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I will do my best to keep all of my thoughts clear, I tend to have a hard time organizing my thoughts when I write, if you have any comments or think something is unclear please let me know I'll fix it right away.
Introduction: My background, Starcraft 2 and otherwise
I`ll Start off with some background on who I am as a person. My name is Brian I'm a French Canadian Zerg player, have been playing SC2 since release as my first RTS. A year ago I was at the top of my game, having hit GM on NA in both WoL and HoTS, I took a year break to play poker, and I'm just recently coming back to the game.
4 weeks ago I hopped on the TeamSpeak channel my old team used and spoke with a great friend of mine Tydrokos, he was my coach back in the day, a sick good Protoss. He convinced me to get back in to the game. In the past 4 weeks I've played 800+ games on ladder, and I've done a lot of thinking. I decided that this time around I'm going to give back to the community.
When I first played Starcraft 2 at launch I started with a few friends from school and gradually they left the game as I joined a team and found my place on a roster. I didn't notice when all of my friends from school stopped playing, they just didn't get lucky like I did, they didn't stumble on Day9 or an inspiring GSL to make them want to keep playing, and get better.
I realized that these people are the reason why I love this game the way I do. I've been a gamer for years but I'd never known anything as satisfying as working to improve at Starcraft 2. It's a hard game to get in to because of the learning curve and the complex nature of the game but once you learn the basics it's fantastic.
What I want to do
I want to become a resource to help people get in to the game. I don't want to be the next Day9 or Husky, I want to be a person that you can message and that will help you out when you have a question or you have trouble in a matchup. Bacisally I want to help players get in to the game.
I want to help to fill the gap between the guys making gigantic guides on TL and on YouTube and the Starcraft 2 client.
What the situation is now
I spend a lot of time hanging out in Adopt a Newb in the Starcraft 2 client. I'm answering people's questions and doing free coaching for anybody that wants it.
I've started streaming a lot more. I'm making a big effort to talk about what I'm doing in game and explain why I'm doing certain openers, why I'm making units or drones at a certain time, what I'm looking for when I scout. I treat my stream chat as a Q&A and answer any questions I can in between games.
I've also started a Starcraft club at my university and I'm forming a team for the CSL. Trying to bring my friends back in to the game and to promote awareness of the game.
I'm starting a blog because it helps to organise my thoughts, It's also a way for me to get feedback, so far I've gotten a very positive response from the people I help but I want to get an objective opinion. Do I have the right approach? Do you have any ideas on how to reach out to people ?
The plan
The plan is very simple, it's actually something other people are already doing.
Step 1 : Spread the word: Starcraft 2 is a great game, and there are tons of videos, guides and streams to help you get in to it.
Step 2 : Free coaching, seriously, to anybody. I will sit down and watch your replays with you, I don't care if you're in Bronze or Grandmasters, I'll sit down and spend the time to help free of charge. Tell your friends!
Step 3 : Start streaming a lot more, more content is always good for the community, and if I can create a platform that allows people to learn in an interactive way I want to do it.
What I need from you
I need your feedback, I want your ideas and I want to help you out. DIRESTRAIT.632 is my B.Net ID, I'm on NA. Come on and say Hi! If you have any friends that would like coaching send them my way. If you want help with your ZvP opener and you don't know what's up in the current metagame send me a message.
www.twitch.tv/direstr8t is my stream like. I'm not asking for you to follow or watch my VODS for nothing, I want to earn it. If you want a guide PM me and tell me what you would like to see. If you think I have a shit camera or something is wrong with my stream please tell me I'll fix it.
Conclusion
It feels good to write this. I'm going to keep seeking new players and point them in the right directions. Thanks a ton in advance for anybody that reads this it means a lot. I'm not trying to be the next Day9. I'm trying to give back to the community the way it has to me, because I was extremely lucky every step of the way to GM to always have a friend to help me out or a coach to teach me. Let me be that guy for you!
  
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Very nice initiative !
Here is a question that I haven't seen answered yet: where do you think it is best to put my time in order to improve in the most efficient way if I have little of it ? I guess an answer covering different times spans could be most useful (eg: 2h/week; 5h/week ; 10h/week; etc..).
