Starcraft II

[Jedo]

I'm Jedo.780

Because of go though I feel like I don't have any real time for starcraft

I'll still try to get better though!

[Rafa]

i havent purchased my copy yet, so i´m a bit jealous XD jk.
Did they implement anything nice that the beta didnt have?

[Mivo]

The campaign.

[Hushfield]

StarCraft 2 happened, and I went on in instant go-break for over two weeks. The week before release is spent testing out openers and fiddling with the multitask trainer in the map editor, and now I'm playing through the campaign and mostly team games with friends.

For anyone who is playing in Europe, feel free to add me:

Hushfield.604
Most played race: Terran
1v1 Silver
2v2 Gold
3v3 Bronze
4v4 Platinum

[Mivo]

I've played a bunch of games online now and my impression so far is that the leagues are still very imbalanced. In the bronze league (1vs1 and 2vs2 with my ladyfriend) I mostly get unranked opponents or (in 2vs2) players who are in the platinum or gold league. This is like a 20k playing an even game against a dan player. Limited fun and limited learning. I'd say only about 15-20% of our games have felt even and were not extremely imbalanced with a huge gap in player skill.

I hope that the leagues will stabilize a bit over the next few weeks and that players, who clearly don't belong into bronze or silver, move up to the more appropriate leagues.

[Toge]

I was watching those Day9 daily commentaries. In this game at 8:30 minutes mark he says that he only ever watches replays at "normal" graphics settings and plays on "low" instead. He's a good player, so I'm thinking here that turning graphics to low has some kind of gameplay impact. Do pro gamers in general favor low graphics? FPS and maximum responsiveness is one of the most important things serious gamers want of engines, after all.

I've played some of CS:S and I can say that turning off many of the graphic effects adds clarity to otherwise chaotic environment. I'd be interested to hear other player's stance on this issue.

[fwiffo]

I can't imagine it's for performance/frame rate reasons. The game is just not that demanding, even when you've got a every Zerg and his brother swarming down on you. My box is rather beefy processor-wise, but it's not that much of a gaming rig (just an HD 5750 for video). Still, it seems to maintain 60 fps at high quality 1920x1080.

The only thing I can think is that a lower graphics setting would have less visual clutter in terms of shadows, particle effects, debris, etc.

[Aphelion]

Its the visual clutter. You don't want to process all that useless information such as shadows, lighting, what not when you have only split seconds to react.

[schilds]

I've played a bunch of games online now and my impression so far is that the leagues are still very imbalanced. In the bronze league (1vs1 and 2vs2 with my ladyfriend) I mostly get unranked opponents or (in 2vs2) players who are in the platinum or gold league. This is like a 20k playing an even game against a dan player. Limited fun and limited learning. I'd say only about 15-20% of our games have felt even and were not extremely imbalanced with a huge gap in player skill.

I hope that the leagues will stabilize a bit over the next few weeks and that players, who clearly don't belong into bronze or silver, move up to the more appropriate leagues.

I think the leagues and divisions are purely cosmetic. It'll be just like any other ranking system underneath, you have a global rating and you play people within a window around your rating. The window probably gets wider the longer it takes to find someone.

[edit] However, the leagues/divisions do seem to be messed up. I just got 'promoted' from the middle of a gold division to the top of a platinum division (admittedly the new division only has 10 or so people in it). I had a look at the points of some of the people I've played and there are people with more points in silver or gold ... Seems kind of random. Maybe points aren't related to rating and are just used to rank you within your division? Also, saw a post on a random forum claiming he lost 5 games in a row and got promoted, *shrug* [/edit]

[edit2] I checked the match history of 2 other people in the same platinum division, while I've been playing gold/silver, they've been playing diamond/platinum, They were 1st/4th and I'm 3rd in the division, which leaves me questioning what the points you get have to do with anything (other than something local to a division). Also, my opponents seem to mostly be 'slightly favoured' or 'equal'. Perhaps my 'promotion' was a bug :p. In any case, it would suggest that the league/divisions thing is just a facade over some hidden rating system. [/edit2]

Sha.939 (s.e. asian/oceania server)

Btw, does anyone else find themselves thinking in go terms (aji, thickness, etc.)?

[Hushfield]

Its the visual clutter. You don't want to process all that useless information such as shadows, lighting, what not when you have only split seconds to react.

Indeed. It's what I did when playing Unreal Tournament '99 back in the day: You tune the playing field to make certain things stand out better, for instance turn world texture detail to low to make it a uniform color and model detail to high, so you can see units more clearly against that flatter backdrop.

However, in Day[9]'s case I do think it has to do with frame rates, because he is streaming in high resolution, there's that flash encoder going, and all these other things running on his pc as well. I think that's at least one reason why he does it that way.

Btw, does anyone else find themselves thinking in go terms (aji, thickness, etc.)?

I do find myself applying the term 'transitioning' in my go analyses now. ^^ Double hoshi into early expand ftw!

[fwiffo]

Btw, does anyone else find themselves thinking in go terms (aji, thickness, etc.)?

I think more in terms of "Why are all my dudes wandering over there?", "How do I build firebats?", "Where did my banshees go?", "Yes, I know I need more blast supply depots." and "Why is that building on fire?"

[Solomon]

Btw, does anyone else find themselves thinking in go terms (aji, thickness, etc.)?

Too many people play hamete in the ladder -__-. I'd say over 30% of my matchups have involved 6-pools, cannon rushing, or proxy rax/gates. As if that wasn't annoying enough, they try to hold a conversation to distract you which is just BM.

[fwiffo]

It kinda seems like strong players can get away with an awful lot of hamete. Even a lot of the high-level games I've watched have had some successful early cheese. And when it's not a knockout blow, it at least is fairly successful harassment.

[MountainGo]

It kinda seems like strong players can get away with an awful lot of hamete. Even a lot of the high-level games I've watched have had some successful early cheese. And when it's not a knockout blow, it at least is fairly successful harassment.

I've seen that video before; it's hilarious. That is a top "foreigner" (non-Korean) doing his placement matches, so basically a 7-dan playing DDKs. He can do whatever he wants and he'll win.

I actually enjoy getting cheesed. It's funny, it teaches me the value of scouting, and it's rewarding when I'm able to see it and counter it.

[Mivo]

I'd say over 30% of my matchups have involved 6-pools, cannon rushing, or proxy rax/gates.

I admit I have been using a 6-pool opening in a few zerg games. :p It works really well against many people in the lower leagues, and it actually helps me to learn some "micro". Many things in the game are "cheesy", even stuff like walling off your ramp (the fact that every map has a ramp makes it harder for zerg) or plastering the map with photon cannons.

But I'm generally bad in the middle and end game. If I don't win a game in the first 15 minutes, I'll almost certainly lose. Well, only been a few days, so I guess that's okay! (Hmm, in Go my opening is also better than my middle and end game ...)