EPTGoal for End of Season: Platinum, world rank above 5,000
Goal for This Week: Become comfortable with control groups and "tapping"
Weeks 2 & 3
Starting Points: 182
Division Rank: 15
Overall Record: 24-19
Starting Points: 182
Division Rank: 15
Overall Record: 24-19
Man, hotkeys can be really hard to get used to. Unfortunately, with school winding down, I think many of us collegiate players have increasingly less time to play as finals approach. I myself only really found 2 days recently in the past couple week where I've been able to play for enough time where I feel satisfied playing. I personally like playing a lot of games. I wouldn't call myself a mass gamer by any means, but playing 1-2 games a night seems really unsatisfying to me. I know this isn't the best idea, prolonged periods of not playing will indeed hurt my mechanics, but thankfully being a gold player I can get back up to speed quick.
+ Show Spoiler [Regarding Day 9 Dailies] +
Day 9 has been putting out some fantastic content in terms of how newer players can really dive into the game. I've been learning a ton, so props to you Day 9. If you haven't watched the past couple Newbie Tuesday's whether you are a regular daily viewer or not, go watch them. Anyone who isn't already a pro will get something out of it IMO.
So for the longest time I've been using the razer exactmat, it's actually one of the best mouse pads I've ever had, I'm super fond of it. What I've noticed however is that the pad is so large, as is my keyboard, that it was hard for me to keep my hands together. After ditching my mousepad and just using my desk so I can keep my mouse closer to the keyboard, I've noticed a large improvement in play. Was going to put this in a spoiler but this seems like a pretty significant change, so I want to make note of it.
Well, I have a ton of in game stuff to talk about, so let's jump into it!
Weeks 2 & 3 Record: 15-15
Race MU: 3-4(P), 7-8(T), 5-3(Z)
Vs. Leagues: 8-8 (Gold), 8-6 (Plat)
After my initial tilt of trying to use hotkeys, I feel like I'm becoming slightly more proficient. There are still plenty of times where I'm selecting buildings, but I haven't clicked a button to build a building or produce a unit since I started making the conscious effort. Along with that, I also feel my tapping is getting better, not necessarily the greatest use of it, but it's coming along.
+ Show Spoiler [Hand Placement] +
I feel like a lot my issues may be stemming from the fact that I come from an fps background. The "normal" hand position for the typist would be index fingers on the 'F' and 'J' keys, just like good ol Mavis Beacon taught us. The fps hand position is of course 'WSAD', thumb on space, pinky on CTRL. Strategy games feel a bit different, obviously. Being the fps gamer though, my hands almost default to 'WSAD', and I'm wondering if it might be worth attempting to switch around my hotkeys to accommodate this.
It doesn't seem like a good idea, but for any of you who ventured into the spoiler, any opinions?
I've also started clicking and the minimap more, however I still find myself scrolling. I think there is a fine line between how far is too far to scroll vs clicking, and I haven't been able to find my comfort zone just yet, but I'm getting there.
Unfortunately it's tough to gauge my play as I've veered away from the 4gate to help map some more hotkeys and get used to them, but I can feel improvement. Since I haven't focused much on build orders at this point, when a timing lines up or I crush an army due to position, it feels really good. I'm also noticing similar compositions between opponents, and the times where I lose to it one game but crush it the next is really giving me hope that this is paying off.
With all this hotkey stuff, I actually haven't been doing much replay watching. I know this isn't the best practice to get into, but I'm aware of when I'm using my hotkeys and when I'm not. Strangely enough, the games I've been losing seem to boil down to three main things:
- Army isn't big enough
- Poor decision making when engaging
- Expanding at the wrong time
+ Show Spoiler [Details on above] +
I'm not too concerned about the size of my army, I figure that will come naturally as I flesh out builds and get better with my macro.
Making poor decisions however is what I'm not happy with. I haven't gotten in the habit of falling back even when I recognize I'll lose. I guess I have more of a zerg mindset when it comes to attacking, which isn't great for a Protoss player that's for sure. I'm going to try and keep that in mind as I move forward.
Expanding..can't say I figured this one out yet. I guess I'd attribute it to lack of scouting, but I don't know if it's because my opponents are actually hitting timings or because they don't know when to expand themselves, I'm not sure I can't make that judgement. Maybe watching replays in these cases would be beneficial
When I am laddering, I've begun to stream my games. I have a stream on TL now so feel free to check me out if you see me streaming! I'm having some issues with people not being able to hear my microphone while I have music going, and I haven't been able to figure out how to fix this, anyone have any suggestions? I haven't done too much searching on the issue honestly, but any help so I don't have to would be wonderful.
If anyone has any suggestions on what build to refine for my goal this week, post a reply. Currently, I may just go with the build that was featured on the daily yesterday, as it's a solid build and I have another lower lever player to compare my results with.
Ending Points: 376
Division Rank: 4
Gold Region Rank: 2,142
Gold Global Rank: 7,277
Division Rank: 4
Gold Region Rank: 2,142
Gold Global Rank: 7,277
Next Week's Goal: Refine a build order
Previous: Day 5 Next: Week 4
