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I've been playing Starcraft since I was a kid (1998-99?). It was my first PC game, my first strategy game, even my first game with sound and online support for that matter. I can remember getting on battle.net with one of my closest friends at all hours of the night to do comp stomps because we hated the thought of playing legit against other people. I moved on to Diablo, then Diablo 2, then Halo 2 hardcore but never really getting anywhere outside of PuGs, then moved on to World of Warcraft during alpha, playing that through my tenure in the Navy, and then playing on a top world PvE level up until Cataclysm came out, then mixed that with "high-level" and "pro" play for Modern Warfare 2 on PC.
At that point I finally decided to throw the towel in and try something new out, and while I did pick up Starcraft 2 on opening night, I had only played through the campaign for the story. I had fooled around in 2v2 and 1v1 ladder for a short time on and off through past seasons, then I found myself falling in love with the competitive side of SC2. I watched MLG, stayed up all night to watch GSL live, watched Day9 and State of the Game every chance I had. I found myself being a huge EG fan, watching streams every single day of IdrA, Machine, oGsMC, DRG, and so many others just to entertain myself at first.
Then this current season rolled around. I was off work on the day that the season started and said "screw this, I'm gonna push hard", qualified Bronze as Protoss, then took 3 straight hard losses and put my foot down and decided to try and put what I learned with Zerg to the test. After about 5 matches I was top 8 in my bracket, and after 3 more I was in the number 1 spot, where I stayed for the next day or two and then got dropped down to second. Once that happened I knew I was hooked. I've been fighting hard to stay at the top of my bracket and get better as I moved on.
I've been reading the forums, watching Day9, streams, and tournaments as much as I can to try and learn what to do to make myself better than I already am. I'm even constantly harassing a good friend of mine who is a consistent Diamond/GM level Zerg about how to improve. I've finally hit this point where it feels like I'm face first into a brick wall and can only go backwards from the low level I'm already at. Today alone I took 6 straight losses, and only one of those being to a Protoss cheese.
I'm following strats to the best of my abilities, trying to learn about timings and how to properly scout as Zerg (seeing as all I ever hear is how we're a purely reactive race), and even when I do these things (to what seems like) "right", I keep failing. I always miss this ONE thing, or more often than not cant figure out what I missed even with the knowledge reviewed from replays.
My complaint is NOT that the learning curve is too high, it's not that the game is imbalanced, it's not that things are too hard or that I'm just bad. My complaint isn't even a complaint honestly, it feels more like a plea for help. I feel like I cant find footing in the fundamentals of the game properly. Like even with all the research and knowledge in front of me like I cant get off the ground properly as any race, much less the race I want to play.
Where does someone who's low level (and proud of where he is at low level) go to hit the restart button and boot camp himself to the fundamentals?
Where does someone go to learn how to do the things that constantly get discussed in countless topics on forums all over properly?
Where does someone go to get to the Gold and Plat level + and feel comfortable there?
How does anyone learn how to defend against cheese (because honestly that seems like all my bracket is made up of)?
100 wins in bronze league feels great, but if you honestly and openly feel like you aren't learning anything from playing EVERY SINGLE DAY then how else do you feel but held down?
Where do you start?
EDIT: I want to clarify a few things.
First - After reading through the responses here, some of them have kinda suggested that I had said that I was playing competitively since I was a kid. I HAVE NOT. This is my first season of competitive play of any kind.
Second - Nowhere in my opening post did I mean to suggest that I expected my high level MW2 play to translate over to SC2. Two totally different worlds, and I know it the hard way.
Third - I thought I had written this out pretty well in its own paragraph, but I'll restate it here. I'm in no way stating the game is imbalanced, a unit is OP, or that the learning curve for SC2 is too high/hard.
Fourth - What I meant when I put consistent Diamond/GM player for my friend is that he has played at both levels. Diamond this season due to not qualifying soon enough due to work/family, but played at the GM level last season.
ANSWERS SO FAR:
day9 daily 252 - http://blip.tv/day9tv/day-9-daily-252-secrets-of-hotkeys-apm-and-mouse-movement-4730506
day9 daily 194 - http://blip.tv/day9tv/day-9-daily-194-newbie-tuesday-drone-timing-4228999
Focus on spending larvae when they're available. Don't have a mass of larvae built up early or mid game.
Keep your resources low as much as possible.
Focus on ONE strategy per matchup, and stay with it.
