instead of ending up ahead as I deflect it I always always somehow seem to end up behind. On the flip side, if I am aggressive I just seem to fail. I generally play a more passive style, so it makes sense that I am not rewarded as often from deviating from it. Still, it feels like I should get rewarded every once in a while for trying to read my opponent.
I practice 1v1s probably at least 10-15 hours a week. I don't have a lot on my plate right now and I devote a lot of time to starcraft. Clearly though, it doesn't seem to be helping. I try and play through my losses and my frustrations but I can't seem to make myself better for the effort. I watch my replays, I study progamers, and when I am really desperate and ask for help in the strategy forum. I don't know what to do anymore. I feel like with as much effort as I have put into trying to get better I should be knocking on the door of masters in the very least. I know plenty of people with far less effort who have gone much farther than I have. If anything, much to my frustration, I find I seem to be getting worse rather then getting better. Nothing I do seems to help.
The only thing I haven't tried is coaching... and frankly I can't afford it. I am going to start combing through the practice partners thread and see if I can't get some master levels players to lend me a hand. Maybe a solid zerg player might take me under their wing and show me what I am doing wrong. I am starting to get at the end of my rope though.. at some point I need to either get better with zerg or switch to a different races, because I can't justify all this fruitless hard work and frustration anymore.
Anyway, thanks TL for letting me rant and QQ on here. If anyone wants to help me please send me a message.To everyone else thanks for reading  .
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If you don't know what you're doing wrong, you need to figure out what you're doing wrong. You can't just play and hope that something changes. Even if it's not the best coach having another eye on your play can be nice for improving.
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I'm a diamond T who sucks vs zerg. We could both practice and be terrible at starcraft together?
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Yeah. :/ I too feel like I've hit a wall.
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On July 18 2011 15:02 PopeTimusPrime wrote:
I'm a diamond T who sucks vs zerg. We could both practice and be terrible at starcraft together?
lol sure .
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PopeTimus.893
Froadac you're welcome to come be terrible with us 
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Lol. Yeah, add me. Froadac.469
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I personally find it sickening to play z on my high diamond account but its 'ok' on my mid masters account - I know what you are talking about. I faced the same thing a while back and had an account demoted out of masters which really pissed me off. My cure? Give up on zerg and play terran. Since then, I'm winning most of my games and making real headway. [that comment isn't some balance complaint just maybe I am better at terran? Read into it what you want however its the truth].
Alternatively try finding some people to help you out as you said, you could also ask in the TeamLiquid channels on bnet? That might help.
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Keep at it man... I'm in the middle of the most horrendous losing streak. It's the most fucking frustrating thing in the world to know what is happening and FAIL at holding it off (I lost to two 4-gates today), but try and stay relatively consistent with your play and mentality. I eventually stabilize... the key here is to not lose your shit and drastically change the way you approach the game TOO much, both in mentality and playstyle.
From another floundering zergie ♥
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Feel free to add me on NA RevUlfsark.627
We can play a few games and I can point out any obvious mistakes you did etc.
Gl man, Just keep having fun. I was at a similar point I just studied some replays and learned some new builds. I just didn't use new builds ever so my old ones were bad or just outdated.
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Don't worry, on the day that GM came out ever protoss decided to 4-gate like a korean pro gamer and make me lose my initial GM spot. I think I lost 16 ZvPs that day or something ridiculous like that, don't feel bad.
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I'm in exactly the same spot, including the lack of cash for coaching : ). High diamond who was playing masters and winning my fair share 2 weeks ago. Lost 18 of 25 and back down losing to diamond players to lame stuff such as 4 gates and mass void rays. If you want to practice zvz add trias.418. Or if anyone in a similar boat that reads this wants to practice as well.