Thanks !
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Just what I need 
I'll add you. I took over a year break and now my mechanics and crisis management are soooooo bad. I used to be masters and now it placed me Diamond (but I am probably worse)
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The next Day9 or Husky. That's quite a challenge. Some nice witty humor or really deep analysis and crisp, clear explaining with amazing analogies would do the trick. Yes, have fun.
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On September 17 2014 06:35 DepressedOne wrote:
The next Day9 or Husky. That's quite a challenge. Some nice witty humor or really deep analysis and crisp, clear explaining with amazing analogies would do the trick. Yes, have fun.
He wrote "I don't want to be the next Day9 or Husky"
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Right, this is going to read a lot worse than it is meant to be. I don't play SCII, so I'm going to extrapolate some thoughts from BW, but can't be too much off here.
Are you sure you have an idea of what you're doing? Offering to "coach" low level players will most likely end with you telling them to just play better, meaning to use hotkeys and all the stuff. The higher ups theoretically shouldn't need much of your insight either. If you were somewhat decent in the game, you'd be probably the first one to admit you can't possibly give really hardcore insights. Make sure you know where your own limitations are - especially if you're not pro.
However, that doesn't mean you can't help. Take a few steps back and view the game from a beginner's eyes. What would you expect them to know already? Do you think a beginner knows where to start? How to use his keyboard? How to actually manage a base?
I don't know if there are good tutorials out there or not; for BW it was a long time the case that beginners had to test around a long time on their own, every tutorial or guide "aimed at them" was written either cryptic (already using the slang), too abstract (jumping in the middle of meta game thoughts) or not that useful after all (explaining what micro means, but not HOW to micro). Maybe try to cover basic stuff, which isn't written anywhere. Explain how you can cycle through hotkeys to help you find a way to manage a base: e.g. town hall - worker saturation - unit training - army positioning - scout - town hall - worker saturation [...].
Stuff like that usually misses. Once you did that, you could think about organizing newb leagues of people reading your guide. Actually connect beginners with each other helps out the most. The most annoying feeling being the first time online is to not know who to get in touch with, with whom you can share experiences and so on. Try to network a bit.
Also, try to advertise on the usual channels, e.g. reddit or god knows which site other than TL is important for foreign sc2. Maybe try to post tease intros about sc2 on other, non sc2-related pages you visit. Link to Liquipedia / guides / beginner leagues / highlight clips / upcommig finales.
Well, just random thoughts here.
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hahha....I actually double checked the sentence before I wrote my comment just to make sure. I originally wrote "new Day9" but then changed it to next Day9. I'm such a screw up. Sounds like quite a challenge anyway. Have fun.
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Nice! Will check it out next time I'm online. Zerg here who could use some coaching/advice for sure. Neat idea, thanks for doing this
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On September 17 2014 06:49 GeckoXp wrote:+ Show Spoiler +, this is going to read a lot worse than it is meant to be. I don't play SCII, so I'm going to extrapolate some thoughts from BW, but can't be too much off here.
Are you sure you have an idea of what you're doing? Offering to "coach" low level players will most likely end with you telling them to just play better, meaning to use hotkeys and all the stuff. The higher ups theoretically shouldn't need much of your insight either. If you were somewhat decent in the game, you'd be probably the first one to admit you can't possibly give really hardcore insights. Make sure you know where your own limitations are - especially if you're not pro.
However, that doesn't mean you can't help. Take a few steps back and view the game from a beginner's eyes. What would you expect them to know already? Do you think a beginner knows where to start? How to use his keyboard? How to actually manage a base?
I don't know if there are good tutorials out there or not; for BW it was a long time the case that beginners had to test around a long time on their own, every tutorial or guide "aimed at them" was written either cryptic (already using the slang), too abstract (jumping in the middle of meta game thoughts) or not that useful after all (explaining what micro means, but not HOW to micro). Maybe try to cover basic stuff, which isn't written anywhere. Explain how you can cycle through hotkeys to help you find a way to manage a base: e.g. town hall - worker saturation - unit training - army positioning - scout - town hall - worker saturation [...].
