To start off, this guide is terrible. It does [u]not[/u] separate itself from the other guides that are out there trying to make money off you guys. Upon closer inspection, most people might be lured in this saying "but Lethal never won international tournaments... these guys did!"
I sincerely feel sorry for all the people who bought this guide. You have been ripped off and you will not become better players after reading this.
There are many things that this guide did not stress. It embraces useless sections like "How to get your name out there" and "Dealing with Cheating/Cheaters" instead of the more important stuff (more on that below).
[b]Counter-Strike is not what it used to be 5 years ago.[/b] It's a different ball park now. People do not want to know about the "sensitivity/mouse-pad" anymore. This is equivalent to a young Soccer player cadet asking the professionals about what type of soccer boots they can wear so they can play better. This was the WRONG way to go guys and you should be ashamed.
I am now going to tell you everything that a real professional guide like this should have included;
[b]1. How to develop strats with your team.[/b] - Includes how to do strats for each map based on spawns (which is what most pro teams use, spawn based strats) - How to practice these 'spawn based strategies' by yourself in pugs, and getting used to the movement/shortcuts to do your job on the map - How to switch and rotate EFFECTIVELY in game. How to gamble properly when choosing bombsites - Calling, what to avoid and how to do it properly. - How to practice getting used to teams that play defensively and/or aggressively. What those teams do on certain maps.
[u]For Example[/u]; [b]de_train[/b] - even mid-tier teams as CT will try to vary up their holding positions to psyche you out.
If you give them 20-30 seconds of open space outside, you're most likely going to deal with 1 CT up tower, 1 @ e-box, and 1 AWP vines or bomb-train. There are MANY things you can do to manipulate this as T's. The out-come of the game might then involve the CT side playing aggressively outside from the beginning of the round, flashes in certain spots and spamming certain areas. This guide did not focus on playing against teams at all, and needed to focus more on what you can do in terms of specific strategies.
2. [b]Real practice/learning.[/b] By "real" practice I mean that Death-match servers and bots train the reflexes in your hand so that you warm up your aim. It does not "improve you" as a player over time. It does not teach you things. LAN practice does, and experience beats all the amount of hours you can bot at home.
3. [b]POV demos.[/b] I think these guys have too much of an ego to recommend certain player demos or something. There are some excellent [b]fnatic[/b] demos to watch. I highly recommend watching MIBR individual players, wNv (they have excellent flash/peak plays), fnatic of course.. the list goes on. What to learn off them should have been spoken about a LOT. How to cover, how to gamble, how to push properly, how to know your own style and take advantage of it in-game. Finding your role. How to be creative in the game etc.
4. Let me quote something from the guide;
"[b]"If you know your enemy is low, spamming could be a good option."[/b]
See there's the problem with this guide. It doesn't tell you what to do, it remains vague and open thinking people are going to reply to it and criticize it. They are appealing to the young kids but not telling them WHAT and HOW to do it.
How about, if you know your enemy is low, practice the following; * Trying to spam about 10 bullets from your gun through the wall (and be ready for the counter) * Quick-strafing out and shooting 2-3 burst bullets and retreating straight away * Lobbing a grenade * Turning AROUND and watching ANOTHER entrance area because most likely that person who is low-hp is calling his teammates for back-up. Being aware of incoming enemies while this is happening. This is to do with reading the gameplay of the round.
To everyone trying to get good - this is a waste of money and time. Sorry rambo/steel but you guys were not on the target here. You tried to promote yourselves as to why the guide is useful more-so than the quality of the guide itself.
If you guys want to see skills, experience and timing please watch a POV demo of NEO. Notice when he's in a 1v2 situation, how he plays it out. He shoots 1 area where he knows an enemy is, then quickly aims at the other direction to bait the other enemy out. This is not something taught, but something that experience and learning can do if you take the short-cuts from the professionals.
However, this guide was a short-cut from the professionals you should avoid.
1/10 guide
There are many more things I'd like to add in this post but I don't think it would be read.
