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For a little background on me...
Back in 2010 I pre-ordered Wings of Liberty and began playing the game the morning after the midnight launch, placing in Silver League.
Coming from a background of a little SC1 and Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, I already understood a little bit about build orders, macro, micro, etc.. Just with not enough apm to execute anything properly.
I started out playing random but (not making this up) I got terran for all 5 of my placement matches, and from there I just decided to stick with terran if it's what Blizzard really wants.
A year after release to the day, I was promoted to Diamond League.
Since then, I have maintained a comfortable range of rank 1 Platinum to mid-level Diamond depending on activity and general mindset.
In June of this year after nearly 1,500 1v1s as terran, I peaked at rank 1 Diamond in my division and top 100 Diamond on NA according to nios.kr.
That feat firmly put me within the top 5% of my server for a time.
However, something happened then. A little unsettling.
Either I started getting worse, or the meta-game finally caught up to me.
Nearing the end of season 3, some internal and external problems caught up to me as well.
A little more about me...
Like Scarlett and Tilea (retired), I am MtF trans. I started hormone therapy (HRT) last month and it has helped a little bit with my depression. As my dosage is increased to normal female levels, I might feel even better.
I have spent a long time time wanting to die, and suddenly this is no longer as much of a looming threat. It's as if my brain is finally being powered by the right chemicals now, like magic... idk.
In any case... near the end of season 3, depression and other issues caught up with me.
Whether or not it's related to my problems, I lost a bunch of matches and went from rank 1 diamond to ending the season at rank 24.
There was a mass demotion because masters league was over-saturated. After looking around at other diamond and former diamond players, it seems like anyone under 600pt diamond was demoted and I was just shy by 50 points or so.
Season 4 I was platinum league. Ok, fair. I lost a bunch of matches so my MMR must have gotten hurt.
But then... I kept losing, and losing, and losing.
I ended the season with 77 wins 90 losses. :C
Season 5 I didn't play at all, except some unranked.
I am currently sitting at rank 2 Gold on EU, rank 6 Gold on NA, and still low Platinum on KR with but about 900 bonus pool where I'm either eeking out wins or getting smashed.
At the end of it all...
I'm wondering what happened.
Did I get worse or did the game change?
Sure, oracles are scary, mutas are stronger, ultras are stronger, 4gate blink moco (shudder) is really good, nexus cannon is strong, and for a while there marine-tank just wasn't good in tvt hardly at all.
But those changes shouldn't make someone drop from top 5-10% down to maybe top 25%, right? Right..?
I just don't know...
Obviously, I want to get better at the game, but when it seems like I'm getting worse it makes me feel like I don't know what I'm doing.
It feels like I got lucky for a while and suddenly the same gimmicks just aren't working anymore. But I'm not a gimmicky player! :/
I almost always play safe, react, and try to take a lead in the mid-game, then win in the late-game.
The only exceptions are when I get bored and mess around sometimes with cheesy bullshit, but that is *not* the staple of my play.
tl;dr
was top diamond
currently top gold
wondering why I still suck after nearly 2k games
also terran is a bad race but that's not a real excuse so qq moar
WHAT I INTEND TO DO ABOUT THIS PROBLEM:
Spend more time on the forums here. Read moar. Lurk moar. Ask moar.
I have *never ever* relied on the strategy forum resource here.
Everything I know about the game, I taught myself.
When I was a baddie, I just looked at pro-replays and VODs, and stole builds from players I liked.
As I got better, I learned how to wing it with builds and just stay on top of my macro, relying on mechanics and decision-making.
Now that my own intelligence is failing me, I am seeking outside help.
I have very little experience seeking help with ANYTHING in life. I am highly independent, and I'm not good at asking advice. Even in school, I don't know how to pay attention in class, and I do all research and stuff on my own... only really going to class when it's required for a grade.
Where do I start? Help me help myself, anyone reading this.
I wanna be good at SC2! plz plz k thx <3
EDIT:
A bit of other info...
