On November 20 2014 06:58 DjSweetBazz wrote: I'm having a hard time vs mech as zerg, no matter what I do their deathball just rolls me. How to beat it??
You're in the wrong thread, go to this thread to get answers to your question
Terrans, is there a concensus on weather or not to bind all our production facilities on one key, then use previous / next subgroup to switch between them. Or is it better to have seperate binds for rax, fact and port?
What do the pro's do? Or does it purely come down to a matter of preference?
Our friendly caster Sean "Apollo" Clark used to be a Command and Conquer pro gamer winning WCG 2007. From there he switched to BW as Terran, and in WoL played Terran again, until switching to Zerg, and finally ended up as Random. As we can see, Apollo has some sick skill and knowledge. Here is what he suggest for hotkeys when playing Terran:
So, improvement questions. I have 2 big problems when I play that are preventing me from improving (and even winning this season, even gold league is too hard right now). If this isn't the right thread forgive me the but the zerg help me thread is sick of dealing with my shit so...
1. I get tunnel visioned as fuck and can barely think when I play. There's so much going on and I'm trying to think of strategy and keep remembering to inject and macro and all this shit... I can't keep up with it. When I decide to attack, I can focus on nothing but making that attack work, even if it is a horrible attack (today I ran about 100 lings and banes into a wall of seige tanks and hellbats.... it went poorly). I can't think and play... how do I improve that. I'll never make it out of the bottom of gold league the way I am.
2. I get mad. Like, really fucking mad when I lose. And self-depricating. I hate on myself a lot, and BM myself. I'll got into a match and type to my opponent "I fucking suck, enjoy the win" and shit like that.I punched a hole in my wall recently after a particularily stupid loss where I forgot to build any units while getting all in'd.
How do I break out of this hugely negative mental state? I'm going into therapy soon for many reason and I guess it's something I should talk to that person about, but is there any other tips?
Perhaps I'm just not cut out for Starcraft if I can barely think when I play....
On November 24 2014 15:31 SetGuitarsToKill wrote: So, improvement questions. I have 2 big problems when I play that are preventing me from improving (and even winning this season, even gold league is too hard right now). If this isn't the right thread forgive me the but the zerg help me thread is sick of dealing with my shit so...
1. I get tunnel visioned as fuck and can barely think when I play. There's so much going on and I'm trying to think of strategy and keep remembering to inject and macro and all this shit... I can't keep up with it. When I decide to attack, I can focus on nothing but making that attack work, even if it is a horrible attack (today I ran about 100 lings and banes into a wall of seige tanks and hellbats.... it went poorly). I can't think and play... how do I improve that. I'll never make it out of the bottom of gold league the way I am.
2. I get mad. Like, really fucking mad when I lose. And self-depricating. I hate on myself a lot, and BM myself. I'll got into a match and type to my opponent "I fucking suck, enjoy the win" and shit like that.I punched a hole in my wall recently after a particularily stupid loss where I forgot to build any units while getting all in'd.
How do I break out of this hugely negative mental state? I'm going into therapy soon for many reason and I guess it's something I should talk to that person about, but is there any other tips?
Perhaps I'm just not cut out for Starcraft if I can barely think when I play....
Learn to separate your emotions from the game and go back to the roots of gaming - Have fun! Maybe hang around in arcade/campaign/XvX games. Try some wonky roach ultradrop strategies.
On November 24 2014 15:31 SetGuitarsToKill wrote: So, improvement questions. I have 2 big problems when I play that are preventing me from improving (and even winning this season, even gold league is too hard right now). If this isn't the right thread forgive me the but the zerg help me thread is sick of dealing with my shit so...
1. I get tunnel visioned as fuck and can barely think when I play. There's so much going on and I'm trying to think of strategy and keep remembering to inject and macro and all this shit... I can't keep up with it. When I decide to attack, I can focus on nothing but making that attack work, even if it is a horrible attack (today I ran about 100 lings and banes into a wall of seige tanks and hellbats.... it went poorly). I can't think and play... how do I improve that. I'll never make it out of the bottom of gold league the way I am.
2. I get mad. Like, really fucking mad when I lose. And self-depricating. I hate on myself a lot, and BM myself. I'll got into a match and type to my opponent "I fucking suck, enjoy the win" and shit like that.I punched a hole in my wall recently after a particularily stupid loss where I forgot to build any units while getting all in'd.
How do I break out of this hugely negative mental state? I'm going into therapy soon for many reason and I guess it's something I should talk to that person about, but is there any other tips?
Perhaps I'm just not cut out for Starcraft if I can barely think when I play....
Learn to separate your emotions from the game and go back to the roots of gaming - Have fun! Maybe hang around in arcade/campaign/XvX games. Try some wonky roach ultradrop strategies.
