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Intro
Ever since I was in middle school I wanted to be the next GARIMTO (nostalgic, no?) But I had always had something holding me back, whether it be my dad for whipping me after I played too much, the five AP classes that I took, me getting incredibly discouraged after losing 10 games in a row, etc.
All that has changed. I don't expect to be the next BeSt or anything, but I have set my goal to becoming at least a "B" on iCCup by September. Lofty? Yes. But would it be better for me if I lowered my goal to a C? I don't think so. With enough effective/efficient practice I feel that getting a B within two months time can be attainable. Feel free to bash/discourage and tell me that I won't be able to do it, that's cool, if by the end of this whole thing you're right, then we had a good laugh, if by the end of this whole thing you're wrong, then maybe through this blog I can make something of value for people of the future who are in my current situation.
I want to blog the experiences that I go through so that if I become a good StarCraft player, that people can have a closer look at what exactly it took to get there. It will be a good reference tool for anybody that wants to move up the ranks really quickly, and proof that people don't just become good because they were "meant" to be good. The road to success isn't an easy one, but maybe that's a good thing. Teachers often times have a hard time figuring out how to help their students because they forget the experiences they had to go through in order to achieve success in their discipline, but if I blog my experiences as they are happening, then I feel this might become an invaluable resource.
Without further ado.
Week One
I started the previous week with 0-0 on iCCup and I dropped down to D- three times due to immense rust, but after playing fifty-ish games I have stayed pretty stagnant between 1000-1500.
My OTHER Life Goal Accomplished
Looking at the trajectory at which I am improving I will definitely need to play way more than fifty games a week if I want to accomplish my goal by the intended time.
What I Learned This Past Week
APM matters
I used to think that through playing a lot that your hand speed would naturally get better. While that may still hold true, I am trying a new approach. I am going to force myself to multitask as much as possible and see if by pushing myself to my limits that I will make it come second nature to me. Thus, even though I am having a harder time thinking about strategical aspects of the game, I am hoping that in a few weeks time when I get used to the higher speed that I will be able to think as clearly as I used to with 100APM. It was almost impossible to get everything I needed to get done in the Mid/Late game with only 100APM, my macro was atrocious when I was microing a big battle, and my units died as I took too much time warping structures from Aiur.
I lost many of my first games with this approach to increasing my APM, as I lost sight of many strategical aspects since I was so busy, but after the twentieth game or so, I started thinking much more clearly, and I started thinking ahead. Many people seem to believe in the notion that
Expanded Thought About Strategy ---> Faster APM
and while this may be true, I think that a more effective and efficient approach is
Faster APM ---> Expanded Thought about Strategy
This is only my theory (it may change as I play more) but feel free to criticize it since I can already hear the critics.
Gaining faster APM was like putting lead weights on myself. I needed to be very critical of myself. It used to be that I was "okay" with not having much to do other than sitting at home making zealots. NOW I get really antsy when I have nothing to do, thus my mind is always questioning "What can I do now??? so that things aren't going so slowly" I used to be okay with letting my scouting probe die when it reaches the enemy base, NOW I do everything I can to keep it alive so that I won't have to just sit at home doing nothing but teching up. I'm trying to find more and more things to do, and am disgruntled with my current APM, hopefully I can get 300 by the time I reach my intended goal
Things I Will Be Working On
1) Knowing where I want to spend my money AHEAD of time.
2) Thinking ahead of the game better.
3) Early game micro against Protoss and Zergs who attack my probes.
4) Being able to storm like [Oops]Reach (in his 2004 form)
5) Constantly scouting
6) Knowing the best GAME PLAN
7) How to not get stomped by three hatch Zergs when I go Fast Expand.
8) etc.
So yeah, there you have it, I'll try to make the next blog better, this one was short since it's the first one and I just played fifty games. Hopefully I'll learn some newer aspects of the game so that I can blog them here!
 
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GL!! im also trying to make it to at least a c+.
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United States43350 Posts
You're Protoss. There is no reason at all why you can't be B rank with 100 apm. I am.
In my opinion the most important thing to learn is to play a logical game. Rather than do stuff because the pros do, or because you think you ought to be, or because you have spare minerals learn to analyse the situation.
