Adventures of a StarCraft 2 Noob
Usually when I’m just looking to have some fun and don’t really feel like laddering or bothering with any human nonsense, I’ll crank up the ol’ AI and start practicing away at Protoss or Zerg, my two offraces. I do this for two reasons. The main reason is that, well, I’m still just a Bronze level player and by the time I get higher in the ranks, I may want to focus on a different race, so each deserves their fare shake.
Two, it helps me get a better understanding of what my opposite-race opponents are going to do on the ladder. While by Z or P is not nearly as good as my T (and my T isn’t that good to begin with), it isn’t exactly the most scientific of tests, but it has helped in just preparing me for certain timings and certain builds in a much more entertaining way than watching a video on YouTube or reading a forum post.
So I wanted to share a personal story of my time playing StarCraft, as I’ve been doing over the past few months. As you all may know, the entire reason I began writing this blog and recording games to YouTube was because I wanted to document my progress as I started at Bronze and - hopefully - started working my way up the ranks. Of course, no rank climbing has happened yet, but a funny thing HAS happened.
I’ve noticed that I’ve been getting better.
Premering on March 4th, Adventures of a StarCraft 2 Noob will be presenting a regular feature on YouTube called the ASC2N Noob Nightly!
Every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, new short episodes of the Noob Nightly will appear on YouTube, usually before midnight EST. The Noob Nightly will talk about the latest SC2 news, tournament results, answer viewer questions, comment on games, and maybe even some brief chats with notable StarCraft personalities. And the best part? The Noob Nightly will run around 5-10 minutes per episode, meaning you can blow through it easy and get on with your day!
Quick, fun, entertaining, and it all starts the DAY AFTER the 2012 GSL Season 1 Finals!
Don’t miss it! Subscribe to the ASC2N YouTube channel by clicking HERE.
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And follow me on Twitter at @GKickPerry!
Welcome to all my new followers and welcome back to all of my current ones! Thanks for hanging out, reading my stuff and watching my videos. Well check this out.
On Sunday, February 12th (that’s tomorrow, if you’re reading this today), I’ll be making a huge announcement simultaneously on this blog, on GKick.net and on StructureGaming.com!
Adventures of a StarCraft 2 Noob Episode 12: Timing and Aggression
I’ve noticed, as you’re learning to be a better player, one of the most overlooked aspects of improving your play is learning how to handle pressure. Pressure comes in all sorts of ways. Maybe you scout a 4-Gate or an early pool right after you’ve expanded. Maybe you lose workers to a Hellion harass and your economy suffers and you know you’re behind. What do you do? How you adapt to the situation and make quick responses to certain pressure?
Well, that’s the tricky part, and that’s something that I personally struggle with from time to time. When you’re at my level, you’re still trying to get your timings down, make sure you’re excuting your build properly and getting your upgrades and everything else, the last thing you want to deal with is harassment that throws off your timing or your focus.
When it comes down to making the evolution from beginner to competitive (not pro) SC2 player, learning to adapt and alter your gameplan is a difficult step. At least, it was for me. As someone who has come from a background of no RTS experience, StarCraft 2 has basically been my introduction to the genre.
So, now that I’m at the point where I understand my units, I have a good idea of what to build and when to produce, what do I do when I need to evolve my army? Despite the effectiveness of Marines and Marauders, certain situations call for a little more versatile force.
When it comes to being a new StarCraft 2 player, you’ll find that one of the most difficult decisions you can ultimately make is what race you want to play as. Many people will try to convince you, one way or the other, which race you should choose. Fact is, to a dedicated StarCraft player, your choice of race is the little “sub-culture” that you’ll become a part of. And most of the time, people have pretty convincing arguments. Truth be told, this game is far more balanced than many people would let you think. The only - ONLY - times you see any significant balance issues are at the absolute upper echelons of the game, and even then the differences are minor.
Fact is, you can be whatever race you want to be. Until you’re at the pro levels, you don’t have to worry about it. And hell, even then, you can still be successful. Every race is balanced enough, especially in the entry-level and ladder match leagues that you can really pick whatever you want and not feel underpowered. There are several things you need to keep in mind:
Adventures of a Starcraft 2 Noob - Episode 11: When Scouting Is King
So, if you’re like me, you may be new to watching the GSL group rounds and maybe don’t (or didn’t) fully understand how the group rounds are decided and who advances and who gets demoted. Well, I’m here to help!
First thing you need to understand is that the GSL is comprised of two leagues, Code S and Code A. Code S is for the best of the best, the major leagues if you will; Code A is for the better than the rest, or the minor leagues. In either case, you need to be great to play in the GSL, and it takes a lot to make it to Code S.
