Help! My playing level dropped like a stone out of nowhere

[TantrumDesire]

Greetings,
In the last couple of days I've been having a massive losing streak, and not only am I simply not winning but I've been also playing awfully by my own standards.
Not to mention that most of these losses were against players 200-300 points lower than me in ratings.
The funny thing is, just before this crappy period began, I was on an amazing winning streak, in which I won (and drawn) against players 200 points above me in rank, as well as playing extremely well by my own standards, of course.
After this winning streak, I took a 1 day break from playing, then the next day I decide I want to start recording POV videos of myself playing, and so I start playing, and all of the sudden my gameplay level drops like a stone, that's where the losing streak began.
Today I decided to drop the recording because that's the thing that might've hindered me, but nope, I'm still shit.
This whole thing is highly frustrating and depressing. I don't feel like playing anymore for some time.
(Now of course you can say that statistically speaking, you're bound to lose many games after a win streak, after all, you win some, you lose some. But this is not the case. The mere results of my recent games are not my main concern, but the fact that I am playing far worse than I used to before is.)

So, from your experience, what's the best course of action to coping with these periods of utter shittery? How do I get back on my feet?
Should I take a break for a little bit and then come back all freshened up and stuff? Or is it the break that rusted me, even if it's a short one like I've had before this shitstorm took place?
Should I instead just keep playing and hope for the best, despite my decreased skills and the subsequental mental status?
I fear if I keep playing the losing streak might still hold for ages and I could lose hundreds of ratings.
Or perhaps the best thing to do is to change something drastically? What kind of thing then? I have been trying to watch an even greater amount of pro level ladder replays as well as my own but for no avail... What the hell am I doing wrong?!

Oh, also I forgot to mention I'm talking about ladder only, I haven't been playing much global at all.
Come to think of it, maybe I should switch over to chill global 1v1 and team games for a bit, see if that does anything to my recent mental shittery?

I'm just hoping someone who's more experienced than me and has passed through this phase can help me through

pls halp, apologies for the long rant

[FtXCommando]

You know you can talk to a trainer to look at your replays to see where you're fucking up. You also gave no information on what skill level you're at. It's pretty difficult to give you advice solely off of "I'm losing more" and no other information.

Sometimes you win a lot of games, sometimes you lose a lot of games. Nothing to really make of it.

Also the only reason you should be worried about losing rating is if you feel you are overrated now and want to try and keep a false "high score" ladder rating or whatever.

[ax0lotl]

The frustration may be part of the reason you lose. For me, when I'm tired, I play zoomed in too much and rely on routine. When I'm relaxed, I am more game aware, do think of ecoing in time, am more creative, etc. Winning/losing sometimes is a reflection of in what state you are. If that is the case, then the losing streak may be a sign to take a break indeed. Or you just accept that you lose points.

Also, I have the impression that 900 rated ladder players are better at the moment than they used to be.

[Oeterama68]

Well some days everything just goes horribly wrong Things that have worked for me:
Try a different faction (or just change playstyle in general)
Play some custom 1v1's and try new plays and such
Look at your own replays and find your biggest weakness and pay attention to fixing/avoiding it (e.g. from taking a quick look at your replays I see you have a tendency to enter some really hard mass/e stalls), I think this is a process that should never stop either if you want to improve.
Find units and things you almost never use/do and start using them (Try dropping alot, when is the last time you tml'd your opponent in 1v1? When did you do it after sniping their tmd? Speaking of sniping things, when was the last time you blew up someones first t2 pgen? Blew up their e storage right before a big army+acu vs army+acu fight? Bomb their buildpower? Used a stealth base? Bombed all their radars? Etc, there's tons of interesting little d*** moves you know of but forget about using ^^ Custom 1v1's are a great way to get in the habit of doing them and figuring out the most efficient way to do so)
And my favorite... If all else doesn't seem to work it's time to go back to basics... Spam like crazy, as hard as you can ^^ (that doesn't mean throw away the units tho, use them effectively)

Ah f*** it, I feel like writing more so some more advice I guess ^^

Watching pro players is good in my opinion, but I also think it's hard to learn from people who are just way, way, waaaaay better than you are. Personally I've learned more from just watching the better people in my matching range (e.g. max ~300-400 rating higher) because then you can focus on one thing they just do a lot better than you do, while someone way higher will just be overall so much better that you can't copy them easily because their playstyle relies on doing a ton of stuff better than you do.

