Differences between Platinum and Diamond? - Page 4

darkscream

Canada2310 Posts

January 07 2012 02:24 GMT

#61

The only difference is ladder points, that's all.

Remember that those categories don't actually represent skill, they just represent wins. Win more, get promoted.

Now, if you're asking "what can I do to improve to make myself able to beat diamond players", that's a different question and philosophy entirely, more akin to the other answers in this thread, surely there are many ways you can improve mechanically and strategically.

But there will always be people in higher leagues than you, who have worse strategy and mechanics. They aren't better than you, they just won more and lost less.

Nourek

Germany188 Posts

January 07 2012 02:39 GMT

#62

On January 07 2012 10:52 MikeTheBike wrote:
In general Diamond players play better than Platinum players in every way as they would have probably played more games and therefore have more refined skills. The thing I've found is it is largely being able to react and scout that is a huge factor in the jump from Platinum to Diamond.

That can also vary quite a bit by matchup.

For example, I feel "safe" playing ZvP. I'm generally sure what can or can't happen at a certain time, when I need to scout etc. and consequently when I can drone and when I really need units asap. I'm obviously not doing that perfectly, but decent enough to play well vs diamond Ps.

Now in ZvT ... I often feel like I've no idea what I should be doing. I suppose that means my scouting and knowledge of possible timings is awful, but yeah. That's what it is right now.

I would say on average, I'm low diamond, a bit better vs P, but maybe mid-plat vs T. I'm not sure you can explain me being in diamond just by going "better macro than plat" as a few have suggested.

Banchan

United States179 Posts

January 07 2012 02:44 GMT

#63

A lot of people in the higher leagues have perfected a small set of builds rather than learned a wide variety of strategies for every situation.

In other words, they can cheese really well

kyriores

Greece178 Posts

January 07 2012 02:59 GMT

#64

Assuming you have memorized some builds and follow them + adjust according to what you scout, then I guess it's all about being fast & effective. Personally, my max APM is around (80-85) and I feel that I could do much better if I could give commands to my units faster and more precisely, which I can't (that's why I practice).

Actions like sending units to key spots in order to spot possible attacks, denying creep, positioning units etc. etc. require your attention, which might cause you some problems with your macro if you don't have the ability to do them along with it. Those "little" things start to become more and more significant when your macro and micro have reached an ok level. Up to this level it was possible to win by just sitting in your base, maybe do some fast expand build that your opponent wouldn't even notice, and then do 1 attack when your extra minerals have kicked in, while doing some basic harassing or defending (or just cheese/defend the cheese which is way more common). But that is not the case anymore.

So I would suggest to try hard and start adding more and more elements to your playstyle. Scouting, multi-pronged attacks, denying expos like crazy, scouting again, splitting army, setting up traps for the enemy army and anything else that can give you an edge. And the most important... Keep an eye on the minimap... Even when you micro a drop.. You can't afford to lose anything ! Of course, while you do all that, your macro should be flawless. Whenever you find yourself addind more than 2 buildings or queuing units, your macro slipped( it's not the end of the world since it happens even to pros regularly but it definitely takes further improvement). If you can master the above you should be close to pro-level.
After that the only thing that might further improve your game is the so called metagame which includes very specific strategies used to take advantage of the map or hard counter an expected strategy, abuse a weakness in a matchup etc.

Hope I helped. Gl with your goal.

(Note: I'm terran, so that may not apply to all races. Derp!)