Started playing not long ago and was doing pretty well. Got my 3 1v1 wins in a row achievement very early and was doing pretty good. Win/Loss ratio was about 1:1. All of a sudden just started losing every game. Like 5+ in a row. Most of the players were favored to win slightly but other than that nothing had changed. I really want to get into this game and I know it's ultra competitive but when you're stuck in bronze and all of a sudden you start losing when before you were fine, your morale goes right down. Now I feel like crap and don't feel like playing. Is it normal to feel like this early on? Any tips to combat these early losses? I can take losses but when it's EVERY GAME, it's kind of hard to keep going. And also my rank has pretty much stayed steady, it's not like all of a sudden I'm playing silver league players. If I'm losing all the time I thought Battle.net would put me against equal or lower players, not higher ones every time?
As you beat people, you will get paired with others who have higher skill than you, which brings you back down to your original level b /c of losses. Many players will go through a losing streak. As you get better, you'll slowly climb up the ladder. Don't feel bad, just take a break, watch some videos, or play some custom games.
Everyone goes through lose streaks, and not only once in their career. I think you should rewatch the replays of the matches where you lost, but from the enemy's point of view(since you already know what you did) and look for windows of opportunity where you could have done something like attack or expand, but you didn't). Also you can upload some reps where you can't figure out what went wrong here and have people tell you what they think. The best thing to do is getting a few practice partnairs with whom you can discuss the games afterwards. It's helpful for both sides and you can find solutions to strategies that don't work together through both discussion but also trial-and-error(you can lose as many times as you want to a buddy you play customs with). If you're EU I'd love to play some matches against you and help you find wholes in your gameplay..(If you're in EU add Stirlitz.823 and give me a call when you see me online). Many times, especially till you get a good grip of the game, the problem isn't strategy but basic mechanics. There's an awsomesauce guy that does a daily show on starcraft and he's a real mentor(His name's Day9, and used to be a top lvl broodwar player for years, and now turned to casting games and promoting starcraft around the world, his show is both entertaining and whatever the level you are at you can learn from it). I'll link you some of his videos that are useful for a player having problems with general basics: 1)http://day9tv.blip.tv/file/3732340/ 2)http://day9tv.blip.tv/file/3651794/ 3)http://day9tv.blip.tv/file/3683433/ 4)http://day9tv.blip.tv/file/3873603/ 5)http://day9tv.blip.tv/file/3991475/ 6)http://day9tv.blip.tv/file/3996172/ 7)http://day9tv.blip.tv/file/4113652/ I think these are quite a lot, but I think I got all the videos I'd think a newer player would get the most out of. Aw, there's also a series he does called about low level play, I'll post these too: a)http://day9tv.blip.tv/file/4152891/ b)http://day9tv.blip.tv/file/4179246/ c)http://day9tv.blip.tv/file/4210235/ d)http://day9tv.blip.tv/file/4270058/ e)http://day9tv.blip.tv/file/4300952/ Also, a guy named Trebis is running a youtube channel dedicated to helping people improve in SC: http://www.youtube.com/user/SC2NoobSchool?blend=2&ob=1 I think I've added too much already, but if you like these videos and find them helpful, and also wouldn't mind more, I know some other youtube channels I could add too, some of them with more advanced stuff. And you can always check www.sc2casts.com and http://sc2torrents.com/index.php for awsome commentated replays of top players to see strategies and games from them. Hope it wasn't too much, lol, gl in your further games and add whatever questions/problems you might have here, bro! Cheers! Edit: If you wanna see how the ladder system works, check the links provided in this post: http://www.starcraft2forum.org/forums/showpost.php?p=391585&postcount=8
Thanks guys. I was actually lucky enough to discover Day 9 before I started playing online. Damn is he awesome, really knows what he's talking about. Unfortunately I won't be able to play with you Stirlitz because I live in Tasmania so I'm plating on the NA servers (Blizzard can't be bothered with servers for Australia). Get a very small amount of lag here and there but nothing big enough to affect the game. Thankfully I'm pretty aware, thanks to Day9, what my problems are. It's mainly just sloppy macro. I'm getting into the whole hotkey thing which is going pretty well and I just discovered that if I change my hotkey setup to grid I improve heaps instantly. Haven't tried it online yet tho, just custom AI game. I guess I was just a little depressed cause I went from doing fine to losing all the time. Guess I'll just keep practising. Just wish I had a friend or two to play with. All my friends either haven't played or have gone and done SP but can't go online for obvious reasons. There's really only two reasons why I lose which is early on when the enemy seems to have a surprisingly large amount of units just a few minutes in (I get marines very quick with a 3 barracks build). The other way is if he we end up having a massive deathmatch at the end of a very long match and he ends up winning that. Guess I need to pressure them more if that's happening.