At every point you need to be thinking
1. What does he have?
2. What can he do with that?
3. What do I have?
4. What can I do with what I have against what he could be doing?
When you start doing this then you will find yourself playing a much solider game. Take PvT. The biggest problem a lot of people have in PvT is making units when you can't use them (terrans camping) and making expansions when you can't hold them. If they thought more about the situation they'd learn when to do what. All the strategical stuff you'll find you already know, even if you don't know it. Most of it is just common sense or extrapolation from the basics.
If you have trouble juggling all your information and analysis in your mind while trying to play a game then start playing friendlies with a partner who is better than you and just ask to pause every now and then so you can think the game through. For example in a PvP on Python where you scouted a 1 gate, 1 zealot, range opening but then accidently lost your scout to the zealot. You know he could cancel range and dark rush, he could add a gateway and mass goon, he could cancel range and fast reaver, he could go slower dark rush or slower reaver rush. When you consider these possibilities you find out it's actually pretty easy to play safe against that.
Go 1 gate, range, robo, 2nd gate, shuttle, observer, reaver with constant goon production. Put a probe outside his ramp so if he moves out with massgoon or tries to expand you know immediately. Put 2 goons walled on the ramp, one behind the other, so if he dark rushes you get a warning and an extra 20 seconds. Put the other goons in anti reaver drop spots. If he moves out with a lot of dragoons your scout probe will warn you and you can then abandon the antireaver position and hold the ramp because you know what you're dealing with.
Just a basic example of how to read a situation and counter a range of options which far too many players fail to do.
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A sad fact of this game is not every player can help themselves. Make sure your improving in the correct way. You need to compare yourself to better B players and find all the differences, then play games with the intention of erasing those differences. Become a clone first.
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On July 09 2008 00:06 Kwark wrote:
You're Protoss. There is no reason at all why you can't be B rank with 100 apm. I am.
lol! haha...
but gl!, really i think C is a more realistic goal, going from B- to B can be TOUGH, little room for micro screw ups...
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FUckFuckFuck!
I need my D+!!
Kwark, "Evan D rank is inflatory!"
Evan, "Oh gee thx I rly rly suck"
T_T
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United States24750 Posts
Kwark's post is very good. Honestly, you can go by what he said and nothing else and be on the right track for months.
My pvt is undergoing a transformation now because I've started trying to play it logically rather than automatically/mechanically. People always told me to send a certain obs to his factories to see what he's making, and I used to feel like I was too preoccupied with other stuff to look at and take advantage of the intel... but I've since come to realize that knowing how many facts he has, how many addons, etc, is extremely important and helps answer a lot of other questions I tend to have. I never knew when to get third, fourth, etc, and relied on luck and conservative play. By adjusting my mindset/plan (rather than my mechanics/apm) I learned how to play more effectively. Of course, I now have to do what you are planning, and play a lot and try out different things vs real opponents before I see the results in ladder play or matches vs skilled opponents.
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Kwark you helped me loads, and I am not op!
But I am not smart enough to do that....
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United States24750 Posts
On July 09 2008 01:37 DamageControL wrote:
Kwark you helped me loads, and I am not op!
But I am not smart enough to do that....
Lol Bullshit. Maybe you can't play smart unrehearsed? But certainly you can learn from experience, thinking about replays, and talking with other players, what you should be looking for, and what to do depending on what you see etc... take my example.
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Calgary25990 Posts
On July 09 2008 00:06 Kwark wrote:
You're Protoss. There is no reason at all why you can't be B rank with 100 apm. I am.
Inflated B is B nonetheless I suppose. How much do you love yourself Kwark? Like on a 1-10 can you quantify it?
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100 apm is just too low regardless of the matchup
you will be missing alot of stuff and you wont be able to multitask or macro for shit while at the same time fighting battles, just doesnt cut it
get up to the 200 range and you should be able to hold your own easier at least in PvT/PvP
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United States24750 Posts
On July 09 2008 02:06 Holylight wrote:
100 apm is just too low regardless of the matchup
you will be missing alot of stuff and you wont be able to multitask or macro for shit while at the same time fighting battles, just doesnt cut it
get up to the 200 range and you should be able to hold your own easier at least in PvT/PvP
I don't think that's really necessary. While 100 is a bit low, 150 is more than enough for the OP to go up a rank, or even two.
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On July 09 2008 02:07 micronesia wrote:Show nested quote +On July 09 2008 02:06 Holylight wrote:
100 apm is just too low regardless of the matchup
you will be missing alot of stuff and you wont be able to multitask or macro for shit while at the same time fighting battles, just doesnt cut it
get up to the 200 range and you should be able to hold your own easier at least in PvT/PvP
I don't think that's really necessary. While 100 is a bit low, 150 is more than enough for the OP to go up a rank, or even two.
