I've been having some problems with the way I play these days.. I'm a really dedicated player who's always willing to get better, and I feel like I'm definitely a "CAL-Main" material in knowledge wise (if that makes any skill clarifications).. Sorry for using such description, but that's the only thing I could think of haha.
Well anyways, what my problem is the frags in scrims. I know I know, you guys are saying "frags don't matter, it's all about winning the rounds and scrims/matches as a team", but I'm talking about individual skills problem here.
To let me go into more detail, for example, even when I'm pugging with people I KNOW are worse than me on my team, I'm still not getting top frags at all, in fact maybe even the lowest or the second at that.
Don't get me wrong here, I'm not someone who has just started CS and is complaining. I feel like I'm at the point where I can't get any better ALREADY, which is definitely a no good because my goal and dream is to get as far as Invite level (it's a dream that is possible, no? haha :P).
So having this problem is a major issue for me because I practice for a long time in deathmatches, watching demos, going into a server and holding spots, playing against bots on aim maps, and think why I would do so badly in scrims.. yet I can't seem to find out why.
I keep dying so stupidly and don't get that many frags. Even at that, the frags I DO get are those "worthless" ones where the enemy probably wasn't even looking at me.
The obvious thing to say to this I guess would be "then don't play stupid", but what exactly is "stupid"? I'm probably one of those smarter players as I can actually USE my brain and stuff, communicate, know how to use guns, and all that fancy but I feel like I'm in between being a passive player and an aggressive player which gets me stupid deaths.
I look at players better than me in scrims and ish, and the things they do I can completely understand why and even in addition, I could have done what they did smarter.
Yet I take a look at the scoreboard and they're the top fragger while I'm not. They're alive, yet I'm not. Why is this?
So yeah.. I feel like I just kind of dragged this whole thing and didn't get to the point, but have any of you guys been through my situation? Sorry for such long QQ problem here but any tips from people would help incredibly. Is it possibly timing, playing while burnt out (which I try not to do), focusing TOO much in game and not playing for fun, or what?
And if anyone happens to say something about replying in depth only to premium members, I in fact was previously but ran out and I am planning to get one tomorrow.
So yeah... Thanks a lot to those who actually read through all and replied, much appreciated..
To me, frags don't have anything to do with smarts. It's all about the aim if you want frags. I mean if you want to be a little more agressive in-game, go ahead but make sure you know how to peek and you know exactly where youre going to be focused on shooting. More than likely, if youre just pugging with randoms and they are top frag when you are on the bottom, youre probably just trying to be too careful. I wouldnt sweat the frags man, just play for fun especially if its a pug. Take some chances, work on your peeks, and just your overall agressive game.
I find that when I'm just running around while not having a clue what I'm doing (pug or other wise), I tend to frag alot less than I do when I played with my team. I play better when I know exactly what I'm doing at all times and I have teammates that call when they die or what they see (I'm a strat caller so I'm really picky about that)
"So having this problem is a major issue for me because I practice for a long time in deathmatches.. playing against bots on aim maps, and think why I would do so badly in scrims.. yet I can't seem to find out why."
What I like to do is going in a server by myself, then vizualize the whole game in both sides/visions. Understand every movement of the opposing team and have an answer to each possible scenario. Be prepared before it happens. What I mean by that is that you have to put yourself in the other player's shoes and try to predict what he's going to do next so that you can counter it. It's not as simple as "this guy might rush banana, I should pre-nade there", it's deeper than that.
For exemple, If you know a CT is going to rush down banana, then you should think about where he's going to check/look to avoid being where he's going to aim and wait for him in an unexpected spot/timing. Try to counter his actions by doing the unexpectable. This is where the quote "expect the unexpectable" came from.
Also, don't play only for "fun" (it'll only make you play dumb), you need to play smart but try not to think too much about what you need to do because it'll just create useless pressure on you. Just prepare mentally before peeking an angle and it'll become instinctive after a bit (ask yourself if it is really necessary to commit this or this action (and how you could do it, etc), if not, you can delay it for later. The tricky part is to think quick and briefly to keep a good reaction time as much as possible.
As far as frags go, as you play smarter you'll notice frags also come more naturally and more often. Hope this works for U 2; gl =)
This comment was edited on 04/19/2009 at 11:20 EDT
1) You're developing bad habits from playing too much in too many different settings
2) The quality of your opposition is usually bad
3) You play and play and play, but don't analyze your mistakes
4) You haven't developed your own playstyle
First of all, honest question - does your aim suck? I'm betting that it doesn't. If it doesn't (or if it is actually pretty good,) stop deathmatching and playing with bots. Play scrims only. The best players don't constantly deathmatch, they only do it to warm up and keep their aim "fresh." If you already have decent aim and continue to deathmatch and play with bots, you aren't learning how to play against real players and real counter-strike - you're gonna develop horrendously bad habits for scrims.
