So I started to play osu!mania 2 weeks ago, after watching a certain streamer playing it occasionally. Never played something like that before. Back then I had already huge problems with "4k normal" where I only managed to get a C, today I atleast manage to get As or Bs in "5k normal"...well, that depends on the song. Whatever.

The point is: I just can't see myself ever beating hard mode on anything in the future, it's so...freaking...fast. So I'm wondering if that's something I can train or if I need to have a talent for that.

What about you people who get 100% on "6k hard" or better for example? Did you also struggle at something like "4k on normal" when you played for the first time?

t/146615&start=0
Read this first.

I used to think I would never even pass 3* maps when I first started, which was only 2 months ago. Also note that I have never played VSRGs before, and now I'm already at 3k pp and am hovering around the 4-4.5* range right now. Anyone can get good at mania, people improve at different rates but you will 100% improve if you develop the right habits and are dedicated to improving

Played with 2 fingers on 4k when I began 2 years ago, because I couldnt play with 4 fingers.
Never thought that I could get so far in the rankings.
I can play 6* maps now, anything is possible, dont worry about talent

First of all, the way you say "4k normal", "5k normal" and "6k hard" suggests that you are playing autoconverts (standard maps that can be played in mania mode by automatically generating mania notes based on the standard mode beatmap). This is something you should avoid. Autoconverts have many problems.

First, they are always OD10, meaning accuracy is very harsh on them compared to maps made specifically for mania. Most mania maps use between OD5 and OD9, even much harder ones.

Second, the patterns in autoconverts do not make sense. In standard, you can't have more than circle or slider (note or hold) at the same time. That means the way standard mappers handle the rhythm of the music ends up being very different from how mania mappers handle the it. The actual placement of notes is also a problem. Autoconverts don't understand what patterns feel good and what ones feel bad, and they also cannot make patterns that are based on the music, which is a very important part of mapping for mania. These problems actually make autoconverts harder than maps made specifically for mania in some ways.

Third, autoconverts automatically pick the number of keys they use based on the difficulty of the original map. That means that they usually have a series of difficulties that look like "4k easy, 5k normal, 6k hard, 7k insane" or something. Maps made for mania do not do that. In fact, it's not even rankable for a mania map to do that now. It was rankable for a very short time, but now the ranking criteria requires at least 3 difficulties in every key mode that a mania map uses. Most mania maps either contain 4k difficulties, or 7k difficulties. Sometimes they have both. There are some maps that use 5k, 6k, 8k or 9k, but they are much more rare than 4k and 7k.

Most players stick to one key mode and focus on getting better at just that key mode. Some players, like me, play a range of key modes. I play 4k, 5k, 6k and 7k. I mostly play 7k, and my second most played mode is 4k, but I also enjoy playing 5k and 6k now and then. If you want to be able to play a bunch of different key modes, I suggest figuring out what the highest number of keys you want to play is, and stick to ONLY learning that key mode for a while. And by a while I mean probably a few months. It's very easy to learn to play a lower key mode after you've learned a higher key mode. For example, when I started playing osumania, I had already played o2jam (7k game) and stepmania (4k game) before, but it had been around 6 years since I played 4k, and my 4k skill was very bad. After playing only 7k in osumania from 2013 to 2016 or so, I finally went back to 4k. It took me maybe a week or 2 to get back to how good I was at 4k at my very best. I quickly got a lot better than that.

And finally, everyone learns at different speeds. There are some people who can S 6 star 7k maps after 5 or 6 months, but I still can't S any 6 star 7k maps after playing 7k for a total of something like 10 or 11 years. I have never met anyone who learns rhythm games as slowly as I do, so chances are if you spend a year or 2 playing mania, you'll be better than me, even if you're a slower learner.

Bobbias wrote:

First of all, the way you say "4k normal", "5k normal" and "6k hard" suggests that you are playing autoconverts (standard maps that can be played in mania mode by automatically generating mania notes based on the standard mode beatmap). This is something you should avoid. Autoconverts have many problems.

First, they are always OD10, meaning accuracy is very harsh on them compared to maps made specifically for mania. Most mania maps use between OD5 and OD9, even much harder ones.

Second, the patterns in autoconverts do not make sense. In standard, you can't have more than circle or slider (note or hold) at the same time. That means the way standard mappers handle the rhythm of the music ends up being very different from how mania mappers handle the it. The actual placement of notes is also a problem. Autoconverts don't understand what patterns feel good and what ones feel bad, and they also cannot make patterns that are based on the music, which is a very important part of mapping for mania. These problems actually make autoconverts harder than maps made specifically for mania in some ways.

