New Player: I'm afraid to start Ladder...

[SilentWarrior]

Hi Faf community,

As a new player, I'm afraid to start Ladder...

It's like going to the swimming pool and being told to jump into the deep end. This is real now, no more paddling about in the kiddies section, it's sink or swim time!

I keep saying to myself, I need to practice more, or I need to learn more, watch a few more videos, etc......

My imagination keeps popping up images of being taken apart. Thought of as useless and some salt thrown in for good measure.

Am I alone? in the way that I think. Is this a natural feeling that all players go though. Or would I be better off going back to my CIV III/4&5, where I get all the time in the world to make crappy decisions about my build order.

There are some people that might say, well if you can't hack it.....

Surely, there must be a way for me to overcome my trepidation?!

Any suggestions, examples or even a holding hand would be appreciated.

K

[Yakmann]

Yeah, I'm having similar problems. Once I force myself to actually start one though and it's not an absolute shitfest (for my standards), I feel much more motivated to start another one after that.

[FtXCommando]

Just pick a ladder map from the pool and host global games of it. Chances are you're worried because you aren't sure what you're jumping into.

[nine2]

The problem with ladder is until it works out how noob you are, it matches you against players you have 0% chance against. This is utterly demoralizing. Afterwards however you will be matched against other noobs and its fun. So just go and hurry up and lose 15 games so you can get to the good stuff.

[Evan_]

Just my thoughts but...

You don't HAVE to play ladder. And you don't have to feel bad about not laddering.

If you want to start getting better in 1v1, you can always host a custom game. It at least allows you control over the map and to a certain extent, your opponent.

edit: this has mostly been said already, oops!

[RocketRooster]

Get yourself a good trainer who will hold your hand through it and show you the ropes. I did, and it's been very worthwhile.

[biass]

This is real now, no more paddling about in the kiddies section, it's sink or swim time!

You'll find (after one or two games) that you'll still be in the kiddie pool when you play ladder, if you skill/rating dictates you belong there.
The best thing to do is banish your fear and get started;
dont be scared of losing, remember the noobs are not the people who lose a game, but the people who lose and then fail to gain anything positive from it, remember to look at replays or at least reflect on what you did wrong and work on improving it in future games!

[SilentWarrior]

remember to look at replays or at least reflect on what you did wrong and work on improving it in future games!

I've started saving my replays and viewing them.
I've noticed that some of mexes and units were killed and I didn't even know about it at the time.
Also there were times when I could have pushed, but just held my forward position afraid of stretching too far.

Thanks for the hint.

[ax0lotl]

I've started saving my replays

Replays are saved automatically in FAF. Go to bottom tab Replays, then top tab Local Archive.

[Brutus5000]

By the way, don't be afraid of only pros playing ladder. Recent analysis shows that we also have low-rated (<600) players with a few thousand ladder games
You can have fun at every skill level here.