Why Starcraft II is a bad game

and Dota 2 is it doing all right.I just recently installed DOTA2 due to it's free download and free key for CS:GO purchaser. I wasn't really into "MOBA's" (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) ever before. I played Heroes of Newerth from times to times but it was just way too casual and easy and did not really make alot of fun.
I never really rooted against MOBA's in general but I wasn't a huge fan either (except for hating LoL [League of Legends] because it's a bad game) when I started downloading it. It looked alot more fun than LoL and HoN though, that's why I gave it a shot (plus it was a free download).

(unlimited namechanges)

After a slow and painful download - about 8 hours
(my internet connection sucks) - I finally started the game and I immediately realized that this game is awesome and is showing what it is ment to be - an eSport title.
Being produced by Valve it already has the perk of Steam which alows clan support and a constant
ability to change names. 
This fact alone already provides ten times the support Blizzard is giving to Starcraft II players but let's continue with the journey through the beautiful world of actually caring.

When I first started the game one thing instantly cought my attention. It said "Watch" in the top left corner. I clicked on it and it revealed an entire schedule of the so called "International 2012" (the 1.000.000$ tournament). They had all the information required for the full viewing experience In Their Browser. It didn't stop there though, the awesomeness continues as you can join Any game from the "International" as a spectator being eligible to switch into each players vision and at the same time not interfering with the game at all. How often have you seen Starcraft pros write "OUT" when an observer starts lagging? Probably every game there is someone in the game with a really bad connection. In DOTA you can observe the same way that Starcraft II allows you to do it but Not interfere with anything.

(click to enlarge [banners])

If you still manage to read while scrolling with one hand (if you know what I mean - This Is Nerd Porn) let me tell you that you can listen to the commentators voice while watching any perspective. The commentator is even able to Draw on the map while commentating making the viewing experience unbelievably good and on top of that you are able to buy a 'Banner' which is showing who you are rooting for and while watching the games of your favorite team you are eligable to win Items just by watching (items act like somekind of modification for your character - individualizing your DOTA experience).

This implemented goody is brining eSport to a new peak. The only negative thing is that DOTA2 is not having the "numbers" compared to other games on streams just because they stream their games In Their Client. I still think it's a great Idea and it will bring alot of new faces to the DOTA community and therefore into eSports and maybe Starcraft II.
That pretty much covered the amazing Job they are doing with the in browser eSport streaming. We are not finished yet though I want to continue telling you how amazing DOTA is and how sad it is that Blizzard doesn't give a fuck.
What general thing is Blizzard lacking in terms of comunity interaction?
Right - interacting with the community and listen to their needs.
Do you know what Valve does? 
Valve basically allows everyone to edit the game they want to edit it, let's say you want your own "Announcer" (the sound screaming "FIRST BLOOD") with an individual voice you can just create that announcer, send it to Valve and if they give their approval your announcer will get sold in their store even leaving you with a percentage of it's revenue. The same goes for hero equipment (Weapons, Capes, Hoods, Extras...) that can be sold and different skins.
Those things seem like it's totally normal for Valve to interact with their players and they seemingly realize the importance of keeping their players satisfied.
Let's go back to Blizzard and take a look what they are doing.
Hey. They at least got WCS (no offense it's great but just not compareable) and the new pimped out UI but what about the namechange people are bitching about since release and which was announced as "coming soon" for 2 years. Well guess who is not caring?

Replays Replays Replays

Today I stumbled across a new replaysite that may not be used as much as drop.sc did but it basically has all the same features and goodies. - sc2replays.eu -

The fact that I was not able to share my newest replays in "real time" (by using drop.sc) was really demotivating 'cause I really do enjoy uploading games I thought of as being sick or even educational. The fact that drop.sc demanded (or is still demanding) 2.500$ in order to "fix their servers" seemed a little bit fishy. Several times people posted on /r/starcraft that drop.sc needed to be helped out. People like ROOTDestiny ensured their help as soon as drop.sc would be revealing an what would be happening with the money as soon as it reaches drop.sc and in terms of them assuring us that a bankrupt would not be happening again (click for particular redditthreat). (so they are not trying to get donations again in half a year or even a shorter frequency)

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Somehow the concern of drop.sc just trying to get alot of money was still inside of alot of peoples head so they did not bother to spend money on drop.sc leaving them in a rough spot (not being able to extend the capacity of their servers and therefore not being able to provide drop.sc any longer)
Long story short - drop.sc is still down demanding donations in order to run properly.

