What. What am I Doing Wrong?

[xSpartanLazerx]

Alright, let me clear this up real quick.

This is a TF2 Help discussion.
This has nothing to do with real life beyond playing the game.
I feel as if I should not post here, with all of these real-life situations right next to it.


Here is the situation:

I suck at Team Fortress 2. I do play this game, and I most certainly devote time to this game. It's frustrating to know that your own skills do not seem to improve after devoting time and effort to something, especially something as trivial as a video game. After a few days of "Hahaha! Alright, I choose a different class!" or "Okay, let's see, I play better as the Heavy anyways...", I succumb to rage. This is a bit of a silent rage, as I don't really show it on the voice chat (No YouTube hate for me, thank you.), I just quit. I usually take a break for a few days, and play a few sandbox games, such as Minecraft or Terraria, until I have the nerve to play again. Right as soon as I'm in the second match, a ragequit is imminent.

So, fellow Escapists, want to lend me a hand that does not involve buying more games, taking up another hobby, or killing myself?

 

[SiskoBlue]

I've not played TF2. I've played other mp games though and understand what you mean so I'll ask some questions and see if anything helps;

1. What would you consider "success" when playing TF2? You're going to get killed a lot (failing) and you do a lot of killing (success). Are you aiming for a specific kill/death ratio? A particular standard? Are you using some objective quantitative way? (objective = not based on how you "feel" but an observeable fact, quantitative = measurable in quantity, how much/how little). I ask this because you see some kids on youtube getting mad because they keep dying. But you look at their k/d and they're 1.00. This means you are perfectly average. You're not the best but not the worst. But if you "feel" like you should be better than average then maybe you'd do better managing your expectations. Go in knowing that you might have a good run, or a bad run but you'll probably come out around 1.00.

2. However, if you reall do "suck at TF2" as you say and have a k/d of 0.10. Or you might have a great k/d of 5 but feel that no matter how much you practice you just don't improve then I'd say there are two things to consider. Either a) you just don't have the abilities to improve your game. Take golf. Golfers get a handicap based on their average play. My dad has a handicap of 12. This means everytime he plays a round of golf he averages 12 extra strokes (shots) over par (the expected score if you got every hole perfectly). Sometimes he has a good day, sometimes he doesn't. He could practice his heart out but at 68 years of age it's pretty unlikely he will ever reach scratch (0 handicap). So he aims to lower his handicap but he has realistic goals. With video games it's hard because depending on the game, internet speed, equipment, experience, knowledge of maps, etc. it's hard to tell if the restriction is in your abilities or your equipment.

Or it's b) despite your best efforts to practice you're missing something. Maybe all the people who are beating you have played 10 times longer than you. Maybe you just have to be committed to getting the experience needed. Maybe there's some core strategies that you're missing. It could be stuff like "when playing as a medic always keep to the outside of the maps" I don't know but in every mp there's some core high level tactics you need to know to be able to compete. For Halo it's got a lot to do with knowing weapon spawns. Not just where they are but how often they spawn and how to time a run so you pick it up exactly as it appears. Seems stupid to me but that's the 1337 aspect.

Two things I know about TF2 though. It's deep, there are lots of variables flying around that you have to consider. Maps, classes, team mate classes, all require different tactics that have to be learned and mastered. And 2) It's been out so long the majority of people who play are super hardcore. Really experienced.

You'll notice I didn't harp on your sense of rage. There's nothing wrong with your feelings of rage. The problem comes from having wrong expectations. Everytime you go to play TF2 you have some expected outcome of how it's going to be. Everytime that expectation is thwarted in ways you didn't expect or predict, you get mad. That's reasonable when you're driving somewhere in a hurry and and idiot rams your car. For a videogame it means you are operating under false expectations. Your car is GOING to get rammed as it were. Expect it and develop strategies to deal with it and you'll find you're not tempted to rage quit.

One tip I'll give that applies to this and all "sports". Do what Greg Norman did when he was failing. He set himself the goal of getting a birdie on one particular hole on the course. Didn't matter if he failed the tournament, he didn't think about it. His one goal for that day was to get a birdie on that one hole. He kept doing this until he perfected the mindset of setting a goal and achieving it. Despite coming second in loads of tournaments he was actually the most successful golfer (on average) for years.

So maybe next time pick a class and pick one thing you want to achieve. Maybe aim at getting 5 kills, regardless of how many deaths it takes. Maybe it just trying to get headshots only. Or just melee kills. Or just learn a map inside out. Pick an achievable goal and focus on that one goal.

Good luck.

 

[xSpartanLazerx]

Thank you for that very, very thought out explanation and advice. My main problem is my sense of "uselessness" to the team during many matches. My inability to help out when I'm there and fighting is more frustrating than a K/D ratio. I also tend to "derp" when playing supportive roles such as Medic or Engineer (Placing turrets in easy spots, healing the wrong person in a pinch). I also notice that my strategies are very weak, I do not know how to counter unexpected results (Soldier or Demoman on roof of enemy base, for instance.)

