This has all been said before, it is nothing new but this has really been bothering me recently so I'm going to say it again. + Show Spoiler +
I shouldnt really have to defend myself here, I get asked this question a lot just because of my job. The reason why I'm not a pro gamer is a dual reason, I don't have the patience and it didnt really appeal to me. I find more enjoyment in watching the game than I do playing this is why I'm a caster.
I made this post because I'm tired of explaining individual parts of this post over and over again. Yes it is very basic because a lot of mid level players need to honestly just start over again. Many of you won't find it useful but I don't really care, some people out there will. Trying to break this down and make fun of it because I'm not a pro gamer myself is silly and childish because there are people out there who can legitimately benefit from some of the things I've written down here.
Yes you, I know there's a lot of Starcraft viewers who are casual they want to have fun. They want to improve but they don't really want to do much better than maybe go up a league, get out of bronze etc. So maybe that's not you, you want to be Masters you want to be a Grand Master, you want to be called a bonjwa, just like your name was Flash.
Does that appeal to you?
Okay first thing you need to do is drop everything you know about Starcraft
Stop pretending you know anything, you are now a newbie and you're starting over. Chances are you've already played this game to a varying degree and you've developed bad habits. You're Platinum? Too bad so sad, if you want to become a pro gamer the number one thing we're going to have to fix is your mentality. That begins with any pretense that you are even good at this game. You have to be willing to drop down to Bronze while learning how to actually play this game. Are you ready to do that?
Good? No you're not try again. Okay you ready now? No you're not but let us pretend that you are so that we can continue.
Mental State
This is the number one problem that most aspiring people face. Okay so you've finally worked up the courage to hit that find match button you play a few games, well then you walk away disappointed because you lost them all.
Now this is a major problem, the first thing you need to realize is that the road to becoming a pro gamer is a long one. You will have to work hard to get there; long term goals are required as well. In short you shouldn't focus on the short term, if you worry too much about this game and not getting better as a player you will force yourself into a plateau. you will hit a point where you don't seem to improve any more if you only try and win this current game not work towards a long term strategy.
In order to set yourself up to become a better player, hell I'll pretend I'm Day[9] for a second. In order to be a better gamer you need to realize that most likely you will have to become worse just to become better in the long run. That is what this is about, we're thinking long term and we're focusing on the long run
<Insert random stereotypical saying here about having to push before you can pull>
Okay here comes the hard part, you're with me up to this part. Everything seems pretty easy so far you're thinking that you can do this. Ready for the big one?
YOUR LEAGUE AND CURRENT RANK DO NOT MATTER
This one is the hardest one for most people to accept, if you drop down to Bronze while working on your long term plan then suddenly everything was a failure. If you get demoted while trying to improve obviously it meant you did something wrong.
No it doesn't.
You must learn how to play the game before you can learn how to win. Sure you will get wins along the way but this isn't what you should be focusing on to begin with. If you focus on wins you will develop bad habits and these will impede your overall progress. Let me repeat this one more time.
It does not matter if you win or not while you are first starting to play the game. Focus on your basic skill-sets and you will become a better player in the long run.
Okay yes this is boring, a lot of people cannot handle this, you're still allowed to play the game but something you will have to learn is how to separate play from practice which leads nicely into the next point.
Practice Regimes
First thing if you're going to get better you're going to need to practice, and this means understanding that practice is not the same as playing the game. In the same way that if you go to Football practice (Soccer if you're American) you very rarely actually play the game. While at practice you work on dribbling, you work on your footwork, shooting the ball, passing, endurance, and many other of the basic skill-sets.
These players are practicing they are not playing the game.
Okay let's translate this into StarCraft shall we? This means what while you are staring out you are learning the basics. These basics include but are not limited to in roughly the order of importance
Scouting
Macro
Multitasking
Micro
Strategy
Please note these are ranked in order for a player who is LEARNING the game. Once you have developed the basic skills of how to play the game these will re-order. To a new player you will most likely die to the ones on top before you do the ones below.
-When you are learning to play the game if you have no idea what your opponent is building you will get yourself into really bad situations that even good unit production cannot fix.
-Similarly if you have good scouting and strategy if you are not making enough units, if you are not chrono boosting effectively if you are not utilizing your macro mechanics you will have trouble being able to win the game.
