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Just curious... how many games do I have to lose before I get any good?
Almost all of the games I've won are 4pools, and trying to play standard always ends horribly. I don't feel like I'm making any progress at getting anywhere in SC.
http://www.iccup.com/starcraft/gamingprofile/dr_left.html
For reference, I was in the top 500 in Kane's Wrath and played TF2 competitively, so its not like I've never seen a computer before. Granted, I've played SC for probably two months now, but I feel like I'm not making any progress.
Any advice?
   
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i'm practicing with friends/practice partners and its a lot less demoralizing than always loosing on iccup. Plus you get to try stuff like "oh go 2gate vs me so i can practice my early pressure" or other specifics like that to train your weaknesses.
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*Insert obligatory over 9000 joke*
Your stats are not that bad for 2 months actually. Gotta keep playing more I guess lol. Also, I would recommend playing Protoss(just because) or Terran(using Stylish's VODs to learn) to start out. Starting out as Zerg is probably the hardest IMHO.
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1. Stop doing cheesy/all-in strats 2. Exactly 1 billion games.
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I've gone 3-20 on iccup in the past few days on one account. Only playing on korean hours at C+/B- though and always ask for a re after I get raped. Yeesh.
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Your stats are pretty similar to mine when I first started, so don't be too discouraged. Basically, you are going to lose a lot. Its one of the things about starcraft, the skill ceiling is so high, and the climb towards is pretty slow.
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Artosis
United States2140 Posts
takes about 2 years to get good at sc.
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Katowice25012 Posts
Progress in starcraft will be short periods of time of huge improvement followed by long plateaus where you don't go anywhere or even backslide.
Shit takes time, find people you enjoy playing with and have a good one.
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First, quit 4 pooling. It feels good when you win, I know, but you're doing yourself any favors by not getting comfortable with standard builds and macro.
Obviously massing games will make you better, but I would also suggest watching many many more replays. I have a feeling many people don't improve as quickly as they could (myself included) because they don't watch enough replays.
Also, by watch I mean SERIOUSLY CONCENTRATE on what exactly is going on, and what exactly the decisions and motivations for each player are at each moment.
Translation: Pause often.
GL HF!
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Props for not going noob Protoss.
It does take quite a long time to get decent, particularly with Zerg or Terran.
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On July 29 2009 15:02 Artosis wrote: takes about 2 years to get good at sc. Not arguing or anything, but around what ICC level will 2 years of casual gaming get you to? I've been playing casually for around a year and a half now (including a long period of "UMSing") and I just got to D+ last season
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Depends how good your mechanics are. If you have good mechanics, multitask, and micro, then it's just about studying starcraft outside of the game, and you can get good that way if you studied how to play well enough(This would take a lot of dedication towards studying though). If you have bad mechanics, then that's the first thing you need to fix imo. Although a lot of that takes practice, fixing your hotkeys, and macroing the right way and trying to get as high of an apm/multitask as you possibly can, without necessarily caring if you win or not :o
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United States24701 Posts
On July 29 2009 15:02 Artosis wrote: takes about 2 years to get good at sc. This is actually a pretty good estimate. If you keep up with it for 2 years doing melee and having a decent attitude you will definitely be getting good by then.
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Wow, thanks for the positive comments, everyone. I was expecting to be bashed for this.
especially
On July 29 2009 15:13 Highways wrote: Props for not going noob Protoss. It does take quite a long time to get decent, particularly with Zerg or Terran.
I appreciate that... I often wonder if I should try toss since people say its easier, but I just like the style of the swarm, so I want to get good with that.
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Are you using the right BOs?
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On July 29 2009 15:14 micronesia wrote:This is actually a pretty good estimate. If you keep up with it for 2 years doing melee and having a decent attitude you will definitely be getting good by then.
depends on definition of good. I would say only about 6 months to stand on your own in D levels, where you are actually doing real builds/strats and such and not just "making stuff."
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On July 29 2009 15:29 Avidkeystamper wrote: Are you using the right BOs?
I try to execute the BOs on liquipedia, but I always botch them. Sometimes I focus on the timings so much I forget something embarassingly stupid, like to put down a pool after a 12hatch or to get the spire when the lair finishes. More often, I forget overlords, or forget to make scourge against a toss getting sairs.
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On July 29 2009 15:33 DrLefTy wrote:I try to execute the BOs on liquipedia, but I always botch them. Sometimes I focus on the timings so much I forget something embarassingly stupid, like to put down a pool after a 12hatch or to get the spire when the lair finishes. More often, I forget overlords, or forget to make scourge against a toss getting sairs.