Absolutely agree how they used up some much of what they could've put onto the guide, like cigarette companies do when they give donations to disease research.
i really doubt the guide is as bad as you say it is.... your just someone that doesnt know how to apply the information to your foundation. I'm sure your foundation is as good as rambos thats why hes pro and your not.
the guide goes is suppose to go down to nitty gritty and show you things of trade, secrets of secrets, fundamentals of fundamentals. You think OH I already know this... there's no - "ahhh- HAAA" moment here in this guide. But your wrong just some of the above you posted 90 percent of community cant do on level 8 out of 10. Which is why people are struggling on lower level leagues.
And don't go all, you can't talk just because you're not pro. You're missing the point syanide, he's just constructively criticizing the guide. No harm or flames intended.
Also, you really can speak for the guide if you didn't read it bro.[/b]
"If 30 people donated $1 to my bank account I'd buy it and give it to someone to crack it.
The reason why I don't want to buy it is because there is no way I'm going to let my girlfriend/parents see "The art of Counter-strike" details on my bank statement when it comes in the mail lol"
before he had even bought and read it.
a few out of context quotes mean nothing you scrub
X goNNa givE it To Ya fK waItIn 4 u tA GeT iT on ya OwN
I've read some and its sounds really good to me. Just basic things like the part about awareness let me bring something to your awareness your a SCRUB. S.C.R.U.B
your just some guy with a tiny brain like the size of a rats thats why you skimmed through the guide and now just because you didnt magically drop 30 like you expected you think you know everything in there. story short... you dont deserve that material
Syanide, you should worry more about your grammar and looking like you know more than a 5th grader before you start taking strikes at others intelligence. This review is excellent in my opinion. The lethal guide covers the basics much better than what I've read about the TAO-CS guide.
CS isn't so much about skill to get pro as it is about knowing the right people, there are terrible pros on top teams just because there friends with them and stuff... Unless you are zet its really hard to come out of nowhere and just join a top team.
#31 Is correct, there are far more skilled players that dont get into top CS teams, every country has players that have the skll to compete at a high level.
I think #1 is entirely wrong, I bought this guide when it first came out and after reading the whole thing the scope of it still amazes me. I go back over and read sections when I find myself doing the wrong thing in games or I pick up on some mistakes, it's always there for me to look at again and think about. The style it is written in isn't one which describes every single game situation in detail, that kind of project would take 1000+ pages so to think they can do that and then sell it cheaply is ridiculous. Instead just like the real 'the art of war' it gives very sound guidelines for every section on the optimal way to play any scenario and some alternatives to that you can use when the situation calls for them.
Seems like #1 wants the authors to lock themselves away for 5 years writing day and night to produce something which contains everything that ever could be written about CS and then to sell it for $5. That's not realistic and the pragmatic approach taken in this guide makes a lot more sense. As people have said further up in the thread experience is what makes you good at CS, this guide teaches you the processes and techniques you need to perfect so when you gain experience it is positive and enables you to progress in your overall cs gameplay. There's also useful examples of rounds from steel and rambo's careers where you can see what they did, how it turned out and what the lesson of that round is. That's worth the $30 alone.
This is an individual 1.6 guide, it never claims to teach strats etc which would obviously be a team issue.
If you don't like it then don't buy it but have a little respect for what is an amazing work in CS. The reason people like lethal were the only ones to write guides is because once you put in a certain amount of effort you stop gaining anything back because all the kiddies on the forums just flame away. Once some of you get real jobs you'll realize how hard it is to create something.
Looks like #1 expected to buy it and find out some secret like hopping onto the de_nuke rock while putting the silencer on makes you teleport to CPL as a starter for col...get real man.
end of the day i would say, the players who need this guide the most (i.e who have started the game just now) will never reach the Professional status and its pointless to acheive that goal, the other bunch is the mid/high skilled players who never intend to be PRO's, and the cream of CS players wouldnt need it as they are experienced enuf and they know what they are doing.
