EPT
![[image loading]](http://www.neat2eat.com.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/10000.png)
I still can't believe I actually made it to 10,000 posts on teamliquid lol. If you were to ask me when I first joined teamliquid if I was going to reach 10,000 posts, I would've probably said no and just chuckled at the thought. My track record with forums in the past is probably the reason for that. Usually, I would create an account, contribute to discussions but as time passes, they become stale, feel repetitive, empty and devoid of life probably due to the nature of the subject matter. Asides from that, losing forum members that I used to talk to and forums getting major changes also contributed to me abandoning them and seeking new ones.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/z4dxnFn.png)
Before coming to TL, I used to be involved in the overclock.net (OCN for short) forums. In comparison to TL, the OCN forums were much bigger and there were a lot of knowledgeable people on hardware and other things. OCN forums were the place to be if you wanted any computer information, help building a computer, to just learn and it was a great community. Mods were strict about the rules but everyone got along which made it a great experience. The PC games section especially was great for introducing me to a wide variety of games and the members there shaped my early SCII experience after it was released (I followed development for a long time prior to that though). Even now, 2-3 years after I stopped visiting OCN, I'm still the second highest poster in the SCII thread lol.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/4gMafQ1.png)
BW:
I originally started my starcraft experience with BW. It goes back to the old days when people were just getting over the Y2K scare. The year after BW was released. The days when battle.net was always populated and lots of people were playing BW. Back to the days where the BW scene was still in its infancy though I never did my research on it at the time despite being aware of its existence. After being introduced to BW by some friends in high school, we would play against each other.
Though I can't recall much of the details now, I recall trying 1v1s on some horrible map (no direct path to the opponent I think) and lost to wraiths because I didn't know what they are lol. I would spend summer(s) just playing the campaign, playing FMP/hunters/big game hunters vs AI and playing around with the map editor. Nothing will beat hydras' death sound or BW siege tanks sieging up and firing. The ability of the sound of the BW tank to instil fear in enemies of the terran is amazing. Take note Zerg and Protoss players
I would keep coming back to BW every year or so after 'closing the book on it' before real life managed to help me kick the 'habit' lol. ![[image loading]](http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080621161503/starcraft/images/c/cb/FastPoss_SC1_MapMini1.jpg)
Possibility the best map ever?
SCII:
After joining OCN and becoming a part of the community, SCII was eventually released. At the time I was playing the Witcher and averaging something like 6 hours a day. This made it difficult to balance with SCII since they both required time and I wanted to get into the multiplayer as soon as possible. I ended up making the choice to stop playing the Witcher (was in chapter 3, maybe a bit less than halfway through all the quests in it) to dedicate to SCII. I never got back into playing the Witcher because I forgot where I was lol. Too bad though, I was really enjoying it.
I started playing SCII as a zerg player in the dark days when terrans were OP and roaches had a range of 3. I didn't really understand the concept of macro when it came to Zerg. I would usually do 15 exp 14 pool, the norm at the time then make several drones and only fighting units soon after so low econ games. I ended up in silver and stayed in there for a while. I used mutalisks a lot in my games regardless of the opponent. After playing some games with a masters OCN member (doomdash!) and getting better, I switched to random to avoid a burnout and made it to gold after a close ZvP game on 5 and 7 o'clock spawns on Shakuras Plateau. In that game, I barely managed to hold against my opponent's mostly zealot/immortal combo (maybe 1-2 stalkers?) after scouting it a bit too late and won after countering.
My other SCII experiences consist of lots of 1v1s with OCN members (in some cases, cheese vs cheese games which were entertaining lol), team games and lots of obs. Theorycrafting was something that I loved to do at the time and we had a lot of discussions about games, strategies etc... I recall the day that fruitdealer was beaten by Boxer (aka MKP) and I was surprised to hear it was by marines lol. I also remember games such as Nestea vs sC's game 5 on crossfire and some of the early Clide vs Leenock on Jungle Basin.
