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Not improving any more - fingers don't move fast enough

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Topic Starter
-Satori-_old
Hello, I am a relatively high-level o!m player (#39 cdn, #1,675 overall) . Though I have been steadily improving since I've started playing, lately I have not been getting any better. Several beatmaps have incredibly hard patterns that seem impossible. Several examples would be Secret Sister Complex (Flandre Scarlet) or Mythologia's End (Myth0108ia), and many others that I can't get higher than a low-B / high-C and 1/5th of a full combo on, and barely making it past the 500k mark.

It's not that I'm having trouble reading the patterns most of the time, it's that I have actual trouble physically moving my fingers correctly to the right keys. I am using default key setup, only hitting spc with my left thumb - I can't find another setup that works well. I don't know if my key setup has anything to do with this, but any tips to improve finger mobility would greatly help - I don't think just practicing the beatmaps will help me anymore.
VoidnOwO
:oops:
Raging Bull
Get better by playing more. That's really all there is to it.
Drace
Yup, it's all in practice. You'll hit these "walls" here and there where progress will seem near impossible. But just keep trying, it'll help with finger independency, speed and accuracy over time.

Things that also help is getting new maps, I find progress is slower when practicing a small set of maps over and over again. It's better to expose yourself to new patterns as much as possible. I often suggest people who want to improve to play Bobbias's converts since there's a much greater variance in patterns then the standard osu songs. Not to mention there's some for all levels. t/116229

Just keep practicing and you'll eventually break through that wall you've hit. I know people with well over 2-3 years of playtime experience accumulated over many years. (but they aren't human, no worries)

Look at my playcount, also consider that I reached max level and completed every mission in DJmax Trilogy prior to osu!mania. And I'm no where's near the professional level :p
winber1
unless u are seriously spamming like every other key like staiain, which I am higly doubtful of, it's not because your aren't fast enough. Certain keys are awkward to press after other ones, and it takes practice to get used to it and to be able to play it correctly.
Hanyuu
For different keysetup try asd space kl; or try one row higher starting on the Q key.
It might just help if the default one feels not good. For the pattern itself those are best played by just moving the fingers enough to hit the kez.
Avoid doing any other movement that delays yourself like moving your hands up and down. Also try different hand positions that feel good enough to play and allow you to hit lots of different keys fast after each other. Raising your hands a bit for example.
HanzeR
Ranks mean absolutely nothing in o!m and playing auto converted maps is largely a waste of time.

If you're serious about getting better at mania start playing ranked/pending mania specific maps. Playing auto converts will do nothing to help you learn to play fast/complex patterns. I wish I could take back all the time I spent playing auto maps because it teaches you how to read patterns in a completely different way than what it takes to read real mania patterns and breaking those habits has been the hardest part for me in learning how to get better at this game.
Bobbias
It happens to everyone at some point. Keep playing. Try to branch out to new maps, especially the ranked mania maps (and you should check out the unranked ones as well, since there are lots more unranked ones than ranked ones.)

You might also want to try Doorknob and Davteezy BMS conversions or my O2Jam conversions (there are some bugs in these, but some are fine). The BMS conversions and the ranked mania charts are probably going to feel even harder to play. The BMS conversions might be too hard for you, so start out at lvl1 maps if you try them. If you try the O2Jam maps you can probably start out somewhere above level 15's. The format for file names for my o2jam conversions looks like [ex nx hx] where x is a number. E N and H stand for the 3 difficulties, and the number is the difficulty level. You could probably start at level 15's at least, probably higher than that.

If you see me in game you can message me and I can try to find stuff for you to play (only mania specific maps or conversions).
Topic Starter
-Satori-_old
Thanks everyone! Btw why I say practicing beatmaps won't help anymore is because I've hit a similar wall in playing piano - I've practiced a few songs for over 6 months with no improvement before (even some deterioration), and it's rather frustrating to meet with a wall like that again. Once again, thanks for the advice.
Shohei Ohtani
It may also be a matter of working out technique rather than just being able to move fingers faster.

Using music example, since you brought it up with piano

I'm a tuba player, going to college for Music Ed. emp. Tuba, nyan nyan nyan. I've hit points where I practice something and hit a wall. What I eventually realized was that I really needed to work on technique. For me, it was learning scales, working on upper range, and understanding complex rhythms. I didn't realize it back then, but throughout years, I was made to learn all major and minor scales, given a bunch of etudes to work on for auditions, and when I came back to said literature that I couldn't play at all earlier, I played it easily, and I played even harder music easily.

So it might be a good idea to figure out technical stuff and practice maps that will focus on that rather than just drilling to something.

tl;dr practice technique rather than practicing beatmaps.
Sp3ct3r_2k11

HanzeR wrote:

Ranks mean absolutely nothing in o!m and playing auto converted maps is largely a waste of time.

If you're serious about getting better at mania start playing ranked/pending mania specific maps. Playing auto converts will do nothing to help you learn to play fast/complex patterns. I wish I could take back all the time I spent playing auto maps because it teaches you how to read patterns in a completely different way than what it takes to read real mania patterns and breaking those habits has been the hardest part for me in learning how to get better at this game.
I'm just going to agree what he's saying there. osu!mania all comes down to pattern reading, flexibility, and skill. The problem with osu!mania is that there's always pp grinders on every mode and some of them gets high ranks by playing something relatively easy. For example, someone that plays mania-like modes in the past can surpass those who is at around the ranks of 500s. If you're concerned about ranks, go ppgrind. Gonna get amazingly good in osu!mania? play some mania specific maps and practice hard. Even though it's a pending/graveyarded map, it will always be good practice :P
Topic Starter
-Satori-_old
Yeah, I guess I was too focused on pp grinding. Sad to see that auto-converted maps don't have the same feel as o!m-exclusive maps - the o!m specific ones are much more entertaining to play, but there are way more auto-converted maps, and some of my favorite songs are autoconverts only :cry: Maybe I'll get into beatmapping some day lol
Maiz94

-Satori- wrote:

Maybe I'll get into beatmapping some day lol
Yep, you should. Good luck! ;D
Bobbias

-Satori- wrote:

Yeah, I guess I was too focused on pp grinding. Sad to see that auto-converted maps don't have the same feel as o!m-exclusive maps - the o!m specific ones are much more entertaining to play, but there are way more auto-converted maps, and some of my favorite songs are autoconverts only :cry: Maybe I'll get into beatmapping some day lol
Well, we're getting more and more mania maps all the time. It's just that we're not ranking things too quickly just yet. It'll take a little while for things to speed up, but they will speed up, and we will start getting new mania maps ranked more often.
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