Anyways, thanks for replying, and I'll try to set some mini-goals for myself.

 

[Limecake]

Don't get discouraged, I've logged 800+ hours in TF2 and I'm decent at best. here are a few tips I've picked up along the way.

Scout: relies on speed to survive, it's crucial you know the map as a scout knowing where your healthkits are or clever ways of navigating behind the enemy team will help you out a lot as a scout. use corners to your advantage against harder enemies, heavies and soldiers can be blocked with corners allowing you to pick them off with your scattergun.

Soldier: shoot at your enemies feet not at your enemy. a good pyro can airblast all your rockets back at you so be careful. learning to rocket jump (aim at the ground, jump + crouch and fire) is vital for a good soldier it'll let you get to some pretty neat areas. if an enemy engie builds his sentry gun and you have a clear shot of it (from far enough away so it won't target you) you can take it out with a couple well timed rockets.

Pyro: Pyro is a tough one to play (well) for beginners. don't run straight at your enemy, stick to trying to get behind enemy's or surprising them around corners. Compression blast is the most important part of being a good pyro. practice timing your blast to reflect projectiles or ubered enemies. you can also blast friendly players on fire to put them out. shoot a puff of fire every couple seconds to check for invisible spies and check your teammates too.

Demoman: your sticky bomb launcher is one of the most powerful weapons in TF2, you can explode stickies mid-air or create traps. Remember to hide your stickies behind walls or on the ceiling to trick enemies into your traps. lob your grenades into crowds or into buildings. basically anywhere you can shoot them where the enemy can't retaliate.

Heavy: don't stay in one place for too long, a heavy is a large target for a sniper or a spy to take out, check behind yourself often for spies and avoid large open areas to avoid being sniped. the sandvich is very useful, if you are alone feel free to eat the sandvich however if you know enemies are coming toss the sandvich on the ground and run over it for a quick pick me up. if you have a pocket medic toss him the sandvich.

Engineer: the engineer is best learned by not playing one. sentry gun location is critical keep an eye out where other engies build and how effective it is at holding the position. make sure you build tele's quickly after you get a sentry gun up. shoot stickies that are near your buildings, I can't tell you how many times I've saved a complete wipe of my base by just shooting a sticky or two. make sure to memorize your buildings hotkeys (4-1 is a sentry gun 4-2 is a dispenser etc.) since engies are all about speed of building this is an important aspect of being a good engie.

Medic: keep moving, it makes you a much harder target to hit, keep an eye on your back remember that medic backs are just as sweet as a heavy's for spies. pay attention to who knows their class and save your ubers for those people. Ubercharges work the best for offense to push through the defenses of the opossing team (it's nice on defense too to push the attackers back). Kritzkrieg's really only help you on defense since you won't be able to push through sentry posts. If you're trying to take out a sentry with an ubercharge, run ahead of whatever teammate you ubered so the sentry will push you back not them.

Sniper: if there are 2 snipers on your team already DO NOT pick a sniper, more often than not it seems players load up on snipers and neglect important classes like medics, heavies or soldiers. This is a quick way to get burnt out by losing constantly. aim for the head especially on enemy snipers, medics don't count since if you have any chance of taking them down then you should take it. Watch out for spies since you're a sitting duck while zoomed in.

Spy: another tough one when you're just starting out, remember you can quick disguise with the b button. Avoid pyro's like the plague since a stray bit of flame could reveal your position and kill you. don't disguise as a heavy you'll move the speed of a heavy (when disguised as a scout you travel at normal spy speeds) and don't be afraid to use your revolver. It packs a powerful punch and is fairly easy to use (watch out for recoil)

misc: remember class balance on a team is extremely important, if you have no medics/engies than you might have to take one for the team. remember to use different weapons for different ranges (if you're chasing someone as a pyro and they run out of range of your flamethrower switch to your shotgun!).

If you have any specific questions feel free to send me a message. Good luck!

 

[Evil Top Hat]

I'm not much of an expert, but it helps to find out what type of role you are good at playing. If you jump between classes all the time, you'll find it hard to progress in any of them. Try to find what playstyle you prefer.

I'm usually best at holding down fixed positions, I'm no accurate or fast enough to be a good scour or to be able to run into the middle of the fray. I usually prefer to be a sniper or heavy, and to hold down positions I am supposed to defend, because while I don't like to blow my own trumpet, I'm pretty good at understanding the battlefield, and what parts of it need to be defended, or where there are weaknesses.

It took me 80 hours of play time to figure that out though, so don't be too discouraged. TF2 takes a lot of skill and time to get right.

For more specific (and better) advice see here:

http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/action/teamfortress2boa/show_msgs.php?topic_id=m-1-52778298&pid=437678&tag=topics%3Btitle