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Are you worried about the skill ceiling in SC2? - Page 4

Forum Index > SC2 General
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Archvil3
Profile Joined September 2010
Denmark989 Posts
October 29 2011 10:58 GMT
#61
I feel like this subject has been discussed to death a million times already.
Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent.
pezit
Profile Joined October 2010
Sweden302 Posts
October 29 2011 11:00 GMT
#62
Even the simplest actions can have extremely high "skill ceilings", we will never see someone hit the skill ceiling in sc2 because it's impossible. The thing with an easier game like sc2 is that you won't see as much difference between a good player and an amazing one like you will in broodwar.
Eppa!
Profile Joined November 2010
Sweden4641 Posts
October 29 2011 11:02 GMT
#63
On October 29 2011 19:56 TheBomb wrote:
Fair enough, although I missed my point a little bit in that of course you can never reach the full ceiling its humanly impossible, but what I was thinking more is along the lines of diminishing returns.

Sure blinking 10 stalkers perfectly vs blinking only 5 perfectly is going to gain you an advantage over the zerg's 30 roaches, but its not something really of importance and you could use that time instead of microing just building more units and thus you are limited in the micro opportunities you have !

If you look at cycles in SC2
----micro----------------- ------macro------
In BW
------micro------ -----------macro------------

In BW your macro limits your micro more
In SC2 macro limits your micro less.

This says nothing about a skill cap.
"Can't wait till Monday" Cixah+Waveofshadow. "Needs to be monday. Weekend please go by quickly." Gahlo
Elldar
Profile Joined July 2010
Sweden287 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-29 11:11:59
October 29 2011 11:04 GMT
#64
Your definition of skill is kind of wrong, to be frank. Let's say we got a skilled-ceiled player A which encounters a 1-1-1 build. If the player is skilled ceiled, he should then know what to do against a 1-1-1 to hold it? If not, then he is not skilled ceiled since he could not hold it.
This obviously mean that skilled players take the luck factors out of there games and makes wins happens, bad players don't take such elements out of their play. So a big flux of cheesy build that requires luck is not comming, and relying on cheesy builds will just get you to code b.
Arush
Profile Joined October 2011
Canada80 Posts
October 29 2011 11:04 GMT
#65
I think Best example imo is if you look at the Chess game. This game is around for centuries and grandmasters still find ways and variables to their openings and strategies even after that long so if you compare it to starcraft that requires some physical skills, it will never stop to elvolve and get better.
Plaguuuu!
karpo
Profile Joined October 2010
Sweden1998 Posts
October 29 2011 11:08 GMT
#66
My thoughts on this is that this thread adds nothing new to the endless amount of discussions on the same topic that's been going on for more than a year. Beside that your macro mechanic examples are very flawed.
shinarit
Profile Joined May 2010
Hungary900 Posts
October 29 2011 11:15 GMT
#67
On October 29 2011 20:08 karpo wrote:
My thoughts on this is that this thread adds nothing new to the endless amount of discussions on the same topic that's been going on for more than a year. Beside that your macro mechanic examples are very flawed.


This should be the end of the thread. Pointless discussion.

The fact that things that cry for automating are automated in SC2 doesnt take away any possibility. If i dont have to click every building for training units i can use those clicks to make 2-3 FOCUSED attacks at the same time. In a complex game there is no such thing as skill ceiling.
T for BoxeR, Z for IdrA, P because i have no self-respect
Roe
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
Canada6002 Posts
October 29 2011 11:15 GMT
#68
i dont think the skill ceiling can ever be reached in sc2. the engine and mechanics are just too robotic and computer-like to be perfected by a human being
XsebT
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
Denmark2980 Posts
October 29 2011 11:28 GMT
#69
On October 29 2011 19:24 Sandermatt wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 29 2011 18:56 XsebT wrote:
On October 29 2011 18:29 hehe wrote:
those control videos are impossible for a human to do those are pretty much TAS videos i can post the same thing for broodwar.
+ Show Spoiler +

+ Show Spoiler +


we will never see anybody being able to pull off things like this

Agreed, and these videos are also completely beside the point I feel. As I see it, the question is whether or not the game allows for total domination. I think it's hard to tell man, but it does seem like the game is way way way easier to master due to:
Clean way points
Multible building selection
Smart casting
(Almost) unlimited control groups
Queue up buildings
Double rally for zergs

This is literally what I'm asking to make me have faith in SC2: Remove everything I just mentioned. And remove the artificial macro mechanics and the unit ball pathing aswell. Afterwards, Browder go nuts! I don't care which units you put in the game. It doesn't have to be a copy of bw for me to like it, but I do have a certain way I've come to expect a game named StarCraft to function.
Now this is just my stupid opinion of what would make me play the game, and how it would allow the players who should dominate to dominate.