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It was really hard to find something quite comparable to drop.sc but I finally managed to find one through (also) /r/starcraft. It does not have the function of "drag and drop(.sc)" but it's still pretty great website.
It's a "subpage" of the aAa (against All authorities) clanwebsite therefore being more reliable in terms of funding and organisation as supposed to the drop.sc organisation.
Besides that the new site is also more advanced than the drop.sc at draining informations from replays. If you upload a replay you are provided with two graphs indicating your APM throughout the game and the Armyvalue graph furthermore the sides is displaying the buildorders of both players, the average APM and the percentage of population built (eg.: 70% Zerglings | 10% Infesotrs | 5% Banelings). An uploaded replay also allows you to link a video (a casted version of your game) to that replay. External links to the battle.net profile are directly accesable in the replay. The only deficit in comparison to drop.sc is the not existing account data. (eg.: http://drop.sc/players/EU/1427209/Myu)
You can only search for the name and if you are having a short name like Myu (search for "Myu") it's just displaying names with the letters MYU in it (eg.: NOMYuvalShot is one of the ) therefore not collecting replaydata like drop.sc did but it's not that big of a flaw.

In the end I decided to upload all of my replays to both sides but manely to www.sc2replays.eu and therefore not leaving drop.sc completely (hoping that) maybe they are going to be able to fix their website and their debts. I am really sad that drop.sc had to (basically) end like this. No funding means no time being put in to the project. The basic upload function still works but the rest is buggy because the staff isn't able to fix those problems anymore.

Myu

It's been a long time

(Lloret de Mar - Spain)

ever since my last "real" post but I am currently sitting in school - finished all my work - and though to myself "might aswell".
It's not like I am not enjoying the writing anymore I just haven't had the time, skill or ingame knowledge to do things ever since I came back from Spain.

I already posted once after my arrival but it wasn't that insightfull of a post so I just recently cleaned alot of old stuff from this blog and I wanted to redo the post.

First of all the vacation in Spain was pretty great. Being away from home with friends only, partying is really fun (we went to hungary the previous year - also really great) and I can only advice you to do similar things
if you are having the money and the friends needed. 

The only negative thing I took from the trip to Spain was a really bad flue, combined with the backlash from a seven day marathon in terms of drinking baverage and smoking perfectly legal things (...) that knocked me out for about one week letting me and up with only one and a half weeks left of vacation and a three and a half week break of not playing Starcraft II.

(Matchhistory after I started playing [+40 for 1.3k master])

My motivation was almost not existing to crawl back into getting decent at the game. I started playing though and I was beating 1.1k - 1.2k Masters rather easily giving me a little bit of motivation.

After I started to enjoy my play more and more I had surgery in my mouth. They basically cut out some wires that destroyed my gum or something. (Sorry about my lack of knowledge)
What I know for certain is that it isn't cool to play SCII with a swollen mouth and while I am using painkillers. Further on the sudden start of school (after 6 weeks of lazyness) and the need to wake up at 6 am (6 f*cking am - freaking germany) made me feel tierd through out my freetime. (It's not that great to play while being almost asleep for half the game.)

Just because I was not capable of playing alot I manly focused on the non mechanical part of the game. While I was watching replays I focused my attention on the different mindsets (mentalities) of each and every matchup. I also "updated" alot of openers, in order to make them viable in the current state of the game. Alot changed in ZvZ and especially in the ZvT matchup. 

