I believe there may be a better way in AoE 2 regarding the how of "live coaching" low-mid ELO players.
For pro's/streamers, this seems to be an area of content worth pursuing because it leverages their skills/and is something people are interested in. Live coaching seems to be a mixed bag, with a lot of pro's basically just telling someone how to perform an efficient build order they have memorized, hoping that either rote memorization or repetition will convey their student additional ELO through osmosis. I don't think this is helpful for everyone, and have seen it harm folks who think that learning more advanced builds should be easy because "others," are doing it. However, they still lack the building blocks on which those builds are made/modified on the fly and don't understand them because they're not taught.
Not everyone can teach. It's hard, and every student is different. From a pro -- it's like taking AoE2 4000 from a PHD when really you shouldn't have skipped AOE2 101/102. It is much harder to teach someone the game live, but given how large the community is it's worth exploring what works/what doesn't for folks. For me, I think one of the "lightbulb," moments for improvement of folks in the 1000-1200 elo range is knowing how many vils/res you need to produce a unit / maintain TC production. Most in this range have a moderate build order appreciation for how to go FC or a standard SCrush, but things devolve after.
I think teaching for someone who can't pick up guides -- it's important to not disrupt/influence decision making - even bad decision making. I think you need to let people make poor decisions in order to improve. Correcting someone's decision to go 3 stable / 3 tc in castle age with 12 on food by simply trying to get them to switch their build to something that works doesn't allow them to see what is wrong with what they're doing. At best they now have a fine tuned build that falls apart later due to skipping fundamental res/vil per unit building blocks.
I think the coach should assist them in whatever it is they're trying to do, then ask questions about what they could have done differently. Help them understand that if they're behind and the enemy has army, it might not be wise to drop 4 tc's -- but don't prevent them from doing it. Even if an overall poor decision, I think the coach's role has to be to help them do whatever they're trying to do as efficiently as possible.
What's the biggest thing that has helped your ELO jump?
For pro's/streamers, this seems to be an area of content worth pursuing because it leverages their skills/and is something people are interested in. Live coaching seems to be a mixed bag, with a lot of pro's basically just telling someone how to perform an efficient build order they have memorized, hoping that either rote memorization or repetition will convey their student additional ELO through osmosis. I don't think this is helpful for everyone, and have seen it harm folks who think that learning more advanced builds should be easy because "others," are doing it. However, they still lack the building blocks on which those builds are made/modified on the fly and don't understand them because they're not taught.
Not everyone can teach. It's hard, and every student is different. From a pro -- it's like taking AoE2 4000 from a PHD when really you shouldn't have skipped AOE2 101/102. It is much harder to teach someone the game live, but given how large the community is it's worth exploring what works/what doesn't for folks. For me, I think one of the "lightbulb," moments for improvement of folks in the 1000-1200 elo range is knowing how many vils/res you need to produce a unit / maintain TC production. Most in this range have a moderate build order appreciation for how to go FC or a standard SCrush, but things devolve after.
I think teaching for someone who can't pick up guides -- it's important to not disrupt/influence decision making - even bad decision making. I think you need to let people make poor decisions in order to improve. Correcting someone's decision to go 3 stable / 3 tc in castle age with 12 on food by simply trying to get them to switch their build to something that works doesn't allow them to see what is wrong with what they're doing. At best they now have a fine tuned build that falls apart later due to skipping fundamental res/vil per unit building blocks.
I think the coach should assist them in whatever it is they're trying to do, then ask questions about what they could have done differently. Help them understand that if they're behind and the enemy has army, it might not be wise to drop 4 tc's -- but don't prevent them from doing it. Even if an overall poor decision, I think the coach's role has to be to help them do whatever they're trying to do as efficiently as possible.
What's the biggest thing that has helped your ELO jump?
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