-You can scout and produce units well but if you don't continue to macro while you are fighting you'll lose the followup battle.
-You will very rarely lose a low league game due to lack of Micro unless you literally just attack move and leave your army alone. Even then if you are macroing effectively and multitasking it is likely you might even still be able to win.
This list is straight forward you should focus on the top two first as well as learning your very basic build order first. Then as you feel like you're starting to master these you should move downwards on the list.
So we've defined what practice is have we?
Now this next part is what I was alluding to earlier. In order to practice effectively if you are limiting yourself to Ladder then you are doing it wrong. Find a good solid build order tester, there are TONS. You want one that will let you choose which race you're facing, it will generally allow you to automatically reset after 10 minutes and reset manually if you need to.
YABOT is a good example, it hasn't been updated in ages but it still works for our purposes. There are also more advanced examples you can find by just searching build order testers on TL reddit or many other sites.
The first thing you need to do is eliminate mistakes in your opening build. Please note that OPENINGS ARE NOT BUILD ORDERS
Choosing this as opposed to a 15 command center, or a gasless expansion are your opening builds. These are not build orders these are the basic tools you need to play the game. For protoss this includes a forge fast expansion up to where you build your cyber core, 1 gate expansion, 3 gate expansion, 1 gate robo, Nexus first etc. Zerg should learn how to do a speedling opening (not 6/10 pool versions), hatch first, fast banelings etc.
Your goal in learning how to do these is to be able to learn them so well that you NEVER make mistakes. You shouldn't have to think at all during this part of the game. If you find yourself focusing so much on this part of the game that you are unable to do simple things such as forcing your workers to mine only on the closest patches or block a hatchery with a probe then you most likely haven't practiced this part of the game enough.
So as a new player you will want to learn each of your race's basic openings you can find them here:
Scroll ALL the way to the bottom for your chosen race and find "general build orders" and "openings" you should know how to do all of those builds in and out. Cheese builds come later you can ignore those for now trying to learn cheese too quickly will lead into bad habits such as focusing on the short term and focusing too much on winning this game instead of improving as a player.
look for these
When to ladder
Once you have these basics set up, or you need a break from just grinding out the game you can ladder. It is acceptable to play for fun still in fact I would encourage it, if you grind this out too hard from the very start you will most likely wear yourself out. Just remember that we are working towards the long term and don't set stock into your rank until you are much further down on the skill list and working on strategy.
If you are the type of person who likes schedules schedule your practice regimes and include time for fun to begin with. If you are not enjoying the game you won't be able to stay with this for the long run.
Once you have these basics down you should now learn Build orders
Go back up to those liquipedia pages I linked and right under "general builds" there should be more specific builds listed under each matchup. These are what you should learn now, they are all variations on the openings that you were previous focusing on, this means that you can easily adapt your opening as you need to in order to turn it into the needed build order. Once again focus on being able to do these without making mistakes.
look for these
As you learn these builds more and more you should be learning about scouting and how to recognize the other player's openings and early build orders. This means you should probably read up on the other race's builds on Liquipedia so you can recognize them based on what you see. Let's move on to scouting before we come back to practice.
Scouting
The very basic skill of Starcraft, in order to do anything effectively you need to recognize what your opponent is doing. Learn opponent's build orders, learn when they build gas learn how to eliminate build orders based on what you see early on. When you scout early on you should look for particular things.
Refineries/assimilators/extractors and when they are built
Spawning pools/barracks/Gateways and when they are built
Are they producing workers?
Is the protoss saving up his energy or using it on probes? -Subpoint, if you're still in their base or you hid your scout and you see them still chrono boosting at 12+ supply check their gas it's possible they're doing some form of fast expansion.
These are the basic things to look for in any opening, at this point you've learned that certain build orders just don't work from certain openings. A protoss is most likely not going to get dark templars out in any timely manner if he goes nexus first. (Okay so yes they may try but if they do they will have no units and die to early pressure most likely)
By analyzing their opening you can narrow down what their initial gameplan is, these are the very basics of "Strategy" you will get better and better at this as you play more.
Putting everything together
Okay you know now how to perform a basic build order, how to scout and how to evaluate what your opponent is doing. This means you should now start to learn how to choose which build in which situation. If you are going for a dark templar all-in and you see that your opponent has chosen to open up with early detection this is probably not a good idea.
