EPTTwo weeks ago I wrote my first blog entry, and I've got to admit that about 3 days later I had completely forgotten about it. It wasn't until yesterday morning that I remembered that I was meant to be writing at all. I have decided that 2 weeks is an appropriate interval for enough things to have happened that I can blog about them in a substantial manner. In the last 2 weeks my laddering has been sporadic to say the least. I have put much more time into other games (Terraria and Heroes of Newerth) and watching streams (WCS/GSL/regular ladder streams) than I have into playing StarCraft 2, and I feel like this happens to me every couple of months. It is sometimes caused by a small loss-streak on ladder, and sometimes happens when I'm playing well and feeling like I'm improving. Regardless, I am not afraid of these occurances as I know that at this stage my happiness and enjoyment of what I'm doing online is the most important thing. I am not anywhere near the stage, yet, where I would have to push through these feelings and grind ladder games/practice games even though I don't feel like it.
My win rate for the season is just over 50%, and I feel that if I get back into gear with frequent laddering I will be pushing up towards the top of my Platinum division and possibly into Diamond. When I made the jump from Bronze up to Gold I was playing, at minimum, 10 games per day (5 on SEA server and 5 on NA). On weekends and the occasional Friday I would play more than double that. I was able to pump out game after game because I was winning 80% of games, and all of them ended between 12 and 15 minutes. Now that I am in Platinum and my win rate is down around 50-60%, I find it a fair bit harder to string together more than 3 games at absolute maximum without needing to take a sizeable break. At this stage these are just observations, and I am not looking to adjust anything to make myself play more. I am solely looking to
play when I feel like it and when it is fun for me.
With that said, I have found that I find inspiration to enjoy the game from watching high-level players compete in the GSL and WCS, and watching regular high level players stream their practice. I am not the kind of person to sit with Notepad open on my 2nd monitor, copying down build orders and the like while I watch these games. I like to do a little theorycrafting in my head, but that is as far as I take it. The main enjoyment I get is from understanding the extreme speed, intelligence and skill that goes into games at the top level, and getting to watch players execute this is a thrill. It is so much more easy, when StarCraft 2 is all I can think about, to open up and stream and relax and be entertained than to open the
game client and play some intense ladder matches.
I have been competing in my clan's Internal Tournament over the last couple of months, and on Tuesday night I was knocked out in my Round of 8 games against Diamond Zerg player hEGemOni. I am very happy with how I performed all the way through the tournament, and I'm a little suprised at how far I progressed through the bracket. In the next couple of weeks I will look to possibly get more SC2 games in than I did in the past 2 weeks, because I feel that once I start putting in more regular practice I will improve a bit more quickly and start winning lots more games. Thanks for reading, and if you have any comments or questions, feel free to post them!
Yours in StarCraft,
Kezz
SC2SEA Profile | Twitter: @_kezz | Fusion Slugs Website
