I only started playing qw some weeks ago, But i enjoy the game enough to get raped for the next howeverlong to get better I'll just stick at it i guess

hang in there guys! and dab, with your attitude you'll get a lot better in short time, I can feel it.

I stay "in shape" by playing the occasional FFA, sometimes more often than usual depending on how bored i am of the game. I might not practice the 1on1/4on4 tactic stuff by doing this, but i like to think that such stuff is easier to maintain as you have the routine from numerous 4on4 games for example. Keeping up with the high pace of a skilled QW 1on1/TDM game is a whole different matter however, and that's what the frantic FFA rounds are good for, even if it sometimes is just cannon fodder on the server. (The xs4all has excelled a lot the last couple of years though, almost always good competition on the server)

I don't believe in staying in shape. I feel like I'm playing better now after two months of break, than before. I have more "hunger" when I play and I whine less, which improves my game a lot

<this is based on my experiences with Quake 3 and to a lesser extent QW and it might be total bullshit>

There are two types of "being in shape". There is the mental frame of mind, confidence, focus, etc., and then there is the physical "instinctive" sharpness, (movement, aim, split second timing) that you get from playing a lot. I almost never have two at the same time... the more regularly I play, the sharper I get - better aim better movement. But, like Hagge, I get better results after an absence when I will be more focused and treating each game more seriously, noting the times when I take RA, thinking more, playing responsibly, etc.

It is a delicate balance, because if you are too far out of practice, to the point that your movement suffers and your aim is terrible, then you will have no confidence, you will see no point in making a big effort, and you will be terrible. I agree that once you are at your best, you can maintain raw skills just enough by playing a little bit for an hour a couple of times a week. You can stay within arms length of your best aim/movement, but keep the hunger alive by not overdoing the pointless games.

When you let yourself go too far, to the point that your skills are no longer in your sights, you feel like you need a blitz of 24/7 activity to get the raw skills back, but I don't think this is the case. Even with patchy 2on2s, you will claw back your skills bit by bit, almost without noticing... but the mental game will not come back so easily. You don't have confidence in your ability, you keep assuming that you're too far out of shape, etc. So if you have been playing these meaningless games for two weeks and still think that you are shockingly bad, the best thing to do is:

-Play some games of povdmm4 vs your old sparring partner, you see your LG is only 1% weaker than it was at your best.
-Run around all the maps, you see your UPS is almost as fast as it ever was, you can still land on that RA on aerowalk.
-Play dm4 against some +forward newbie like Hedgepig and watch how you smack him with a rocket every time he tries to leave mega room... your basic timing is still OK.

Once you spot that you actually have the raw materials again, then you just need to give yourself a smack across the face and remind yourself of who you are (in my case, a golden god). You are Rocky... older and wiser now, returning to the ring once more to show some giant Russian that his big muscles, fancy doctors and high tech mousemats cannot save him.

It is not like riding a bike, but it is like playing a guitar. Takes a bit of time to tweak your timings, routines, etc., but your muscles have not forgotten the movements.

I agree a lot on what's being said about shape/form. It's often great to get back to qw after a while as you feel incredible fresh. Often the only time i'm good at duels is after a break because i'm focused and enjoying it more. I can take a beating without whining.

Last time I returned I played quite a bit duels which was great, but after 6 months duels started to annoy me. I got frustated a lot which only made my performances go down more and frustations got a lot worse to the point I decided to stop playing duels as I play this game for fun.
Probably a lot has to do with crap maps like dm4 and dm2 really ;P

Anyways. I stopped playing qw somewhere halfway June because of the summer. Begin August I decided to give QL a try(I played q3ctf 2001-2003) which was actually pretty cool specially since the day I tried it I started following the QL scene and there were lots of cool tournaments which only grew my interest in the game.
I started playing quake mostly because a schoolmate in 1998 showed me qw and he was a qwctf player back then. Hell that shit was awesome so I'm originally an ctf player and in QL I get the chance to play ctf again and that's a lot of fun. Allthough qlctf is a lot more shallow then qwctf and far from as intense, but it's still lots of fun.

Half august I played some qwduels after 2 weeks of quite a 'lot' QL and it was as if my qwskills got a boost. I was flying through the map and my playstyle was lot more agressive and aim seemed to have a boost which felled great. I was surprised and figured that QL didn't influence my qw skills at all, maybe even improved it?

2 days ago I played some qw 2n2 with my teammates after another 2 weeks of even more QLctf and my aim was horrifying. I was unable to decently use my lg at all. I think it was because my QL sens is lower then my qw one so I was unable to hit scan at all. My rockets were flying everywhere except to the directions I wanted them to go. It was such a difference with 2 weeks before when I played a qwduel. I have no idea why it was so different, but I sure as hell know that when qw 4n4 competition is about to start I will definately stop playing QL

Or I will lower my qw sens which can't hurt anyways I think

the only reason i wrote this blog entry was for hedgepig to feel motivated to write some lines again. after his last blog entry i became a fan of piglet's literature


i love u too kwibus nice read


Edited by mushi on 27 Aug 09 @ 11:32CET

haha yes, well put hedgepig and kwibus see you at the servers!

congratulations on getting married mushi!

zomg mushi, when is the qw kid coming!? =)

he is already here flepser, he is called "cage"

wow, nice to see hooraytio bashing someone else than myself for once

Hedge owns me tho. His writing is awesome. It would be cool if he wrote a nice article every week

Hehe dunno about that... but forgot to say CONGRATS to mushi on the marriage. I look forward to the day when he and his three children (raised solely on dm3, feijoada, and vinho de Porto) unleash themselves upon the QW community... a new Quinas dreamteam with near telepathic teamplay, and strict punishment for whomever steals mushi's RA.

i never bash hagge for real tho, thats just for laughs

still hurts ((((

2003