Stuff like that usually misses. Once you did that, you could think about organizing newb leagues of people reading your guide. Actually connect beginners with each other helps out the most. The most annoying feeling being the first time online is to not know who to get in touch with, with whom you can share experiences and so on. Try to network a bit.
Also, try to advertise on the usual channels, e.g. reddit or god knows which site other than TL is important for foreign sc2. Maybe try to post tease intros about sc2 on other, non sc2-related pages you visit. Link to Liquipedia / guides / beginner leagues / highlight clips / upcommig finales.
Well, just random thoughts here.
I know for me it will help. I'm pretty good mechanically, don't need hotkey advice or anything like that. I would benefit greatly from build advice, timings, what to scout for and when against the three races, and general tips for executing particular strategies. I know where you're coming from, and some coaches struggle with saying anything more than "You need to hit your injects faster, you have to micro your units better" but for me this is perfect
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Dire is a very friendly, smart player so anybody wanting any help at all I definitely recommend going to him, you will learn a lot fo sho.
It's a cool idea what you're doing man, I hope it works out for you and anybody else that goes to you! Good luck brah~ <3
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On September 17 2014 06:54 Yorkie wrote:Show nested quote +On September 17 2014 06:49 GeckoXp wrote:+ Show Spoiler +, this is going to read a lot worse than it is meant to be. I don't play SCII, so I'm going to extrapolate some thoughts from BW, but can't be too much off here.
Are you sure you have an idea of what you're doing? Offering to "coach" low level players will most likely end with you telling them to just play better, meaning to use hotkeys and all the stuff. The higher ups theoretically shouldn't need much of your insight either. If you were somewhat decent in the game, you'd be probably the first one to admit you can't possibly give really hardcore insights. Make sure you know where your own limitations are - especially if you're not pro.
However, that doesn't mean you can't help. Take a few steps back and view the game from a beginner's eyes. What would you expect them to know already? Do you think a beginner knows where to start? How to use his keyboard? How to actually manage a base?
I don't know if there are good tutorials out there or not; for BW it was a long time the case that beginners had to test around a long time on their own, every tutorial or guide "aimed at them" was written either cryptic (already using the slang), too abstract (jumping in the middle of meta game thoughts) or not that useful after all (explaining what micro means, but not HOW to micro). Maybe try to cover basic stuff, which isn't written anywhere. Explain how you can cycle through hotkeys to help you find a way to manage a base: e.g. town hall - worker saturation - unit training - army positioning - scout - town hall - worker saturation [...].
Stuff like that usually misses. Once you did that, you could think about organizing newb leagues of people reading your guide. Actually connect beginners with each other helps out the most. The most annoying feeling being the first time online is to not know who to get in touch with, with whom you can share experiences and so on. Try to network a bit.
Also, try to advertise on the usual channels, e.g. reddit or god knows which site other than TL is important for foreign sc2. Maybe try to post tease intros about sc2 on other, non sc2-related pages you visit. Link to Liquipedia / guides / beginner leagues / highlight clips / upcommig finales.
Well, just random thoughts here. I know for me it will help. I'm pretty good mechanically, don't need hotkey advice or anything like that. I would benefit greatly from build advice, timings, what to scout for and when against the three races, and general tips for executing particular strategies. I know where you're coming from, and some coaches struggle with saying anything more than "You need to hit your injects faster, you have to micro your units better" but for me this is perfect
Yeah, I just wanted to deliver the message that he should focus on a target group and not to all of them at once. He says he wants to spread the word, which imo means to focus on luring oustsiders into the RTS genre and specifically sc2. Those will start at the bottom, not somewhere in between "newb" and "somewhat decent". Not saying he couldn't do something different entirely, but he should plan ahead, instead of randomly trying to make something happen.
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On September 17 2014 06:31 Ayrkrane wrote:
Very nice initiative !
Here is a question that I haven't seen answered yet: where do you think it is best to put my time in order to improve in the most efficient way if I have little of it ? I guess an answer covering different times spans could be most useful (eg: 2h/week; 5h/week ; 10h/week; etc..).
Thanks !
Hey! That's an excellent question, we can talk more on skype i'll PM you but I'll post the general answer here for anyone to see. Focused practice I believe is the best way to approach improvement at Starcraft 2. It is of course a game and there's nothing like just having fun playing some 1v1's but if you're really focused on improvement it's good to have a specific goal for the session.
