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So, in my last blog I essentially implied that bronze players are "not that bad," including myself in this pool.
I stand corrected.
I had heard of this queen rush build from Destiny, but had never seen the video. I saw it in a forum post today and watched it. As I said, I stand corrected. If mass queens can beat a bronzie through sheer mechanics, then okay, I'll eat some crow. Don't mind if I do. At this stage in my learning of SC2, I don't mind being proven wrong, I actually appreciate it.
Why do I appreciate being wrong? Because it helps me improve.
I think the reason a lot of bronzies get ticked at what they perceive as cheese, worker rushes, and other such stuff is because they are getting their perception of both the game and their own ability rattled. As Gheed mentioned, mental interference occurs when something one believes is true is proven not true. I call this disillusionment and, for many people, this process can be mentally traumatic.
It's not so traumatic for me. I'm not upset that I was wrong, as I already said. But there is something else that bothers me.
Plenty of posters and higher ranked players than I or any other bronzie will happily hate on the chobos, or, if they're feeling generous, say something like "you need to improve your macro/mechanics/micro." Okay, thanks. Now, exactly what the blue fuck are these things? There's a Liquidpedia article on all three, but said articles are not clear to the mind of a noob.
I thought to search the forums and have found two articles on improving mechanics, which I shall now read, along with re-watching Day9's daily #252. These basic concepts are things that escape the notice of noob such as myself, and thus we tend to wonder where all the haughty behavior from higher level players comes from.
So yes, a lightbulb has gone on in my slow crawl towards some semblance of proficiency at SC2. Now I just need to implement that lightbulb and learn from it. But let me pose a question.
Have you ever played a physical sport? You, the reader? How often did the players who were better than you give you a ration of crap for being worse than they? It has been mentioned that people have called the SC2 community "one of the nicest," but this has been disputed in this TL post:
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=255786
Sorry, I don't know how to nest links in word yet. If there's an article on that, I'll come back and fix it.
So what's the deal, guys? Just saying "you need to improve X" doesn't make a damn bit of sense to noobs like me. Point something out, something specific, please. Do you use hotkeys? Cloning? I saw cloning mentioned in another TL article and had to go look it up. Wow. I didn't know that could be done. Now I do. Now I'll try it. And maybe that will help me improve.
Check this post out: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=327898
This seems to be devolving into another "Koreans are gosu, non-Koreans suck" thread, but RedDragon makes one very sound point:
"We need to teach our lower level players better fundamentals."
And right now, who's doing that?
-Loki
 
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You can get free/paid coaches any time you want
The truth is, why should high masters players use their practice time helping you practice?
Think about it...
Imagine, a high master player, has 3 hours to play... Does he want to spend an hour teaching you how to play or will he go play the game himself. That, i think, is why there is not much help. Some people try to help a bit when they are in the mood, but the truth is all of us struggle with our own problems that sometimes its hard to put our own aside and help someone else.. especially since a lot of us figured it out on our own
I dont want to be offensive to lower league players but that's the way I see it
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You learn macro fundamentals by grinding out games and repeating the process over and over. If you can't do something or don't understand something, it's simply down to the fact that you haven't spent enough time playing or watching the game.
SC2 is basically a checklist game. When you lose, it's because you forgot something on your checklist (didn't scout, forgot to get upgrades, forgot to take the towers, forgot to take a 3rd early enough, forgot to remake workers after they died, etc).
Players who cheese provide a valuable service to 'standard' players. You have to learn to defend everything. Your build has to be cheese-proof.
If you just cheese, there is going to be a ceiling for how far you can go. Just like in tennis, you can do spinning drop shots and advance quickly throw the lower leagues, but you'll ultimately have a lower ceiling than the player who tries to learn all facets of the game.
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Go watch the tutorials that Apollo made on youtube, great starting point for anyone.
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And right now, who's doing that?
Everyone. But it's your own job, in the end.
There are micro/macro training scenarios as a part of the game, the new SC Master map and the old challenges with various degrees of difficulty. There are micro tournament maps, micro training maps, macro training maps, maps to train various mechanics like splitting, magic boxing. You name it, there's a map for it. Then there are commentators: Folks like Day9, who's probably the best source of information for starters. But even Tastosis will give valuable advice while commentating GSL. If nothing works, there are trainers, for free or for money, who'll help you out with specific problems (or scam you).
The greatest difficulty many new players have with SC2 is that it's unlike other games; you can't just sink a tremendous amount of time into it and automatically become good or at least decent. You can have a thousand games and be stuck in bronze if you never bother to analyze your games, think outside the box or look for help elsewhere. Lost a game? Take a look at why you lost it. The other guy had more army supply. Why? Because he had more ressources. Why? Because he built more workers. Bingo - improve your macro! Build more workers.
