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When I first started Sc2 after launch and even mostly through WoL the mantra was always macro will get you to masters. This has been my focus lately and it seems to be costing me games. I have 3 bases saturated usually by minimum 11 minutes as protoss in gold league but my opponents consistently outmacro me and are usually much better than me.
I am Protoss
My main focus right now is make probes until I have 3 bases with 15 on minerals and 6 in gas, build gates with extra minerals and make units, PvZ I go Gate expand into 4 gate stargate, PvT I go 1 gate expo into robo into gates + robo bay stopping at 3 collosi and getting storm, PvP I go 2 gate 3 stalker robo expand.
So Is macro still good enough to get you to diamond? Am I maybe over thinking things and I should just focus even harder on making probes and pylons? any general tips for someone struggling in Gold (i've made it to high plat last season but people seem to be improving and gold seems harder).
 
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I'm obviously not a pro, but I'll give you my insight as I'm masters 2v2 with my buddy.
In my experience, macro needs to be perfect but it doesn't win you games and neither do your build orders. What wins games is your ability to be able to read your opponents play and react to it accordingly. If you don't like doing that, then make your opponent react to your play, with a build order or some type of aggression, and always keep scouting as unexpected play is a killer.
Cheese is often another way to win a lot of games, whether it be economical cheese or aggressive cheese it doesn't matter but don't get too caught up in either as if it's not working you need to switch out of it into something different.
If you're struggling against certain match ups go watch some VODs of a pro player like Hero and copy what he does to start getting used to a feel of a build what wins.
This is just what I think which obviously won't be the mass census but I love talking Starcraft 2 so if you ever fancy talking about something hit me up and I'll try and give my read on it.
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Ya having a solid macro backbone is of absolute importance. However small modifications should be made. If you see the toss going dts, you shouldn't be like w/e ima go sg. Making/guessing reads and adjusting is also important. However I would post a replay. There's a difference in macro between a gold player and a masters level player. Honestly you probably aren't "macroing" correctly.
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I can actually sympathize with this. I was mid-masters a year ago in WoL and then moved to league for a while. I was placed in gold in HotS and I thought I would steamroll my way to at least diamond but I'm actually dropping games here and there due to my opponents having superior macro and decision-making. The general skill level has definitely improved, I think.
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United Kingdom14103 Posts
On August 14 2013 17:57 DazedPvtParts wrote:
I'm obviously not a pro, but I'll give you my insight as I'm masters 2v2 with my buddy.
Not the best way to get across your skill level.
OT: Macro is what you build on to make higher leagues, also whilst you may be thinking you're doing well on the macro front you might also not be doing as well as you might think, I know I felt like I was a king in gold when actually I was terrible.
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I did not play for a whole year and the only games I win are micro battles, everyone seems to have better macro than me ...
I feel you bro 
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I didn't play SC2 for around 3 months and I falls from all race diamond to my main zerg race barely beating gold lol
I think it's due to my bad attention though, I kept doing things that aren't so important like creep spreading when I should be injecting or spreading lings around
ZvT especially is horrible, there are some very nice tank spot that just makes it super hard to engage. Or one well placed mine kills like 20 lings into lose
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On August 14 2013 17:25 Esoterikk wrote:
When I first started Sc2 after launch and even mostly through WoL the mantra was always macro will get you to masters. This has been my focus lately and it seems to be costing me games. I have 3 bases saturated usually by minimum 11 minutes as protoss in gold league but my opponents consistently outmacro me and are usually much better than me.
I am Protoss
My main focus right now is make probes until I have 3 bases with 15 on minerals and 6 in gas, build gates with extra minerals and make units, PvZ I go Gate expand into 4 gate stargate, PvT I go 1 gate expo into robo into gates + robo bay stopping at 3 collosi and getting storm, PvP I go 2 gate 3 stalker robo expand.
So Is macro still good enough to get you to diamond? Am I maybe over thinking things and I should just focus even harder on making probes and pylons? any general tips for someone struggling in Gold (i've made it to high plat last season but people seem to be improving and gold seems harder).
Okay I think I got this one. Perfect macro doesn't guarantee a win in the first 8 minutes of a game anymore (yes, it absolutely did change), even in platinum (I can't talk for gold), because it is easier and most players have tighten up. Perfect execution (macrowise) of a 2 gate expand, for example, can end up in a loss if zerg goes for an all-in. Also, perfect execution (macrowise) of 1 base blink doesn't necessarily give you a win instantly if toss goes for robo or zerg for mass speedlings.
But still, macro still wins in gold, platinum and diamond after 8 minutes. But not macro alone : macro while harassing, macro while defending, while scouting etc. No matter how well you spend your ressources, you can always end up losing 16 probes to a drop if you don't pay attention.
Op, if you're still reading this, I would tell you, as a diamond zerg and platinum protoss, that your next step may consist in learning one build for each matchup, preferably a build that's safe up until around the 8 min mark, so that it allows you to differentiate yourself from your opponent by still having solid macro in the mid-game.
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The problem with 'macro' is that people in lower leagues just see it as what you do before attacks start flying.
When someone says macro will get you into masters, what they actually mean is that if you can constantly attack, deal with any attack and still be macroing really well (perfect is obv impossible) then you can get to masters without really needing to over think your strategy. It's not hard to macro undisturbed, try practicing on 'multitask' maps where you keep moving stuff around whilst macroing and dealing with attacks etc
Suddenly your macro goes to crap but thats OK, practice makes perfect. Frankly I think if you're mechanically that good you're already in masters, so for most people on the progression curve probably won't get into masters will macro alone, they'll do it with decent mechanics and decent strategy rather than brilliant mechanics and subpar strategy but some pro with brilliant mechanics could probably break masters will no real strategy.
Also yes people have been getting better.
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The way i see it is that there are general trends of play and sometimes there are players who do not have the most well rounded play but are able to copy a good strategy and win because of the strategy. I think right now there are some strong plays going around.
I don't think good macro will win you games. Knowing what to focus on when is a much better skill that knowing how to be super duper efficient with your economy in myopinion. What i mean is that i think the game should be looked at as a whole and not some thing to be divided. Good play is good play overall.
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Pure macro is not really enough in SC2 (it is in BW though), there's too many "hard counters" and shit that just kills you. Macro is still the most important aspect of good play, but scouting and reacting is key, having a ton of units won't help if your opponent is going for an aggressive style with a composition which counters yours.
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having strong macro is still enough to cruise into diamond league, people just really over-complicate things. just practice your macro (building units constantly, no supply blocks, probes constantly) and ignore whether you win or lose and you'll see huge improvements. once you've gotten to the point where you can "macro well" without thinking, you can focus on the strategic things like when to switch from colossus to storm PvT, etc.
i almost never offrace when i feel like playing T i can play it a master league level just because having solid macro (pressing 5 and 6, building SCVs and units) is so ingrained in my fingers.
to answer your question - YES, keep focusing on probes and pylons. Day9 is right.
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Yea it's strange, I remember silver in WoL was like 1 base shenanigans but I just got done on my silver account on EU and people were literally pulling off pro builds within the meta like zealot/archon/immo PvP and Roach/Hydra/Pully flying snake into ultra.
It's pretty crazy, being in silver and not winning every game is pretty god damn demoralizing.
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^ forgot to say, I think now people can get placed into diamond/master anymore (not sure if diamond is included), so a lot of the silver players are in fact not silver.
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EPT