Start to think of Strategy in terms of maps not just matchups but maps as well. The biggest map in the map pool is less likely for a 6 pool to work. Advanced strategy comes not only from matchup information but maps as well. On a map with a very easily defended natural going for early pressure builds are going to be tougher. While a map like Xel'naga with a wide open natural allows for you to apply pressure more easily early on.
If you are going for a gasless expansion as terran and you see your opponent has multiple gateways and a robotics you are going to very shortly need bunkers for defense. These are the very simple basics of decision making, this will only come from practice and discussion with other people you trust.
You get to choose who you trust, and generally anyone you face in ladder is not a trustworthy source. You should be laddering more at this point now and spending less time in build order testers. You need to learn from experience just remember that Ladder is not an ideal practice environment.
Ladder is hard to use as a practice tool because it is random, you cannot say focus on your terran vs protoss in ladder because maybe you get 10 zergs in a row. But you can use Ladder to focus on your basic mechanics, try to perform your build orders now while your opponents are trying to cheese you and apply pressure.
Fun fact: defending cheese comes down to the basics I was telling you about earlier. Learning how to scout effectively and multitask is your greatest tool in stopping dead almost any sort of cheese play your opponent can throw at you. There is no magic bullet to stopping cheese just basic game mechanics.
Okay so you're losing, keep with it focus on your multitasking try to work on moving your scout around constantly while doing your opening build. Try to focus on making your workers double up on the closest mineral patches before mining the others.
Most importantly...
PUSH YOUR BOUNDRIES
Leave your comfort zone, if you stay within what you consider comfortable, if you never keep pushing yourself you will never improve. Period, this is the thing that a lot of people leave out, far too often players do not try new things because they're uncomfortable. A pro gamer learns how to push past this and become a better player.
Focus on doing mechanical things with the game that you find difficult. Try to marine split while macroing, even if you fail keep doing it. You will eventually start to fail less at it. Stay outside of your comfort zone this is the most important part to improving in Starcraft besides the mental game.
As you learn more and more how to do your basic builds without losing you can now start to learn strategy more and more. You can start to try and emulate builds you see pros do in tournaments. While doing this stop and think to yourself WHY they are doing things differently from you. You have to understand the reasoning behind a strategy before you can perform it effectively otherwise you won't know how to react in a panic situation.
As you keep getting better and better Ladder becomes a worse and worse practice tool. You're getting promoted now you're out of Bronze. You're flying through Diamond soon in Masters and sitting on the edge of maybe getting into Grand Masters. How do you make this final leap?
Conclusions
This is the hardest part, I won't lie to you trying to take that extra step up from someone dedicated in their computer room to a professional is very difficult. You should try to ladder less and less, you should be thinking for yourself now. Learn to problem solve, if you're getting killed repeatedly by the same build you're going to have to start figuring out on your own how to solve this.
It should come without saying that learning to do this is not ideal while relying on only Ladder games. You are going to have to try and find players who will play in custom games with you. You should focus on one match-up for a while, change focus say that maybe Tuesday is your Protoss vs Protoss day. Problem solve, help each other with problems you're having. This means maybe he will 3 gate pressure you in the early game for 4 games in a row then you will 3 rax all-in him while he tries to learn how to defend it with his new build the next 4. Take turns helping each other with problems you're having.
Focus in on individual portions of your game again, work on trying to learn how to defeat problematic games. DO NOT ONLY PLAY WITH PEOPLE YOU BEAT EVERY GAME. In order to do this part effectively you need to step outside your comfort zone you will have to play people who can consistently beat you so they can effectively pressure you and force you to learn.
There are countless threads on reddit and Teamliquid about finding practice partners, search for people around your skill level make friends and help each other out.
If you learn to do all of this if you get this far down the page and are looking for more, well then the final step to becoming a pro gamer is simple yet hard at the same time. Exposure
Let's say you've done all this you have solid practice partners you find yourself getting better and better, your gameplay keeps improving you feel like you can take on the world. Enter tournaments, join a playhem join a local event. Test yourself and your limits, join a streamed KOTH and learn how to play when you know people are watching. Learn how to deal with pressure situations. If you do this if you can start drawing attention to yourself maybe you can find yourself with a team. If there's an MLG in your area coming up and you can afford it maybe enter the open bracket to test yourself. This part is all about selling yourself as a player, don't be obnoxious about it just show that you can do play the game with the big boys and you will be recognized.
