• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 09:33
CEST 15:33
KST 22:33
  • 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
[ASL21] Ro4 Preview: On Course0Code S Season 1 - RO8 Preview6[ASL21] Ro8 Preview Pt2: Progenitors8Code S Season 1 - RO12 Group A: Rogue, Percival, Solar, Zoun13[ASL21] Ro8 Preview Pt1: Inheritors16
Community News
Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule !7Weekly Cups (April 27-May 4): Clem takes triple0RSL Revival: Season 5 - Qualifiers and Main Event12Code S Season 1 (2026) - RO12 Results12026 GSL Season 1 Qualifiers25
StarCraft 2
General
Code S Season 1 - RO8 Preview Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book Weekly Cups (April 27-May 4): Clem takes triple Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool Code S Season 1 (2026) - RO12 Results
Tourneys
Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule ! GSL Code S Season 1 (2026) RSL Revival: Season 5 - Qualifiers and Main Event
Strategy
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3 [A] Nemrods 1/4 players
External Content
Mutation # 524 Death and Taxes The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 523 Firewall Mutation # 522 Flip My Base
Brood War
General
Quality of life changes in BW that you will like ? RepMastered™: replay sharing and analyzer site BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ [ASL21] Ro4 Preview: On Course Why there arent any 256x256 pro maps?
Tourneys
[ASL21] Ro8 Day 3 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL21] Ro8 Day 4 Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers Muta micro map competition What's the deal with APM & what's its true value
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Path of Exile Nintendo Switch Thread Daigo vs Menard Best of 10 OutLive 25 (RTS Game)
Dota 2
The Story of Wings Gaming
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
Russo-Ukrainian War Thread US Politics Mega-thread The Letting Off Steam Thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread UK Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
streaming software Strange computer issues (software) [G] How to Block Livestream Ads
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
How EEG Data Can Predict Gam…
TrAiDoS
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1873 users

Mind of a Diamond vs GM player

Blogs > gfever
Post a Reply
1 2 Next All
gfever
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
United States180 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-12-22 04:16:22
December 22 2012 03:49 GMT
#1
This is a discussion I'd like to ask the community about what their take on this subject is. It somewhat boggles my mind how some of these diamond players play vs how I play. As a former GM, I just cannot go back into thinking how a diamond player would think. My noob days are over and its hard to have "fun" with my other friends that arn't as good as me.

So I'd like to compare and ask other diamond players why is that? I mainly want to ask this so I could coach better with players other than masters. I'll give some examples.

People say its the lack of play time. For the majority of diamond players that would be true but while some not so much. I have friends who are diamond and play almost everyday and never get into masters.

What about APM? I'll counter this question with, what about strategy? If your APM is low wouldn't you atleast have better strategy? I mean I see people with the dumbest strategies and just are so retarded. Their army position is terrible and their defense weak as hell. Some just land their 3rd with no army and hope they don't get attacked. People a move their army towards the enemy base and don't think about counter attacks? I mean wtf? Why don't diamond players think about this stuff if their apm is lower or higher. Why do people all rally their army in one place instead of spread them in two spots to cover both main and natural if they know some sort of drop or all in would occur? Instead you find ppl just get 10 scvs killed. Don't you think about a couple games you would think to think of a way to counter this? Why don't you scout a certain angle so you know where to position your army?

I mean I could get into masters by just clicking on the hotkeys or just make only marines. Its definately not the question of your build, unless you do something greedy.

Another thing is, some diamond players watch pro streams and GSL games but yet have no clue how to handle the army. I see diamond players run their entire army of infestors with their army attacking instead of pulling them away. If you see them die all the time why the fuck don't you change your hotkeys so you have infestors one key and army in another. I know you diamond players see the mistake there but are you stubborn to change your ways? Lazy? Or you don't care?

Why do you take a 4th base in the middle of the map and position your army in your natural and get ur 4th base killed? WTF!! I may seem like im venting steam here but this is just ridculous.

I play this custom game where you have a microer and a macroer and I was macroing for this diamond player and we are doubled the supply of the enemy in a TvT. This diamond player was so afraid of seige tanks even tho we have 3/3 vs 1/1 and doubled supply we could've crushed him multiple times. Why isn't it after so many games played you still can't look at an army and say, "Oh yea, I can definately crush that".

I mean all this is just strategy and smart thinking which I assume everyone has some sort of logical thinking if they plan to play starcraft. I could name more but it would just be redundant. But for someone who is trying to improve how come this stuff doesn't cross your mind? Wtf are you thinking about how much that you totally ignore some of these points.