Third, autoconverts automatically pick the number of keys they use based on the difficulty of the original map. That means that they usually have a series of difficulties that look like "4k easy, 5k normal, 6k hard, 7k insane" or something. Maps made for mania do not do that. In fact, it's not even rankable for a mania map to do that now. It was rankable for a very short time, but now the ranking criteria requires at least 3 difficulties in every key mode that a mania map uses. Most mania maps either contain 4k difficulties, or 7k difficulties. Sometimes they have both. There are some maps that use 5k, 6k, 8k or 9k, but they are much more rare than 4k and 7k.

Most players stick to one key mode and focus on getting better at just that key mode. Some players, like me, play a range of key modes. I play 4k, 5k, 6k and 7k. I mostly play 7k, and my second most played mode is 4k, but I also enjoy playing 5k and 6k now and then. If you want to be able to play a bunch of different key modes, I suggest figuring out what the highest number of keys you want to play is, and stick to ONLY learning that key mode for a while. And by a while I mean probably a few months. It's very easy to learn to play a lower key mode after you've learned a higher key mode. For example, when I started playing osumania, I had already played o2jam (7k game) and stepmania (4k game) before, but it had been around 6 years since I played 4k, and my 4k skill was very bad. After playing only 7k in osumania from 2013 to 2016 or so, I finally went back to 4k. It took me maybe a week or 2 to get back to how good I was at 4k at my very best. I quickly got a lot better than that.

And finally, everyone learns at different speeds. There are some people who can S 6 star 7k maps after 5 or 6 months, but I still can't S any 6 star 7k maps after playing 7k for a total of something like 10 or 11 years. I have never met anyone who learns rhythm games as slowly as I do, so chances are if you spend a year or 2 playing mania, you'll be better than me, even if you're a slower learner.

Ignore everything this man says, autoconverts are the true mania maps.

Sorry for the...VERY late response and thx for the help, Bobbias. I didn't know about that autoconvert, I just randomly downloaded some popular beatmaps. But now I have many beatmaps already downloaded, how do I see now which of them are for the mania mode and which not?

sort your songs by mode or write mode=m. you could also write key=4 if you want only 4k

I don't have much I can say but as a relatively new player, I do have some experience i can share and tips to give you which will help you. I used to be at a point where you are now.
1st of all: Play maps which are specifically made for mania, standard maps are absolute trash for mania and you should never touch them.
And once you start playing mania maps, you'll notice they are much harder because patterns aren't as easy in auto-converted maps.
So it is all up to your determination and will to get better, I started playing mania roughly 2 months ago and I realized that constantly playing (not necessarily everyday) really makes you better. I remember that 2 weeks after starting with mania i got to 2* difficulty beatmaps and it seemed impossible to beat them... however I kept on playing because I wanted to and I was determined to improve.
6 weeks later (now), I am pretty much at 3* difficulty.
2* difficulty and 3* have EXTREMELY steep learning curve, so it will definitely take some time to get from 2 to 3, after that you'll breeze through the rest. I personally don't go on to a higher difficulty if I don't get ATLEAST 850k score on any map I play that is in my skill range, that is the goal I set (to myself and) to every map that has my score on it.
I suggest you to play ONLY when you actually feel like playing, don't force yourself to play mania otherwise you wont improve at all. When you play with passion, then you really improve really drastically. And also try to get into the beat of the music, after all it is a rhythm game and you perform best when you play along with it.
Don't grind beatmaps (grinding a beatmap and getting anxiety as you play because you are desperate to finish it with a good score is the worst thing you can do to yourself), if you fail at one part of the song, keep playing, don't restart, this isn't osu!standard. (When you fail a similar part on other beatmaps aswell then this only means that you should play more of this pattern because you suck at it and you should keep playing it in different beatmaps until you improve.) If you complete a beatmap, you can give it another go to score higher, otherwise... move on to other beatmaps. Grinding hardly helps you improve, what you are trying to improve here is your sight reading and accuracy... not a beatmap's patterns. The bigger variety of beatmaps you play, the better.
And most importantly, give it time. Jakads didn't get #1 in the world in 1 day, 2 weeks or 1 year. It took him much much more than that and so to other players who are ranked high and posted here.

xnix wrote:

Jakads didn't get #1 in the world in 1 day, 2 weeks or 1 year. It took him much much more than that and so to other players who are ranked high and posted here.

well sure but some other guy got #70 in 1 year ;-;

Everyone learns at their own pace. Some people are lucky and learn fast. Other people like me learn very slowly.

Most players who can get high ranks quickly have some experience in other rhythm games.

In any case, its become a meme here, but the only way to actually get better is to keep playing the game.