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I think you are your greatest enemy here, you are obviously not fixing your mistakes. you say that about half of the time you know whats coming and yet you still lose. imagine if you sat down, looked at the replays just fixed your play. the only time you would lose is when you don't know whats coming or something you've never faced before.
but it's ok I understand you because I felt the same way when I was on a 45 game losing streak. But after that last loss I said "you know what, I'm gonna sit and watch this replays to see what could I have done to avoid this/stop this or where could I improve." so yeah I took notes and now I'm a 1750~ master.
So don't sweat it, look at your mistakes, fix them and game on.
p.s. after every game look at the replay no matter if you won or lost and point out whatever you could have done better.
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Every person who has learned a skill like playing an instrument, or writing or sports etc has gone through this experience. It's a negative mindset which blinds you to obvious solutions. It's also common to not concentrate on the simple things correctly because after so long it all becomes automatic.
Anyway, my point is that this is normal, and you can work through it and get better either with advice or on your own.
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Well played a few more on the ladder and practiced some more. I at this point I am being pitted up against mostly platinum players and losing... I think I am in inline for a demotion at any time now. Its really frustrating to play... seems like I have to react near perfectly to whatever my opponents are doing or I just lose. I was two raxed, went pool first, held it off, only to lose to a blue flame hellion transition a few minutes later. I probably could have held against the hellions if I knew they were coming... although I don't know how I could have "known", or dealt with other options like cloaked banshees, thor/scv all in, or a variety of other possibilities.
Then I played a protoss who went forge FE, scouted their base, saw the dark templar and the blink stalker, prepared for the DTs, but they attack after I made one too many round of drones and I died. I am tried of losing horribly when I miss macro by the thinnest of margins.
At this point I am seriously considering quitting sc2. I could switch to protoss and play as them... but I like zerg. I would want to stick with them. But the frustration and the aggravation isn't worth it; not to be arrogant or vindictive but I am tired of losing to less skilled players who have one build they have practiced over and over again. Tired of losing to all-ins and harrasment because I don't have the sixth sense to know exactly whats coming and when. I feel like as zerg I have to have 10 million different builds and transitions in mind in every matchup if I want to make it to the mid game at all. Super frustrating. I guess overall I am just really discouraged.
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I think it's a part of the game to get so incredibly frustrated and feel like you wont be able to advance at all. I think we all have wanted to throw our keyboard out the window out of frustration, as the nature of the game is devoting a decent amount of time and person to a build that you want to succeed. The wins are sweet, but the losses are devastating.
A lot of people quit in the lower leagues. I remember when i was just starting, how rude it seemed everyone was. I gladly made it out of the bronze and silver leagues and getting into gold and platinum the overall attitude changed. You see oeople who were dedicated to trying to improve themselves and their skills. Some in more ways than others, but you dont get to diamond on sheer luck.
One important thing to remember is that there are so many different styles of play, to be a well rounded player and be able to deal with any style thrown at you takes a lot of practice. Also, we all need to be aware of what our strengths are, and where our weaknesses are. Granted, in This type of game we may be overly advanced, even against highly ranked players. However, in That kind of game, a strong cheeser, or all in build from a lower league player might be too much to handle.
Dont give up, just remember that you're learning your weaknesses. That's something everyone has to do before they find their way to the Masters. There is definitely a way to get through it, and surely you will learn it as well. Just don't give up on yourself.
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Ive hit that mid-high wall diamond Zerg wall also I feel your pain
-my problem is the same as yours, punishing your opponents agressive or greedy builds.
Lucky for me I got a 2nd account thats also diamond Zerg, I am using it this season3 as random, (i havent even touched the other races until now been playing since beta) Started doing random last night
I hope to learn timings and what my opponent can be doing and how much he invested into this attack......etc
I go on my random account after losing 3 on my zerg account. It less stressful playing random cause Im expecting myself to lose but sometimes I dont.
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Practice macro and change builds if their not giving you the results you want. Especially in zvz and zvp it's important to learn a broad build that can deal with early pressure. ZvT is hellish dynamic atm so I don't really have a good solution for that.
I'm low masters so no different from you.
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EPT
