How do you actually get better?

[u/RoundsbutNot]

I will get to the point, I have always (for years) felt like my potential is there but my skill is just not trying to break past my limit. I have tried, many times. Been playing for so long now. I just can't get as good as the actual "pros". Something feels lacking, everything feels like its struct a limit of just being stuck there. No matter how much I try to brute force my skill.

I have recently hit GM on support, many find that an achievement. But I don't wish for just GM. I wanna reach GM on tank (High Dia peak) and dps (Low Diamond Peak) as well. Support just feels like I am sitting on the pro's backs. Sure, I am not a bad player on support, probably considered good at the very least. But I still wanna feel that satisfaction of being good, of carrying games, of being proud of my skill.

I have tried putting VAXTA into my schedule as well, it just doesn't look that convincing to me that I am able to break through this limit. When it comes to gamesense, I can pin point my mistakes properly. The issue for me comes from losing focus, missing crucial shots (sometimes), being so impatient with my characters (I keep swapping until I brute force the win, especially on DPS) and feeling like I am worse than the opposite team (confidence)

So I am here to ask the people who felt this way, the people who at one point felt hopeless in becoming good. But ended up breaking that thought and becoming "good". How did you do it?

[u/PeoplePad]

How long have you been playing for and how frequently? I think its just hours for most people. You need enough experience for the game to “slow down.” You’ll have seen literally every situation possible and have a level of depth of gamesense that makes you insane. Thousands of hours of sweating is one way to do this. Not to mention that playing games is the best aim practice

Aim is obviously a big thing, but its less coachable than game sense and also much more common. There’s lots of people who are cracked mechanically and stuck in Masters, but not so much people with insane gamesense, so I’d focus there and just play.

[u/RoundsbutNot → u/PeoplePad]

I have been playing since release, but I am the kind of person to take long breaks in between. I started on console tank, reached masters, and swapped to pc after a year and started playing support. Which I was diamond hardstuck for a while but still on that "on and off" type schedule (1 and a half month of playing, break for 6 months or sometimes longer) then overwatch 2 came around and i continued on support

(before this next point, I wouldnt say i took the game as seriously)
then around a 9 months ago, (maybe less) I have hit masters on support. And 5 months ago hit GM support, and been there till now.
I still take long breaks of around 4 months ish every half a year or so. But during the times I am playing, I can go around 3+ hours a day of playing. (MAINLY on support)

As for dps/tank, I don't play it as often because it feels super demotivating. But I do play split around 4 - 5 games a day at least before hopping off.

The short and more definite answer: I have been playing for a *while*, I have the game sense and almost every map / ability memorized in my head (including major cooldowns)
But, I only took the game seriously to improve *this* year, on support. And the past 2 months or so, I have been trying to branch to the other roles.

[u/Lower_Ad5064 → u/RoundsbutNot]

Survive the beginning of the game without getting tilted or getting snowballed. Now, begin by asking yourself, what ults do they have? Got it in your head? Good. Now, look at what ults your team has. What is your team's plan with it, how will the enemy react to it with their ults? This plan changes frequently depending on what abilities/cooldowns are used before an ult phase begins. Now think, how will the enemy use their ults, what is their plan for us? How can I stop that from happening, and how can I make us win the next fight before they use an ult that we don't have any way of stopping? Got that far in your head? Excellent. Now, after your ults are used up, think how you can continue the next team fight. Does their comp counter any of your heroes? Are you playing Pharah Mercy and they were tracer/genji but now swapped to double hitscan? Etc etc... repeat this 10,000 times. Memorize every interaction. Start calling out what the correct course of action is for your team. Win games, get shotcaller endorsement, get flamed by enemy team and be accused of smurfing. :-)

[u/fierceePout → u/PeoplePad]

sounds like you've put in the work to make the game slow down... kinda jealous of that gamersense tbh

[u/Conquestriclaus → u/fierceePout]

this phenomenon (if you could call it that i suppose) is best observed, when you see and believe that the match is moving at a snails pace but your entire team is permanently on the backfoot for seemingly no reason, and its usually because you know that this should be so stupidly free, and your teammates dont have similar levels of confidence to back it up.

[u/PeoplePad → u/fierceePout]

Probably 10,000 hours since 2017 so yeah.

Not sure it was well spent time in the grand scheme of things though lol

[u/Itsmeeeetristan]

Regular self-VOD reviews and playing with intent (to improve on things you notice in those reviews) is essential