• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 01:38
CET 07:38
KST 15:38
  • 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
Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book6Clem wins HomeStory Cup 287HomeStory Cup 28 - Info & Preview13Rongyi Cup S3 - Preview & Info4herO wins SC2 All-Star Invitational14
Community News
Weekly Cups (Jan 26-Feb 1): herO, Clem, ByuN, Classic win2RSL Season 4 announced for March-April7Weekly Cups (Jan 19-25): Bunny, Trigger, MaxPax win3Weekly Cups (Jan 12-18): herO, MaxPax, Solar win0BSL Season 2025 - Full Overview and Conclusion8
StarCraft 2
General
How do you think the 5.0.15 balance patch (Oct 2025) for StarCraft II has affected the game? Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book Rongyi Cup S3 - Preview & Info Clem wins HomeStory Cup 28 HomeStory Cup 28 - Info & Preview
Tourneys
WardiTV Mondays $21,000 Rongyi Cup Season 3 announced (Jan 22-Feb 7) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament $5,000 WardiTV Winter Championship 2026 HomeStory Cup 28
Strategy
Custom Maps
[A] Starcraft Sound Mod
External Content
Mutation # 511 Temple of Rebirth The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 510 Safety Violation Mutation # 509 Doomsday Report
Brood War
General
BW General Discussion Recent recommended BW games BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Can someone share very abbreviated BW cliffnotes? StarCraft player reflex TE scores
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 1 Small VOD Thread 2.0 KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Strategy
Zealot bombing is no longer popular? Simple Questions, Simple Answers Current Meta Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2
Other Games
General Games
Diablo 2 thread Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread EVE Corporation Nintendo Switch Thread 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
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread YouTube Thread The Games Industry And ATVI Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine
Fan Clubs
The herO Fan Club! The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Play, Watch, Drink: Esports …
TrAiDoS
My 2025 Magic: The Gathering…
DARKING
Life Update and thoughts.
FuDDx
How do archons sleep?
8882
James Bond movies ranking - pa…
Topin
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 2619 users

how do you prove a skill ceiling does not exist?

Blogs > wajd
Post a Reply
1 2 Next All
wajd
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
240 Posts
October 18 2012 01:15 GMT
#1
Been Plat for 2.5 years. Everyone tells me to do this and that. When I try it, it doesn't work.
Why do other players improve and some don't? The only reason I can think of is skill ceiling.

Can somebody please help me?

*
Entertaining
Profile Joined September 2007
Canada793 Posts
October 18 2012 01:23 GMT
#2
Id stop trying to improve and start trying to win. I used to play bw, letting my opponent get away with his horrible wall-in or lack of early game scouting, trying to play the standard macro game. Focusing on mechanics. But the more I cared about my rank, the more I started doing ling breaks and hidden expos. If you wanna get a better rank. Win your games, whatever the means.
FluffyBinLaden
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States527 Posts
October 18 2012 01:24 GMT
#3
Probably a mental block. Try different methods to practice, and remember that everyone improves all the time. You may just be getting better at the same rate as the people you're playing, which is... misleading.

Remember, the league doesn't measure skill, and especially over such a large time period. Plat back at release was a lot worse than now. You ARE improving, I promise.

My recommendation, try different practice methods and partners. Play a different style or just screw around for several weeks and THEN play normally. It changes things.
Riddles in the Dark. Answers in the Light.
Filter
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
Canada620 Posts
October 18 2012 01:35 GMT
#4
You're probably trying to do too many things at once. You need to fix each piece of your game individually and it takes time. Start with your core (workers and supply) and make sure you never miss a worker or get supply blocked. It really doesn't matter if you lose to a DT rush at this point, don't even worry about trying to "Fix" that problem. Just focus on supply and workers.

After that you need to get some really clean build orders and be able to execute them extremely well every time out. Making sure your factory is always down at X time or whatever it is for the race you play. The build order needs to be good and extremely clean.

Both of those techniques will take you to masters, after that it's about scouting, unit control and positioning. Trying to work on scouting, positioning, making the "correct" counter etc before your fundamentals are sound will cause you all sorts of havoc and grief.

There is no skill ceiling. There is a mindset and practice ceiling. Playing thousands of games with a poor understanding of how to improve will result in a minimal benefit. Playing thousands of games working on very specific things each time will result in a large improvement. Your brain simply can't handle that many things at once.
Live hard, live free.
Code
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
Canada634 Posts
October 18 2012 01:35 GMT
#5
You should attach one of your replays so we can check it out.

