Starcraft 2 Patch 1.3 is now live!

This new patch allows many new balance changes and great improvements to the Starcraft 2 interface. Check it out here! http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/2514162#blog

GSL's Code S Finals for March end in a landslide victory

As our favorite two casters Tasteless and Artosis were holding on the edge of their seats, oGsMC (Protoss) and ST_July (Zerg) were beginning their first game of the Finals worth a prize of about $100,000 USD. With so much on the line, the two were feeling pressure from their beloved fans and supporters. But, all this anticipation lead to nothing but a shock to the audience and the players themselves.

 July had lost every match in a disappointing performance for everyone around the world. He was 1 for 5 games and allowed MC to take home the championship undefeated. As the audience cheered, there was not one part of me that wasn't deeply let down. A finals game with two players who were considered the best of their counterpart races, finished without a fighting chance for the loser.

As for the players making the finals, it was a luck based chance for them to even reach the beautifully designed GSL finals show match stage. Many top players such as oGsNada, IMMvp, IMNestea, MarineKing.Prime and NexGenius were taken out by mediocre players by comparison at an early bracket of the tournament. As unusual as this was, the center stage, as for skill level, was set between the players in the Up/Down matches. It was a complete free for all between the players to stay in Code S. I won't spoil any videos for you GSL fans out there. You can check out the videos at www.gomtv.net, if you haven't already. But, the matches were amazing and unexpected for all these best of the best players being risked of becoming code A. It was as if a select few mice were being dangled in front of an anaconda, it was just a terrible situation for the players. Though, it was fun for us, the viewers.

As disappointing as the finals were, GSL will make up for it next month with the World Championship. It will feature players like aTnSocke, White-Ra, oGsNada and many more ferocious contenders from all around the world, including North America, Europe and Asia. It's one of the tournaments I'm excitedly looking forward to, and if you haven't heard of it, you should be now.

By the way, you can check out Artosis' channel at www.youtube.com/artosisTV.

Good luck gaming and be sure to check out tips and guides at www.pvpproz.com. GG HF!

How to upload your StarCraft 2 videos onto youtube

How to upload your StarCraft 2 videos onto youtube

A lot of people believe that you need to have an Intel i7 or the most expensive gpu to upload HD Starcraft 2 videos to youtube. That's not true. All you need is some decent hardware, fraps, divx codec and virtualdub. Currently, the 64-bit version of virtualdub does not support the divx codec. So, get the 32-bit version. Your 64-bit operating system will still support it.

It is widely unknown that videos recorded from fraps are extremely large. One video at 5 minutes of length can get as high as 4 GB. That's not worth waiting for when uploading a video to youtube.

After recording your professionally recorded video, you'll notice that fraps has recorded it into different segments. Open the first file with virtualdub. It's time to take all segments of your production and bring it all together. In virtualdub under file, select append avi file and choose the next segment of your video. Continue doing this until you've brought all the segments together.

Once that's done, under video, select compression and highlight the divx codec. For average computers, select configure and choose 720HD profile. For the rate control mode, the best option to choose will be 1-pass quality based at a quantizer of 5. This will allow decent quality and file size. Once your done, click ok and save your file. At this time, virtualdub will resize and stitch together your video.

This will not only work for Starcraft 2, but will also support many other game platforms as well.

There you have it, your video is ready for youtube. It will be much quicker since it was reduced from a 4 GB video to 200 MB. Enjoy your new upload!

Note: If you have trouble with frame rates while using fraps, set your StarCraft 2 to windowed and set your native desktop resolution to 1280x720. My video below was recorded on medium in game graphics.

Here is a link to an example I made with a Core 2 Duo CPU:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2Pio5C9tZE
The video has an audio introduction, so skip to around 3 minutes to see the quality.

TeamLiquid

If you haven't visited www.teamliquid.net, you should definitely go. Any and every StarCraft 2 pro, including korean pros, actively contribute to this website. They offer news, guides and a community for the Starcraft 2 scene and they do an excellent job. With a largely populated community, teamliquid allows players of any caliber to shed some light on the lesser known areas of Starcraft 2.

If you haven't already, check out their liquipedia. It offers many well refined build orders and counter build orders for Starcraft, Broodwar and Starcraft 2. The liquipedia has so much content and all of it has been used by at least one pro gamer. And if you're having trouble, members will try their best to help out. Just follow the guidelines within the forums.

Their team consists of huge names such as Jinro, TLO, Tyler and Ret. These guys have gotten first place in many tournaments and often offer live streams to their games in high quality. This will give you an idea of exactly how a pro gamer plays. Be sure to notice how they use their keyboard and mouse to achieve high APM in an efficient manner.

