Leveling Down

I guess this means maybe I should retire as grand champion since I beat multiplayer!

I was planning on posting an entry on the 3v3 Zerg mid-game today, but because I finally hit rank #1 in my division for Diamond League in 3v3 RT I decided I’d just spend some time recounting random stuff on how I got there. It was a long road to the top in my case (132 games to be exact), but of course, now I at least feel a little better writing 3v3 strategy and tips since I have the credentials to prove it. But in today’s entry – I won’t be sharing strategy…just random thoughts.

How Long Did it Take?
Two weeks ago, I shared an entry about making it into the Gold League. I believe I got put in the 10th spot for Gold League in my new Division, and after winning just two games, I got bumped into a Platinum League Division. I was pretty shocked, and quickly made my way to the top. The problem was, I sat for about a week and a half at #1 or #2 in my Platinum Division, and couldn’t understand why I wasn’t getting promoted to Diamond. I still don’t know the algorithm today, but obviously you have to keep beating Diamond opponents to get promoted to Diamond. I probably went about 50%-60% wins, and honestly thought that it was enough to get moved up.

Finally, yesterday morning, after winning a match, I was promoted to Diamond League. It looked like my division was new since there weren’t 100 people in it yet. With all of Battle.net’s hidden calculations I got seated at #2 in my division, so I played one more game, won it, and moved up to rank #1 as you can see in the screenshot above.

What’s Next?
When I hit #1, I breathed a sigh of relief as I finally made it to the highest spot I cared to attain in Starcraft multiplayer. There will be no 1v1, 2v2, or 4v4 ladders that I plan on climbing. I’m a 3v3 guy, and hitting the top has now given me an opportunity to relax a bit more since there’s nothing else I can do past this. I guess I could try to compete for the #1 spot in my division, but what’s the point? You hold it and then you lose it and so on. It becomes a never-ending battle that I don’t really care to be a part of since I already had my little time in the sun. These other 99 people in my division will become like my family I guess, since this is probably the division I will be settling into. I’ll definitely be playing less 3v3 RT solo going forward – maybe just enough to make use of my bonus pool to stay in a comfortable spot in my division.

I still enjoy playing 3v3 and 4v4 AT though, so for those of you that are worried that I’m hanging up my Starcraft 2 multiplayer hat you need not be concerned. I’ll just spend my 3v3 solo RT time playing the campaign now instead (Starcraft 2 has single player?!). My wife is happy for me too, because over the course of those 132 games, that was about 60 hours or so of me sitting in front of my computer over the last month and not really replying to whatever she said. When I told her I got moved into Diamond, the first thing she asked was if that meant I would stop playing Starcraft 2. Is she kidding? I told her at least that I would certainly be scaling back now.

The 100-Win Portrait
One thing that eluded me when I hit the top was that I was at 99 total quick match wins. At 100 wins, a new Portrait would be unlocked for me, so I proceeded to continue playing 3v3 in the hopes that I would just get one more win to unlock the portrait. I lost the next 5 matches. Talk about frustration! Finally though, it looked like I would be getting the win on my 6th match after being at the top, but with the number of losses I took and new players being added to my new division, I was already tumbling down my division. (I think at this time I’m somewhere in the 30′s for my Division.)

One is cooler than the other. Take a guess which one…

In any case, the 100-win random portrait is a Goliath. I’m actually not happy with the Goliath Starcraft 2 portrait at all. Starcraft 1′s Goliath was pretty cool looking. But in Starcraft 2, the Goliath is some fat bald guy? No offense to the Blizzard employee that the Starcraft II Goliath portrait is modeled after, but this was not my idea of a reward. It sort of ruined my fond memories of the Goliath in the original game, but what can you do. He looked kinda of edgy and had a cool voice in the first game, but in Starcraft 2 he is seriously lacking in coolness. Why does he look like the biggest dork ever? What sucks is the next portrait unlocks at 250 wins, so I guess I’m stuck with this Goliath guy as my portrait until maybe I unlock some more single player Achievement portraits that I can consider.

Argument with a Zerg “Pro”
In one of my recent 3v3 RT games I played, I got partnered with a Zerg player who early expanded. I’m talking expanded pretty much right away before even making any combat units. He got rushed by the other team, and blamed me for not coming to help him. I argued back and said that we lost the game the moment he early expanded. More words were exchanged between us and I told him that I was curious what his rank was for him to pull something like that. Of course, more arguing and then he told me to check his profile after the match and that he would love to compare ranks.

After the game, I looked at his profile – all four game types were Diamond. Obviously the guy was good if he could Diamond 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4 as a Zerg player. So yeah I was a lowly Platinum #1 at the time, and even though my argument that his early expand lost us the match was sound in my head, since I wasn’t Diamond I couldn’t debate with him. He told me I didn’t know anything about Zerg and that I had a lot to learn if I wanted to make it to Diamond. Get the heck out of here – I’m Diamond now and I still think the early expand was a bad idea.

I have seen this Zerg opening again a couple times though since my heated argument with the Zerg pro – from an opponent and from a teammate. When we scouted and found an opponent had early expanded right away, we just took it out with our early game units and then went into his base and killed him. That should be exactly what happens – a rush is going to obviously beat a player who decides to expand right away. But then I got a Zerg teammate in a subsequent game who early expanded right away, and miraculously didn’t get rushed. He was late getting started, but had a really strong mid-game of course with units pouring out of both bases. It looks like a gamble to me – you’re just betting that you won’t get hit to reap the benefits later. But as a Zerg player in 3v3, shouldn’t you know that you’re going to get rushed by now against decent opponents since you’re the only race that can’t choke?

Obviously he and I differ in our theories as to what is the best opening for Zerg in 3v3, and well, I guess I just have to leave it at that. Make of it what you will!

Expect my Zerg mid-game strategy article later this week.

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