Also, maybe include what areas you're struggling with, what you feel you're good at, how much you play, if you analyse your own replays after losses, etc. Need more info. Do you play Protoss (its in your icon)?

People telling you what to do won't necessarily help you if you don't understand the point behind it.

Do you have any friends to play custom games with? The difference in being able to execute a few solid builds for each matchup can help a lot. You can always try the practice partners thread on TL and see if you can find someone your level to play with too.
Flip9
Profile Joined June 2012
Germany151 Posts
October 18 2012 01:35 GMT
#6
Don't just do what others tell you. See what works and what doesn't while playing and analyzing games. Learn from your mistakes. Many people play the same shit over and over and over again, like they are bots or something. If you want a different result you should change something.
HungrySC2
Profile Blog Joined September 2011
United States191 Posts
October 18 2012 03:16 GMT
#7
Have you ever had personal coaching?

There are many that do this for free. Myself included if you're interested.
"First say to yourself what you would be; And then do what you have to do. (Epictetus)
Whatson
Profile Blog Joined January 2012
United States5357 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-10-18 04:01:06
October 18 2012 03:59 GMT
#8
Oh its you again...
After like 30 pages from the past few threads, if you really feel like you can't improve, then just quit, since that seems to be what you've already been telling yourself for the past 10 months.
¯\_(シ)_/¯
Scholera
Profile Blog Joined October 2012
United States166 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-10-18 05:59:01
October 18 2012 04:38 GMT
#9
On October 18 2012 10:15 wajd wrote:
Been Plat for 2.5 years. Everyone tells me to do this and that. When I try it, it doesn't work.
Why do other players improve and some don't? The only reason I can think of is skill ceiling.

Can somebody please help me?


I don't see how this is possible. Maybe RTS at a higher level isn't for you :/


If he's been trying to be promoted for 2.5 years, if I was him I'd just pay lol and get a pro coach's input
Desertfaux
Profile Joined June 2012
Netherlands276 Posts
October 18 2012 07:12 GMT
#10
I wouldn't play to get promoted, if you're stuck on plat just deal with it. Instead, try to have fun, offrace every once in a while, stop caring about your ladderpoints. Try different builds and what not.

If you want to rank up to diamond (trust me, not much better in there, just less people greeting you, more people cursing you) do what Filter tells you to do.
Rogue Deck
]343[
Profile Blog Joined May 2008
United States10328 Posts
October 18 2012 08:25 GMT
#11
Take a break (but you can still think about the game while you're not playing.) It helped with my Tetris speed, at least...
Writer
Aelonius
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Netherlands432 Posts
October 18 2012 08:29 GMT
#12
On October 18 2012 10:23 Entertaining wrote:
Id stop trying to improve and start trying to win. I used to play bw, letting my opponent get away with his horrible wall-in or lack of early game scouting, trying to play the standard macro game. Focusing on mechanics. But the more I cared about my rank, the more I started doing ling breaks and hidden expos. If you wanna get a better rank. Win your games, whatever the means.


That's the biggest bull that you can do. It just results in kids cheesing and does not end up being the magic 'fix' to being better.
''The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.''—Ronald Reagan
Biff The Understudy
Profile Blog Joined February 2008
France7968 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-10-18 10:24:55
October 18 2012 10:14 GMT
#13
Take a break, come back with a fresh mind.

Identify what is lacking, and practice on that. Don't play, practice. Goal is not to win, it's to improve something.

We, musicians, play very little in our practice time. We do scales, we do exercises, we do studies. We spend a lot of time with the music on a table, thinking about it, taking decisions. And when we play we mostly do it slowly, to have time to listen, process and correct everything, and then increase speed very progressively. People who play all the time as if they were in a concert hall don't improve.

I think in terms of practice management, esports are still in infancy. For example, eveerybody who takes the game seriously should spend hours doing purely physical exercises to increase the pace of his fingers and his mind, and put a huge emphasis on having a super fast and super clean spam-free play.

If their marine split is lacking, what most people do is to try to improve it game after game. But how many marine splits do you do in one game? 10? 20? That's not rational practice. On a UMS and with dedication, you could do 500 marine split, with nothing else to worry about, and with the mental room and time to really analyse how it could be better, in the time you spend playing one single game.

And then do extensive analysis or their own replays, for every single game, etc...