I only started playing again two weeks ago, and most of that time has been spent playing Zerg and Random.
That *might* have something to do with not getting promoted to platinum on NA/EU.
But my skill as Z and P are about equivalent to my T, because I have always played random in team games.
Regardless, when I spawn as terran I can still lose games to gold players.
I do not feel confident enough in TvZ or TvP to get promoted back into platinum.
TvT has always been okay for me and still is to this day.
 
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There's something called sc2 strategy to the left od this OP in your browser. And it has a bunch of stuff written by masters players.....way higher then your highest high ever was
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Yes! I'm aware, but there's just so so so much information, and I don't know where to start.
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You're simply not playing enough. 2k games since release? Are you kidding me? You expect to be good? I had more than 2k games 2 months after it was released. Don't even ask me how many hours I put into Brood War to achieve merely a B- rank on iccup. Just because you memorize basic builds and counters doesn't mean anything. If you don't have the experience and practice, you won't get anywhere.
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On November 05 2013 06:22 rushz0rz wrote:
You're simply not playing enough. 2k games since release? Are you kidding me? You expect to be good?
Some people play more than me and they're still in bronze league.
Some people play less than me and they're rank 1 masters.
Seeing as how I was rank 1 diamond after 1,500 games, I thought I was playing at a pretty decent rate.
More than likely I am just playing for the Wings meta, and I need to adapt.
I was consistently diamond league for two years straight in WoL.
I come from a background of minimal rts experience. I played a little DoW:DC, but only against bots with friends. I played the SC1 campaign, and occasionally against the computer.
Learning and improvement isn't a cut and dry experience.
Do you have any actual advice?
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You're probably not worse, I think that gold is kinda where Diamond used to be.
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The leagues didn't shift that significantly.
Masters league housed 5-6% in June, and I was at the very top of diamond on NA at the time.
Now masters has 3-4%. That's not a significant change.
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Ladder is fucked, at least on WoL.
http://nios.kr/sc2/us/1v1/wol/diamond/
Look at rank #1 in my division, iamsam, 84% winrate, 135-25. He's still in diamond, and I've been playing him on ladder for over a week. This is not an isolated case.
I've been in the highest possible league on ladder(aside from GM), since beta, went inactive for 2 seasons, then got placed into plat.
The other day I played with my buddies(ex-master and diamond) in 3v3, we got placed in BRONZE.
B.net is fucked(at least on WoL).
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What Zorkmid means is that, let's say you had 50 "skill units" back in WoL.
On average, the ladder is getting stronger over time, because people are more experienced on average, but leagues remain based on percentage, not on your objective skill level. So, while 50 "skill units" may have been enough to have you in Diamond back when you played actively, it's now top Gold level. You're still at 50 "skill units", so you're not a worse player than you used to be, but you're worse relative to the active population.
I don't think it's that bad, personally; I think players have definitely gotten better, but I don't think that 2012's top Diamonds are now top Golds. But it's a contributing factor.
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Bisutopia19299 Posts
Play more games, watch replays in your spare time, live and breathe starcraft, have fun, and smile. == Success.
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Gun-vice, I have been playing HotS since March.
Salivanth & Zork, I said I was top 100 diamond in June of this year. Not top 100 in my division. Top 100 on the server, out of thousands, only a few months ago. My "skill units" legitimately went down. It's not like I stopped playing for 18 months and come back last week.
Thanks, Smurfette for the thread.
Thanks, Bisu! :D
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Make sure to eat well (get all your vitamins like D3 & omega 3s), get sleep, and get exersize. These factors can have an ENORMOUS impact on your game.
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Try a different race, it helps a ton.
