At what point did you start getting good?
WhiteWeasel
Join Date: 2012-11-25 Member: 173197Members
Join Date: 2012-11-25 Member: 173197Members
At what Hour mark on your steam counter you started noticing your a lot better than the typical pubber?
In a team oriented game like Ns2 'good' can be a bit subjective thing because even a high KD rambo isn't likely beat a team that synergises well. Whether it be lots of kills, good team coordination, things just going your way in a given situation, or perhaps a mixture of these. What do you classify as good?
For me i'm not even close to good.
61 hrs
In a team oriented game like Ns2 'good' can be a bit subjective thing because even a high KD rambo isn't likely beat a team that synergises well. Whether it be lots of kills, good team coordination, things just going your way in a given situation, or perhaps a mixture of these. What do you classify as good?
For me i'm not even close to good.
61 hrs
Comments
PS: You aren't terrible weasel, we've played together.
By properly competitive, I mean fairness in all respects (no unlocks or perks based on rank progression, little to no skill abstraction).
This is based on anecdotal evidence in most of the games I have played. I note who is better than me in a game, see how many hours they have, and compare that based on my own performance.
For example, in XYZ game I may kick ass on a pub with 200 hours, but some guy comes along with 500 hours and kicks my ass (and everyone on the server). And once I get to 500 hours I can beat him, but have trouble with 800hr players, and get owned by 1000hr players.
Of course it depends on the player getting the proper experience. For example, a 2,000 hr TF2 player that actually sucks because he/she has not played beyond instant-respawn idle/trade servers.
And let's not forget the "official" time for truly mastering any given skill on a worldwide level is 10,000 hours. (It was in some book somewhere).
If a game has some depth to it, I usually also watch some videos about it first before I even go into my first match, so I already know my way around. This way I won every single one of my first 50 matches that I played in SMNC, so I dare to say that it works.
It's a miracle to me that many players dive right into their first online match without having even looked at the setting menu of the game.
Well, in DOTA 2 it is more about mastering the skill abstraction mechanics present (leveling up your character faster than the other guy and knowing which characters/abilities work in certain situations) rather than pure mechanical skill. It's similar to some MMORPGs, where once you reach max-level there really isn't much you can do besides click and win. A much lower level-player can't beat you no matter how "skilled" he is at the mechanics.
I'm not a fan of that sort of game design.
1. I couldn't say an hour mark. I could have played for 1000 hours and still not be decent. I could have gone >10 hours and gain enough of an understanding to be good. I played NS1 both pub and competitively, so I had a great start for NS2. I think I started getting good, in NS1, when I stopped playing so defensively. When I started playing more aggressively, I was more confident and would use the map to my advantage. The Equilibrium pistol skin (pistol sound mod) and an LMG skin may have helped too.
2. For comms, it's when they can micro and macro effortless while staying ahead of their team. For players, it's abusing the maps, being effective in their role, and able to work with the team. A lot of players are only capable of doing one, some two, less all three.
Also I think it has to do with the fact that I started playing when the game is still fairly new, bar beta play testers and ns1 vets, when most people really don't know what they are doing too. I jumped on the wagon when every one else did pretty much. Rather than playing in a game with an already 'established' community like SC2 & TF2
Even with that in mind, on average I'm usually higher up on the scoreboard than most other people when playing Marines. Playing Aliens is a whole other ball game for me. As a marine I tend to go out on my own more and still do well.... as Aliens I have a habit of playing the same way as I do a marine and going out on my own, doesn't work as well on the alien side.
What really determined when I became better in NS2 is more based on learning strategy, maps and tactics than anything else. I would say it took about ~100-150 hours to learn those, especially learning the maps without having to bring up the map layout all the time.
It's not that hard to become a good team player if you already have good aim. Just stick with teammates and try your best to protect them as a marine - hopefully they'll do the same. Make a friend and stick together as a pair in servers - the two of you might be more effective than a group of disorganized players. One must not downplay the usefulness of lone wolves, though. Harass RTs while the opposing team focuses elsewhere, ninja a PG, snipe some upgrades, etc. Challenge yourself from time to time by lone wolfing and you might eventually find yourself going toe-to-toe in disadvantageous situations, e.g. 1v2 and 1v3. There's always a place and time for both methods of gameplay.
so like public?
when i had no graphiccard and only playing with the integrated one 40-15fps; 1-7 stats
when i got my gtx 660 ti and i got 200-80 fps; 3:2 stats
when i took my old CRT monitor back on the desk and lowered my sens from 6 to 2 (at raw input@1800 dpi) i did a 30-2 and never played public again. (just two times a co_ map...)
Agree that hardware plays an incredibly big part of getting better at this game (or any).
Never thought of really fine-tuning my mouse sensitivity though. I've got a G500, so it's not too bad, I'll check it out.
As for me, I still suck with almost everything and I've got around 212 hours in so far.
I'm a decent marine with LMG. Sub-par with shotgun (never use it though).
I'm above average with skulk. I'm just average with gorge (I can't believe how good some battle-gorges are). I just started getting lerks now and then, still suck at it. I'm an awful fade.
I'm an average onos.
Average com as well.
My saving grace, I'm a good strategist and team player. Ninja PG, hit and run, get a beacon, communicate well.
But I find the game to be so incredibly different if you're playing lerk or fade, that you simply need to put in a lot of time in every life-form.
You could be the best marine in the world, but if you don't invest time in the fade, you'll be dead in less than 2 seconds.
WHO KNEW RIGHT
As for NS2, I have ~140 hours of playtime (I had a computer that was so bad before I just couldn't play correctly, I had an average of 15-20 fps) and I had to re-learn how to play the Skulk since I found myself dying so many times. I'm still a terror with the shotgun and I usually and easily rank first on pubs when I play Fade or early Lerk.
I usually play with a "don't sit around" mentality. I rush everything, to heck with the odds, and it usually gets me killed (I lose a lot of higher life forms and expensive marine equipment this way). I've been getting better about this, learning when to run away, not to evolve lerk, what I absolutely shouldn't rush in to, and that sort of thing. But I'm still no good at staying alive. I often have more than the average number of deaths. That said, I frequently end up with a respectable number of kills and the highest score too (or close to it) at the end of a round.
Some games I'll even go 10:1 and people start accusing me of hacking. But I imagine that happens to most players with 200+ hours once in a while.
-- As for commanding, I've done that enough times. I know my way around the interfaces and abilities, I use my mic, and I don't ignore my team. But I'm a terrible strategist (when I played Starcraft 2 online I lost every game against the other bottom-feeders). Fortunately in NS2 pubs the commander doesn't have to be the leader, so it all works out just fine.
I figure I will get a steam badge when that day finally gets here.....
A good player cares not about K:D, has a sound knowledge of maps, strats and can shut up and listen.
Throw in a little bit of aiming skill and you could field a good team of clones.
Most of the better players I have seen dont go 40:2 but closer to 20:23, they are smart enough to know that dieing at times is worth it (especially if you take out a harvester/armslab).
i imagine as soon as decent releases im gonig to suck until i know the map.