Use your mind. Observe yourself. Analyse your play. Take action in the most rational way. Don't mass game blindly, it's a loss of time unless you are incredibly talented.
The fellow who is out to burn things up is the counterpart of the fool who thinks he can save the world. The world needs neither to be burned up nor to be saved. The world is, we are. Transients, if we buck it; here to stay if we accept it. ~H.Miller
Chaggi
Profile Joined August 2010
Korea (South)1936 Posts
October 18 2012 12:42 GMT
#14
practice on one thing at a time and not everything. go into each game thinking, hey I'm gonna do this specific ONE thing and even if I don't win, whatever, as long as I do it.
boxman22
Profile Blog Joined October 2011
Canada430 Posts
October 18 2012 15:18 GMT
#15
On October 18 2012 17:29 Aelonius wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 18 2012 10:23 Entertaining wrote:
Id stop trying to improve and start trying to win. I used to play bw, letting my opponent get away with his horrible wall-in or lack of early game scouting, trying to play the standard macro game. Focusing on mechanics. But the more I cared about my rank, the more I started doing ling breaks and hidden expos. If you wanna get a better rank. Win your games, whatever the means.


That's the biggest bull that you can do. It just results in kids cheesing and does not end up being the magic 'fix' to being better.

People have said "try a different way to improve". Who says cheesing doesn't improve micro and multitasking? Plus if it gives him a couple wins to feel good, who really cares? It is a game. I hate that people think the ONLY way to play is NR20.
MrRicewife
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Canada515 Posts
October 18 2012 16:30 GMT
#16
I can help. Please post replays. 2.5 years, wow. I will give free one on one lessons (master Terran). I have the day off and will even spend a couple hours with you if you want. 2.5 years without getting to diamond just means you are overlooking some important things.

PM me
So? My dad can beat up your dad. - Jesus
Facultyadjutant
Profile Blog Joined January 2012
Sweden1876 Posts
October 18 2012 16:34 GMT
#17
On October 18 2012 17:29 Aelonius wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 18 2012 10:23 Entertaining wrote:
Id stop trying to improve and start trying to win. I used to play bw, letting my opponent get away with his horrible wall-in or lack of early game scouting, trying to play the standard macro game. Focusing on mechanics. But the more I cared about my rank, the more I started doing ling breaks and hidden expos. If you wanna get a better rank. Win your games, whatever the means.


That's the biggest bull that you can do. It just results in kids cheesing and does not end up being the magic 'fix' to being better.


Fuck off, nearly every great player was called cheesy from the start. According to artosis the koreans learn the game in pieces, even by cheesing.


Learn the game in pieces, that´s how the best players do it.
#1 FAN OF TERRY THE INTERN - NONY AND IDRA NUMBER #1, EVERY DAY. AXIOM MANOR - Axiom: Ryung, Alicia, Heart and Crank under the Don TotalBiscuit and the Donnesa Genna Bain- Join the family http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=396090#2
xxpack09
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
United States2160 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-10-18 17:55:03
October 18 2012 17:52 GMT
#18
Skill ceiling has nothing to do with this.

Skill ceiling is a hypothetical amount of skill required to reach a hypothetically perfect state of play. If a game has a low skill ceiling, two players can have differing amounts of skill, but will not have their skill distinguished by the game, since they are both playing perfectly. A simple example is tic-tac-toe--the amount of strategic skill required to play tic-tac-toe is incredibly low--damn near anyone who isn't a little kid knows how to play that game perfectly, and thus it does not serve as a test of strategic ability.

Ideally, a competitive game should have a skill ceiling much higher than anything any human can achieve, so that differences in skill will always lead to significant differences in winrate. Even if neither player has hit the skill ceiling, if two players are very close to the skill ceiling of a game, there will be a noticeable change in the win-rate towards 50/50, even if one of the players has more skill.

So yeah, this has nothing to do with why you can't get out of platinum.

edit:

On October 19 2012 01:34 Facultyadjutant wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 18 2012 17:29 Aelonius wrote:
On October 18 2012 10:23 Entertaining wrote:
Id stop trying to improve and start trying to win. I used to play bw, letting my opponent get away with his horrible wall-in or lack of early game scouting, trying to play the standard macro game. Focusing on mechanics. But the more I cared about my rank, the more I started doing ling breaks and hidden expos. If you wanna get a better rank. Win your games, whatever the means.


That's the biggest bull that you can do. It just results in kids cheesing and does not end up being the magic 'fix' to being better.


Fuck off, nearly every great player was called cheesy from the start. According to artosis the koreans learn the game in pieces, even by cheesing.


