Well about keeping the same settings. i have been gradually increasing my dpi because at first i had like 800 dpi mouse and it was really hard when i set my new mouse to 3000 right away soo i played with a bit higher than 800 for a while then increased again and then again. For me it was much easier than jumpign right in with high dpi

Few questions from me, as new player, person who love listening music and is kinda binded to his small personal smartphone with loads of songs.

1) How i should force my first steps in OSU. So far i just found songs what i realy like to listen and on Normal difficulty i get normaly rank C. I managed ONE time on Easy mode to get S rank but that was like year ago when i found OSU (abandoned it due work and real life issues so consider it as i am starting from scrach, newbie, etc).

2) I tryed hard difficulty and i cannot pass even first seconds of any song, simply speed of bits is too damn high for me that i cannot follow nodes. Should i force myself to repeatly do same song like tousent of times till i get used to fast speed or stick for easy/normals at start now?

3) Passed some bitmaps from "Recommended Difficulty" and it went pretty decent, one even A rank after like 4-5 times (few repeats per try), should i stick to recommended once or just go and play songs what i know and like? Do actualy playing songs what i hear first time in my life is better for me and will help improve?

Thanks for advice guys and cheers!

@Edit - I am mouse user.

I found at the beginning when I first played that it wasn't as easy as I thought.
Sure I could follow with my eyes, but doing it with a mouse was way harder.
Not to mention that you have to click too which quickly overloads your mind.
I find that eating before you play and getting some sleep helps alot in terms of accuracy.
I don't know why, but it works for me.
The guide for total beginners:

1) Play the easy maps. No you aren't good enough for normal yet.
-If you can't do it, play it on half speed. Get used to pressing x instead of clicking, it helps much more
-Also, try to sync your ears to the beat. No beatmap is there without a beat.
2) Once you're better, go on to normal
-Basically, same thing, just try more. It may take a long time before you can get to hard. I have been playing for a month and I can only manage to get B's and C's on hard.
3) PRACTICE
-I know that some people think that they can get by without actually trying but believe me, you have to practice. Practice makes perfect, right?


Tips:
-To get better at listening to the beat, enable the Hidden mod and try and figure out when you are supposed to click. No peeking!
-To get better at accuracy and to get your body to adjust to new beatmaps, play on Hard Rock. It flips the map over the x axis and makes the hit circles smaller, so accuracy matters more.

P.S. If you find that your cursor is lagging,
1) Go to options
2) Go to frame rate
3) Change FPS to unlimited
This is implemented to keep people from cheating by making the fps low.

Enjoy playing osu!

It's not wise to give objective advice to subjective players with arbitrary skillsets~

Tess wrote:

It's not wise to give objective advice to subjective players with arbitrary skillsets~

Yet they're all the perfect ingredients to make up some placebo effects

Something I've been meaning to ask.. Is raw input that necessary if you play with a mouse? I recently got a G400s and set it to 800dpi and 1.0x in game, but I forgot to turn raw input on so I've just been playing like that for a little over a week. Enhance pointer precision is off in G400s settings, and I'm pretty sure it was off when I checked Windows settings a while back.

I also tampered with the windows sensitivity because I had to use a touchpad for a while (previous mouse broke so I couldn't play), and forgot it there. I checked it and it's on 8/11 now. Should I tone it down to default?

If it is better to play with raw input on, how much should I conpensate in dpi? I play on 1600x900 native resolution and with raw input on the cursor gets way too slow for me.

*I apologise if this is the wrong place to ask, I just guessed that my settings could be potentially messing with how I play.

Nikkumi wrote:

Something I've been meaning to ask.. Is raw input that necessary if you play with a mouse? I recently got a G400s and set it to 800dpi and 1.0x in game, but I forgot to turn raw input on so I've just been playing like that for a little over a week. Enhance pointer precision is off in G400s settings, and I'm pretty sure it was off when I checked Windows settings a while back.

I also tampered with the windows sensitivity because I had to use a touchpad for a while (previous mouse broke so I couldn't play), and forgot it there. I checked it and it's on 8/11 now. Should I tone it down to default?

If it is better to play with raw input on, how much should I conpensate in dpi? I play on 1600x900 native resolution and with raw input on the cursor gets way too slow for me.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1265192/dpi- ... nter-speed

according to this, 8/11 multiplies dpi by 2. So try 1600dpi with raw input.

GoldenWolf wrote:

Tess wrote:

It's not wise to give objective advice to subjective players with arbitrary skillsets~

Yet they're all the perfect ingredients to make up some placebo effects

When you get a placebo to work, the best course of action is to figure out what about that placebo made it work, and then focus on that so you can achieve the same results without said placebo.

An example of something I did that helped for me was imagining a pro player playing the map I was playing as I played it, and then I tried following their cursor movements and tapping as closely as I could. This actually helped - I obviously didn't instantly become pro, but I could keep combo for longer, get higher accuracy, etc. Then later I thought about what I did differently during that time, and realized that, because I was so focused on "playing like a pro", I was paying much more attention to the map. I was forced to read properly because I had to visualize where the cursor went before following there with my own. That inspired me to practice reading, and now I can get in the same state without the need of any silly symbolism.

tl;dr Do the placebo, find the cause of the placebo's effect, remove the placebo, repeat the cause to achieve the effect again.

