Retreat or Struggle?

I bought Starcraft 2 the morning it came out, as a few of my friends who bough it with me, loved the first one. We spend the first day playing vs AI; and went from losing to easy to easily winning hard.
On the second morning i decided to leave the practice league as i'm not one for doing stuff that you have nothing to show for. I played my 5 placement games as Zerg and won 4-1 being placed into the Gold League, since then i have been fairly steady around the 30 mark in the gold league, demanding on my ling rush. I got rather bored of the 1v1's, accepting without serious practice i would not advance into the Platnium league, and decided to compete in the placement matchs for 3v3 and 4v4. I got placed into 4v4's Gold, and 3v3's Platnium both as a Random player.

The above was 2 days ago, and since then i have been through a long succession of relying on my Bonus pool to fun my win/loss ratio. It hit me that, not playing the orignal game, or even the Beta, i was simply not good enough to play in the higher leagues.

I post here, to ask more advanced and experienced players to help me with my decision; I need to either, lose a couple of games and place myself into the Silver leagues, giving me a chance to win and hopefully learn from it, or struggle in the Gold and Platnium leagues, observing and slowly improving.

I appreciate that my knowledge of Strats, Counters and even build orders is lacking, and hours of Day9.tv and Psystarcraft will only improve that to a certian point, its putting them into practice that develops them fluently.

I do not ask for much of your time, but as much as you could give will be read eagerly. I hope that maybe a few of the more advance players competing in the higher leagues, could post their starting stories and how they improved themselfs as a player, and then there opinion on my decision and what they think will improve me the greatest.

Finally, if race specialized players could post as much detailed strats as they can give for there favoured race; build orders and strategys that are in your opinion, are the easiest to follow but also effective to the point. I have chosen to become a random player, and all will be appreciated greatly.

Thank you in advance, and i do not with to inconvience anybody.

 

1. Keep playing
2. When you lose a game, watch the replay and figure out what you did wrong.
3. Repeat

I played all of beta. Furiously watched every replay/commentary/tournament I could. After every loss, I took a moment to think about what I should've done instead.

 

Exactly what sc2 strategy said. Also about the leagues, don worry about them just keep playing, and stay in the league your doing. If you get moved up then it means your ready for it.

Also if your winning by cheese strategies, stop now because it's 70% chance it won't work on platinum and a 100% chance it won't work on diamond.

 

@Sc2strategy
Thanks for the advice mate, i will certianly start watching my replays more often. I guess its just being in the Gold league when my SC veteran friends are down in the Silver which makes me feel like im in over my head. Thanks for your opinion though, its defently started to sway me more towards the sticking it out route.

@demohunto
Thats what i am trying at the moment, but i just seem to be hitting around the 30 mark and getting knocked straight back down to 40-50 in a few loss games. The only reason i am demanding on such a cheese strat at the moment, is because i really have not had the time to learn and implement other ones. I need more game knowledge and practice to really get into the swing of things, e.g. i want to learn how to change my unit builds to my scouts feedback. Again thanks for your opinion again, i do appreciate you taking time to answer.

 

for know i would stick with terran and protoss until blizzard comes out with a patch for zerg just because they are so underpowered. you can win with them but its harder.

for protoss its relatively simple. you just have to be fast and use and know your hotkeys.

few basic strats for protoss.

1. 4 gate is always a good way to go
2. rush DT's is always fun and works great especially against zerg
3. rush and or mass void rays always works aswell

just get to learn the maps. depending on what map you play can determine your strategy. on a big map go air on a small map go ground.

and for protoss make sure to use blink on your stalkers it works great and use your sentries. i like getting 4 or 5 sentries. they can really determine who wins a battle especially with blink stalkers they are great.

 

I don't play alot of games a day neither, what helps me most is what people recommended here, watch replays, if you won, enjoy it and see what your enemy did wrong, what you did good and where you could improve to win even sooner/easier, if you lost, see what you did wrong. And stay in touch a bit with the pros and their replays, to see what is possible and what is the end of the road. That's what I do, and I'm knocking on platinum door after playing since second beta phase.

 

listen to the diamond guy not the gold guy- thats my platinum advice

 

QFT

Mass void rays isn't going to always work as was said, that is a ridiculous notion and DT rush works rarely against someone who is even somewhat prepared, which they should be since they would have scouted you. I believe those would be considered cheese strategies anyway which I would advise you not to rely on.

 

@Jpd
Thank you for your views on Protoss play, I have no really looked into any strats other than warp rushing, and carrier massing on 4v4's. Ill make sure to try and do a few 1v1's when im lower in the league and working my way up, playing as Protoss. I am learning the hotkeys gradually and I have mastered all the Zerg ones, as for the spells; thats a work in progress.

@Domanz
Again thank you for your feedback, it is the same as alot of people are saying; i need to watch my replays and improve where i go wrong. I will certainly be doing so next time I lose. You mention that you have been playing since Beta 2nd Stage; would you agree that alot of it, is simply experience and knowing what to do in certian situations, because you've made mistakes in the same ones before?

@XenophobicPanda
I appreciate your warning me about certian strategies not working, but regretably, that is not what i need right now. If you have any advice, i would read through it eagerly. Thank you for commenting though.

 

Well, I am primarily a Terran player so I don't have as in-depth knowledge of Protoss as others might but I can suggest a nifty trick against Terran players. I often start out with marines and marauders and then quickly add siege tanks to the mix, along with medievacs or vikings if I see that my opponent may get an air force. Something that has really screwed up my attacks in the past is if my opponent gets a few phoenixes, as they can just lift up my siege tanks. Without my siege tanks in the fight my ground force is most likely inferior to your own and if you have enough phoenixes you can even take out a few of my tanks while they are in the air.

