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I just want to start by saying i'm writing this blog very disappointed and a little depressed. I hate losing and feeling helpless, i've always thought understanding how to play a variety of games and always being good at them was the thing I did the best.
I've been a long time Starcraft player, I got the original when I was 7 and played it and Brood War on and off until right before Starcraft 2 came out. About a month pre-release I decided to take the game seriously going into Starcraft 2 so I would be a step ahead of all the new players Starcraft 2 would bring along. I quickly went from silver to gold to platinum in a span of about three months, but then I plateaued and stopped playing for three months.
Once again, I came back for a month or two, got demoted to gold and couldn't for the life of me get back to Platinum, eventually I got bored and stopped playing again.
Now i've been playing non-stop since early June. I came back to the game and won my five placements to get into Platinum, I beat some Platinum players and lost to others but eventually I started getting worse. I got demoted to Gold when the season changed last week by losing my placement match and now i'm consistently losing to Gold players! I can honestly say I have proper mechanics and my hotkey setup isn't a problem. I can keep up with what I need to be doing.
It seems like the more Day[9] dailies I watch and the more criticism I get, the worse I become. When I watch my replays I see me not building a single unit until 9 minutes in; I get mauled by packs of speedlings even though I either A) have a wall of evo-chambers or B) have a bunch of banelings lying around; or a Terran just turtles in his base with tanks and vikings. and I can't seem to micro my infestors, corruptors, and broodlords to do any damage.
Anyway, I'm going to start updating this set of blogs often to just vent my frustrations or mark any progress I may have. If anyone is willing to help me please feel free to PM me on here to add my NA acct Limelights.832
 
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haha I know what you mean. I feel too much of learning zerg is focused towards getting economy rolling, and not enough spending it. I've once lost a game against some plat Terran on Ohana by having 130 drones and a 70 supply fighting army.
Just pay attention at your resources & spend your money into units sometimes, and it should be fine.
Or switch to terran (what I'm currently doing). Way more fun to play.
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Blazinghand
United States25563 Posts
Learning how to play can be frustrating, especially if the game is difficult and you feel worse than you used to be. If you really want help or anything, drop a replay and I can prod an eyeball at it
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Winning at sc2 =
Mechanics + Looking for advantages to take in either army, tech, or economy * using those advantages to translate to an economical advantage
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If i could count the number of times gold players have claimed to have proper mechanics without having a clue on my fingers... I'd have about a million fingers. Now I'm not saying you are one of those 1 million people but I'd say at least consider it. Having fun is more important anyhow just keep reminding yourself of that everytime starcraft makes you feel like a noob, it happens to everyone.
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I'm diamond and I don't have proper mechanics. I constantly see my money getting high while I'm attacking. +2+2 and +3+3 are almost always late. I have no clue what is going on on the minimap. I lose harassing armies for no damage because I'm too pre-occupied to pull them back. And how the hell do I keep unbinding my hotkeys mid-game? It's super frustrating that I can't seem to become mechanically better. I know what I am supposed to do and what I intend to do, but I just can't.
On a good day, my APM is the exact same as it was in Brood War on a good day, and I played that pretty regularly since 1999 with only a couple years break around the time I got married in 2003-2005.
Perhaps watch your replays with a more critical eye. Do you have creep touching your opponent's third base by 12 minutes? Do you ever have 500+ minerals or gas after you have used your larvae? (before you are maxed) Do you have a burrowed zergling and an overlord creeping up every expansion on the map? Do drops ever land without you noticing until you hear the message saying your base is under attack? Think about it. These are all good indications of good/bad mechanics.
TLDR; I guess my point is that it is super frustrating to plateau at a lower level, but also, that one of the reasons you have plateaued is because you think your mechanics are good and they are not.
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Don't lose hope. That's all I can say, I got into Silver at launch and eventually climbed into Diamond during the first ladder season, then during the second one felt the same as you, hitting a plateau, losing motivation and then playing worst and worst, and eventually got demoted back into plat. I played less and less, and for 7 fucking seasons in a row I stayed plat with my rank going down each season. Then last season I just had a motivation surge, I simply played more and analysed my play a bit more, finished at the top of my plat division, and a few games after this seasons reset I finally got back into diamond.
