Loss of identity

[Kronos2560]

Hey Megaman players, I've hit probably the biggest wall of my career, and I'm having the toughest time breaking it down.

Last month, I felt like was on top of the world after winning a tournament in my region, and placing highly at every tournament since.

I took a break, and since then I've been struggling to do anything right in my opinion..

It's gotten so bad, that I don't even know what to do anymore with my character. I think about running away and forcing them to approach, but I make a mistake and get knocked off the ledge into 50/50 scenarios. If I go aggro, I usually get camped out, and I have a hard time catching up to someone who knows how to deal with megamans approach options.

Out of frustration, I notice myself autopiloting most of my games, because I don't know what to look for in each match. Any insight will help, I just want to get back on track.

Thanks!

 

[ScAtt77]

I (almost) know that feeling of being on top of the world (got 2nd at Smash N Splash and only lost to Ally). However, don't stop at winning one tourney man; aim a little higher. I've won 1st at several locals in Georgia with and without the best players in my state present, but I knew that wasn't enough for me and getting first every so often wasn't going to cut it; I needed to aim for 1st at every single tournament.

To start out, look at your older videos when you won; what changed? Did your opponent adapt to your playstyle? Are you yourself simply playing worse? Evaluate yourself and only yourself in your matches. Personally, just staring at a single character at a time kind of appeases autopiloting for me; once you break your concentration on a single character, you know that you lost focus and that'll lead to you autopiloting again. Afterwards, take a look at your more recent matches and see if there's anything that you can apply now.

 

[Kronos2560]

I (almost) know that feeling of being on top of the world (got 2nd at Smash N Splash and only lost to Ally). However, don't stop at winning one tourney man; aim a little higher. I've won 1st at several locals in Georgia with and without the best players in my state present, but I knew that wasn't enough for me and getting first every so often wasn't going to cut it; I needed to aim for 1st at every single tournament.

To start out, look at your older videos when you won; what changed? Did your opponent adapt to your playstyle? Are you yourself simply playing worse? Evaluate yourself and only yourself in your matches. Personally, just staring at a single character at a time kind of appeases autopiloting for me; once you break your concentration on a single character, you know that you lost focus and that'll lead to you autopiloting again. Afterwards, take a look at your more recent matches and see if there's anything that you can apply now.

Great idea man. My region is extremely competitive, and I'm pretty sure I'm getting ranked for the upcoming season.

I just need another big showing at a regional coming up on the 27th to climb even higher, but I didn't feel confident after the way I've played the last couple weeks.

Ill be doing some homework for sure. Thanks for your kind words mate.

 

[Red Shirt KRT]

Try taking a little break. I usually get into a rut when I play too much and start being less creative and it starts feeling like a chore as opposed to feeling fun.

 

[glenn]

Took a hiatus from smash a couple of months ago, and while I don't play in nearly as competitive an environment as you, Kronos, it did feel like the competition had 'wisened up' to a lot of the staple Mega Man fundamentals. Re-evaluating what works and what habits needed culling really helped me upgrade my results.

Autopiloting is the bane of my existence, but I've found that having an internal conversation about the game really helps me focus. I'll just continually ask myself questions and try to answer them, which sounds a bit schizophrenic, but helps. Anything from, "How are they approaching?" and then make notes about it, "They keep SH Nair'ing in the neutral, look out for that next time". It sounds stupid, but it makes me really look at my opponent while I'm playing.

The flip side of that, is that when I find myself autopiloting, I get frustrated. When I get frustrated, I play stupid. As Thoreau says, "Simplify, simplify". Frustration is not useful, squash it. Something that I've found useful for this, and lots of other parts of life (stress at work, anxiety, etc...), is simply to take the chaotic moment I'm in and visualize it like a snowglobe ( lame right? ). Each unnecessary thought is like a snow flake, bouncing about, keeping you from focusing. Picture it all settling, and take deep breaths, focusing on the actual process. You'll find a very Zen like moment; it really helps prunes out all the noise. I'm typically pretty skeptical about this sort of stuff, but give it a try.

And finally, welcome back man! I loved watching you on stream at the Foundry. That jab lock to u-tilt setup on Silent Specter was hype. I know you'll be tearing it up again soon.

 

[Rush 2112]

The answer is probably more lemons.

Only half joking.

Best of luck.

 

[SimplyChrono]

I hope that you place high on the regional and get ranked pretty high so you get your confidence back, i dont know if you have stopped going to the come on and ban tourneys because im always looking forward to seeing you play but you are never on stream, so i hope to see more of your awesome megaman in the future

 

[Greward]

This might be a mindset problem.
After that win you might have lost a bit of motivation / urge to win, dulling your game senses.

Try to think of a gameplan for the match you are going to play and stick with it. This way you should get rid of the autopìlot.

 

[Jackaraia]

Dude. I've said it before. You're a great Mega player. And you're gonna do great on Saturday. I keep hearing your name in SoCal, when people tell people tips for Megaman, they usually tell people to go watch You, Styles and Zucco. It might just be that you're getting into the next level of competitive players, and so you're being harder on yourself than you should be.