Edit: I am more of asking how come lower leaguers don't try to fix these problems even tho they have identified them instead of them not being able to execute it? If you keep forgeting to do something how come you don't fix it? Yet after a couple season its still a problem for you?

***
Stream: http://www.twitch.tv/gamfvr, My Terran Guide: http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=297764
corpuscle
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
United States1967 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-12-22 04:06:28
December 22 2012 04:02 GMT
#2
I won't speak for other diamond leaguers, but for me, I've spent so much time focusing on mechanics and nothing else that I genuinely don't have a great sense of how to scout, position well, what army can beat what, when I should be on the map, etc. etc. You can very easily get to Diamond (or even low masters?) just by steamrolling your opponent with better macro and enough "gamesense" to not die to completely stupid bullshit, so true "tactical" play doesn't really even come into the picture.

For example, my brother came to visit yesterday, and we played like ten games... he beat me in nearly all of them, despite not having played for a really long time (granted, I'm rusty too), just because he's been playing since BW and has much better game sense. I simply don't run into opponents that actually know how to exploit my weaknesses, and thus don't learn how to really fix them. I don't play people who go "I'm going to check if his third is under-defended, and maybe I can pull him out of position with my mutas and do a big ling runby if he overcommits." I play people who say "I have a lot of zerglings, and I see good zergs run their zerglings into people's base and kill probes, so I'm gonna do that" even if there's 4 gates blocking, a bunch of sentries, and three cannons."

edit: I guess I didn't really make my main point: you don't just magically do things that good players do just by knowing that you're supposed to do it, otherwise we'd all be really fucking good. Asking why players that aren't as good as you don't make intelligent in-game decisions is just like me asking why people in Silver suck ass at macro. You know you're not supposed to get supply blocked, you know you're supposed to constantly build SCVs, you know you're supposed to keep your money low, so why the hell don't you do it, silver leaguer? The answer is obvious: they aren't accustomed enough to the game yet, so their time and mental energy is being used elsewhere. Starcraft is a really hard game, it takes a lot of practice to get to the point where you can really think about what you're doing.
From the void I am born into wave and particle
gfever
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
United States180 Posts
December 22 2012 04:09 GMT
#3
On December 22 2012 13:02 corpuscle wrote:
I won't speak for other diamond leaguers, but for me, I've spent so much time focusing on mechanics and nothing else that I genuinely don't have a great sense of how to scout, position well, what army can beat what, when I should be on the map, etc. etc. You can very easily get to Diamond (or even low masters?) just by steamrolling your opponent with better macro and enough "gamesense" to not die to completely stupid bullshit, so true "tactical" play doesn't really even come into the picture.

For example, my brother came to visit yesterday, and we played like ten games... he beat me in nearly all of them, despite not having played for a really long time (granted, I'm rusty too), just because he's been playing since BW and has much better game sense. I simply don't run into opponents that actually know how to exploit my weaknesses, and thus don't learn how to really fix them. I don't play people who go "I'm going to check if his third is under-defended, and maybe I can pull him out of position with my mutas and do a big ling runby if he overcommits." I play people who say "I have a lot of zerglings, and I see good zergs run their zerglings into people's base and kill probes, so I'm gonna do that" even if there's 4 gates blocking, a bunch of sentries, and three cannons."

edit: I guess I didn't really make my main point: you don't just magically do things that good players do just by knowing that you're supposed to do it, otherwise we'd all be really fucking good. Asking why players that aren't as good as you don't make intelligent in-game decisions is just like me asking why people in Silver suck ass at macro. You know you're not supposed to get supply blocked, you know you're supposed to constantly build SCVs, you know you're supposed to keep your money low, so why the hell don't you do it, silver leaguer? The answer is obvious: they aren't accustomed enough to the game yet, so their time and mental energy is being used elsewhere. Starcraft is a really hard game, it takes a lot of practice to get to the point where you can really think about what you're doing.


