DEV TEST

I appreciate the sentiment. I don't have any vids since the last one I've taken, but I don't think a lot's changed. I can JG more consistently now, but only OS JGs. And they don't do much for me. [...]

It's a psychology thing with me. When I came back, I decided that I wanted to just be a participant, and not a competitor. But it seems I have to contstantly self-talk myself because I too often encounter stuff where I convince myself that it's lopsided in the opponents' favor. My first day back, I was constantly self-talking. Afterward, it just went to crap.

Because I didn't want the hassle of self-talk all the time; I just want to play, dammit. But in terms of serious talk about improvement... well, I know what level I want to be at. I'm committing to the mid-level. Going beyond that requires that I study the shit out of the whole cast. All I want is to not be angry when I encounter certain characters/tactics. [...]

Basically just characters, not really any tactics. I encounter certain characters, go "I don't know what to do" and then guarantee myself a loss. But I don't want to study all of the details. Some people like to grind knowledge; I'm not such a player. [...]

I've been thinking about a guide initiative I could start that focuses on conveying the important things to know, but I basically have negative credibility in the community for bitching all the time, so the movement would not gain traction.

Honestly, it's not that simple. For most of us, we play because we came to compete. And while that's not bad, it makes just losing casually a non-factor.

You have the right idea in wanting to put aside the blame-game in terms of characters/tools. (and lets face it, there are some dumb tools) However, if you want to magically turn from being a competitive player to a casual one, that's not likely

I struggled with the idea myself throughout SC4, that maybe I wasn't meant to be a great player. You might say that's crazy now given the rep I've unknowingly gotten nowadays, but it's true. But the key is, wanting to win, but not worrying about how you get there

That's where I'm at now. I see people I can beat or at least go even with winning majors, and it's not an easy pill to swallow. But I guess the difference is, I'm not satisfied with just being mid-level. So there's that.

If it helps, don't look at it as "I hate this char. They're too strong" Just call a spade a spade and say "I still don't know this matchup" lol. Since you really don't care to learn what you feel you need to, this shouldn't bother you to own up to it.

As for the guide, if it's something you think could help someone I'd say post it. Sure, maybe every big name player might not listen, but you never know who might be. I had no idea how many people even watched my Leixia tutorials and I started that basically for new players

I know it's not that simple. I've told myself multiple times that I'm going to casual up and I'm still not sure if I mean it even now. But as anyone can plainly see, I've got some mental health issues. I don't believe that insisting on being competitive is healthy for me when I am unable to cope with tactics that I can't overcome. [...]

Oh shit you posted more stuff. Hold on.

I think you've hit the nail on the head. "I hate this character" because "I don't know the matchup." And I think I know why. This may just be wild guessing, but I feel like the game is made in such a way where it is easy to exploit strengths and hide weaknesses. The strengths can make it so that the weaknesses are very difficult to take advantage of. [...]

Like... I look at someone like Mitsu or Cervy and it's like, "what can I even do?" I can't see what their weaknesses are to take advantage of them. You have to study the character to find that out; it's not something you can intuitively learn. What I want to say, is that the strengths are just that overwhelming, but I don't know if that's right. [...]

That's the kind of guide I want to get behind. For each character, concrete paragraphs. One for strengths (this will be exploited against you). One for weaknesses (the character can not handle this well). And then maybe some short lists, maybe 4-5 each, regarding specific moves. Important punishes, important safe moves, etc.

That would be easy to digest. Something that can be tackled. I feel like the official guide is on the right track here, but I feel the format could be improved.