I’ve been pondering how to get better at SC2. There are a lot of opinions on this, watch soandso’s videos, use one generic build for everyone that teaches the basics, don’t care about mirco or winning and learn to macro, etc. I have been having trouble deciding between these and/or how to mix and match them so I feel like I am improving.
The first thing that comes to mind for improving myself is just playing more. I need to get to the point where I am getting several matches in on several days a week. I think of this as akin to eating better or going to the gym. What you do at the gym for those first couple weeks while you get used to going regularly is less important than building up the habit of doing it.
My next plan for improving is to play more on my stream and just listen to advice of people who are watching. I’ve not been good at this and in fact I rebel against their advice. While I can’t implement everything people suggest, I can work toward what they suggest and take it under advisement. My predisposition against certain units that are more micro heavy or I’ve had a hard time incorporating is no reason to just reject what a viewer suggests.
In that vein of thinking, it was noted on my stream that I don’t generally micro. In the interest of becoming more comfortable with microing I’ve started playing Darglein’s Micro Trainer. Playing though all the levels a couple times then focusing on Blink Stalkers, SCV Train, and Multiple Ability Control. Partially because I don’t even know how to do this effectively and partially because I need to teach my hands to do this. With the game timer, I figure if I do an hour of concentrated practice a day, my micro and mouse control will improve and I’ll feel more confident in using my unit’s spells.
Finally, there is TheStaircase, which is a very interesting way to learn to play. Unfortunately, because I play HotS, I am forced to make a best guess at my income rate so I can calculate SQ. This will be this way until GGTracker supports HotS which I hope will be in the near future. I am in the process of building a site that will be able to harness GGTracker’s automatic gathering of SQ for people (both the collective averages by league and for the individual player) so that you can see if you are passing or not. That said, because I am playing in the AHGL I can’t purely use this as I need to have my build orders refined for real play.
This is the start of my thoughts on training. I am going to go back and re-read The Art of Learning and see what thoughts and ideas come from that and adjust accordingly.
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