That still doesn't answer the question about the mere amount of time playing starcraft. Its like also saying that if you practice the piano a lot you should be good at it after a while. I got players who been playing since release and still silver and I mean constant playing, not on and off. There is something going on in their minds that I can't explain.
Stream: http://www.twitch.tv/gamfvr, My Terran Guide: http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=297764
iKill
Profile Blog Joined May 2011
Denmark861 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-12-22 04:13:06
December 22 2012 04:10 GMT
#4
Personally I'm a high diamond-ish player, and I know I should be scouting all the time, but I forget to do it because I can't get used to it >.> and when I know I have to, I feel like "eh, it's too inconvenient to scout right now, and I can guess what he's doing anyway"

EDIT: To clarify, I know about a lot of the things that I should be doing, but I don't always do them because I forget about them while I'm in the game. Force of habit is hard to break.
thepuppyassassin: "My god... the deathball's grown wings!"
corpuscle
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
United States1967 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-12-22 04:19:15
December 22 2012 04:15 GMT
#5
On December 22 2012 13:09 gfever wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 22 2012 13:02 corpuscle wrote:
I won't speak for other diamond leaguers, but for me, I've spent so much time focusing on mechanics and nothing else that I genuinely don't have a great sense of how to scout, position well, what army can beat what, when I should be on the map, etc. etc. You can very easily get to Diamond (or even low masters?) just by steamrolling your opponent with better macro and enough "gamesense" to not die to completely stupid bullshit, so true "tactical" play doesn't really even come into the picture.

For example, my brother came to visit yesterday, and we played like ten games... he beat me in nearly all of them, despite not having played for a really long time (granted, I'm rusty too), just because he's been playing since BW and has much better game sense. I simply don't run into opponents that actually know how to exploit my weaknesses, and thus don't learn how to really fix them. I don't play people who go "I'm going to check if his third is under-defended, and maybe I can pull him out of position with my mutas and do a big ling runby if he overcommits." I play people who say "I have a lot of zerglings, and I see good zergs run their zerglings into people's base and kill probes, so I'm gonna do that" even if there's 4 gates blocking, a bunch of sentries, and three cannons."

edit: I guess I didn't really make my main point: you don't just magically do things that good players do just by knowing that you're supposed to do it, otherwise we'd all be really fucking good. Asking why players that aren't as good as you don't make intelligent in-game decisions is just like me asking why people in Silver suck ass at macro. You know you're not supposed to get supply blocked, you know you're supposed to constantly build SCVs, you know you're supposed to keep your money low, so why the hell don't you do it, silver leaguer? The answer is obvious: they aren't accustomed enough to the game yet, so their time and mental energy is being used elsewhere. Starcraft is a really hard game, it takes a lot of practice to get to the point where you can really think about what you're doing.


That still doesn't answer the question about the mere amount of time playing starcraft. Its like also saying that if you practice the piano a lot you should be good at it after a while. I got players who been playing since release and still silver and I mean constant playing, not on and off. There is something going on in their minds that I can't explain.


If you practice the piano all the time but only play chopsticks (or any other easy song), no, you will never get good at piano. To get good at something, you have to be willing to push yourself past your comfort zone and try to fix your weaknesses, not just do the same thing over and over again.

You're right that there's something going on in their heads, but it's not too complicated. They just don't care enough to push themselves towards that next level, don't know how, or are too stubborn to work it out. It's really pretty simple. I've spent like six months in Diamond trying to improve using the same methods that got me there, and I've realized in the past month or so that it isn't working at all (and I actually kind of regressed because I stopped playing out of frustration).


edit: also I know I said it before, but this is a really hard game. I know Diamond players seem bad to you, but they're still better than 85% of the people that play this game. It's simply not that easy to get good, it takes work, and if it was really that simple, everyone would be awesome at SC.
From the void I am born into wave and particle
wwJd)El_Mojjo
Profile Blog Joined September 2009
Sweden173 Posts
December 22 2012 04:31 GMT
#6
I think a lot depends on how eager you are to improve.
If you feel comfortable with how you play, you wont try as hard to fix problems. If you want to improve a lot I believe you need a mindset that allows you to practice things that will make you lose games while practicing it. Rather than just playing the way you feel good about. It all comes down to what you consider fun, do you value progress higher than comfort?

Also, another point which I believe hinders a lot of people who actually do strive for improvement is that they are not humble enough when it comes to their shortcomings and bad habits. You need to be able to recognize your own mistakes if you are to fix them.

