What Defines a "Pro" Player?

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What Defines a "Pro" Player?

Post by Kagsacar » Sat Jan 14, 2012 11:04 pm

After the success with my "Why i do not play medic..." Topic i thought i would start another. I have notices that after nearly 300 hours of game play i am still just as bad as when i started, and this is troubling to me for obvious reasons. In any other game after 300 hours you are considered a "pro" player, but not here... Maybe i just need to play for longer till i start getting better, which i guess could be it, but after so long i would expect to see some progress. More likely is that i am just a idiot who does not bother with teamwork, instead opting to be mute, and charge head first, die, rage-quit. But if you are good enough you can get a few kills in before you die, so that is at least partially not it. Perhaps it is knowing the map, all the load-outs, all the good sentry spots, and so forth. And while i do have a firm grasp on those things, that still does not help. Maybe it is the need to have the twitch reflexes of a nine year old. A theory that is shot down by most of the pro's being 20 something. Maybe it is purely based on how well you are doing that particular day, which would make TF2 a terrible terrible game.... So that cannot be it. I am guessing it has something to do with team work, which is a major problem for me not because i dislike teamwork but of my crippling fear of using the built in voice chat function. i really really really REALLY hate using it, and not for any practical reasons, i just do not like talking to people i barely know.When i use it I get feelings of abject terror every time i open my mouth. I do not know why... And because my typing is abysmal, and slow, that is out of the question. I also tend to switch classes almost constantly which may be a determent. Usually if i die too many time without killing anything i switch to a different class, or sometime build in the Demomans case. So how does one become a "pro" player? Teamwork? Brute force practice? I would like to know...
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Re: What Defines a "Pro" Player?

Post by THE Flying chihuahua » Sat Jan 14, 2012 11:16 pm

Teamwork is the name of the game. If you lone wolf a lot, you are going to die, many times.
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Re: What Defines a "Pro" Player?

Post by BETTEH » Sat Jan 14, 2012 11:19 pm

Good Teamwork

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Re: What Defines a "Pro" Player?

Post by Soup Nazi » Sat Jan 14, 2012 11:21 pm

It isn't called "Team Fortress" for nothin. And if your playing here most all the time, you won't need to worry about talking to people you don't know. You would need to worry about the maniacal insomniacs you THINK you know XP
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Re: What Defines a "Pro" Player?

Post by THE Flying chihuahua » Sat Jan 14, 2012 11:24 pm

BETTEH CROCKHURR wrote:Good Teamwork

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I think you mean inb4zork.
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Re: What Defines a "Pro" Player?

Post by crimsonshootingstar » Sat Jan 14, 2012 11:27 pm

To become a "pro" player you have to throw your entire life into playing games and making them as serious a part of your life as you possibly can. If you think you are playing a game and are trying to have fun then you have already failed in that respect. The first key is to find every advantage you can by changing your settings and equipment to give you even the smallest advantages. Second you need to study every facet of the game down to the minutest detail to figure out which load outs and classes are most powerful and exactly how to exploit them. Next you need to find a specific group or team to work with and define and practice tactics, strategy and choreography for every possible scenario. The final step is to practice a massive amount until you could do this in your sleep. Congratulations you have now removed the game from the game and made it a profession. You are a pro. You are well on your way to being the next Johnathan Wendel and are disenvited from pax for all eternity.

As for tips to get better as a pubber team work and communication are the key along with finding you niche and practicing it casually until you can do well enough to provide what your team needs from you.
Last edited by crimsonshootingstar on Sat Jan 14, 2012 11:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What Defines a "Pro" Player?

Post by NerevarineKing » Sat Jan 14, 2012 11:28 pm

Teamwork! (and friendship!)
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Re: What Defines a "Pro" Player?

Post by One_Medic_Army » Sat Jan 14, 2012 11:43 pm

Aside from being pro, there are ways to get better.
My rocket jumping has improved from attempting to use it in actual games, and also from tips I've gotten from other people (mainly Fano).

The real trick to getting better is to think through why you missed, why you died, what you could have done differently. Then try it. Died in a soldier vs soldier fight? Why? Did he rocket jump up and take high ground? Did you not jump before you got hit? Team fortress is a remarkably complex game in all the different things to think about on any given moment, and all the different things you as a player can do.

There's also nothing wrong with jumping in headfirst and suicidally, but there are ways to make it more effective, like timing it, or making sure you have a good opportunity first.

I consider a pro as someone why I watch play, and then I think: "Wow, they have really perfected [aspect of play]"
Somedude is pro at airblasting, Plas is pro at demojumping, etc...
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Re: What Defines a "Pro" Player?

Post by THE Flying chihuahua » Sat Jan 14, 2012 11:50 pm

One_Medic_Army wrote: Somedude is pro at airblasting, Plas is pro at demojumping, etc...
I'm pro at getting killed by snipers.
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Re: What Defines a "Pro" Player?

Post by Fano » Sun Jan 15, 2012 12:04 am

Teamwork and communication is key to doing well as a team, there's no question about that.

