Is there a limit to one's skills?

I have been playing for hundreds of hours now, and much of the time is spent in the cockpit of a Mosquito. These last weeks however, I feel like I have reached a barrier. Usually I have been improving my pilot skills little by little, to such extent i'd dare call me a good pilot. However, I can't seem to reach the "best" that I was aiming for.

There are simply many players who are one step ahead of me all the time, always beating me in air vs air. I have been trying all the different tactics, techniques and loadouts possible without results. I can't beat them. And yes, I fly alone.

Is it simply impossible for some players to reach the highest tier of airplay? Is it just in my head that I can't reach the top tier or is it simply a limit only some players can breach? Should I be content with my "good" skills and accept I can't beat everyone or should I try pushing myself over the edge? I already have a fun time with my current skills, but would love to reach the top.

Buy coyotes ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Try different key settings?
Just don't ask me cause I'm awesome at flying, but the worst at actually hitting stuff..

Well, the simplest answer is; yes, not everyone can become best.


The longer answer can probably be best explained by using a "normal distribution" graph.

Most of us will end up in the middle blue part, actually about 68,2% of us will.

13.6% of us will most likely be a lot better and is often where the really good players are.

However, only 2.1% and 0.1% will become "best".



or another way to see it

Skill +1 , you are a good player, wrecking havoc among anyone beneath you, which is approx 84% of the playerbase.

Skill +1 and close to +2 , you are a very good player/borderline expert.

Skill +2 and +3, you are an expert / best

Skill +3, you are beyond godly.

Maybe it's not only about practice, but also about your setup:

If your gaming rig is capable of running the game at a high framerate you'll gain the advantage on equally skilled players with less FPS.

If you own a gaming mouse and you can adjust the sensitivity and bind a few extra mouse buttons to perfectly match your needs you'll gain the advantage.

I've heard some people fly with gamepads or joysticks.
If you're used to that from other games and really good at it you might gain an advantage by using that over mouse/keyboard.


And don't forget, some people just have better reflexes and/or better hand/eye coordination. They'll always beat you in a fair fight.

No amount of training will get you on their level (assuming that you do other things than playing PS2 24/7 ).

You'll either have to bring a team to beat them or play dirty.


And by dirty i don't mean cheating.

I'm talking about following them home and putting tank mines on their preferred landing pads.
Glue some C4 to your aircraft and ram them.
Watch them fighting from afar and close in once they are smoking.

Amen

I did try a few different settings, but found my personal preferences was the standard ones (with the exception of E, the pilot-slayer)

A very intresting read. I think I am at +1, maybe +1.5

Try ramming. Its loads of fun, and you get attention from the enemy in the form of rage tells.

Dont try to force it since being obsessed on being the best burns you out and how fun can playing be after that? The best on my opinion are never those who hone and master the tactics generally used. The best come up their own tactics or modify them to suit current situation. In a way they think outside the box.

Do not think you cannot get past somekind of skill treshold since i dont believe there are such things. Only thing that can limit you is obsessions or too narrow thinking. It is also my belief that as you go even further in your expertise on how things work they become instinct and it offers more interesting options.

My advice for you is that you let go and see where the fun takes you. The only limitations are the things you place on yourself.

For ESF, the skill doesn't improve consistently in a simple curve. You reach pseudo limit and stay there for a while, then you suddenly realize something new and break the ceiling, your skill starts improving again until next ceiling. There are a few of those, not many, but more than 1

At very high level, ping starts becoming a serious factor, anything over 100 ms ping is uncompetitive.
Then there's the mouse and keyboard sensitivity settings. You definitely need a decent gaming mouse.

Define decent gaming mouse...

and don't say "DPI"

No matter HOW good you are and how good you evolve there will always be someone better , and someone better than the someone better than you , till that cycle reaches into a godlike skillful genius player.<---end tier/aboveMLGtier

Now in case of being beaten into dust in air fights , It might be the engagement , the weapons , the distance , the vision or even mere luck , a pro isn't pro without luck.

My only advice is try harder and train harder and keep practicing and fully analyse your mistakes.

