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GJSmitty

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The Return of From Bronze to Gold: A StarCraft 2 Quest

 

Remember this? 
Remember this? 
Hello!  About a month ago, I started on a quest.  I, who was in the bronze league in StarCraft 2, wanted to eventually work my way up to the gold league, and document my journey in a series of blog posts.  I wrote my first blog, detailing the quest.  I played a bunch of games in the span of one week, it was going great.  I even had pictures ready for the next blog.  But then...I stopped playing StarCraft 2.  I had been on an eight game loosing streak, and I just wasn't feeling it anymore.  A month passed, every once in awhile I thought of maybe writing a new post, or playing at least one game.  But now I plan on getting back into StarCraft 2.  In fact, at the moment, it is minimized on my desktop.  I have not played the game in a long time, and I am about to jump into my placement match for season 3.  Wish me luck. 
  *******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Here we go! 
Here we go! 
Annnd I'm back from the game.  This game was very short, and reminded me that a month away from StarCraft 2 is not a good thing.  I had a late start to my build, and was very bad about managing my minerals.  Overall I did terribly.  One of the worst matches I've played.  Everything that I did was bad. 
This was much later into the game than it should have been 
This was much later into the game than it should have been 
 But I won.
That's right.  I won the game.  I did terribly, but I managed to win.  I did an early rush with a couple of marines and marauders.  Eventually they were killed off, but by that time I had another round of them on the way.  He only had some marines, and eventually a hellion to protect his base.  If I hadn't rushed, I would have almost definitely lost.    He GG'd, and I excitedly quit to see what my rank was.  I mean, I had won my placement match, so it must be high!  
The page comes up, I read "Victory!" My eyes go to the right and... 
Rank 97 Bronze. 
I mean, I know he must have been terrible, but I couldn't help feeling disappointed about going from rank 40 to rank 97.  I have a long ways to go until gold league.  My short term goal is Silver league, but after that, I want to get into the gold league.  Well, that is all for now, I will be playing more over the next week, and writing something else up soon.   
Everyone who is also in bronze, remember: 
I believe in you 
Still
...... 
Peace,  
Grant742
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16 Comments

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GJSmitty

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Edited By GJSmitty

 

Remember this? 
Remember this? 
Hello!  About a month ago, I started on a quest.  I, who was in the bronze league in StarCraft 2, wanted to eventually work my way up to the gold league, and document my journey in a series of blog posts.  I wrote my first blog, detailing the quest.  I played a bunch of games in the span of one week, it was going great.  I even had pictures ready for the next blog.  But then...I stopped playing StarCraft 2.  I had been on an eight game loosing streak, and I just wasn't feeling it anymore.  A month passed, every once in awhile I thought of maybe writing a new post, or playing at least one game.  But now I plan on getting back into StarCraft 2.  In fact, at the moment, it is minimized on my desktop.  I have not played the game in a long time, and I am about to jump into my placement match for season 3.  Wish me luck. 
  *******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Here we go! 
Here we go! 
Annnd I'm back from the game.  This game was very short, and reminded me that a month away from StarCraft 2 is not a good thing.  I had a late start to my build, and was very bad about managing my minerals.  Overall I did terribly.  One of the worst matches I've played.  Everything that I did was bad. 
This was much later into the game than it should have been 
This was much later into the game than it should have been 
 But I won.
That's right.  I won the game.  I did terribly, but I managed to win.  I did an early rush with a couple of marines and marauders.  Eventually they were killed off, but by that time I had another round of them on the way.  He only had some marines, and eventually a hellion to protect his base.  If I hadn't rushed, I would have almost definitely lost.    He GG'd, and I excitedly quit to see what my rank was.  I mean, I had won my placement match, so it must be high!  
The page comes up, I read "Victory!" My eyes go to the right and... 
Rank 97 Bronze. 
I mean, I know he must have been terrible, but I couldn't help feeling disappointed about going from rank 40 to rank 97.  I have a long ways to go until gold league.  My short term goal is Silver league, but after that, I want to get into the gold league.  Well, that is all for now, I will be playing more over the next week, and writing something else up soon.   
Everyone who is also in bronze, remember: 
I believe in you 
Still
...... 
Peace,  
Grant742
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csl316

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Edited By csl316

Good luck.
 
