Hello awesomedventurers! Yesterday I became a really happy Nauter, as I've managed to grab a 3 digit position in the leaderboards! :3 Ok, ok... I know this is just the begginning of a new Season and the ladders are still a mess, but placing that high within 2 weeks of my first contact with the game is something I've been proud of. :) So today, I'll share with you what I've been doing to steadily improve my gameplay and climb the ladders.
How did I manage to go that far within 2 weeks? "Hackzorz?" Nope. (u.u) "Black Magicz?" No. (o.o) "Pact with da Devil?" What!? No! (>.<) What I've been doing are these 3 little things: use my previous experiences with other games in the context of Awesomenauts; observe what other players do while trying to understand why; and ask myself what should I do next. Yes, I know that what I wrote is pretty bland and generic, but it is the truest way of improving in anything and achieve success, from your working performance to your l33t gaming skillz. I'll try to detail a bit each point to anyone who's struggling to improve can understand them better. ^^
Using previous experiences
Probably, everyone who plays Awesomenauts has played other games. I've played a lot of World of Warcraft, League of Legends and Mass Effect 3 (multiplayer). Of all these experiences, only one is directly related to Awesomenauts (League of Legends), but almost all of them helped me improve something. League of Legends gave me a nice basis of how to approach a MOBA game and taught me some really nice stuff, such as zoning and map control. World of Warcraft taught me how to filter what's important on the screen and short-mid term planning. Mass Effect 3 taught me mouse precision, map awareness and how to handle pressure. It was all a matter of taking everything these games taught me and find aspects of the game where all these things could be applied. But any experience in your life can accomplish that. Driving can give you situational and awareness of your surroundings. Playing ping-pong can give you nice hand-eye coordination and precision. Associating skills you might have with aspects of the game can greatly improve your learning speed in new things. And as you improve in the game, it might 'reciprocally' help the primary skill you started associating in the first place.
Observe what other players do
This is perhaps the most given advice from pro players to aspiring amateurs (as I'm one :P). Learning through observation is as simple as watching what someone is doing and try to understand why he's doing that. This can be done in different situations with different reasons and different intents. You can see what your allies are doing so you can do the same thing if it works, you can see what your enemies are doing to use it when you try playing with the same character he's playing, you can watch pro player streams and videos to learn how and why they act and position themselves during a match. The possibilities are almost endless.
As simple as observing what other people do might sound, I've found the hard cold truth that it's really hard to learn, specially to people who are not used to do it (MEEE!). My observation skills simply suck. It sucks so bad that if I go to a shopping mall and have to find a friend who's sittingin the food court, I won't find him unless he waves at me for a couple of minutes. Heck, if you ask me what clothes my parents were wearing before they went to work, I won't remember.
The good thing is that Awesomenauts is a really simple game with simple mechanics and good visual feedback, so learning through observation is way easier than other games. You don't have to worry about looking at armor or attack damage value, as this game doesn't take anything like that into account. You don't have to look at your enemy's build to know what he's doing, as you can see and 'feel' their upgrades. You won't die because you were attacked by an offscreen attack. The clarity Awesomenauts has is what really makes it the best MOBA for newbies.
Ask yourself what to do (Planning)
Everybody has played a game where it stalled for what it seems like hours (but it was actually 10 minutes xD). Just imagine the following situation: you're in Sorona (the smoochin' worm map) and destroyed both of their front turrets. In the middle of the map there is a big nest of Weedlings from the enemy's Gnaw and their Derpl is eagerly waiting someone of your team to pass nearby to nuke the brains out it. Also, every time you try to solo push it, a wild Coco appears to try to stop you. You're playing Genji with Yuri and Gnaw as allies. What would you do in this situation?
Thinking and finding ways to overcome difficult situations in the game gradually becomes more important as you become a better player. Eventually, both you and your opponent will know how to hit each other with abilities, but having a better strategy than him will net you advantages that you'll be able to further press against him and eventually win. Always asking yourself what to do next will allow you to plan your next moves and begin to add small victories throughout the game to eventually win the game.
That game, me and Gnaw split-pushed the bottom lane. All three of them came to try to gank us, giving the opportunity for our Yuri to clear the Weedlings with a couple of mines. We managed to kill Coco before escaping and guard mid. After that we began to push and steamroll the game.
Did you guys (and gals) enjoy today's post? I intend to write many more with tips about how to improve in the game. As always, feedback and suggestions are appreciated! If you have any, please leave them in the comments bellow!
PS: I've got a big surprise for y'all soon. Stay tuned!