Not playing made me also realize that I promised youtube.com tutorials for Zerg. I came up with alot of videoconcepts and an entire concept for the "series" in which I am going to explain the Zergrace from scratch including the capabilities you are going to need in order to get decent at Zerg. I am going to go through all the matchups and share the new information I gathered while watching replays of  Western Wolves SortOf, Gamersleagues Snute, TeamLiquids Ret, Fnatics very own Moon and alot more.
I already started recording a little bit of footage but I am not quite satisfied. I don't want to put up senseless stuff.
The main problem I engaged is my bad internet connection which is basically forcing me to spend a whole day on uploading for a 10 minute video. That's why I want to finish at least 5 episodes before uploading them (it would be really annoying to turn up to my friends house every day for a new episode) .
I want to bring them to my friends house and upload them with a 16k internet. That would make things alot easier and also quicker.
They are probably going to take a while before being ready to upload but they are currently in the making!

In the end I want to focus YOUR attention on a new playlist I found. It's the one WWSortOf is laddering with and it's a house - trance type music. It's a whole bunch of good tracks and if you are having spotify this link will guide you to the playlist: (Click!)

Thanks for your reading <3 - Myu

(BTW: I switched my Twitter to myusenTT instead of maaaaaxenTT :) - just saying)

Introducing the new era...

of Zerg versus Zerg

I am currently trying out the new styles of ZvZ and I want you to be encouraged to try it out yourself.
While making my way up to the one thousand points I faced alot of Zergs totally destroying me with this "new" style which was performed on EG.IdrAs and MǂStephanos Stream and tournament performances. It's all about heavily upgraded Lings, Infestors and - later on - Ultralisks.

So let's break the basic gameplan down.

(click to enlarge)

We want to start the game of by either agression or passiv defense. It's personal preference but I tend to go for an early aggression opening 'cause it's easy to win the game right there and then but if you are not confident in those Ling Baneling chesswars you should not try it and just stay save with an early spine and defend.
Here is my particular starting BO I am currently perfecting in the Ladder.

I am opening up 14 Gas 14 Pool into an 21 expansion (really the 20th drone to the nat = perfect expansion timing) I am pulling out 3/3 Drones out of the gas when I hit 100 and I imidiately follow it up with Speed 4 Lings and 1 Queen (totally standart). After the first Queen is finished you pull back 2/3 Drones back in gas and start the 2nd Queen asap (21 supply). The Queen build in the Main is going to go down to the natural to kill potential Overlords that were forgotten by your enemy. You build Drones up to 25 Supply (you build an Overlord at 24) and from there on out you only build Lings (34 Overlord). You have to hide the 4 Lings next to the enemy Base and build 4 Banelings and keep 2 Banelings home to moprh defensive Banelings. Drone behind it. 
This is a Replay of me just winning with my opening: CLICK ME  

After you survived the earlygame (or gained a significant lead) you are free to transition into the style of choice!

The transition we are going to follow it up with...

(Click to enlarge)

We are going to transition in the following way: (I am not quiet sure how to follow it up properly yet or rather what's better - I saw 2 different builds in Replays - I am focusing on the one I trained)
As soon as we are ready to transition (when the aggression of our oponent is starting to get senseless and you are save - defensive Banelings + Spine - and we are having the proper amount of drones - enough to still have 16 on each mineralline) you build 2 Evolutionchambers and add 4 Gas and plant a 3rd Hatch and a Macrohatch and Spines (depending on the way your opponent transitions).
If he tries to secure his 3rd with Ling and Banes you are pretty save to win the fight for the 3rd 'cause you are having more Lings and probably better upgrades.
 If he goes 2 Base Roaches you have to be aware of a Nydus (see Picture) and build a sh*tload of Spinecrawlers in order to survive the hardcounter to this build. (Roach +1 Banelingbust)

Great - I survived the early - What's next?

Okay so here is what you have to do:
Here is an easly prioritylist to follow throughout the game (after planting the double evochamber)

+1 Melee +1 Carapace >>> Base 3 and Macrohatch >>> Lair >>> Infestationpit >>> 7 - 8 Infestors (As soon as the Infestors spawn you are save. There is nothing that can kill you at this early stage of the game that can't be defended with this amount of Infestors and Spines) >>> +2 Melee +2 Carapace >>> Banelingspeed (Why is this so important? Simply because you need Banelings to kill Hydras which is the Hardcounter to your T3 "Endgame" Tech) >>> Hive >>> Ultralisk Caverns >>> +3 Melee +3Carapace >>> Ultraliskcarapace >>> Adrenalinglance 

That's it, you won!