I am very happy that all the points you want to remove are in the game. I know many of the BW players like it when a player trains hard to do tasks that can easily be automated, but I and many others do not get excited by this.
You are used to the BW mechanics, but would BW be a more exciting game for you if the macro mechanics were even harder? If the control groups were smaller?
I didn't play BW, but I know that certain ai features are in it, like the ability to attack move or that once a worker is given the order to mine he continues to mine, you do not have to order him to go to the mineral patch every time. Do you think this features make the game worse or are you happy that they allow the players to spend their APM to other tasks?

It is all about finding a balance between what's automated or easy and what's not. I feel bw did just that damn near perfect to get an easily playable and understandable game, while still maintaining a very pure expression of human conduct through the game. Taking automated features out of the game doesn't make it a worse game. SC2 isn't completely automated either, though it would be easy to make it that way. So does that mean blizzard made it worse? No, they also tried to find that perfect balance to the game when it comes to automated or easy functions. The max 12 unit/control group isn't a technological problem. It's a limit. Hacks were made in bw for terrible player to overcome this. However, blizzard is trying to serv a very wide audience with this game. As do most companies with their games these days. They make their games easier for them to appeal to a wider audience.
You ask "Do you think this features make the game worse or are you happy that they allow the players to spend their APM to other tasks?". I've already answered the first part of that question, but I'm not sure as to what "other tasks" you're referring to. No matter how hard macroing is, you can still lose everything with a bad engagement. Microing isn't all of a sudden a more important aspect of the game.
화이팅
komokun
Profile Joined July 2011
France343 Posts
October 29 2011 11:38 GMT
#70
Regarding consistency and macro, let's have a look at the newest SQ topic :

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=280421

I'm not worried one bit about skill ceiling. Top tier players are consistent enough. Players slumping like MC a few weeks ago can't blame anyone but themselves. He really was playing terrible at one time and got punished for his mediocre play. Now that he got his shit back together he is competing at the highest level again. All the top tier player have very good macro (but still not perfect) and there are a few different styles represented althouth these differences might not be as strong as in BW's.

Huk and his micro management, MVP and his systematic safety, Bomber/Idra's heavy macro and multitask, Stephano's 6th sense for efficient engagements... Each player still have a lot to learn from their fellow pro gamers. We will see how the best RTS player pool of korean BW will do in SC2 but I can't imagine anyone perfecting every aspects of a game with as many variables as SC2. SC2 design is still at its early stages. Let's wait for a bit, I'm sure we will see true S-class player emerge in the next few month. Most top tier players are still showing improvement over time and the game, as "easy" as it looks for BW fans, haven't been figured out at all.

This antagonism between BW and SC2 is getting tiresome. As a fan of both, I really don't think it helps each community teach the exciting aspect of "the other" game to each other...
two.watup
Profile Joined March 2011
United States371 Posts
October 29 2011 11:43 GMT
#71
I'll be worried about the ceiling in 10 years when someone reaches it.

K
DarkPlasmaBall
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United States45333 Posts
October 29 2011 11:44 GMT
#72
I think there's still an incredible amount of room for improvement in this game, not to mention the fact that there are two expansions coming out.

Don't worry
"There is nothing more satisfying than looking at a crowd of people and helping them get what I love." ~Day[9] Daily #100
SnuggleZhenya
Profile Joined July 2010
596 Posts
October 29 2011 11:45 GMT
#73
This just sounds like nostalgia to me. Whether or not SC2 has the same height of skill ceiling, I don't know. But I don't see any evidence that we are actually anywhere near capping out on this game.
You'll never get better being an angry nerd sitting alone in your room.
Callynn
Profile Joined December 2010
Netherlands917 Posts
October 29 2011 11:55 GMT
#74
But my point is that I'm really worried about the skill ceiling and is it big enough and hard enough never to master or this one of those easy to learn, not that hard to master?


Name a sport or esport which is not too hard to reach the skillcap. Right, there is no such sport. In competitive play, the endless variability and the chance that someone will outcraft you is the very nature of why it's so fun to watch the games. No footballer knows all the moves, no chess-player will always remain unbeaten. The question is; is that a bad thing?

Since already 90% of the SC2 community is unable to reach the skillcap, and most players are still enjoying it anyway (because they fight people who are around the same level of skill) I don't see any problem with adding new and deeper properties to make the game's ultimate skillcap rise. In fact, I think it's a good thing.

Also, there will always be a little bit of luck involved, but that's just how fog of war and vision range work by nature.
Comparing BW with SCII is like comparing a beautiful three-master sailing ship with a modern battlecruiser. Both are beautiful in their own way, both perform the same task, but they are worlds apart in how they are built and how they are steered.
Intact
Profile Joined September 2010
Sweden634 Posts
October 29 2011 12:02 GMT
#75
By definition, the skill cap can never be reached. You could always be a little faster, a litte more precise, a little smarter. For example I've seen marine micro bots with around 10 000 apm still losing marines, so clearly the skill cap is not something a human being can accomplish.
Wuster
Profile Joined May 2011
1974 Posts
October 29 2011 12:08 GMT
#76
On October 29 2011 18:41 Gotmog wrote:
No i am not worried.
You people just have to start thinking for yourself.