B1rd wrote:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1265192/dpi- ... nter-speed

according to this, 8/11 multiplies dpi by 2. So try 1600dpi with raw input.

Tried it and it feels fairly similar. Possibly smoother than before.

Would it be a good idea to fall back to 6/11? I've read that the pointer skips counts above 6/11, although I got to admit I'm not sure what that means.

I'm just at the point where I've been playing at 8/11 for 9 days after a two month hiatus, so my muscle memory was sort of "reset" until that point (or maybe I'm wrong since I don't know how muscle memory works exactly).

I've read that you generally shouldn't change settings too much and stick to one, so I don't know what to do.

Tess wrote:

It's not wise to give objective advice to subjective players with arbitrary skillsets~

I don't quite understand this logic. Honestly, the only way this thread could work is if it were as objective as possible, and even then, it's still going to contain some subjectivity. You should understand that rhetorical writings do not work if it's all, "I say this is this way because it works for me so it works for everyone. I'm right, do what i say." Simply leaving it at that without backing it up with at least some kind of hypothetical or real proof is what would be unwise. What's more important is not so much whether or not what's being said is objective, but rather, how it's presented so that the reader will subjectively take in the information in favor of the writer. To wrap this up: statements of objectivity in an argument creates credibility for the writer because it represents them having tangible evidence(regardless of existence), credibility increases the affinity for the readers to agree with the writer, and also, increases thought on their end on what is being said on whatever topic.
You want to know the secret though...
This entire thread is subjective advice.
Guess it worked, eh?

Well, looking at all your points, I don't think you quite grasped my statement. Then again, looking back at it, I think it was more of an in-joke with myself than anything else. I'll explain everything though, just so it doesn't look like I'm randomly spouting crap without any thought behind it. I'll start by replying to your points.

Amphetamine wrote:

Honestly, the only way this thread could work is if it were as objective as possible, and even then, it's still going to contain some subjectivity.

Well, how do you define objective? You say "as objective as possible", but how would you even measure said objectivity? Are you aware of how objective this thread is being? If so, could you explain how much that is, and how you got to that amount?

If you go for the dictionary definition (people rarely do), which is, quote, "(of a person or their judgment) not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts.", then that would be false on both accounts, because all we can do on this forum is share our personal experiences and I doubt that a majority of the users on this forum knows of the facts that drive their subjective experiences. On top of that, you wouldn't really be able to measure that. You either are objective, or you're not.

Amphetamine wrote:

You should understand that rhetorical writings do not work if it's all, "I say this is this way because it works for me so it works for everyone. I'm right, do what i say." Simply leaving it at that without backing it up with at least some kind of hypothetical or real proof is what would be unwise.

Okay, step on your breaks there, Sonic. What about my post implies that I don't understand that baseless (Not rhetorical, your example had nothing to do with rhetoric at all) statements do not work under pretty much any circumstances except for sheer luck around brainless listeners? I'm not sure where you're taking that assumption from, so, if you could elaborate, that would be much appreciated. I do see what you're saying about me not backing up my statement, but perhaps I wasn't trying to give advice with my post, and rather to spark thought and discussion. Ever considered that? If so, what would be wrong with my statement? You wrote out quite a complete post with fully formulated points that you put quite some serious thought behind, and now I'm replying to said post as maturely as I can - wouldn't that mean that I've achieved my goal? If I'm overlooking something here, I'd be glad to see it pointed out, so I can prevent it in the future.

Amphetamine wrote:

What's more important is not so much whether or not what's being said is objective, but rather, how it's presented so that the reader will subjectively take in the information in favor of the writer.

The reader always takes information in subjectively, though. However, I'm not going to be petty - I do see what you're trying to say. The thing is, it's still not a very effective approach. You can attune objective statements to the subjectivity of a listener, sure. However, the key word in that sentence is "a". That only really, truly works in one-on-one teaching - and this is assuming that this thread contains objective statements, which it does not. Only attempted objectivity, to further complicate things. If this makes you wonder why my post says "objective advice" - I was referring to advice presented as objective, there. As in "To get better, do A, B, and C. Good luck.". That's objective. That's a tutorial, an instruction, which doesn't work for this game. That's something that works when it's "To open a door, either twist the knob, pull the handle, or blow it the fuck up.". What makes one player get better makes the other player get worse, you can't write out a tutorial on how to get better because it would only work for a select amount of people. In fact, that was the entire point of my statement.

Amphetamine wrote:

To wrap this up: statements of objectivity in an argument creates credibility for the writer because it represents them having tangible evidence(regardless of existence)

Providing evidence along with your statement makes you more credible, yes. What kind of evidence would a "GUYS THIS IS TURLY THE METHOD WITH HOW YOU GET BETTER >>>THE REAL DEAL RIGHT HERE<<<" thread OP have to provide that would not only convince the reader before they tried it for themselves, but also work for every single player that tries it? Because that's what a fact is, you know. Gravity is there for everyone. 2 is always more than 1. A feather is lighter than a truck, everywhere. If your method doesn't work for everyone, it's a subjective method, and presenting it objectively is wrong and only leads to misunderstandings, which people are quite good at causing.

