forum

An in-depth Guide to Improving

posted
Total Posts
17
Topic Starter
Ginnunga
.
Vuelo Eluko
i disagree with playing easy ar10 maps to learn ar10, though. It's a form of reading, you should play at appropriate densities for the ar which means high bpm 240+. I immediately edit anything that is unnecessarily ar10 to 9.5 or just 9 to make it not feel awful to play personally, there aren't really any ar10 maps I play because I am just not yet fast enough to play the kinds of maps that I feel ar10 is appropriate for yet, same when it comes to 10.3. I always play the 9.5 version of Arles maps, edit some of them down to 9 for reference.

The only really "inappropriate" density is one that's too low, more is always better for reading, the higher bpm and density you are comfortable with the better player you are, generally speaking. Higher AR simply makes things easier, we can look back at how Niko hacked AR to 10 to get his atama no taisou play to see that. Won't serve you well to play ez maps with high ar.

Don't rush into 10.3 or 10 as a noob, there is simply no cause for it until you have the speed to play the actual maps. I cringe everytime I see some 7 digit talking about how they can play 10.3 knowing they probably cant even full 300 a 7 note 190 bpm stream at od7 (That's a lot of 7's)

Hard Rock is a mod that won't make you faster or better at reading but will take your aim precision/consistency and accuracy to another level compared to the usual nomod and dt farmers, that's always been the trade-off, however on 1-3 star maps you won't really see even this benefit at all most likely since most of the maps probably won't even be OD9.8+/CS5.2+

TheBloodySage wrote:

SPEED:
While over exaggerated, being fast enough to actually hit the notes you can read is one of the initial major hurdles for newer players to overcome. "Sure," they'll say. "I can read what I need to read, but I just can't hit the notes. I don't know why!"
Speed may not necessarily come to mind at first. You may think that your accuracy is what is poor so you need to spam jump training maps so you can flick across the screen at ar10.3. While that most certainly CAN be the issue, let's use Occam's razor here. In truth, most players actually have somewhat decent accuracy, what they lack is the speed to correct their mistakes mid-song, and the errors they make cascade into an avalanche that leads them to die. So,

How do I get faster?
Again this involves playing more, but this is where the answer will diverge depending on your current skill level. The goal would be to at least be able to read ar10 with ease.
  1. "I cannot read/play ar9 with ease"
If you cannot read ar9 yet, I advise simply to play more of the game, and not focus too much on individual parts like ar speed because it is not yet a factor that is hindering your growth. Play at your level, not too far below and not too far above.
Just bear in mind that "speed" has nothing to do with approach rate. There is really no other way to increase your singletap/streaming, and aiming speed aside from play maps just outside your comfort bpm until they become comfortable, then play maps slightly above that, so on and so forth. It's going to be an incredibly slow process as you approach the higher bpms, you will want to quit, your arms will feel like they are turning to mush, at some point you may as well; 240 bpm streaming ability and around 270 singletap (without any accuracy malus, i.e completely comfortable) is enough to become #1 global (or you can become a HR farmer and get by with even less). Continuing to push beyond that makes little sense unless you are just addicted to going even faster like gayzmcgee and/or want to develop RSI ASAP. Expect even those numbers to take years to reach though, because they are still seriously impressive. How fast you increase speed depends heavily on both how hard you work at it, as well as your technique. For example, many people don't know to use the claw grip to stream to prevent fingerlock or simply don't want to because it's uncomfortable for them, these people are going to see their efforts to get faster slowed down by having poor technique. Likewise, it's easy to move on to higher bpms too early and develop the dreaded mashing habit that will make you feel fast but cause you to have horrible acc. This acc is easy to hide at the stupidly high bpms (252+) because hit windows start to get so close together they pretty much overlap, meaning you can more or less mash out 300's in bursts, however that habit is still going to hit you where it hurts: your consistency.
N0thingSpecial
No
Penguin
I'm sorry, but this "guide" is kinda useless.

TheBloodySage wrote:

I'm sure everyone at some point has gone into #osu either ironically or unironically and asked how to improve at the game, not really knowing what to expect or what they're doing wrong.
no

TheBloodySage wrote:

Some technical maps:
Your definition of technical maps is pretty odd. Scarlet Rose isn't technical, it's a double bpm map. Unpleasant Sonata is nowhere near technical lmao

TheBloodySage wrote:

SPEED:
While over exaggerated, being fast enough to actually hit the notes you can read is one of the initial major hurdles for newer players to overcome. "
I think you're trying to talk about Approach rate speed? That would be lumped in the same category as reading. Speed is about BPM and finger control.