Surely, 150 is not THAT bad for toss and you can probably win alot with 150 APM.
It's just that when the skill level goes up so does APM since you have to do less mistakes, macro more, harass more etc and its not humanly possible to play like maestro with 100 apm
However he might wanna be the best player he can be, and therefore should aim for higher speed along with reading the game better.
Theres a reason really good players dont have 100-150 apm
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I think I'm going to start iccuping again over the summer... :D
gogogo 120 apm terran!
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United States24750 Posts
On July 09 2008 02:10 Holylight wrote:Show nested quote +On July 09 2008 02:07 micronesia wrote:On July 09 2008 02:06 Holylight wrote:
100 apm is just too low regardless of the matchup
you will be missing alot of stuff and you wont be able to multitask or macro for shit while at the same time fighting battles, just doesnt cut it
get up to the 200 range and you should be able to hold your own easier at least in PvT/PvP
I don't think that's really necessary. While 100 is a bit low, 150 is more than enough for the OP to go up a rank, or even two. Surely, 150 is not THAT bad for toss and you can probably win alot with 150 APM. It's just that when the skill level goes up so does APM since you have to do less mistakes, macro more, harass more etc and its not humanly possible to play like maestro with 100 apm However he might wanna be the best player he can be, and therefore should aim for higher speed along with reading the game better. Theres a reason really good players dont have 100-150 apm
I don't disagree with you. I am just pointing out that a player who hasn't reached a high rank yet should focus on the ranks ahead of him, rather than distant goals. If I am currently a 130apm C-, and I feel like I'll need 150 apm to get to C+, I'll practice until I can play at C+ level with 150 apm. Sure, I'd love to be a 200 apm B... or a 400 apm progamer, but one step at a time.
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if you dont spam at all, like pressing move once, build only if the money is there etc. im sure 100 apm can get you quite far.
pumping goons out of 12 gates constantly requires 29 apm. 18 apm for pumping probes from 3 nexi + 9 apm for ordering them to the minerals.over an entire game you build hardly more than 5 buildings/min.
thats another 20 apm if you select a new drone every time and send it back mining afterwards.
so its 29+18+9+20=76 apm for macro. if you dont spam at all while microing, 24 orders per minute used effectivly are also quite mighty im sure.
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im 130 apm and im c- zerg
also, go play more games instead of posting stuff here. do that when u get to b.
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On July 09 2008 00:06 Kwark wrote:
You're Protoss. There is no reason at all why you can't be B rank with 100 apm. I am.
here we go again
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United States43350 Posts
On July 09 2008 02:42 YoUr_KiLLeR wrote:Show nested quote +On July 09 2008 00:06 Kwark wrote:
You're Protoss. There is no reason at all why you can't be B rank with 100 apm. I am. here we go again
Was there any doubt I'd do it? :D
In my defence I also put lots of helpful stuff there too and the apm=skill fallacy does need to be attacked.
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United States43350 Posts
On July 09 2008 01:51 Chill wrote:Show nested quote +On July 09 2008 00:06 Kwark wrote:
You're Protoss. There is no reason at all why you can't be B rank with 100 apm. I am.
Inflated B is B nonetheless I suppose. How much do you love yourself Kwark? Like on a 1-10 can you quantify it?
Lol. Obviously a 10. If I posted in this topic without saying that you'd all be like "wtf?" anyway. I've created a persona for myself. I have to stick to it.
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United States43350 Posts
On July 09 2008 01:37 DamageControL wrote:
Kwark you helped me loads, and I am not op!
But I am not smart enough to do that....
Doing it on the fly at high speed is a tough skill. It takes a lot of practice. But if you just play friendlies and pause and work it out you should be fine. Use a pen and paper if you want and just tally what you have and what he has. As you do the thought process over and over you'll get used to it. Eventually you'll just know and be able to do maphackesque countering.
Like
he's behind and contained.... what can he do in this situation.... harass and hidden expo.... send ob to the hidden exp sites and put pylons on the drop routes.... send army to exp as it finishes and laugh as shuttle flies over a few casually placed goons.
WTF HAX!?!?!
When actually anybody could have said that'd be what they'd do and work out the counters.