Honestly, I think wonky strats are gonna be my go-to from now on. I've made weird shit work before, and I'm really only gold league so anything goes. I get crushed when I try to play straight up usually so why not? Who knows? Maybe I'll be the next Catz!
On November 25 2014 00:42 SC2Toastie wrote: Learn to separate your emotions from the game and go back to the roots of gaming - Have fun! Maybe hang around in arcade/campaign/XvX games. Try some wonky roach ultradrop strategies.
Honestly.. I don't think this is the way to go from my former platin point of view. I would even feel bad giving this kind of advice. The OP asks for help on some serious fun hindering issue and the goto strat may not be just to play any crap that comes to his mind. Why would he stop getting tunnel vision on some random playstyle which propably wont work the first 20 games (given he plays the same thing over and over), so he would fall back to the same patterns. I should say I suffer the same tunnel vision thingie, and trying some wonky strategies did not help me at all because I think you need to nail important timings as well as going "normal" and put yourself under pressure again, ergo tunnel vision will not disappear. From the 1 out of 10 games I feel I have control over my game and my mental state of tunnel visioning the crap out of the game I feel it comes from repeating my play as solid as I can get it down.. this is, even if you lose, a pretty rewarding feeling. But I dont really know how to get over it.. so this is maybe just a random thought as well. Are there any serious approaches as well (besides from visiting the psychologist... ;D )?
Another thing is, it feels like the ranking system was getting a major update on how they rate each player. I dropped to gold this season after about 7 seasons in plat. All my matches are now vs gold player, but I was only playing platins the seasons before.I felt I did not do any worse than the seasons before!? Almost all my f-list contacts are now at least one league lower. Imho this is a harsh thing blizzard did to us this season. Getting demoted, getting a bad map-pool and so on just feels really bad. It says I'm worse now than before? Pfffftt (Ok, leagues dont really matter, but lets be honest. Who wants to get demoted in this way?) What I wanna say with that is that it does not does not feel great in any way.. and having a hard time in gold does not make it any better
But hey, SetGuitarstokill... I'm sure we are not alone. And I was at the point where I was thinking I'm too stupid for this game too Keep it up and best of luck to you!
And one final thing: Where is my SC2-epiphany, when I need it the most?
On November 24 2014 15:31 SetGuitarsToKill wrote: So, improvement questions. I have 2 big problems when I play that are preventing me from improving (and even winning this season, even gold league is too hard right now). If this isn't the right thread forgive me the but the zerg help me thread is sick of dealing with my shit so...
1. I get tunnel visioned as fuck and can barely think when I play. There's so much going on and I'm trying to think of strategy and keep remembering to inject and macro and all this shit... I can't keep up with it. When I decide to attack, I can focus on nothing but making that attack work, even if it is a horrible attack (today I ran about 100 lings and banes into a wall of seige tanks and hellbats.... it went poorly). I can't think and play... how do I improve that. I'll never make it out of the bottom of gold league the way I am.
2. I get mad. Like, really fucking mad when I lose. And self-depricating. I hate on myself a lot, and BM myself. I'll got into a match and type to my opponent "I fucking suck, enjoy the win" and shit like that.I punched a hole in my wall recently after a particularily stupid loss where I forgot to build any units while getting all in'd.
How do I break out of this hugely negative mental state? I'm going into therapy soon for many reason and I guess it's something I should talk to that person about, but is there any other tips?
Perhaps I'm just not cut out for Starcraft if I can barely think when I play....
With regards to #1, I think lots of practice will help, until the macro stuff is automatic. You're still going to fuck things up from time to time, but practice vs easy AI is a great way to improve your macro. I like to set a goal, like have x bases and supply by 10 minutes, and then just play 10 practice games vs AI until I can hit that goal. When I play my ladder games, I'm not going to be perfect, but it does help. (Also, I'm crappy platinum player, so take my gameplay advice with a rock of salt. I try to play my best but I have no aspirations about becoming a pro-gamer or winning tournaments.)
Also with regards to #1, have a game plan going into the game. Your plan might be: get quick 3 bases while defending with queens, harass with muta while taking a 4th, then make giant ling+bane+muta ball and crush. Or maybe get 2 bases and roach bane timing attack. Practice one build order per matchup, focusing on that goal. For example, my TvP goal is harass early with widow mine and marauder while getting expo, follow up with a widow mine drop, and then build up 160+ mech supply with 2-3 ghosts and attack his third. At gold/plat, I recommend no more than 1 build per matchup. That will allow you to focus.