One big thing was honestly to just stop watching so many streams/vods and actually play the damn game. Day[9] is cool but that hour you spent watching the daily is useless if you don't play enough game to put it in practice. Instead it could have been 4/5 ladder games.
Also watch your replays. You don't even have to analyze them in depth each time, but checking a few pointers like how many workers you had at 10mn, or your upgrade timings is really useful, even if it was obvious how you lost a game.
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Mechanics is such a broad term on here but by mechanics I just meant I have a good hotkey setup, good hand positioning and i'm quick for a gold player. I have trouble remembering to do important things like placing buildings and spending crucial early game larvae while microing units but I feel like i'll never get in the right rhythm if i'm playing at my own pace, I think I need someone to coach me.
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I plateaued in almost the exact same fashion as you my good man. The thing that was different for me was the amount of climbing I had to do just to get into Platinum. I placed in Bronze after having played through the practice league. After a short introduction to the world of competitive Starcraft I made it into Silver and then Gold. However, circumstances found me being demoted back down into Silver. God just the thought of that fucking demotion screen just about brings a tear to me eye. Then I made it into Gold and eventually peaked into Platinum after a really good run and a win in my seasonal placement match. I stayed here for awhile until I suffered a repeat of the demotion blues and was back in Gold. At this point, I got a friend who was playing just about every day like myself and we both managed to get into Platinum around the same time.
What I learned from having the pal to play with was the value of friendly competition as a motivator. I derived motivation at just trying my best to improve and get better than my friend. Eventually however, the friendly competition got less friendly as a gap in our skill sets started to form and get bigger and bigger. When you are the one who is getting raped game after game after game to your playing partner, deriving motivation can become difficult. At this point, I decided to was spending a bit too much time on the game and cut out the playing and practicing to simply watch the game. This time off went over rather splendidly.
At this point, coming off my break I'm feeling refreshed and invigorated. Although I took so much time off that when I lost my placement match I got demoted back to Gold, I'm not letting the league designation bother me. We place so much emphasis on getting into a certain league that it becomes unhealthy. I'm a firm believer in Starcraft but I also believe that we need to manage our time realistically. For me, that means spending more time practicing the piano and guitar and less time playing and watching SC2. At one point, between playing and watching combined, I was spending pretty much the entire day on Starcraft. Since I'm not going pro at any point and I've got other goals and responsibilities I opted to budget my time accordingly. I did the same with my goals. I still want to be in Masters league one day, but first things first.
I recommend you pretty much cut out the watching of SC2 entirely and focus almost exclusively on playing. Sure, theres a ton of stuff to learn by watching others play SC2, but theres a LOT more to learn by playing it yourself. Get your builds down and crispy and refine the shit out of them. The way I honed this skill was via the perfection of my 4 gate. Believe what you will about the build, learning to pull it off perfectly teaches you how important the little things are in this game. For instance, the time you put down your gateway impacts the time you'll physically be able to put down your cybercore. Sometimes, the difference between a 5:45 warp in and a 6 minute plus one comes down to how quickly you got your gateway down or some other really minor detail and difference in time.
Keep at it! SC2 is a game where cyclical success is pretty much inherent in its very nature. Since it takes only a single wrong move or decision to lose a game, its really easy and happens to the pros all the time. Just look at Huk. I'm not saying he's fell off for good but he is definitely not playing like the Round of 8 Code S Protoss he was.
The game giveth and the game taketh away, just like the lord.
BTW, since I'm currently demoted into the Golden Realm and playing Toss perhaps I'll add you for some customs? I'm always looking for a Zerg bug player to play with :-)
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Blazinghand
United States25563 Posts
On September 17 2012 10:17 ins(out)side wrote:
I plateaued in almost the exact same fashion as you my good man.
In my many long years I have almost never seen a pun of this quality. I commend you for your noble efforts and urge you to continue with your good work. Thank you.
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On September 17 2012 10:25 Blazinghand wrote:
In my many long years I have almost never seen a pun of this quality. I commend you for your noble efforts and urge you to continue with your good work. Thank you.
May the lord bless and keep you, my son. Go in peace
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EPT