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B rank by september? And you are D right now? I hope you are a REALLY fast learner. I hope to hit C- by the end of the current iccup season and I am D+ right now. Thats a more realistic goal imo.
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On July 09 2008 03:07 Mastermind wrote:
B rank by september? And you are D right now? I hope you are a REALLY fast learner. I hope to hit C- by the end of the current iccup season and I am D+ right now. Thats a more realistic goal imo.
You need to be an extremely fast learner, and play like 20 games a day to get used to mechanics inorder to reach that IMO...
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On July 09 2008 03:07 Mastermind wrote:
B rank by september? And you are D right now? I hope you are a REALLY fast learner. I hope to hit C- by the end of the current iccup season and I am D+ right now. Thats a more realistic goal imo.
You cannot hit B if you are D in less than a year.. its not possible unless you ACTUALLY PLAY 30 games a day and try and learn on all of them.
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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
kaz was like, 120 apm terran A- pgt so anything is possible.
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Judging from his post, I think he'll make it. Good luck.
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Good luck  I have been training fairly hard (average about 3 hours a day, which is about as much as I can manage working full time) for about 6 months now and haven't yet cracked C-, so I hope you have better luck then I do!
Some random tips that are helping me:
- If you start to get discouraged don't be afraid to log on a smurf or on USEast and do a could noob bashing games. Once you are about D+ skill level D- skilled opponents are finally in the 'auto win' zone. Winning some games can help you focus and return to playing opponents above your skill again; also they are good opportunities to focus on pushing your APM even if it means you are playing a little shittier.
- I personally love watching pro vods and they really hype me up, so now I generally always alternate: play 1 game on iccup, watch one VOD, play a game, watch a VOD. Back and forth. Helps keep me excited and interested; also during the VOD watching time I can often go over what I did in the previous game and come up with some things to try and improve on next game. Sometimes it can be fun to always watch VODs of your race as well and just spend each game trying to copy what the pro did in the last VOD you watched. Normally I find I am never able to pull it off or the opponent responds totally differently, but it has helped expose me to more strategies and helped me know what to do past the very-early stage of the game (since i am basing it on a VOD).
- Ask for re? every time you lose. Most opponents are willing to do it and actually show up if you host the re, and you can start to build some relationships with people if you are Bo3 or Bo5ing them rather than one game and you never see them again. It has helped me practice certain exact strategies (many iccup players do the same strategy on the same map against the same race every single game). So, for example, this was a great way for me to get over losing to a 9pool speed runby on Othello (which has somewhat tricky wall-in placement) by Bo5ing someone who did this strategy every game.
- Spend more time playing then on TL.net. I fail at this and I could probably play twice as many games if I could get myself off this site writing posts like these.
Obviously I am still D+ noob so take this advice with grain of salt, but I have found them helpful for my personal training.
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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
- Spend more time playing then on TL.net. I fail at this and I could probably play twice as many games if I could get myself off this site writing posts like these.
incontrol once chastized me saying that if I put all the time I spend on TL into playing, I'd actually be a decent player hahaha~
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to be honest I think D -> B is pretty impossible (It would be pretty intense if you could actually pull it off.. I guess if you played 50+ games in 1 week, that's a pretty good start). not to be a killjoy or anything, but I think it's better to be realistic AND optimistic, rather than being totally unrealistic.
take me for example, it took me 1 month to reach C rank, but I did not start as a D level player, I've probably improved a bit over this month period, but in no way did I jump from D -> C in 1 month, it just took me this amount of time to reach that rank. my goal is to reach B- this season, my previous high was C+. i've been playing a pretty decent amount too (something in the neighborhood of 6-7 games per day) and my improvement has been pretty slow thus far, and judging by the fact that only two of my team-mates have reached B- in 1v1 (and they are FAR better than me), it would seem to me to be an impossible task, and I am already more than halfway there in terms of my current skill.
so I think that a jump from D -> B is pretty hard, but again all you can do is your best, so I wish you luck.
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to get better at sc i remember i watch a lot of progamer replays and learn their strategy ,,builds,, and mechanics. cuz they r progamers..u learn from the best.
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On July 09 2008 03:02 Kwark wrote:Show nested quote +On July 09 2008 01:37 DamageControL wrote:
Kwark you helped me loads, and I am not op!