I think there are many other reasons that can play a part in all of this too, but the above mentioned attitudes of comfort and pride are two of the bigger problems for a lot of StarCraft gamers in my opinion.
Gc.El_Mojjo
iKill
Profile Blog Joined May 2011
Denmark861 Posts
December 22 2012 04:36 GMT
#7
On December 22 2012 13:31 wwJd)El_Mojjo wrote:
I think a lot depends on how eager you are to improve.
If you feel comfortable with how you play, you wont try as hard to fix problems. If you want to improve a lot I believe you need a mindset that allows you to practice things that will make you lose games while practicing it. Rather than just playing the way you feel good about. It all comes down to what you consider fun, do you value progress higher than comfort?

Also, another point which I believe hinders a lot of people who actually do strive for improvement is that they are not humble enough when it comes to their shortcomings and bad habits. You need to be able to recognize your own mistakes if you are to fix them.

I think there are many other reasons that can play a part in all of this too, but the above mentioned attitudes of comfort and pride are two of the bigger problems for a lot of StarCraft gamers in my opinion.


Yeah, I've unintentionally failed a LOT to the second part. I'm too fucking stubborn to accept my losses as being my own fault... I need to work on that. The problem with it is that SC2 doesn't give a lot of feedback unless you analyze your reps hardcore. You can't immediately say "ok I lost because X", you have to go in depth and face your failure, and that's hard to do.
thepuppyassassin: "My god... the deathball's grown wings!"
gfever
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
United States180 Posts
December 22 2012 05:02 GMT
#8
I want to compare my experiences on how I came to be a GM in starcraft.

First I was introduced to age of empires: the conquers expansion from one of my cousins. I was instantly hooked. At first I would only make like 6 or 8 villagers per game thinking that oh if I save my resources instead of spending them I can tech faster. This was when I was like 10 years old. I played this game for the next 1-2 years, and over time I learned about build orders and tried to execute them, some were successful and it was all fun during that learning experience. I then got the mindset that if I had more villagers I would have a larger army so that was my main goal. Get as many villagers as possible in the least amount of time. Again I'm like 13 during that time.

Once age of mythology came along I switched to that and learned a lot more about microing armies and counters to certain builds. Most important thing was the loki rush which was the scariest rush I had encountered and literally thought it was impossible to stop and it was a race auto win. Until I got access to agesanctuary's replay database and it opened TONS OF DOORS. I was able to analysis replays over and over and learned to counter this strategy and that was my major turning point during my gaming experience. Learning to seek problems and solve them by watching others better than me. I played this game for the next 5 years on and off.

I then played Guild wars, tho its not a real time strategy it still has elements of strategy. I was a major PvP elitist, I played so much PvP that I unlocked all the PvP skills and their were almost 500+ skills each like 10,000 points to unlock. But the main thing I got out of it was teamwork and important of each skill in each player's bar. So essentially composition.

Next I played Gears of War 1 and 2 professional. Was my real introduction into competitive gaming and I was already following MLG's halo 2 for a while now. This game really made me want to improve and understand the importance of how to adapt to the problems of having a team and work with my teammates. As well as work on my own problems, practice time was scheduled incrementally. Positional play was another thing that was extremely important.

Now starcraft 2 was released and it was my first ever time playing starcraft. So using the stuff I learned from AOE and AOM my first game ever on it was to cc first and lost to lings, Lol. I picked terran since I thought it required the most skill and was very similar to my previous RTS experience. I was placed in platnium league. By this time I already had the mindset to improve and not think its the game's fault even tho back then we had ridculous maps. I was doing 1 base banshee every game into expansion since I didn't know any better. Reached Diamond then masters when it was released with this build. Until season 2 I started to do 1 rax expand and lost constantly but since I saw MvP hold off ridculous stuff I knew I could do it. The rest is history.

How does this compare to you guys? Did you guys learn stuff from previous games and is the reason why you and me are different in mindsets?
Stream: http://www.twitch.tv/gamfvr, My Terran Guide: http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=297764
Steelo_Rivers
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
United States1968 Posts
December 22 2012 05:14 GMT
#9
On December 22 2012 13:02 corpuscle wrote:
I won't speak for other diamond leaguers, but for me, I've spent so much time focusing on mechanics and nothing else that I genuinely don't have a great sense of how to scout, position well, what army can beat what, when I should be on the map, etc. etc. You can very easily get to Diamond (or even low masters?) just by steamrolling your opponent with better macro and enough "gamesense" to not die to completely stupid bullshit, so true "tactical" play doesn't really even come into the picture.