StarCraft 2 Podcast - State of the Game

Looking for a Starcraft 2 podcast?

If you're a StarCraft 2 fan and can't get enough from the pro gamers such as Day[9], iNconTroL, IdrA and Artosis similar to me, take the time to check out the State of the Game podcast. You can visit them here http://sotg-sc2.blogspot.com/. They are hardcore pro gamers who talk in-depth about balance issues, joke around and speak about competitions. It's a lot of fun and these guys are some of the best StarCraft 2 players in the country.

Their most recent podcast was recorded live at PAX East 2011. It featured the original bunch along with two guests, DJWheat and H to the usky, Husky. Which brings me to why I listen to this podcast. They have amazing guests like Matt Getchell, owner of MLG (Major League Gaming), and Russel Pfister, representative of the new NASL (North American Starcraft League). They speak about important, current subjects that have or will have a direct influence on the Starcraft and Starcraft 2 community.

So, if you have the time and love starcraft 2, download a recording and enjoy some Starcraft 2 podcasts from host JP and the rest of the State of the Game cast.

Pro secrets in Starcraft 2

One pro secret in Starcraft 2 is that they cheat, just kidding. In all seriousness, the there are many secrets that Pros use during games. One huge secret that no one talks about is the layout of the map. Pros often have specific build orders for every single map. For example, if the map is small, they don't expand at an early stage and vise versa. Knowing when you can expand gives you a huge advantage on the field. Next time you play on a four player map, build an expansion right after your first production building. Minerals will flow in so fast, that you probably won't know what to use it on, if you're not used to it. In high level games, players sometimes use the fact that they know their opponent will expand early and punish their opponent by using a one base all in, meaning opting not to expand and producing as many units as possible off of one base.

Another secret of the pros is that they have many different, very effective build orders that they can use in any game. This goes against the standard way of playing and catches their opponent completely off guard. It's very useful in ladder to use an abstract build when attempting to rank up. Most players expect and use the most popular build at the time, from and against their opponent. Next time you're playing, try an odd build order from a pro gamer. Chances are, your opponent won't know how to respond until you've already won the game. It is amazing how different game will pan out just by switching up a few buildings and units.

One lesser known secret, also mentioned in the fundamentals post from yesterday, is that a player at his or her weakest point in the game when their first expansion gets up. Attacking at this time will most likely result in a win. Do you remember games where you lost right after your expansion went up? It's due to the fact that your resources were spent on an expansion along with your other buildings, rather than units. Next time you expand, make sure you'll be safe enough to protect it. At the same token, make sure you switch it up in order to punish your opponent once his or her expansion finishes.

The last secret, for now, from pro gamers are that they practice with the same players, over and over again. That way, they can practice certain match ups and learn the advantages and disadvantages from both races. When laddering, it's like a lottery. Every game will be different and it's difficult to acquire core knowledge of the game. Next time, play one of your friends for a few games just for fun. You'll notice a lot of similar things during every game and the more you play, the more you'll notice.

That's all for now, but be sure to check back in here at pvp proz, your #1 blog for Starcraft 2.

Basics in Starcraft 2

There are so many build orders and strategies players can use. But, why is it that those build orders and strategies always fade and pro gamers still end up on top? It's because they practice most of their time on the fundamentals of the game.

Fundamental Principles: scouting, macro and micro.

Many Starcraft 2 players struggle and start to look for tips or guides. But, instead of looking for new strategies, let's take a look at the basics of Starcraft 2. There are huge differences between a high school basketball player and an NBA star. The difference is a seasoned NBA player has much more skill and knowledge when it comes down to the fundamentals. Starcraft 2 is no different.

There are three main, basic principles and in terms of Starcraft 2 linguistics, they are scouting, macro and micro. These three principles compliment and rely on one another. What I mean by this is, to master either of them, Starcraft 2 players need to be sufficient in the two other categories. In order of what was listed, they can be described simply as finding information, building at a competitive pace and making the most out of units produced. Let's dive into the first, scouting.

Scouting is acquiring knowledge of your opponent. The key things to look for when scouting your opponent are spawning locations, expansions, buildings, build orders and unit compositions. When players start off in a game, they often ask themselves, "Which build order should I use?" or "Which build units are best for this match up?" But, they ask these questions with little to no information about their opponent. Players can emulate their favorite Pro gamer and still end up losing by a landslide. Every pro gamer's build is based off of scouting information they get from their opponent. Before getting that fast expansion, they ask themselves, "Did my opponent spawn far enough for me to get sufficient time to get an early expansion?" So before copying their build order, take into consideration what build order or units are being used against them and distance between the two players. Another pro level tip is to get familiar with a second worker scout. Pro gamers often use a second unit, after the first scouting worker, to find out important information such as if their opponent is expanding or going down a certain tech path. When these players see their opponent's expansion going up, they often initiate an attack as soon as the expansion completes. If they do not have enough units to pressure, they need to setup an expansion of their own in order to keep up with their opponent's economy. Note: When an expansion finishes, it's considered to be when their opponent is weakest. Excellent scouting is not just figuring out your opponent after the beginning stages of the game. It's an ongoing tool that should be used to win battles in any given situation. Next, we'll move on to macro.