But I am not smart enough to do that.... Doing it on the fly at high speed is a tough skill. It takes a lot of practice. But if you just play friendlies and pause and work it out you should be fine. Use a pen and paper if you want and just tally what you have and what he has. As you do the thought process over and over you'll get used to it. Eventually you'll just know and be able to do maphackesque countering. Like he's behind and contained.... what can he do in this situation.... harass and hidden expo.... send ob to the hidden exp sites and put pylons on the drop routes.... send army to exp as it finishes and laugh as shuttle flies over a few casually placed goons. WTF HAX!?!?! When actually anybody could have said that'd be what they'd do and work out the counters.
my little brother used to be able to know where everything was like that and I wuld be all wtf...
his macro was pretty bad so he lost a lot though
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On July 09 2008 04:12 Goosey wrote:Good luck I have been training fairly hard (average about 3 hours a day, which is about as much as I can manage working full time) for about 6 months now and haven't yet cracked C-, so I hope you have better luck then I do! Some random tips that are helping me: - If you start to get discouraged don't be afraid to log on a smurf or on USEast and do a could noob bashing games. Once you are about D+ skill level D- skilled opponents are finally in the 'auto win' zone. Winning some games can help you focus and return to playing opponents above your skill again; also they are good opportunities to focus on pushing your APM even if it means you are playing a little shittier. - I personally love watching pro vods and they really hype me up, so now I generally always alternate: play 1 game on iccup, watch one VOD, play a game, watch a VOD. Back and forth. Helps keep me excited and interested; also during the VOD watching time I can often go over what I did in the previous game and come up with some things to try and improve on next game. Sometimes it can be fun to always watch VODs of your race as well and just spend each game trying to copy what the pro did in the last VOD you watched. Normally I find I am never able to pull it off or the opponent responds totally differently, but it has helped expose me to more strategies and helped me know what to do past the very-early stage of the game (since i am basing it on a VOD). - Ask for re? every time you lose. Most opponents are willing to do it and actually show up if you host the re, and you can start to build some relationships with people if you are Bo3 or Bo5ing them rather than one game and you never see them again. It has helped me practice certain exact strategies (many iccup players do the same strategy on the same map against the same race every single game). So, for example, this was a great way for me to get over losing to a 9pool speed runby on Othello (which has somewhat tricky wall-in placement) by Bo5ing someone who did this strategy every game. - Spend more time playing then on TL.net. I fail at this and I could probably play twice as many games if I could get myself off this site writing posts like these. Obviously I am still D+ noob so take this advice with grain of salt, but I have found them helpful for my personal training.
I am a 1750 D player and D- are autowin....
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United States24750 Posts
On July 09 2008 06:53 johnmaster wrote:
to get better at sc i remember i watch a lot of progamer replays and learn their strategy ,,builds,, and mechanics. cuz they r progamers..u learn from the best.
Just a word of warning: you won't always learn the best from progamers. If you look at what Kwark said earlier, pro-games don't help you react in a more smart manner to your opponent. Learning some awesome strategy/bo from a pro is fine, but that will never get you to B rank... you need to develop your overall play... and you can only get so much from a 400 apm pro player that way...
On July 09 2008 07:20 DamageControL wrote:Show nested quote +On July 09 2008 04:12 Goosey wrote:Good luck I have been training fairly hard (average about 3 hours a day, which is about as much as I can manage working full time) for about 6 months now and haven't yet cracked C-, so I hope you have better luck then I do! Some random tips that are helping me: - If you start to get discouraged don't be afraid to log on a smurf or on USEast and do a could noob bashing games. Once you are about D+ skill level D- skilled opponents are finally in the 'auto win' zone. Winning some games can help you focus and return to playing opponents above your skill again; also they are good opportunities to focus on pushing your APM even if it means you are playing a little shittier. - I personally love watching pro vods and they really hype me up, so now I generally always alternate: play 1 game on iccup, watch one VOD, play a game, watch a VOD. Back and forth. Helps keep me excited and interested; also during the VOD watching time I can often go over what I did in the previous game and come up with some things to try and improve on next game. Sometimes it can be fun to always watch VODs of your race as well and just spend each game trying to copy what the pro did in the last VOD you watched. Normally I find I am never able to pull it off or the opponent responds totally differently, but it has helped expose me to more strategies and helped me know what to do past the very-early stage of the game (since i am basing it on a VOD). - Ask for re? every time you lose. Most opponents are willing to do it and actually show up if you host the re, and you can start to build some relationships with people if you are Bo3 or Bo5ing them rather than one game and you never see them again. It has helped me practice certain exact strategies (many iccup players do the same strategy on the same map against the same race every single game). So, for example, this was a great way for me to get over losing to a 9pool speed runby on Othello (which has somewhat tricky wall-in placement) by Bo5ing someone who did this strategy every game. - Spend more time playing then on TL.net. I fail at this and I could probably play twice as many games if I could get myself off this site writing posts like these. Obviously I am still D+ noob so take this advice with grain of salt, but I have found them helpful for my personal training. I am a 1750 D player and D- are autowin....