I have the same problem as you with friends, only one of my RL friends plays starcraft and he's started his military min august right after getting the game, and I know 2 friends of my friend(don't know them iRL though) with one of whom I've practiced a bit but he's like rank 3 diamond and the gap seems like too big(he's not getting much out of our games and I get so pressured it's unreal{i'm in silver})... But recently I added some guys from the forums and have played with them(Carnuss,heidegger and Kuvasz among them) and it's very nice practice as you get to discuss the mathces too... Check around, I think there are 2 threads(one sticky and one called road to diamond) with people's IDs with whom you can chat and practice. And if you wannt you can upload replays of yours that you have trouble noticing what went wrong and get some comments and tips...
Yeah it would be awesome to get together a group to practice with. I'd love to get a Tasmanian group together and maybe even arrange a few days at Internet cafés for fun. My goal at the moment is to get into silver. I think it's that mental thing of being in the lowest league that feels bad. I played the original Starcraft a lot but never multiplayer so I'm basically starting from scratch. I've got some of those Day9 videos downloading now so I'll watch those tomorrow. The mental checklist one was so helpful. Would be at the bottom of bronze without it but was lucky to see that before I started. I have managed a few good games. There have even been a few that I was losing (like lost a lot of SCVs to early mutas) and had a comeback and won by a mile. Watched the replay of one on Xel Naga caverns against a guy who was favoured to win. At first he was 70 kills up on me. By the end of the game I was 100 kills up on him. Winning games like that is awesome, it gives you a confidence boost.
you could also play custom games so the loses won't count on your permanent record. I usually like to play 50-100 custom games for practice before playing 10 league games again.
Thanks for those Day9 dailies Stirlitz. Watched the ones I hadn't seen already and as usual, they were really helpful. Today I came to the conclusion that my core macro skills are just really bad. I just loaded up a 1v1 game against hard AI (very hard is too hard for me still). I purely concentrated on making SCVs, making marines, keeping my minerals low and not getting food capped. Did only that until I hit the 200 food limit. Then I just attacked the enemy base and won. It was purely to get my macro timing good without forgetting all the essentials. If I was attacked I didn't even look, just kept macroing. After the first game I was getting pretty good. Now I've jut got to put that in with a good build and good micro and strategy. That's the hard part.
I've been on a Losing Streak lately, it happens, not Focusing on Building Efficiently, Playing about with Strategies and Units, Distruptions, Out-Skilled, etc. Just work your way back up. Everyone has their Ups and Downs. Even the Pros had to start somewhere. It's a Competitive and Dynamic RTS Game. Just have Fun and don't worry about Losing.
i dont care when i lose as thats when i learn the most.. unless i lose to some ****ty strategy like mass voidrays >.<
same here.i get low morale after losing so many times.i just go play campaign,watch replays,play with friends and then go back to ladder.sometimes i get a win,most of the time not.i am just trying out different buikds to see what works.i'd say just stick with it.eventually you will get better. i should really take my own advice as ive only played 16 or so 1v1's.i was so scared of 1v1...
I had the same win:lose ratio when I started. Just enjoy it, ladders don't really matter unless you're trying to become pro.
I wanna work on my ladder sometime soon too, but this freaking tight schedule I have this semester is killing me... When I come home at night I'm usually too tired to play well and only willing to do some customs for fun or something... Can't wait for the freaking exam period to end. I hope that I manage to work on my ladder enough till the end of the year to be at a skill level enough to play with 2 plat and diamond friends of mine one of which is working on his ladder quite a bit and the other is doing his military service and will be back roughly at the time that I'll be able to play a lot more(summer)... Oh well we'll see
I'm actually not playing with them cause I feel like wasting the time of the guy in the diamond league while my other friend doesn't log due to his service... Tried playing some matches against my diamond friend(he's currently ranked 1 or 2 of the greek players in ESL) and just because I knew I was playing against him I had a certainty I'd lose and played completely crap You know, being scared of your opponent greatly increases your chances to mess up and do serious mistakes and when you're sure you're gonna lose, you don't put your best in it...
Say, I was wondering if you can play a set game with someone, but have it count as a league game. So its not custom. You have someone on your buddy list, and you want to play them for keeps? So you invite them to a game, anyway to make that game not a custom one? if not, yet another thing they must add.
Yea, because everyone just wants to cheat the system and no one at all enjoys the possibility of playing more games with one person. Its not like anyone has close friends they like to play against or close highly competitive rivalries with other players. Poor excuse if so. Shame on you blizz.