 

what i think happens in higher up leagues that makes cheese/rush tactics not work like an 8 pool is that players are more determined to win. if a guy drops a whole bunch of zerglings i will pump zeals keep my econ going till i start to win. key things to know is have a plan. keep making workers, have a plan, keep your money low, oh did i mention have a plan. tactic are all fine and good but without a follow up you have nothing after they get beaten, tactics are like spice added to your food something you throw in for some extra, a dt rush will set you opponent back, but will not win you the game, be ready to take advantage of what the other guy has been forced to do to stop your tactic. ONCE AGAIN HAVE A PLAN (especially if it is a cunning one)

 

@XenophobicPanda
Thank you for your insight, I also need to work on my Terran building order; so ill keep those Units in mind. I did not know Phoenixes could do that, thats really appreciated, and im sure will help me in the future.

@toochaos
An intresting view >,< I guess i need a plan right? with a backup plan, prefrebly a cunning one? Thanks for your feedback though, i really do need to work on thinking ahead with mutliple strats to counter what my enemy may do, really appreciated, thank you.

 

You should add me on BattleNet. My name and character number is in my signature. I would be happy to help you practice or provide insight into strategies.

 

That's what I believe. As someone said, you should rather listen to the diamond players, but you can get to gold/platinum no problem if you watch your replays and study. You will notice that good players hide their intentions, this is stage 2 after stage 1, scouting. First you learn to scout, and after scouting half of the base and loosing because the interesting stuff was in the other half, you realize that you even have to doubt your scouting intel if it is not complete. This is just one example, besides that, watching replays and just playing against people gives you a feeling of what is right and what works in which situation. The situations I loose are these, where I have no idea what I should do. These moments will become fewer, because in time, you will find a plan (as someone mentioned) for each situation.

And this learning seems to never end, yesterday, I lost 3 of 4 games played because I was confronted with a situation I had no plan for.

 

What i always say if people ask for advice: could you please add a replay of where you lose, or a build you have trouble against?
Starcraft 2 is quite advanced, as you probably know, and you can make many mistakes, from making too few workers to scouting. Its good you make long posts about it, but for me atleast, i alyaws is better at pinning down your problems with a replay.
Good luck on improving.

 

That's a very valid point.I use phoenixes every time i play,as early as possible, because they always leave me with 10 more workers than the enemy.


On topic I think you should continue on gold.With practice you will get better.What I suggest is watching strategy videos for your favorite race.

I am playing Protoss,and from my experience they are at their best when you take control of the map.If you can make the opponent stay in his 1 or 2 bases and leaves you with the better economy they won't beat you.

There are many ways to do this(ofc not always successful).
-Zealot rush.Send your first 2 zealots straight to the enemy base,while building more to follow.This is a risky one,as you have low mobility and your opponent can counter this by walling,but you can finish the game really fast if it works.

-Cannon zones.Many players build photon cannons,along with pylons just outside the enemy base,so that when he tries to get outside he will punch in a wall of cannons,and possibly stalker support.This leaves you free to expand and control the battlefield.

-Phoenix harass.My favorite one.In this build you wall in early in your base,while building 2 stargates and pumping phoenixes to his base.If you micro good they will destroy his workers leaving him behind your economy,and most importantly gets the atttention away from your base,leaving you free to build and expand.
Another possitive is that they are economical units,especially on minerals,and can fit to whatever units you build after them,as they are fierce in the air and can neutralize many enemy ground units.
Only drawback here is that the enemy could break your early wall,although it's seldom if you build it right.


-Mass stalkers.If you build a great force of stalkers,with blink, you have a very flexible mobile force for both air and ground.It requires very good micro though,and may be countered pretty easily if your opponent realizes their threat.

 

@domanz
Thanks for more tips, i do understand that i really need to work on my scouting and taking the feedback and using it; at the moment im just scouting, but still sticking to my original plan. You make the point that, it comes with experience and through playing you know what to do in each situation; do you think there is anything i could do to quicken this?

@Phoenix
Thanks for posting ,and i will get around to uploading a demo, i just need to find the directory.

@ProtossZealot
Thank you for the big post, I really appreciate it. I haven't really looked into playing as protoss much yet, unless they come up on Random in 1+ v 1+. I will try out this phoenix thing and see how it suits me, its defenetly something i think i can use in the future. As for the Cannon Zone rush, I really don't have the confidence for that at the moment, leaving my base so open at such an early stage; this was highlighted when i did a few games using the Proxy hatchery zerg strat. Finally, I have seen the power of Mass Stalkers when used with Blink etc, but i just seem to make 5 Stalkers in the time the enemy make 10. I do not know what im doing wrong. Again thank you for your feedback.

 

I've added a replay of a long fight against a Terran player, and i fight against a fellow zerg player, both loss's.

 

Thanks for the replays, watching them.
1: Doing a Zerg Rush on scrap station is pretty bad, since the travel distance is quite long. BUT, since his wall off weren´t done, you should just have run in and taken the marine instead of attackmoving. Remember to watch your troops actions! Could have been victory there.
2: Your drone count is too low, it remains on 14 for far too long. An expansion is worth nothing if you dont even have saturation.
3: Getting Hydralisks would have been good, and upgrades, since they may not feel gamebreaking, but they are.
Think about those, and we will get you in shape

 

I have some really good replays for you to watch.

-Phoenix rush strategy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or2HN7K_0Ik&feature=

-A very good zerg player,named Check, he is getting out of really difficult situations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Vm3Zb7vZbo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp08rcLmRS8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ByCFkCW0g0