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Skew
Profile Blog Joined October 2006
United States1019 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-07-16 22:37:16
January 09 2012 20:09 GMT
#1
[image loading]

Fellow Nerds,

A new fantastic way to improve your skills and take your game to another level is now available. It's far more efficient and less-expensive than traditional 1on1 coaching could ever hope to be and we're extremely pleased to be able to present it to you here on TL:

HotKeyIt.com is a new video training website focused on making you a stronger player through top Grandmaster StarCraft 2 Guides. With a staff of 16+ top players making new video content each month and assisting members with any and all questions, we can be a huge help in your StarCraft 2 education.

Free videos are available for you to get a small taste of what we're all about:

Titan's 1st video (of 3) on How to Practice:
http://hotkeyit.com/videos/single/how_to_practice/

Skew's Terran Hotkey Basics:
http://hotkeyit.com/videos/single/basics_hotkeys/

Cecil Sunkure's Immortal/Stalker/Templar analysis:
http://hotkeyit.com/videos/single/immortals_stalkers_templars/

Spanishiwa's Infestor/Muta transition:
http://hotkeyit.com/videos/single/infestor_muta_transition/

Ready to get your game in gear? Signup now: Register Now

Win an easy Free Subscription

Giving away awesome things is a great feeling, so we're giving away some free subscriptions in return for the players who can do one of the following the best:

1) Watch a single one of our free sample videos and give us the most interesting feedback in this thread: Did you like it? Did you learn something? What was it? Could we have done a better job? How? What didn't you like about it? You hated it!? And all feedback is great feedback in our opinion, as long as it's honest.

2) Follow us on Twitter @HotKeyIt and write a cool tweet mentioning us. We'll be on the look out!

If you like what we're doing and would like to show support in other ways, telling your friends about us is probably the most helpful thing you could do. And if you're a big fan of Facebook you can follow us there: http://facebook.com/hotkeyit

(Grats to the latest winners: aelonius, r0b0t, inori!)

Want to make videos for HotKeyIt?

We're constantly looking for new competitive players to create new and exciting content. If you feel like you have a knack for such creation and could create videos that would be loved by others, let us know by emailing us at coaching@hotkeyit.com

Want to become a partner of HotKeyIt?

We offer affiliate opportunities to those with reach in the StarCraft 2 world. Please get in touch with us to find out more partners@hotkeyit.com
DivinO
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States4796 Posts
October 12 2011 23:30 GMT
#2
I don't play to get better, but this is pretty sexy. Fuck yeah Skew.
LiquipediaBrain in my filth.
GenesisX
Profile Blog Joined February 2010
Canada4267 Posts
October 12 2011 23:34 GMT
#3
This sounds like a great idea! Best of luck
133 221 333 123 111
JasonX
Profile Joined November 2010
Korea (South)90 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-12 23:38:58
October 12 2011 23:38 GMT
#4
Awesome! I mean I'm grandmaster caliber already, but I guess I can always get better ^^

Anything for ESPORTS
The actions we do today, will echo in eternity.
Mortise
Profile Joined October 2010
United States25 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-13 00:03:15
October 13 2011 00:02 GMT
#5
This is such a good idea, coaching was super over priced. It could be though because they were the only ones in the market for this sort of thing, now that you guys are doing this they will have to lower their prices. Expect some good business from the community!
Torte de Lini
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Germany38463 Posts
October 13 2011 00:08 GMT
#6
Ooh, hotkeyit, I remember them :3 Awesome stuff!
https://twitter.com/#!/TorteDeLini (@TorteDeLini)
MyLife
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
179 Posts
October 13 2011 00:14 GMT
#7
I wish you guys the best of luck. To be honest your lineup of coaches is not very impressive. Im sure a lot of people would agree that a couple Hours with Idra would be more helpful than a month of random "barley making it" pros that have never won a major event within their career. Even adding 1 or 2 More known pros with better results would probably increase membership 3fold. Good luck nonetheless!
Maynarde
Profile Joined September 2010
Australia1286 Posts
October 13 2011 00:19 GMT
#8
Nice! May partake in the full package here :D
CommentatorAustralian SC2 Caster | Twitter: @MaynardeSC2 | Twitch: twitch.tv/maynarde
ComaDose
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
Canada10357 Posts
October 13 2011 00:22 GMT
#9
Good luck with your business idea.
BW pros training sc2 is like kiss making a dub step album.
Sympatico
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
Canada202 Posts
October 13 2011 00:32 GMT
#10
Hotkeyit.com has sponsored Stim.TV for quite a while, doing great things for esports and the lower leagues, giving out subscriptions to the winners of our bronze/silver and gold/plat tourneys when we ran them for 9 months. Can't say enough good things about these guys or their awesome contribution to the SC2 community and awesome business idea :D

Mczeppo
Profile Joined March 2010
Germany319 Posts
October 13 2011 01:13 GMT
#11
On October 13 2011 09:14 MyLife wrote:
I wish you guys the best of luck. To be honest your lineup of coaches is not very impressive. Im sure a lot of people would agree that a couple Hours with Idra would be more helpful than a month of random "barley making it" pros that have never won a major event within their career. Even adding 1 or 2 More known pros with better results would probably increase membership 3fold. Good luck nonetheless!