There are also several things you can do to improve as a player, such as practicing rocket/sticky jumps, hitscan aim, dodging, etc. which can help a lot but alas, you are still at the mercy of your teammates, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

At 300 hours, don't feel too bad, I'm just past 2000 and there are still a ton of players that are much better than me.

As for what defines a pro player? well I'd say the guys who play ESEA-Invite can quite literally be defined as "professional," and while they'll top score and mop up the floor with everybody on most pub servers, it's still pretty hard for them to have any effect on the outcome of the round without the support of the rest of the team, so their experience will usually go unnoticed.

crimsonshootingstar wrote:To become a "pro" player you have to throw your entire life into playing games and making them as serious a part of your life as you possibly can. If you think you are playing a game and are trying to have fun then you have already failed in that respect. The first key is to find every advantage you can by changing your settings and equipment to give you even the smallest advantages. Second you need to study every facet of the game down to the minutest detail to figure out which load outs and classes are most powerful and exactly how to exploit them. Next you need to find a specific group or team to work with and define and practice tactics, strategy and choreography for every possible scenario. The final step is to practice a massive amount until you could do this in your sleep. Congratulations you have now removed the game from the game and made it a profession. You are a pro. You are well on your way to being the next Johnathan Wendel and are disenvited from pax for all eternity.
This is also true, minus the irony.

Say what you want but playing TF2 in an organized league is the most fun I've ever had in this game, it's what pushed me to master the finer aspects of the classes, such as rocket jumping, juggling, weapon heckling, etc.. Don't knock it til you try it, it'll definitely make you a better player.
Last edited by Fano on Sun Jan 15, 2012 12:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What Defines a "Pro" Player?

Post by Kagsacar » Sun Jan 15, 2012 12:05 am

ok i think teamwork is a running theme, and while i am not willing to put in insane amount of time turning a game i want to have fun with into a unhealthy obsession, i do want to put just enough into it to where i am not a huge determent to the team. I will eventually overcome my crippling fear of using the mic, but for now that is still an issue. I guess my greatest concern is that the voice button will get stuck and i am left talking as if no one is listing while in fact they are. i am what you call a "vocal" player. This seems silly but i loathe embarrassment. i know everyone does, but if given the option to embarrass myself or be disemboweled on the spot, i would choose the latter without hesitation. That is just me, and i just used to the people i meet on the internet being douche-bags. I know that it is not that way here, but old habits die hard i guess....
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Re: What Defines a "Pro" Player?

Post by Boss Llama » Sun Jan 15, 2012 12:09 am

Pro isn't necessarily something people should want to be. It's a point at which you aren't playing to have fun - you're playing to make money, win prizes, etc. Those folks, well - they play like it's their full time job, repeating the same things over and over and putting in efforts as described previously.

If you're just talking about getting better as an amateur (amateur is what all of us here at The Ville are, to the best of my knowledge), it's about communication, teamwork, knowledge, time, and sometimes just a bit of luck when something "clicks" and life just gets better. Many of us count our hours in the plural thousands, and we'd be easily whooped by a "pro" player without even knowing what hit us. Funny thing is though, I bet we all enjoy our games more than they do.
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Re: What Defines a "Pro" Player?

Post by Fano » Sun Jan 15, 2012 12:12 am

Alizée Fan wrote:Pro isn't necessarily something people should want to be. It's a point at which you aren't playing to have fun - you're playing to make money, win prizes, etc. Those folks, well - they play like it's their full time job, repeating the same things over and over and putting in efforts as described previously.

If you're just talking about getting better as an amateur (amateur is what all of us here at The Ville are, to the best of my knowledge), it's about communication, teamwork, knowledge, time, and sometimes just a bit of luck when something "clicks" and life just gets better. Many of us count our hours in the plural thousands, and we'd be easily whooped by a "pro" player without even knowing what hit us. Funny thing is though, I bet we all enjoy our games more than they do.
That's a pretty silly thing to say, in fact, I'm fairly sure they're having a much better time with it than we are.
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Re: What Defines a "Pro" Player?

Post by Kagsacar » Sun Jan 15, 2012 12:30 am

After watching the video i came to several conclusions. One, i never want to be on the same content as those people, Two i never ever want to be like them, and three they may have fun, but how often do they go to events like that? i am sure it is not all THAT often, unless they are globe trotting. I have all the respect in the world for those pro, and realizing exactly what a pro actually is, i never want to be one. mainly because i do not want to spend literal years playing the same game. Thanks for all the advice, even if it was just to reinforce something i already knew.
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Re: What Defines a "Pro" Player?

Post by ketchuo » Sun Jan 15, 2012 12:36 am

Well there are alot of types of pros.

The ones alizee are talking about are those who play big games, like CS and SC

Then fano are talking about pros that are good at the game and enjoy this, I can say that the fighting game pros are like this since I've been at a local place and played a few rounds with some pros and we had a good time

And there's the pros who are good at certain things like somedude the pro at airblasting, Caulk the pro at combat engi and such and such.

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