The reason i use GF is to achieve 4 nerd stars and look E-cool.
A lot of work was put into this guide, but for steel and Rambo to literally put that they're "covering every aspect of the game" could only be backed up if IN FACT, that this is (if you look closely) only Volume ONE of TAO-CS. Now, if they'll have a volume that covers teamwork and practice, so on and so forth, more power to them. But after reading it extensively for the last couple days, getting in my money's worth, I didn't think the one volume had anything that made this guide really stand out from the others, despite their great effort into their continuous efforts to talk about themselves and what they think of other players and teams. While I appreciate what they're trying to do, I still believe this guide could have been a lot better. Stick to Lethal's Vol. 1 & 2 Guides and save yourself about $12.
Sommi chill out ! There are many things that YOU have to do and practice which rambo can do nothing about...and if I remember correctly he didn't claim that either.
Please read my above examples again. If you want to benefit from experiences in a positive and healthy manner when it comes down to your Counter-Strike skills, you need to be told specifics.
The people who have been playing near the big-guys, in what-ever country they may be, have taken their time to get up there because they've gone through all them LAN experiences and noticed certain things that they weren't aware of at first and were never stressed to them. They were thrown in the pond, told to dog paddle, and survive.
Let me give you further examples; [b]flashing[/b]
There are many ways to flash, many ways. Let's be specific here and not to follow the guide. Whilst the guide talks about flashing as a good way to escape, or to peak, or whatever - it doesn't show you some specific flashes that your team should be revolving it's work around, and how to make your own when making strategies to peak with your teammate/s.
For example, the most effective flashes are the flashes that ignite right after appearing in mid-air to where-ever the CT's are watching. On [b]de_dust2[/b] you can flash stairs a certain way & the entrance of B a certain way, and even from B-dark to outside B a certain way.
On [b]de_inferno[/b] you can flash two parts of mid a certain and extremely effective way. On [b]de_train[/b] you can flash vines a certain way (from CT to T, and T to CT).
We were given no examples.
There are so many 'collision areas' on maps that people reading the guide should be told about. This is where you gain experience. I'll point out a few things here;
[b]* On de_dust2 when a CT is just before the stairs area and on the ledge (near the boxes), they have about a 20-30% success rate to frag a Terrorist running across
* On de_inferno, CT's have about a 60% to frag a terrorist pushing carpets if the CT is watching the carpets in a close manner[/b]
There are many things that give you the advantage which most people don't notice. For example, if you're already walking/moving your reaction time in your hand gives you the advantage over someone stationary.
If you want proof that a lot of the game is how well you know your maps there are endless results where pro teams have been beaten or taken into overtime by lesser teams on maps they haven't practiced, be it cpl_fire or cpl_strike or whatever. I used to watch and go "what the hell is going on I thought these guys would have at least over-powering firepower and smarts to adapt?" but instead, because they didn't have their formation/strategies/flashes/teamwork practiced, they were threatened on a new level.
Well that's it for me guys maybe one day I'll write a guide and just get the number 1 player at the time to promote it and put his face on it. For example fnatic.f0rest. True business marketing ;)
I read the guide(did not buy it,glad i didn't) it was just pretty much the same as Lethal's guide didn't cover anything new its not really anything special and definitely not worth $30.
I don't see a person improving their game by reading this guide.
TAO-CS review
[b]The guide can be located at http://www.tao-cs.com
And costs $30.00 US[/b]
To start off, this guide is terrible. It does [u]not[/u] separate itself from the other guides that are out there trying to make money off you guys. Upon closer inspection, most people might be lured in this saying "but Lethal never won international tournaments... these guys did!"
I sincerely feel sorry for all the people who bought this guide. You have been ripped off and you will not become better players after reading this.
There are many things that this guide did not stress. It embraces useless sections like "How to get your name out there" and "Dealing with Cheating/Cheaters" instead of the more important stuff (more on that below).