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On November 05 2013 07:38 KroMTroN wrote:Show nested quote +On November 05 2013 06:22 rushz0rz wrote:
You're simply not playing enough. 2k games since release? Are you kidding me? You expect to be good? Some people play more than me and they're still in bronze league. Some people play less than me and they're rank 1 masters. Seeing as how I was rank 1 diamond after 1,500 games, I thought I was playing at a pretty decent rate. More than likely I am just playing for the Wings meta, and I need to adapt. I was consistently diamond league for two years straight in WoL. I come from a background of minimal rts experience. I played a little DoW:DC, but only against bots with friends. I played the SC1 campaign, and occasionally against the computer. Learning and improvement isn't a cut and dry experience. Do you have any actual advice?
make supply depots on time and keep production running with minerals low(this is for terran). There are 3 variables in that sentence, work on one at a time and get decent at each. This will get you into masters, and then you have decent mechanics but still don't know how to play the game. This is when you research and watch pro players and learn a style.
I was GM a year ago and haven't played since, but mechanics don't really change so some tips:
Supply depots. If you are on one base have 1 scv making supply depots continuously. If 2 base, 2 scvs making 2 depots continuously. If 3 base, 3 scvs making depots at the same time. This isn't the most efficient way to manage your supply, BUT it is still really solid because you won't get supply blocked. Just continuously keep making supply depots.
Ok next: keeping your money low. First things first your saturation has to be perfect so your income is high. 16 scvs on mins in main, then 16 to nat, with constant scv production. Once your saturation in good, have a set number of buildings per bases. Back when I played, it was 3 rax 1 fac 1 star to defend with a fast expand. then either add 1 rax/1fac or 2 rax. Then establish third and saturate it while defending and then complete your infrastructure to 7 rax 3 fac, or 8 rax 2 fact.
So you have your supply depot problems fixed, and your saturation/infrastructure fixed. Now you have to spend your money and consistently make sure you are spending all your mins with out over queuing.
Ok so now you are a brainless top master player who doesn't know how to play the game, but can make units. Good job, now you can learn some strategy and try to get an understanding of the game, but until then rely on your own knowledge.
Regardless of how good your mechanics are if you make shit decisions you will lose the game. Just focus on not throwing the game, while having solid mechanics and you should be master's no time. If you still can't make it, quit sc and sell fruit on the beach instead
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I think there has been a skill shift on the ladder. The only people I know that still play are the master players of WoL that are now struggling keep a float in diamond. From playing a lot of diamonds on NA lately, I feel the biggest problem for terrans are missing scvs or micro.
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On November 05 2013 09:06 KroMTroN wrote:
Gun-vice, I have been playing HotS since March.
Salivanth & Zork, I said I was top 100 diamond in June of this year. Not top 100 in my division. Top 100 on the server, out of thousands, only a few months ago. My "skill units" legitimately went down. It's not like I stopped playing for 18 months and come back last week.
Thanks, Smurfette for the thread.
Thanks, Bisu! :D
I went from Masters to gold. I think I'm better now than I was then. Maybe I'm deluded.
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I went from Masters to gold too after not playing for a long time. Then I started playing lots like 3 days ago? I got back into top 8 diamond. I think it got more difficult to get into Masters league though :[
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You need some adorable kitten in your life right now:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/GWiGLTn.jpg)
Also, keep in mind - you are not your StarCraft 2 rank. That doesn't define you and it never should influence how you feel about yourself. Yes, it can make you angry, but it shouldn't make you look in the mirror and go "Gold user."
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Bisutopia19299 Posts
On November 06 2013 08:13 ninazerg wrote:You need some adorable kitten in your life right now: Also, keep in mind - you are not your StarCraft 2 rank. That doesn't define you and it never should influence how you feel about yourself. Yes, it can make you angry, but it shouldn't make you look in the mirror and go "Gold user."
When did you grow a heart?!?
Nina really meant to say
You should take an x acto knife ![[image loading]](http://cdn.dickblick.com/items/574/45/57445-1101-2-3ww-l.jpg) Cut open a small puppy ![[image loading]](http://images02.olx.com/ui/1/50/31/12504931_1.jpg) And wear its insides ![[image loading]](http://images.wookmark.com/186374_wedding-cake-star-wars-3.jpg)
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EPT
