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Skill fluctuation playing mid plat level Zerg.
Due to real life, I often find myself only getting time for 2-3 games yet at other times I get chance to play for a few hours in a solid block. The big issue I find from this is my skill level sky rockets from mid platinum all the way up to mid diamond after I get a chance for a nice gaming session.
However, as soon as I come back after a day or two off (or a week or so of low play time) I seem to just get rusty - I will lose to things that seem obvious ; if I had just scouted at X time; if I had kept my upgrades up; why didn't I just expand etc etc
As I am sure you can imagine, it gets highly stressful losing to things because of being out of practise compared to losing because they did something - not to mention the usual frustration of having a losing streak!
I believe the key problem and cause is having bumps in my early game - by taking time out/playing only a little for a few days it becomes highly thought intensive to remember all the key timings and builds that during gaming sessions become almost second nature.
Therefore, I am looking for any advice people may have on how to minimise fluctuation in my skill level between periods of high and casual activity?
Any help/advise would be greatly appreciated!
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I have the same problem 
A good thing for me is to warm up with aibot suchass gt ai. So that my first games isnt a big dissaster
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Well a progamer once said: don't practice until you get it right. Practice until you can't get it wrong. Yeah, I highly recommend Green Tea AI as well. It's macro is at a diamond level. Just search GT and the map name in multiplayer custom game. For example "Antiga GT".
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I load up the Random Micro Challenge custom game and play RMC1 a few times if it's been a little while.
Or you can play 1v1 Metalopolis Obs (it is popular, so always have people to play with if you join it). I'm masters so I just crush anyone and everyone in it on publics, but as plat you'll still probably beat most people.
You can also just play against computer. I think until you are really masters, most problems players have are issues that could be fixed playing against computer (read: macro problems like supply blocks and injects and making workers). Personally, my best warm-up is actually just playing against an easy AI, and working out some of my harder builds. I have a pretty strict build order up to about 120 food for taking fast third in ZvP, and every building has a time placement, so if I'm slow I may screw it up if I haven't played in a while.
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Bosnia-Herzegovina439 Posts
I think that problem comes from the fact that we all have our best performance as a reference point to our play. And then you create this incredible tension that usually results in total tilt and loosing streaks. I peak as a high diamond but then i stop enjoying the game cos i constant hit master level players and every game you have to give your best. I hate that! I want to have fun i don't want to constantly be on my best game in order to win.
That's why i started taking my average or lesser performance as a reference point to my game and that is where i want to be on the ladder. I play games for fun, don't warm up, play weird strategies, have fun and that way i win some loose some and i am happy where i am. Don't care any more about streaks because i know if i push really hard i can get my peak performance back but i really don't want to do that anymore.
Long story short - i wouldn't advice anything to minimize fluctuation in your skill - just take it as a fact and enjoy your high roll days and don't give a shit about your bad days. After all, your skill depends on practice - how can you expect to perform like someone constantly playing - it is just not possible. This is more my opinion than any kind of advice for your question. gl
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here is a deep question for you?
Are you a bad player or currently using a bad strat?
Im a 37yo Master who wins games with an APM of 37 or less! However Ive devised, over months, solids strats for TvZ and an even stronger one for TvP. My TvT is average.
So if I gave my strats to someone with higher APM, with practise, surely they could win even more???
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I have this same issue , I spend days when I'm smashing every game I play , then other days when all i do is lose to the silliest of things depresses the crap out of me and | find it highly irritating, wish i knew of a solution.
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You don´t lose because of random things, you lose because you aren´t that good, Diamond is really about a solid opening and somewhat good game sence, whenever you got those you can be top diamond with out any problem, you may say that it is cause lack of practice, but in reality it is only lack of focus and game sence, I often find myself playing poorly, but by now I just know that it is cause I dont have the right focus of aren´t doing everything I know to do.