Amphetamine wrote:

credibility increases the affinity for the readers to agree with the writer

But that I agree with you doesn't mean that what you said will help me~

Amphetamine wrote:

and also, increases thought on their end on what is being said on whatever topic.

This didn't make sense to me.

Amphetamine wrote:

You want to know the secret though...
This entire thread is subjective advice.
Guess it worked, eh?

And down the drain goes your entire post, which makes me pretty sad. It was a good post, fun to reply to, yet you disagree with everything you've said with your little "secret". First you say that the only way this thread could work is if it were as objective as possible. Then you go on to say that said objective information should be presented in such a way that it can be interpreted subjectively, by everyone, so that it can work for as many people as possible. Then you go on to say that objectivity in an argument creates credibility for the writer, and makes the reader more eager to agree with him and think about stuff.

AND THEN YOU SAY THIS ENTIRE THREAD IS SUBJECTIVE

Thank you for your reply, though. I can see that you put effort and thought into it and it did most certainly make me revise my statement to make sure whether I was making any sense or not. It was also fun to reply to, and I have to say that the last part did make me giggle. Time not wasted. I hope you understand my logic now.

Tess wrote:

Well, looking at all your points, I don't think you quite grasped my statement. Then again, looking back at it, I think it was more of an in-joke with myself than anything else. I'll explain everything though, just so it doesn't look like I'm randomly spouting crap without any thought behind it. I'll start by replying to your points.

Amphetamine wrote:

Honestly, the only way this thread could work is if it were as objective as possible, and even then, it's still going to contain some subjectivity.

Tess wrote:

Well, how do you define objective? You say "as objective as possible", but how would you even measure said objectivity? Are you aware of how objective this thread is being? If so, could you explain how much that is, and how you got to that amount?

If you go for the dictionary definition (people rarely do), which is, quote, "(of a person or their judgment) not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts.", then that would be false on both accounts, because all we can do on this forum is share our personal experiences and I doubt that a majority of the users on this forum knows of the facts that drive their subjective experiences. On top of that, you wouldn't really be able to measure that. You either are objective, or you're not.

Oh no, you did not just go there. You brought out the dictionary on me. Low blow man, low blow. However, this actually is the reason why I said, "as objective as possible." Due to the fact that objectivity is not something that can be measured, nor present, for that matter, within a forum that is almost wholly based on subjective posts and responses. I said objective as possible in order to show my understanding of the fact that it will not be 100% objective. Point being, you kind of agreed with me inadvertently.

Amphetamine wrote:

You should understand that rhetorical writings do not work if it's all, "I say this is this way because it works for me so it works for everyone. I'm right, do what i say." Simply leaving it at that without backing it up with at least some kind of hypothetical or real proof is what would be unwise.

Tess wrote:

Okay, step on your breaks there, Sonic. What about my post implies that I don't understand that baseless (Not rhetorical, your example had nothing to do with rhetoric at all) statements do not work under pretty much any circumstances except for sheer luck around brainless listeners? I'm not sure where you're taking that assumption from, so, if you could elaborate, that would be much appreciated. I do see what you're saying about me not backing up my statement, but perhaps I wasn't trying to give advice with my post, and rather to spark thought and discussion. Ever considered that? If so, what would be wrong with my statement? You wrote out quite a complete post with fully formulated points that you put quite some serious thought behind, and now I'm replying to said post as maturely as I can - wouldn't that mean that I've achieved my goal? If I'm overlooking something here, I'd be glad to see it pointed out, so I can prevent it in the future.

Actually, the rhetorical writing alluded to was the OP. I was stating that, had the thread not provided some form of statements of objectivity in its points of advice, it would not work. I used said "baseless statement" in order to provide some insight in to what I meant by the necessity of objectivity. The statement you called baseless was my example of a statement based purely on subjective thought. Basically what I'm saying is that, if the thread followed this subjective, as you called it, baseless, train of thought, without offering up any kind of, or facade of a solid basis--subjectivity disguised as objectivity through the use of common sense questions and statements that the reader can make sense of through their own thought process, then the impact, as well as the credibility, completely breaks down.

As for you stating, "I do see what you're saying about me not backing up my statement, but perhaps I wasn't trying to give advice with my post, and rather to spark thought and discussion. Ever considered that?" I don't quite understand this logic. I don't understand how a statement that isn't backed up by any indication of thought could ever spark a discussion considering the fact that I have no idea what you mean. If I understand your logic correctly, I could say "The ephemeral box is one of short time" and expect to spark discussion from that. I'm pretty sure any discussion arising from that statement would be along the lines of others saying, "What the hell is this person talking about?"

As to not confuse you, as i have earlier with my other baseless statement, I'll expand upon this. If I, nor anybody else, knows what you're trying to say with such a vague statement then how could it ever generate any discussion. "It's not wise to give objective advice to subjective players with arbitrary skillsets" What's your point? Is it that giving advice in general is not wise, is it that just objective advice is not wise, is it that because of arbitrary skillsets and being subjective learners that objective advice couldn't work? If so, wouldn't that mean that no advice could help regardless of being objective or subjective and that advice period is unwise? My point being that, if you don't clearly state what you're trying to say, I'll take it as I perceive it, and because of that, I may misconstrue your meaning and end up having to type a 10 page essay in responses to you going back and explaining what you really meant after the fact.

