EPTWell, mostly great.
I'm just going to say it: The SC2 Strategy forum has taken a massive nosedive. While saying this I realize even I was part of the problem: everybody feels like they've got an uber gosu strategy, and feel entitled to post it on the strategy section. A while back I posted an opening that i happily labeled "A ZvX ling bane everythign fasdfasdf awesome win mega build!" before I realized every folly of my mistake. First, it was originally a ZvT build, and it was incredibly dumb in every other matchup, and incredibly risky in ZvT in the first place. Secondly, it wasn't a build, it was a set of timings, a set of ideas. I based the whole thing off of a nice timing for an opening that I gleaned from the spanishiwa build, netting you speed, and a queen at each hatch at the same time. Was it refined down? Sure. Was it useful? No. It certainly didn't warrant it's own thread.
I fell down the same tunnel that many other people fall down. And nearly every strategy post comes down to the same thing: people saying "not pro, didn't read", or "not viable in higher leagues", along with many other posts that will essentially shoot down the build and leave the thread off to die.
Why is this an issue? There is the possibility for some value to be gleaned through ideas presented, but they don't warrant a full thread.
There was a golden age in the forum for a time, where the game was still incredibly young. iEchoic showed Terrans a whole new style of play that was leaving Zerg players lost and frustrated. His build was actually the thing that inspired me to start playing SC2 again. People like Spanishiwa taught the swarm to think differently. Players like NesTea and Losira showed us that you can get away with highway robbery against a FFE. Destiny rallied the Zerg together and helped us realise that we've had a Swiss army knife in our arsenal for the longest time, and never realised it. These are just several examples of major, refined changes and ideas that were incredible for their era in the metagame.
These are also what deserve spots in the official TL Strategy forum. As a person who visits many many times every day, the content presented is 9/10 boring, unhelpful, and unprofessional. The TL mods do an incredible job of weeding out poorly presented threads (such as the one I presented), especially with the criteria presented for the forum. The issue here is this: even if a thread can meet all criteria, it doesn't necessarily make it valid or helpful. It forces it to be well organized, but well organized garbage is still garbage. As the saying goes though, one man's trash can be another man's treasure.
This is where I begin my proposal(s).
I will begin by saying that I'm a huge fan of theorycrafting. This does already exist in the strategy forum on a small scale with the [D] tag. I believe that it promotes thinking outside of the box, and can lead to some interesting new ideas. I'm talking about the kind of theorycrafting that leads to actual progress, though. Creating ideas is fun and all, but without implementation/testing, it means nothing. If you can get many minds working, testing, and implementing though, then that could be an incredible force to be reckoned with.
So what am I proposing?
1. Create a Theorycrafting subforum. Enforce the same level of quality as the strategy forum, but with a focus more on creation, instead of presentation. This will (ideally) allow for creation of new ideas, as well as refinement of any new ideas, and serve as a breeding ground for new styles. Bring over tag [D] for discussing theories, and create tag [I] for refinement of new ideas.
2. Create a separate forum for Help/advice. The Strategy forum currently houses any threads asking for help under the [H] tag. Helping people deal with issues is only loosely affiliated with the strategy itself, and creating a separate forum will help it foster a new focus on improvement.
3. Lock down on the [G] Threads. As I look over on the side menu, I see 2 [H] threads, a [D] thread, and a whole [G] by TangSC on a 14/14 baneling bust. As KawaiiRice aptly put it:
On October 10 2011 00:38 KawaiiRice wrote:
I'm impressed you wrote so much on a 1 base baneling bust but... Who loses to that with 2rax lol maybe if they don't scout if you exp or not... And the title is so misleading
I'm impressed you wrote so much on a 1 base baneling bust but... Who loses to that with 2rax lol maybe if they don't scout if you exp or not... And the title is so misleading
I don't mean to pick on TangSC, but he was just the first thing on the list, so I chose him to use as an example. The thread was simply a 1 Base Baneling Bust, off of a 14/14 opening. It was made a day ago, and yet it's a standard opener using a tactic common since the beta. Does this truly deserve a thread? I don't mean any offense to Tang, and I'm not criticizing him. I just believe that it doesn't warrant a spot in the Strategy Forum, along with hundreds and hundreds of other threads that are created. The Strategy forum will become a prime place to find legitimate, refined, viable strategies to work on. It can also be the next step for anything viable made in the theorycrafting forum.
This also will go hand in hand with TL's initiative to revive the Liquipedia. Limiting down the Strategy forum will also lead to a higher quality and lesser quality of builds to be placed in the Liquidpedia.
What will this result in?
The Strategy forum will become a hub for refined, efficient, effective strategies. It will be way less cluttered, and become a much more useful reference tool for aspiring/practice players. It will also direct players who would normally make a whole [G] thread on their build break it down into applicable ideas to take to the theorycrafting forums, where they could (if useful) be implemented into something effective.
I realize that this I'm not the man doing the work, and it's easier said than done. I also realize that I'm in no position of authority. This is just my proposal for a way to further the SC2 community, and allow for stronger, more focused attention on the metagame. Am I right? Maybe not. But just take these ideas into consideration.
TL has undoubtedly the most incredible and respectable community in the world. This is a forum devoted to proper discussions, with razor sharp mods, and a (mostly) mature community of users. You won't find anything like it anywhere else. With some of these changes, I believe that we can reach a whole new level of strategy.
I thank anybody that read my whole post, and would like to hear any other ideas/feedback.
It sounds like a good idea. Though, it might end up being too unwieldy to be practical.
