(Part 2) Top products from r/Competitiveoverwatch

Sounds like you have this well planned out. Your best route to success is definitely the support of your parents and their support and understanding. Having a firm commitment to return to school should this not be viable after one year is smart and a good compromise for their support of you vs you getting a chance to chase a dream. It's easy to just say 'go for it' but of course there are many factors that will have a huge influence on whether you reach you goal (e.g, your location will greatly affect your chances; it will be much harder in some regions (e.g., South America or Australia) than in others (e.g, NA, Korea, EU)).

A simple google search (especially in the 'news' section) will yield you a lot of articles that will be helpful for your parents understanding the viability of this career choice. Keywords such as Overwatch league, Overwatch league salaries, Esports growth, etc. will yield you many options to show your parents. Choose articles from reputable sources they would recognize such as Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/articles/professional-videogamers-get-their-own-stadiums-1529512135 or ESPN http://www.espn.com/esports/story/_/id/20163254/overwatch-league-owl-announces-details-player-contracts-team-buy-in.

As well, there is a reference book series aimed at middle grade students who want a career in esports that presents the information in a very easy-to-digest manner for parents:

https://www.amazon.com/Gaming-Professional-Sports-Teams-sports/dp/1599539659/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1549235737&sr=8-1&keywords=Gaming+and+Professional+Sports+Teams+Douglas+Hustad

https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Sports-Industry-Game/dp/1599538911/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1549235806&sr=8-1&keywords=Inside+the+E-Sports+Industry+by+Carla+Mooney

Most important, however, is understanding the commitmentrequired in the next year. For Tier 3, where you will start, expect to scrim 4 hours a night (which includes some nights doing vod reviews instead of playing), with two days off. This is combined with also playing extra hours of ranked games several days of the week, ideally while streaming to build an audience who will root for you/give you exposure. These are time commitments which will preclude girlfriends, nights out with your friends, birthday parties, even holidays etc since scrim times for Tier 3 tend to be from 18-24 (6:00 to midnight) and break rarely.. For Tier 2, expect to scrim four hours a day, six days a week. Above those hours, you will also have to spend time streaming/playing ranked and reviewing vods of your performance and analyzing your mistakes. In all, it is a full time 'job' for which it is unlikely you will receive any compensation. T2 hours are harsher: usually 16:00 to 24:00 (between 4:00 pm to midnight), six days a week. WIth only one day off, it can be daunting.

For your parents, you need them to understand you are becoming an entrepreneur - a business owner. And like most business owners, you build up a reputation and create a service/product for free, with the goal of eventually someone paying you for it. This is the same as training to become an architect, being a software designer, starting a photography business or even a vocation such as electrician or plumber. The plus side is you don't have to rack up a lot of student loans for a school - you're learning for free but have to be motivated enough to do it on your own. The down side is that you have to have discipline and work hard - you're on your own. This is the price that most entrepreneurs pay. Along the way, your personality and playstyle will turn into a brand - how well you create and market that brand may be the difference between a career and failure. Unless you are a prodigy, there is much more to a professional career than just clicking heads.

Finally, appreciate that you will need social skills - the greatest opportunities happen to those who are well connected or network. It's come to the point now that there is big money involved with Overwatch due to OWL - and few teams are willing to pay big money on someone with a bad reputation unless they are a complete prodigy. And players are starting to not want to recommend other players who are difficult, unreliable, or toxic - because it makes them look bad when someone doesn't live up to the 'favor' of the recommendation. You can have friends in Overwatch but you have to remember that this is a business - and you can't let friends destroy your busines through their own faults or shortcomings.

So factor in a complete plan with goals and objectives - how to gain a fan following through .e.g, streaming, gaining expertise and networking in ranked games, being reliable and putting yourself out there and being bold (it's difficult to ever get 'discovered' if you are shy), being ready to spend long hours reviewing metas in other regions and your own games to fix issues, and remembering that coaches and fellow players are your best avenues to improvement. Work with them and listen to them since being a pro often comes down to much more than just clicking heads.

For breaking into T3, you can check series of articles: https://www.reddit.com/r/Competitiveoverwatch/comments/90aw1l/the_path_to_pro_beginnings_breaking_into_tier_3/

More specific advice would likely have to come from knowing your world location (which Overwatch region you reside in), your hero pool, and your personal circumstances. Just remember that there are thousands of top 500s around the world - but only a few ever become pros in OWL. There is a LOT more to being a pro then being good at the game.

​

​

​

​

Oh, sure. First reddit comment of the day just after waking up. I knew I shoulda had a bit of caffeine first.

Scott Adams' is the guy who wrote Dilbert, a near-genius, and a serial entrepreneur. He's a self described 1%er and likes talking a lot about the psychology of winning. His latest book (How to fail at almost everything and still win big) talks a lot about his story of success. Early on, he references a lot of 'winners'. Invariably, most winners attribute their success to luck, circumstances, or some other uncontrollable variable. Why? Because the people asking them are almost universally less successful then they are.