A couple of hours with idra would not help more because newbies have to learn basics...
It's a waste of money unless you are already very good.
"whether you make it or not depends mostly on the personal battle within yourself." - NaDa
Mikey
Profile Joined January 2011
United States277 Posts
October 13 2011 01:37 GMT
#12
just do it the normal way of playing, learning from mistakes, moving on? you can't practice mechanics and micro via watching some random video.

gl with it ~
Please watch my DotA2 Stream: www.twitch.tv/Mikey -- Member of Team Quantic's DotA2 division :) !
desRow
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
Canada2654 Posts
October 13 2011 01:57 GMT
#13
I might look like I'm bias because I work at hotkeyit but I don't like when people say that watching those videos is not worth it. Few streamers actually commentate their game or analyse their replays at all on stream while giving their thoughts behind a build. Hotkeyit does that. Think about a stream where one player tells you about a build, except on hotkeyit, we go in length and give every little detail so it's even better.
http://twitch.tv/desrowfighting http://twitter.com/desrowfighting http://facebook.com/desrowfighting
Aelonius
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Netherlands432 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-13 02:12:10
October 13 2011 02:04 GMT
#14
On October 13 2011 09:02 Mortise wrote:
This is such a good idea, coaching was super over priced. It could be though because they were the only ones in the market for this sort of thing, now that you guys are doing this they will have to lower their prices. Expect some good business from the community!


I doubt it.
Many of these coaches go out of their way to help others teach, which will lower their own practice time. It's purely optional ^^



I might look like I'm bias because I work at hotkeyit but I don't like when people say that watching those videos is not worth it. Few streamers actually commentate their game or analyse their replays at all on stream while giving their thoughts behind a build. Hotkeyit does that. Think about a stream where one player tells you about a build, except on hotkeyit, we go in length and give every little detail so it's even better.


I dare to disagree. While having a resource like this could be extremely beneficial to many players, a lot of players including myself are hitting a point where the problems in our gameplay are not just simply solved by watching a video. I am aware of the reasoning behind certain decisions, but I am unable to properly execute them at times. This is where a professional coach comes in. He can review and tailor the way to improve for the specific person.

Myself I tend to coach lower levels when they start out Zerg. My approach is to have personal contact and talk to them to get a good understanding of the essential basics to play the race upto a point where they can begin to think about branching away from the core essentials of a race. I notice that the approach I use in this case works well as most of my students see an improvement in their play overall.

I've got a lot of idea's for video's and coaching methods, but I feel that video's don't cut it perfectly as you'd like to. This is why I feel that having such a boatload of video's isn't worth it by definition.
Do note, I have to thoroughly look through the complete offer of functionality that HotKeyIt offers, but seeing the rough lines I am missing a few things. Alas, I am working on a project myself so I can't share them quite yet.
''The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.''—Ronald Reagan
pcL.Nomad
Profile Joined February 2011
United States24 Posts
October 13 2011 02:34 GMT
#15
I watched the optimal hotkey usage video by Skew and quite enjoyed it. It goes into great deal about hotkey setup which is undoubtedly the biggest problem for lower level players who box and click instead of using hotkeys. Skew did a great job of going into the thought process and reasoning behind all of his explanations which is a big problem with training videos nowadays. Often we hear players saying "macro better, use more control groups" but that doesn't explain anything and can often lead to players utilizing and getting used to inefficient hotkey setups which only hurts in the long run. The explanations given will help newer players out a great deal and give them a solid direction for practicing, which is very important for new players looking to improve.

The one thing I wish Skew had gone into was customizing control group hotkeys. He mentions that he is against customizing individual structure and unit hotkeys but I strongly believe in a custom control group setup which is not mentioned. Many players like to change their 7-0 control group hotkeys to other keys, such as ` or Q since 7-0 are far away from their normal keyboard reach.