When I was trying to get good, I found that as soon as I practiced hard to nail my build orders into my head, that I went from D- to D+ pretty fast. Just keep practicing and it will become automatic. Getting your build order to come naturally every time is something that will get you better rather instantly
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omg this was gold LOL i havent seen this shit in forever
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What you might want to do is create a 1on1 game with a comp, start the game countdown, and close the computer slot. Click continue playing and then play from there to get your BO down. Keep it written down so you can look at it and sooner or later you'll have it memorized.
Know what the objective of your BO is, what you're trying to accomplish and know what they'll try and do to stop you, know what to look for. That takes games and replays.
How does someone get better? It's not just about playing a lot of games, nor is there a certain amount (i.e. 2 years) of time until you get there, why? Because the Principle of Individuality would say everyone is different. Now to bring me back to the former, one could play golf for 20 years and never break 90, again the answer being because one doesn't improve just by practice. One improves by practice (with the correct goals) with proper feedback.
When you lose, you've got to learn why, and work on correcting it. The same mistake you make in game 1 shouldn't happen in game 40.
When you play and work on learning your BO and timing, do it in non-fatigued conditions. Why? "Skills and tactical elements are learned faster and retained better when learning occurs in non-fatigued states. All learning should precede (be before) any occurrence of fatigue in a training session... it has been shown that techniques and tactics learned in non-fatigued states produce better performances in fatigued states than do skills that have been learned in the persence of fatigue (Barnett, Ross, Schmidt, & Todd, 1973; Williams, McEwan, Watkins, Gillespie, & Boyd, 1979)." - The Science and Art of Baseball Pitching The coach's complete handbook to scientific pitching by Dick Mills and Dr. Brent S. Rushall, Ph.D., R. Psy
Having someone around providing positive and correct feedback should put you on the fast track of improvement.
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If you're trying to get better, you need to do the standard builds instead of 4pools. 4pooling might get you wins but it won't train your mechanics. Keep playing a lot and remember that other players had to go through or are going through the same thing you are.
PM me if you want some help. I wouldn't mind playing a few games and giving you pointers.
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On July 29 2009 14:50 DrLefTy wrote:Just curious... how many games do I have to lose before I get any good? Almost all of the games I've won are 4pools, and trying to play standard always ends horribly. I don't feel like I'm making any progress at getting anywhere in SC. http://www.iccup.com/starcraft/gamingprofile/dr_left.htmlFor reference, I was in the top 500 in Kane's Wrath and played TF2 competitively, so its not like I've never seen a computer before. Granted, I've played SC for probably two months now, but I feel like I'm not making any progress. Any advice? Depends on the person. Personally I went from d- to a c in like a year and a half, but with only 100 games in that span. I didn't [and dont] play often. But I DID watch a LOT of vods, and was constantly thinking about starcraft strategy, mechanics, etc. It honestly did help, and even if I hadn't played starcraft in a few weeks, I would still see improvement match by match. So yeah mines a rare case, most people just cant get in that mechanical skill unless they do constant repetition. But I wouldn't be saying this if I thought I couldn't help any: Maybe you will have to play a lot more games then I did to go anywhere in the ranks, but watching a lot of vods, thinking about starcraft strategy when your not playing, and really understanding why every decision was made is immensely helpful. Mechanics [especially really good mechanics] just take time and force of will. But you truly can boost yourself up a rank just by understanding what your doing and why.
Edit: And dont pigeon hole yourself into a particular style of play. When I first started playing on iccup I tried to take top players advice and play a very macro based style. Yeah thats good to get good macro, but if its not your thing it just wont work out for you. You will be less enthusiastic, and you just wont learn as quickly. If you like a harras oriented game, or a game with constant pressure just find a pro gamer who is stylistically similar and attempt to emulate him.
edit2: By the way another thing that is very useful is knowing how to adapt your build order or make it more efficient. I was once using a 1 gate tech build by stork in order to get fast obs and expand. But with fickling around with probe timing, range timing or whatever, I was able to do what I wanted and make the build a lot more of a flexible opener. I mean, that didn't improve my play drastically but just being able to tick with your build really helps with the concept of timing, which is [honestly] what macro is all about.
