Hello, everyone!
I've been playing for around 2 years in and out now. What bothers me a lot is that I cannot improve, I've hit a plateau at 3 stars (and I still struggle at 3 star maps) and can't seem to pass it. I did try a lot of things like playing no-fail mod on higher star maps or hidden/hard rock modes on lower star maps but none of them helped me. What people tend to say "play for fun" is not possible like this, because losing on easy maps just makes me feel bad and is very frustrating, especially when I try a single map numerous times just to fail it again (3 stars, come on).

Hardest points for me that I've noticed:

- Streams, I try to follow the beat of the map for streams, but I somehow keep missing or hitting 50's after a 300 or a 100 start on it, even if I don't feel like I hit the S/D keys any differently after the start of a stream (slow streams, fast streams, there's no difference). I tried the practice maps, but they are way too hard for me and I don't see an improvement

- Hitting keys faster, I just can't hit the keyboard keys faster without stiffening my fingers, which exhausts me pretty quickly and gives no accuracy, and freezes my fingers on occasion. Beatmaps are too quick for my fingers

- Doubles/Triples/Quintuples, my fingers just freeze when a Double pops up in the middle of a map or when there are several Doubles in a row, Triples are "alright", I can hit them, but I get random numbers on them (and they are really hard if the song has 1 and then 2 3 4 and then 1 and 2 3 4 again, it just messes up with my mind), but the Quintuples are a real pain for me, I hit 4/5 most of the time, with the fingers freezing at the fifth or not even realizing there is another one (even harder when they end with a slider)

- A double that starts with a normal hit and goes into a slider or vice-versa (especially when it's under a slider, I can't see it), the problem with the former is that I usually press D for 1 (normal hit) and S for 2 (slider) but my fingers automatically think it's a stream and I switch to D in the middle of a slider, losing points

- Analytical brain, I think this hinders my playing a lot because my mind just freezes and wants to slow down and think about all the circles that pop up, see some patterns in them and try to connect the approaching circles with the circles and the numbers on them and the beat of the song altogether while listening and trying to "see" which melody (main beat, sub beat, specific instrument of the song) suits the way the circles are given... This just kills me because I can even go okay in a map and then suddenly mess up a simple 1 2 3 (hit too soon/late or not even hit one of them, kind of like dozing off) - (unrelated to osu!: this hinders my dancing skills as well, where I just lose the rhythm and mess up the moves-rhythm connection)

- Consistently hit 300's on a normal 1 2 3 4 5 6 etc. streak (not stream), again this is the issue with being analytical, but I do follow the beat and hit the same key with the same time gap and still get 100's (or 50's) here and there

And the last thing - being consistent with the performance

- There are (on a really rare occasion) days that I excel with my performance, but it all disappears the other day and I am back to start with all the learning. Also, I keep getting worse scores on the old maps and can't even beat my old scores.

That being said, I hope that someone could identify what is the cause of my problems and find a way to resolve them. Also, I will kindly accept any beatmap recommendations for the said problems.

Cheers,

DB

Try playing low bpm songs (<100 bpm), where the easier diffs are mapped to the beat in a more easily distinguishable manner.

Try to hit circles in the middle perfectly.
Try listen to the song and identify the sounds/instruments/vocals the map is mapped to.
Try to time your hits perfectly (to the song).

Doing all 3 at the same time is pretty hard to impossible depending on the song.

Then it's just about finding songs/difficulties you want to practice. This is a big thing.

You will get better at things you try to get better at. If you can't properly do something but you know you can do better and will do better and want to do better, keep practicing.

Play more, you have less than 1k playcount in 2 years. I get 5 times your playcount in a week.

jaaakb wrote:

You will get better at things you try to get better at. If you can't properly do something but you know you can do better and will do better and want to do better, keep practicing.

idk man that sould make sense right but it might be just something simple, we might just lack general experience.
im getting better a little bit at everything but the stuff i want to

I'm new to Osu! so I'll try my best to give advice xD

Delicious Bacon wrote:

- Streams, I try to follow the beat of the map for streams, but I somehow keep missing or hitting 50's after a 300 or a 100 start on it, even if I don't feel like I hit the S/D keys any differently after the start of a stream (slow streams, fast streams, there's no difference). I tried the practice maps, but they are way too hard for me and I don't see an improvement

At first, I really suck at streams (even now tbh) unless they're a 15 circle or lower stream (coz of my shitty stamina). I mean, I can only stream a maximum of 180 BPM (I'm just new at this game T_T ) and I don't really use the stream practice maps (again, coz I have shitty stamina). Play more stream maps and maybe you'll get used to it

I can stream well at these maps:
https://osu.ppy.sh/s/104986 (Insane & 0108)
https://osu.ppy.sh/s/87630 (Insane)
https://osu.ppy.sh/s/128931 (Another)
https://osu.ppy.sh/s/250337 (Affection)

Note: Use No Mod coz... yeah.

