So I just won my first game of today but it was a real sturggle.

I lost a game vs a Zerg when I had a far larger supply, more everything basically, simply because he had mutalisks and I had no anti air and was too slow getting it out.

Well this game I had similar problem. For the first time a protoss attacked me with void rays etc. I just had no clue what to do, entered panic mode and basically failed miserably at containing it. He had nothing else though so I killed his base (lost my whole army though when it was really unnecessary.) I eventually won but the game was poorly played and for the second time I felt helpless vs air. If I upload the game to the replay thread would anyone have a look at it to give me some pointers? (bear in mind this is a newb vs a bronze leaguer game). Also perhaps someone could point me to a good VOD or replay of zerg coping well with air play from his opponent (any race)?

Thanks.

Loving all the "Protoss OP" QQ on ladder these last couple of weeks. Most likely means the game is closer to being balanced.

Just lost to a protoss counter push after I was maxed out. I had 80 supply lead. Very frustrating. I think I made the wrong units.

go to the replay / critique thread and ppl will look. or, just post it in the zerg thread, i'm sure ppl will look there.

So I stopped being a pussy and started playing 1v1 ladder again.

same. have to erase my bonus pool.

what is the bonus pool, exactly?

It's a pool that accumulates over time that is a bonus given to you every time that you win a game.

If your bonus pool is 100 and you win a game that gives you +10, you will get +10 out of your bonus pool for a total of +20pts for the win. Your bonus pool will then reduce to 90.

You get 1 pt in your bonus pool for, something like, every 212 minutes -- whether you're logged in or not.

The bonus pool amount is usually at the top right corner of your ladder screen, or it's somewhere in the Multiplayer window near your league icon.

If you lose, you don't lose anything from your bonus pool. So technically you only need a 33% winrate to breakeven. If you constantly have a bonus pool and have a 50% winrate, you will always be gaining points and moving up in your division.

I think I read it in that post from Blizzard about how to get promoted that they prefer your bonus pool to stay low to get a promotion. I could be wrong, and I'm not exactly sure why.

Just got a second Account on which I will play a bit Z/T on, pretty excited to see how it is to play other races.

DRG is indifferent to IU! he is dead to me.

Void rays might be good in pvp.

In PvP I've been going 3 gate robo off one base with a lot of probes and then if I scout a robo I throw down a stargate and churn void rays and zealots and hit really late.

Thanks for that detailed answer, Italian!

God there's no better feeling than clutch-scouting a proxy 2 gate and holding it off with perfect zealot micro.

Do you guys remember how awesome this game was when you first started playing?

When I got this game last Christmas and started playing it was like the most awesome thing I'd ever touched. The protoss music was spacey and solemn, just such an awesome atmosphere. The sound of a pylon warping in was so eerie and loud. What got me most was probably the stalker. "I am hereee in the shadowss..." just so ****ing creepy and awesome. I still love this game but I wish I could play it again for the first time.

Thats me right now! It's exciting to discover new things about the game and everything seems fascinating.

Argh getting a bit frustrated right now, not with the game at all so I am not contradicting my above post. Instead with a combination of myself and the ladder.

Don't mind losing as long as I feel I am improving and I believe I am. However I have gone 2 wins out of 18 matches the last couple of days including now 9 losses in a row and it starts to grate on you eventually and the fun drops out of it. I could have or actually should have won at least 4 or 5 more of those that I lost stupidly and I don't mind losing to people who I literally would never have beaten as long as I learn and improve. I don't understand why there are so many of them though? Diamond and Gold Leaguers, or even Bronze leaguers with hundreds of wins? I have played like 30 games total why are they only 'slightly favoured' lol? Where the noobs at? Throw me a bone every 4 or 5 games at least Bnet!

Let's see if I can turn this into a record breaking losing streak . What sort of records did you guys have at the start?

when the game first came out, everyone sucked, so everyone was probably on equal pace (given they did some replay studying/read a little strategy/etc). the game has been out for a while now though and people know alot of general strategies. you're going to have to work a bit harder to get up to speed than everyone else since you started so late.

I lost a toooon of games when I started out in bronze and was there for like 150 games AFAICR before I slowly crawled up to silver, then gold, plat, diamond. Just focus on making your buildings at the right timings, always making probes, and keeping your warpgates on cooldown and you should be moving up quickly. Practice makes perfect.

Consider posting some replays.

And don't be discouraged by orange, most people are still bad. When I was in silver/bronze I thought everyone was so good and WTFFF am I playing these people?

also, 30 games total is nothing...obviously since you've played AOE II, you should know that it takes many many more games than that to get solid .

I am using Zerg.

Already posted a couple and Orange was nice enough to take a look. Don't want to spam replays though.

Yup 30 games is nothing I know (AOE 2 games took longer but I am still sure I played like 30 a week easy), I want to emphasize I don't mind losing at all at this stage but I know there are people in the same boat as me out there and I would like to meet them just slightly more often .

Ra_Z, I'm sure there are a ton of people who are (or were) around your level, but I'm guessing the majority of them:
1) Quit SC2
2) Play only customs
3) Switched to team games
4) Got better

For any game, the lower levels will always have a higher turnover, and I think it's safe to say that if you play more, you'll eventually do one of the above as well.

Embrace losing right now.

I switched to Zerg for a few days and went 2-24. It tanked my MMR, but once I switched back to Protoss, I realized just how bad those players are in Gold and Silver. You won't realize it now, but someday you will.

I think the real problem is that you're coming in at kind of a funky time, during the ladder lock. People do weird things where they tank their MMR just so they can beat up on the less-skilled players. I've had a few games where people leave right away.

I had a game the other night where 20 seconds into the game the guy said, "Sorry I have to go to a Christmas party" and then left the game. Like..you didn't know before you clicked Find Match that you had to go to a Christmas party in 30 seconds?

My point is (and this is just a theory) that while you did your placement matches, you may have been playing against people who didn't care to win. So you actually won games that you probably wouldn't have won otherwise. This makes the system think you are better than you actually are.

I watched your replays and you're really not that bad. You are probably better at zerg than I am. haha

And to just put it into perspective, as you didn't know how to use hatchery rally points, when I first started playing this game during the beta I didn't know you could use the right-click to move. I kept hitting M-Left Click.

Just continue to learn and use one build order over and over until you get the hang of it. Macro is really the biggest thing in the lower levels. As you play and lose, or even if you win, think about something that you could have done better. For example, in the ZvP on TalDarim you should have sniped his pylon to shut down his 2gates and 1 stargate. That is just something to think about for the next time you see it. And then you learned about rally points. etc. etc.

Heck, I'm in Platinum and I'm still learning new things all the time.

Well I think thats true for everyone in every game but I understand what you mean. The population of total beginners playing 1v1 is low at this stage over a year after release. When HOTS comes out I imagine it will be a resurgence somewhat though.