I've lost to D- while D+. It depends on the D-, the matchup, and the map tbh...
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and the cheese they do to you and how good you defend it lol
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I'm gonna have to agree with others and be skeptical about whether or not you could reach B in such a short time. Even going from C to B in that sort of time would be a challenge, let alone from a struggling D to B.
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You have the realise the one thing that will make this take so long is just massing games doesn't improve you as rapidly without your mind having time to digest what you're doing and where to go with it and when to do what etc. Game experience is great, but man there is alot of shitty d+ people with 500 games a season that never improve.
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2 weeks ago i was D- and i aimed to make it to D+ by the end of the holidays (3 week break). 1 week left and i am 1500+, not quite there though.
Good luck in achieving your goal, i think its possible
No cheesing but!
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On July 09 2008 07:45 micronesia wrote:Show nested quote +On July 09 2008 06:53 johnmaster wrote:
to get better at sc i remember i watch a lot of progamer replays and learn their strategy ,,builds,, and mechanics. cuz they r progamers..u learn from the best. Just a word of warning: you won't always learn the best from progamers. If you look at what Kwark said earlier, pro-games don't help you react in a more smart manner to your opponent. Learning some awesome strategy/bo from a pro is fine, but that will never get you to B rank... you need to develop your overall play... and you can only get so much from a 400 apm pro player that way... Show nested quote +On July 09 2008 07:20 DamageControL wrote:On July 09 2008 04:12 Goosey wrote:Good luck I have been training fairly hard (average about 3 hours a day, which is about as much as I can manage working full time) for about 6 months now and haven't yet cracked C-, so I hope you have better luck then I do! Some random tips that are helping me: - If you start to get discouraged don't be afraid to log on a smurf or on USEast and do a could noob bashing games. Once you are about D+ skill level D- skilled opponents are finally in the 'auto win' zone. Winning some games can help you focus and return to playing opponents above your skill again; also they are good opportunities to focus on pushing your APM even if it means you are playing a little shittier. - I personally love watching pro vods and they really hype me up, so now I generally always alternate: play 1 game on iccup, watch one VOD, play a game, watch a VOD. Back and forth. Helps keep me excited and interested; also during the VOD watching time I can often go over what I did in the previous game and come up with some things to try and improve on next game. Sometimes it can be fun to always watch VODs of your race as well and just spend each game trying to copy what the pro did in the last VOD you watched. Normally I find I am never able to pull it off or the opponent responds totally differently, but it has helped expose me to more strategies and helped me know what to do past the very-early stage of the game (since i am basing it on a VOD). - Ask for re? every time you lose. Most opponents are willing to do it and actually show up if you host the re, and you can start to build some relationships with people if you are Bo3 or Bo5ing them rather than one game and you never see them again. It has helped me practice certain exact strategies (many iccup players do the same strategy on the same map against the same race every single game). So, for example, this was a great way for me to get over losing to a 9pool speed runby on Othello (which has somewhat tricky wall-in placement) by Bo5ing someone who did this strategy every game. - Spend more time playing then on TL.net. I fail at this and I could probably play twice as many games if I could get myself off this site writing posts like these. Obviously I am still D+ noob so take this advice with grain of salt, but I have found them helpful for my personal training. I am a 1750 D player and D- are autowin.... I've lost to D- while D+. It depends on the D-, the matchup, and the map tbh... Real D- are prettty bad. Maybe you faced an exceptional one?