Delicious Bacon wrote:

- Hitting keys faster, I just can't hit the keyboard keys faster without stiffening my fingers, which exhausts me pretty quickly and gives no accuracy, and freezes my fingers on occasion. Beatmaps are too quick for my fingers

All players have experienced this "dilemma" at first. Experience, that's the solution.

Delicious Bacon wrote:

- Doubles/Triples/Quintuples, my fingers just freeze when a Double pops up in the middle of a map or when there are several Doubles in a row, Triples are "alright", I can hit them, but I get random numbers on them (and they are really hard if the song has 1 and then 2 3 4 and then 1 and 2 3 4 again, it just messes up with my mind), but the Quintuples are a real pain for me, I hit 4/5 most of the time, with the fingers freezing at the fifth or not even realizing there is another one (even harder when they end with a slider)

Doubles and other even number count of circles are my worst enemy. Coz in my case, They end up with my secondary tapping finger and not my dominant one (I hope you can understand what I'm saying xD ). While triples happen otherwise. The reason I love triples <3. For doubles, I only single tap them to avoid confusions on tapping the next circle after that.

Delicious Bacon wrote:

- A double that starts with a normal hit and goes into a slider or vice-versa (especially when it's under a slider, I can't see it), the problem with the former is that I usually press D for 1 (normal hit) and S for 2 (slider) but my fingers automatically think it's a stream and I switch to D in the middle of a slider, losing points

As I said, I single tap doubles to avoid confusions. But its up to you what you are comfortable with coz other players alternate.

Delicious Bacon wrote:

- Analytical brain, I think this hinders my playing a lot because my mind just freezes and wants to slow down and think about all the circles that pop up, see some patterns in them and try to connect the approaching circles with the circles and the numbers on them and the beat of the song altogether while listening and trying to "see" which melody (main beat, sub beat, specific instrument of the song) suits the way the circles are given... This just kills me because I can even go okay in a map and then suddenly mess up a simple 1 2 3 (hit too soon/late or not even hit one of them, kind of like dozing off) - (unrelated to osu!: this hinders my dancing skills as well, where I just lose the rhythm and mess up the moves-rhythm connection)

I dunno the cause of this, but maybe its because you don't "play more". Again, Experience. Try to analyze the patterns of the map and try to use the follow points (The lines connecting a circle to another). Also, Practice using the HD mod for map reading.

Delicious Bacon wrote:

- Consistently hit 300's on a normal 1 2 3 4 5 6 etc. streak (not stream), again this is the issue with being analytical, but I do follow the beat and hit the same key with the same time gap and still get 100's (or 50's) here and there

Try to feel the "rhythm" and ignore the approach circles, maybe they're the cause of hindering your brain from reading the map. Again, practice using the HD mod.

Delicious Bacon wrote:

And the last thing - being consistent with the performance

- There are (on a really rare occasion) days that I excel with my performance, but it all disappears the other day and I am back to start with all the learning. Also, I keep getting worse scores on the old maps and can't even beat my old scores.

Not because you FCed or SSed a really hard map one time doesn't mean you can do as well as that again. If you look at my profile, my top play was just pure reflex and can't perform as better as that again (RIP meh). So yeah, just practice harder to improve.

TL;DR "Play more"

.

play more

First of all, 30 hours over two years is not a lot of time spent especially considering that there are 17520 hours in two years. You just aren't playing the game enough for you to see the results you so desire. It's like trying to lose weight and saying that the effort is pointless after one day of working out.

So note that most of my advice will be based on that fact, as I go through every single one of your pointers. I will also rearrange some of the pointers for relevance's sake.

