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Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States6046 Posts
August 12 2011 04:38 GMT
#1
Over the summer, I played a shit load of Starcraft. I started off really bad because I was in Diamond even though I haven't played in ages. So I nuked my rank down to Platnium, and I finally started playing people my level. I went into the game with a philosophy of taking every loss as a chance to improve and taking every win with dancing and cheering to make the game fun and keep me motivated. I was doing excellent. I had times where I would get 5 win streaks and my loss streaks would never exceed 3.

Then school came along. School is no big deal. I actually have a very easy semester, and I want to capitalize on it. But when I have work and school, I have literally 3 hours of free time assuming 6 hours of sleep. So usually, I use the free time on homework and going to bed early. Then I have random bullshit like being forced to go to religion class every other Sunday, mowing lawns, doing chores, ect. ect. On the up side, since my semester is so easy (I doubt it'll be next semester >_>), every day I have off is literally a day to myself (excluding school). The point I'm trying to get at is that my free time is inconsistent. Sometimes I have work three days in a row, sometimes I would have off 3 days in a row, sometimes work is every other day, ect.

Well due to this, I've been trying to squeeze SC2 into every ounce of free time I have. But recently, I've been kind of busy, so the 2 hours (1 of my 3 hours of time is spent for homework/facebooking/watching SC2 if anything) a night thing is kind of detrimental to my ladder rank because I would lose a few games because I'm warming up, then win back my ladder points because I'm finally "in the zone", then it'd be time to go to sleep. And it'd just feel like I wasted my time because all of my loses were from stupid mistakes. (miss a scouting timing, misplace an overlord to lose to a drop, ect.)

So I'd like to see if TL has any solutions to my [b]two major problems[b]. I need some kind of way to warm up without losing ladder points. 2v2's would seem good, but the strategies are unorthodox, sometimes completely cheesy, and I don't want to bother MonsieurGrimm everyday just to 2v2. 1v1 Practice Partners would seem good, but I don't have any, and I'll need enough to always have one on. However, the benefits outside of warming up would be extremely useful. I guess I'll go try to find some tomorrow. Lol, answering my own problem in my own help me blog. If anyone has any other ideas for my warming up problem, or would like to be my practice partner, just say so in the comments I suppose.

Now my other problem is if I should play during all of my free time or just in a few long sessions. Well I think the fewer and longer session solution is the obvious answer, but what if I get screwed one week and can't do a long session. My extended periods of free time are so random, that I might just not have enough free days to play SC2 to at least maintain my skill. My goal is to at least very slowly improve and maintain my skill from the summer. I could use holidays and stuff to improve, so as long as I have a plan to keep the skill I have when I'm busy. Would it even be possible to do such a thing since the nature of SC2 requires so much time to be even decent at? Should I lower my expectations when laddering? I'm really lost on this. I would like an answer before I would have to stop playing SC2 because I would be declining in skill instead of improving.

Anyway, thanks in advance for all of those who might help me get out of this dilemma. If anything is unclear in my blog, just ask. I wrote it in a stream of conscience style, and edited the format to ask questions instead of ranting. I'll answer tomorrow because I'm off to sleep!

*
Lmui
Profile Joined November 2010
Canada6219 Posts
August 12 2011 04:42 GMT
#2
1v1 metalopolis observer mode. It's inconsistent in terms of player quality but generally, you get to practice mechanics/builds and that's what really matters on ladder in plat/diamond.
fezvez
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
France3021 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-08-12 17:04:00
August 12 2011 17:02 GMT
#3
Honestly, I feel that there's no such thing as warming. Rather, there's a creeping fear of losing that you fight of by convincing yourself that ,yes, your level hasn't dropped. (this is indeed what "warming" is for)

The important point is that you shouldn't fear losing ladder points. Try to get this out of your head. If need be, lose 20 games in a row (you can still practice rather than disconnecting right at the beginning. Mass raven is possible option, storm drops another one, mass queen a third)

It's simply ladder fear.

+ Show Spoiler +
Though if you strictly can't do it, go on the channels "Looking for a custom game". At diamond level, there are always a bunch of players available)
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