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Alright, I know that articles about "OMFG HELP ME PICK A RACE" get closed nigh instantly, so I decided to make it a blog post explaining my issue. Ok, here goes:
I am a platinum Protoss. I have always played Protoss, but lately I have been losing a lot lately. I'm not QQing about my race as it's probably my fault. (PvZ on close pos is so hard! :o ) Anyways, I often find my self considering switching race. I like to random 4v4's and 3v3's to get warmed up. And I seem to loathe rolling Protoss when I play random. As a Protoss player I look up to HuK, and Puzzle and the like but I just can't seem to play like them. I find that when I play I am waay more passive than they are. And when I watch what they do, I don't understand why they do what they do.
I then watch the GSL ZvZ finals. I watch the creative plays from both NesTea and LosirA. Like NesTea scouts the fast expo at the 4th set, and just pushes with lings and drones. Builds a SC. GG. And I sit there in awe, and suddenly really, really, wanting to play Zerg. Thing is; I suck at Zerg. But I do love their macro and the ability to have really mobile scout lings, and harassing mutas.
Next day, MLG Anaheim rolls around. I watch as the Korean T's bring in this creative Hellion play and the like, and I understand what is happening. I get why they do what they do. A protoss 3g FE's? Make cloaked Banshees! I also really love microing the Terran units. Stutter stepping and drops, they are so fun! I might not know a solid build or anything for Terran but I understand enough by playing against them as Toss.
TL;DR: I play Protoss, platinum level. I can understand what to do and why to do it as every race EXCEPT Protoss. I scout the enemy but.. I always stick to the standard. I play exceptionally passively. I don't know what to do when x happens or how to react to y. But with the other races, I do. :/... Should I bother attempting a race switch? Or am I like this because I still don't understand my own race?
Thanks for reading.
Xation;
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We're all equal and should be treated as such, I don't think race matters as much to people these days as it did back then. We're a more randomized world now.
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On August 02 2011 10:03 LonelyIslands wrote:
We're all equal and should be treated as such, I don't think race matters as much to people these days as it did back then. We're a more randomized world now.
How does this relate?
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I thought this was about racial issues, like... you know - the real life racial issues. I think that's what LonelyIslands thought, too. Guess he didn't bother reading the thread at all, huh?
Anyway, about switching race... you should only do it if you're really sure. I know it sounds tempting, as if you'll suddenly play better if you switch, but it doesn't really work that way. It looks easy when you're watching pros play, but in reality, it could be much more difficult for you. But if you really want to switch, and you feel like you'll have more fun as a zerg or terran, try it! You never know, right?
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I play toss as well. So why no go off the beaten path. For example, in PvZ on close positions i have been doing a 4 gate with blink. Kind of cheesy but its effective.
Or why to create a new strategy. It's challenging and a fun way to burn some ladder games.
Or you could just change races it's your decision.
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On August 02 2011 10:18 Xation wrote:Show nested quote +On August 02 2011 10:03 LonelyIslands wrote:
We're all equal and should be treated as such, I don't think race matters as much to people these days as it did back then. We're a more randomized world now. How does this relate?
It doesn't. Either he didn't read the OP or hes trolling.
Anyways about picking a race. I had this problem a lot when i was in plat too and basically i just played through it. You have to realize that as someone in plat your not going to be able to recreate anything that a pro does perfectly like being as aggressive as Huk. I suggest playing random a bit and truly finding out that its hard to do what the pros do no matter the race.
Once you kinda realize that your ability to preform with your race is based on your ability to preform not on the race itself you'll be able to (in my experience) have a lot more fun playing 1v1s and be able to work at things more efficiently.
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If you read the rest of lonelyisland's posts you'll find he's a really bad troll.
Honestly, I think it's just a case of the grass being greener. Switch if you want, but it doesn't really matter. Or stay random I suppose.
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Protoss is a fairly predictable race in SC2, at least for now. 3gate expo into one of two things; citadel or colo. Most zerg compositions counter both, and terran is doing MMM regardless, it's just a question of am i switching to viking or getting a few ghosts? Protoss is in a tough spot right now, PvZ is extremely hard and terrans are becoming so smart and efficient. I just suggest doing something you have fun doing, whether it be playing toss or switching or randoming. Nobody is in it to not have a good time.
EDIT: Stargate play is viable as well, it's just also rather predictable and easily countered by both; And sort of all-inish and turtley, imo.
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Actually I thought about real world race issues and then seen it was SC2 and started typeing and my thoughts combined the two!
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Thank you all for your replies. I will keep what has been said in mind. I have been doing some research more into Protoss about unit compositions and about efficient scouting methods and such. Because I do love Toss. I'm just not sure what I love about them.
So why no go off the beaten path. For example, in PvZ on close positions i have been doing a 4 gate with blink. Kind of cheesy but its effective.
I have just tried doing that in the past two games I played against Zerg, and it worked wonders on that MU for me. I was able to actually get a contain and force many roaches and spines. Thank you.