- Analytical brain, I think this hinders my playing a lot because my mind just freezes and wants to slow down and think about all the circles that pop up, see some patterns in them and try to connect the approaching circles with the circles and the numbers on them and the beat of the song altogether while listening and trying to "see" which melody (main beat, sub beat, specific instrument of the song) suits the way the circles are given... This just kills me because I can even go okay in a map and then suddenly mess up a simple 1 2 3 (hit too soon/late or not even hit one of them, kind of like dozing off) - (unrelated to osu!: this hinders my dancing skills as well, where I just lose the rhythm and mess up the moves-rhythm connection)

Judging by your recent plays you've seemed to jump the gun and played maps that are way beyond your skill level. The fact is, due to your lack of play time, your fundamentals have yet to set in, and by playing maps beyond your level you are actually taking two steps back when you think you should be taking one step forward. Go back to 2-star maps if you have to. Same goes for reading circles. One at a time before you decide to read the entire screen at once.

- Consistently hit 300's on a normal 1 2 3 4 5 6 etc. streak (not stream), again this is the issue with being analytical, but I do follow the beat and hit the same key with the same time gap and still get 100's (or 50's) here and there

Yup, go back to basics. If you're hitting 100's or 50's then you are not following the rhythm properly enough, that's about it.

- Doubles/Triples/Quintuples, my fingers just freeze when a Double pops up in the middle of a map or when there are several Doubles in a row, Triples are "alright", I can hit them, but I get random numbers on them (and they are really hard if the song has 1 and then 2 3 4 and then 1 and 2 3 4 again, it just messes up with my mind), but the Quintuples are a real pain for me, I hit 4/5 most of the time, with the fingers freezing at the fifth or not even realizing there is another one (even harder when they end with a slider)

Also, back to basics. If you can't do 3s you won't be able to do 5s. Playing more will get you used to it.

Delicious Bacon wrote:

- Streams, I try to follow the beat of the map for streams, but I somehow keep missing or hitting 50's after a 300 or a 100 start on it, even if I don't feel like I hit the S/D keys any differently after the start of a stream (slow streams, fast streams, there's no difference). I tried the practice maps, but they are way too hard for me and I don't see an improvement

If you can't do triples or follow basic rhythm, you shouldn't even be streaming. Back to basics.

- A double that starts with a normal hit and goes into a slider or vice-versa (especially when it's under a slider, I can't see it), the problem with the former is that I usually press D for 1 (normal hit) and S for 2 (slider) but my fingers automatically think it's a stream and I switch to D in the middle of a slider, losing points

Play more and you will get used to it. But first go back to basics and master basic reading.

- Hitting keys faster, I just can't hit the keyboard keys faster without stiffening my fingers, which exhausts me pretty quickly and gives no accuracy, and freezes my fingers on occasion. Beatmaps are too quick for my fingers

This just shows you lack practice. What else do I need to say?

- There are (on a really rare occasion) days that I excel with my performance, but it all disappears the other day and I am back to start with all the learning. Also, I keep getting worse scores on the old maps and can't even beat my old scores.

It's called form. It happens to everyone all the time.

tl;dr: Go back to basics. Play more. I don't think you spent only 30 hours over two years to master the fundamentals of dancing, and you shouldn't expect different from other skills as well

Start playing nomod. You spent most of your playcount NFing insane maps. Don't do that. Start playing 3 stars nomod with low bpm if you can't keep up.

Also, that amount of playcount in 2 years is a joke. Play more

31 hrs in osu! less than 1k plays in "2" years. Why this thread exists? Play more and you will get better

Delicious Bacon wrote:

- Hitting keys faster, I just can't hit the keyboard keys faster without stiffening my fingers, which exhausts me pretty quickly and gives no accuracy, and freezes my fingers on occasion. Beatmaps are too quick for my fingers

What Ive found is that if im too stiff I cant hit fast sections with good accuracy and i get sore quickly and if im too loose I miss notes on occasion or I stagnate and dont end up improving and make the same mistakes over and over.

The trick is I think a balance of both you have to be loose but not too loose, however even your balance is perfect you still have to focus on the rhythm and focus on where you want to improve. Getting better takes time but if you practice correctly, relax but dont relax too much you will improve over time

Also as a side note, looking at your play history dont play such hard maps with the no fail mod. You should be playing 1-2 star maps to get the fundamentals down.

Edit: also try to finish maps with above 90% accuracy without missing a note, 100s or 50s are ok but a huge part of your rating comes from accuracy and a high multiplier