• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 14:08
CEST 20:08
KST 03:08
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection2Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview5[ASL21] Finals Preview: Two Legacies21Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO12 Preview2herO wins GSL Code S Season 1 (2026)7
Community News
StarCraft II 5.0.16 PTR Patch Notes may 26th116Weekly Cups (May 18-25): MaxPax wins doubles0Crank Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League5Weekly Cups (May 11-17): Classic wins double1Code S Season 1 (2026) - RO8 Results2
StarCraft 2
General
TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection StarCraft II 5.0.16 PTR Patch Notes may 26th The death of cheese, from a professional cheeser. Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview TL Poll: How do you feel about the 5.0.16 PTR balance changes?
Tourneys
Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule ! RSL Revival: Season 5 - Qualifiers and Main Event Crank Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League GSL Code S Season 2 (2026) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3 [A] Nemrods 1/4 players
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 528 Infection Detected Welcome to the External Content forum Mutation # 527 Hell Train
Brood War
General
Data needed BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Quality of life changes in BW that you will like ? Soma's ASL Finals Review FlaShFTW vs A.Alm Grudge Match Event
Tourneys
[ASL21] Grand Finals [Megathread] Daily Proleagues Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2 [BSL22] WB Final & LB Semis - Saturday 21:00 CEST
Strategy
Any training maps people recommend? Muta micro map competition [G] Hydra ZvZ: An Introduction Fighting Spirit mining rates
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Nintendo Switch Thread ZeroSpace Megathread Path of Exile
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Trading/Investing Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Dating: How's your luck?
Fan Clubs
The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books
Sports
McBoner: A hockey love story 2024 - 2026 Football Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread Facing Challenges in Mobile App Development
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Esportsmanship: How to NOT B…
TrAiDoS
Why RTS gamers make better f…
gosubay
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 3693 users

Is it ladder fear?

Blogs > Ariion
Post a Reply
Ariion
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
Poland50 Posts
April 18 2012 16:14 GMT
#1
I have a dilemma!

I have some kind of stages in my SC2 career (lol bronze->gold career) where I'm willing to play nonstop and after this enthusiasm comes a moment of "booooooring" and I stop playing for ~2 months. After that I'm watching Day9, talking with friends about SC2, watch their streams and start playing again.

But I'm 100% sure cycle will start again.

I feel it as ladder anexity, but not "OMG I DON'T WANT TO LOSE" it's much more I like to play customs versus friends/people from chat channels. I don't care about the rank, I "like" losing to diamonds (I've played mostly against plat-dia people which I really thank, it helped me so much!). So what's my problem? I don't know
Also I tend to take breaks when I feel that I've reached my maximum potential. When I come back I have "surge of skill" and rank up, but again hit my maximum.

I decided I'm going to skip current season and maybe with new MMR I will have more luck.
But is it good idea?
It won't make me a better player, but maybe I will be able to fight my placements to platinum? What if it won't change anything at all? Should I maybe just play and stop having "dreams" of better MMR after skipping a season?

I can't play SC2 everyday, that's the reason I've stopped playing in tournaments. I know I can't play at my 100% while having raids in WoW 4 days/week.

But there is one thing.

I want to be better.

Moxi
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
708 Posts
April 18 2012 16:15 GMT
#2
Maybe stop wasting time in WoW?
IAMFAPMAN
Profile Joined March 2012
60 Posts
April 18 2012 16:30 GMT
#3
i have the some problem .. i am hyped for 1-2 weeks and im playing 100+ games a week and then it starts to get rly boring .. i never had that problem with bw for expample =/
JingleHell
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States11308 Posts
April 18 2012 16:40 GMT
#4
It's not ladder anxiety, it's ladder ambivalence. At least for me. I'll play a few games here and there, then not play for a couple months or more.
SOyuncastor
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Mexico40 Posts
April 18 2012 16:56 GMT
#5
yeah that's the same problem for me. I guess it has to be the way bnet is designed... it reminds me an arid, lonely place where I have to go looking for water going out from my crib. Not really a comforting place to be out there. I see anything worth playing and instead of looking an amusement park filled with childrens and cotton candy I see a desolated town fair with trash and only 1 clown holding a knife at 4 am looking directly at me and my untied shoes.
There is always someone younger and better than you.
Th1rdEye
Profile Blog Joined December 2006
United States1074 Posts
April 18 2012 17:10 GMT
#6
It's the moon cycle and astrology
from the days of: TheMarine [NC]...YellOw [H.O.T.]-Forever99 OgOgO [_MuMyung_] ChRh PlayGrrrr.... SlayerS_`BoxeR` [Oops]Reach [ReD]NaDa [DF]zergboy..!! Pusan[S.G] Nal_rA GARIMTO SSamJJang ChoJJa JinSu Silent_Control iloveoov H_PauL_WII JulyZerg [DaK]JoYo
Cycle
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States300 Posts
April 18 2012 18:12 GMT
#7
I'm vicious and coming to get you.
| chKCycle.551 | NA | Master League Random | Checkmate Gaming |
Strykemard
Profile Joined April 2012
168 Posts
April 18 2012 19:08 GMT
#8
From what I have seen, the people who actually do well are the ones who don't play with the rating in mind. They play to win. They believe they are the best. Thats what it takes. I heard this really good way of thinking which helps me.