TheBloodySage wrote:

JUMPING
Some jump maps:
I don't recommend playing jump training maps. They are useless and won't actually help you improve your aim. The other maps you linked are also generic jumpy maps that won't help much. Improving your aim requires playing a bit of everything, not just big jumps.

TheBloodySage wrote:

Triangles are especially difficult for most, and as such should probably deserve the focus of your training.
Triangles are actually one of the easiest patterns to hit. I don't feel like explaining fully, but basically, acute angle jumps are easier because instead of halting your momentum to stop on a note, then continuing in the same direction (Linear/Obtuse patterns), you are transferring your momentum in one natural fluid movement.

The things that I picked out of your guide to comment on aren't the only things I have issues with. Pretty much the entire guide is incoherent, I just didn't want to spend all day replying.

I'm sorry if I'm coming off as blunt and rude, but you really don't know what you're talking about. Rank doesn't mean everything obviously, but generally, people in your rank range aren't knowledgable enough to make a guide like this. I understand that you're just trying to be helpful and whatnot, but it's just not.
Almost

TheBloodySage wrote:

In a real game, the speed is often far too fast to read the numbers inside the notes so if you have a skin with numbers, they're often just for show.

Nope. Numbers are easily readable.

TheBloodySage wrote:

After you can read well

Reading is a never ending learning process. You can't just "read well" as maps become harder to read as they get harder.

TheBloodySage wrote:

You also may be reaching the point where looking at each individual note is no longer very feasible, as it causes eye strain.
An interesting video by Tokaku demonstrating this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aUJmavfg4I |osu! eye tracking|

I take no credit for this, this is their video!!


It seems that having your eyes look towards the middle of the screen and adjusting when necessary is the most comfortable and simple style to adopt. The number one issue with jumping that players have is simply overshooting or undershooting the jump.[/b]

Looking directly at each circle just before clicking on it is the superior reading method simply because the accuracy of our vision on our periphery is just worse than where we look at directly. Staring blankly in the middle of the screen is like trying to play darts by looking on the side of the board and trying to hit bulls-eye, you can train to do it but it's highly inefficient. If you practice the looking at individual circle method of reading, you won't feel any strain after a while.

Also, the overshooting and undershooting is more to do with reading that mouse accuracy problems.

TheBloodySage wrote:

They do not show up in maps often, but when they do they can quickly lead to a loss of a run if the player doesn't expect them and doesn't know how to handle them accordingly. Once you become concerned with adopting these skills, you are well on your way to being an above-average player. In fact, learning some of these patterns will greatly improve your aim and reading ability simultaneously, because of the inherently difficult nature of these patterns.

If you're reading a pattern as a pattern, then you're doing it incredibly wrong. You should be dividing the pattern up and just looking at it as separate circles that just happen to be in a triangle formation rather then seeing it as a triangle.

Also what people wrote about speed.

EDIT: Just realised you even missed a section on accuracy.
Vuelo Eluko
well for the pattern thing i think it's preference, i personally have no issues seeing stars/triangles as patterns and playing them like that, but with squares and pentagons and such, yes i try to read them as individual jumps between 2 circles at a time because they are just not intuitive movements lol
Topic Starter
Ginnunga
"ar =/= speed" The idea here is to have new players become accustomed to higher speeds in the game. While of course ar isn't directly the same as speed, if someone can actively highly acc a map that's ar10, they're going to be fast enough to handle higher level maps and eventually know where their issues lie. The idea isn't for someone who already has a solid grasp on the game to learn from this, it's meant for mostly new players. Also yes, reading, just like anything in this game, is a never ending process. I felt that was apparent. I'm not saying "once you max out your reading ability" but if you have no issue reading maps at your skill level and you're still failing, then the issue lies elsewhere. "Nope. Numbers are easily readable." You're telling me in the middle of a game you're actively reading numbers? Even if you can, no one does that, and I'm saying that newer players shouldn't be trying to rely on them when the ar is low enough to read the numbers because that won't always be the case.

Almost wrote:

TheBloodySage wrote:

In a real game, the speed is often far too fast to read the numbers inside the notes so if you have a skin with numbers, they're often just for show.

Nope. Numbers are easily readable.

TheBloodySage wrote:

After you can read well

Reading is a never ending learning process. You can't just "read well" as maps become harder to read as they get harder.

