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So I haven't ever really played 1v1s in SC2 before but everyday I play 3-4 4v4s and some random maps like Nexus wars with a friend. I have never really had the ability to leap into the 1v1 or anything seriously. A lot of nerves rack up and a lot of questions and wonders of what could happen. But I have some questions for everyone in here.
When you all first started playing, (weather it be SC2 or BW or such,) how did you pick your race and stick with it? And did you ever feel nervous when playing and did it ever hold you back? And how did you overcome the feeling?
Whenever I search up a 1v1 (which isn't very often) I do get quite nervous and can never seem to overcome the feeling and it always seems to keep me away from play. Then there is the whole other side of I'm not to sure what race to even use or how to do anything (I currently play Zerg.) I do watch a lot of Day[9] and everyday I am watching streams on twitchtv. I am a huge fan of Destiny and several other streamers like WhiteRa, Sheth, all the Eg members, TLO and a lot more. So I'm not like completely out of the blue when it comes to SC2. I know a bit about it, but when it comes to sitting down and playing, I'm at a complete loss at what to do or anything. Anyone have any advice or insight to anything?
That's all I could really think of for this Blog entry and I'm sure i will post more blogs as I can into SC2 more.
 
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When you all first started playing, (weather it be SC2 or BW or such,) how did you pick your race and stick with it? And did you ever feel nervous when playing and did it ever hold you back? And how did you overcome the feeling?
I picked Zerg for reasons I'll never understand (I should have picked terran...even menial things like switching add-ons and lowering depots makes me feel like a pro).
Nervousness never really bugged me. If you're worried about losing, don't. The worst thing that could possibly happen would be some guy calling you a horrible scrub as you get 1a'ed by something you couldn't scout. It's no big deal; block them and see what you could have done better in the replay. Just play, just play, yay yay.
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When I started, I got so nervous playing 1v1s that I could only play 1 or 2 matches at a time. Then, I'd have to take a break because of how fatigued I'd get.
Then I realized that the opponent is feeling the same thing and that even my opponent will be prone to mistakes, no matter how far up the ladder I get.
But the biggest source of calming is that I realize that the opponent, no matter how good he or she may be, is still restricted to the rules of the game like I am. A single base can only bring in such and such amount of income at a time. 2 gateways can only make such and such number of units at a time, and even if I see 4 gateways, I know that if my opponent pumps out a large number of troops, the game limits him to have a slower economy later.
And there's nothing bad in losing. Everyone wins and everyone loses, and no amount of earthly skill will let you win every time. Meanwhile, a 20 loss streak sucks but what will it really affect? So what's there to be nervous about?
As for race, I started with toss but experimented with all the races. I liked how zerg felt (fast, aggressive strikes at multiple locations), so I stuck with it. I recommend trying all the races for a while at the beginning, even if there's a certain one you really want to main. One of the best ways to understand how to counter the other races is try and get the feeling of each of them yourself. But that's just imo and it worked out for me.
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My friend was also nervous and anxious/scared about going to have a 1v1 match. After looking at some threads here one person suggested to put a requirement. You have to play at least X number of games per day. I told my friend to have 2 games a day. And from there maybe after week a so you get spur of competitiveness, like you lost 2 close games and you know you want to end the day with a win so feel free to find another one. But don't get too overboard or else you may just demotivate yourself if you for ex: lost ur 3 next games on top of the 2. Hopefully that answers one of your questions
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I played Terran at first since I played them in BW, then I switched to Zerg cause of Slayers_Cella (at the time cellawerra)... and ultimately switched and stuck to Protoss. Everything just felt right haha.
I had ladder fears at first, but once you change your mindset from "fearing losses" to something positive like, "playing to have fun", it really changes your attitude towards laddering.
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Thanks for posting everyone 
But the biggest source of calming is that I realize that the opponent, no matter how good he or she may be, is still restricted to the rules of the game like I am. A single base can only bring in such and such amount of income at a time. 2 gateways can only make such and such number of units at a time, and even if I see 4 gateways, I know that if my opponent pumps out a large number of troops, the game limits him to have a slower economy later.
