How do you control rage?

[HelloWorld]

So when you are in a game and when you face the same civs again and again in the ladder and lose to the same thing. Example, playing versus Mayans / Franks all the time in the ladder.

This makes the ladder games as sweaty tourney games when it isn't one.

I literally went to smash my keyboard when one of the Franks picker lamed my farm (I know its dumb).

How do you control anger / rage? I know it's still a game but when someone picks the powerful civs, when you go random kills the fun and motivation to play the game which in turn results in anger and frustration.

 

[Philippe le Bon]

Exit the game immediately, play/do something else for a moment, come back a few minutes/hours/days later when your head feels clearer

 

[Zen1th]

I feel you.

I used to be aggressive like you when playing AOE2. I was an avid fan of the franchise. Been playing since 1999. After the pandemia I had more time to play AOE2. Installed the DE version. It was very cool. Mods, improved layouts etc. When I jumped in the ladder after a while I startted to be tilted when something went wrong. Then tilt turned to anger and excessive rage. I remember I punched two of my mice to the ground and tore them apart. This went on and on. I used to play 15-20 1v1 games at saturdays. half of the amount on weekdays.

The result?

My 1v1 Elo went from 1200 to 1700 in three months. Impressive right?

But I had two tennis elbows on both arms and one cubical tunnel syndrome on the left arm. I went to doc over and over again, and then the physiotherapy... Had to pay a lot for them cuz the insurance didn't cover all them up. I was at the point that I didn't want to lift the bottle of water: it hurt a lot...

Luckily I recovered. (%95 performance). Sadly, my mouse hand is not as precise as before (%5 loss). I can't manage any kind of micro right now. So i switchted to AOE4 (hated first but now feels ok) playing two 1v1 games with minimum micro daily. Yet, I am much more peaceful than before. No more anger, no more swearing, no more hurting limbs and yourself.

The point here is: We sometimes forgot that we are just casual players. No need to push that hard.

 

[Zamaa]

I don't

 

[Hunyadi_]

I changed my perspective. I used to prioritize winning when playing 1v1s. Now I prioritize having fun. Can I have fun in every game? No, but I'm ok with that. As long as I can have fun in some games, overall it's still a net positive for me. So say I play 5 games, if I had fun in 2 or 3 of them, to me that's mission accomplished. I mean that's why we play video games right? To have fun.

So if my opponent picks Franks and plays sweaty, doesn't matter to me. I will still try my Malay elephant rush. Or longswords spam with Goths. Or whatever fun strategy I think of on the spot. And you'd be surprised how often they work. But I'm only 1200 so there's that. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I don't take games seriously. I don't throw games but I don't play boring meta every game. Some games yes I go meta because I can't think of anything interesting or creative. That's the beauty of AoE2 though, every game is different.

And hey if you're still not having fun, take a break from 1v1, play the AI, play a campaign, play an FFA...heck play different games.

 

[Saeda]

What keeps me grounded and focussed on having fun is just being a bit talkative.

Say, I lose a Vil to a boar? I laugh about it in chat. Always gets a reaction back and helps see the guy on the other side. Hole in my wall? A FFS 11. I don't like his civ? Tell him about it, heck, my Mayans experience is very similar.

At worst I get dejected since I lost, but especially when I lose, I can usually keep talking to my opponent for a bit and a minute later, the loss itself already doesn't matter anymore. And when I win, I try to cheer my opponent up by telling him what he did well.

 

[ltm]

You insult your opponent in chat in the most childish and petty way possible.

Come on, this is basic online gaming knowledge.

 

[HelloWorld]

Exit the game immediately, play/do something else for a moment, come back a few minutes/hours/days later when your head feels clearer

Did not help, I came back to the game after playing aoe4 for a while and see myself dropping upto 300 elo and being frustrated at myself.

 

[HelloWorld]

I feel you.

I used to be aggressive like you when playing AOE2. I was an avid fan of the franchise. Been playing since 1999. After the pandemia I had more time to play AOE2. Installed the DE version. It was very cool. Mods, improved layouts etc. When I jumped in the ladder after a while I startted to be tilted when something went wrong. Then tilt turned to anger and excessive rage. I remember I punched two of my mice to the ground and tore them apart. This went on and on. I used to play 15-20 1v1 games at saturdays. half of the amount on weekdays.

The result?

My 1v1 Elo went from 1200 to 1700 in three months. Impressive right?

But I had two tennis elbows on both arms and one cubical tunnel syndrome on the left arm. I went to doc over and over again, and then the physiotherapy... Had to pay a lot for them cuz the insurance didn't cover all them up. I was at the point that I didn't want to lift the bottle of water: it hurt a lot...

Luckily I recovered. (%95 performance). Sadly, my mouse hand is not as precise as before (%5 loss). I can't manage any kind of micro right now. So i switchted to AOE4 (hated first but now feels ok) playing two 1v1 games with minimum micro daily. Yet, I am much more peaceful than before. No more anger, no more swearing, no more hurting limbs and yourself.

