Zerg

I've been trying to branch out playing some Protoss and Zerg.  Some thoughts:

1) It does make me realize how much I've learned playing Terran.
2) Crap, I'm bad at Terran -- I'm really awful with these other races!
3) The play style is unique and really awesome.  Not surprising to anyone that's played SC1 I suppose, but it's really great.
4) Aaaaaaaaand disgusting.  Seriously, SO GROSS.  The sounds and the visuals make me squeamish. EW EW EW
5) Since it's a lot harder to turtle (T is for Terran and Turtle after all), it forces me to be more aggressive.
6) Protoss is so pretty.  Voidrays are bad ass.
7) Why is it everything seems to be able to kill me and I can't kill anything else?  Boo!

Who said I don't need makeup?

Well, Jen did =)

"Because nerds don't need makeup while playing StarCraft II in the dark.*"
(posted here: http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2010/08/sunday-sweets-anti-nerd.html )
Re: beautiful MAC cake.

I mean, seriously though.  What hardcore player DOESN'T wear at least eyeliner to prevent glare?  I mean, it's about STANDARDS.  You can't have glare during the impending zerg attack.  Geez.

STRATEGERY!

SC2 -- LOVE HATE LOVE HATE LOVEHATELOVEhatelovehatehatehate

I get so frustrated with SC2.  Yesterday, I was at Fry's and tempted to buy the StarCraft II Strategy Guide.  $20 for 400 some pages of delicious geekery.  Not bad, and it was made by Brady Games -- who makes excellent Strategy Guides and the official guide through Blizzard.  At any rate, with some new strategies and renewed confidence I played a 2v2 with the dudeguymanfriend against some random pre-league awesomeness.

Well, until we got crushed.  They Bansheed us and I lost all my SCvs pretty early on.  We played some more games, but apparently my turtling skills are just non-existent.

My two greatest weaknesses:
1) I don't utilize the hotkeys.  If I remember to even set them, I end up forgetting to use them effectively.  I end up using my mouse to click or scroll around.  One of the first things they suggested for a new RTS player is to figure out a hotkey system and stick to it -- so get into a habit of setting them and having them be consistent.  E.g. having 1-5 as your buildings and 6-0 as various units.

2) I am really bad at scouting.  Even if I don't decide to play offensively any time soon -- I really need to get into the habit of checking to see what my opponents are doing.  There by being prepared and being able to counter their attacks.

Ok, I'll add a third one here, but I consider to be secondary to the first 2

3) I haven't learned my counters at all.  What do I do when I see zerglings? PANIC.  How about some Mutalisks? PANIC.  How about some Void Rays? FUCKING SURRENDER.

The challenges in SCII are great, but mostly it makes me feel retarded.  It takes practice though.  Why aren't I infused with these talents?

What I have gotten a bit better at is building things more quickly -- I often ask manguydudefriend what to build, he'll say "oh shit corrupters" and I'll yell "ahhhhh what do I make what do I make?!?"

I wonder if playing some of the other races will give me a better grasp for how to play Terrans.  Right now it just feels like everything kicks Terran's ass -- including other Terran.

You down with PvP? Yea you know me!

What is awesome about PvP in a RTS, is the good ol' fashion slaughtering.  The wild rampage and the freedom and fear of equality in death and destruction.

Sure, you could have the same thing playing against a computer -- but for people interest in PvP -- this is fantastic.  We started to see things being more fair in WoW -- previously, what gear you wore and what guild you were in could determine if you were targeted first.  Now with their ranking system, it comes down mostly to class.

The anonymity of SCII in some ways are a relief.  It does mean a lot less interaction with other people (especially new people) but the alternative of playing more with a small group of friends is a nice change.

In the age of social networking, we all have hundreds of people on our friends list, but how many of those people do you share your life with outside of facebook or twitter?

For a while, I was spending more time with my guildmates that lived in different states or countries than friends that lived in city.  Which isn't to say those relationships weren't important -- but I never saw that as a replacement for real life relationships.

There are certainly aspects of WoW that I miss -- even though Blizzard seems to be moving towards smaller guilds and raids.  A lot of those things I liked were replaced after the new LFG system.  For me, Blizzard made transitioning from WoW to SCII a lot easier.