TheBloodySage wrote:

You also may be reaching the point where looking at each individual note is no longer very feasible, as it causes eye strain.
An interesting video by Tokaku demonstrating this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aUJmavfg4I |osu! eye tracking|

I take no credit for this, this is their video!!


It seems that having your eyes look towards the middle of the screen and adjusting when necessary is the most comfortable and simple style to adopt. The number one issue with jumping that players have is simply overshooting or undershooting the jump.[/b]

Looking directly at each circle just before clicking on it is the superior reading method simply because the accuracy of our vision on our periphery is just worse than where we look at directly. Staring blankly in the middle of the screen is like trying to play darts by looking on the side of the board and trying to hit bulls-eye, you can train to do it but it's highly inefficient. If you practice the looking at individual circle method of reading, you won't feel any strain after a while.

Also, the overshooting and undershooting is more to do with reading that mouse accuracy problems.

TheBloodySage wrote:

They do not show up in maps often, but when they do they can quickly lead to a loss of a run if the player doesn't expect them and doesn't know how to handle them accordingly. Once you become concerned with adopting these skills, you are well on your way to being an above-average player. In fact, learning some of these patterns will greatly improve your aim and reading ability simultaneously, because of the inherently difficult nature of these patterns.

If you're reading a pattern as a pattern, then you're doing it incredibly wrong. You should be dividing the pattern up and just looking at it as separate circles that just happen to be in a triangle formation rather then seeing it as a triangle.

Also what people wrote about speed.

EDIT: Just realised you even missed a section on accuracy.
Chintam
Speed has absolutely nothing to do with AR. Reading high AR is exactly that, a reading skill. While Speed is the ability of a person to move from one specific point to another specific point as quick as possible.

If Reading AR is speed, then a player who is capable of playing with high AR to be similarly capable fo playing the exact map on a lower AR. Example, putting EZ on a high AR map.

However, something often overlooked are sliders. Most people treat sliders as just buttons, not being careful to follow them. This is a bad habit that will definitely hinder your gameplay in the long run and should be avoided as early as possible. Follow sliders as well as you can, trying to stay in the center of the path, as well as not cutting sliders too early. This is where the infamous "sliderbreak" comes from and is the cause of much agony from players.


Yeah, no. Fully following a slider is a terrible idea. You're introducing unnecessary movements and will make kick sliders harder than it actually is. What you should do instead is learn the minimum movement required for a given slider length, shape and size.
Almost

Vuelo Eluko wrote:

well for the pattern thing i think it's preference, i personally have no issues seeing stars/triangles as patterns and playing them like that, but with squares and pentagons and such, yes i try to read them as individual jumps between 2 circles at a time because they are just not intuitive movements lol


You can but I think it's not very effective doing that on low ARs (talking below AR5) especially when a) there's a lot of clutter so it's difficult to actual even see the pattern in the first place and b) some of the more complex "shapes" comes in all variety in ways to actually hit it so memorising a specific way of reading a "star" won't work for all "star" patterns.
Vuelo Eluko

Almost wrote:

Vuelo Eluko wrote:

well for the pattern thing i think it's preference, i personally have no issues seeing stars/triangles as patterns and playing them like that, but with squares and pentagons and such, yes i try to read them as individual jumps between 2 circles at a time because they are just not intuitive movements lol
You can but I think it's not very effective doing that on low ARs (talking below AR5) especially when a) there's a lot of clutter so it's difficult to actual even see the pattern in the first place and b) some of the more complex "shapes" comes in all variety in ways to actually hit it so memorising a specific way of reading a "star" won't work for all "star" patterns.
True, but then again I never really 'properly' learned any AR under 8, I can play them but it is a very deliberate and laborious process. Feels like there's no maps worth playing under 8, anyway.
N0thingSpecial
Still no
Almost

TheBloodySage wrote:

"ar =/= speed" The idea here is to have new players become accustomed to higher speeds in the game. While of course ar isn't directly the same as speed, if someone can actively highly acc a map that's ar10, they're going to be fast enough to handle higher level maps and eventually know where their issues lie. The idea isn't for someone who already has a solid grasp on the game to learn from this, it's meant for mostly new players. Also yes, reading, just like anything in this game, is a never ending process. I felt that was apparent. I'm not saying "once you max out your reading ability" but if you have no issue reading maps at your skill level and you're still failing, then the issue lies elsewhere. "Nope. Numbers are easily readable." You're telling me in the middle of a game you're actively reading numbers? Even if you can, no one does that, and I'm saying that newer players shouldn't be trying to rely on them when the ar is low enough to read the numbers because that won't always be the case.