As for the last sardonic statement of "didn't I achieve my goal" let's try to keep things real. I feel as though you've taken it that I've somehow tried to discredit your intelligence, and if so, let's just end that right here. Nothing I said was against you personally.

Amphetamine wrote:

What's more important is not so much whether or not what's being said is objective, but rather, how it's presented so that the reader will subjectively take in the information in favor of the writer.

Tess wrote:

The reader always takes information in subjectively, though. However, I'm not going to be petty - I do see what you're trying to say. The thing is, it's still not a very effective approach. You can attune objective statements to the subjectivity of a listener, sure. However, the key word in that sentence is "a". That only really, truly works in one-on-one teaching - and this is assuming that this thread contains objective statements, which it does not. Only attempted objectivity, to further complicate things. If this makes you wonder why my post says "objective advice" - I was referring to advice presented as objective, there. As in "To get better, do A, B, and C. Good luck.". That's objective. That's a tutorial, an instruction, which doesn't work for this game. That's something that works when it's "To open a door, either twist the knob, pull the handle, or blow it the fuck up.". What makes one player get better makes the other player get worse, you can't write out a tutorial on how to get better because it would only work for a select amount of people. In fact, that was the entire point of my statement.

First and foremost, I said take in information subjectively in favor of the writer. Naturally the reader always takes in information subjectively, however, they can take a position against an argument, or, they can take a position for the argument. I was trying to high-light the taking in of information, naturally subjective, that leads them to agree with the writer. That would be why I didn't end the sentence with the word "subjectively."

The way I take this is that you're agreeing with me. I said that it could only work if it were objective. Yes, osu! is not a game that can be broken up into steps as simple as opening up a door, that's obviously true. With that being said, I don't understand how attempted objectivity could further complicate anything. If anything, providing as much objectivity as possible would be nothing but beneficial to this argument. You said "You can attune objective statements to the subjectivity of a listener, sure. However, the key word in that sentence is "a". That only really, truly works in one-on-one teaching - and this is assuming that this thread contains objective statements, which it does not."

Is this true? Does this kind of advice only work when being given one-on-one? How do you know? Let's say we live in a world where that is a proven fact. If so, then wouldn't trying to emulate that be the best course of action when giving advice regardless of whatever medium was being used? I don't think giving advice changes all that much between one-on-one and writer to reader. Sure, in the real world, you can edit your statements and attune them to one specific person based on their personality and the reactions of that person, but is that really something you can't do when writing to a specific audience? Do you not think that the OP is attuned to a certain audience? Keywords being "a" and "audience" meaning that it is written this way because it seems like the most effective way to get the point across to the intended general audience. I'm just gonna leave it there and leave the thinking up to you.

Amphetamine wrote:

To wrap this up: statements of objectivity in an argument creates credibility for the writer because it represents them having tangible evidence(regardless of existence)

Tess wrote:

Providing evidence along with your statement makes you more credible, yes. What kind of evidence would a "GUYS THIS IS TURLY THE METHOD WITH HOW YOU GET BETTER >>>THE REAL DEAL RIGHT HERE<<<" thread OP have to provide that would not only convince the reader before they tried it for themselves, but also work for every single player that tries it? Because that's what a fact is, you know. Gravity is there for everyone. 2 is always more than 1. A feather is lighter than a truck, everywhere. If your method doesn't work for everyone, it's a subjective method, and presenting it objectively is wrong and only leads to misunderstandings, which people are quite good at causing.

If I'm getting what you mean, you're basically saying that trying to market a subjective argument as an objective one will only confuse others. Sure, that may be the case if I was arguing an objective matter, that contained proven facts, in my own subjective way. That's called tricking people. That can only happen if what you're saying can be proven wrong or right with factual data. You could argue that a red car is better than a yellow car. That's subjective. You could tell them that red cars are better because they get pulled over less than yellow cars. That could be objective or subjective. You vehemently refuse show them the data behind your statement that red cars get pulled over less. Now you're untrustworthy because your statement that could be considered either objective or subjective is now compromised and looks more subjective.

Basically what I'm saying is that not providing facts, for an argument based on facts, could indeed confuse(trick) people, sure. But does arguing something that can't be proven and backing yourself up as much as possible have the same effect? Say I argue that it's best to study while listening to music. Could that be proven, most likely not, and if so, probably fairly inconclusively. Why is that? It's because everybody is different. In order to convince others that my argument is correct, I'll try to back it up with subjective statements that sound credible, basically making seemingly objective statements out of subjective thoughts.

Amphetamine wrote:

credibility increases the affinity for the readers to agree with the writer

Tess wrote:

But that I agree with you doesn't mean that what you said will help me~

I never said it would help you. Have a nice day?

Amphetamine wrote:

and also, increases thought on their end on what is being said on whatever topic.

Tess wrote:

This didn't make sense to me.

When someone finds something more real and something they can relate to, they'll be more likely to question it and how it affects them because it is relevant.

Amphetamine wrote:

You want to know the secret though...
This entire thread is subjective advice.
Guess it worked, eh?