You are comparing collosus micro to reaver micro ? Well, yah you can't do that.

Lets start with macro. We are no where near the ceiling . Terrans are queuing units like crazy! Zergs are missing injects, missing tumors, stacking thousands of minerals in mid/late game...

Micro is so horrible right now. What is stopping terrans from microing reapers up/down the cliffs on 1 expo, while doing blue flame medivacs (watch lucifron's medivac shooting micro). What is stopping protos players from manually using charge ? What is stopping HSM and people splitting only 1 unit to escape it rather then running the whole flock of "mutas" from it?

People complaing so much about clamping. Yet, we see Protoss using 1 hotkey, terran's not using hotkeys at all other then for drops and early game, zergs using up to 3 hotkeys...
What is stopping you to use ~7 hotkeys, to split your army. To avoid those fungals, spread your army across entire map, etc etc.

How about doing something like focus void ray on each ultralisk (for example...) so they can charge up, instead of focus targeting ?

Can't wait for BW pros to switch. They might be able to use all that 50% extra speed they have (that they don't use on macro in sc2) on actual micro all around the map.
Lets see what will happen to this game with 7 unit control groups....

Also, if you look at the units we are getting in HoTs this game will become harder to micro.
All in builds are getting weaker. Maps are getting bigger...



I agree whole heartedly with this. Every big engagement has so many instances of poor unit control. Immortals shooting Zealots, zealots trapped behind stalkers, roaches too far away for the entire group to shoot...

My biggest pet peeve is casters with no mana being sent to their death because they were in the same control group as fighting units that got a-moved in (and the player is relying on the caster casting spells to override the a-move command).

Multi-prong harass is also an obvious area where people just don't have the APM to do everything they want. How many players have a dropship just sitting behind a mineral line fully loaded because they were too busy micro-ing elsewhere? How often to players lost an expansion because they couldn't defend two places at once?

There's a long way to go skill wise before anyone should worry about the skill cap.
Kuja
Profile Blog Joined May 2011
United States1759 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-29 12:11:38
October 29 2011 12:11 GMT
#77
No, i really dont get this question. We already have super dominant players like MVP and NesTea, who still think they can play better. I really exited for the SC1 to SC2 switch but i wont worry about skill cap till i see it reached or someone comes really damn close consistently.
“Who's to say that my light is better than your darkness? Who's to say death is better than your darkness? Who am I to say?”
Toadvine
Profile Joined November 2010
Poland2234 Posts
October 29 2011 12:17 GMT
#78
Posting Automaton 2000 videos in response to allegations of a low skill cap in SC2 is completely missing the point. In truth, I wonder if the people doing really believe it's a real counterargument.

The point isn't whether you can make fast units do better with a level of control completely unattainable by humans. This will always be true no matter what. But how useful is that? How useful is a pro separately controlling his Zerglings by running into Tanks? Does it make sense to allocate his APM there, instead of on other tasks? To me, it very clearly seems useless, it will do nearly nothing and they will have wasted all their effort.

To say that "Zergling micro against Tanks has a very high skill-cap", while technically true, is misleading and stupid. It cannot be done by a human to any noticable effect, period. In BW, sending a few Lings forward by themselves to soak up the first volley was the extent of it, but Tanks don't overkill in SC2...

Now, if you take something like multi-dropping as Terran, then you have a situation where spending more time and attention on controlling your multiple drops will always give you real benefits, while still having an enormously high skill-cap - like that Corsair/Reaver video of Bisu people were posting in the other thread. This is something SC2 needs more of. Well, that, and bio units being a little worse, so not controlling the drop can actually be punished...

On topic though, I do think that it's not unfeasible to reach the realistic skill-crap of Protoss in the near future. There's simply not enough opportunities for a Protoss player to show amazing play.
"There are always some Eskimos ready to instruct the Congolese on how to cope with heat waves." - S.J.Lec
XiGua
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Sweden3085 Posts
October 29 2011 12:17 GMT
#79
Of course, everyone is worried. Because if the skill ceiling is too "low" or that the benefits of better mechanics are too small that a blind "counter" still can win the game, Blizzard really destroyed Starcraft.

But, we have to think positively, right? No one wants to sit and just think about the possible outcome instead of seeing it happen right there in front of your eyes. When these BW pros switch to SC2 we will see where the skill ceiling truly stands and hopefully it will make Starcraft better than it already is.
ლ(ಠ益ಠლ) APM, Why u make me spam?
itsMAHVELbaybee
Profile Joined October 2008
292 Posts
October 29 2011 12:25 GMT
#80
I highly doubt we'll ever reach the skill ceiling. You still have to make decisions. Sure the mechanics are easier, however what good is mechanics if you don't have good decision making.
I am boss. -Minami-ke
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