The best way to improve your ingame instincts, or gamesense, is to play against better players. Make an agreement with your team that you will only find high quality scrims, and if you don't find them, you'll call practice off or practice in the empty server instead. Then, once you've found a good scrim, unless you are wrecking their faces, you need to record POVs of your playing and analyze, analyze, analyze. Look at how people play the game and come up with your own playstyle to beat it.
Part of skill, to be very honest, is instinctual and talent-based. In other words, it's partially determined by how many steps you can think ahead instinctually in a fight. Let's say you are in a firefight with an opponent, and you think "I"ll do this, it'll win." If the other guy is better than you he'll think "he might do this" and will be ready for it. Then there you go, doing what you think will get him, then you get blasted. Example on de_train: You think: "I'll shoot up the ladder, and shoot him in the face." Better player: "This guy will probably shoot up the ladder, because he's aggressive like that." How does he know you're aggressive? Maybe you were the last time you fragged him, or he fragged you. And there you go, boom you get prefired as your coming up the ladder.
This is where the analysis comes in. Is this you? Don't let the players you're playing against ever know what you're going to do next. Try to think ahead of them. Most players in this game think zero steps ahead (they just do what they feel like) or 1 step ahead (they'll do basic adaptations if they got owned by something before). Some of this might simply be angles that you play. Did you play a passive angle on CT arch on de_inferno and blast the guy coming that way? Try playing a passive angle from library now, watching exactly the same spot that he'll have to cross in order to check where you were last time, etc. Did he get to arches rather quickly? That means he moved through the map without checking everything - perhaps you could push up to a closer spot and surprise him, etc.
I know exactly how you feel, because sometimes you play against players who just read you no matter what you do, and those are the better players - the players with good gamesense and instincts - and this is largely the ability to think ahead.
But this, I repeat, does not mean you have hit your skill cap. It just means that improvement will be hard, and paradoxically playing less might be the ticket. You should take an honest assessment of what kind of player you are, what your strengths and weaknesses are, and come up with your own playstyle. Spend less time just playing, playing, and playing - you'll develop bad habits. Play only high quality opponents and then record POVs and analyze your own demos and think of something you're really good at that will also get the drop on your opponents.
One big thing to take into consideration is that, while you may practice holding angles etc. versus bots, that can actually hurt you when it comes time to scrim. Bots (even the highest difficulty) cross corners like retarded clowns. Holding your spot against a bunch of bots might get you to improve your positioning, but your reaction time on shots where you are holding an angle could get really messed up, as may your crosshair placement while holding said angle.
Also, never overestimate your own skill. I see you saying a lot of "I'm a really smart player, and I'm a lot better than most people I play with." While it's great to be confident, overconfidence leads to stupid deaths. Peeking when you shouldn't, pulling out nades when someone is about to push you, are just a few examples of bonehead mistakes you make when you underestimate your opponent, or overestimate yourself. It's best to play every situation like fnatic is on the other team (if you're playing seriously), until you've figured out their weaknesses [e.g. pushing after smoking, playing the same spot round after round].
Basically, the skill of the people around you should directly affect you. If you play with bots all the time, when you play good players, they'll destroy you, especially if wreaking havoc on bots / deathmatches / pubs has made you overconfident.
Wow ALL of these replies are great, I'll keep everything in mind :)
And sorry if I sounded a bit cocky haha, I just didn't want to sound like someone who doesn't know anything about the game yet and is just complaining!
Everyone else has answered most of your questions, but I'd like to say I used to feel the same way. I've always considered myself to be a very picky player. I always have to know what's going on. I feed my play style off the calls of my team, so I'm not one that will naturally just want to pug it up.
Almost two years ago exactly, I remember feeling like I had hit my height as far as skill potential goes. I was considered the smartest player on my team and even a foundation for the team, but I NEVER put up the frags. It used to really play on my mind and I used to feel like the team would suffer for it. I lost a few curial rounds in CAL playoffs and then in CEVO finals matches respectfully and we lost, then we broke apart. And that was what broke my back. I knew I could get better, be better than what I was, so I started trying to force myself to get better. That obviously didn't work and I quit for like 5-6 months...