Tess wrote:

And down the drain goes your entire post, which makes me pretty sad. It was a good post, fun to reply to, yet you disagree with everything you've said with your little "secret". First you say that the only way this thread could work is if it were as objective as possible. Then you go on to say that said objective information should be presented in such a way that it can be interpreted subjectively, by everyone, so that it can work for as many people as possible. Then you go on to say that objectivity in an argument creates credibility for the writer, and makes the reader more eager to agree with him and think about stuff.

[/quote]

No. Actually, this is where your post goes entirely down the drain. What you seem to have not grasped is the fact that I told what I said was subjective for a reason. You said "giving objective advice to subjective players with arbitrary skillsets blah blah blah." Point being that the advice comes across as objective although it is actually not. Like I said, what's more important is how the writing comes across to the reader, and judging from your first comment, it came across as objective.

Now you can kick and scream and argue all you want, however, they're your words. You can say "oh well i was just trying to say that so(insert excuse here" be my guest. My point is that the post is marketed in a way that makes subjective advice look more objective to readers, and as such, is more relevant to the reader, is more credible, is more relatable, and creates food for thought on the subject at hand in an organized way that makes it look more like it's based on fact. That was my point for saying it needs to be as objective as possible. Regardless of whether it helps anyone is another matter entirely, however, you seem to be arguing over something so trivial as objectivity and subjectivity so vehemently that I felt it would be almost insulting to not respond. Truthfully, we both are. What's the point in arguing over a misunderstanding?

You don't have to agree with me, you can think anything you want. I appreciate other schools of thought, however, I like to see the reasons behind them. I appreciate you taking the time to write all this out, because honestly, it was pretty fun arguing with you (psst. don't take that the wrong way) It's rare to find someone who actually makes me think this much. Well played sir. (handhshake)

Too long too read.

Well, I read your entire post, but... To be honest; not only do you not make sense, it also seems as though your reply is written purely for the sake of disagreeing. Which is, just like the end of the post I replied to, rather disappointing. I could reply to everything you said but that would only derail the thread - I was assuming it would stop at my post, anyway.

So, to bring things back on track; I firmly believe that "play more" isn't the way to "get better", nor are any of the snippets of advice that I've seen in this thread. That doesn't mean that none of it works - some of it makes sense, like editing your settings to make things more playable, practicing different kinds of methods and play styles, and trying not to get too frustrated when things don't work out. But people seem to have romantic interest in the idea of a "golden solution", a single answer to all of your problems - because it's easy! If all you had to do was focus on one thing, then all you would need is time to get you anywhere. And I see that as an answer a lot of the time; "How do I get better?" "Play more." "Practice moar." "Play more hard stuff."

That is an incredibly stupid thing to say, as there are at least five major and several other minor aspects to consider while trying to improve this game - playing more is only the natural effect of trying to develop said aspects. Now, everyone plays differently, so I doubt that I could tell you how to develop anything and have it work consistently with you, but I'll list the aspects you should consider when thinking about how to practice - perhaps that could nudge some of the people here into a more healthy direction, provided that they're willing to improve, instead of looking for a golden answer. If you want the easy way to get good scores - use hacks. If you want to actually get good, work hard and efficiently. It's not rocket science.

The things to be considered, and their respective questions that come with them, are;

Aim - What makes me or other players aim well? What can get in the way of good aiming? What kinds of maps would I need to play to train my aim?
Speed - Why are some players faster than others? How can I play faster without reducing my accuracy too much? How do I read faster without losing my ability to read slower?
Accuracy - What determines how accurate I am? Why are thelewa and Bikko so much more accurate than other players? How can I train my accuracy simultaneously with my speed and aim?
Reading - How should I define "reading", and why would that definition help me improve as a player? What can I do to practice my reading without getting bored? How do MillhioreF or BluOxy look at the screen while they're playing, and why does this enable them to play EZ and FL so well?
Consistency - How do I practice my consistency? Why are players like doctorindark so much more consistent than others? When have I been more consistent in the past, and what did I do then that I could start doing again in the present?

Once you start thinking more in-depth about these things, you need to take the precaution of assuming that the conclusion you draw about them will most likely be incorrect, and be constantly trying to find holes in your own logic, until you can't anymore. In short;

Ask questions -> Find answers -> Work the flaws out of the answers -> Repeat with your increased knowledge

Add this to your practice routine and you'll be surprised how well it works, provided you put the required amount of effort into it. Then again, if you're not willing to put in effort, you shouldn't complain about sucking~

Tess wrote:

Well, I read your entire post, but... To be honest; not only do you not make sense, it also seems as though your reply is written purely for the sake of disagreeing. Which is, just like the end of the post I replied to, rather disappointing. I could reply to everything you said but that would only derail the thread - I was assuming it would stop at my post, anyway.

I'm sorry if that's how you interpreted it. It was definitely not my intention to. Please understand that when you say things such as "you do not make sense" and that a part is "disappointing" I feel that it is a fault on my part, and as such, it is my obligation to explain myself as best I can in order to show that I have reason for my thinking so that it doesn't just look like some thoughtless b.s. thrown out there for the sake of nothing more than argument. That may have been counterproductive in this case, due to the fact that, my patterns of thought are quite disorganized and the fact that it was really late at night(or early in the morning?). To that end, if I have somehow come across that I'm antagonizing you or arguing with you just for funsies I apologize. I'll say it again, it is most definitely not my intention to do so. I think we simply had conflicting ideas and that's completely fine.