Figure out what opponent builds are likely to completely wreck your plan, and have a planned response for that, but not a whole separate build. Try to have two or three "answers" for each matchup for those situations that are going to screw you over. For example, if I'm playing TvZ as terran and I see more than 100 gas mined with my reaper, I think roaches may be coming. I'm usually going for quick 3 bases with hellions, so I know roaches will just outright kill me. Therefore, I look for roaches and if I see a hint (like extra gas mined), I will start preparing to defend against roach bust (make marauder, follow up scout, etc). Can't wait til roaches are streaming across the map or I'm already dead. But knowing what to look for and having a planned response helps. I still lose to a lot of these forced deviations, but maybe not as frequently as I do when I completely have no idea what to do or it comes completely unexpected. Likewise, I don't react to those opponent builds that aren't going to completely wreck my day. For example, I play mech in TvP and opponents often get immortals. I quickly learned that I didn't care because ghosts wreck hardened shields, and ghosts were already a core part of my build, so I didn't have to have a specific response to deal with immortals.
Your #2 problem is bigger and has less to do with Starcraft 2. SC2 is an incredibly difficult game and can be very frustrating, especially when you hit a streak of losses. My rule of thumb is if I can't say "gg" when I tap out, I need to stop playing and do something else. Play an arcade game, play practice vs AI, or just go do something else completely. When you're angry and you try to play 1v1, you will probably play worse, and get even more angry.
If stepping away from the game for a bit isn't working for you, or if you ALWAYS get furious even after like the first loss, or if your anger is completely overwhelming, causing you to do things like punch holes in walls, then you need to spend some time thinking about your anger, why you get angry, what happens to your body, your mind, etc. Why do you get angry? What are you angry about? Does what you're getting angry over matter? When do you start to feel angry? Talking with a therapist may be able to help you manage your feelings of anger in a way that is safer or more constructive.
Anger is not in-and-of-itself a bad thing. It's a natural emotion that we experience as part of life. It can be channeled into positive action. It can be a warning system that something is wrong. But it can also be destructive and ruin lives and relationships. It's important to understand why you're becoming angry and how to manage that.
It's important to remember that SC2 is a game, and the purpose of playing a game is to have fun and enjoy yourself. It can still be hard, challenging, even frustrating. But if it's making you miserable, then why are you doing it?
Take some time and think about things that you do that ONLY make you feel good. Then do those things! For me, it's playing guitar. I don't play guitar to impress anyone or to be amazing. I play because it makes me feel good. I play by myself, for myself, as loudly and as crappily as I want. When I've had a stressful day or I'm just cranky or pissy, I get out my guitar and howl for half an hour until I feel better. It helps. Find what makes you happy and do it as a regular part of your life.
Please understand that I am not a psychologist, and I am not trying to be patronizing. I have struggled with this issue myself in a very small way, I have lots of experience with therapists, and I have a very close family member who I have watched struggle through anger management in a very big way.
I'm after playing a few today, I've been trying to keep myself calm after some embarrasing losses (who loses 25 drones to early hellions? how is that even possible?), but goddamn it, it's hard. I managed to not punch anything and even punch out gg, so that's improvement.
As for the tunnel vision thing, it usually happens when I have to start microing at all. Once that starts, I simply dont' remember to inject at all and I always end up with like 4k/4k in the bank at 130~ supply and get rolled over by a big fucking army. I know how to fix this, I really do but I just cant do it in game.... My mind blanks like mad and I just can't snap out of it. I'm just not cut out to ever be good at this game I guess. I can pretend I know what I'm talking about on here but my play proves I know jack shit about anything. I dont' want to sound too depressed, I"m really trying to avoid that, but I might be a lost cause lol. Oh ya, and I don't scout. I never scout. I can't do it. Adding any more things to do when I'm playing and it all falls to shit faster than it already does.
I'm gonna keep trying though. I've got nothing else to do with my life. Starcraft is the one thing I care about and goddamn it I'm gonna not suck at one thing in my goddamn life if it kills me!!
On November 25 2014 14:29 SetGuitarsToKill wrote: thanks for the advice people
I'm after playing a few today, I've been trying to keep myself calm after some embarrasing losses (who loses 25 drones to early hellions? how is that even possible?), but goddamn it, it's hard. I managed to not punch anything and even punch out gg, so that's improvement.
As for the tunnel vision thing, it usually happens when I have to start microing at all. Once that starts, I simply dont' remember to inject at all and I always end up with like 4k/4k in the bank at 130~ supply and get rolled over by a big fucking army. I know how to fix this, I really do but I just cant do it in game.... My mind blanks like mad and I just can't snap out of it. I'm just not cut out to ever be good at this game I guess. I can pretend I know what I'm talking about on here but my play proves I know jack shit about anything. I dont' want to sound too depressed, I"m really trying to avoid that, but I might be a lost cause lol. Oh ya, and I don't scout. I never scout. I can't do it. Adding any more things to do when I'm playing and it all falls to shit faster than it already does.
