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The title basically says it all. Why is Terran seeming to be the dominant contender in the GSL series? Though T hasn't won a finals (not yet anyway), the data is still overwhelmingly in support of this thesis. Compiling results from the first four GSLs, Ro8 and onward, here are the averages we get:
Ro8: 3.8/8 (47.5%)
Ro4: 3/4 (75%)
Ro2: either 1.2/2 or 1.4/2, so we'll round to 1.3/2 (65%)
Obviously in an ideal world we'd expect each race to have approximately 33% of the total presence in the late games of the GSL. But Terran is doing better than that...much better. And now that the fourth GSL is nearly over, I think the sample size is finally large enough to call it more than a fluke.
That said, I'm not a SC2 pro; I'm not even very good at the game. So rather that present my own half-assed theories of why this statistical anomaly exists, I'm gonna leave it up to you guys to enlighten me. What's the deal yo?
Poll: T is having more success in the GSL because of...Map imbalance (Maps favor Terran) (642) 42% Inherent race imbalance (Terran is OP) (430) 28% Player preference (More players pick T, so more T succeed) (325) 21% Random chance (It could all equalize with the next season) (69) 5% Lower skill requirement for Terran (other races will catch up as Z and P players mature) (51) 3% 1517 total votes Your vote: T is having more success in the GSL because of... (Vote): Map imbalance (Maps favor Terran)
(Vote): Inherent race imbalance (Terran is OP)
(Vote): Player preference (More players pick T, so more T succeed)
(Vote): Lower skill requirement for Terran (other races will catch up as Z and P players mature)
(Vote): Random chance (It could all equalize with the next season)
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If you took out the results from maps like Jungle Basin and steppes, Z would be killing. The maps are the primary problem, so just wait and see until next season when Gardens of Aiur and other hilariously Z-favored maps come into play. These things are like shakuras cross position except with a natural in the back, longer distances, and a narrow ramp.
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Terran strategies have evolved past others due to the flexibility of units IMHO. They've taken the lead so the other races react rather then dictate ... so terran is ahead because people are better with them at the moment i would say .. not neccesarily because they are OP.
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1) Alot of progamers play terran
2) Terran has its strength in the early game, so they will have a higher win rate during the early parts of SC2 as Protoss/Zerg players refine their expansion timings
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your stats need to include what % of players overall play each race. it's not like 33% play zerg, 33% protoss, 33% terran. if 90% of all sc2 players play terran, your stats actually show that terran is not successfull at all.
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Also maps do favor the type of mobility terran has. Slightly bigger or more open maps would balance things out (warp in, creep and nydus becoming better) as long as you don't go overboard with it.
Right now Terran is not as mobile as the other races imho - but isn't affected since the maps are small.
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Map imbalance seems to be a favorite choice so far. An additional question then would be, why isn't protoss receiving the same benefit from maps as terran? Surely maps like Steppes are as easy PvZ as they are TvZ, so why don't we see the same level of P success?
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On January 20 2011 19:16 Lipski wrote:
your stats need to include what % of players overall play each race. it's not like 33% play zerg, 33% protoss, 33% terran. if 90% of all sc2 players play terran, your stats actually show that terran is not successfull at all.
It would probably be more relevant to get the percentages of each race in Master League, or some similar benchmark. But yea, anyone know where I can find those numbers?
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On January 20 2011 19:19 CarlyZerg wrote:
Map imbalance seems to be a favorite choice so far. An additional question then would be, why isn't protoss receiving the same benefit from maps as terran? Surely maps like Steppes are as easy PvZ as they are TvZ, so why don't we see the same level of P success?
Smaller maps are more important for T than P because tank sieging (which has become a staple in the matchup) becomes far, far more powerful on shorter attack distances. Basically, you walk your tanks to creep, and then you are forced to turtle forward incredibly slowly. When the zerg player has time to spread creep, you're ending up slowing down your attack longer and longer for every little bit of extra space. The effect is magnified when you're playing the common marine/tank/medivac game. Creep doesn't actually slow down protoss armies.