Since you like watching stuff, might I suggest checking out pov videos so you can see more than just what happens, as you see others going through the motions you can think about why they do the things they do and at the same time find out how you are wasting apm and how to spend it more efficiently, giving you more time to zoom out and pay attention to what the opponent is doing!

This thread has some excellent general advice for improving, it's a golden oldy!
viewtopic.php?f=62&t=10081

Forget about your rating, if you care at all about improving then it's just a number determining what kind of opponents you get to fight. Getting better is the number one thing, rating will follow accordingly.

If you haven't already, turn on intel range indicators so you always know where you have radar and where you don't.

That's all I could think of for now, hope you enjoy the shower of random advice ^^

[TantrumDesire]

hope you enjoy the shower of random advice ^^

Oh I don't mind long replies myself, in fact I embrace them. The more the merrier!
Thanks for the detailed input, I will try to employ your advice. Having intel range viewed at all times is something I did not have enabled but I will now!

Thanks to ax0lotl too!

Taking a break from faf is something I've been doing for the past two days and I think it's only worsening the situation. I will however take a break from ladder until I feel I am playing at my best again. For now I'll do with hosting some modest global games.

[Franck83]

Don't fall in a ladder rating addiction ! FA should not be the most important thing in your life... Take a break, buy flowers to your wife, pass time with your children...

[SilentWarrior]

Have you noticed what has got worse, in your gameplay?
Are you taking longer to decide what to do? Are you missing the timing of eco?
Or are you not aware of what your opponent is doing/building?

If the answer to these three questions is yes, then it means you have something trying to occupy your mind. Some level of anxiety, stoping you from being free flowing.
Maybe, the thought process of making live streams/recordings, has altered your state of mind. Where you are looking at yourself in the third person, in order to record. i.e. you're being the presenter and the producer at the same time.
Once you've started the process of putting yourself in the third person, it's hard to program your mind back.
You might have to push through with your recordings, until you feel more comfortable doing both.

Rather than recording your play, do Live stream instead. This will build up your instinctive thoughts, rather than some preconceived thoughts you'd have to put in, if you were planning on recording something. When you're creating something, you're thinking about so many things, all at the same time. Preconceived thinking is not the best way to play faf. It's about what is your opponent up to and how can I best counter it? This requires you to be in a state of flux/fluid. This is the opposite of preconceived.

If this is too much for your at this moment, then it really is best to take a break. Relax the mind, think of something else for a while. Then come back stronger, work harder and try harder.

Good luck, but remember to have fun.

[Lancezh]

I've played with you and i distinctly remember you telling me the same thing during the game.

Anyway, having a winstreak can cause just that, that you're higher ranked that you are (not saying you are but it's possible) and then you might have people that are ranked in a certain way and are playing heavily (like myself) and even though i'm about 200 points below you (or was) the gap wasn't that big. And my "true" rank was higher then than it actually was.

There's a substantial difference i believe from 700 to 900 and from 900 to 1100. I very very rarely lose a game to a 700 but i have a good shot at winning against a 1100. And i'm pretty sure that once i hit 1100 the 900ers will be much more threatening to me than now the 700 rated people. That might be all hogwash but i distinctly remember that i was stuck for a long time between 700 and 800 until i sorted my shit out.

It's also important to mention that rating is not everything and certain people have just different styles that work better against some and worse against others, i play very agressive and sometimes i get almost no resistance from even higher rated players. I often lose though with unnecessary ACU deaths as a result

Do what others said, don't just say "i need to win" analyze your gameplay regardless of outcome, go into the discord gameplay_training channel and challenge yourself and get concrete, specific feedback and be open if someone tells you "no, it's not as good as you think it is"

I think the fixation you have currently for the ladder rating is unfounded, if you lose your rating you don't deserve it, dont worry to much about the points, you will get back up if you keep playing. I would be up close where i am very easily again if someone hardreset my rating to 500, there's no question about that. Thats... the ranking system.

[partymarty81]

For me, I didn't start actually improving my play properly until I stopped obsessing with improving and rating and just enjoyed the game and what it brings. I play far less games on ladder now but at better quality(for me anyway!)

I still log on and watch lots of replays but play less to better results, strange!

[Heaven]

the entire community's playing level dropped like a stone out of nowhere