Unfortunately, the secret to losing weight is eating less. Going out on more dates happens when you ask more people. Successful business owners keep going in debt for a new idea and convincing other people to finance it. Obama got his job because he's incredibly charismatic, he made a ton of friends in the Democrat Party, and he was at the perfect nexus of Progress & Diversity that often propels people in that party forward. He worked his ass off to get that nomination and eventually the presidency.

Success is based on working hard in the right way, not in getting lucky. At least according to Scott Adams.

Quick edit: And don't take this as an endorsement of Obama, his policies, or anything of the sort. I detest the man and everything he stands for. But I don't think he made it because he was lucky.

So this is a good question. For my movement and abilities, I use this:
Logitech G13
My mouse is a Razer Naga Epic.

Both were basically intended to play WoW.
I'm left handed. I used to use my left hand for mouse and right hand for movement (using the numpad). I've been a console guy for the last 10 years or so, but when my son started playing PC games, I switched to right hand so we didn't have to mess with the bindings as often. It was WoW, so it wasn't a big deal. It's been a little more tricky in OW, but not so much that I've considered switching back to lefty.

Anyway, you are correct that I'm using a stick for my movement, but I'm using a mouse for aiming. It's set at 1600 dpi and 3.1 in-game sensitivity. There's no acceleration enabled and the windows setting is at 6. It gets me a 360 in about 25.5 cm which is about the width of my mousepad. I actually lowered the sensitivity in the last week to try and increase my overall accuracy. I think you are probably correct that I don't have much "snap" but part of that is that I have been consciously trying to avoid the sporadic, jerky movements I was getting at higher sensitivities.

My intent was to work on accuracy with the lower sensitivity and then increase it as time passed to allow more rapid target acquisition. Think I should try something else?

Memes aside that's a pretty good foundation to believe in philosophically.

A once heard some advice that I'll share with you: to truly succeed at something you need two things, obsession and work ethic.

I highly recommend this book. I wish I could have read it at your age.

Using what is a probably decade old Microsoft Sidewinder. Still the best mouse I have ever played with. I bought a couple additional when I learned it was going to be discontinued. It's this model https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-HKA-00001-SideWinder-Gaming-Mouse/dp/B000TTQFIS.

You can still find it new on eBay for like $60 I bet.

I like my HD 600's, they are definitely comfy and the sound is amazing. Need a fairly beefy amp though.

my sister got me a dinosaur flask for christmas and it was a case of the ol' "look around the room for channel name inspiration". that very same flask has sat unwashed by my sink for well over 6 months now, i should probably clean it...

it's this one, if anyone is that interested:
https://uedata.amazon.com/Sigg-Primeval-Water-Bottle-0-4-Litre/dp/B004LQA3S8

For anyone who is interested in an overview of what neuroscience research tells us about gender differences I recommend Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine. https://www.amazon.com/Delusions-Gender-Society-Neurosexism-Difference/dp/0393340244

For anyone interested in more detail I recommend this book

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1455509124/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472747141&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=so+good+they+cant+ignore+you

His book, The Only Rule Is It Has To Work, about trying to run a minor league team using sabermetrics is good ( and genuinely funny) as well.

Yep, I mostly play Mccree.
My whole desk is covered with mousepad and I got used to moving my arm a lot. Even with a sensitivity like this, a 180 is still only one fast swipe with my arm. I really don't feel like it hinders my movement. I can play nanoboosted Reinhardt in the midst of the enemy team and do 360 spins if I want to and I don't feel like my sens is too low.


I've always been terrible at wrist aiming, so the accuracy- and consistency-boost my aim got a few years ago when I first switched to a sensitivity this low, was massive. The downsides can, from my experience, be almost nullified just by getting used to it.


I think mouse-sensitivity is all about preference and finding out what works best for you. For me, a high, or even medium sens never really worked.

I really like this book: https://www.amazon.com/Nonviolent-Communication-Language-Marshall-Rosenberg/dp/1892005034

here's the solution: https://www.amazon.com/Zalman-Zm-Mic1-Sensitivity-Headphone-Microphone/dp/B00029MTMQ

Here is the link to the amazon page https://www.amazon.com/Overwatch-League-Inaugural-Season-Collectors/dp/0744019877/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1538701180&sr=8-7&keywords=overwatch+league

https://www.amazon.com/Idiot-Fyodor-Dostoyevsky/dp/1549868950/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=#customerReviews

This is the exact one I use: (https://www.amazon.com/Futuro-Deluxe-Wrist-Stabilizer-Medium/dp/B0057D7YWM/ref=sr_1_5_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1494018518&sr=8-5&keywords=futuro%2Bwrist%2Bbrace&th=1)

I disagree. You need to relearn how you aim with a mouse. Get a larger mousepad (https://www.amazon.com/SteelSeries-Mini-Gaming-Mouse-Black/dp/B000UEZ37G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1467126573&sr=8- costs literally $7 and is great), set your sensitivity to something reasonable, and just fucking play. You will be forced to aim with your arm, not your wrist, and you will get better.

That's not correct, I'm afraid. I'll leave the value of google searches up to your interperetation, but the consensus on visibility I saw was in the green-yellow spectrum, due to being the inverse colours to that of human corneas.

As to eye strain - higher wavelength colours put more strain (not damage, pedantically speaking) on your eyes, which is why people wishing to preserve their night vision use red lights