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Where is the option where I say that I think the terran pros are just that much better than the zerg/toss pros in terms of micro/macro/decision making/strategic analysis.
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Mostly due to player preference, though I wont deny maps have some impact too, that said many games can be won (or extreme damage dealt) before any perceived map issues play a role in the game, depending on the strategies used.
Blaming race imba and skill req is just for poorer players to shift the blame from their play to something outside their control.
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I might be biased, but I think there are simply more potentially top level players who chose Terran than the other two races. The very best of zerg and protoss are doing quite well (as shown by those two races actually winning the three first GSLs), but there's a bigger amount of top level terran players.
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On January 20 2011 19:17 stinger_ro wrote:
Also maps do favor the type of mobility terran has. Slightly bigger or more open maps would balance things out (warp in, creep and nydus becoming better) as long as you don't go overboard with it.
Right now Terran is not as mobile as the other races imho - but isn't affected since the maps are small.
Why would say that? Terran is the most mobile race of all. They dont need mines or something to success, they have mobile units with stim, drop by default and dirt cheap units. How does that make sense?
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Weren't the early maps of BW (about 2002-2005) way too favorable for Terran?
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According to sc2ranks, for masters league there is 36.87% of terrans, which isn't that much. But looking at the top 200, which is probably closer to the players in skill who would be in the GSL, 41% are terran.
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terran's gameplay is way rich than P/Z
powerfull army - best harass(hellion/drop) - good mobility (bio stim?) - solid defense (tank/bunker/PF/scan/..) - solid eco (MULE) - good late game eco (the more you have cc, the more you can MULE).
Terran OP (sry). You are not limited by your race, but by your hands.
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The argument about player preference doesn't hold because protoss is the most played race, even in Masters league. Source:
http://www.sc2ranks.com/stats/league/all/1/all
The argument about Terran being strong in the "early meta-game" and Protoss and Zerg players not being mature is just silly. Silly, silly.
Terran is clearly OP, specifically marauders, stimpack, mules and planetaries.
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On January 20 2011 19:33 PraetorianX wrote:The argument about player preference doesn't hold because protoss is the most played race, even in Masters league. Source: http://www.sc2ranks.com/stats/league/all/1/allThe argument about Terran being strong in the "early meta-game" and Protoss and Zerg players not being mature is just silly. Silly, silly. Terran is clearly OP, specifically marauders, stimpack, mules and planetaries.
That's globally. It's different for Korea. Protoss is the most played race in North America and Europe, which is pulling the percentage up. If you look at my post, I detailed out the stats for Korea.
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On January 20 2011 19:31 Slunk wrote:Show nested quote +On January 20 2011 19:17 stinger_ro wrote:
Also maps do favor the type of mobility terran has. Slightly bigger or more open maps would balance things out (warp in, creep and nydus becoming better) as long as you don't go overboard with it.
Right now Terran is not as mobile as the other races imho - but isn't affected since the maps are small. Why would say that? Terran is the most mobile race of all. They dont need mines or something to success, they have mobile units with stim, drop by default and dirt cheap units. How does that make sense?
Tanks are super mobile right? Considering almost every T in the world plays TvZ with tanks right now they are super immobile in that match up. TvP on the other hand with more Marauder centric play is pretty mobile but saying they are the most mobile units in the game is just silly.
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On January 20 2011 19:33 PraetorianX wrote:The argument about player preference doesn't hold because protoss is the most played race, even in Masters league. Source: http://www.sc2ranks.com/stats/league/all/1/allThe argument about Terran being strong in the "early meta-game" and Protoss and Zerg players not being mature is just silly. Silly, silly. Terran is clearly OP, specifically marauders, stimpack, mules and planetaries.
http://www.sc2ranks.com/stats/league/kr/1/all
Not an overwhelming number but GSL is a Korean tournament and there are more terrans in masters.
I'd say terran strategies are just more refined right now.
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EPT