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United States24750 Posts
On July 09 2008 13:28 DamageControL wrote:Show nested quote +On July 09 2008 07:45 micronesia wrote:On July 09 2008 06:53 johnmaster wrote:
to get better at sc i remember i watch a lot of progamer replays and learn their strategy ,,builds,, and mechanics. cuz they r progamers..u learn from the best. Just a word of warning: you won't always learn the best from progamers. If you look at what Kwark said earlier, pro-games don't help you react in a more smart manner to your opponent. Learning some awesome strategy/bo from a pro is fine, but that will never get you to B rank... you need to develop your overall play... and you can only get so much from a 400 apm pro player that way... On July 09 2008 07:20 DamageControL wrote:On July 09 2008 04:12 Goosey wrote:Good luck I have been training fairly hard (average about 3 hours a day, which is about as much as I can manage working full time) for about 6 months now and haven't yet cracked C-, so I hope you have better luck then I do! Some random tips that are helping me: - If you start to get discouraged don't be afraid to log on a smurf or on USEast and do a could noob bashing games. Once you are about D+ skill level D- skilled opponents are finally in the 'auto win' zone. Winning some games can help you focus and return to playing opponents above your skill again; also they are good opportunities to focus on pushing your APM even if it means you are playing a little shittier. - I personally love watching pro vods and they really hype me up, so now I generally always alternate: play 1 game on iccup, watch one VOD, play a game, watch a VOD. Back and forth. Helps keep me excited and interested; also during the VOD watching time I can often go over what I did in the previous game and come up with some things to try and improve on next game. Sometimes it can be fun to always watch VODs of your race as well and just spend each game trying to copy what the pro did in the last VOD you watched. Normally I find I am never able to pull it off or the opponent responds totally differently, but it has helped expose me to more strategies and helped me know what to do past the very-early stage of the game (since i am basing it on a VOD). - Ask for re? every time you lose. Most opponents are willing to do it and actually show up if you host the re, and you can start to build some relationships with people if you are Bo3 or Bo5ing them rather than one game and you never see them again. It has helped me practice certain exact strategies (many iccup players do the same strategy on the same map against the same race every single game). So, for example, this was a great way for me to get over losing to a 9pool speed runby on Othello (which has somewhat tricky wall-in placement) by Bo5ing someone who did this strategy every game. - Spend more time playing then on TL.net. I fail at this and I could probably play twice as many games if I could get myself off this site writing posts like these. Obviously I am still D+ noob so take this advice with grain of salt, but I have found them helpful for my personal training. I am a 1750 D player and D- are autowin.... I've lost to D- while D+. It depends on the D-, the matchup, and the map tbh... Real D- are prettty bad. Maybe you faced an exceptional one?
I think so. He did a sick surprising timing push vs my reasonably early nexus on rh3 :p
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i would change your to goal to something like c or c+
You might burn yourself out if you dont be careful
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No kidding
D --> B sounds SO intense
I remember skyglow said that getting from C- to B would take an entire year with 4 hours of playing a day 
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United States24750 Posts
On July 15 2008 13:01 Seraphim wrote:No kidding D --> B sounds SO intense I remember skyglow said that getting from C- to B would take an entire year with 4 hours of playing a day
Well, D to C- actually isn't that bad if you have someone training you who is good at helping you. I'd say about 10 minute's worth of explanation/commenting from intrigue (over several months) was the biggest influence other than practice in me getting from D to C-.
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On July 09 2008 13:28 DamageControL wrote:Show nested quote +On July 09 2008 07:45 micronesia wrote:
I've lost to D- while D+. It depends on the D-, the matchup, and the map tbh... Real D- are prettty bad. Maybe you faced an exceptional one?
I played a D- zerg today.. totally raped me. (I'm a C- btw, this guy just joined my game and i was like... hell, why not!) Turns out he doesn't have D- play at all, probably B or higher.. He had a whopping 350 apm and amazing reaction to whatever i did. After the game, I checked his stats and matches on iccup.com, turns out it's a fake D- account.. he had 20+ losses to the same freaking person.. all 2-3 minutes long. Either he had a zvz 4 pool micro fest with his friend or he wants to SUPER noob bash with this REALLY smurfed smurf account. I was totally discouraged up to that point. He was from korea too. ugh gg
On topic: Getting your APM up should be the main thing to focus on right now. Everyone that says APM doesn't matter.. doesnt matter. I averaged 104 APM in 2007 (150+ games total) only playing a few games a week. I watched a lot of progamer FPVODS and just tried to copy what they did in the game (including spamming selecting workers in the beginning) My apm shot up to 170-200 within a month into 2008. Another month passed and I was peaking at 220 average in a game. (650+ games played this year) and now my average is 280+ APM per game.
good luck with your goal.
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mission failed eh? (sorry for the bump just remembered this for some random reason and feltl ike checking it out)
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EPT![[image loading]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v639/Jinwonee/leetScore.png)