Of course there's always the easy way of following general guidelines other people have worked out previously - "build workers until minute X, follow this build order until X/Y supply" but in the end most of your improvements will stem from the analysis of your own victories and failures, and from your own thoughts on the game. This takes time, lots of it, and that's why many veterans will easily grow frustrated with new players - it's like trying to learn a new move in sports where it's 5% theory and 95% practice and muscle memory.
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Lokishadow do you have a buddy which is approximately on your level? If yes, I'd like to help a little by watching you play against each other while pointing out where you can improve IF you really want to improve and take it serious (to some extent at least). Either ingame or Teamspeak/Skype. And I will improve my English talking to you 
add me if you like: Cyberonic#687
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Who is teaching fundamentals to our children.... what's going to happen when they get out on their own and find out what it's like...
Seriously though. There is no shortage of help. There are only those that refuse to see it, or refuse to use it. The forums have benn absolutely full of Probes and Pylons for over a month. I actually referred my practice partner to TL guides, in just the last week, because there is some really high quality material there. Granted I baited him by telling I mentioned his name in the thread, just to spark his interest.
Agree with all above posters, especially Shockk.
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"We need to teach our lower level players better fundamentals."
And right now, who's doing that?
Right now it should be you. Sure, it's always nice to play friendly matches with other people and take some of the edge of laddering off when you're trying to learn, but getting out of bronze is simple -- watch replays or streams and try and emulate what the better players are doing. I was placed in bronze in season one, and although I knew I was capable of playing in a higher league, I still needed to look at what I was doing differently than players significantly better than me. I didn't understand everything I was doing, but I was getting results. And as I kept moving up and grinding out games against better opponents, things started to click. I started to actually understand the rationale behind what I was doing instead of mindlessly doing it.
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Please don't ever address me as "the reader" again. I have a name y'know.
Also, good read, very insightful
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Thank you for the advice, everyone! I do appreciate it.
@Th1rdEye: You have a good point. However, I'm not asking that master's level players spend hours training noobs. That truly is a waste of their time if they are going to go pro. But, I would suggest, instead "you need to get better at macro" how about "have you tried googling/searching teamliquid for macro/micro/mechanics?" These sorts of questions steer noobs like myself to places like here (TL) where we can start to find answers. However, we have to have a question before we will start looking for answers. We're bronze, we suffer from ignorance.
@Shockk: I agree. There is no shortage of information on here. Perhaps I should clarify: If one is ignorant of a thing, one will never think to ask questions about it, because such a thing does not exist in their body of knowlege. For example, I personally knew a person who showed up in Japan and almost got hit by a car when he crossed the street because he didn't look right. It never occurred to him that people in other countries might drive on a different side of the road. He thought the law was planetwide. He was ignorant. He was also far from stupid, it just never entered his mind to ask the right question.
@Cyberonic: Something is wrong with your Bnet character name or code, it says you do not exist. Please PM me, I would love some instruction and a second set of eyes on what I am doing wrong. My replay analysis is sorely lacking.
Thanks again, everyone.
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I agree that people need to be more specific. Saying "macro better" is so obvious it shouldn't need to be said. I think the best way of improving is to do 1 standard build order per matchup. Just look at what pros are normally doing and check out the build details on liquipedia.
Then the key is to find all the weaknesses in ur build through trial and error and adapt your build or scouting or timings to make sure u dont lose to that again. I wouldn't even focus on "mechanics". I mean learn the hotkeys but there's no need to try and get faster when you're not sure what you're supposed to be doing.
If you really want to improve you shouldn't need help from other people. There's plenty of resources in the form of replays and guides. Study the game. I know it sounds like a pain but when you get over the learning curve you'll get better much faster.
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day[9] 252 i believe is all you should need to understand to get out of bronze
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Often it seems like bronze players want a "Free-pass" to being good, when in reality, they just need to play play play and get good at the basic fundamentals. Though most of the time if they make an effort to make a good thread in the strategy forum they will get a good response.
Gl Hf!
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I went through this phase, my brother did, every noob does. Watching Day[9] didn't help until I understood some things about the game like how builds work, like groupings and not just static builds, how to macro, how to set goals, etc. What i've learned is that really its just doing as many matches as you can while still learning and doing your best at them. For the pros this is a bit different, but for us normal players, if you focus on keeping your min below 500 always, you will always win in bronze, you will just have more stuff period. (this goes for just about every league).
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@docvoc: Thank you for that perspective. I was beginning to suspect it was a matter of perspective (hence the lightbulb). I've been focussing really hard on keeping my money low, building units (any units) and expanding at every perceived opportunity, and the games are getting easier. I haven't played against a bronze player in days, it's been all silvers and golds and more and more lightbulbs are going on.
I guess what I'm trying to get across with my blog is that every bronze player goes through this or something similar as part of the learning process. This must be why higher level players are so frustrated by the talk from us bronzies that "we're not that bad." Well, we are. We just don't know it yet.
-Loki
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EPT
