4v4, 3v3, and 2v2 play history.

Before getting into 1v1's, I wanted to feel comfortable just playing first.
So I started with 4v4's, then 3v3, and lastly 2v2, before moving onto 1v1.

And even though Day(9) once said this is the order you should start playing Starcraft 2 after the singleplayer, I never really did until World of Tanks 15v15 showed me what a clusterfuck random mutliplayer can be, and how I really don't give a shit anymore.


So I started with 4v4 and played about 10 games or so.
The highlight game I had was the very first which was such a ridiculous game that lasted an hour.


Almost right off the bat two of our allies leave, but I never realized it. Fortunately they both had a good amount of workers plus gas, so me and my last ally got crazy income.
Of coarse I had no way to spend so much money, but I teched quickly to Mutaling and started poking while my ally started getting mass Thor's.

In the end he mopped up with a ton of Thor's while I harrassed most of the time, until I finished them up with mass Ultralisk + Nydus worms.
Replay.


Then I went onto 3v3, playing a dozen games.
I think I had the most fun here, as it didn't feel quite as clusterfuckery as 4v4, or as rush orientated at 2v2.
My highlight game was a simple and straight forward game, where I was given time to macro with an early expo, and after my allies held off an early tank-marine push, we countered and smashed them.


One ally went with mass Mutalisk, the other had a bunch of Stalkers.
I dropped with Mass Queen with a dash of Hydralisk.
Yeah, Mass Queen. And I gutted his base, even when his Stalkers came back to defend.
Queens with transfuse, and a couple of Hydra's are stupidly tough.

Even got a message after the game from one of my allies who thought it was hilarious.
Replay.



Lastly before 1v1, was 2v2....... I really hated 2v2.
Only played 6 games before dropping it like a sack of hammers.
Most of the games ended with pissy little rushes, and I just fucking hate rushes.

The only game of note was where my ally rushed, and hurt the enemy Zerg drone line, before his Protoss ally defended and threw him out. With both the enemy and my allies economy in shambles, I expanded really early and got a butt ton of Lings and Banelings.



I went through the back door and finished off the poor Zerg, which was having a really bad day, and poked at the Protoss before his forcefields forced me to fall back and mass up.
In the mean time I took 2 more expansions.

Then the toss pushed one of my expos, and I just overwhelmed him with pure numbers and crushed his army, and he called it a day.
Replay.


When I was finally sick and tired of multiplayer, I went onto 1v1..... which I'll cover on the next post.

My review, Starcraft 2 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4 machups, is really a complete custerfuck.
The game just is not built around it, nor balanced for it. And so rushes are very common, and pure stupidity ensues.
On the bright side, you can do just about any stupid strategy you want and get away with it...... if you don't die within the first 5 minutes of the game that is.

I think I'll stick with 1v1, because at least then I can improve my gameplay.


~Yoh

My Starcraft 2 history.

Here's the rundown of my history with Starcraft 2.


I got a betakey way back in the second phase of closed beta from Blizzard, even thou I don't remember ever signing up for it, but I guess I must have. But it was a pleasant surprise all the same.

I never really got into Starcraft: Broodwar, and never really knew the multiplayer existed, even though I had been playing RTS games since I was a kid.
That being said, I really quite enjoyed the gameplay of Starcraft 2, and got hooked quite early to watching casted videos of it, namely HD and HuskyStarcraft, and later Day(9), and a few others.

Thou lately LifesaGlitch is quite funny.


Incidentally I never really got into laddering, and just preferred to watch instead.
I did play a little, and I was ok I guess, but I was just too intimidated to really get into it.
That, and I don't have a competitive bone in my body.

When it launched, I bought it immediately, which is rare for me. I played through the campaign, messed around with the editor, and a few custom games, but I never really cared for them.
But still no laddering, and I couldn't quite get attached to the community because there was still no chat channels at the time, which was just epic stupidity on Blizzards side.

Eventually they did put out chat channels, and I grew a little closer, but still not enough to ladder.
I did practice a bit all the same, I just didn't really play against people for the most part.




Eventually however I found Starcast, and hooked up with their community, and listened to their podcast, I started to play a little bit, but again not enough to want to ladder.
I played through the campaign for a second time on hard and got all the achievements just to prove I could, realizing that I really am not half bad at this game.

Incidentally what got me into laddering wasn't Starcraft 2 or the community, but rather World of Tanks. Being a competitive 15v15 PvP team game, I found it really easy to get into and shoot people in the face, even thought losing would often cause me to experience temporary incoherent rage.
Hurt my hands and broke at least one keyboard during my stay.



But thanks to WoT, I realized that I don't really have any good reason to avoid SC2 laddering, as WoT was causing me just as much rage as anything SC2 had done. So it felt like it was time to get into Starcraft 2 laddering as a regular thing.
(after a few more single player games)

And so, for the last month or so, I have committed myself to play at least one ladder match per day, which after a little hesitation and nervousness, I started to feel at home.
I do still get a bit of a shiver down my spine from time to time, but I just have to force myself to push the 'find match' button, and then pure habit takes over from there.


On the gameplay front, I really am not half bad, but I'll cover that in the next few posts.

In short, if your like me and you find it just hard to sit down and play Starcraft 2 because your intimidated, set up a regular time each and every day to play at least one game.
Start with 4v4, then move on down through 3v3, 2v2, and lastly 1v1 when your sick of the rushes in 2v2.

It works.


~Yoh