The point here is: We sometimes forgot that we are just casual players. No need to push that hard.

Exactly this, when I started to play aoe 2 again, I felt like my elo raised to around 1700. But, my hands were so numb the next day and I came back to 1400.

I think this might be the reason for my dumbness..

 

[Zen1th]

Exactly this, when I started to play aoe 2 again, I felt like my elo raised to around 1700. But, my hands were so numb the next day and I came back to 1400.

I think this might be the reason for my dumbness..

Yeah you are right. I was a dumb too trying to help you out by just giving a mere example.

Next time try punching the wall when you rage. It will provide you a better feedback than me for sure ! Oh if you don't want to injure yourself just like me, you can use a battering ram. Your opponent will hear the impact across continents and give instant "gg wp gl next!" So that you can finally relief and smoke a cigarette.

Thank me later...

 

[vince]

beer

 

[gwfe]

change focus from trying to win to trying to improve

Like, after a loss, think about the thing that went the most wrong in this game. Figure out how you can stop that from happening in the future

Say I feel I took way too much damage against a rax opening, next time I concentrate on getting those quickwalls perfectly. Maybe I was trying to wall too big? Did I play the wrong strategy? With better scouting, could I just counter him with range opening?

If you perfectly achieve this mindset (not easy mind you, not saying I'm there yet either), losing ladder games will not feel different than winning

 

[HelloWorld]

change focus from trying to win to trying to improve

Like, after a loss, think about the thing that went the most wrong in this game. Figure out how you can stop that from happening in the future

Say I feel I took way too much damage against a rax opening, next time I concentrate on getting those quickwalls perfectly. Maybe I was trying to wall too big? Did I play the wrong strategy? With better scouting, could I just counter him with range opening?

If you perfectly achieve this mindset (not easy mind you, not saying I'm there yet either), losing ladder games will not feel different than winning

Thanks, I mainly lose to knight civs when I get an archer civ on Arabia. I am currently ~1400-1600 losing to these knight spam as the map is unwallable. How to win vs that? Thank you again.

 

[Please_dont_choose_goths!]

Tbh i dont. I say bad words to the enemy and sometimes if it was an long post imp game i even cried from the rage. I was screaming so loud once, my cat run away 11. I just wanna destroy things when i lose. So thats why have an pilliw near me every time i game so i can punch it

 

[SuperskinnyBLS]

Thanks, I mainly lose to knight civs when I get an archer civ on Arabia. I am currently ~1400-1600 losing to these knight spam as the map is unwallable. How to win vs that? Thank you again.

Try mixing in pikes I guess

 

[Please_dont_choose_goths!]

Try mixing in pikes I guess

I hate pikes tbh

 

[HelloWorld]

Try mixing in pikes I guess

Does not work either, if you make pikes you are out of map control.. Archer civs rely on timings alone I think which I am bad at..

 

[The Bloodless]

No map is unwallable. Just delay walls until mid feudal. I'd concentrate on your dark and Feudal maa Archer build because that's where a soon to be knights player can have the breathing room to actually go knights. Typically the Crossbowmen player has the advantage in early castle but only if you play the earlier game correctly. Add monks as well, and consider fast ballistics and triple range.

As for your initial concern about rage, gwfe nailed it. Simply find something you can improve on each game. If you can't, watch the replay. If you still can't, try ask another person to find your mistakes. It makes it really satisfying to play when you're constantly improving, even when you lose.

 

[ponciliano]

Big Scoob could give some nice tips about that.

 

[SuperskinnyBLS]

Does not work either, if you make pikes you are out of map control.. Archer civs rely on timings alone I think which I am bad at..

How come you are out of map control having way more militiary? I don't understand.

 

[HelloWorld]

How come you are out of map control having way more militiary? I don't understand.

Pikes are just a defensive unit right? By the time you get that many pikes to outnumber his cav and assuming you are gonna pike + siege push, enemy could have just made a transition to castle defense and faster imp than you so that your investment into pikes becomes useless is my opinion on pikemen.

 

[vinigarcia87]

I got really better at the game when I start to accept that when I lose is because I did something wrong instead of thinking that the enemy got something "op".
Accepting your mistakes makes you better and let not margin for you to rage on yourself.

Therapy in real life (for other problems in COVID times) also helped me a lot if rage control! ^^

Anyway, try to have fun with the game no matter at the enemy do and chill

 

[Tocaraca]

Tell your opponent to die in a housefire and then smash a hole in your wall

 

[IYIyTh]

Remember that it's just a game and literally no one cares about how good/bad you are at aoe2.

 

[DaisyChain]

Remember that it's just a game and literally no one cares about how good/bad you are at aoe2.

My mum clearly does. She tells me I would be top 100 without all the Mayan pickers.