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On December 19 2011 11:11 PiLoKo wrote:
You don´t lose because of random things, you lose because you aren´t that good, Diamond is really about a solid opening and somewhat good game sence, whenever you got those you can be top diamond with out any problem, you may say that it is cause lack of practice, but in reality it is only lack of focus and game sence, I often find myself playing poorly, but by now I just know that it is cause I dont have the right focus of aren´t doing everything I know to do.
Where did he suggest that he loses "because of random things"? As someone who has a lot of major commitments outside of SCII, including a dissertation to write, I have a similar experience. Inconsistency, for me, is a part of this game for now as I can rarely play and give it my full focus. That said, keep at. You will improve. Just slower than a lot of other TL players who will act surprised if you don't get masters in a month.
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Practice, practice, practice. Play a warmup game before you start laddering. Do a little game with your friend before you stop laddering. Once you've warmed up your fingers, and your brain, you start playing like you generally do otherwise.
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Well if you dont have the time to practice, then maybe you are just a casual player only. People that care about this game willl always find time for at least ten games a day (I have school, hours of homework and essays, yet I get 10 games in a day. I just find the time)
So yeah, if you REALLY want to get good, then just find the time to practice. Its hard, I know.
But if you just wanna stay casual, then play when you can.
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^ whhhhatt. No way dude, I'm higher masters, and 10 games a day isn't nearly how much I get to play. Somedays, I get to play a shitton, which, to me, is like 8-10 games. Often, I go weeks without being able to play.
I mean, once you get out of school and graduate and all, you can't just play like that, and you won't even play every day. I get tired as shit with my 9PM-5AM work schedule, so I just post on the forums and watch VODs instead of playing, because even if I'm not going to sleep anytime soon I won't be able to play, just not in the mood for it.
damn 10 games a day is a lot. i'll go for a weekend or maybe even a week where I get to play a lot like that, but i get to play really intermittently. (part of the reason I made that 6 pool guide, can't ladder, but sure, ill practice some 6 pool stuff).
You can easily hit diamond or higher if you aren't playing 10 games a day. Just make a concerted effort, that with every game you lose, you watch the replay, and if you can't play, find other ways to improve your game. I rarely watch vods, as I try to play if I have the free time to do so - that's a big thing, yes, it's sad I missed MLG or the blizzard cup - but I think playing should take a priority over watching day9 or MLG or whatever. I try to watch important games, but no way you can do everything, if you work or go to school.
And when I come back, I often lose to 4 gate, or even 6 pool (yes even me), or silly things I should never lose to, like moving all my mutas right over a fully stimmed maxed out marine army. It takes a while to sort of get back into the groove, and I commonly lose to shit I shouldn't to just becuse I'm out of form (lol at "no your just bad" post).
You just have to play extra careful when you get back, and play a few customs or obs or Random Micro Challenge to warm up. I also think that if you sound game philosophy, you'll do much better than someone who maybe is in the groove but doesn't know the 'optimal' way to play, so being on the forums can help if you can't play, but obviously playing is the best way to get better.
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i have the same problem but the weird thing is that even though i know Im playing like a Jackass Im still winning against higher league players. i know Im not playing anywhere near the level that i know i can and its frustrating.
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Russian Federation164 Posts
Well, the thing is, at some point, 99% of your actions will be based on pure muscular memory + experience. I.e. if you play a person who's at the same level, you won't have any unfamilliar decisions to take - all you have to do is to perform fast and effective. So once you 'understand' the game deeply, literally phisically, you won't experience any discomfort after taking a 1 weeek off. You will perform great even when mentally tired since your hands and eyes will do the work on auto-pilot.
You will perform poorly, though, once your opponent out-levels you and plays tricky/extremely agressive/performs a new crazy-ass strategy or trick that you've never seen before, or if you're too predictable for him (retard magnet tricks ^_^)
Well, at least that's what my experience, although the game I play is way less complicated and more reaction-based. I suffer from lag more than from lil vacations
upd:
Btw, whenever I feel 'slow' or tired I warm-up in 3v3-s.