Tess wrote:

So, to bring things back on track; I firmly believe that "play more" isn't the way to "get better", nor are any of the snippets of advice that I've seen in this thread. That doesn't mean that none of it works - some of it makes sense, like editing your settings to make things more playable, practicing different kinds of methods and play styles, and trying not to get too frustrated when things don't work out. But people seem to have romantic interest in the idea of a "golden solution", a single answer to all of your problems - because it's easy! If all you had to do was focus on one thing, then all you would need is time to get you anywhere. And I see that as an answer a lot of the time; "How do I get better?" "Play more." "Practice moar." "Play more hard stuff."

That is an incredibly stupid thing to say, as there are at least five major and several other minor aspects to consider while trying to improve this game - playing more is only the natural effect of trying to develop said aspects. Now, everyone plays differently, so I doubt that I could tell you how to develop anything and have it work consistently with you, but I'll list the aspects you should consider when thinking about how to practice - perhaps that could nudge some of the people here into a more healthy direction, provided that they're willing to improve, instead of looking for a golden answer. If you want the easy way to get good scores - use hacks. If you want to actually get good, work hard and efficiently. It's not rocket science.

The things to be considered, and their respective questions that come with them, are;

Aim - What makes me or other players aim well? What can get in the way of good aiming? What kinds of maps would I need to play to train my aim?
Speed - Why are some players faster than others? How can I play faster without reducing my accuracy too much? How do I read faster without losing my ability to read slower?
Accuracy - What determines how accurate I am? Why are thelewa and Bikko so much more accurate than other players? How can I train my accuracy simultaneously with my speed and aim?
Reading - How should I define "reading", and why would that definition help me improve as a player? What can I do to practice my reading without getting bored? How do MillhioreF or BluOxy look at the screen while they're playing, and why does this enable them to play EZ and FL so well?
Consistency - How do I practice my consistency? Why are players like doctorindark so much more consistent than others? When have I been more consistent in the past, and what did I do then that I could start doing again in the present?

Once you start thinking more in-depth about these things, you need to take the precaution of assuming that the conclusion you draw about them will most likely be incorrect, and be constantly trying to find holes in your own logic, until you can't anymore. In short;

Ask questions -> Find answers -> Work the flaws out of the answers -> Repeat with your increased knowledge

Add this to your practice routine and you'll be surprised how well it works, provided you put the required amount of effort into it. Then again, if you're not willing to put in effort, you shouldn't complain about sucking~

Yes, yes, yes, and more yes!!!!!! I could not agree with you more. This is the type of response I love. I think you make awesome points, and although I'm sure you don't need nor really want my approval, I still believe that your points on aim, speed, accuracy, reading, and consistency are truly something that should be taken into consideration more by people who want to improve. I feel as though many look for that "one best way to improve" to the point that they overlook the simple things that are the entire basis for improvement, or rather, they don't even bother practicing them because they spend all their time looking for that one-best-way to improve, however, trying to apply any type of one-best-way method of improvement will leave you nowhere. These areas, broken down with these questions, are definitely something I'll consider when I work on improvement as well. Breaking things down and questioning yourself as to how you can improve on them and coming up with your own self-specific answers definitely sounds like an awesome way to improve skills.

Well, thanks for taking the time to reply, and I'm glad you liked my advice. Do try to be careful with quotespam in the future, though. And you don't come across as antagonizing or rude or whatever, I don't think that so easily of people.

Tess wrote:

I firmly believe that...
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This was honestly the best piece of advice I have read till now. Thank you.

Thank you so much! I LOVE YOU!!!!!! <3 <3 <3

For anyone trying to improve in a skill, I would recommend a book named "The Little Book of Talent." It's an easy read that basically runs through a "menu" of practice techniques. You might find some that apply.

And don't lose heart. In Osu (and also in many other games), skill is NOT infinite. To see the upper bound, engage the "Auto" mod in-game and watch. It is possible, given enough time and effort, for you to reach the top.

Skill is infinite, difficulty isn't~

Nikkumi wrote:

B1rd wrote:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1265192/dpi- ... nter-speed

according to this, 8/11 multiplies dpi by 2. So try 1600dpi with raw input.

Tried it and it feels fairly similar. Possibly smoother than before.

Would it be a good idea to fall back to 6/11? I've read that the pointer skips counts above 6/11, although I got to admit I'm not sure what that means.

I'm just at the point where I've been playing at 8/11 for 9 days after a two month hiatus, so my muscle memory was sort of "reset" until that point (or maybe I'm wrong since I don't know how muscle memory works exactly).

I've read that you generally shouldn't change settings too much and stick to one, so I don't know what to do.

Raw input overrides windows settings.

But it's possible you can get wonky performance with some game/hardware combos.
In that case it's "best" to use 6/11 or below in windows. Since you are going to get skipped pixels above that. But most people don't even notice.

It all comes down to personal preference. I know people who prefer to have some mouse acceleration whereas I bought my mouse mainly due to the sensor being completely acc. free.