NEVER SURRENDER! (unless you're losing)

A question that came to mind this weekend playing SC2.

At what point do you give up?
Of course there are obvious times -- in a 1v1 your units have been completely wiped out and you have no more resources. Oh, and you've made no dent in your opponent's infantry.  Then, it's probably going to be over.

The extreme example -- when you wait it out and hope the other team get sick of playing hide-n-go-seek and you insist that they find and destroy the final and last unit and floating building.  Really? Is that necessary?

--

But between having a fighting chance and having absolutely no chance -- there's a huge gray area.  Is it about the ultimate outcome or does taking out a few expansions worth it?

Maybe I give up too early or don't have enough confidence in my teammate or my skill.  I tend to want to start over once the scales tip out of my favor for longer than 5 minutes.  Maybe this habit of being too impatient is preventing me from learning enough.  To me, it feels like if you can't beat a group when you are starting off even, the chances of beating them at a disadvantage is not going to happen.

I think though, the motivation of playing effects people's play style.  I know I am competitive.  Winning is my goal and I rarely feel satisfaction even in a close game and I lose.  Other people are able to enjoy just playing, regardless of the outcome.  These people are definitely much more laid back.

For the most part I don't mind if the people I'm playing against don't surrender -- if I'm at an advantage I'll hunt you down -- well, within reason.  When my teammates refuse to give up -- I get really impatient.  I feel like it's a waste of time and energy.  I feel like they are being selfish -- but maybe it's me being selfish.

What I've been doing

What I've been doing in the game.

The campaign is awesome. I don't know anything about the old SC story line, but it doesn't make me feel lost about it. It does make me curious how it compares to the old game though. I started off playing on casual difficulty. I was feeling overwhelmed pretty early on. Silly right? There's a misconception that games should be some relaxing outlet -- sure, many are -- but I definitely develop anxiety playing this one. I think the purpose of games is really to invoke emotions. I'll get into this another time but I doubt it's a particularly unique or insightful philosophy.

Anyways, when things don't go my way from the start or I feel overwhelmed or out of control -- I want to stop, give up, and start over. I think though, learning to recover is just as important as learning to always be in control. I switched over to normal mode -- thinking that it would be faster for me to learn how to play "properly", but for a first time RTSer? I probably would have learned more sticking to casual than getting upset with myself for not being able to do normal.

I switched back to casual and relaxed -- had more fun following the storyline. My competitive side really does get the better of me more often than not. Maybe the skill I should have learnt from WoW is that I need to be patient. This time, instead of my character raising their skills -- it's me.

Anyways, I'm only on the 9th campaign mission or so -- I discovered challenges a day or two ago -- which reminded me again of the steep learning curve. I've only done the basic ones to 1 bronze and 2 silver (which took me a long time) but figuring things out is neat. It's a great way to work on microing without being stressed out about macroing. A week ago -- I didn't even know what those terms meant =)

It's like bouldering though, you can work on individual moves before switching over to a longer climb or an outdoor climb. Love it.

I've been also playing a lot of co-op. I have a lot of friends that play the game, which keeps my interest in the game and also of course, lots of good people to play with. Win.

Barriers to Entry

The barrier to entry for Starcraft 2 varies. To play against others though, it's kind of like snowboarding. You fail, a lot. You start to get better, but at the end of it, you still have a pretty bruised ass.

Having played other RPGs and understanding basic game mechanics -- I thought I'd pick up the game fairly quickly. Multitasking? Micro and Macro management? Yea! I can do that stuff!

I can't.

I really really can't.

Anytime I think I'm starting to get the hang of something, I play a match and I am quickly reminded of the suckatude. Even when I start to understand how the game is supposed to work -- or the mechanics of snowboarding -- I get zergged, catch a fucking edge -- and fall, no, CRASH.

So how am I still having fun doing all of this? Even though there is a steep learning curve, there is also measurable ways of seeing progress. It's not WoW, I don't get to collect gear or gain levels -- but with WoW, you don't really need to get better or gain any skills to progress -- you just need a lot of patience. Even PvP in WoW before Arenas was more about hours played than players killed.

I feel like a terrible player, but I've been enjoying the game. Looking forward to learning more and improving.