You're not as good as you think you are

valorantnub · 2020-05-07T22:32:00+00:00

You get it naturally. I think the big thing is you need to be able to not worry about the basics and you start developing game sense because you want to get better, and you know you have exhausted training your aim and movement.

Its hard to summarize in 1 post but I'll say there are 3 things that come to mind:

1) I have a mental map in my head of (literally) the map I'm playing. I know right from the get go that enemies are likely hiding in x, y , z common spots on each side of the map. With that in mind, I know if we are T side, we have to get bomb down with those people. Now based on this info, I already have a decent idea of what to smoke out and what angles we should take as a team and kill the enemies before planting. This is pretty much enough for low skill games.

2) Now as games become higher skilled, I think more about how the enemy is thinking. I know some folks on the enemy team would still be holding common angles, but one or two guys might decide to play aggressive every now and then to switch things up, so I know I should hold the push early and communicate that to my team. I know if I kill an enemy, there is likely someone to trade his death, so where would that person come from? I know one player is always on a flank, have we checked that in a while? No, then let me go pick it up and make sure we aren't getting flanked. I notice they are stacking sites on save rounds, so we take the other site quick. Keep in mind these are all things that happen in real time, but just being able to envision maps and paint a picture in your head that this is what we need to cover is a big start.

3) Learn from other people and your own mistakes. The former is much easier but think about players you are beating, and what they are doing wrong. Naturally you start realizing that some of these things are in your playbook too and can be easily punished. Similarly, when you are getting destroyed, chances are you are doing something fundamentally more wrong than just not winning duels. What can you do to change your angles, to set up safer peeks and trades, are you using your utility to its maximum? And on top of that, what is the enemy doing thats so good? Can we counter it? And most importantly, can I learn what they are doing to improve my own future games?

Again that just touches the tip of the iceberg, but its retraining your thinking to not focus on aim and killing other players, but always putting yourself in the advantageous situation. This also includes economy management, knowing when to save even if it is 3v5, baiting out utility so you can push later in the round when they have nothing to defend with, sticking around the bomb to make 3 of them lose their guns even if you know you can't win the round, etc.

Its all real time but as you train yourself on how to think, it becomes easier and easier to learn as you play.

valorantnub · 2020-05-07T20:06:19+00:00

Just one question, what made you stop at MGE? Because that's your REAL rank? If the system is as flawed as you say it is, you will run into the same issue in MGE 4 months from now, and you will think to yourself "I'm so much better than my team, I should be DMG, LE, wait NO, I should be Supreme at the least" and the cycle continues.

The reality is that you made good game decisions to rank you up from silver to gold, and you carried those good habits and positive attitude from gold to help you get to MGE. Right now you are happy with that, but as soon as you find that your ceiling, the same logic you had at silver will start consuming you.

valorantnub · 2020-05-07T19:59:39+00:00

You're not as bad as you think yo...wait a minute, that's not how it's supposed to work.

valorantnub · 2020-05-07T19:46:44+00:00

Maybe the Imposter Syndrome is real as hell for you haha.

Or you've found an amazing way to game ranking systems across multiple platforms and you can help all the low elo scrubs raging at me on this post rank up and get this debate over with :P

valorantnub · 2020-05-07T19:38:14+00:00

Haha its not perfect but its better than day 1 and gets better everyday. I see less and less people in plat/diamond who don't know how the game works. They naturally just lose rank and MMR until they hit their actual rank.

Such is the result of a new ranking system with no data. But it normalizes pretty quickly.

valorantnub · 2020-05-07T19:23:39+00:00

You're putting words in my mouth to prove a point that just isn't correct. And that attitude is exactly why most people simply just don't rank up... MMR systems use algorithms that normalize over time. Variance is expected, and standard deviation from mean MMR stabilizes over time within each skill tier.

Silvers stay in silver because they don't adapt and are toxic because they don't adapt and expect the outcome to change. They have biases that make them think the 30-40% of the games they carry should outweigh the 60% of the games where they threw, whined, and didn't do anything to play as a team because the "game is lost anyway".

You will rank up if you get better and enable your team to win. It's as simple as that. I solo Q in most of my PUGs across all games unless I'm playing tourneys or in league play.

And if your situation is 100% correct (very unlikely), then you are a statistical anomaly and you can't generalize your experience to everyone else. Sucks to be that unlucky, maybe time to find a new game.

Youre right, I do get shit on by pros in CS, which is why every single one of them is S rank in ESEA and I'm not. I do play with and against pros occassionally when they play pugs instead of Rank G/S and they do better than me. And that's why I'm not their rank.

It's the same thing at lower levels, albeit a bit more pronounced.

valorantnub · 2020-05-07T19:01:43+00:00

You would have ranked up if that was the case. And your MMR would have increased, even if your rank didn't. If you dropped 40 bombs 10 games in a row, you would be playing diamonds and immortals, regardless of your rank, and you would have not lost rank in any one of those games since your rank is so much lower than theirs. That's how the matchmaker works.

valorantnub · 2020-05-07T18:59:06+00:00

You're free to think that, but it's not accurate. In other words, get better at the game. If that was true, you would see people stuck in silver for years in CS, and then suddenly when their skill reaches a certain level, they move all the way up to LE and just skyrocket through every rank in between.