I really need some serious zen monk tips on controlling my nerves. Its so bad I can feel blood rushing to my head and my hands shaking even when I'm about to FC maps that would give me NOTHING.

I cant even play goddamn hards without my heartbeat raising if I'm on a high combo. I keep telling myself to 'stay calm who cares if you miss' but it only works until I'm actually doing well and then I just lose my cool. Its so goddamn frustrating to be cruising through a map at 99% acc, a map that you should be EASILY able to FC, and then just fucking choke it 98% of time on the dumbest shit you've managed to do 50 times before.
90% of my fuckups involve going over a single note and just not pressing it, it doesnt even have to be a jump.

All my FCs are basically flukes where I managed to supress my pen hands shaking/brains refusals to press buttons enough to somehow hit all the notes. I always lose my acc at the end of the song because of this too.

Why is this game s0 hard.

Why do you even care anyway? I get if you are trying to be competitive and all, but getting angry over stuff like that... I just don't get it. Well, actually, that's a lie, I DO get it, a long time ago I often got frustrated at video games too.

When I couldn't pass a level on Super Mario or Contra or whatever I used to get really mad... and then one day I was playing something and I thought "You know what, fuck it, it's just a stupid video game, I get enough things that frustrate me in real life, I don't need to add video games to the mix too."

What worked for me, is that I've accepted with a 100% certainty that I will never get good at osu, I'll never achieve a 3-digit rank( hell, I might not even achieve a 4-digit rank). And believe it or not, since I've accepted that, I'm having much more fun when I play.

I realize that this may not work for you and if you're dead set on becoming good, than who am I to stop you?! Just be prepared to continue getting frustrated over random misses etc.

For me, it's not worth it.

Its not about getting angry (yeah its frustrating but I wouldnt call it full blown anger) but about getting so ungodly nervous that I'm gonna fuck up that my aim and tapping becomes erratic, this usually leads to fucking up so its a vicious cycle of fuck uppery.

Try to manage your breathing better.

Nikkumi wrote:

Try to manage your breathing better.

Good news, I barely breathe after I reach half combo on a song so I'm an expert at that.

I don't think anyone can give you any tips on how to keep calm and not get nervous. Top-tier players to this day get nervous towards the end of a map, even when they have so much experience.

Someone could say "play more" (a phrase which I am sick and tired of), but even that might not help. It's not helping me and I know that it's not helping players such as lewa. He has been playing this game a lot and he has said that even now he can't help but get nervous towards the end of a challenging map while he has been keeping combo and high accuracy throughout most of the map.

Bottom line - you will continue getting nervous, I don't think anything can fix that. It's just part of the challenge.

yeah figures. Guess I'll just force myself to breathe calmly and relax my hands on every single play even if it means I'll miss because I'm focusing on relaxing for a while and see if it helps.

phonics wrote:

I really need some serious zen monk tips on controlling my nerves. Its so bad I can feel blood rushing to my head and my hands shaking even when I'm about to FC maps that would give me NOTHING.

The degree to which you get nervous can become habitual. If you don't grasp control of it early on, it becomes harder to avoid the longer it goes on. It becomes an instinctive response... fight or flight. Being nervous is something I personally have to avoid wherever possible for health reasons, so mastering my nerves is ultimately one of my osu! goals. I quit osu! twice for 3-4 months each time because of it, even ending up in hospital at one point because I could not control my stress. While I don't have zen monk tips, these are the things I do:

Start with analysis. Learn to recognise mis-reads instead of just assuming your nerves are at fault. Find quirks in patterns that aren't quite the shape or distances you thought they were. Some maps have patterns that appear to be really easy, but if you stop and analyze them, you'll see they are more difficult than they seem.

Keep playing maps you are confident on (read: consistent), and raise your confidence level before attempting to set top scores on stuff that is difficult for you to do in a few attempts. Confidence is the key to controlling your nerves, and is best done while avoiding being nervous altogether. Find something you don't get nervous on (seriously... anything) and play it. Find more like it and play them. Raise the bar slowly, build consistency and confidence.

This is basically like playing below your maximum skill level... However you can still practice above it, because your goal there is a means to an end, not "now", so your mind knows not to get nervous. Just avoid playing between those 2, your maximum, where your nerves take hold, because that 1 play out of multiple attempts is going to make you nervous. So don't retry so much, and build up your confidence from a skill level you know you reside at.

Take your time. Practice efficiency rather than doing things faster. Practice what you are bad at, instead of clinging to hope. Nothing stresses you out more than rushing.

Gigo wrote:

What worked for me, is that I've accepted with a 100% certainty that I will never get good at osu, I'll never achieve a 3-digit rank( hell, I might not even achieve a 4-digit rank). And believe it or not, since I've accepted that, I'm having much more fun when I play.

It's not necessarily about getting rid of high goals, but rather how you plan to achieve them. You can keep those goals, but decide to pursue them at a comfortable pace. The contradiction is that the goal is a moving target which gets further away the longer you take. However if you ignore that, you can still enjoy the game, play practice maps (for fun), all while keeping the goal of getting good... eventually.

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

The degree to which you get nervous can become habitual. If you don't grasp control of it early on, it becomes harder to avoid the longer it goes on. It becomes an instinctive response..

