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Hi, Teamliquid. Here again posting in this blog asking for help from you guys without contributing anything back  (Maybe if I get a nice computer for Christmas I can stream and teach people my strategy??)
Ok, so for a while now I have gotten home from school at 15:30 each day and can sit on the computer until 22:00 as long as I practice piano, trumpet and do my homework.
So basically each day I have 4-6 hours of time to play Starcraft, but I have been largely unmotivated to have a hardcore practice because I am not part of a team, so what do I want to fight for?
I promptly found myself in a catch 22, where I didn't want to improve without a team, but to be on a team I had to improve!
So basically my goal is to get on to a team (not even professional, just doing team leagues and practice) and during this Christmas break I know I'll spend at least 8 hours a day on the computer watching streams, doing 1v1, playing custom games. This is a very inefficient way to try to get better so if any of you guys can think of a good practice schedule for me, I promise I'll keep up with it.
I'm looking to do 2 practice schedules, one for school days (4-6 hours) and one for breaks and maybe weekends (8 hours).
The one thing that I don't want to do is sit there and ladder for 8 hours straight. I have spent the beginning of S3 (somewhere just before august) doing 30-40 games a day and I felt brain dead and not even improving my strategy. Perhaps my macro mechanics were getting increased, but if I wanted to improve something SPECIFIC, like focusing on microing my army to perfection, I would be too tired to even think about doing it.
I have no experience with how to practice Starcraft. I know how to learn a build order by entering Agria Valley over and over and practicing it until my eyes hurt, but I don't know how to improve any other mechanics efficiently and with a purpose.
Again I find myself at the end of my train of thought without a good conclusion. So I'll end with this, I've been spelling "practice" as "practise" and every time I have to right click it to spell it in the American way because the red lines bother me :S
 
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First point is when you do massive amount of ladder games, make SURE after every single loss you watch through the replay and figure out "Was I ahead?" "How could I have won that?" etc., so you actually improve. Sitting there and just playing a massive number of games won't really help, playing less games and analyzing replays will. Additionally, that'll give you a break from playing so you're not playing for 8 hours straight.
I would suggest coming up with a schedule that involves frequest breaks, to be healthy, like an hour of ladder then 15 minutes of break (watching a stream or something if you still want to be doing something starcraft-related) because the last thing you want is to overwork yourself and waste time not really improving.
If you get mad or frustrated at a loss, don't keep going, because you'll start tilting and losing more, but take a break and do something unrelated to starcraft completely until you have calmed down (I hear exercise works well if you're into that).
Unrelated: the word you're looking for in the title is regimen, not regime.
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Hmm, thanks. I don't deal with dictatorships much so I wouldn't know the difference between regime and regimen
(plus they are pronounced the same when you say them?)
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What league are you in now?
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mizU, I am 800 points in masters league North America.
I just want goals to work for each day and a good way to get to those goals.
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I think people put too much focus on mechanics. If you're at masters, your strategy needs help, not your mechanics.
Watch streams, try new styles and builds that you see.
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I have been told the contrary, that after practising macro mechanics from bronze to masters, it is time to learn all the other mechanics of the game. Most importantly for me, being my largest weakness, micro.
I can outmacro a protoss, have 3-3 with 200/200 food and lose to a 3-1 120/200 protoss army because my micro is so dismal.
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What they're saying is absolutely right, but I havn't gotten around to it myself having so much else to do, before I took a break I sorta just said 2 wins a day, and analyze any losses I get to see where I gone wrong, it was efficient, and I was improving everyday, but slowly :/, now i'm getting back to that, so just giving you an idea.
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On December 17 2011 10:23 Thaniri wrote:
I have been told the contrary, that after practising macro mechanics from bronze to masters, it is time to learn all the other mechanics of the game. Most importantly for me, being my largest weakness, micro.
I can outmacro a protoss, have 3-3 with 200/200 food and lose to a 3-1 120/200 protoss army because my micro is so dismal.
What race are you?