When I practice I give myself a goal for the day. For example as a Zerg player I focus on injects (protoss can do the same with warpin and terran with mules/scvs for example). I decide that for the next few days I put injecting at the top of my list of priorities. I'll start up a VS AI and just stare at the queen and inject perfectly for the first two cycles, then I try to accomplish one action between each inject, and so on.
This is an example : Inject , make some drones at your natural, Inject again. Of course as you go you'll want to try to accomplish more actions within this delay, just like you would in a real game.
Essentially you're I'm making sure that for this game, I perform the injection mechanic perfectly. The same way a musician will practice scales to train his fingers or a baseball player will practice throwing the ball only. It doesn't matter if you're not performing at your normal level everywhere else in the game, today your goal is Injection, or Warpin, or Mule-ing, etc.
This also promotes a good mindset that I do my best to apply to the game. Our practice does not require us to win for it to be rewarding. I guarantee that even with 2 games per day, if you're focusing on injections you'll get really good at them very quickly. Of course 2 hours / week will not yield the same result in a month as 5hrs/week but that is beside the point.
The idea of playing with a "handicap" that forces you to work on certain aspects of your play is very good practice in General. For example I play with the sound off to force myself to use the minimap to keep track of drops/attacks instead of getting the news too late. It hurts less to lose when you have a handicap as well 
As for different approaches depending on time available per week, improving your play should follow the same philosophy IMO. It's always more efficient to separate the whole into several smaller parts that are easier to target and manage.
One thing I can suggest if you have less time to play, this doesn't mean you can't think about the game. A skill that you can develop is developing a game plan and thinking of the spots that have been giving you a hard time. You won't always find the answers without help but it will help identify the question clearly. For example if you're having a hard time vs Zerg, over the week whenever you have spare time to think, try to remember how the games go. I was having trouble in ZvT, I was out of town with my girlfriend and thinking about what the problem was. I narrowed it down to my engagements being terrible in the midgame. Next time I hopped on I checked out a few pro replays and I noticed they were getting more early game queens for creep, which is what I was lacking on the map. Of course this is a specific example but I want to illustrate how even if you're not sitting at the keyboard you can still "practice".
I hope this helps, I'll PM you if you want to talk on skype for some more personal help!
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Welcome back, DIRESTRAIT. I remember you were really good back in eXe.
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On September 17 2014 06:49 GeckoXp wrote:
Right, this is going to read a lot worse than it is meant to be. I don't play SCII, so I'm going to extrapolate some thoughts from BW, but can't be too much off here.
Are you sure you have an idea of what you're doing? Offering to "coach" low level players will most likely end with you telling them to just play better, meaning to use hotkeys and all the stuff. The higher ups theoretically shouldn't need much of your insight either. If you were somewhat decent in the game, you'd be probably the first one to admit you can't possibly give really hardcore insights. Make sure you know where your own limitations are - especially if you're not pro.
However, that doesn't mean you can't help. Take a few steps back and view the game from a beginner's eyes. What would you expect them to know already? Do you think a beginner knows where to start? How to use his keyboard? How to actually manage a base?
I don't know if there are good tutorials out there or not; for BW it was a long time the case that beginners had to test around a long time on their own, every tutorial or guide "aimed at them" was written either cryptic (already using the slang), too abstract (jumping in the middle of meta game thoughts) or not that useful after all (explaining what micro means, but not HOW to micro). Maybe try to cover basic stuff, which isn't written anywhere. Explain how you can cycle through hotkeys to help you find a way to manage a base: e.g. town hall - worker saturation - unit training - army positioning - scout - town hall - worker saturation [...].
Stuff like that usually misses. Once you did that, you could think about organizing newb leagues of people reading your guide. Actually connect beginners with each other helps out the most. The most annoying feeling being the first time online is to not know who to get in touch with, with whom you can share experiences and so on. Try to network a bit.
Also, try to advertise on the usual channels, e.g. reddit or god knows which site other than TL is important for foreign sc2. Maybe try to post tease intros about sc2 on other, non sc2-related pages you visit. Link to Liquipedia / guides / beginner leagues / highlight clips / upcommig finales.