MMR is like a currency. If you lose, you are paying your opponent for a lesson. If you win, your opponent just paid you for a lesson.

So, in either case you gain something or the other. Just keep playing to win, and make sure you take away something from that game. Thats about it.
Ariion
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
Poland50 Posts
April 19 2012 06:05 GMT
#9
Maybe stop wasting time in WoW?

As much as I like this idea, I still like playing WoW and I will get bored with SC2 after a while so I like to have another game.

@IAMFAPMAN, JingleHell and SOuncastor
Yup, its just "lets play lets play moar" and after some games I'm like "no more please" :<

From what I have seen, the people who actually do well are the ones who don't play with the rating in mind. They play to win. They believe they are the best. Thats what it takes. I heard this really good way of thinking which helps me.

I don't care about losing, because every lose is a lesson. Sometimes those lessons are full of pain, but I can learn from it. But there is something more with my SC2 problem and it's probably that SC2 bores me, but after some time without it I come back to it.

Thanks guys for Your help
ShadowDrgn
Profile Blog Joined July 2007
United States2497 Posts
April 19 2012 07:25 GMT
#10
If you like playing customs with friends but can't bring yourself to click Find Match, that's ladder fear. A major reason is the fear of the unknown. When you play with friends, you know how good they are, what race they play, what map you're going to play on, what strategies they're probably going to use, etc. All of those things are unknowns when you search for a ladder game, and that can be unsettling, even if you aren't afraid to lose.

Skipping a season to let your MMR reset isn't going to help because unless you're master+, bnet is going to get your MMR pretty close and put you in the right league after 5 games. Your problems are that you don't play every day and you take months-long breaks. Everyone that has cured themselves of ladder fear says the same thing: just play lots of ladder games. After you've played every matchup on every map 10 times and been cheesed every way possible 10 times, your fear of the unknown will be gone.
Of course, you only live one life, and you make all your mistakes, and learn what not to do, and that’s the end of you.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Monday Night Weeklies
16:00
#54
RotterdaM1373
TKL 462
TaKeTV 407
IndyStarCraft 193
BRAT_OK 111
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
ProTech2268
RotterdaM 1373
TKL 462
mouzHeroMarine 295
IndyStarCraft 193
BRAT_OK 111
UpATreeSC 96
EmSc Tv 18
StarCraft: Brood War
Dewaltoss 163
Backho 83
firebathero 77
Zeus 62
sorry 22
IntoTheRainbow 20
soO 9
ajuk12(nOOB) 9
Sacsri 6
Dota 2
qojqva3848
Counter-Strike
fl0m2411
byalli1192
x6flipin504
adren_tv70
Other Games
Grubby4077
singsing2466
Liquid`RaSZi2083
ceh9536
B2W.Neo231
KnowMe183
Liquid`VortiX89
XaKoH 81
Mew2King66
Trikslyr42
MindelVK10
Organizations
Other Games
BasetradeTV249
StarCraft 2
EmSc Tv 18
EmSc2Tv 18
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Reevou 4
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• blackmanpl 20
• 80smullet 5
• Michael_bg 5
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• WagamamaTV460
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
5h 52m
Sparkling Tuna Cup
15h 52m
WardiTV Spring Champion…
16h 52m
Maestros of the Game
21h 22m
The PondCast
1d 15h
Kung Fu Cup
1d 16h
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
1d 20h
Maestros of the Game
1d 21h
Replay Cast
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
[ Show More ]
WardiTV Spring Champion…
2 days
Maestros of the Game
2 days
Replay Cast
3 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
3 days
Maestros of the Game
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Solar vs Classic
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
4 days
GSL
5 days
herO vs Rogue
Maru vs Cure
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
5 days
BSL
6 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Monday Night Weeklies
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

KK 2v2 League Season 1
RSL Revival: Season 5
Heroes Pulsing #1

Ongoing

BSL Season 22
IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
Acropolis #4
CSCL: Masked Kings S4
YSL S3
SCTL 2026 Spring
WardiTV Spring 2026
Maestros of the Game 2
2026 GSL S2
Murky Cup 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026

Upcoming

BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Heroes Pulsing #3
Heroes Pulsing #2
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.