Overall I found the video very enjoyable. Skew comes off as more of a kind and helpful teacher than a pro looking down on players who don't know the basics. I checked out the site and it looks very well done and I think that the strongly interactive forums where you can get sound advice from the coaches themselves without paying $50 for a lesson is probably the best feature. I'm linking this thread to a few of my gold league friends as I post this ^^ GL on the site! I hope HotKeyIt grows and prospers!
The Terran 111 wins exactly 111% of the time
SuitGuy
Profile Joined March 2011
United States186 Posts
October 13 2011 02:40 GMT
#16
On October 13 2011 11:34 pcL.Nomad wrote:
I watched the optimal hotkey usage video by Skew and quite enjoyed it. It goes into great deal about hotkey setup which is undoubtedly the biggest problem for lower level players who box and click instead of using hotkeys. Skew did a great job of going into the thought process and reasoning behind all of his explanations which is a big problem with training videos nowadays. Often we hear players saying "macro better, use more control groups" but that doesn't explain anything and can often lead to players utilizing and getting used to inefficient hotkey setups which only hurts in the long run. The explanations given will help newer players out a great deal and give them a solid direction for practicing, which is very important for new players looking to improve.

The one thing I wish Skew had gone into was customizing control group hotkeys. He mentions that he is against customizing individual structure and unit hotkeys but I strongly believe in a custom control group setup which is not mentioned. Many players like to change their 7-0 control group hotkeys to other keys, such as ` or Q since 7-0 are far away from their normal keyboard reach.

Overall I found the video very enjoyable. Skew comes off as more of a kind and helpful teacher than a pro looking down on players who don't know the basics. I checked out the site and it looks very well done and I think that the strongly interactive forums where you can get sound advice from the coaches themselves without paying $50 for a lesson is probably the best feature. I'm linking this thread to a few of my gold league friends as I post this ^^ GL on the site! I hope HotKeyIt grows and prospers!


Thank you for the kind words. Really doing our best over here.
Suitin' it up 24/7
goswser
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
United States3548 Posts
October 13 2011 02:52 GMT
#17
On October 13 2011 09:14 MyLife wrote:
I wish you guys the best of luck. To be honest your lineup of coaches is not very impressive. Im sure a lot of people would agree that a couple Hours with Idra would be more helpful than a month of random "barley making it" pros that have never won a major event within their career. Even adding 1 or 2 More known pros with better results would probably increase membership 3fold. Good luck nonetheless!

A couple of hours with idra huh? How many hours are you thinking? 2 hours for $600 or 3 hours for 900?
say you were born into a jungle indian tribe where food was scarce...would you run around from teepee to teepee stealing meat scraps after a day lazying around doing nothing except warming urself by a fire that you didn't even make yourself? -rekrul
Hot_Bid
Profile Blog Joined October 2003
Braavos36388 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-13 03:23:16
October 13 2011 03:21 GMT
#18
On October 13 2011 09:14 MyLife wrote:
I wish you guys the best of luck. To be honest your lineup of coaches is not very impressive. Im sure a lot of people would agree that a couple Hours with Idra would be more helpful than a month of random "barley making it" pros that have never won a major event within their career. Even adding 1 or 2 More known pros with better results would probably increase membership 3fold. Good luck nonetheless!

This is just the wrong. For players looking to learn, coaching ability, not tournament results, is the #1 thing they should be looking for. Almost any pro meets the minimum requirement for skill, all that matters is how hard they try and how good they are at coaching.

Like piano or violin or art or guitar lessons, StarCraft is taught by people who are better than you at it. You don't have to be Yo Yo Ma to teach cello, just like you don't have to be Idra to teach Zerg. It's rare you get to learn from the top 1% at anything, let alone at the prices most good SC2 coaches charge.

On October 13 2011 10:37 Mikey wrote:
just do it the normal way of playing, learning from mistakes, moving on? you can't practice mechanics and micro via watching some random video.

gl with it ~

Again, why do people take lessons for anything? Why not just figure it out yourself by playing more piano painting more pictures? Obviously, there's a reason why sometimes, paying for teaching is better than simply doing it. I think that's a choice everyone can make for themselves, they don't need the hordes of people going into coaching threads telling them to just ladder more.
@Hot_Bid on Twitter - ESPORTS life since 2010 - http://i.imgur.com/U2psw.png
AntiSleep
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada91 Posts
October 13 2011 03:37 GMT
#19
Wow watched your videos and they are really good, learned about the aerial view thing which I never known about. Keep up good job we need more of these.



On October 13 2011 10:37 Mikey wrote:
just do it the normal way of playing, learning from mistakes, moving on? you can't practice mechanics and micro via watching some random video.

gl with it ~



Because if you aren't learning anything by yourself its best needed for someone to guide/coach you a little bit, that way all your time investing into the game is not wasted.

Quality of time spent is greater then quantity of time spent doing the wrong thing.
RusHXceL
Profile Joined August 2010
United States1004 Posts
October 13 2011 03:46 GMT
#20
Desrow haz de best vids.

Ley Go!!!!

Free sub me plzez
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