[b]Counter-Strike is not what it used to be 5 years ago.[/b] It's a different ball park now. People do not want to know about the "sensitivity/mouse-pad" anymore. This is equivalent to a young Soccer player cadet asking the professionals about what type of soccer boots they can wear so they can play better. This was the WRONG way to go guys and you should be ashamed.
I am now going to tell you everything that a real professional guide like this should have included;
[b]1. How to develop strats with your team.[/b]
- Includes how to do strats for each map based on spawns (which is what most pro teams use, spawn based strats)
- How to practice these 'spawn based strategies' by yourself in pugs, and getting used to the movement/shortcuts to do your job on the map
- How to switch and rotate EFFECTIVELY in game. How to gamble properly when choosing bombsites
- Calling, what to avoid and how to do it properly.
- How to practice getting used to teams that play defensively and/or aggressively. What those teams do on certain maps.
[u]For Example[/u];
[b]de_train[/b] - even mid-tier teams as CT will try to vary up their holding positions to psyche you out.
If you give them 20-30 seconds of open space outside, you're most likely going to deal with 1 CT up tower, 1 @ e-box, and 1 AWP vines or bomb-train.
There are MANY things you can do to manipulate this as T's. The out-come of the game might then involve the CT side playing aggressively outside from the beginning of the round, flashes in certain spots and spamming certain areas. This guide did not focus on playing against teams at all, and needed to focus more on what you can do in terms of specific strategies.
2. [b]Real practice/learning.[/b]
By "real" practice I mean that Death-match servers and bots train the reflexes in your hand so that you warm up your aim. It does not "improve you" as a player over time. It does not teach you things. LAN practice does, and experience beats all the amount of hours you can bot at home.
3. [b]POV demos.[/b]
I think these guys have too much of an ego to recommend certain player demos or something. There are some excellent [b]fnatic[/b] demos to watch.
I highly recommend watching MIBR individual players, wNv (they have excellent flash/peak plays), fnatic of course.. the list goes on. What to learn off them should have been spoken about a LOT. How to cover, how to gamble, how to push properly, how to know your own style and take advantage of it in-game. Finding your role. How to be creative in the game etc.
4. Let me quote something from the guide;
"[b]"If you know your enemy is low, spamming could be a good option."[/b]
See there's the problem with this guide. It doesn't tell you what to do, it remains vague and open thinking people are going to reply to it and criticize it. They are appealing to the young kids but not telling them WHAT and HOW to do it.
How about, if you know your enemy is low, practice the following;
* Trying to spam about 10 bullets from your gun through the wall (and be ready for the counter)
* Quick-strafing out and shooting 2-3 burst bullets and retreating straight away
* Lobbing a grenade
* Turning AROUND and watching ANOTHER entrance area because most likely that person who is low-hp is calling his teammates for back-up. Being aware of incoming enemies while this is happening. This is to do with reading the gameplay of the round.
To everyone trying to get good - this is a waste of money and time. Sorry rambo/steel but you guys were not on the target here. You tried to promote yourselves as to why the guide is useful more-so than the quality of the guide itself.
If you guys want to see skills, experience and timing please watch a POV demo of NEO.
Notice when he's in a 1v2 situation, how he plays it out. He shoots 1 area where he knows an enemy is, then quickly aims at the other direction to bait the other enemy out. This is not something taught, but something that experience and learning can do if you take the short-cuts from the professionals.
However, this guide was a short-cut from the professionals you should avoid.
1/10 guide
There are many more things I'd like to add in this post but I don't think it would be read.
Thanks guys.
** Cheers
Absolutely agree how they used up some much of what they could've put onto the guide, like cigarette companies do when they give donations to disease research.
Good read, though.
And don't go all, you can't talk just because you're not pro. You're missing the point syanide, he's just constructively criticizing the guide. No harm or flames intended.
Also, you really can speak for the guide if you didn't read it bro.[/b]
syanide, maybe you should read the guide.
"If 30 people donated $1 to my bank account I'd buy it and give it to someone to crack it.