I had ladder fears at first, but once you change your mindset from "fearing losses" to something positive like, "playing to have fun", it really changes your attitude towards laddering.
it isn't so much as "fearing losses" it's the fear of everything going on. Thinking of all the possibilities that could go on in the game, opponents skill (even tho I'm in bronze, I've played people who have been playing a while and do know what they are doing and such,) what I have to do to win, have to remember x thing and x time and so on. I don't mind losing so much because I know I can learn from it and improve. it's just the general feeling of everything going on is so much more then I can handle and it puts the pressure on and such. And from watching so much streams and seeing so much, I kind have come to the point that I feel like I could play a million times better then i really do and I should already know so much and everything, when that clearly isn't the case.
As for race, I started with toss but experimented with all the races. I liked how zerg felt (fast, aggressive strikes at multiple locations), so I stuck with it. I recommend trying all the races for a while at the beginning, even if there's a certain one you really want to main. One of the best ways to understand how to counter the other races is try and get the feeling of each of them yourself. But that's just imo and it worked out for me.
I've played a 3 races. I liked Terran but it was a lot more then I could think, such as Bio, mech, timings, MACRO (screw you macro!) then buildings placement locations and it was a lot. i only did well with it because i had a build order I got online. But terran felt like to much so I stopped playing it. Then I went to Protoss (which i originally liked because it seems the coolest.) And there was a much bigger gap then I was expecting, such as is was just so much more then warp gates which it seems like a lot of times. So I ended up trying Zerg and have just been there since. I like that you do need so many buildings (such as barracks factories robos and everything) everything came from a hatch which you can keep all on the same hotkey so it's so much easier. And then because I watch so much Destiny I have just come to use the race and seeing all the plays it has to offer and how simple it looks (which I definitely know it isn't) it seems like it fits me best but then there is that gap of simply doing the basics to the advanced timings, then thinking about all of it goes into the nerves and everything.
Longer post then i was expecting to type, sorry for mistakes I made lol.
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Personally, I just picked Zerg because of fucking JulyZerg sauron zerg video. First proper SC video that I ever watched and it just engraved the beauty of just sending stuff to the opponent's base and not caring as everything gets wrecked. Never looked back, but obviously that's not the case for you.
Look, you can watch all the streams and all the VODs in the world. That still doesn't compare to the different variations in all the games ever. That feeling of "I've watched enough stuff, I should know how it works" holds for everyone until they start laddering - and then they hit the fear of the unknown, since they watch people play and get the general gist, but when you have to execute that shit down to the bones, including opponent-based variants, then you get shaky.
The solution is to seriously just play several games on ladder and subconsciously accept the fact that people are not going to a) do perfect liquipedia-approved BOs or b) select BOs that are easily countered by your build. Then you start relaxing and being like "ok now here's another game where I end up winging it", at which point you start reining yourself in and say "what can the opponent do/is the opponent going to do at this stage of the game given this situation early on", which is again myriads of stuff, but there are usually 'blanket defenses' for many situations. And then there's the fact that you are not NesTea/MC and don't need to have perfect drone-and-then-defense-at-the-last-moment or a perfect counter to a brilliant strategy - just one that does the job and does it not painfully.
As a last thing, when you're at the stage where you're actually thinking about "what do I do at this stage of the game after these builds", it's not you being at a loss necessarily b/c of whatever, it's the fact that the actual thinking and strategy to consistently and efficiently win takes a lot...a LOT...of damn thinking beforehand. For me (I might be a bit OCD) it's to the point where a single miss in supply 30-40 supply in pisses me off because I know what it affects and why I'm gonna be screwed if they do a sudden timing at that point.
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I still get nervous from time to time and I'm in platinum now (started in the bronze league).
