EPTThis entry will give a short summary of my UT life
1. How UT started for me
Back in 2000 I made that fateful buy and got me a copy of UT. It was shortly after my birthday, in October. Before that time I had played Unreal Tournament once. I tried a game of CTF on LavaGiants with all the bots having Marvel comic skins, at a friends. And believe me, I was hooked up right away.
The problem was, I didn't have Internet back in 2005. Well, that's said in retrospect. Back in the days I didn't care and played the AI on and off. I hit the campaign, I beat the AI from Novice to Godlike and when that got boring I made custom bots with enhanced skills to pose a challenge.
2. My first bitter rival
I was lucky to have a friend 8th grade onwards who loved UT as much as I did. He had two brothers and a close friend with whom he had learnt the game. He taught me quite a lot and I counted him as my number one rival for a long time. But it took me about three years until I would finally beat him in a duel on one of our LANs. I was so happy that I'd reached the peak of my skills.
3. Meeting the pros for the first time
THe first and only time that I met a professional UT player (in it's money-earning sense) was back in 2004 on a local LAN event with about 300 gamers attending. I met mTw.Crush and his 2on2 partner (forgot his name (~_~") ). In a duel tourney I got served right away and realized just how close to the bottom I still was. I was able to beat all of my friends and pretty much every casual UT player I met, but Crush showed me the way. There was still tons to learn and I was super excited!
4. The way online
Before I got my internet connection I used to play at a friend's computer, whenever I spend the night at his place and we played some games (mainly WC3, CS, or I watched him play Dark Age of Camelot). In 2005 I finally got access to the world wide web. I was psyched. I wanted to be a pro UT player as soon as possible, but I had to realize that a) the UT pro scene was dead ever since 2004 and UT2k3/2k4 was the new game to play, b) I had no idea where to go and get a proper clan, and c) I wasn't sure if I had a chance to even get into a rooster of one of the big clans. So I went for a small German clan where I made my first ever clan experiences. The name was Bloodhound Clan and I had some of the most relaxing and enjoyable games (without pressure) with these guys. But I realized realy quick that I was way better than my clanmates and I was still hungry for more.
5. Meeting the pros for the second time
This time I tried my way in by enrolling in the 2006 ESL Duel ladder. My first opponent was a rude Polish who manhandled me and left me with the comment "learn how to play noob". I was flattened. (T_T) But my second attempt at a duel was fateful. I played a guy called KrAzZz`, who soon after would become my long-time UT buddy and one of my closest friends I met online. Though KrAzZz` beat me, he offered me a place in his UT clan Team Platinum, and before I realized it, I was in. Premier league, TDM, UT. I mean, I was barely 3rd Division skill with no knowledge of proper tactics and gameplay and now I was in a top notch clan of that time. Eurocup competitor and lined up with some illustrious players like NeTBuG and Primus (who owned as a youngster UT 2k4 duelist). I was in heaven.
6. Realizing what you know is nothing
I soon had to learn it the hard way. My skills were some good aiming with the Sniper, some ok RL skills and some basic shock skills. My movement was mediocre and my knowledge of tactics and timing none existant, but I was eager to learn.
7. Building up your skills
I was lucky to have this bunch of good players at hand and I was highly motivated. I played 3-6 hours daily and practiced 2on2 and duels non-stop. Mainly with KrAzZz` who taught me all I had to know about timing. The rest came to me by shere excecution. Playing over and over again. That was the key to success. In around 2007 I got myself a proper duel practice buddy. We practiced for two months on and of and him and I made great progress. Too bad, I soon after had a motivation-low and went for a one year break. When I returned, my partner Kiisu had become a fearsome duelist who could manhandle me one-handedly. I was shocked just how good he had become.
8. Facing the problem and making a commitment to glory
I have to be honest, my main problem was, that I was in a pretty stressful relationship. Only when I broke up (for different reasons than gaming) I had the time and endurance to go all the way in UT and try some proper clan and tournament gaming. I made a decision to keep at it for at least one year and I did that. In December of 2010 I made a final note to my calender which showed me I had played for way more than 52 weeks straight. Nearly no breaks and 2hours per day at the least. I felt confident in my skill and was able to compete at a high level with a good, solid foundation of aiming, movement, timing, psychology and overall experience. What payed of most was playing veterans like TNT^, Ucs* and SesioN, who were black-belts at duel and who also had been clanmates of mine some time or the other. They all provided me with proper feedback and encouraged me to go on.
9. Summary to UT from 2000 - 2010
I've played nearly every mod there was in competetive UT: Duel, 2on2 nw, 4on4 nw, CTF nw, saCTF, iCTF, iDOM, spamCTF, comboINSTA, etc. My personal favorites were CTF nw, saCTF, 2on2 TDM and duels. Duels were the way to shine, but I always knew that even though I was a seasoned veteran, I'd never beat a player like SesioN without at least one more year of practice. Guys like him have spend most of their time dueling. But in Decemer of 2010 I decided to finally leave UT behind. It was not too hard a choice, I had reached my intermediate goals: Playing in a good clan and earn some trophies on ClanBase. Become a player of the main rooster and make a small name for yourself to be a good player. I had that all and felt glad I had spend the time and energy, but now I wanted to move on. UT was and still is vaining. I guess in the EU are only ~1000 active UT players left, who are spread out over all its mods, with TDM and duels being the weakest.
UT was a great time, sometimes I'd love to go back and play more duels, as I never hit the maximum of my skills, I know that. But it's hard to find opponents and public servers just stink. SC2 on the other hand is booming and I could easily play all day without lack of opponents. But transition from FPS to RTS is hardcore. But more to that in a different story of mine: My first go at SC2.
Regards
ionize
Previos UT story:
Comparing FPS and shooters
It's quite difficult, you have better psychology than your regular nooby, its just the mechanics that are tricky.
