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Dear diary,
Today I wanted to practice sc2 so that I could try to become a better gamer.
I got into high level koths, but when I failed to defend a 2rax bunker rush in ZvT because I made drones out of habit instead of zerglings, I was insulted ("fag lol!") and laughed at until I left the game.
In fact, I lost every single game that I tried to play today.
The Practice Partner thread here is unreliable because either no one listed is online or they ask what my league is and then laugh at me for wanting to practice.
The one or two people who do end up saying that they will practice with me just hang around for 1 or 2 games, play in a half-assed manner, then decide to flake and go do something else (like monobattles) instead.
I go into my clan's Ventrilo server but (like always) nobody is playing Starcraft. Every time I go there, nobody is playing or interested in practicing, which is a shame because I originally joined the clan so that I could have more opportunities to train and become better.
I go to the teamliquid teamspeak server and (like always) its empty. Everyone there isn't interested in playing Starcraft... and the ones who are there to play Starcraft are on the EU server. (also if I don't talk for 5 minutes I get automatically kicked from it... so even if I could find someone to play with... once the match started we'd have to reconnect afterward by clicking on the link on the TL homepage because you can't reconnect through a bookmark)
I try to play the daily tournaments on that website called z33k so that I can get to play against good people at least once per night, but... http://www.z33k.com/users/11634
This picture sums up my experiences at trying to become better at sc2 pretty well:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/6hkHk.jpg)
:'c
 
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Just ladder a lot, that's the best way to get better if you aren't already like high masters level.
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I've been in the competitive community for a long time in many games. I've never seen people who were any good use laddering as their method of practice.
And I would improve faster if I were to play against people who are much better than me as opposed to people who are more on my level. Mediocrity is unsatisfactory, especially when its forced upon me because I blew my placement matches.
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On July 22 2011 14:22 rkffhk wrote:
I've been in the competitive community for a long time in many games. I've never seen people who were any good use laddering as their method of practice.
And I would improve faster if I were to play against people who are much better than me as opposed to people who are more on my level. Mediocrity is unsatisfactory, especially when its forced upon me because I blew my placement matches.
that might be true if you want to be a pro. but if you just want to be someone who can hold their own vs 99.9% of players, ladder is the way.
ladder can also be a good way to find a practice partner. you are matched against people around your skill level, who are interested in 1v1, so just ask them for more games or whatever.
also you wont learn anything playing people way better than you. the best people to practice with would be around your skill level but just a tad bit higher. you cant start lifting 100 pound weights before you can lift the 50 pound ones.
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what server are you on, and what league? If i had a practice partner, I'd be more motivated to get better.
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ladder without worrying about win/loss. Just practice your build, your scouting, your timings, game sense, minimap awareness, crisis management, whatever it is you are working on. Ladder is actually great practice.
On July 22 2011 14:42 esla_sol wrote:Show nested quote +On July 22 2011 14:22 rkffhk wrote:
I've been in the competitive community for a long time in many games. I've never seen people who were any good use laddering as their method of practice.
And I would improve faster if I were to play against people who are much better than me as opposed to people who are more on my level. Mediocrity is unsatisfactory, especially when its forced upon me because I blew my placement matches. that might be true if you want to be a pro. but if you just want to be someone who can hold their own vs 99.9% of players, ladder is the way. ladder can also be a good way to find a practice partner. you are matched against people around your skill level, who are interested in 1v1, so just ask them for more games or whatever. also you wont learn anything playing people way better than you. the best people to practice with would be around your skill level but just a tad bit higher. you cant start lifting 100 pound weights before you can lift the 50 pound ones.
edit:
I kinda agree with this post ^^
Playing with people that are better than you is useful if you look at the replay and understand what they did better, what you did poorly etc, but you can get that from watching pro replays/streams/tournies.
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On July 22 2011 14:44 aidnai wrote:
ladder without worrying about win/loss. Just practice your build, your scouting, your timings, game sense, minimap awareness, crisis management, whatever it is you are working on. Ladder is actually great practice.
The pros disagree
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kzoAxis.870
active around 8pm est. be happy to practice with you. dont mind at all. but again. ladder is the best place for practice. dont play to win. play to practice.
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On July 22 2011 14:45 rkffhk wrote:Show nested quote +On July 22 2011 14:44 aidnai wrote:
ladder without worrying about win/loss. Just practice your build, your scouting, your timings, game sense, minimap awareness, crisis management, whatever it is you are working on. Ladder is actually great practice. The pros disagree
*Some* pros disagee. Look at the korean grandmaster ladder--it's like a who's who of korean pros, and they all have hundreds to thousands of ladder games logged.