Macro is considered to be the most difficult portion of many RTS games, but it is especially difficult in Starcraft and Starcraft 2. Build orders, unit composition and economy are all included within macro and it must be completed at a quick and constant pace. It takes a lot of actions per minute, so knowledge and scouting will not be enough. Each player builds at a different amount of speed, with an exception to pro gamers. Next time, try to build a small group of units over and over until you've built that same squad within the fastest possible time. Every mineral of ore and second of time are valuable resources that gets players ahead their opponent. This leads to more units and will always be a deciding factor on winning or losing. And, when you're ahead, make sure you get more ahead. Mentioned earlier, having sub-par to excellent macro is based heavily on scouting and micro. To get most out of those units, players need to know if those units are cost efficient during the next battle. Units are often times excellent against one type of enemy and completely useless against others. The best way to find out which and how many units to produce, is to scout your opponent.

Micro is a term used by many RTS players. It refers to how players control any and every unit on the field. Simply throwing your army at your opponent is the bare minimum of micro. When a unit such as the colossus is destroying large numbers of units, it's essential that players target fire that colossus before it gets off too many hits and decimates their whole army. The player's micro should be dependent of the situation. The focus of your practice when it deals with micro is to preserve as many units as possible while doing the most damage. Try to retreat only the units that are taking damage during a battle. Micro is also getting your units in a good position. Positioning will allow you to flank and have a larger concave than your opponents army by using choke points located in different areas of the map. One major choke point is located at the exit of every player's base, the ramp(s). If you notice the picture above, half of my opponent's army is stuck and cannot deal damage. That's half of his full potential damage dealt. It's also important to know that sometimes you can only win battles if you macro'd enough. This means, reacting accordingly whether your army can handle what your opponent's current army or not. If it can't, then be sure to move back and play defensively. Micro is used best when applied with macro. The concept is that the more units that you have in your arsenal, the more options for micro become available. Did you tech to medivacs? If so, take the opportunity to micro a base drop or harass expansions. At the same token, if you micro well, you can take the next step in your macro. Did you target fire their expensive units? If so, you now have a window of time to take an expansion.

Fundamental Knowledge

Knowledge or game sense is an equally important aspect of Starcraft 2, but also takes time to master. Which means, in order to gain vast, fundamental knowledge of the game, you have to put many hours into playing and studying Starcraft 2. The important types of knowledge to acquire are of maps, opponent build orders, counter build orders, unit advantages and disadvantages, **timing attacks**, purposely misled information, tech trees and economics. You can see why this will take the most time to master. If there are any I missed, please post below. One of my favorite players in the Starcraft 2 community, TLO, had once asked this question, "Did you know if you neural parasite an egg, it dies?" This is an example of when It's one of those things you have to experiment with to know. There aren't many examples of players who know everything about the game and haven't played many. Most of these high level players have played over hundreds, if not thousands of games. The best way to ingest and ruminate on knowledge is to just continue to play. But, if you don't have time for that, you can always search around the internet or poke people for it . My opinion is that at this stage of Starcraft 2's growth, the knowledge of the community is constantly evolving. One week you'll see mass ultralisks and when another goes by, you'll see baneling busts. Also, unlike the principles from earlier, knowledge cannot be practiced; knowledge is acquired. So, as mentioned above, practicing this portion involves putting more games under your belt. But, if you have played thousands of games and are looking to improve, please refer to the principles rather than knowledge. By now, you should have remembered most of the important details. I will also update this from time to time and break down the key points of fundamental knowledge in case players have missed a certain subject.

Remember:

Scouting
Macro
Micro
Knowledge

Refining your game with these basics will not only get you more wins at Starcraft 2, but it will allow you to create strategies of your own.

**timing attacks** note: Timing attacks are often mistaken for being an attack that will come at a certain time during the game clock, similar to what Sean "Day[9]" Plott said. There would be too many of these types of timing attacks to remember and there are so many different build orders that assuming one is coming would be foolish. But, they do exist and can help you if you can figure out your opponent's build order. A timing attack is one that is setup based off of different variables. When my opponent is about to finish his expansion and I attack, it's considered a timing attack. After Ultralisks popped and there's an attack, it's considered a timing attack. [The reason I chose Ultralisks is because it would be too difficult to find an exact time they will pop. Ultralisks come into play so late in the game and there are too many variables to take into account.]