I decided to Deathmatch one day just because it had been so long since I had played and I love the game so much. My CS still had tons of weird settings that I messed with before I quit, so I changed everything back to how it was when I first felt that I was at my peak. Once everything felt natural again I started playing, mainly DMing, and I realized a very big problem I had. Over-doing something. Over compensating my aim, over analyzing my opponents, over everything. So I simplified my game. Slowed my aiming down and played a little wider on my angles at first to get my reaction back. I started dropping bombs...I was amazed at how just slowing down and not letting myself get too into the game worked wonders.
Oh, and don't play against bots, DM too much, ect ect blah blah :D
One major issue is that if you feel you're "playing stupid" you need to know what your teamates are watching and how they are watching it. Communication is key but also knowing and being comfortable with your map/side/team is important. Go over strats/setups. get each others backs. then you can just focus on one thing and you will minimalize your chances of being randomed.
I've been having some problems with the way I play these days.. I'm a really dedicated player who's always willing to get better, and I feel like I'm definitely a "CAL-Main" material in knowledge wise (if that makes any skill clarifications).. Sorry for using such description, but that's the only thing I could think of haha.
Well anyways, what my problem is the frags in scrims. I know I know, you guys are saying "frags don't matter, it's all about winning the rounds and scrims/matches as a team", but I'm talking about individual skills problem here.
To let me go into more detail, for example, even when I'm pugging with people I KNOW are worse than me on my team, I'm still not getting top frags at all, in fact maybe even the lowest or the second at that.
Don't get me wrong here, I'm not someone who has just started CS and is complaining. I feel like I'm at the point where I can't get any better ALREADY, which is definitely a no good because my goal and dream is to get as far as Invite level (it's a dream that is possible, no? haha :P).
So having this problem is a major issue for me because I practice for a long time in deathmatches, watching demos, going into a server and holding spots, playing against bots on aim maps, and think why I would do so badly in scrims.. yet I can't seem to find out why.
I keep dying so stupidly and don't get that many frags. Even at that, the frags I DO get are those "worthless" ones where the enemy probably wasn't even looking at me.
The obvious thing to say to this I guess would be "then don't play stupid", but what exactly is "stupid"? I'm probably one of those smarter players as I can actually USE my brain and stuff, communicate, know how to use guns, and all that fancy but I feel like I'm in between being a passive player and an aggressive player which gets me stupid deaths.
I look at players better than me in scrims and ish, and the things they do I can completely understand why and even in addition, I could have done what they did smarter.
Yet I take a look at the scoreboard and they're the top fragger while I'm not. They're alive, yet I'm not. Why is this?
So yeah.. I feel like I just kind of dragged this whole thing and didn't get to the point, but have any of you guys been through my situation? Sorry for such long QQ problem here but any tips from people would help incredibly. Is it possibly timing, playing while burnt out (which I try not to do), focusing TOO much in game and not playing for fun, or what?
And if anyone happens to say something about replying in depth only to premium members, I in fact was previously but ran out and I am planning to get one tomorrow.
So yeah... Thanks a lot to those who actually read through all and replied, much appreciated..
What I like to do is going in a server by myself, then vizualize the whole game in both sides/visions. Understand every movement of the opposing team and have an answer to each possible scenario. Be prepared before it happens. What I mean by that is that you have to put yourself in the other player's shoes and try to predict what he's going to do next so that you can counter it. It's not as simple as "this guy might rush banana, I should pre-nade there", it's deeper than that.
For exemple, If you know a CT is going to rush down banana, then you should think about where he's going to check/look to avoid being where he's going to aim and wait for him in an unexpected spot/timing. Try to counter his actions by doing the unexpectable. This is where the quote "expect the unexpectable" came from.
Also, don't play only for "fun" (it'll only make you play dumb), you need to play smart but try not to think too much about what you need to do because it'll just create useless pressure on you. Just prepare mentally before peeking an angle and it'll become instinctive after a bit (ask yourself if it is really necessary to commit this or this action (and how you could do it, etc), if not, you can delay it for later. The tricky part is to think quick and briefly to keep a good reaction time as much as possible.
As far as frags go, as you play smarter you'll notice frags also come more naturally and more often. Hope this works for U 2; gl =)
1) You're developing bad habits from playing too much in too many different settings
2) The quality of your opposition is usually bad
3) You play and play and play, but don't analyze your mistakes
4) You haven't developed your own playstyle
First of all, honest question - does your aim suck? I'm betting that it doesn't. If it doesn't (or if it is actually pretty good,) stop deathmatching and playing with bots. Play scrims only. The best players don't constantly deathmatch, they only do it to warm up and keep their aim "fresh." If you already have decent aim and continue to deathmatch and play with bots, you aren't learning how to play against real players and real counter-strike - you're gonna develop horrendously bad habits for scrims.
