Some more Starcraft 2 today as it’s time to do my first week report about my progress. Last week I gave myself the challenge to improve my Sc2 during 2013. To achieve that I have two precise goals, the first was to be less stressed when playing and the second was to reach Platinum league, which is a step higher than my previous highest placement back at the game launch.
The plan
Saying you want to improve at Sc2 without a plan is a risky business. I tried that once, failed miserably and most experienced players who talk about improvement point out that you’re more likely to end up frustrated than seeing progress. Sure… some people have improved by just playing lots of game but in my case I needed to be a bit smarter about it.
So I searched high and low for threads and videos about how to improve and I ran into a problem. Everyone was talking about Macro but no one was really explaining how to improve it. Sure there was talks of copying builds and always making workers but I didn’t find it to be super useful. If you’re wondering, Macro is your ability to build a strong economy and keep doing it all game long. It’s about gathering resources and spending them well.
But I eventually lucked out and found some videos from a high level player who explained the why’s and how of how to improve Macro along with defining set goals. Telling me I need to have 50 workers by the 10 minute mark is way more useful to me than just saying “build more workers”.
So I decided to trust his method and for the past week I’ve been working on improving my macro to the exclusion of all else. I’m not focusing on making the right counters or fine movement of my units.I just do my best to hit my Macro targets and trust that will be enough to give me a victory.
Goal progress
So at the beginning of last week I was placed in Silver league and starting a new online match made my heart pound as if I was going to wrestle with a 400 pounds bear. On the stress side there’s been huge improvement. I still get pretty pumped while playing but I don’t have the same dread I used to have. Having a plan to follow so I can improve myself and set goals helps a lot with the whole stress aspect.
And as for the league progress…. this happened yesterday.
Back in gold! To say I was surprised is putting it very mildly. I expected this to take a few weeks at least especially since I was beating silver opponents but struggled against the gold ones when I was put against them. Still, I’ll take it as a sign that working on my Macro was the right move to make!
So a lot less stress and one league closer to my goal. I’d say that was an excellent week.
Bonus content!
Special mention to my opponent from Monday night and apologies for forgetting his name. The guy was playing his very first online game of Sc2 (I checked his match history) and was one of the nicest opponent I had for the entire week. He didn’t talk at first so I went about the game as hardcore as I could be and when I marched up to his base I utterly crushed him. Then he started asking me questions about how I managed to have so much stuff and admitted to it being his first game.
We chatted a while and I tried to help him as best I could but I felt so bad for him. I truly wish him the best and I hope he doesn’t give up. Multiplayer could use more nice opponents.
Think we’re following the same guides! Got back to playing tonight and went from my old plat to bronze
But going back to basics helped me a lot!