Once a lot of OCN members that I played with moved on and OCN got a major facelift that made the website feel very congested to me, I decided to make a permanent move to TL (created an account prior to that). While I look back fondly on my time with the OCN community because they were a big part of why I loved the game, I don't regret my decision seeing as this community is pretty passionate about starcraft which is the only game that I was still playing at the time
![[image loading]](http://s273.photobucket.com/user/BigFan_2008/media/TheTLExperience_zpscd430c52.png.html)
SCII:
After moving from OCN to TL, I mostly lurked around and just read threads. I saw posting as a hassle and couldn't be bothered to voice my opinion since 'why post it if someone else has posted a similar response' lol. Eventually, one day after reading some thread, I decided that I wanted to post in it (posted some one sentence response). My short post did not feel worthy of increasing my post count therefore I decided that from that day forth, I shall only post quality material! lol.
I was still really passionate about the game despite losing a decent portion of the players that I played with. I mostly laddered as random at this point. I used to watch SCII in class, usually Polt's stream or whoever else was streaming and probably managed to distract upwards of 10 people sitting around me lol. All of my friends knew I was heavily into the game. It was something that I was proud of so I never really hid the fact. I also played the game whenever I had time (schedule was hectic). My passion even led me to have SCII dreams at one point.
MLGs, Dreamhacks, GSLs, IPLs, etc... so many tournaments to watch but so much excitement as well. The forums were booming with new members and the number of new interesting threads was at an all-time high. I tried to watch what I could but I missed a decent portion of the GSL (too late at night with class) though I usually caught up with what's going on and such (aside from a several months gap which was mvp's big run, oops lol). I only started going into LRs later on though they were always exciting to discuss games.
I also loved to watch Korean weekly. I'm not sure why, maybe it was just the fancy colors or orb's casting but for whatever reason, I always got this nice cosy feeling whenever I watched them and man did they have some crazy good games. Tassader and Taeja are two names that I recall watching games of. Some blink stalker game by Tassader (blinked on a side that his opponent didn't scout) and Taeja was using ghosts against some protoss though his control needed work lol. TvZs in those weeklies were always epic and I loved seeing MMM control by terran players.
When some Kespa players switched over, I started watching some of their streams. Most notable was ForGG's stream. Watching his stream at 1 in the morning during the summer and listening to TT dance or Roly Poly was fantastic lol. He was always interactive with the fans and he had sick TvZ at the time. I even managed to introduce a friend to SCII and he also started watching his stream. I think at this point, my passion was at its peak. Playing, watching and discussing SCII was done on a daily basis and I loved every minute of it!
Fast forward several months or so, I kept playing and eventually managed to finally get my platinum promotion after I decided that it's best to focus on one race (protoss was really boring, zerg was ok for bane busts only and was too OP for my taste
). My goal was always to get to diamond at least so I was getting close. Started facing some diamond players at the time as well though my win rate against them was terrible. After taking a break, I was placed into diamond. I wasn't able to maintain it though and managed to slide back down to either plat or gold, can't remember at this point. My passion started to wane and I started mostly going for wacky strats because I realized the amount of effort I would need to break back into diamond or up is not worth it.Despite the fact that I was playing a lot less, I kept on following the SCII scene. I always found it interesting that when it comes to starcraft, as long as you have a basic understanding of the game, you should be able to figure out how fights will go and whose is on top. It was also fun to cheer for my favourite players. I did come to realize that the game was killing my laptop rofl. For whatever reason, I never measured my temps though I knew it got hot (fan, can feel heat etc...). Turns out that my cpu was reaching 90C during my games (i5's have Tc of 95-100C max temp before they shut down) but I wasn't playing much by that point so it wasn't a major concern.
When it came to GSLs that I watched live, Roro vs Symbol, Sniper vs HyuN, Innovation vs SK, MC vs Seed are some of them. Funny that I missed all of mvp's GSL wins lol so I never fully got the hype surrounding him though he gets credit for getting 4 GSL. I decided that I'll get HoTS since I wanted to play the campaign and try to use that to re-ignite my passion. Some changed aspects of the game seemed like a good idea and I was excited to buy it and try it asap but little did I know that the TvT matchup went to hell XD Regardless, I tried to get back into the game but at that point, my passion was far gone and I never did manage to enjoy it like I did when it first got released so I don't play much these days. Who knows, maybe LoTV will re-ignite that passion
BW:
When I first came to TL, I was heavily involved in the SCII forums and didn't visit the BW forums as much though I always appreciated how hard the game was due to prior experience. Eventually with my SCII interest waning and BW interest rising, I tried to make an iccup account but that didn't pan out well until it turned out that I had to do it on their website lol. My first 1v1 game (if we don't count past games) saw me play bio against a protoss player into a GG after I got rolled within a minute or so lol.