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Dude 1v1 is scary shit the first time you play it. Protip: dont worry about winning. Every time you hit that find gam button, tell yourself its just practice, over and over. Its a lot less scary when you're just viewing it as gaining exposure to all-ins and experience than OMG HES WINNING
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Look, you can watch all the streams and all the VODs in the world. That still doesn't compare to the different variations in all the games ever. That feeling of "I've watched enough stuff, I should know how it works" holds for everyone until they start laddering - and then they hit the fear of the unknown, since they watch people play and get the general gist, but when you have to execute that shit down to the bones, including opponent-based variants, then you get shaky.
Yeah. What i also meant by i should like know enough, I meant more like maybe "general" timings of buildings and such, and knowing a bit of what counters what and so on.
Dude 1v1 is scary shit the first time you play it. Protip: dont worry about winning. Every time you hit that find gam button, tell yourself its just practice, over and over. Its a lot less scary when you're just viewing it as gaining exposure to all-ins and experience than OMG HES WINNING
I personally don't think I see going into 1v1s as I should just win and such. I know I have end goals in mind for what i am going to hope to accomplish in what i want out of SC2. it's just how to take that first step in that game then coming to the fact of, I honestly have no idea what I should do.
And more looking at it, watching streams and VOD is more harmful then anything. because you sort of start to think that you could play like this, and you may get that expatiation of that you should be able to play like that an so on.
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I get nervous every time I play on the ladder. and I've only grinded out games on the 1v1 ladder ever since retail release. It gets real annoying when my hand shakes like Captain Miller's hand in Saving Private Ryan. But after playing a while, the shaking and nervousness goes away though.
Just keep practicing, and your nerves will calm down. Don't worry about stats for the ladder. They get wiped anyways. Keep them for checking up on progress if you want...
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I recently (last week) started 1v1, so I may have some insight here. Unlike you, though, I've never played any other SC2.
I picked my race by reading their strategy pages on Liquipedia, watching replays of the various matchups (especially mirror - in fact, I might go so far as to say you should pick the race you enjoy the mirror matchup of most), and watching Day[9] dailies. I ended up picking zerg because I like the larvae mechanic and being able to switch between drones and units (not to mention flooding different units) at the drop of a hat.
I never really get nervous or angry or sad or discouraged or anything like that about SC2. I guess I'm pretty unique in that, from what I've seen from other people on TL. Here's the perspective that makes it work for me. I'm not playing in a tournament. I'm not playing on a team. There's no cost if I lose, and no reward if I win. I'm literally only playing for fun and to get better - those are the only two goals. So if I lose a game, I try to have fun doing it and I try to learn from how I lost. If I win a game, I try to have fun doing it and I try to learn from how I won (and figure out ways I could have won earlier/more easily). That's really the best advice I can offer - don't take your losses that seriously and fatigue won't be an issue. I've averaged over 10 games/day since I started last week, and I still look forward to every chance I get to play, even when I'm tired or headachey or stressed or whatever.
Speaking of which, I've warmed up my fingers sufficiently typing this, so I'm gonna go ladder! Good luck!
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There's actually a pretty good liquipedia article about ladder anxiety. Some of it is pretty common sense but it might be worth a look:
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Dealing_with_anxiety
Also, you mentioned you watch streams/Day9/etc. One thing to keep in mind is that a lot of these guys play at a ridiculously high level. So if you're worried about everything that goes on in a game the chances are when you're just starting out you wont encounter half of it.
This really helped me get started laddering. Before I started playing i would watch streams and be like...ok i need to remember: build vikings vs collosis, need to drop his main, need ghosts to emp, need to expand, upgrade, micro/macro, expand, etc
...but when you start playing you'll realize you just need to learn a build or two and work on macro and when you encounter something new or something that owns you watch your replay and learn from it. This way, it isnt so overwhelming.
gl hf
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Well, I guess in reading all this, I came to this game in a competitive mindset that i should be playing better and doing more for something. I guess it is just hard for me to really be able to change my mind that laddering should be for fun and everything and I can't take the game seriously at all for a long time.
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Code, thank you for the link. Didn't know there was one. Some I need to look into are those. So once again thank you for that.
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EPT