Staying on top
Have you gone this far? Are you on a team now? All your hard work is coming to fruition? Don't relax, keep working hard. The moment you drop your guard and stop practicing might be the moment you lose to a no name in a tournament and he starts to make a name for himself. This is an industry in which you never know when the next big name is going to appear and start winning. You must never be complacent always try to improve yourself and.... stay outside of your comfort zone. Keep pushing yourself to become better and better.
Great guide at how to train to get better, but very very very few people should consider going "pro." It requires you dropping everything else in your life to focus on SC, and that's not something I'd advocate for anyone who isn't already at least a reasonable master's player. It'd be like me dropping everything I'm doing to play professional golf when I can't even get double par on half the holes. I just don't advocate people thinking "OH BOY I'M GONNA GO PRO!" when they could spend their time on much more productive and better things.
Just a caveat for a lot of kids out there who think SC is more important than school/work. It's not.
Anyways, it's good to see you posting for the lesser players, Raelcun. Hopefully they will all read this and learn a lot of valuable information. I especially appreciate your comment to disregard rank. Too many players get caught up in rank and winning rather than improving, and it hinders their growth as a player.
Overall, great guide, but I'd change the title...
edit:
On January 29 2012 14:27 IdrA wrote: follow this guide and you too can be as good as raelcun
On January 29 2012 14:27 IdrA wrote: follow this guide and you too can be as good as raelcun
LMFAO
Pretty much what I was thinking. No offense raelcun, but who are you to say what it takes to be a progamer? I bet a ton of pros never ended up doing any of this shit. They just played the game for a long, long, long time.
You guys are so harsh. This is a pretty good guide for anyone who doesn't know what they're doing. Although if you need this guide, you probably won't ever make it as a pro. Either way though, it's well written and looks like it was a lot of work. Props raelcun!
Good read for me though. As someone not planning on ever attempting to become pro, it's always interesting to read the different ideas people have on how to get there
I shouldnt really have to defend myself here, I get asked this question a lot just because of my job. The reason why I'm not a pro gamer is a dual reason, I don't have the patience and it didnt really appeal to me. I find more enjoyment in watching the game than I do playing this is why I'm a caster.
I made this post because I'm tired of explaining individual parts of this post over and over again. Yes it is very basic because a lot of mid level players need to honestly just start over again. Many of you won't find it useful but I don't really care, some people out there will. Trying to break this down and make fun of it because I'm not a pro gamer myself is silly and childish because there are people out there who can legitimately benefit from some of the things I've written down here.
Cheese every game till you get through your first OSL.
Good effort though, I kind of agree. I'm no progamer by any standard, I play about 1 game a day, but I'm a lot better than players who play a lot more than me for this reason, being able to learn the game yourself I feel is really important, you can see things other people don't see and make better tactical decisions. I spend just as much time writing things on paper than playing.
While I agree with learning lots of build orders (the single build order thing makes no sense to me, I see so many low level 300 apm players who can't win to save themselves because they are so predictable). And they become really depressed by it, and then I'm like "hey let me coach you", and I just tell them to just f***ing attack and they win.
I think there are times you need to all-in or cheese. Not like 4 pool or anything like that, but if I scout certain builds I am going to 2 fact, 2 fact starport, 5 fact all-in because that is what is going to win me the game, even if it were at a high level. I feel like sacrificing decision making so you can macro better is a really bad idea, because to me that is also a bad [decision making] habit. Starcraft is not only a game of mechanics, you also have to train your decision making, you don't wanna be thinking twice about this stuff in a high-pressure game. You also need to learn how to play a mixup game in tournaments.
Anyway I'm not great at the game or anything, I'm pretty bad, but that is just what I think.
I didn't mean to say you shouldn't learn how to cheese, just that you shouldn't focus on it when you are first learning the game. It will most likely distract you from the long term goal of becoming a better player.