They are not a completely random shit unlike 4v4's, don't require that much coordination as 2v2's, and are much better of a training than playing AI (well, I didn't play dedicated downloadable maps yet ^_^)
Once you play some 20-30 games, you'll be matched against more-or-less OK opponents.
Also worth mentioning, plat+ kids are mostly O (EU server)
Obviously, if today you played like noob - just don't play that day, I won't ever end well.
TL;DR:
1. Improve mechanics and muscular memory;
2. Warm-up in 3v3's, never play in bad shape, close client if on tilt.
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What I like to do is practice something independent of my opponent to judge if im getting better or not. For instance the map "Multitasking OBSERVERS" on the NA server is a good judge of if you're getting better or worse at this game. Sometimes hard feels impossible, sometimes it feels easy.
As zerg you should be aware of all the possibilities your opponent could do to you in addition to scouting to get your best response. Things like landing injects perfectly and all can be practiced against the AI as well.
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I have an idea for you. First few games you play after taking a break from sc2, cheese or do some aggressive builds.
Then when you feel warmed up and in the zone go back to your regular playstyle. That way you save your dignity (eg there's no shame in losing to a 6pool when you yourself are 6pooling) and you're getting good ladder practice (which imho is better than practicing against the computer).
Thanks for posting by the way. I have this problem too. I either play one game a day or a dozen and it's only after losing a dozen games that I actually feel that I've reworked my skill back up to scratch. By posting you have inadvertantly helped me solve my own problem.
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I also have this.. but for this i have 2 accounts... 1 in NA and 1 in EU.
When i have a break of 2 weeks or so ( i had a break of 6 weeks once ), then i just go and play around 20 - 30 games on NA. My main is toss. But there i also play iwth offrace.. In 20-30 games you should be able to get back to 85-90% of you previous shape. After that i can get back to EU and play where i left. Also some stream watching also helps. Before you play if you watch some streams can help you to get the hype of a game.. to make you to want to play and win.
This also helps when you are bored, or after a big loosing streak. It helps me at least. GL and have fun while playing.
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Russian Federation164 Posts
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Day(9) had his #100 daily about this too...
You should really practice under all circumstances so that your body can adapt to certain situations. If you want to go into professional gaming or semi, or just want to win tournaments, its best to play under abnormal situations so that when you do feel normal or great, your gaming also intensifies.
It seems as if you lack your muscle memory, I went overseas and when I came back I was completely horrible... As you play more and more, and as your skills develop, you'll have less problems with this but for now, you just need to get your muscle memory back. This is easily accomplished by warming up with games, and your hands.
Remember that even when you lose, seasons restart so it doesn't affect your gameplay. Just try to constantly win and if you can't, you'll get it next time. Watch the replays where you lose and try to really understand the concrete mechanics on why you could have lost. If you do not truly understand, then go to the TL Strategy forum for help.
I had the problem where I could not play ladder games because of anxiety but I've finally overcome it. Gluck!
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Thanks for the great input so far people; I think the key thing that has come out of the discussion is to have a slightly more strict warm up routine before laddering.
As some people have mentioned, it is that lack of "game sense" that I really feel I lose between sessions. When I have been able to play a load, I start to get a feeling for what is most likely to happen - even when there are a lot of possibilities. After a break or period of low activity, this just because confusing and I start to second guess every thought I have (is that terran going BFH, tanks, drop play) which ultimately stems from a lack of effective scouting. I try to focus on my mechanics and macro in games as I still feel that is where most sub masters games are lost - but without correct unit comp it can be very easy to flat out lose to a timing push I wasn't expecting.
My injects are good; using SC2 gears my average time between injects for the last 55 games has been 12seconds. Considering this takes into account the whole game I feel this isn't awful (but has room for improvement).
Watching replays of games I lose is something that I do as standard, its the best way to learn and is really useful. The problem I find is that when I am playing well, replays offers great insight into what went wrong. During periods of low activity, replays simply seem to point out things that are obvious in retrospect but are simply forgotten during the game - thus the "game sense" being the part that starts to fall apart 
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EPT
