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Practicing to Improve - Page 3

Forum Index > SC2 General
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Prev 1 2 3 All
Diaspora
Profile Joined April 2010
United States140 Posts
April 07 2010 15:44 GMT
#41
Haha Brilliant! I especially liked the comparison to a musicians practicing, me being a piano player and all.
Kuznagi
Profile Joined March 2010
Canada58 Posts
April 07 2010 16:03 GMT
#42
Excellent Post - I was a casual warcraft 3 player and when I got my beta key I was excited to try to be a better player. I admit, the excitment lead to the mass gamage without too much afterthought of why I lost. I still mass game but also, watch a lot of replays of pro zergs, read these forums and keep a daily tab on my W/L and some brief notes of why I lost.

What I haven't done is to practice my timings against the computer. Last saturday I had an urge to learn toss after watching orb's stream for an hour and writing down some general builds. Biggest mistake going straight into ladder, losing 8 games in a row without even analyzing why. The long and short of it is going for instant gratification without practice won't go too far. Practice mode for me now, combined with viewing more losses in my reps!
HydroZ
Profile Joined March 2010
United States34 Posts
April 07 2010 16:15 GMT
#43
Awesome post. Well thought out and well written; I appreciate posts like this. I, too, enjoy SC as more than just entertainment, but as a platform for goal-setting and "practicing" as you speak of it. I wish the game were a socially approved skill rather than viewed as a mere video game, but fortunately the community is large enough such that there are people who can understand the product of one's hard work. That said, I commend you for your efforts, and keep up both your practicing and your posts!
trekinian
Profile Joined March 2010
United States11 Posts
April 07 2010 16:39 GMT
#44
Great post.

Being new to SC2 and the RTS genre in general, my play is becoming increasingly frustrating from loss-to-loss. I have a strong burning desire to become a really great player, but I am boxing myself in and failing to win consistently.

I seem to have fallen into the trap where I look at a generalized 'core' reason why I lost a previous match, and attempt to prevent that in my next match. But I rarely ever sit back and analyze the 'I lost BECAUSE' of moments -- I just play on.

This obviously isn't working out.
One shot one kill ready to die but never will.
Zexion
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
Sweden971 Posts
April 07 2010 16:54 GMT
#45
On April 07 2010 16:19 Gilgamesh33 wrote:
This post is very pointless.

If a person is losing and not knowing why they lost, they're just bad.

Every game I lose I say "what did I do wrong?" and "what do I need to work on"? If a player fails to ask that question then they will never improve. End of story. Pointless read and a waste of time. Any player taking this game seriously and actually wants to get better will not just MASS GAMES without thinking about how they lost like you said. ]

Bad post.


Speaking of pointless, I don't really understand what you are trying to say with your post. That you are so much better than other people that you don't need advice from anyone? It might be obvious for you but there's no need to be an arrogant douchebag.

On topic:

Regarding your analogy of learning an instrument, I really recognize it as I'm playing the guitar myself and also have a lot of friends (or just acquaintances) who are also playing the guitar. I must say there are huge differences between people. Obivously because of individual variations such as talent but also because there are people who practices and people just plays. I know people who have played the guitar for like 8-9 years, but not nearly as good as people who have played for 2-3 years. And also there are those guys who learn boring songs who everyone knows just so they can impress the ladies on parties (not sure if they are really that impressed though)

And about SC2, when I got a beta key I started to play a couple of custom games to play against real players (before I had a key, I played the AI version) and when I felt that I had learned all the basics I started playing ranked 1v1 matches. It went pretty well and I got up to Gold League div 36 with 4-1 in matches. First I thought that I was lucky to face bad players, then I kept winning like 2 or 3 more matches and got up 5th rank in my division (this was right after the ladder was reseted) and this was when I became overconfident. I have no SC:BW experience at all except games vs computer so I thought like: "Wow, I'm fucking awesome!".
Then I started to lose since there was obviously a flaw in the system/luck that caused me to face bad players. I think I lost like 8-9 matches in a row before I realized that something was very wrong (I ended up at 95th rank in my division) and decided to watch replays (both my own and others' ), search on TL for strategies and stuff etc.

