my stream on esoc today

[don_artie]

so I did of a bit weird stream on esoc today where I spent a bit of time talking through my thoughts during a series and give you guys a look into my perspective. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1173731052 this is the vod for that.

the inspiration for that was h2o/ryan doing something similiar some years ago where there was a series on youtube called 'h2o explains' ( for reference).

So for me personally back when I watched these video's I was either a 2nd or 1st ltt and really enjoyed getting the insight from a great player like ryan. I realised that a lot of my 'skills' in aoe3 are quite easy to reproduce. For example when I watch the best players play like hazza, kaiser, mitoe etc they do certain unit controls things that I just do not manage to do. So for me their skill level is too out of reach, but I think my skill level is actually attainable for a lot of people, i'm not very good where it's out of reach but on the other hand i'm good enough where plenty of people could learn from me. My strenghts usually come from macro stuff/decission making etc which is honestly just copyable. If you feel like you are stuck at your skill level perhaps this vod from today could help you improve. Or for example someone that plays in the ECL that wants to improve towards being in the EPL next time could use this to improve on something.

Anyway I was kinda hoping on having chat ask me questions and learn together but this didn't happen so instead of going through the entire series I just decided after 3 games to cut the stream short. I'm also worried that it might give up wrong vibes since I happened to have a good series here and perhaps people will just feel as if it's me showing off or something. anyway bottom line is that hopefully there is some people that enjoyed this content and maybe got something out of it.

[Lukas_L99]

Weird one

[iNcog]

Speaking of streaming on esoc today, I accidentally streamed on it again so if someone could delete the vod that'd be great

Don, that was really educational so please do more

[Mr_Bramboy]

Any Dutch representation is good content!

[Berletex]

Good stuff. I have watched countless hours of pros playing but without hearing the thought process it isn't always easy to pick up. Hope to see more like this.

[Squamiger]

this is great, and just what I need. ive always been amazed at how well you do given how slow your apm is, no offense. its inspiring since I'm just as slow (or maybe even faster lol) but there's so much game knowledge and decision making things that Im just bad at and don't apply well, so this helps a lot.

[Squamiger]

would like to see something like this with a co-commentator / interviewer, like how interjection did with h2o.

[Kaiserklein]

I watched a bit of it and don't worry, it really didn't seem like you were showing off. It was good content and I think it's valuable for anyone to watch it.
However I have to say I disagree that these skills are easy to reproduce. Especially, adptation is pretty hard in a game with so many civs and maps involved. E.g micro is a different skill, but not necessarily harder than adaptation

[gibson]

If it was easy to reproduce, everyone would be doing it.

[Kyo_]

I can't really be bothered to improve at this game, to be honest. For some reason the notion of that is downright disgusting to me so I actively stop myself from getting better. I just play team for a chance to go speedy dopps when I'm using Germans, or make 140 imperial skirms if I'm using Dutch and hold W into enemy's base.

Same with playing CS. The idea of improving at it is just disgusting. About the most pointless thing a human being can do is to improve at a game with no concrete end. I've been praised for my talents in both games inordinately. The inflated ego that's resulted has made me quite arrogant and toxic which is also disgusting.

I need mental therapy

[Squamiger]

If it was easy to reproduce, everyone would be doing it.

true, it's not that you can just reproduce things that the pros do. But there's still a HUGE knowledge gap between top players and middle-tier / noob players I think, and game knowledge is something that really does factor into the decisions you make in game, so i think it's still a really helpful idea to make videos like these. I've been playing this game casually for a long time and I learned a few things I hadn't thought about before, just now from Don's video. I learned similar things from H2O's vid as well. I would personally love it if more players made these kinds of "inside the mind" videos, because what pros might take for granted as common knowledge can actually be very novel concepts for lower tier players.

its the same in any field: when you are an expert surrounded by other experts, you forget how much you actually know, and you underestimate the gap between yourself and novices. I think some AoE3 pros definitely suffer from this-- they can't really describe how to help noob tier players because their knowledge of the game has become instinctual to the point where they aren't even really aware of it. But talking through and vocalizing the decisions you make in a game will force you to clarify and explain those instincts, and that can be super rewarding for lower skilled and less experienced players

[abeisfriend]

Thanks for the great stream! Glad you're back!