If you right click into a protoss army, yes you'll lose everything. But I'm sure you don't lose all the games you lose because of "poor micro".
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I play terran, and when people watch me play they are appalled at my army control.
Things like "wow, you ACTUALLY lost that..."
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The whole "watch every single replay" thing is kind of bogus. I mean- it's obviously crucial a lot of the time when you don't understand how you lost a lead, or need to know exactly where the weakness is in your build that the baddie poked at, but there's a bunch of games you really don't need to watch the rep for. Once you've lost and are about to GG is a pretty good time to think about where you went wrong.
30-40 games a day sounds like you're overdoing it. Maybe a Jinro or an Idra pulls that off (maybe my references are dated), but a first time weight lifter dosent lie down and bench 150. Similarly, you're way overstretching the limits of your concentration if you think you can go from sleeping through school for 2 hours at a time to intense concentration for 8 hours straight. The brain is a muscle- not literally- but the limits of your concentration and mental self control work like a muscle does, they need to be stretched and worked, but not torn.
Obviously you're a busy dude if you're learning 2 instruments and taking classes, so don't put too much pressure on yourself to excel in this other field. People work on this for a living- how much you can get out of it while maintaining your school life, social life, and other pursuits will be limited. Be patient too. You sound like you expect to be Ret in a few months if you play 30 games a day- not so. Most of the pros (foreigners and koreans) have been playing games obsessively for years, and now are playing sc as a living.
Lastly, and this might suck, a lot of being good at this game is really enjoying it. "Practicing a build order until your eyes hurt" dosen't sound like fun. Enjoy yourself on the ladder and experiment. You'll stick with SC a lot longer if you have fun with it, not punish yourself with it.
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On December 17 2011 12:52 Keyboard Warrior wrote:
Race and league?
Do you read ANY thread you post in?
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On December 17 2011 13:23 Lexpar wrote:
The whole "watch every single replay" thing is kind of bogus. I mean- it's obviously crucial a lot of the time when you don't understand how you lost a lead, or need to know exactly where the weakness is in your build that the baddie poked at, but there's a bunch of games you really don't need to watch the rep for. Once you've lost and are about to GG is a pretty good time to think about where you went wrong.
30-40 games a day sounds like you're overdoing it. Maybe a Jinro or an Idra pulls that off (maybe my references are dated), but a first time weight lifter dosent lie down and bench 150. Similarly, you're way overstretching the limits of your concentration if you think you can go from sleeping through school for 2 hours at a time to intense concentration for 8 hours straight. The brain is a muscle- not literally- but the limits of your concentration and mental self control work like a muscle does, they need to be stretched and worked, but not torn.
Obviously you're a busy dude if you're learning 2 instruments and taking classes, so don't put too much pressure on yourself to excel in this other field. People work on this for a living- how much you can get out of it while maintaining your school life, social life, and other pursuits will be limited. Be patient too. You sound like you expect to be Ret in a few months if you play 30 games a day- not so. Most of the pros (foreigners and koreans) have been playing games obsessively for years, and now are playing sc as a living.
Lastly, and this might suck, a lot of being good at this game is really enjoying it. "Practicing a build order until your eyes hurt" dosen't sound like fun. Enjoy yourself on the ladder and experiment. You'll stick with SC a lot longer if you have fun with it, not punish yourself with it.
I specified that all i wanted to do is to get on to a team and be able to practise. When I am at home wasting all this time and i want to use it for something that i love doing and i can be persoanlly be proud of.
Message from my phone :D
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On December 17 2011 15:07 Thaniri wrote:Show nested quote +On December 17 2011 13:23 Lexpar wrote:
The whole "watch every single replay" thing is kind of bogus. I mean- it's obviously crucial a lot of the time when you don't understand how you lost a lead, or need to know exactly where the weakness is in your build that the baddie poked at, but there's a bunch of games you really don't need to watch the rep for. Once you've lost and are about to GG is a pretty good time to think about where you went wrong.