I feel like I'm already at this point and beyond it. The funny thing I haven't gotten seriously nervous once in any other game and I've played some competitive ass games including CS 1.6, CS:GO, SC2 and Dota2, all at a fairly competent level and I took those games VERY seriously yet I never felt nervous when playing them.

Start with analysis. Learn to recognise mis-reads instead of just assuming your nerves are at fault. Find quirks in patterns that aren't quite the shape or distances you thought they were. Some maps have patterns that appear to be really easy, but if you stop and analyze them, you'll see they are more difficult than they seem.

I'm probably guilty of this as well because usually I dismiss them as nothing but standard chokes for me. I'll start thinking about my misses more.

Keep playing maps you are confident on (read: consistent), and raise your confidence level before attempting to set top scores on stuff that is difficult for you to do in a few attempts.

I don't even attempt to FC anything that I can't get at least 98% acc on a standard basis because I know it just wont happen with my nerves. The problem is I can play these 4.0~4.2 star maps with a 98% acc and then just panic and choke almost without exception even though they arent even challenging me anymore on mechanical skill level.

Find something you don't get nervous on (seriously... anything) and play it

This basically means I should go back to 3 star maps Would you still find it worth doing? I'm willing to try anything at this point so I can progress in this game.

phonics wrote:

I feel like I'm already at this point and beyond it. The funny thing I haven't gotten seriously nervous once in any other game and I've played some competitive ass games including CS 1.6, CS:GO, SC2 and Dota2, all at a fairly competent level and I took those games VERY seriously yet I never felt nervous when playing them.

Fight or flight is situational. I can tell you that osu! is the most stressful game I've ever played. It is what you make of it, and it's really easy to become stressed. Other games give you breathing room at certain moments, time to think upon your actions, and also last a lot longer, so you are given a chance to calm down.

phonics wrote:

This basically means I should go back to 3 star maps Would you still find it worth doing? I'm willing to try anything at this point so I can progress in this game.

I don't pay much attention to star rating myself. My recommendation is to detach yourself from that style of thinking. Yes, look at star rating to determine difficulty, but don't assume yourself to be a certain star difficulty in skill. Play stuff you feel you can play... well.

well for the past few days I've been forcing myself to keep both my hands 100% relaxed and I've been achieving FCs on songs I havent been able to FC no matter how hard I've tried.

Its getting better but getting one 'random easy miss' sets me off from this relaxed state and I go back to my old tense style. Its really really hard to maintain this relaxed state but when I get there I can easily FC / improve my acc on songs I've panic mashed through to maintain combo. Now all thats left is to figure out how to go from being relaxed 10% of the time to 100% and i'll be good I think.

So to anyone else who has choking problems just FORCE your hands to be 100% loose, its really fucking hard but I havent found any other way. Also never ever ever ever look at your acc / combo during breaks, at least for me its a guaranteed fail shortly after the break

to get better, i think it is all about your mindset. if you believe you arent improving then you never will. jut keep trying and NEVER SAY "i cant do this! it is too hard!" JUST KEEP GOIN TILL YA WRIST BREAKS!

phonics wrote:

well for the past few days I've been forcing myself to keep both my hands 100% relaxed and I've been achieving FCs on songs I havent been able to FC no matter how hard I've tried.

Its getting better but getting one 'random easy miss' sets me off from this relaxed state and I go back to my old tense style. Its really really hard to maintain this relaxed state but when I get there I can easily FC / improve my acc on songs I've panic mashed through to maintain combo. Now all thats left is to figure out how to go from being relaxed 10% of the time to 100% and i'll be good I think.

So to anyone else who has choking problems just FORCE your hands to be 100% loose, its really fucking hard but I havent found any other way. Also never ever ever ever look at your acc / combo during breaks, at least for me its a guaranteed fail shortly after the break

Same, I've always been bad at maintain combos. This was because I was choking my pen with my fingers, after loosening up I fc'd a few songs which I didn't even have the stamina to complete previously.

Would you recommend easy mod to practice reading in general or is it just a waste of time at my level (rank 30K-ish, playing 4-star maps)?

yoyomster wrote:

Would you recommend easy mod to practice reading in general or is it just a waste of time at my level (rank 30K-ish, playing 4-star maps)?

Just dont stop playing AR8 along with 9 (and maybe play some insane AR7 maps once in a while) and you'll be fine.

GoldenWolf wrote:

iLoveYordles wrote:

Short streams up to 260bpm (like 3 up to 9 notes) does not make real threat for me, but I've found issues in longstreams over 200bpm. I can barely pass 6 seconds then I'm rapidly going down to 100's and 50's and then failing beatmap. Can't really find out what's the reason of my disconcentration. Any tips?
Focusing on a thread - is it like "forget about the world - just focus on playing"?

you lack something called "stamina"

Give me some tips how to raise it, senpai!

LookEassu wrote:

Give me some tips how to raise it, senpai!

Just play "long stream practice beatmaps", like this https://osu.ppy.sh/s/72474 or https://osu.ppy.sh/s/76465

Well, i tried, even i were lazy to read all the texts

I think i can't get better anymore so i decided to play not for rank.