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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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

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~

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

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

@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

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

I second what Stally said.

Because you're at that GM cutoff, IMO to keep the momentum going do (1) when you're on KR. If you're wanting to expand your strategical expertise in the game, NA is the best place to do it. Having two accounts doesn't hurt at all either; in that case you can always do (1) on your main and (2) on your second account.

Gotta disagree with all the people saying that ladder rank doesnt mean anything at a pro level. The builds you are comfortable with you need to do agaist people better than you meaning you need to maintain the highest possible mmr for them. The other builds you are just learning are better done against people ranging from below to above you. Below and equal with you allows to get some comfort with the build and gain some muscle memory. Playing it above you is the best way to find and plug it's weaknesses. Definitely need to go the route of either playing unranked until you feel comfortable bring it to ranked, using another server as a practice realm, or buying another account.

Haha Another, just scale it up with mathematiczz %)))

so in my perspective, playing no.2 is actually one of the worst things you can do, simply because there are just too many styles. You'll end up spending every game playing game-for-game, trying to simply win every game instead of trying to get "better". I feel that instead of trying to learn everything at once, you should take the styles one by one (though you should in the end learn everything). Practicing 10 games of ZvP in a row, then practicing 10 games of ZvT in a row, and then 10 ZvZs probably gives you better practice than just 30 games in random order.

Also being happy while you stream is pretty important haha tilting makes you look like idra

I've been practicing to win points on ladder for so long now and I only recently realized that it's kind of hindered me as a player. I'm trying to play more diverse now and have a couple of weird unorthodox PvZ/PvT builds. My PvP is still pretty standard though.

Once you practice a style for too long you get kind of "skill capped" where you've figured everything out for that strategy and mechanics are the only thing that you're improving. As a Protoss player, close to flawless macro mechanics aren't that hard to achieve (less than t/z imo), so it ends up being about the engagements you take and your micro.

I think you should try to evolve your strategies to suit the current metagame, from what I've been seeing in proleague and GSL I think this is the best way to become a successful player.