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On July 29 2009 15:02 Artosis wrote: takes about 2 years to get good at sc.start progressing
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On July 29 2009 16:20 Dazed_Spy wrote: Depends on the person. Personally I went from d- to a c in like a year and a half, but with only 100 games in that span. I didn't [and dont] play often.
100 games is less then one season of iccup, since youve played it within 1.5 years means you never ranked as C( that would be about 60-80 games even with 50-60% winrate) whatever, its bullshit
(orky)asmodey once said that you cant estimate whether you going to get good at sc or not until youve played 10k games, and this was literally years ago. I vouch for this
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On July 29 2009 16:33 food wrote:Show nested quote +On July 29 2009 16:20 Dazed_Spy wrote: Depends on the person. Personally I went from d- to a c in like a year and a half, but with only 100 games in that span. I didn't [and dont] play often.
100 games is less then one season of iccup, since youve played it within 1.5 years means you never ranked as C( that would be about 60-80 games even with 50-60% winrate) whatever, its bullshit (orky)asmodey once said that you cant estimate whether you going to get good at sc or not until youve played 10k games, and this was literally years ago. I vouch for this Maybe I had a high win rate, ya douche? Getting to c is just about rolling over d players who don't know any strategy or macro, it aint impressive or difficult. 100 was only my estimate from my old auto replay folder, could be more seeing as how I uninstalled the game, but whatever.
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On July 29 2009 15:13 o3.power91 wrote:Not arguing or anything, but around what ICC level will 2 years of casual gaming get you to? I've been playing casually for around a year and a half now (including a long period of "UMSing") and I just got to D+ last season 
+ Show Spoiler +C protoss, C- zerg, D+ terran.
Besides being a dick I'll add that you can't estimate off of "2 years casual". The only way to know is to see for yourself. There are just way too many factors such as individual talent, what you define as "casual" and how you practice.
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Stop 4 pooling, practice more, but THINK. 1 hour of mental effort is better than 5 of brainless play. Analyze replays, if you need help get ppl to watch them with you, etc. Don't worry about your rank too much. I've been playing for 10 months and I'm still D. Sometimes I move up in rank then suddenly ppl with lower rank destroy me, sometimes I destroy ppl of higher rank - shit happens :D. Most important: stay POSITIVE and HAVE FUN. Having an optimistic attitude can often automatically improve your play, just pretend you're pro 
Also sometimes you may need to take 1 or 2 days off from Starcraft if you've been playing too much, kinda like with anything (like with an instrument). When you come back you'll feel more refreshed and get new perspectives on your gameplay.
Glhf
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On July 29 2009 14:58 BanZu wrote: 1. Stop doing cheesy/all-in strats 2. Exactly 1 billion games.
that's a stupid idea.
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games you 4pool dont count as games you played, sorry.
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On July 29 2009 15:02 Artosis wrote: 10.5 years and counting
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On July 29 2009 15:02 Artosis wrote: takes about 2 years to get good at sc.
On July 29 2009 22:14 IdrA wrote:
Wow... I'm starstruck.
I appreciate all the advice. If anyone wants to give me some pointers or play a game or watch some of my replays, PM me please. Thanks again everyone
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is awesome32275 Posts
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On July 30 2009 13:14 DrLefTy wrote:Show nested quote +On July 29 2009 22:14 IdrA wrote:On July 29 2009 15:02 Artosis wrote: 10.5 years and counting Wow... I'm starstruck. I appreciate all the advice. If anyone wants to give me some pointers or play a game or watch some of my replays, PM me please. Thanks again everyone
No one mentioned channel OP IRC @ ICCUP yet. Have you been there?
What bos do you use currently btw?
edit: forgot to mention good motivation... I've played like 60-70 games on iccup total gonna get serious little more this season... and if by any good you mean D+ it should be soon imo. Favourite MU?
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On July 30 2009 14:20 beetlelisk wrote:No one mentioned channel OP IRC @ ICCUP yet. Have you been there? What bos do you use currently btw? edit: forgot to mention good motivation... I've played like 60-70 games on iccup total  gonna get serious little more this season... and if by any good you mean D+ it should be soon imo. Favourite MU?
ZvZ i do 1hatch ling speed into mutas, expanding if my opponent does, ZvT I try to 12hatch into 3hatch muta into lurkers, ZvP I try 3base spire into 5hatch hydra (this always goes horribly), and I don't know what to do if toss 1bases, I usually get rolled.
I will look into that IRC Team. I don't really have a favorite matchup,but I can say my least favorite is ZvP. I get rolled by the toss ball every time.
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