Intel Extreme Masters Season 5 - Recap

The popular European competition, http://www.esl-world.net/masters/, was located in Hanover, Germany this year fully loaded with some of the biggest names in StarCraft 2 such as IdrA, MorroW, White-Ra, Qxc, Squirtle and Sjow. Along with Starcraft 2, other popular games such as League of Legends, Counter Strike and Quake Live were also used as platforms for the players to showcase talent. With homeland favorites and foreign invites, the IEM was definitely one of the most exciting tournaments sponsored by Intel and Razer.

In the StarCraft 2 tournament, Ace, the protoss champion, gets first place and the grand prize of $13,000 USD in the IEM. Ace lived up to his own name and overrun his every opponent, going a whopping 5-0 within the tournament. The korean pro gamer defeated Moon in the finals in a dominating fashion. For those of you that don't know, Moon was a legend in WarCraft 3. He was considered unbeatable during his greatest years due to his impeccable micro and dedication. Soon after leaving the WarCraft 3 scene, Moon switched over to StarCraft 2 and qualified to compete in the GSL.

This year, the games were casted by fan favorites Sean "Day[9]" Plott, TLO and Rodderdam. With the chemistry between these casters and the ambitious nature of the players, the Starcraft 2 portion of the IEM was filled with emotion. Until the last gg, the players played their hardest but only one came out on top.

For more information or to check out how the other competitions at the IEM turned out, go to http://www.esl-world.net/masters/.

Earthquake and tsunami in japan

Natural disasters could frighten giants if they ever experienced one. They would try to shield themselves using anything close enough at the time. People in japan are experiencing it here and now.

Pro gaming is important, but during these times, we should probably lend a helping hand if we could. But, the least we can do, is appreciate what we have and look forward to our potential opportunities. Use your valuable time and take a five minute break from gaming. During that time, think about how your life is going and how you want it to be in a few years.

Reflection is a rare occurrence and it might have been shrugged off before. Maybe now is when it is needed most. I'm not saying quit your job or move to a new area, but work for something you want for yourself and not for someone else. Your time truly is worthy of effort and attempts. That's the whole reason us gamers practice. So, we can utilize our time responsibly and gain praise from our peers.

Japan is one of the countries that contributed heavily into the gaming community. Nintendo, Sony and other Japanese companies are household names. Some of the most entertaining video games were created by japanese directors. They've used their time to create something of importance to people. Another earthquake within the world allows us to cherish the things that we experience on a daily basis. But, most importantly, it allows us to open new roads that lead to becoming a free spirit.

So you want to become a pro gamer?

Team Dignitas is having a HUGE tournament sponsored by Intel and Alienware, where the winners will receive a new Alienware M17x laptop fitted with the most powerful CPU on the market, an Intel i7 processor. But, what does this have to do with becoming a pro gamer? Dignitas is actually offering the champion of this tournament a contract to join Team Dignitas as a Starcraft 2 Pro Gamer. The winner will attend all events and get sponsored by the top companies. Do you think you have what it takes?

Rules require participants to be of British or Irish nationality and be located within the UK and Ireland. So, for all you British and Irish StarCraft 2 players, it's your time to show who's the best of the best and take home the grand prize.

The tournament is going to take place in just three days on March 17th, 2011, so make sure you sign up at their website at http://www.team-dignitas.net/.

It'll include almost every pro level player and anyone who's trying to make a name for him or herself from the European server, so be prepared. Practice builds and strategies with your top-tier friends, spend a little extra time playing the ladder and watch some pro gaming replays. I guarantee you that you'll see results based on how much time you spend practicing.

Best of luck to all those participating and make sure that when you're ahead in a match, GET MORE AHEAD!

www.pvpproz.com launches!

My brother and I decided that there are way too many people asking us how to become as good as us when they see us playing Starcraft 2 or DOTA. Our website at www.pvpproz.com has started on the simple basis that players strive to get better.

We were similar when we first started, trying to figure out ways to become the best at what we are doing. I've personally gone through years of gaming to learn every aspect of some of the games I play. I've probably lost so many games that I wouldn't be able to remember that number. But, those games are the core of where learning happens.

Each struggle with teammates, each mistake made by hand has given me knowledge on how to achieve a higher level of gaming. With our website, we offer free articles, coaching and training for those who have the same ambition to become envied by others. Take the time to check out www.pvpproz.com/starcraft-2 for some of my personal VODs and POVs. Tomorrow, I'll analyze the basics of Starcraft 2 and how to get more wins.