Dont worry so much about strategy until high plat.
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Bosnia-Herzegovina439 Posts
You start by looking deep inside yourself and giving your self a big slap on the face! Then wake up and start practicing one thing at a time as you discover them by reading the forums or by yourself. Put up some effort, time and break a sweat if you want to get better.
edit: i am not kidding, that's what you need to do. That's what i did.
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A consistent Diamond/GM level Zerg? How does that work :o. A GM would go 50-0 without dropping a single game to a Diamond, assuming he KNEW it was a Diamond (thus he wouldn't do any risky builds).
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I start by looking at the mecanical side of the game without involving too many "cute" strategies. I play Protoss, but I can safely say that i could teach anyone to at least platinum level just by teaching the basics.
For zerg for example I would reccommend using a basic build order to start off with, find some replays of good players, not necessarily the best. I for example learn more from Axslav than i could from Hero for example. See what they do and try to mimic their scouting patterns, their reactions etc.
as zerg you should aim to spend all your larvae without missing injects and without getting supply blocked and use basic strategies to win the game. As soon as you get the basic mechanics under control you start adding new things like creep spread and push your macro abilities to the limit. Eventually when the basics are muscle memory you or someone else should start analyze your own replays and look for faults, and fix them 1 by 1.
Try to teach yourself 1 thing at a time. Don't focus on too many things.
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I disagree the game has a steep learning curve. The issue is with most players, and it sounds like you as well, is you focus way, way too much on the "strategy" and far too little on the "real time" aspect of the game. Once you realize that until at least low Diamond the game is completely about mechanics and you stop focusing on doing the "most optimal thing" and worry more about "doing anything" the game becomes easier to play. Honestly if a player isn't in at least Diamond they just completely "don't get it" -- imho.
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You can start by showing us replays. Many problems can be identified just by watching you play. I know you're trying to be general, but based on what you've said, I really see the only advice being given as "Work hard and don't give up! Mass game!" You must do those things, but you already know that. So please show us some games and we will gladly help as much as possible.
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On December 15 2011 05:25 Therapist. wrote:
You can start by showing us replays. Many problems can be identified just by watching you play. I know you're trying to be general, but based on what you've said, I really see the only advice being given as "Work hard and don't give up! Mass game!" You must do those things, but you already know that. So please show us some games and we will gladly help as much as possible.
I don't know if mass gaming really helps someone out who fundamentally doesn't understand how to be good at Starcraft
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As bronze your goal should be
1. Never stop producing scvs
2. Keep your money as low as possible
It's alright if you stay on one base the whole game in bronze you'll still win if you spend all your money on one base with good mineral saturation
As for the cheese, learn a build order and do it over and over to get it as refined as possible. Do things like scouting at the same food every single game to get used to every single timing. Micro should not be a focus at all. Instead, just send your units to attack and go back to make more units even vs a 2gate proxy. Learn reactions to different cheese builds through experience, and since you're doing the same build over and over your reaction to the cheese should be mechanically performed every game
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You need to be disciplined 1st. With this discipline, pick 1 pro macro build for each of the 3 matchups and ONLY play that build, win or lose. If you have a diamond/masters partner, play with them on 1 map only. At the end of each game, have your partner tell you 1 thing you did poorly, and the next game try and work on that while doing the same thing you did the game before. That's how you simplify learning a really complex game; by limiting the number of different factors that go into a match.
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Bosnia-Herzegovina439 Posts
On December 15 2011 05:24 Tenks wrote:
Once you realize that until at least low Diamond the game is completely about mechanics
This!!! I am numero uno diamond, rape masters frequently! I almost always actually don't know what the hell am i doing strategy wise. My strategy is shit, my scouting is shit, almost every pro aspect of my game is shit... I am actually where i am just because of micro, reasonable macro and pure mechanics. Just because of my aggressive nature and good micro i am able to be high diamond. I have 3-5 builds perfectly timed till about 8-10 minutes and that's it. I couldn't win a 25 minute game even if guy disconnects. :D
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if you really want to work on mechanics, you really just need to crank out a ton of games. for me, i found a buddy who was just as obsessed with starcraft as i was, and anytime both of us were free, we played 2v2s. it was nice, because it took a lot of the pressure off of me, which was why i had trouble getting a lot of 1v1s under my belt. i still feel that pressure, but it bumped me up from being a struggling plat player to a very comfortable diamond player in probably under a month
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Try to make yourself play faster can be a good way to train mecahnics. Past the first few minutes of the game, you should basically never be looking at the screen without doing anything as there is always something to do in game. When not fighting, you should be working on your infrascturcture at base, get upgrades, take expansions, scout, etc...
