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Tablet Comfort Issues

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Sharpless
When I first started playing osu!, I played with a mouse because I had no tablet. The problem there is that I am left handed, and was raised in a family that didn't know jack shit about computers, so they never knew you could use a mouse left handed, and taught me to use one right handed. It's all fine and dandy, until I need to do anything with precision (I look like I develop Parkinson's in MSPaint). Switching feels a billion times worse than anything, so I decided to pick up a tablet from the osu! website and try osu! with the pen in my left hand. I improved immediately once i started to use the hand with actual dexterity in it, but now I've hit a wall and I'm trying to figure out how to fix a myriad of issues.
1. Tablet Area
I cannot decide on a tablet area. People say "use whatever is most comfortable", but because I've been undecided for the whole duration of my tablet ownership, nothing feels comfortable. If it's a bigger area, I feel like I have to move my arm too much (another issue of mine I will mention momentarily), and if it's a smaller area, I might as well just give up on accuracy completely.
2. Pen Grip
So I know what grip is most comfortable for me, but... It changes. I hold the pen 100% vertically at the start of a map (pretty much just like a pencil), and keep it that way for anything in the middle of the screen. However, when a hit circle is located higher or lower than about the middle, my grip changes. It gains an angle (up to an insane 30 degrees or so) which causes me severe accuracy issues, makes jumps nigh impossible, and causes discomfort in my wrist and fingers. I do drag instead of hovering, if that has anything to do with the situation.
3. The Damn Tablet Moves
My tablet moves during play. Like, a lot. Don't know how to resolve that. I've considered duct taping it to my desk, but if there is a more elegant solution, it'd be appreciated.
4. Moving My Arm Instead of My Wrist Just Doesn't Work For Me
The issue I run into when I try to aim with my arm instead of my wrist is that the tablet moves, and the elevation of the tablet is an issue. The osu! brand tablet is fairly thick, and when I try to move my arm across it, it just feels uncomfortable. I tried elevating my arm with books, but that feels wrong as well. Not sure what to do there. My wrist currently rests on the edge of my tablet at the start of play, and I feel like I don't have enough reach with wrist alone, hence the insane pen angles.
5. The Tablet Feels Slippery
Like I mentioned earlier, I drag instead of hover (hovering makes things feel less precise to me). I'm down to switch if it improves my gameplay, but from the sound of it, it seems preference based. However, when dragging, I feel like my pen is slipping across the tablet, and is sliding past circles I swear I would've hit otherwise. I have noticed a circular scratch in the center of the tablet (when I first got it I applied WAAAAY too much pressure from the pen) and am wondering if that damages the integrity of the tablet.


I know that's practically a novel, but any help is greatly appreciated!
kurodahatsuharu
1. Get your tablet area just big enough for you to feel comfortable. This is the first step, no one can teach you how to feel. Like a baby, you can see adult walking, but you need to get on your feet on your own, bad or good is your choice, you will eventually adapt with it.
2. Like 1, your hand will adapt.
3. buy a small control mouse pad and put it under the tab.
4. So get your tablet area smaller until you don't need to move your arm anymore, that's step 1.
5. Get your tablet a screen protector, about 10$ or something, and play more.
Futon
1) You're fairly inexperienced with the tablet and the game in general. When I was your rank I had all your problems... well not the sliding, but your problems are very normal. I suggest you play a fairly large area. An area too small gives more potential for misses. It doesn't have to be the maximum area; I'd say somewhere around 3/4 of the maximum is a great start. Decide on that and stick with it. If you constantly change, it's going to take you a lot more unnecessary time to get used to it, even if your arm gets tired. This game is very reflexive and physical, you're supposed to feel something.

2) Same thing as above. Pick one grip and stick with it. It may or may not be the same as your writing grip and if you keep changing your grip all the time your performance will be inconsistent and dis-satisfactory.

3) http://www.amazon.com/Scotch-Restickabl ... B004NNEI94
Consider investing in these. Sticks quite well to the table. I've seen some osu players on youtube who duck taped their tablet to the table so that's fine as well. But most people don't have this problem. Play more until your rank is around 80k and then decide if it's the tablet and not you.

4) You aim with everything, your fingers, your thumb, your hand, and your arm. Simple solution: play more.

5) Again, you decide. A lot of players drag and a lot of them hover. If you're afraid of scratching your tablet and you should know which playstyle you want to stick with. And yes, I do believe scratching your tablet messes up the configuration but I highly doubt the scratch you're talking about is anywhere near serious. However you really enjoy dragging, you can get a customized tablet cover.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1gacagI ... E/viewform
StephOsu
tl;dr play more
Dexus
1. play slower, more carefully to adjust to smaller areas

2. grip doesn't matter as long as it isn't causing you discomfort, your tablet area can affect your grip as you have to move the pen in certain ways depending how you have it set up

3. Tape it down or put something with grip under it to keep it from moving.

4. If you have a small tablet area you could use just your fingers to move. If your tablet is huge and you're playing full tablet then you would be using your elbow/shoulder to move, but if you have a small tablet and a mid size area to work with then using more than your wrist or fingers would be overkill. Honestly it's safer not to use your wrist in general or multiple combinations of your arm together as it can complicate things and mess with your muscle memory.

5. Get a tablet cover if you're worried about scratches affecting your pen movements. It's understandable if you're dragging and random bumps or nicks can mess you up. You would have to cut a hole into the tablet before you mess with it to keep it from functioning properly as the plastic you drag on isn't what reads the pen, there's electronics inside the tablet that do it. You'll just end up with a scratched up tablet in the end but it will still be functional.

On a side note make sure your tablet's active area matches the proportions of your monitor. This is really important for aiming with a tablet. It sucks that tablets are commonly 4:3 aspect ratios while people have 16:9 displays and it doesn't do anything by default to match accurately. Also try not to switch around your settings too much and try to adapt to what you have. Later on you can decide if you really need to adjust your settings as experienced players tend to have an easier time adjusting to new settings.
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