Thank you for all the replies and various feedbacks. I only have a normal mouse with two extra buttons on, for those wondering.
I have decided for now to not work too hard at reaching the top tier. I will keep flying as long as my resources allow me to and pick the situations I already excel at (poking/destroying big targets like sunderers and liberators) instead of seeking out lone ESF to battle them.
However, when engaged I will fight back and observe my opponent, not run or ram into a ground target. Maybe I can get better, maybe I can't. Only time will tell.

I have rammed a few times, but stopped in order to perfect my "shooting them to shreds" strategy. Mayby I will end up ramming those I can't get? Only problem is those players who tend to defeat me rarely go drectly towards me, makes everything harder

1. Practice, practice, practice.
Learn the Reverse Manoeuvre.Then perfect it.
Learn other tricks and low-level high-speed flying. Get to know exactly how your machine handles.
Get your aim perfect. Get your aim perfect in combat. Then at different angles. Then at different angles in combat. Then against mutliple enemies.
etc...

2. Experiment with your key-bindings / settings.
I gained big advantages by experimenting with Mouse Sensitivity, binding Pitch Up/Down to Mouse Buttons and using Throttle Analog.

3. A reliable internet connection and beastly PC
will help too, to keep the FPS high even when flying.

4. Realise that no matter how good you are, there is always:
a. someone slightly or a lot better,
b. an element of luck, and
c. superior numbers win almost every time anyway.

Me too.
Can't afford a multi-button gaming mouse.
So I used:
- LMB = Fire selected weapon
- RMB = Pitch Down
(Reaver cockpit visibility and the bullet drop of ESF nose-guns was why I did this instead of Pitch Up)
(It also helps that you don't suffer from pulling negative g-forces!)

I just did without Zoom or Thermal but have them bound to a convenient key that I can press if I need to.
It's 'Z' or 'C', I'll need to check... I'm so used to it now...

Throttle Analog was the biggest help though.
(Dat insta-stop...)

PS - I'm sure you have, but in case not, re-bind 'E' from eject/get out to something like 'O' or 'P'.
(No more accidental ejects in the heat of battle!)

You can't learn the game while playing the game. PS2 is full of **** like AA, ganking, ressources, timer, etc... that just restrict your usefull fly time. This is not bad, but it's not the best setting to learn, say, how to lead your nosegun.

What you really need is some formal training. Find a wingman who share the same interest as you, and practice flying an ESF in a controlled environement.

By controlled environement, I mean either the PTS (it's mostly empty), or near your empire warpgate.

Some tips and tricks :
Same faction : create a squad, spawn your ESF, open it to squad/platoon, and fly with your wingman's ESF (he will fly with yours). Because you will OWN your wingmate vehicle, you will be able to shoot at it without getting your weapon locked. Hence, you'll be able to practice ESF 1V1, again and again. Just dont kill your wingman ;-). Stop when the ESF is burning, and use firesupression to be safe.

Basically, this will let you perform maybe 10 times more 1V1 fight than simply playing PS2.

On PTS, you might try the folowing : ESF versus AA max / turret (they have dead angles...), being chased from one wargate to another without taking (too much) hits, dogfighting using different faction ESF, and everything you can think about.

Mattiace (an excellent ESF pilot) admit he has practiced 1V1 on PTS for hours (and maybe days), and that's why he's good in 1V1.

I feel the same way about myself, although I play straight infantry. There was a timeframe of a few months where I had a pretty solid increase in skill, and then I seemingly plateaued. It seems like no matter how hard I try, I just can't reach that goal that I've set in mind.

I don't think that there's a limit to how much anyone can improve at the game, but there are limits to how much you can improve in certain ways. There are people who will always just straight up have better reaction times and accuracy, but I think that pretty much anyone can improve their positioning and their situational awareness. My accuracy stats have been more or less the same since August, but I've made a bunch of changes to my infantry playstyle since then which have really helped me out.

Listening to the basedgod has really helped me improve my infantry play tbh, he can't teach you to fly though

There is a limit to how much we can improve based on physical and mental limitations. And yes I know more than likely someone in your life at some point told you that you can be anything you want and that there isn't anything you can't accomplish if you set your mind to it and work hard enough, Thing is... They lied.

That sounds like a bit of downer but all I'm saying is we should be realistic in our expectations, But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try either. And to channel my inner fortune cookie for a second, You should be content with all you've accomplished so far and keep working to be the best you can but don't get discouraged if you fall short of loftier goals.

The limits of ambition

Obligatory.