EPTQuote:
Hi,
Wanted to mention that I really enjoy your website and all of the great Starcraft content that you provide. In my spare time, Starcraft is by far my favorite activity.
I wanted to quickly get your perspective on playing BGH. Now, I know that all the expert and progamers all consider BGH a newbie map. But for some of us, it's just the map that is the most fun to play. Granted, for my friends and I who play, our profile isn't typical for Starcraft. I'm a 32-year-old senior executive in a large consulting company. I have two kids and limited time, plus I'm old (for the SC community). I know that I'll never be able to micro well enough to be a really effective player on limited resource maps. However, that does not mean that I don't truly enjoy playing SC on BGH. I've hooked up with a number of younger plays who love BGH as well, and we all have a great time competing against others who also like playing that map.
BGH may not take the same skills, or as much micro skills as limited resource maps, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't take skill in order to win consistently on it. Having teams of 3 or 4 just adds to the complexity and management of the game. You may have more minerals to work with, but EVERYONE ELSE also has more minerals with which to use. You still need to manage your economy well, make sure you use all minerals quickly, as well as manage individual units. When I watch replays of losses, oftentimes the losing team couldn't multitask as well as the winning team, managing individual battles while at the same time keeping production going. SC is about balancing macromgmt and micromgmt. There's no doubt that limited resource relies on great micro skills, but BGH requires more macro skills.
The pimpest plays for 2004 were, as usual, great plays and innovations for expert play. However, in the BGH environment, many of those tactics have been used for a long time. I know, as it is mentioned on the website, that there is a huge difference in doing something on BGH versus in a progaming situation. But, I'd like to mention that we've been doing the arbiter/hallucination/recall for over 4 years. Cannon rushes using pylons to block-in have also been used for well over a year or two. Using lings (popping up from underground), volt mines or archon/DA merges to get past walls are also established moves.
Don't get me wrong. I can't even begin to compare the BGH micro skills with those of the true top limited resource players. But at the same time, it's very annoying when some of the SC community looks down upon BGH players. I enjoy the game of SC as much as anyone else and I hope that it stays around for a long, long time. Often, we'll create a '3v3 BGH EXPERT' game and someone will pop in to shout 'You can't be expert and play BGH' and then quickly exit the game join screen. I, personally, disagree. You can be an expert at playing BGH maps. It doesn't mean you'll be any good at LR maps, but it just means that you understand how the manage the game in the context of a specific map/resource profile.
Obviously, this email ran much longer than I intended when I first sat down to write it. But, I'd like to put out there that BGH players are as legitimate a user group in SC as anyone else, and it seems like it's a decently large group as well (at least on BNet). It would be great if there was some content specifically tailored towards BGH players. I don't want this to sound like a pansy 'Can't we all just get along?' email, but I do know that all of us are interested in extending the life of SC and the SC community, so our goals should/could be aligned.
Thanks and best regards,
--T
Wanted to mention that I really enjoy your website and all of the great Starcraft content that you provide. In my spare time, Starcraft is by far my favorite activity.
I wanted to quickly get your perspective on playing BGH. Now, I know that all the expert and progamers all consider BGH a newbie map. But for some of us, it's just the map that is the most fun to play. Granted, for my friends and I who play, our profile isn't typical for Starcraft. I'm a 32-year-old senior executive in a large consulting company. I have two kids and limited time, plus I'm old (for the SC community). I know that I'll never be able to micro well enough to be a really effective player on limited resource maps. However, that does not mean that I don't truly enjoy playing SC on BGH. I've hooked up with a number of younger plays who love BGH as well, and we all have a great time competing against others who also like playing that map.
BGH may not take the same skills, or as much micro skills as limited resource maps, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't take skill in order to win consistently on it. Having teams of 3 or 4 just adds to the complexity and management of the game. You may have more minerals to work with, but EVERYONE ELSE also has more minerals with which to use. You still need to manage your economy well, make sure you use all minerals quickly, as well as manage individual units. When I watch replays of losses, oftentimes the losing team couldn't multitask as well as the winning team, managing individual battles while at the same time keeping production going. SC is about balancing macromgmt and micromgmt. There's no doubt that limited resource relies on great micro skills, but BGH requires more macro skills.
The pimpest plays for 2004 were, as usual, great plays and innovations for expert play. However, in the BGH environment, many of those tactics have been used for a long time. I know, as it is mentioned on the website, that there is a huge difference in doing something on BGH versus in a progaming situation. But, I'd like to mention that we've been doing the arbiter/hallucination/recall for over 4 years. Cannon rushes using pylons to block-in have also been used for well over a year or two. Using lings (popping up from underground), volt mines or archon/DA merges to get past walls are also established moves.
Don't get me wrong. I can't even begin to compare the BGH micro skills with those of the true top limited resource players. But at the same time, it's very annoying when some of the SC community looks down upon BGH players. I enjoy the game of SC as much as anyone else and I hope that it stays around for a long, long time. Often, we'll create a '3v3 BGH EXPERT' game and someone will pop in to shout 'You can't be expert and play BGH' and then quickly exit the game join screen. I, personally, disagree. You can be an expert at playing BGH maps. It doesn't mean you'll be any good at LR maps, but it just means that you understand how the manage the game in the context of a specific map/resource profile.
Obviously, this email ran much longer than I intended when I first sat down to write it. But, I'd like to put out there that BGH players are as legitimate a user group in SC as anyone else, and it seems like it's a decently large group as well (at least on BNet). It would be great if there was some content specifically tailored towards BGH players. I don't want this to sound like a pansy 'Can't we all just get along?' email, but I do know that all of us are interested in extending the life of SC and the SC community, so our goals should/could be aligned.
Thanks and best regards,
--T
What are your thoughts?