For example, my brother came to visit yesterday, and we played like ten games... he beat me in nearly all of them, despite not having played for a really long time (granted, I'm rusty too), just because he's been playing since BW and has much better game sense. I simply don't run into opponents that actually know how to exploit my weaknesses, and thus don't learn how to really fix them. I don't play people who go "I'm going to check if his third is under-defended, and maybe I can pull him out of position with my mutas and do a big ling runby if he overcommits." I play people who say "I have a lot of zerglings, and I see good zergs run their zerglings into people's base and kill probes, so I'm gonna do that" even if there's 4 gates blocking, a bunch of sentries, and three cannons."

edit: I guess I didn't really make my main point: you don't just magically do things that good players do just by knowing that you're supposed to do it, otherwise we'd all be really fucking good. Asking why players that aren't as good as you don't make intelligent in-game decisions is just like me asking why people in Silver suck ass at macro. You know you're not supposed to get supply blocked, you know you're supposed to constantly build SCVs, you know you're supposed to keep your money low, so why the hell don't you do it, silver leaguer? The answer is obvious: they aren't accustomed enough to the game yet, so their time and mental energy is being used elsewhere. Starcraft is a really hard game, it takes a lot of practice to get to the point where you can really think about what you're doing.

You sound just like me. When you first start out, all people tell you to do is "FOKUS ON YER MEKANIKS"... but then when you focus mechanics and hit the brick wall called strategy... what do you do?
ok
iKill
Profile Blog Joined May 2011
Denmark861 Posts
December 22 2012 05:19 GMT
#10
On December 22 2012 14:14 LgNKami wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 22 2012 13:02 corpuscle wrote:
I won't speak for other diamond leaguers, but for me, I've spent so much time focusing on mechanics and nothing else that I genuinely don't have a great sense of how to scout, position well, what army can beat what, when I should be on the map, etc. etc. You can very easily get to Diamond (or even low masters?) just by steamrolling your opponent with better macro and enough "gamesense" to not die to completely stupid bullshit, so true "tactical" play doesn't really even come into the picture.

For example, my brother came to visit yesterday, and we played like ten games... he beat me in nearly all of them, despite not having played for a really long time (granted, I'm rusty too), just because he's been playing since BW and has much better game sense. I simply don't run into opponents that actually know how to exploit my weaknesses, and thus don't learn how to really fix them. I don't play people who go "I'm going to check if his third is under-defended, and maybe I can pull him out of position with my mutas and do a big ling runby if he overcommits." I play people who say "I have a lot of zerglings, and I see good zergs run their zerglings into people's base and kill probes, so I'm gonna do that" even if there's 4 gates blocking, a bunch of sentries, and three cannons."

edit: I guess I didn't really make my main point: you don't just magically do things that good players do just by knowing that you're supposed to do it, otherwise we'd all be really fucking good. Asking why players that aren't as good as you don't make intelligent in-game decisions is just like me asking why people in Silver suck ass at macro. You know you're not supposed to get supply blocked, you know you're supposed to constantly build SCVs, you know you're supposed to keep your money low, so why the hell don't you do it, silver leaguer? The answer is obvious: they aren't accustomed enough to the game yet, so their time and mental energy is being used elsewhere. Starcraft is a really hard game, it takes a lot of practice to get to the point where you can really think about what you're doing.

You sound just like me. When you first start out, all people tell you to do is "FOKUS ON YER MEKANIKS"... but then when you focus mechanics and hit the brick wall called strategy... what do you do?


Well, considering you apparently managed, why don't you tell us?
thepuppyassassin: "My god... the deathball's grown wings!"
Zennith
Profile Blog Joined July 2011
United States795 Posts
December 22 2012 05:40 GMT
#11
On December 22 2012 14:19 iKill wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 22 2012 14:14 LgNKami wrote:
On December 22 2012 13:02 corpuscle wrote:
I won't speak for other diamond leaguers, but for me, I've spent so much time focusing on mechanics and nothing else that I genuinely don't have a great sense of how to scout, position well, what army can beat what, when I should be on the map, etc. etc. You can very easily get to Diamond (or even low masters?) just by steamrolling your opponent with better macro and enough "gamesense" to not die to completely stupid bullshit, so true "tactical" play doesn't really even come into the picture.