To your first point, you should use the normal terminology and not just equate AR to the speed. Just call the heading "Reading higher ARs" or something otherwise it's confusing. And to the second point, you never made that apparent. You need to be more specific instead of just saying "after you can read well" which makes it seem like you can get to such a point. And third, I was only pointing out that you're wrong about numbers being impossible to read. It's not really necessary though as you mention but it's stupid to add in blatantly incorrect information in a guide.

N0thingSpecial wrote:

Still no

Basically this. I don't really care if a low ranked player makes a guide as you don't need to be good to be knowledgeable. However, when people give you advice on how to improve your guide or points out some incorrect information, you should at least respect that and update what you wrote rather than flaming them.
Topic Starter
Ginnunga
I debated editing this a few times, because of exactly that. People pointed out it was incoherent and I didn't make many points very clear and I agree. Wasn't trying to flame and honestly I wish I could delete this post because I regret making this :/ I didn't think it would be received so negatively. I guess the right thing to do would be to edit it anyway, and wait for it to die.
lewski
This thread made me sleep before but

Almost wrote:

you should use the normal terminology and not just equate AR to speed

Now I feel like expanding on this.

"Speed = reading high AR" may be the most noticeable terminology flaw in the guide, but there are others.

First off, there's a lot more to patterning than just regular polygons. If some objects in a map feel like they form something coherent, that's a pattern. Someone already pointed out that triangles aren't that hard, so I won't dwell on that. However, because of your odd usage of the term, much of the pattern paragraph just feels really odd, at least to me. Patterns aren't rare or special, they're the core of pretty much every map. That means that they aren't inherently hard or FC-threatening, either.

Secondly, you'd be better off advising people to improve their reading by playing maps with high object density instead of "technical maps". I won't rant about the term "tech map" since I feel like that's kind of annoying. However, you seem to be telling players how to get better at reading lots of objects on the screen at once and "high object density" is exactly that. It's also pretty self-explanatory, whereas people don't even agree on the definition of "technical" as you can see in Penguin's post. Most maps have around three to four objects on the screen at once, so "high" obviously refers to more than that.

This seems like a good time to talk about your map recommendations. Honestly, I'm not really sure who you're writing this guide for since a lot of your advice is pretty basic whereas you mostly recommend maps that are relatively hard. To continue with the reading topic, Scarlet Rose is definitely denser than most similar maps since it's AR9, but it's too hard for me to recommend it to people who struggle with reading. Unpleasant Sonata and I Got That Tune are also going to be too hard for most people seeking help. The another on Zzz may be viable, but only for people who can handle the fullscreen spacing and the swing beat.

I don't really know why you recommend Sidetracked Day. I mean, if you're not good at streaming, you're only going to get frustration out of it, and if you can actually play it, you don't need this guide. A Fool Moon Night suffers from the same problem: it's too hard for people who can't stream. Granted, the lowest diff makes for good low bpm practice if you can already stream. The insanes on Tower of Heaven and Mou Ii Kai are good recommendations for people who can't really stream yet, while the extras are a nice step up from that. All in all, frequent bursts are better than longer streams for learning to stream.

As for the rest, well, there isn't really anything new for me to say; normal maps are better for improvement than practice maps, as someone already pointed out. When you play the game, you'll be exposed to all kinds of things in most maps, which practice maps don't reflect too well. Playing the same maps over and over again is also pointless because you'll just learn those maps instead of more general skills.
Vuelo Eluko
wait, scarlet rose is ar8? I didn't play it since maybe a few months after i started playing for the multiplayer memes but i was pretty sure it was 9 as I could actually kinda play it yet back then I couldn't even read 4.0 star ar8

I also personally think Unpleasant Sonata was easier than Scarlet Rose all-around but I'm a speedtard.
Penguin

Vuelo Eluko wrote:

wait, scarlet rose is ar8? I didn't play it since maybe a few months after i started playing for the multiplayer memes but i was pretty sure it was 9 as I could actually kinda play it yet back then I couldn't even read 4.0 star ar8

I also personally think Unpleasant Sonata was easier than Scarlet Rose all-around but I'm a speedtard.
Scarlet Rose is AR 9
lewski

Vuelo Eluko wrote:

wait, scarlet rose is ar8?

oops that was a typo
Please sign in to reply.

New reply