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i dropped from diamond zerg to bronze random this season to experiment with offracing to random. i lost my first game in bronze league against a gold player yesterday, in pvt, it was quite hilarious ^_^
but anyways you just have to keep your money low and keep making workers and expand. you can simply win with more stuff. of course you need to scout to see if theres any cheese
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On December 15 2011 05:21 FabledIntegral wrote:
A consistent Diamond/GM level Zerg? How does that work :o. A GM would go 50-0 without dropping a single game to a Diamond, assuming he KNEW it was a Diamond (thus he wouldn't do any risky builds).
Not true, I've beaten GMs as Diamond and I know a friend who has as well  50-0 is a bit of a stretch
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Check out this daily on droning
http://day9tv.blip.tv/file/4210235/
Also work on not getting supply blocked, not missing injects and scouting. That's basically the skills needed to go from bronze to diamond, once you mastered that then you can work on micro and strategies.
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On December 15 2011 05:42 Ruscour wrote:Show nested quote +On December 15 2011 05:21 FabledIntegral wrote:
A consistent Diamond/GM level Zerg? How does that work :o. A GM would go 50-0 without dropping a single game to a Diamond, assuming he KNEW it was a Diamond (thus he wouldn't do any risky builds). Not true, I've beaten GMs as Diamond and I know a friend who has as well 50-0 is a bit of a stretch
You're on sea aren't you? That would be why
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My advice is to pick up one thing you are doing wrong. I would not start with the mechanics, as they are not what is keeping you back, and it is not what is the most basic and fundamental core in the game. You need to just think like "this i need to fix" and then focus completely on it. For example, go for zerg, and your goal can be to always know what the heck your opponent is doing, and react as you find properly.
Don't loose you passion for the game, keep on fighting, i think so many people(like me) can relate to you! 
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Yeah, Day9TV 100-200 episodes were gold for a low level player like me. See for example this or this.
I went from bronze (never played RTS before) to diamond in 111 games (I play terran, ironic, isn't it). And as others have said, it came from making one single build crisp and mechanically perfect. I always learned by tiny little increments: if someone did something (DT rush for example), I'd go and grind out games with a friend or customs, trying to find a solution that worked for me and, also, perfecting the solution. I wanted my mind and fingers to work quickly and efficiently without too much thinking being involved. But it's probably more important just to make a ton of stuff without missing building placement times, drones and supply. Remember, time is a resource in sc2, every second you waste makes you weaker.
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"Diamond/GM"? What?
That's like saying "My friend is a consistent Bronze/Master player".
...
On topic:
Work on finding holes in your play and patching them up. It doesn't matter which holes you choose to focus on, just work on improving them.
For example, I disliked completing builds a good 30 to 40 seconds late. By just focusing on doing the build properly, I was able to improve drastically in a short period of time.
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Diamond/GM Level is a silly thing to say first of all, but you remind me of my friend who came from competitive cod and thought he was going to be the best at starcraft 2 and was stuck in bronze after 300 games without knowing how to improve.
Basically what it comes down to is you need to work on mechanics, you say you don't know how to improve anymore? You are in Bronze League man that is like insanely easy to say whats wrong or know what you are doing wrong unless you completely have 0 understanding on how this game works which can not be true since you watch so much starcraft 2.
You need to focus on your mechanics and improving your mechanics(Macro mostly). Than you need to work on having somewhat of a build order which is not a huge deal until you get to the higher leagues. Its also important for you to know that no matter how you lose, it is not because of balance, and if you ever blame balance you will improve very slowly at this game.
If you truly can not for the life of you figure out what you did wrong when you lose, you need to check out the thread on teamliquid that shows you how to analyze your replays
+ Show Spoiler +
A good mindset to improve, focusing on what to improve and always blaming your self for losing is very important. A few things I noticed about your post was that you slightly seem to think balance may be a tad bit of an issue such as the part with "only one of the games lost was to protoss cheese" Perhaps I am wrong by the way I interpreted it but even games such as that can teach you a whole lot.
If you have any questions or need help in general you can message me on TL.
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EPT