Learn the game in pieces, that´s how the best players do it.


Probably the most notable example is Flash--he went from being viewed as just some young terran who's really good at cheese to a genius and TvP revolutionist to a complete god of BW.
LlamaNamedOsama
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
United States1900 Posts
October 18 2012 19:57 GMT
#19
On October 19 2012 02:52 xxpack09 wrote:
Skill ceiling has nothing to do with this.

Skill ceiling is a hypothetical amount of skill required to reach a hypothetically perfect state of play. If a game has a low skill ceiling, two players can have differing amounts of skill, but will not have their skill distinguished by the game, since they are both playing perfectly. A simple example is tic-tac-toe--the amount of strategic skill required to play tic-tac-toe is incredibly low--damn near anyone who isn't a little kid knows how to play that game perfectly, and thus it does not serve as a test of strategic ability.

Ideally, a competitive game should have a skill ceiling much higher than anything any human can achieve, so that differences in skill will always lead to significant differences in winrate. Even if neither player has hit the skill ceiling, if two players are very close to the skill ceiling of a game, there will be a noticeable change in the win-rate towards 50/50, even if one of the players has more skill.

So yeah, this has nothing to do with why you can't get out of platinum.

edit:

Show nested quote +
On October 19 2012 01:34 Facultyadjutant wrote:
On October 18 2012 17:29 Aelonius wrote:
On October 18 2012 10:23 Entertaining wrote:
Id stop trying to improve and start trying to win. I used to play bw, letting my opponent get away with his horrible wall-in or lack of early game scouting, trying to play the standard macro game. Focusing on mechanics. But the more I cared about my rank, the more I started doing ling breaks and hidden expos. If you wanna get a better rank. Win your games, whatever the means.


That's the biggest bull that you can do. It just results in kids cheesing and does not end up being the magic 'fix' to being better.


Fuck off, nearly every great player was called cheesy from the start. According to artosis the koreans learn the game in pieces, even by cheesing.


Learn the game in pieces, that´s how the best players do it.


Probably the most notable example is Flash--he went from being viewed as just some young terran who's really good at cheese to a genius and TvP revolutionist to a complete god of BW.


Yeah, improper use of "skill ceiling" in this blog, I think the OP means to say that he/she reached a plateau.
Dario Wünsch: I guess...Creator...met his maker *sunglasses*
Eywa-
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
Canada4876 Posts
October 18 2012 20:01 GMT
#20
I played with this guy who kept telling me that he peaked at dota... I would say stuff like... Nah, look how bad you were before compared to now, you're not feeding as much and you're making less mistakes. He always insisted that he had peaked because his ability to click was so bad and that while he improved strategically, he still couldn't click worth a damn.

+ Show Spoiler [Kicker] +

I later found out that he played dota from an armchair and used the arm rest as his mouse pad.
Being mannered is almost as important as winning. Almost...
1 2 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Replay Cast
00:00
Thunderfire All-Star Day 2
CranKy Ducklings198
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
WinterStarcraft591
ProTech133
StarCraft: Brood War
Sea 11323
Leta 319
Shuttle 66
Movie 53
Noble 32
JulyZerg 23
Dota 2
NeuroSwarm148
League of Legends
JimRising 855
C9.Mang0406
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King107
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor181
Other Games
summit1g8120
KnowMe239
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick2019
BasetradeTV134
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH238
• practicex 33
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• Diggity9
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Scarra1897
Upcoming Events
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
5h 23m
WardiTV Winter Champion…
8h 23m
OSC
17h 23m
Replay Cast
1d 2h
Wardi Open
1d 5h
Monday Night Weeklies
1d 10h
Sparkling Tuna Cup
2 days
LiuLi Cup
2 days
Reynor vs Creator
Maru vs Lambo
PiGosaur Monday
2 days
LiuLi Cup
3 days
Clem vs Rogue
SHIN vs Cyan
[ Show More ]
The PondCast
4 days
KCM Race Survival
4 days
LiuLi Cup
4 days
Scarlett vs TriGGeR
ByuN vs herO
Online Event
5 days
LiuLi Cup
5 days
Serral vs Zoun
Cure vs Classic
LiuLi Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

CSL 2025 WINTER (S19)
Rongyi Cup S3
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Nations Cup 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S1: W8
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
RSL Revival: Season 4
WardiTV Winter 2026
LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
FISSURE Playground #3
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League Season 23
ESL Pro League Season 23
PGL Cluj-Napoca 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.