Video games are a frequent pastime for a lot of people nowadays. However, most of us play them casually without too much care when it comes to optimal play. On the other hand, some would rather become top ranks in their respective games. For those with such aspirations, there’s often one big hurdle in the way, they don’t know how to improve. If you want to become a better player or even go pro you’ll need some assistance. This is what coaches and pro teammates are for.
1. Learning expert mechanics and character-specific techniques
As time goes on games get more complex. Multiple systems have to be mastered before you can even consider entering more competitive matches. While tutorials keep being broadened to cover all of the variables it’s nigh impossible. Even if you exclude the nuances present in base mechanics there are plentiful interactions that the game doesn’t cover. Everything that acts as a game’s response to players’ input can be considered a mechanic, be it minor or major. For example, animation canceling is a technique present in a lot of video games and can be considered an additional mechanic as it directly draws from the game’s code.
However, tutorials won’t cover extensive mechanics such as this one either due to them being unique to each character or not being in developers’ focus when designing the tutorial. Thankfully, pro players are well-versed in these mechanics. While some of them may seem too small to care about they can showcase a huge increase in the overall potency of your playstyle if used correctly. This goes double for games that have multiple characters or classes to choose from, as the unique mechanics of each can be expertly pointed out to you. As games with a pro player go on you’ll start to notice all of these mechanics, be they subtle or not, in their execution and respond to them.
2. Learning important strategies
The mechanics of a game tell us how it responds to our input and how its systems function but when a game is multiplayer a more pressing matter becomes that of other player’s responses. Every moderately popular game has many videos and posts about the strategies, discussions around them often being focused on which one’s the most potent. Although no matter how much time you dedicate to it you’ll hardly get enough insight from these sources.
This is both due to the sheer girth of options you have available and the ever-evolving meta. Meta is the term used for the generally most effective strategy in the game, these can be general guidelines or specific choices. It also includes strategies and tricks your opponents will be using, keeping you wary and knowledgeable of their goals. Pro players and coaches are well aware of the current meta, allowing you to quickly understand which strategies to employ for most wins. While it is prone to change, by learning the current meta you get a grasp on how it forms.
However, to properly learn current strategies you’ll need somebody more experienced to walk you through them. Some sites are dedicated to joining pros and aspiring competitive players, one such site being legionfarm.com. They offer coaching and pro-player play in over half a dozen popular games such as Call Of Duty: Warzone and Apex Legends.
3. Learning how to counter and adjust
Knowing how to play and which strategies to use are important parts of becoming a pro player. Although that isn’t all you need. After all, if everybody just used the same strategies without alterations everybody would end up playing the same, which would make for quite a boring game. Games nowadays strive to provide more dynamic gameplay and strategizing, with every strategy having a counter.
Learning these counters can be classified under game strategy as well, however, learning how to recognize and utilize them can’t. The key way of dealing with these strategies is adjusting your playstyle to that which counters the opponent. Pro players can help pinpoint certain playstyles within the game for you and increase your overall ability to read opponents. Again, if a game has multiple options to choose from in terms of characters and classes your ability to adjust will be additionally useful.
Sometimes the balance of the game functions like rock, paper, scissors meaning that picking a proper counter to the current strategy completely shuts it down. If the one you are wanting to get good at is of that type adjustments are paramount. Keep in mind that these counters may not be as straightforward so always ask the pro player what exactly makes the counter work.
4. Become a better team player
The focus of most newer multiplayer games is on teamwork. Even if a single player is exceptional in their performance they won’t be able to pull the whole team. Likewise, if the enemy team is organized they will easily shut down even the best of players. As you climb through the competitive ladder the importance of teamwork only gets emphasized. At higher levels of play, people will easily recognize a problem player and prepare countermeasures to take them down together. While playing with pro players will improve your capabilities the randomness of the game lobby you’ll be put in can heavily impact your chances of victory.
It’s easy to get frustrated when others aren’t playing as well as you or seem to be unaware of certain strategies. Pro players know this very well and will point out ways in which you can improve your team’s overall performance and cooperation. These include calling out the enemy’s strengths to your team or playing around objectives. Sometimes people aren’t sure how to play against certain characters and tactics which get them easily taken out, make sure to inform them how to counter those or stay safe until help arrives.
5. Improve your sportsmanship
Unfriendly behavior is never appreciated within multiplayer games. No matter whether it comes from your or enemy team, insults and a constant stream of demeaning statements can impact the overall state of the game. It goes beyond affecting personal enjoyment as well, it can affect the quality of play too. The more experienced players usually know how to behave and leave the unnecessary quarreling out of the game.
You’ll most likely pick it up too, finding yourself more focused on the game and actual call-outs rather than constant drama between two angry players. It will also help you keep team morale up by being an overall friendlier teammate, especially if you also provide feedback and helpful information.
6. Benefits transfer to other games
Coaches and pro players that offer tutoring exist for a reason. Not everybody plays with a pro player and not every pro player is keen on acting as a guide to high ranks, some just want to indulge in the game. No matter your reasoning for climbing the competitive ladder, the interaction with good players is an overall positive experience. Not only does it affect the way you play the specific game they are coaching you in but some of the lessons learned will help you in every other multiplayer game. Even across genres adjusting to the opponent’s playstyle, proper teamwork, good sportsmanship, and recognizing unique mechanics remain helpful.
7. Games become more fun
When you learn how to push the mechanics past their limits, react to each action with a proper reaction, develop and utilize strategies on the fly, and still manage to properly steer your team’s focus towards important objectives the game becomes more enjoyable to play. The sense of comprehending everything in-game is very satisfying especially when you are climbing the ranked ladder while doing so. It also makes fights with opponents who are equally as skilled even more exhilarating as your encounters become very tense while being incredibly rewarding to win.
8. You can become a pro yourself
The aforementioned benefits also become something you can transfer to others after extensive play with pros. You can utilize your newly acquired skills to profit through platforms like Twitch or through more direct interactions such as coaching. Even if you don’t want to earn money from it, helping less experienced players can be very satisfying and engaging, as well as being a nice way to make new acquaintances. Not to mention they will eventually reach similar ranks to yours, allowing you to team up and play in teams full of people that are already fun to play with.
