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Practice Dilemma
 

I've been facing a dilemma lately during my practice sessions:


(1) Do you play your best style/builds that has garnered you success in the past, and trying to get your ladder rank/score as high as possible.

Or

(2) Tryout different and diverse strategies that will benefit you as a player in the long run, but having your ladder rank/score suffer as a result.


I find myself trying to do (2) lately as I've been practicing HoTs alot more. However, once I lose a few games in a row of trying (2) I get huge temptations to go back to (1) because I'm getting frustrated over losing/lost points, and also showing losing games to my viewers.

What do you find yourselves doing?


P.S: Stream will be listed on TL in less than a week because of their policy thing.

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

¿por qué no las dos?

Pick a target (eg, a specific tournament), do (2) until you have the builds that will become (1). If you have a target to aim at you might be better equipped to resist temptation.

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

Do 2 when you are not streaming, because you might chance upon a pocket strat you can use in the next tournament.
Do 1 when you want to entertain your viewers.
Either practice (2) or entertain (1)

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

Even though I have no real experience in the matter... I would suggest possibly alternating between 2 or 3 builds you would use for each match up. Once you feel you are confident with these builds, move on to the next however many. If you feel yourself getting bored... every 4th or 5th match try something completely new and exciting

GL on ladder Ray, look forward to watching your stream!

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

Personally i feel that (2) will get you further in the long run if you are still going to be attending LAN's and be considered a real threat to the other top tier players in SEA. To be honest you shouldn't be judged on ladder points/rank but judged mainly on how well your play is (mechanics ect..) and how well you perform at LAN's because allot of players can cheese to GM but wont go to LAN's because there macro is not solid and they are easy to prepare for.

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

Get a second account where you only use unique/unorthodox/cheesy styles while using your main account to play safe/standard styles that your comfortable with on your main account. Alternate between the two based on what you feel like doing.

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

2. Because ladder points/rank really shouldn't matter for someone who pro/semipro

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

I always try to do both.

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

I find myself in this situation a lot. I have builds that I feel very comfortable playing so I always go back to them.

However I think its best to experiment most of the time. I think at your level it doesn't take long to get to the point where youre comfortable with a new build, just a couple of games. Experimenting puts you in new situations that you need to work out, gives you the possibility of coming up with new stronger strategies and generally just makes you think a lot more.

I don't know how much you should divide the 2 up, I guess it depends how long it takes you to learn a build and become comfortable with it. It might even be worth having 2 accounts, one where you experiment and one where you just play 2 win, then find a decent divide between the 2 with the time you have.

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

I think both are important? I mean, for a 'pro' ladder rank isn't anywhere near as important as winning competitions. Ladder = practice, you want to develop as a player and learn many nuances of the game and improving your mechanics. But when you want to explore a particular build or style then you focus on developing that directly. Focused (2) and varied (1) play styles? idk.. what ever you feel prepares you for competitions the best

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.
Bruce Lee

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

I'm somewhat lazy about experimenting, if I want to add more depth to my game I'd just copy unique/cheesy/unorthodox builds that have used by a pro where the builds/timings are already refined (I have the same issues as you too where I don't like losing when trying these builds)

However, I don't find myself thinking as much about the game doing that, which is the main point of trying out new builds/styles.

I probably should do more of that if I can convince myself

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

IMO at your level you shouldn't worry about ladder ranking as much, but instead trying to improve yourself as a player. So I'd say going with (2), this may mean one step back for two forward but in the end it will be worth it. However it doesn't hurt to use both
GL GL

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

1)

play strategies you WANT to play, not the ones you think you need to. You lose games primarily due to **** ups, which aren't necessarily the result of 2) more so then execution or game sense fails.

1) only results in stagnation if you cannot notice why it is you lose or simply are not fixing it. Or if you're just a coinflippy fucktard getting what they deserve.

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

the meta game changes so much you have to do 2).

maybe its not chanigng almost daily now that its been out for awhile, but even so theres huge meta switches every 1-2weeks, esp on KR. just copy builds from GSL/proleague and learn those i think is best, use judgement to determine whcih builds to use

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

I play Terran so 2

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

Good discussion and solid advices guys. I worry about ladder rank because I'm pretty much right at the KR GM cutoff when I focus on my few go-to builds (1). But when I start doing (2) I tend to lose a fair few, but is so damn rewarding when you play it great and beat opponents you wouldn't be confident with (1).

Also ladder rank/score is good for the ego, which is what drives me to play. The only reason I experiment with (2) is so that I can further raise my skill level, which is indicative from the ladder rank/score.

P.S I particularly like the "get two accounts" advice from Fenner and Poker.

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

One particular example of this is going Forge scout against Zergs. Most Zergs are 15 hatching as a response to the gateway expand craze, so I pretty much grab many easy wins from cannoning 15 hatches. However many times even though I know my opponent is going 15 hatch and I know I can go for an easy win, I elect for the gate expand because it is something I want to practice.

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

If you want to practice Gateway Expand then practice Gateway expand! there are going to be times when they go hatch first against it anyway and as long as it doesn't result in you instantly losing then it's still relevant, just harder then it might otherwise be. If it's a strategy that you want to be able to do in a competitive match then there's no reason not to try it.

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

If you're worried about your rank at GM KR cutoff and don't want to buy a new account for smurfing you could always make use of your unranked MMR as your "experimenting" practice. Will just be a pain to get the MMR up to scratch at first.

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

Ladder points are a excellent motivator, but aren't really relevant when it comes to being a pro gamer or high level gamer. Not saying that you should only play ladder to practice new builds but you should be focusing on which builds would be the most effective in tournaments and the like.
I suggest a balance of both, refining already polished builds (1) and practicing them isn't a bad idea, but learning new builds to have under your belt, especially in Best of 5/7s is always handy (2)

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

I'm on the 2 accounts boat.

Having 2 accounts opens a wide array of flexibility/options to practice. Having one of the 2 accounts being completely anonymous also helps~

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

Both. Just take note of your peak points before branching onto 2 so you can brag.

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

I think you need to do both

perhaps use NA to practice new builds because 1) most you western viewers will be impressed you beat random NA "pros" and 2) random NA "pros" are alot easier to beat with random stuff than barcode koreans

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

@edge bonus pool ruins that : P

also i think 2 accounts is great. pig uses 2, though slightly differently, and he says it works wonderfully

Re: Practice Dilemma
 

2 accounts is one way to do it or use kr for your solid builds and na for trialing new builds