I'm gonna keep trying though. I've got nothing else to do with my life. Starcraft is the one thing I care about and goddamn it I'm gonna not suck at one thing in my goddamn life if it kills me!!
Do you want me to 1v1 with you to help corner the problems in your play ? (i'm a plat zerg, so i know about zergs and i can play terran enough to reproduce the strategies you have problems with). It won't solve your anger issues because those come *from* your life *into* SC2, not the opposite. But as a talentless player (ie somebody who must work a lot because nothing comes easy to me), i think i know quite well the reasons why you struggle (for one, you want to do too much at once and maybe a bit too much stream watching makes you set your standards way too high).
You must also know that what you explain here is very very very common in SC2...
On November 25 2014 14:29 SetGuitarsToKill wrote: thanks for the advice people
I'm after playing a few today, I've been trying to keep myself calm after some embarrasing losses (who loses 25 drones to early hellions? how is that even possible?), but goddamn it, it's hard. I managed to not punch anything and even punch out gg, so that's improvement.
As for the tunnel vision thing, it usually happens when I have to start microing at all. Once that starts, I simply dont' remember to inject at all and I always end up with like 4k/4k in the bank at 130~ supply and get rolled over by a big fucking army. I know how to fix this, I really do but I just cant do it in game.... My mind blanks like mad and I just can't snap out of it. I'm just not cut out to ever be good at this game I guess. I can pretend I know what I'm talking about on here but my play proves I know jack shit about anything. I dont' want to sound too depressed, I"m really trying to avoid that, but I might be a lost cause lol. Oh ya, and I don't scout. I never scout. I can't do it. Adding any more things to do when I'm playing and it all falls to shit faster than it already does.
I'm gonna keep trying though. I've got nothing else to do with my life. Starcraft is the one thing I care about and goddamn it I'm gonna not suck at one thing in my goddamn life if it kills me!!
Do you want me to 1v1 with you to help corner the problems in your play ? (i'm a plat zerg, so i know about zergs and i can play terran enough to reproduce the strategies you have problems with). It won't solve your anger issues because those come *from* your life *into* SC2, not the opposite. But as a talentless player (ie somebody who must work a lot because nothing comes easy to me), i think i know quite well the reasons why you struggle (for one, you want to do too much at once and maybe a bit too much stream watching makes you set your standards way too high).
You must also know that what you explain here is very very very common in SC2...
Ha, I suppose with the amount of pro games I watch, anything that isn't 300 apm near-perfect play seems unacceptable lol
So after trying to do some weird shit and funny proxys and all that... I've learned that if I don't play standard I just die. Horribly. Also I die horribly regularily. So that's depressing again.
On November 28 2014 12:24 SetGuitarsToKill wrote: So after trying to do some weird shit and funny proxys and all that... I've learned that if I don't play standard I just die. Horribly. Also I die horribly regularily. So that's depressing again.
Have you tried switching races for a day or two? I find when I start getting down about my race or ability the best cure is to just play protoss/terran and muck around. I mean, go another race, try macro and get owned cause it is actually way harder then we think. Once you have done that, do every cheese you hate getting used against you (11/11, cannon rush, proxies). After a couple of days go back and enjoy being zerg again, it often feels very refreshing. Or vice versa for w/e race you play
On November 28 2014 12:24 SetGuitarsToKill wrote: So after trying to do some weird shit and funny proxys and all that... I've learned that if I don't play standard I just die. Horribly. Also I die horribly regularily. So that's depressing again.
Have you tried switching races for a day or two? I find when I start getting down about my race or ability the best cure is to just play protoss/terran and muck around. I mean, go another race, try macro and get owned cause it is actually way harder then we think. Once you have done that, do every cheese you hate getting used against you (11/11, cannon rush, proxies). After a couple of days go back and enjoy being zerg again, it often feels very refreshing. Or vice versa for w/e race you play
hmmm... well I used to play toss so I could do that quite easily. My terran wood league though, so that just might be no good lol
On November 28 2014 12:24 SetGuitarsToKill wrote: So after trying to do some weird shit and funny proxys and all that... I've learned that if I don't play standard I just die. Horribly. Also I die horribly regularily. So that's depressing again.
Have you tried switching races for a day or two? I find when I start getting down about my race or ability the best cure is to just play protoss/terran and muck around. I mean, go another race, try macro and get owned cause it is actually way harder then we think. Once you have done that, do every cheese you hate getting used against you (11/11, cannon rush, proxies). After a couple of days go back and enjoy being zerg again, it often feels very refreshing. Or vice versa for w/e race you play
hmmm... well I used to play toss so I could do that quite easily. My terran wood league though, so that just might be no good lol
The worse the better in my opinion. I'm masters Z, but my terran is like silver, it is hilarious because it really helps you to appreciate what you do with zerg much more