On January 29 2012 14:27 IdrA wrote: follow this guide and you too can be as good as raelcun
Lol best post ever. I seriously don't understand why someone who hasn't even attempted to go pro would write up a multipage guide on it and expect anyone to take it seriously.
On January 29 2012 14:27 IdrA wrote: follow this guide and you too can be as good as raelcun
MY NIGGA LOL
I'm thoroughly offended by your use of such language degrading the african american race, when the person in question is the most caucasian person i've ever seen.
On January 29 2012 14:40 Raelcun wrote: I shouldnt really have to defend myself here, I get asked this question a lot just because of my job. The reason why I'm not a pro gamer is a dual reason, I don't have the patience and it didnt really appeal to me. I find more enjoyment in watching the game than I do playing this is why I'm a caster.
I made this post because I'm tired of explaining individual parts of this post over and over again. Yes it is very basic because a lot of mid level players need to honestly just start over again. Many of you won't find it useful but I don't really care, some people out there will. Trying to break this down and make fun of it because I'm not a pro gamer myself is silly and childish because there are people out there who can legitimately benefit from some of the things I've written down here.
A mid level player is someone who is probably mid/high masters. This post is aimed at shitties. Sorry, but anyone who needs this post will never go pro, ever.
On January 29 2012 14:27 IdrA wrote: follow this guide and you too can be as good as raelcun
Man, I just came back from the ER to my room and I'm reading IdrA's post. I'm laughing so hard the nurses came to ask if something was wrong. ._.
Some things are true, some are not. I believe it is quite an overstatement that you must be SO hard on yourself. I mean, it's ok to say you don't know squat about the game (unless you're at an INCREDIBLY high level, like IdrA or Artosis or Day9 or Apollo)... But not to treat yourself like you're a piece of worthless shit. I mean, you still need to believe in yourself to accomplish this feat.
And may I add... I must agree with IdrA on this one...
On January 29 2012 14:27 IdrA wrote: follow this guide and you too can be as good as raelcun
Man, Raelcun put a lot of effort and work and time into making this post to help people and you just shit all over it in a single sentence like you don't care. You just lost a fan.
so? what if Idra said something negative? There's nothing wrong fundimentally with what OP is saying here. All the big idea on rank does not matter and starting over are all valid points.
I don't really get the need for all these guides. In BW nobody needed those. You should be able to improve naturally until a certain point if youre any good seriously.
And beeing a SC2 pro gamer isn't a non realistic goal because the game is hard. It's not realistic because it's materially almost impossible unless you fly to korea and turn into a bot.
Wow guys, Raelcun obviously put a good chunk of time and effort into the OP. Constructive criticism is fine; but if you don't like it then don't read it, otherwise show some respect.
On January 29 2012 14:27 IdrA wrote: follow this guide and you too can be as good as raelcun
I have a guide too. I call it TheToast's guide to beating Idra. Step 1: Hallucinate Void Rays. Step 2: Laugh maniacally as Idra GG's. Step 3: Profit.
PS: Rael next blog please do one on how to draw ponies.
On January 29 2012 14:27 IdrA wrote: follow this guide and you too can be as good as raelcun
I have a guide too. I call it TheToast's guide to beating Idra. Step 1: Hallucinate Void Rays. Step 2: Laugh maniacally as Idra GG's. Step 3: Profit.
wow that was so witty and clever
I do the best that I can with the small size of my department's budget.
Soon to be the author of "So you want to be a comedian: A beginners guide."
Yeah, I might consider putting a bunch of time and effort into it with the hope of helping people. And then someone could come and shit all over it followed by a legion of sheeple making annoying comments about how funny it was. That would be great.
On January 29 2012 14:27 IdrA wrote: follow this guide and you too can be as good as raelcun
I have a guide too. I call it TheToast's guide to beating Idra. Step 1: Hallucinate Void Rays. Step 2: Laugh maniacally as Idra GG's. Step 3: Profit.
wow that was so witty and clever
I do the best that I can with the small size of my department's budget.
Soon to be the author of "So you want to be a comedian: A beginners guide."
Yeah, I might consider putting a bunch of time and effort into it with the hope of helping people. And then someone could come and point out that I've actually no first hand experience of being a comedian, making me look rather foolish.