For example, my brother came to visit yesterday, and we played like ten games... he beat me in nearly all of them, despite not having played for a really long time (granted, I'm rusty too), just because he's been playing since BW and has much better game sense. I simply don't run into opponents that actually know how to exploit my weaknesses, and thus don't learn how to really fix them. I don't play people who go "I'm going to check if his third is under-defended, and maybe I can pull him out of position with my mutas and do a big ling runby if he overcommits." I play people who say "I have a lot of zerglings, and I see good zergs run their zerglings into people's base and kill probes, so I'm gonna do that" even if there's 4 gates blocking, a bunch of sentries, and three cannons."

edit: I guess I didn't really make my main point: you don't just magically do things that good players do just by knowing that you're supposed to do it, otherwise we'd all be really fucking good. Asking why players that aren't as good as you don't make intelligent in-game decisions is just like me asking why people in Silver suck ass at macro. You know you're not supposed to get supply blocked, you know you're supposed to constantly build SCVs, you know you're supposed to keep your money low, so why the hell don't you do it, silver leaguer? The answer is obvious: they aren't accustomed enough to the game yet, so their time and mental energy is being used elsewhere. Starcraft is a really hard game, it takes a lot of practice to get to the point where you can really think about what you're doing.

You sound just like me. When you first start out, all people tell you to do is "FOKUS ON YER MEKANIKS"... but then when you focus mechanics and hit the brick wall called strategy... what do you do?


Well, considering you apparently managed, why don't you tell us?



Honestly, for me, it was about time + breaking down the game a bit. Like an instrument, you learn to play more slowly, putting it together bit by bit until you have the hand movements down and so ingrained that you can speed up and not miss a beat. I finally hit masters (and now nearly GM) by just working myself through my matchups.

What am I doing the first 6 minutes of the game? I would go and just play 6 minutes over and over again. Once I felt good at that, I added on 6 more minutes, and so it went.

Mechanics are great, but they work WITH strategy, with preparation, with scouting. Don't think about practicing "mechanics" (although eventually you should do that too), but think about the game in sections.
Sentinel Gaming Competitive Team Manager | 1500+ points Masters Zerg | twitch.tv/zennith6
Steelo_Rivers
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
United States1968 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-12-22 05:48:19
December 22 2012 05:46 GMT
#12
On December 22 2012 14:19 iKill wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 22 2012 14:14 LgNKami wrote:
On December 22 2012 13:02 corpuscle wrote:
I won't speak for other diamond leaguers, but for me, I've spent so much time focusing on mechanics and nothing else that I genuinely don't have a great sense of how to scout, position well, what army can beat what, when I should be on the map, etc. etc. You can very easily get to Diamond (or even low masters?) just by steamrolling your opponent with better macro and enough "gamesense" to not die to completely stupid bullshit, so true "tactical" play doesn't really even come into the picture.

For example, my brother came to visit yesterday, and we played like ten games... he beat me in nearly all of them, despite not having played for a really long time (granted, I'm rusty too), just because he's been playing since BW and has much better game sense. I simply don't run into opponents that actually know how to exploit my weaknesses, and thus don't learn how to really fix them. I don't play people who go "I'm going to check if his third is under-defended, and maybe I can pull him out of position with my mutas and do a big ling runby if he overcommits." I play people who say "I have a lot of zerglings, and I see good zergs run their zerglings into people's base and kill probes, so I'm gonna do that" even if there's 4 gates blocking, a bunch of sentries, and three cannons."

edit: I guess I didn't really make my main point: you don't just magically do things that good players do just by knowing that you're supposed to do it, otherwise we'd all be really fucking good. Asking why players that aren't as good as you don't make intelligent in-game decisions is just like me asking why people in Silver suck ass at macro. You know you're not supposed to get supply blocked, you know you're supposed to constantly build SCVs, you know you're supposed to keep your money low, so why the hell don't you do it, silver leaguer? The answer is obvious: they aren't accustomed enough to the game yet, so their time and mental energy is being used elsewhere. Starcraft is a really hard game, it takes a lot of practice to get to the point where you can really think about what you're doing.

You sound just like me. When you first start out, all people tell you to do is "FOKUS ON YER MEKANIKS"... but then when you focus mechanics and hit the brick wall called strategy... what do you do?


Well, considering you apparently managed, why don't you tell us?

The only thing to do was to keep tanking me account to relearn parts of the game. It went in this order:

1. Get to Masters on pure mechanics (rank doesnt matter because as soon as you hit masters, you tank again) (NO MICRO!)
2. Get to Masters on pure strategy (same as above with rank) (Micro if needed)
3. Get to Masters on while focusing on scouting, strategy and macro (it becomes hard once you hit diamond while doing this for the first time.) (NO MICRO!)
4. Get to Masters (at this point, you will automatically be doing everything I noted above without even knowing it) (you are free to do whatever you want as long as your apm allows it)

Once you reach 4, you have no real reason to tank again unless you're a troll. Also, if you lose a game to a lower league player, don't be ashamed. If you lost, it was you're fault so just watch the replay and see what you did wrong.