The best way to improve your ingame instincts, or gamesense, is to play against better players. Make an agreement with your team that you will only find high quality scrims, and if you don't find them, you'll call practice off or practice in the empty server instead. Then, once you've found a good scrim, unless you are wrecking their faces, you need to record POVs of your playing and analyze, analyze, analyze. Look at how people play the game and come up with your own playstyle to beat it.
Part of skill, to be very honest, is instinctual and talent-based. In other words, it's partially determined by how many steps you can think ahead instinctually in a fight. Let's say you are in a firefight with an opponent, and you think "I"ll do this, it'll win." If the other guy is better than you he'll think "he might do this" and will be ready for it. Then there you go, doing what you think will get him, then you get blasted. Example on de_train: You think: "I'll shoot up the ladder, and shoot him in the face." Better player: "This guy will probably shoot up the ladder, because he's aggressive like that." How does he know you're aggressive? Maybe you were the last time you fragged him, or he fragged you. And there you go, boom you get prefired as your coming up the ladder.
This is where the analysis comes in. Is this you? Don't let the players you're playing against ever know what you're going to do next. Try to think ahead of them. Most players in this game think zero steps ahead (they just do what they feel like) or 1 step ahead (they'll do basic adaptations if they got owned by something before). Some of this might simply be angles that you play. Did you play a passive angle on CT arch on de_inferno and blast the guy coming that way? Try playing a passive angle from library now, watching exactly the same spot that he'll have to cross in order to check where you were last time, etc. Did he get to arches rather quickly? That means he moved through the map without checking everything - perhaps you could push up to a closer spot and surprise him, etc.
I know exactly how you feel, because sometimes you play against players who just read you no matter what you do, and those are the better players - the players with good gamesense and instincts - and this is largely the ability to think ahead.
But this, I repeat, does not mean you have hit your skill cap. It just means that improvement will be hard, and paradoxically playing less might be the ticket. You should take an honest assessment of what kind of player you are, what your strengths and weaknesses are, and come up with your own playstyle. Spend less time just playing, playing, and playing - you'll develop bad habits. Play only high quality opponents and then record POVs and analyze your own demos and think of something you're really good at that will also get the drop on your opponents.
Hope this helps.
One big thing to take into consideration is that, while you may practice holding angles etc. versus bots, that can actually hurt you when it comes time to scrim. Bots (even the highest difficulty) cross corners like retarded clowns. Holding your spot against a bunch of bots might get you to improve your positioning, but your reaction time on shots where you are holding an angle could get really messed up, as may your crosshair placement while holding said angle.
Also, never overestimate your own skill. I see you saying a lot of "I'm a really smart player, and I'm a lot better than most people I play with." While it's great to be confident, overconfidence leads to stupid deaths. Peeking when you shouldn't, pulling out nades when someone is about to push you, are just a few examples of bonehead mistakes you make when you underestimate your opponent, or overestimate yourself. It's best to play every situation like fnatic is on the other team (if you're playing seriously), until you've figured out their weaknesses [e.g. pushing after smoking, playing the same spot round after round].
Basically, the skill of the people around you should directly affect you. If you play with bots all the time, when you play good players, they'll destroy you, especially if wreaking havoc on bots / deathmatches / pubs has made you overconfident.
And sorry if I sounded a bit cocky haha, I just didn't want to sound like someone who doesn't know anything about the game yet and is just complaining!
Everyone else has answered most of your questions, but I'd like to say I used to feel the same way. I've always considered myself to be a very picky player. I always have to know what's going on. I feed my play style off the calls of my team, so I'm not one that will naturally just want to pug it up.
Almost two years ago exactly, I remember feeling like I had hit my height as far as skill potential goes. I was considered the smartest player on my team and even a foundation for the team, but I NEVER put up the frags. It used to really play on my mind and I used to feel like the team would suffer for it. I lost a few curial rounds in CAL playoffs and then in CEVO finals matches respectfully and we lost, then we broke apart. And that was what broke my back. I knew I could get better, be better than what I was, so I started trying to force myself to get better. That obviously didn't work and I quit for like 5-6 months...
I decided to Deathmatch one day just because it had been so long since I had played and I love the game so much. My CS still had tons of weird settings that I messed with before I quit, so I changed everything back to how it was when I first felt that I was at my peak. Once everything felt natural again I started playing, mainly DMing, and I realized a very big problem I had. Over-doing something. Over compensating my aim, over analyzing my opponents, over everything. So I simplified my game. Slowed my aiming down and played a little wider on my angles at first to get my reaction back. I started dropping bombs...I was amazed at how just slowing down and not letting myself get too into the game worked wonders.
Oh, and don't play against bots, DM too much, ect ect blah blah :D
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