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Aotearoa39261 Posts
On July 22 2011 14:45 rkffhk wrote:Show nested quote +On July 22 2011 14:44 aidnai wrote:
ladder without worrying about win/loss. Just practice your build, your scouting, your timings, game sense, minimap awareness, crisis management, whatever it is you are working on. Ladder is actually great practice. The pros disagree
Kas says hi.
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Just play ladder with an overarching goal.
"I'm going to try and never let my minerals/gas get over 600 in my next 10 games."
or
"I'm going to try and not get supply blocked in the first 10 minutes of the game in my next 10 games"
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On July 22 2011 14:45 rkffhk wrote:Show nested quote +On July 22 2011 14:44 aidnai wrote:
ladder without worrying about win/loss. Just practice your build, your scouting, your timings, game sense, minimap awareness, crisis management, whatever it is you are working on. Ladder is actually great practice. The pros disagree
I don't understand this aversion towards laddering, it's not like it's going to be unproductive. I got to where I am just by laddering and watching videos.
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On July 22 2011 14:45 rkffhk wrote:Show nested quote +On July 22 2011 14:44 aidnai wrote:
ladder without worrying about win/loss. Just practice your build, your scouting, your timings, game sense, minimap awareness, crisis management, whatever it is you are working on. Ladder is actually great practice. The pros disagree
You think pros think Laddering won't improve your skill, and only getting practice partners will help. Therefore, you don't ladder.
Apparently people won't practice with you because of whatever league you are in on the ladder is low or something.
You don't want to ladder to correct this problem that is (apparently) making people not want to practice with you.
Let me know if I made any mistakes here.
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United States906 Posts
If you're below low-Masters then the only practice you need is ladder
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Stop being depressed.
You are gold right? Go ladder.
If you win. Dance party.
If you lose. Buffcraft.
You are obviously trying to use as many resources as possible to improve your skills. But when all fails, why not go with the most basic and simple way? LADDER.
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until you hit masters ladder is all the practice you need. Till then you can't do everything you need to be doing in the first place. So I'm not sure where your "pros disagree" statement comes from when you are in gold. Just focus on improving your game play and get into a habit of using hotkeys during the game. Properly.
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The pros think ladder is bad practice for themselves and other pros. For the common man, it is the best tool.
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Dear rkffhk,
It's clear to me that your lack of success in getting what you want is due to the following reasons:
1. What you want is impractical
You want some high-level player to spend hours training some gold level player? That's essentially what you are asking for, because once they roll you, you will ask a few questions, then ask to see the replay together, then ask for re-game, ad infinitum. This type of parasitic relationship is neither novel nor beneficial to the stronger player, because while you may get better from their advice and from getting rolled, they probably don't improve at all or actually get worse because playing against low-level players does that to a person.
Solution: Get a paid coach, don't try to con someone into being a free trainer for you just because they feel pity for you.
2. Your attitude is utterly negative and unpleasant
Your approach is, as far as I can tell - go into channel, ask for game, see that others are playing chatcraft, post a sad face, give up, and blog about it on TL. Here you have shown just how emo your response to this situation is, now tell me why would anyone want to spend prolonged periods of time with a lower level player if that player is also very negative and hyper-sensitive? The downsides just keep piling up. Look at how you described the few people you already had a few games with: you baselessly assume that they didn't care (which means they didn't really try), and you say they "flake" after only a few games. If I were to log on and play 2 games with you, maybe make a few mistakes, and then go eat dinner, how would I be any different from these people that you spoke so negatively about? I find it rude and ridiculous to talk about the people you play with in this manner, while in the same breath asking for more people to play with you.
Solution: Mature a little, realize the absurdity of your perspective, achieve emotional stability and hopefully enlightenment.
3. You are stubborn in the face of great opposition
The very people who would potentially game with you after you made what is essentially a whine blog about not having practice partners are alienated. Why? Because you are stubborn. Telling everyone that ladder is useless and no one ever got good by laddering is a slap in the face to every successful person on ladder. If laddering was pointless, why would anyone do it? Apparently "pros" DON'T disagree with the ladder method, because guess what? They ladder. And they are at the top. All of this speculation about what is good and what is bad for improvement sounds awfully hamfisted coming from a low-level player. Keep that in mind at all times - you are a low level player, your opinions on the game or improvement are more likely to be uneducated and simply wrong, especially in a community such as this one.
Solution: Go ladder and drop the pathetic attitude problem. You are not as smart as you think you are, otherwise you wouldn't be in the situation you are in now. At least intelligent people would know that you have to be personable in order to have practice partners. Posting "... sigh" as a response to legitimate criticism of your mentality betrays your true nature.
Synopsis: Mature a little, ladder a lot, and when you become good enough to be worth practicing with, practice with people who are your level or slightly better. In the meantime, whine less, open your mind a bit more, and step down from the podium you've constructed for yourself.
Sincerely,
Blunt
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EPT
