Hi to those reading random blogs on TL,
I'm Bonobo, played sc2 casually starting near the end of HotS/beginning of LotV and just started getting more serious recently. I started participating in a lot of tournaments earlier this year when I realized I was going to have less ladder time. However, now I have the time to ladder and actually improve.
Going to start laddering how ever many games I fit into my free time , going to use this blog to track some progress. I tried mindlessly grinding games without actually trying to get better for the last couple days, has not worked out. Right now I'm at my lowest MMR yet, 4.7k, so I can only go up from here. To alleviate this, I will start using a document to examine why I win/lose; I know quasarprintf has something going like this and it seems like a good idea if I'm actually going to be laddering a lot. I'll keep this updated weekly/biweekly depending on if interesting stuff happens.
My goal is to get 125 MMR a month so I can be at 5200 by the end of the year. I've never really focused on laddering/improving while I play, so I'm excited to see where I can get to or if I will fail really badly.
Thanks for reading and until next time,
Bonobo
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Good luck to you. I'm glad to see there's still newer players out there with heart to play. I just came back today and haven't played since LotV release.
I would suggest looking at your replays and watching to see when your opponents were vulnerable and when you were most vulnerable as well. You will definitely see things you missed in game. You might think "If only I had seen his army move earlier, I could have flanked here or harassed, etc" Scouting is usually a huge factor to why we lose games. Of course you already know all of this but until you really understand and comprehend why you lost or what you could have done better, you will not improve very much. Once you hit a high skill ceiling it's still a factor, but then strategic timing and speed come more in to play. Another factor is seeing how much stronger their economy was for how long, paying attention to graphs at end of game as well. A sluggish economy against a strong or well functioned one that was made faster will be a huge reason why you lose a game, purely for their ability to reinforce their army faster and max out quicker. Sometimes games have cookie cutter answers to why you won or lost, but it takes a little further examination at times. If you see that you got harassed by DT's and had to pull your workers or lost a bunch while your opponent was powering out mid game, that alone can be enough to make you lose a game against an equally skilled, better, or even a worse opponent. You can always cut your losses, power out more workers, expand, and get ahead... but next time, you will try your best to not get into that situation at all by scouting, preparing, etc.
Repetition of ladder matches doesn't hurt because you get faster and more fluid the more you play. There really is such a thing as being "warmed up". For me, and it's completely honest, I am most warmed up when I play about 5-6 games in a row. My average APM is usually 230-250, so I'm doing a lot of pressing and mouse movement.. it takes that much for me to get my fingers feeling super reactive and ready to go. It's the same way with Counter-Strike. If I get a chance to play 3-4 matches in a row I then finally feel "warmed up". You will know it when you feel it... and it makes me wonder what Pros do to get themselves there when they are at big tournaments.
Trust in the progression. Trust in the improvement. It's really not in human nature to get worse at anything. Not cooking, using the bathroom, tying your shoes, etc. That happens in old age, when our bodies regress. You have the power to make yourself better at anything you choose through practice. It will get hard and there will be times your mental and physical state will make you clouded.... but don't worry and stay as positive as possible. There may be a few nights where it seems like no matter what you do, you lose to everyone and you can't win. However, right around the corner there may be a day where all your losses and practice proves itself and you win 10 in a row. I mean, it's happened to me..
Have fun out there, and add me if you ever feel like practicing. thirdeye#1669
=D!
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EPT