Build SCV's.  If you have 1000 minerals sitting around, build more production facilities.  And upgrades are good!

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csl316

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Edited By csl316

Oh yeah, and use hotkeys!  Ever since they allowed the option to show hotkeys, I think it's been easier than ever to pick up the habit.
 
And control groups!  Not just units, but buildings, as well.  Before long, you should be able to rebuild armies without even looking at your base.  Remember that if you have a variety of things set to one control group, you can hit tab to scroll through em.  And that's my basic ass advice for now.

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Thule

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Edited By Thule

I'd love to actually follow someone's blog in their quest to climb up the leagues, but most of these threads just end with one entry. Hope you actually post more updates and don't be afraid to ask for tips. Also post replays so people can give you feedback.

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Donos

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Edited By Donos

Capitalization? Pictures? A signature? What is this madness?

About the placement, your hidden rating from that losing streak you went on carries over between seasons. The win here helped bring it up, but not enough to place you anywhere other than Bronze. On the bright side, your hidden rating also changes much faster than your visible points ranking, so if you put in a couple more wins in a row you can overcome your old losing streak quite fast and start moving up the leagues. As for the number rank drop, that's just because your points reset to 0 between seasons like everyone else. Win 1 game to get a nonzero score, and you'll jump up 50 places.

And in case you can't tell, people here want to give you advice. If you want some, post up a replay.

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GJSmitty

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Edited By GJSmitty
@Donos: Thanks a lot for the information.  This blog was kind of just a fresh start, I plan on posting replays in the next one.  Also, when I first read that top line, I thought you were referring to my other blogs or something, but I looked back and they all had the things you listed :)
@csl316
: Thanks for the advice!  I've been trying to get better about using control groups.
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Aus_azn

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Edited By Aus_azn

G'luck, mate. I just don't have the stomach for standard league play. I'm probably going to hit up my friend for some 2v2, get re-placed, and probably fall from silver to bronze. We'd played 4 games in S2, all were against diamond leaguers, and won, but haven't played in 8 or so days. I have no idea how rankings work (and am too lazy to figure it out), so I'm presuming we're going to get demoted for idle.

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NekuCTR

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Edited By NekuCTR

It may sound crazy but do what I did, set your mouse screen scroll speed to 1. basically when you move your mouse to the edge of the screen it doesn't move at all. It may sound dumb but if you use only hot keys and the mini map to navigate the battlefield you'd be surprised how much faster you get, also it makes you look at the mini map more, and you feel more aware of your surroundings, after I got up to platinum league I set the speed back up and I still barely ever use it.

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Killboyy777

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Edited By Killboyy777
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GJSmitty

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Edited By GJSmitty
@Killboyy777: Thanks for pointing that out, the video was really helpful!
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Edited By Killboyy777

<3 day9

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Edited By nazer858

@Thule said:

I'd love to actually follow someone's blog in their quest to climb up the leagues, but most of these threads just end with one entry. Hope you actually post more updates and don't be afraid to ask for tips. Also post replays so people can give you feedback.

Was thinking the same thing - good luck man and keep us posted

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GJSmitty

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Edited By GJSmitty
@Killboyy777: That video actually did help me a ton, I destroyed in one of my games, using a lot of the things he said.  So thanks.  
@Thule: & @nazer858:  I will definitely post more and will continue to, I already have replays, pictures, and notes for next week.
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JusticeCat

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Edited By JusticeCat

I know people will be entertained by your blogs and what not, but if you want to get better, your time is best spent playing that game rather than talking about playing the game...

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csl316

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Edited By csl316

@JusticeCat said:

I know people will be entertained by your blogs and what not, but if you want to get better, your time is best spent playing that game rather than talking about playing the game...

Feedback can be helpful, too. He's already gotten some rudimentary advice and got linked to Day 9 here.

Plus, we demand more blogs!

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Killboyy777

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Edited By Killboyy777

Also, all who game should read this. 
 
http://www.sirlin.net/ptw 
i liked it anyway XD  

@JusticeCat said:

I know people will be entertained by your blogs and what not, but if you want to get better, your time is best spent playing that game rather than talking about playing the game...

  I would argue that at the bronze level. A players time is best spent researching his chosen game. If your at the bronze level there are game mechanics you just dont know about or understand......Like walking into a brick wall.