On January 29 2012 14:27 IdrA wrote: follow this guide and you too can be as good as raelcun
I have a guide too. I call it TheToast's guide to beating Idra. Step 1: Hallucinate Void Rays. Step 2: Laugh maniacally as Idra GG's. Step 3: Profit.
wow that was so witty and clever
I do the best that I can with the small size of my department's budget.
Soon to be the author of "So you want to be a comedian: A beginners guide."
Yeah, I might consider putting a bunch of time and effort into it with the hope of helping people. And then someone could come and shit all over it followed by a legion of sheeple making annoying comments about how funny it was. That would be great.
On January 29 2012 14:27 IdrA wrote: follow this guide and you too can be as good as raelcun
This is so perfect. The essence of wit, satire, and sarcasm, all compressed into a single sentence without capitalization and punctuation. It makes the reader stop for a moment, and think about what it means.
The best teachers are not always the ones who have reached the same point. Mindset and discipline apply to all things, regardless of what it is. If you wanna be the best, you gotta work towards it. Raelcun doesn't presume anything or try to use his ability to forward his point, nor is he trying to give any very specific advice. He suggests that you work on specific areas, but he doesn't say exactly, "oh you should use this build" or "you should use this training regiment". What he's giving is the basics of the basics. The dirty truth, which is that if you want to be the best, you're gonna have to sacrifice a shit ton and give it more than your best.
Where Raelcun is arguing that attitude and mindset is everything, Idra is showing yet again why he will never top the Koreans.
On January 29 2012 14:27 IdrA wrote: follow this guide and you too can be as good as raelcun
LMFAO
Pretty much what I was thinking. No offense raelcun, but who are you to say what it takes to be a progamer? I bet a ton of pros never ended up doing any of this shit. They just played the game for a long, long, long time.
I didn't fully read the post, but I did see stuff on the post about macro, repetition and etc., The fact that you say you bet a ton of pros never ended up doing any of this, would be false lol.. There are pros that their first RTS is this game, they just understand well, you don't know how little things like, not getting supply blocked, spending money and saturation can do for you. Any Bronze level if they can practice that and become good at their money spending and supply and saturation, they'll all be masters. It's easier said from a persons point of view of what it takes to be a pro gamer. You, yourself does not have to be a pro-gamer to say that. The observers simply don't have the time to sit there and refine their builds and their game play. for example 80 percent of casters point out what PRO gamers are doing wrong. It does not necessarily mean they can do it themselves or they are BETTER than them, it's just easier said than done sometimes. But it does help, it gives them something to practice on and look over replays to do. I don't know much about Raelcun but from what I saw, I think his comments make sense.
I've been in many High level masters/GM games spectating, and there will be platinums or golds in the game, pointing out what the pros are doing wrong, (sometimes it makes sense sometimes it doesn't) goes to show, you can say so much more and critque a player so much more from an observing point of view. Yes they're being bunch of Captain. Obvious, but hey it's true, it just takes practice and repetition to get better.
How you said "they just played the game for a long, long, long time." dont' mean a thing. I've see bronze players do over 500 games, and complain how come they arne't doing well. you can play this game for years and still not be good. It all comes down to "Perfect" practice. Practice does NOT make perfect. PERFECT Practice makes perfect. meaning you're practicing the right techniques and mechanics.
On January 29 2012 14:27 IdrA wrote: follow this guide and you too can be as good as raelcun
LMFAO
Pretty much what I was thinking. No offense raelcun, but who are you to say what it takes to be a progamer? I bet a ton of pros never ended up doing any of this shit. They just played the game for a long, long, long time.
I didn't fully read the post, but I did see stuff on the post about macro, repetition and etc., The fact that you say you bet a ton of pros never ended up doing any of this, would be false lol.. There are pros that their first RTS is this game, they just understand well, you don't know how little things like, not getting supply blocked, spending money and saturation can do for you. Any Bronze level if they can practice that and become good at their money spending and supply and saturation, they'll all be masters. It's easier said from a persons point of view of what it takes to be a pro gamer. You, yourself does not have to be a pro-gamer to say that. The observers simply don't have the time to sit there and refine their builds and their game play. for example 80 percent of casters point out what PRO gamers are doing wrong. It does not necessarily mean they can do it themselves or they are BETTER than them, it's just easier said than done sometimes. But it does help, it gives them something to practice on and look over replays to do. I don't know much about Raelcun but from what I saw, I think his comments make sense.