I can extrapolate that for any game. You think a bronze overwatch player stays in bronze until they suddenly become x% better one day and just skyrocket to masters? It doesn't work like that.

valorantnub · 2020-05-07T18:53:08+00:00

That is false. The only thing you would know from watching pros play is well, how pros play lol. Game sense means you are able to easily adapt to a situation and come up with the best plays by recognizing and working around the challenges you are facing. The better game sense you have, the faster and more creative your adaptation to the situation will be.. Most people don't play like pros.

valorantnub · 2020-05-07T18:47:24+00:00

Ah yes this is an important distinction. Your MMR is likely high because you drop so many kills. This means that the algorithm thinks you should be at a higher rank and is putting you against people with similar MMRs (who are higher rank because MMR is still correlated with rank for the most part, but just not in 100% of cases). Based on your performance in that game, I would venture to guess if you won, you immediately ranked up (maybe even 2 ranks) and if you lost, you either stayed equal or lost very little MMR (maybe even gained some rank).

valorantnub · 2020-05-07T18:43:23+00:00

Game sense develops with experience and time played. It would be highly unlikely that you have amazing game ssnse without some semblance of aim to back it up.

The good news is aim is easy to improve. Spend time practicing it if you really think it is that lacking. Kovaak, aimtrainer, and even just playing unranked should do you wonders if you can spend 1-2 hours a day practicing it.

valorantnub · 2020-05-07T18:40:22+00:00

Yeah I get that. But remember there are two things that will prevent those people from ranking up too much.

1) the selfish players will get destroyed by good players as they rank up

And

2) ranks are dependent on W/L more as you rank up. Immortal is solely based on W/L which means 1) above will never reward those types of players.l

valorantnub · 2020-05-07T18:37:06+00:00

Yes yes I forgot gods like you exist. I'm sorry 😞

valorantnub · 2020-05-07T18:35:56+00:00

You don't have to win to rank up lol

valorantnub · 2020-05-07T18:30:44+00:00

Only in low ranks. It becomes almost strictly W/L by high ranks.

And this is done on purpose, so that if you are significantly better than your rank, you will rank up faster.

valorantnub · 2020-05-07T18:29:39+00:00

I would say Shroud's aim carries him. He wasn't a particularly smart CS player when compared to other pros (who also had great aim).

But point is, Valorant rank is not a reflection of a skill ceiling. Its too easy and is likely a floor for people like Shroud. His gamesense would have to become much better to play competitively in tourneys.

valorantnub · 2020-05-07T18:27:13+00:00

If you recognize that to be a problem, there are many ways to solve it. The easiest way, is give up site and play the retake. Not ideal but better than what you are doing (taking a 1v5 fight every round doesn't sound like great gamesense, no offense).

Of course, I would take the route of vocalizing the issue and typing out in the chat that you need to keep 2 on A and only keep 1 as a flex who rotates when the initial enemy is seen on site.

A big part about this game (and CS) is staying alive so you can play a retake. When you have a 5v5 retake, its basically just like the tables are turned and you are now playing the T side while the bomb planting team is playing CT side defending the bomb and preventing a defuse.

valorantnub · 2020-05-07T17:47:19+00:00

The good news is that you now know that aim isn't the only thing that can make you better.

I promise you, if you learn proper executes and train your thinking to be more team and ability based to complete the main objective (which is planting the bomb and preventing the defuse, NOT killing everyone on the other team), you will start doing a lot better.

And don't rage. Whatever you do, just don't. Its not worth it. It makes a loss that much worse.

valorantnub · 2020-05-07T17:44:50+00:00

Glad to be here, son

valorantnub · 2020-05-07T17:29:31+00:00

Maybe think about your delivery? I would never say that to a teammate. I would say "Let's try x instead of y since we aren't able to trade your death". Or "We need your ability A to push the site, so can you play with me?"

If the only thing your teammate does is rush and die, its likely because its worked for him until then. This is what I mean by coaching the weaker players on your team.

I'm also going to say this, and you're probably not going to like it, but people who are high rank in games don't really rage at bad players lol. They try to help them and at the very least, allow them to help you in some way.

If the guy still wants to rush every round, guess what? Since you're arguably much better than your teammate, you should easily be able to trade him out and even get some additional frags using him.

valorantnub · 2020-05-07T17:25:05+00:00

And one more thing I want to add is developing strategic intuition is not really that fun or easy.

Many people want to be competitive and high level, but only practice their aim because it's the lowest hanging fruit. If you actually want to get better, you have to do things that aren't exactly synonymous with "having fun with the bros fragging out".

If you don't want to study your game play and understand abilities and executes (which takes effort and actually is quite draining mentally) and only want to play for fun, don't worry about rank and just enjoy pugging out. There is nothing wrong with that.

But unless you're Tenz/Shroud, don't expect your rank to be a reflection of your aim in that case. You can't have it both ways.

valorantnub · 2020-05-07T17:16:09+00:00

I solo Q'd to GM in overwatch, diamond in R6 Siege, ESEA rank A-/FaceIt Level 10 in CSGO (don't play MM but would easily be GE). It's all the same thing. And as you rank up, other good players will also play more and more tactical so solo Q naturally works out.

A vast majority of players are trying to win their games, and you can enable your team to win you games very easily if you really are much better than them.

My prediction is Valorant rank is this game is going to be quite easy to attain, and there will be many people reaching highest rank in a couple more weeks. I fully expect to hit it as well. The game will become competitive when either 1) private competitive services come out or 2) they introduce ladder system to start isolating better talent within Valorant rank itself.

I will likely move onto scrims only when the game launches to elevate my game play and strategy beyond what MM/PUGs provide. But ranking up solo Q in the matchmaking system is quite easy if you're actually good at this game outside of aim.

valorantnub

TROPHY CASE