PS: This is a long process so don't expect this to be a quick fix. You will be working on this for a good 2-3 months.
ok
Saechiis
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Netherlands4989 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-12-22 06:02:12
December 22 2012 05:59 GMT
#13
Diamonds will have trouble keeping up their macro and BO's as it is, without having to juggle minimap awareness, positioning, micro, strategy, common sense. In other words, they're not quite as good as GM players. What's complex about that? o_O

Not to mention that a lot of people don't play to improve or don't want to make a conscious effort to do so.
I think esports is pretty nice.
gfever
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
United States180 Posts
December 22 2012 06:06 GMT
#14
On December 22 2012 14:59 Saechiis wrote:
Diamonds will have trouble keeping up their macro and BO's as it is, without having to juggle minimap awareness, positioning, micro, strategy, common sense. In other words, they're not quite as good as GM players. What's complex about that? o_O

Not to mention that a lot of people don't play to improve or don't want to make a conscious effort to do so.


This is more geared towards diamonds who really want to hit masters. No shit their macro sucks and no sense of a solid BO and strategy. But what I am asking is why is it that they can't learn this like I did. I learned everything by myself, no one held my hand. How come they don't have the logical sense to work this out by themselves. This is not a question dealing with execution of APM.
Stream: http://www.twitch.tv/gamfvr, My Terran Guide: http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=297764
iKill
Profile Blog Joined May 2011
Denmark861 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-12-22 06:23:28
December 22 2012 06:15 GMT
#15
On December 22 2012 15:06 gfever wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 22 2012 14:59 Saechiis wrote:
Diamonds will have trouble keeping up their macro and BO's as it is, without having to juggle minimap awareness, positioning, micro, strategy, common sense. In other words, they're not quite as good as GM players. What's complex about that? o_O

Not to mention that a lot of people don't play to improve or don't want to make a conscious effort to do so.


This is more geared towards diamonds who really want to hit masters. No shit their macro sucks and no sense of a solid BO and strategy. But what I am asking is why is it that they can't learn this like I did. I learned everything by myself, no one held my hand. How come they don't have the logical sense to work this out by themselves. This is not a question dealing with execution of APM.


If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. Congrats, you're talented. Here's your fucking medal. I had to work hard to even get to diamond, then I kinda hit a plateau, now I'm trying to break out but it's hard as fuck.

Essentially, this is like Michael Phelps looking down at swimmers everywhere and going "Holy shit, why are these plebs so bad they can't even win the olympics?" Bit of an extreme example, but you get my point, it's easy to dismiss the road after you've walked it.
thepuppyassassin: "My god... the deathball's grown wings!"
Saechiis
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Netherlands4989 Posts
December 22 2012 06:25 GMT
#16
On December 22 2012 15:06 gfever wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 22 2012 14:59 Saechiis wrote:
Diamonds will have trouble keeping up their macro and BO's as it is, without having to juggle minimap awareness, positioning, micro, strategy, common sense. In other words, they're not quite as good as GM players. What's complex about that? o_O

Not to mention that a lot of people don't play to improve or don't want to make a conscious effort to do so.


This is more geared towards diamonds who really want to hit masters. No shit their macro sucks and no sense of a solid BO and strategy. But what I am asking is why is it that they can't learn this like I did. I learned everything by myself, no one held my hand. How come they don't have the logical sense to work this out by themselves. This is not a question dealing with execution of APM.


Because learning requires time? Thinking of ways to play better != playing better,
I think esports is pretty nice.
Gprime
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
Canada198 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-12-22 07:53:08
December 22 2012 07:02 GMT
#17
i was thinking about answering your "question" about the mindset of lower league players, and i was intrigued when you brought up the topic of fun. then as i kept reading i realized that it was mostly a gloat blog."im better than most people, why does everyone suck?" it seemed like you were never that interested in the "Fun" aspect, but mostly wanted to give other people crap and gloat in your "as an ex gm" Majesty.

Maybe if you think about it you can answer your own question about why you cant have fun in starcraft anymore. But just in case you are having trouble ill give you a hint: your priorities are seriously fucked up. if you want to have fun you are approaching it in the wrong way.