30-40 games a day sounds like you're overdoing it. Maybe a Jinro or an Idra pulls that off (maybe my references are dated), but a first time weight lifter dosent lie down and bench 150. Similarly, you're way overstretching the limits of your concentration if you think you can go from sleeping through school for 2 hours at a time to intense concentration for 8 hours straight. The brain is a muscle- not literally- but the limits of your concentration and mental self control work like a muscle does, they need to be stretched and worked, but not torn.
Obviously you're a busy dude if you're learning 2 instruments and taking classes, so don't put too much pressure on yourself to excel in this other field. People work on this for a living- how much you can get out of it while maintaining your school life, social life, and other pursuits will be limited. Be patient too. You sound like you expect to be Ret in a few months if you play 30 games a day- not so. Most of the pros (foreigners and koreans) have been playing games obsessively for years, and now are playing sc as a living.
Lastly, and this might suck, a lot of being good at this game is really enjoying it. "Practicing a build order until your eyes hurt" dosen't sound like fun. Enjoy yourself on the ladder and experiment. You'll stick with SC a lot longer if you have fun with it, not punish yourself with it. I specified that all i wanted to do is to get on to a team and be able to practise. When I am at home wasting all this time and i want to use it for something that i love doing and i can be persoanlly be proud of. Message from my phone :D
Alright bud! I'm not telling you NOT to be ambitious, just trying to give helpful advice. Best of luck 
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Thanks everyone. Tommorrow i will try 8 hours. Blocks of 45 minute play and 15 minute rest, reflection, do other stuff. I just hope i don't start putting on weight because i might be going to eat food during these breaks :o
@lexpar, didn't mean to come off as defensive or angry towards your advice.
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On December 17 2011 09:31 Scisyhp wrote:
First point is when you do massive amount of ladder games, make SURE after every single loss you watch through the replay and figure out "Was I ahead?" "How could I have won that?" etc., so you actually improve. Sitting there and just playing a massive number of games won't really help, playing less games and analyzing replays will. Additionally, that'll give you a break from playing so you're not playing for 8 hours straight.
I would suggest coming up with a schedule that involves frequest breaks, to be healthy, like an hour of ladder then 15 minutes of break (watching a stream or something if you still want to be doing something starcraft-related) because the last thing you want is to overwork yourself and waste time not really improving.
If you get mad or frustrated at a loss, don't keep going, because you'll start tilting and losing more, but take a break and do something unrelated to starcraft completely until you have calmed down (I hear exercise works well if you're into that).
Unrelated: the word you're looking for in the title is regimen, not regime.
The reason i disagree with you first statement is:
As long as your Mechanics are not close to perfect it doesnt matter what build or how you lost it, Mechanics would always be the thing i'd practice first.
By Mechanics i simply meen not missing any production cycle and making no MASSIVE micro mistakes.
I'd start with the macro part and just a-moving 
Note: This will not lead to the highest win rate at first but it should improve massively and you can even practice vs AI if you wish
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On December 17 2011 10:23 Thaniri wrote:
I have been told the contrary, that after practising macro mechanics from bronze to masters, it is time to learn all the other mechanics of the game. Most importantly for me, being my largest weakness, micro.
I can outmacro a protoss, have 3-3 with 200/200 food and lose to a 3-1 120/200 protoss army because my micro is so dismal.
I would love to see the replay of a 200/200 3/3 food count army losing to a 3/1 120/200 army like... right now.
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On December 18 2011 02:30 -stOpSKY- wrote:Show nested quote +On December 17 2011 10:23 Thaniri wrote:
I have been told the contrary, that after practising macro mechanics from bronze to masters, it is time to learn all the other mechanics of the game. Most importantly for me, being my largest weakness, micro.
I can outmacro a protoss, have 3-3 with 200/200 food and lose to a 3-1 120/200 protoss army because my micro is so dismal. I would love to see the replay of a 200/200 3/3 food count army losing to a 3/1 120/200 army like... right now.
I've seen it happen usually involves 100 of the supply being in scvs though.
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EPT