I've been in many High level masters/GM games spectating, and there will be platinums or golds in the game, pointing out what the pros are doing wrong, (sometimes it makes sense sometimes it doesn't) goes to show, you can say so much more and critque a player so much more from an observing point of view. Yes they're being bunch of Captain. Obvious, but hey it's true, it just takes practice and repetition to get better.
How you said "they just played the game for a long, long, long time." dont' mean a thing. I've see bronze players do over 500 games, and complain how come they arne't doing well. you can play this game for years and still not be good. It all comes down to "Perfect" practice. Practice does NOT make perfect. PERFECT Practice makes perfect. meaning you're practicing the right techniques and mechanics.
I've read this like 3 times now looking for the point where you actually make an argument as to why Raelcun is right about any of this.
I can't find that statement anywhere. In fact the entirety of that diatribe can be condensed down to "Raelcun is trying to tell people how to practice because he thinks it could help. Also, people who practice well tend to be good".
Which is entirely factual but doesn't bolster the validity of the OP in any way shape or form.
Perhaps if Starcraft 2 had a way of physically injuring you every time you did something blatantly wrong, it will make people think twice about skipping any sort of practice/warmup and heading straight into ladder games and grinding it out and thinking, "I can become pro one day."
Many sports involves conditioning, drills, warm-ups, etc, for a very good reason. Not only does it teach you the fundamentals of the sport you are playing and increases your skill, but it also prevents you from getting injured during a game because your body will know how to respond properly in the middle of some athletic feat that is either very taxing on your body or physically dangerous or both. As Raelcun points out in his blog, very little of Soccer practice consists of actually playing a skirmish game.
Kobe Bryant does not shoot fade-away three pointers during Basketball games with godlike accuracy (well, used to.) because he played a ton of basketball games over and over again. No, he does it because he will do nothing but shoot three pointers for hours from all angles.
If practicing fundamental skills wasn't required, then driving ranges wouldn't need to be kept open, punching bags could go the way of the dinosaur, the bullpen wouldn't be required at baseball stadiums, and tennis ball shooters (or whatever you call those things) wouldn't need to be sold.
The point of all this is that in any sport, people who are serious about the sport and want to get better don't spend their time playing skirmish matches over and over again. No, they drill, they practice the fundamentals and they warm up. And just because you become a professional doesn't excuse you from doing the same thing either.
It doesn't even have to be a sport. Music. Art. A skilled craft. All of those things involve practice and drilling of fundamentals. You just don't pick up a Violin and jump into a song if you want to get better. You play through drills and excercises until you get better. Read any art blog on TL (there are a few) and see how little time is spent actually drawing any sort of drawing and instead spent practicing fundamentals.
So why should Starcraft 2 be any different? Call it a sport, call it an art, it doesn't matter. Raelcun is right on the money. If you want to get better, you sure as hell should practice your game in a way that is beneficial and make sense. To be honest, a lot of what Raelcun mentions in the OP should have been instantaneously obvious the minute you hear the words practice and Starcraft2 together in the same sentence.
Excellent post Raelcun. Friends of mine that play another game always complain about not winning and I keep badgering them to focus on being good and not just winning. Good players will lose games. You can be good while losing if you're just plain being outplayed by another good player.
I hope the point of this post isn't lost on people. Thanks for posting it.
Thanks for the post raelcun. I have no pro aspirations, but I always want to do what I do "the right way." Your advice will certainly not hurt for any player trying to improve.
I like that you prioritize scouting -- most guides prioritize macro. I have been focusing on my macro for so long (first as zerg and now as terran) that I think I am reaching diminishing returns -- to make slight gains in macro I have to practice more and more. I know for a fact that my scouting was holding me back when I was playing zerg.
The one way that your advice differs from most is that you are in favor of learning lots of openings and varied builds from the beginning, whereas most gurus say to pick one standard build for each matchup and develop it till you have it perfect. Do I understand you correctly?
good OP. I dislike the comment from the permanetly ragequiting gamer though. Why would a player who refuses to get rid of his own shortcomings comment on this matter? This is no question of talent, but mindset and work ethic. thanks raelcun!
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