I was aware of the different BW units and their behaviour but compositions, when to get upgrades, timings etc... were all foreign to me. Having problems with hosting, I had to stop playing BW soon after I started for quite a bit of time. At this point, I started watching more BW to learn about the game. Snipealot's stream were a valuable asset since I got to see how things were first hand. I watched more of Sonic's SRTs as well. I recall seeing Sea beat Ssak 4-0(or 4-1?) with some amazing game sense. I also remember seeing Sea beat Killer in some of the most bizzare BW games I've ever seen lol. Both of them were making silly mistakes and the LR was going crazy at that point. I guess Sea is Killer's kryptonite.
Eventually, I fixed my router problems and did end up winning a game which was great considering I haven't played much BW at that point. I think I just got lucky. I continued watching snipealot's stream and more of medry's stream which was fantastic since I missed a decent portion of BW. When Jangbi retired from SCII and came back to BW, I ended up making a summary videos for his OSL 2011 run. Thought it took like a month to do due to lack of experience and having to find the right programs, I was satisfied with the final result
Fast forward to today and I'm still playing BW though I'm more casual in my games than I was a year or two back. My blog Iccup- The Journey has more details on the iccup experience so I won't re-write that here. Seeing as most of my starcraft is BW now, the majority of my blogs revolve around BW battlereports which take time to do but feel great when I finally manage to write a good one by my standards
DOTA2:
Having watched the starladder matches between Liquid and EG back when demon was on the team for a trial, I have become interested in trying the game and learning about the different heroes. It's just too bad liquid had to remove the dota2 section from teamliquid.net right around the time I planned to start my dota2 adventures lol.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/BJgiwQp.png)
SCII:
- Fruitdealer was one of them early on but I think that was 'fake' like lol.
- MKP, love his micro games when he played that style really well.
- Jaedong! watched lots of his games, very painful as a fan lol.
- Flash though it's disappointing that he didn't make code S.
- Innovation though his stubborness to change got me fed up so I guess I wasn't a 'true fan'.
- sOs for being such a baller with the way he plays protoss.
BW:
- Jangbi, stormssssssssss!!!!!!! + Show Spoiler +
- Boxer for being such a fucking baller due to this: + Show Spoiler +
- Nada, just cause it's Nada.
- Hero + Show Spoiler +
Taking Bisu to a close game 5 and this: ![[image loading]](http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/BigFan_2008/Lurkers_zps654df28e.gif)
![[image loading]](http://s273.photobucket.com/user/BigFan_2008/media/Lurkers_zps654df28e.gif.html)
- Jaedong, no explanation needed
- Flash, no explanation needed though this would help
+ Show Spoiler +![[image loading]](http://s273.photobucket.com/user/BigFan_2008/media/TLContribution_zpsbd178c6f.png.html)
- Practice partner thread until Starserver is up and running (let's go Birdie, we aren't getting any younger!
).- Good quality posts encouraging discussions and in some cases though unintentional challenging the status quo rofl.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/pnXHs7A.png)
- Definitely more battlereports though they'll be extra special. Won't reveal anything yet :D
- Some blogs for old classic pc games since it feels like those don't get enough love!
- DOTA2 blogs!
- Whatever else comes to mind lol.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/3HLG3A9.png)
- TanKLoveR: been great talking to you about everything. Hope things work out for the best
- BW practice partners: you know who you are lol. Hope for more games and discussions! :D
- Some of the cool peeps in Anime Discussion Thread. My 3rd home
- The pillars of the BW community, the major contributors. You guys are awesome!
- Those who made my stay in TL so far an enjoyable one
- OCN members, too many to list lol. Was great playing with you guys way back
For preservation purposes: + Show Spoiler +
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/xfEuS2n.png)