(i think what i said is insightful, but also a tad too emotional. i seemed to have gotten defensive.)
edited for ^

edit 2: re ops edit.
i think the reason, for me at least, is mitigating circumstances in my life leading to a focus shift away from starcraft, ie school, depression. other factors too, like laziness, etc. i want to be good, but constant interruptions cause lack of focus. i also have a tendency to just knock of games quickly without thinking. the flawed thought process is:ive been away for a while, i just need to play a couple hundred games to get back into it. but it ends up inhibiting progress
diablo 3 killed my skill.
3achy
Profile Joined October 2012
Australia12 Posts
December 22 2012 07:49 GMT
#18
Personally, I think my main problem is holding multiprong harassment. I'm high diamond, have beaten a bunch of masters and a few GMs. Its just if a they decide to do mass drops everywhere, even with static, they still kill important tech and economy, and is 90% of the time a loss. So I guess, multitasking is a big issue for me.
kollin
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United Kingdom8380 Posts
December 22 2012 09:22 GMT
#19
I think a lot of it is to do with how much Starcraft they watch. I remember once I decided to analyse an enormous amount of TvTs, around the time of the TSL4 qualifiers, and that alone really enhanced my knowledge of the matchup. I learnt a lot about army positioning and about timings, and I also learnt whether or not it was safe to attack into a siege line. So I think that's the problem, these players aren't analysing enough games, and instead just mass gaming.
Poopi
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
France12912 Posts
December 22 2012 12:39 GMT
#20
I guess it's because most of the people who gives them advices were already accustomed to RTS when they started sc2. The "macro till you get to master" and stuff like that. They didn't receive advices from people whom SC2 (is whom the right word btw?) was the first RTS they played with the intention to get better. Or they didn't play enough video games in the past. Or don't want to progress badly enough.

WriterMaru
1 2 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
WardiTV Invitational
12:00
Wardi Spring Cup
ByuN vs Rogue
Solar vs Ryung
Zoun vs Percival
Cure vs SHIN
WardiTV918
IntoTheiNu 684
TKL 228
IndyStarCraft 219
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Ryung 377
TKL 228
IndyStarCraft 219
Rex 139
Railgan 88
Vindicta 2
StarCraft: Brood War
EffOrt 1607
BeSt 1026
ZerO 392
Mini 342
Rush 222
Last 165
Mind 143
hero 129
Pusan 98
ToSsGirL 64
[ Show more ]
Nal_rA 52
Sea.KH 48
sorry 39
Movie 38
Shinee 35
Backho 33
Shine 30
GoRush 21
Rock 15
yabsab 15
IntoTheRainbow 13
Noble 12
Icarus 5
Dota 2
Gorgc5168
monkeys_forever140
XcaliburYe131
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor270
Other Games
gofns29423
singsing2216
B2W.Neo1283
Liquid`RaSZi902
DeMusliM434
KnowMe146
ArmadaUGS52
ZerO(Twitch)21
MindelVK19
elazer11
Organizations
Counter-Strike
PGL35667
Other Games
gamesdonequick2869
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Adnapsc2 31
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Jankos1758
• TFBlade1107
Other Games
• WagamamaTV360
Upcoming Events
BSL
5h 27m
Dewalt vs DragOn
Aether vs Jimin
GSL
18h 27m
Afreeca Starleague
20h 27m
Soma vs Leta
Wardi Open
22h 27m
Monday Night Weeklies
1d 2h
OSC
1d 10h
CranKy Ducklings
1d 20h
Afreeca Starleague
1d 20h
Light vs Flash
Replay Cast
2 days
Replay Cast
3 days
[ Show More ]
The PondCast
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
RSL Revival
4 days
Korean StarCraft League
5 days
RSL Revival
5 days
BSL
6 days
GSL
6 days
Cure vs TBD
TBD vs Maru
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Escore Tournament S2: W6
WardiTV TLMC #16
Nations Cup 2026

Ongoing

BSL Season 22
ASL Season 21
CSL 2026 SPRING (S20)
IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
Acropolis #4
KK 2v2 League Season 1
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
SCTL 2026 Spring
RSL Revival: Season 5
2026 GSL S1
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2

Upcoming

YSL S3
Escore Tournament S2: W7
Escore Tournament S2: W8
CSLAN 4
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Maestros of the Game 2
2026 GSL S2
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026: Closed Qualifier
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 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.