So I just camp the entire game?

(click to enlarge)

This statement is not entirely correct. You apply alot of pressure with Lings that runby to your opponents third Base (deny that base as long as possible) and Main etc. You can also (if you are on 4Base) split up a little group of infestors to harass your opponent with Infested Terrans.
What's important to note is that you don't have to saturate your 3rd overeager because you kill his 3rd which puts him behind anyways. If you overdrone your 3rd he can simply kill it and put you on equal footing which is pretty bad with no "highertech" Units (Lings with +2+2 are not even close to Roaches +2+2) You have to outmass him! As soon as the 3 - 5 Ultralisk spawn you can take on an ulimited amount of Roach Infestor. The only counter to your composition are alot of high DPS Hydralisk. You always have to keep a small amount of Banelings with your attack to kill those keyunits. 

Sounds pretty easy isn't it?

Not at all. It's way harder to "perfect" as supposed to the normal Roach style. You have to micro your heart out in order to make your Lings costefficient. What that means is you have to split your Lings like a champ WHILE injecting like one. It's really hard to keep up with those injects and even I (as 1000 pts dude) am having trouble to keep the energy below 100 which is a shame. It is really hard to play so don't cry about people doing it. I actually lost to a Zerg that just pumped 2Base Roaches eventhough me killing his 3rd several times. I could not get out enough Lings and enough injects to finally crush his push so it kept on growing.

Final words:

I am just starting to transition over to this style and this "Guide" is still pretty basic and nothing special so I am not entirely right in my post yet but I am trying to play it moreoften (I actually neglected to use Roaches for the past days just to get a feeling for this new Build). I already uploaded some of my "new" ZvZs to Drop.sc and I am posting them in the end of this post just to give you guys a quick first impression to what this build is.

I hope you enjoyed this Guide and I hope you still enjoy my writings.
~Take care Myu

Season 8 - Wuhu

As usual I am presenting you the stats of the prior Ladderseasion and my increase and or decrease in terms of win/loss and skill in the 3 different matchups. (plus I want to give you information for the next post which is going to be another tactical analysis) but first things first, the Ladderstandings at the end of Season 7.

So I actually managed (against all the odds) to get 1,000 points in the past Season and I am proud of it. To be completely honest I didnt expect me to get this far in my second Mastersseason but yeah it's awesome.

Let's  take a look at my different Matchups in detail...

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My ZvZ is by far the worst matchup in this statistic due to my lagg of experience in terms of metagame etc. Recently I started to look at it in a little different way and won to 1.2k Zergs.

My ZvP is basically about either losing to stupid allins or bashing them in macrogames.

My ZvT is pretty straight forward... I kill Mech and Tank Marine lose to pure Bio play and that's being displayed in my Win Loss.. 76% win is decent I guess and it is a display of the things I said in my last Seasons analysis (my ZvT is actually by far my best MU).

I am also seeing a difference in APM. I increased my APM in every matchup for at least 20.
For the people being interested in the differences (Season 6 & 7) I am going to post the stats from the prior season here:

(click to enlarge last seasons stats)

Going in depth with the maps...

(click to enlarge)

Who would've expected a different result? (Daybreak > Cloud Kingdom > Shakuras > Antiga Shipyard > Ohana LE > Entombed Vaelly > Metalopolis)

Daybreak as being the most balanced map in the pool is by far my best map, Ohana and Entombed as being the most imbalanced maps are my worst! = D but let's get over with the hate. I won't compare the maps with the one from the prior season cuz the maps were pretty shit.

I am now going to reset my replay folder and so on... if any of you is interested about my evolvement from 1/2 a year ago I posted the earliest replay (in terms of being played) on drop.sc.
CLICK ME
That's all I've got ~ take care guys

No time for a "real" post so..

Mission accomplished!

I just reached my goal but since I am on somekind of a winningstreak I'll just expand my aim towards the 1.000 points benchmark. I hope that I'll make it.