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You know, if you don't like protoss, or enjoy the race, or have fun playing that race in general, switch. It seems pretty simple to me. Try out all the races a bit more until you decide which one you like the best, just remember, have fun with it.
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On August 02 2011 10:55 Mayor wrote:
You know, if you don't like protoss, or enjoy the race, or have fun playing that race in general, switch. It seems pretty simple to me. Try out all the races a bit more until you decide which one you like the best, just remember, have fun with it.
I do like Protoss. It's just all the other races seem.. "that much more" then mine. In terms of harassing units, drop play, and dynamic build orders.
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I think that you're looking at the flashy aspects of Zerg and Terran, admiring them, and then struggling to find a mechanic of equal coolness in Protoss. I think lots of players agree that toss is the most unexplored race in terms of builds and strategies- it'll grow with time. Incontrol once said in an interview that he thinks toss is the race that rewards you the most for approaching the game at a very high intellectual level. Whether or not that's true, it goes to show that the coolness in protoss isn't always in being flashy, but how well you can do things like manipulate your opponent's play.
Also, have you seen how we can warp in units ANYWHERE? THAT'S SO FUCKING COOL.
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Honestly in the end it all comes down to the player. What you will find is at each league there will be a skill gap. For example, in plat pvz its harder for the toss as you try to emulate the pros but for some reason fail. The reason is the skills needed for toss at the plat level that are needed to be successful is things like scouting all ins and force fields. You will see players like Huk hold a roach push with amazing ff's and then you play a zerg who goes roach and you get rolled.
If you switch to another race you will notice things like that as well. A zerg in plat that plays pvz then the next game plays a diamond protoss will see this huge leap in race specific skills like ff's. You see it with things like drops as terran and the ability to macro and harass as zerg.
Also its easy to watch players like MVP and MMA and go, wow if I played terran and did drops I could win so many more games! But macroing while taking your 3rd and dropping at 2 different bases while making sure there are no ling run bys is harder then it looks. Also it will be frustrating when things like drops get stopped by the other player and your one ace in the sleeve has failed.
Having played protoss would help you as another race as you have a feel for the timings and you know what is annoying for a protoss player but I wouldn't switch unless you really aren't liking protoss anymore, its frustrating switching races and playing at a level much lower than your used to.
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I know how you feel, man. Toss just feels so dumb and clunky sometimes, especially back when colossus was the only way to go into the mid game. However, toss has many perks, some flashier than others. Let me list the things I love about playing toss, and maybe we can keep one more toss player on the ladder so we can 4gate each other indefinitely. Jk
1) Warp ins and reinforcing: I loathe playing terran because of this. You make a push, it starts to run out of steam, and you got to move your reinforcements all the way to your opponents base. You can lose a lot of momentum that way. Zerg is not so bad, but when you got a big nasty ball of enemies sitting in your base, your reinforcements stream in at all different times and angles. Pain in the ass to deal with. With toss, you throw down a proxy pylon and pressure for however long as you want, easily. A hidden pylon is like a pseudo drop. And on the defensive, you can warp in an army in a safe location and push your opponent out when the time is right.
2) Sentries: Forcefields are the SHIT. Seriously, these first 2 reasons are why I chose to play toss to begin with. FFs can be so much fun, and give you the potential to absolutely manhandle your opponent. Of course, it's a double edged sword. You need a lot of FFs in PvZ most times, and it just feels wrong when your equal food army with solid composition just gets trounced by mass roaches because you didnt have sentries or energy.
3) Easy macro: I'll be the first to admit it, toss has got the easiest macro. Chronoboost allows you to catch up if you forget something, ANYTHING, be it probes, upgrades, or units. Warp ins are great, compared to having to inject larva like a bitch every ~25 seconds or having to sprawl your base out onto the battlefield because you have 10+ raxs. Plus, probes warp shit in. The protoss are obviously the smartest race for these conveniences.
Of course, toss dont have the mobility of zerg or the mad dropping power of terran. Your units suck by themselves and, despite being almost universally stronger than all the other races' units, get trounced by the crazy cost effectiveness of MMM dps or roach fortitude. Toss got a lot of tricks though. Composition, positioning and targeting really matter. Plus, terran is imba and zerg sucks off 1 base, you dont want to play those races.
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I completely relate to your situation. In 4v4 I random, can play all races with ease and know what I'm doing. But when 1v1 ladder fear isn't bending me over my desk I like to main as Terran. I love Startale_Rainbow's and I guess QXC's playstyle. But my dumb European fingers can never match their crazy drop in main whilst pushing the front and microing at their third with brue frame.
Protoss doesn't have this problem I feel as you can either mass up 200/200 and A move LOL across the map, or use blink stalkers which I have pretty decent micro with thanks to KiWiKaKi. And I don't like the vulnerability of my Zerg play at the beginning of the game. Deciding on drones or attacking units is my biggest flaw.
If you find a solution to being able to stick with one race, I would love to hear it since I've switched race more times than I have underwear in the past month. 
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EPT