So after that I was back on track again and became better and better each game. And of course I still watch my replays each time I lose, and even sometimes when I win so I can see what mistakes my opponent made. I won't be moving up to Platinum League very soon though since I've decided to go Random to practice with Zerg and Terran as well. And also I'm sharing my account with my cousin who is also trying the other two races other than Terran.
unit
Profile Blog Joined March 2009
United States2621 Posts
April 07 2010 17:08 GMT
#46
very rarely do i see a great post from someone with under 100 posts...you sir are a great poster and now i am looking to find problems in my play in sc:bw ^^ bc i has no beta >.>
TobZero
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
Germany493 Posts
April 07 2010 17:32 GMT
#47
very good post. can you read minds? i was thinking today about the problem you mention (watching reps, seeing mistakes and not realy doing it better) and was looking for an efficent way to approach the way of learning from mistakes.
literaly minutes after those thought is read this thread and want to thank you for this well written post and showing me a way to REALLY improve my big flaws
i.e. every replay i watch i have to admit it totaly forget scouting from midgame on. everytime i think "yeah next game ill do it better"... week after week passes and still the same problem.
now im gonna sit down and really try to bring it to an point where i know WHY and in what situations i forget to scout especialy what distracts me so much and how i can change that. (maybe ill try something like your larva solution and map 1overlord to 0 and just constantly cycle to it whenever im not handling my army or eco)

Thanks!
-= we are the swarm =-
Leoj
Profile Joined January 2010
United States396 Posts
April 07 2010 17:35 GMT
#48
Excellent post. I'm going to steal your idea and run an army around while continuing to produce out of as many rax as possible.
Butteryllama
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
United States22 Posts
April 07 2010 23:28 GMT
#49
On April 07 2010 20:47 omninmo wrote:
i think the muta map you are talking about is this one from GROBYC
grobyc's micro maps


This was absolutely correct; I've edited the OP accordingly to give credit. Thank you for your help.
Chronopolis
Profile Joined April 2009
Canada1484 Posts
April 07 2010 23:34 GMT
#50
Don't starve yourself of TL, it doesn't work ^^

Very good point of making sure you identify what you need to improve and then work on it. Great stats! Rank 1 in Plat!
Centric
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
United States1989 Posts
April 07 2010 23:40 GMT
#51
Reminds me of Chill's guide:

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=66048

Even though his is written for Brood War, a lot of concepts still apply to SC2 I think.
Super serious.
flamewheel
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
FREEAGLELAND26781 Posts
April 07 2010 23:43 GMT
#52
Excellent first post. Welcome to TL.net, good sir. I hope you enjoy your [hopefully long] stay here^^
Writerdamn, i was two days from retirement
gedassan
Profile Joined March 2010
Lithuania83 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-04-09 05:51:11
April 08 2010 11:48 GMT
#53
Yes, every time I sit down and include +2 AI to my opponent roster I feel a little bit guilty that I am not playing against live oponents.
I still play a game or two against people to see whether I have improved on the unconscious level.
But I have a plan to improve on many fronts because I am lacking basic skills in macro.
I am playing terran and I know what I lack (at least as first steps) from my games played so far.
Here are the first objectives I have set for myself (because it is fun to see myself improve).

1. Right now I am just trying to improve my macro by having 5 as hotkey for all production buildings and 6 as hotkey for command centers. I am building a balanced army of rines/rauders/tanks/vikings/ravens, which is not taking into account my opponent's army composition. Just trying to spend my resources in time (performance indicator - decrease the average unspent statistic to at least below 600 of each resource).
2. My next step will be to improve my supply depot timings (maybe have builder scv on a hotkey) so as not to block supply (performance indicator - no messages with "you need more supply") while keeping the macro level as in 1.
3. Here I want to up my scouting to the level where I will know the tech my opponent has access to and his basic army composition, while continuing to macro (not a very specific performance indicator).
4. I need to be able to adjust my macro by spending the resources on an army composition that counters the enemy's army composition. Performance can be evaluated by checking the replay for army composition (filter - units) at various points during the match. If there were various points in the game where I could have been attacked and lacked defense - then I need to improve more.

Steps 1,2,3 can be practiced with the VeryEasy AI for starters. Further on it is better to have a human opponent (so that you really need to scout and counter his builds). Very Easy AI only has so much to offer... Another way would be to hack AI, but I am hoping for really good editor options in custom maps, so that I can make the AI to use certain builds against me.

4+
Next comes harrassment, expansion, all the time keeping the above performance. This is where micro comes into play strongly.

All this can then be practiced in real matches, where factors such as adrenaline kick in - but I believe that is a bit high level for me still
The way is made clear when viewed from above.
oxxo
Profile Joined February 2010
988 Posts
April 08 2010 12:48 GMT
#54
As long as you ask yourself 'why did I lose' and know the answer, then you're fine in my opinion.

Some people are just bad at games and will either not know why, not ask, or will have the wrong answer... but otherwise that's all you need to get better.
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