Well, just random thoughts here.
I'm really glad you posted this, because I see exactly what you're talking about. I have two parents that I would describe as "video game virgins", I experienced the difference in description when explaining the game to my dad compared to a buddy from school.
You're right that I can't just point somebody to the scene and say "Hey! Go watch this game." when he doesn't even know what a mineral or a gas geyser is.
I understand what I'm suggesting when I say everybody. That's one of the reasons why I'm going for more of a one on one approach to start off than just making videos, because my grandmother wouldn't understand the first thing about the game from just speeding through the tutorials.
Thanks for the reply, that's a very good point! I also really like the leagues or events for newer players.
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Glad to see you back into sc2 again Direstrait!!! I'm gonna get a little anecdotal here but w/e.. 
So a few years back i was in this clan eXe that had an A team with a bunch of GM's on it. At the time I was Diamond zerg and couldn't get past that threshold into Masters, but still was invited to join eXe's B team. After a while I asked who I should go to in order to learn things that would help me get better and was told to watch Direstrait play. So i hung out in his channel a little bit, and made sure to watch his games in the team wars and the AvsB team scrimmages. Not once did I actually go straight to you and ask for tips or anything, I just watched and listened. Everything I learned were just things you were spouting off with a teammate talking meta and whatnot. The things I learned from you then pushed me into masters and taught me so much about this game. Like I had been just building random things i like and felt like building and relying on my BW mechanics to get me into diamond. From you I learned to actually think about this game and how complex and detailed one can get playing it. Anyways, I just wanted to say thank you for your help then (even though you never knew you were helping me) and I'm so glad to see you back and wanting to help out.
TLDR:This guy knows his shit, got me to masters with what i learned from him, if you want to get better seek his help!!
p.s. One of the biggest things I learned from you was what to look for when scouting, you should try to remember to talk about things like that in stream and when you're helping people
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On September 17 2014 10:12 Ryuhou)aS( wrote:Glad to see you back into sc2 again Direstrait!!! I'm gonna get a little anecdotal here but w/e.. So a few years back i was in this clan eXe that had an A team with a bunch of GM's on it. At the time I was Diamond zerg and couldn't get past that threshold into Masters, but still was invited to join eXe's B team. After a while I asked who I should go to in order to learn things that would help me get better and was told to watch Direstrait play. So i hung out in his channel a little bit, and made sure to watch his games in the team wars and the AvsB team scrimmages. Not once did I actually go straight to you and ask for tips or anything, I just watched and listened. Everything I learned were just things you were spouting off with a teammate talking meta and whatnot. The things I learned from you then pushed me into masters and taught me so much about this game. Like I had been just building random things i like and felt like building and relying on my BW mechanics to get me into diamond. From you I learned to actually think about this game and how complex and detailed one can get playing it. Anyways, I just wanted to say thank you for your help then (even though you never knew you were helping me) and I'm so glad to see you back and wanting to help out. TLDR:This guy knows his shit, got me to masters with what i learned from him, if you want to get better seek his help!! p.s. One of the biggest things I learned from you was what to look for when scouting, you should try to remember to talk about things like that in stream and when you're helping people
Hey that means a ton! This is exactly what I'm going for ^^
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Hi DIRESTRAIT
Thanks for your post, I think this is a really cool idea and nice thing to do. I just started playing SC2 (actually trying to improve my game) a few weeks ago. Before that I played the campaign and messed a round a bit vs AI. I'm an English teacher and am really interested in the concept of community learning as a possible alternative to the traditional method. I think getting on here and offering help to newer players is a great example of people taking it upon themselves to help a community grow.
I don't have much time to play SC2, but I'm trying to get in a couple games a night. I play on Korea/Taiwan in bronze but I have an NA id too (I think). I live in Japan so... timezones, but I'll try to hit you up in game for some tips if I see you online. I'm also interested in building a community up in Japan since StarCraft hasn't really reached here for some reason.
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Thought I recognized your name! I was just a lowly ghost back in exe but those were some of the best times I've had in sc2. Miss that group...
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EPT