The reason why I don't want to buy it is because there is no way I'm going to let my girlfriend/parents see "The art of Counter-strike" details on my bank statement when it comes in the mail lol"
before he had even bought and read it.
a few out of context quotes mean nothing you scrub
-kriso
Good read.
Seems like #1 wants the authors to lock themselves away for 5 years writing day and night to produce something which contains everything that ever could be written about CS and then to sell it for $5. That's not realistic and the pragmatic approach taken in this guide makes a lot more sense. As people have said further up in the thread experience is what makes you good at CS, this guide teaches you the processes and techniques you need to perfect so when you gain experience it is positive and enables you to progress in your overall cs gameplay. There's also useful examples of rounds from steel and rambo's careers where you can see what they did, how it turned out and what the lesson of that round is. That's worth the $30 alone.
This is an individual 1.6 guide, it never claims to teach strats etc which would obviously be a team issue.
If you don't like it then don't buy it but have a little respect for what is an amazing work in CS. The reason people like lethal were the only ones to write guides is because once you put in a certain amount of effort you stop gaining anything back because all the kiddies on the forums just flame away. Once some of you get real jobs you'll realize how hard it is to create something.
Looks like #1 expected to buy it and find out some secret like hopping onto the de_nuke rock while putting the silencer on makes you teleport to CPL as a starter for col...get real man.
but what you're demanding can be unrealistic in a way (what #33 said)
There are many things that YOU have to do and practice which rambo can do nothing about...and if I remember correctly he didn't claim that either.
The people who have been playing near the big-guys, in what-ever country they may be, have taken their time to get up there because they've gone through all them LAN experiences and noticed certain things that they weren't aware of at first and were never stressed to them. They were thrown in the pond, told to dog paddle, and survive.
Let me give you further examples; [b]flashing[/b]
There are many ways to flash, many ways. Let's be specific here and not to follow the guide. Whilst the guide talks about flashing as a good way to escape, or to peak, or whatever - it doesn't show you some specific flashes that your team should be revolving it's work around, and how to make your own when making strategies to peak with your teammate/s.
For example, the most effective flashes are the flashes that ignite right after appearing in mid-air to where-ever the CT's are watching. On [b]de_dust2[/b] you can flash stairs a certain way & the entrance of B a certain way, and even from B-dark to outside B a certain way.
On [b]de_inferno[/b] you can flash two parts of mid a certain and extremely effective way. On [b]de_train[/b] you can flash vines a certain way (from CT to T, and T to CT).
We were given no examples.
There are so many 'collision areas' on maps that people reading the guide should be told about. This is where you gain experience. I'll point out a few things here;
[b]* On de_dust2 when a CT is just before the stairs area and on the ledge (near the boxes), they have about a 20-30% success rate to frag a Terrorist running across
* On de_inferno, CT's have about a 60% to frag a terrorist pushing carpets if the CT is watching the carpets in a close manner[/b]
There are many things that give you the advantage which most people don't notice. For example, if you're already walking/moving your reaction time in your hand gives you the advantage over someone stationary.
If you want proof that a lot of the game is how well you know your maps there are endless results where pro teams have been beaten or taken into overtime by lesser teams on maps they haven't practiced, be it cpl_fire or cpl_strike or whatever. I used to watch and go "what the hell is going on I thought these guys would have at least over-powering firepower and smarts to adapt?" but instead, because they didn't have their formation/strategies/flashes/teamwork practiced, they were threatened on a new level.
Well that's it for me guys maybe one day I'll write a guide and just get the number 1 player at the time to promote it and put his face on it. For example fnatic.f0rest. True business marketing ;)
Read;
http://www.fnatic.com/articles/300/Interv..
http://www.fnatic.com/news/2262/f0rest-In..
I don't see a person improving their game by reading this guide.
More Pages
Submit Comments
Registered Users Only
In order to post comments, you must be a registered member. If you have not registered, it's free and easy!