What to focus on as a relative beginner?

[coolmaninsano]

For flat stacking:
http://www.ryanheise.com/tetris/tetris_stacking.html

Booo not SRS colors.  

[ella_guru]

Ok great. It's good to know even if this community isn't massive it sure makes up for it in quality members.

I'm playing TF , mostly just because that's what my friends have been playing. Is there a taboo about it or anything bad about it?

Where could I find this shoutbox that everyone seems to be in?!

KDbar - Who do you like? Obviously Tribe, maybe souls of mischief . I personally really like Black Star and Mos Def ranks way up there for MCs. He's always consistent and has a genuine appreciation for the jazz samples he uses. Any suggestions? I wasn't sure if you meant hip hop with jazz influence, or just both just jazz and hip hop, but seperate...

[coolmaninsano]

I'm playing TF , mostly just because that's what my friends have been playing. Is there a taboo about it or anything bad about it?

Where could I find this shoutbox that everyone seems to be in?!

The bad things about TF are the lag, missed inputs, slow soft drop, shitty comboers, and slow DAS settings. I suggest playing other games such as NullpoMino, Tetris Online Japan, and Blockbox.

And the shoutbox is on the middle-right of the main page.

[Kitaru]

Should I just focus on stacking randomly and hone my instincts?

It sounds like you're off to a good start. It's great that you're already looking at setups and such, but don't forget about to work on your fundamental stacking skills in addition to specific setups. There isn't really a guide for standard stacking, -- it's sort of something you just have to work on learning yourself over time -- but this page has some useful hints and guidelines.
(EDIT: Wow EFB, Xael posted the same link while I was typing up my post. I'm slow today, haha.)

...as well as the "play forever" loop which I can do pretty comfortably now (is this strategy no good in multiplayer?).

While being able to do the Play Forever loop is pretty neat, it doesn't have a lot of practical application. It's existence is more interesting from the perspective of theory. Canned setups like that don't really work for multiplayer given that they don't allow any flexibility for downstacking through garbage.

Booo not SRS colors.  :down:

Quiet, Tetris bigot. :p Know your roots.

[massi4h]

Yeah definitely get faster and more efficient at tetrises before learning fancy things. It quite annoys me when people try and take the easy way out or run before they can walk trying to do all these fancy t-spins but since they only learn a couple ways they can't think for themself and end up making lots of holes just for one t-spin double.

1 minute 40 lines is definitely a good goal.

And I'm not really reading your comments but don't tell her to not play TF. It's a great game for people starting out (and still is for high level) and lag should pretty much not be noticeable until she gets much faster.

[Paradox]

Finesse is a big one to learn, but very hard. Even now I can play with finesse but not at full speed.

http://harddrop.com/wiki/0...ovement_Finesse

Basically there is an efficient way to place any piece. It is completely mapped out in that link. Keep in mind that you can press some keys simultaneously and i won't affect the outcome.

[coolmaninsano]

Finesse is going to be a real b**** for me to learn :/

I reiterate, learn the basics, FIRST! So you don't end up like me learning advanced setups like the Godspin before you can even rotate both ways.

[crzy242]

i dont see "godspin" as an advanced setup any more than a waste of time.

[Noogy]

i dont see "godspin" as an advanced setup any more than a waste of time.

i think anything past a double-triple is a waste of time

[Ravendarksky]

i think anything past a double-triple is a waste of time

Fancy setups are a Fun way to see new twists and ways to overcome/take advantage of bad missdrops.


ella_guru I would break your learning into sections.. so you don't get board on your quest to becoming a tetris pro:

Controls:
Learn rotating both ways (you can tell you are doing it right if you never need to rotate a piece three times (Except for some L-J-T-S-Z spins)

Learn 2 step finesse - This is much easier to learn as a beginner! much harder to learn later on >_<

Speed:
Learn efficient stacking

Get used to playing at higher speeds

Increase your DAS once you are comfortable

I would stick your AR straight onto 5 (on Tetris Friends)

Learn to get better at digging -> Once you are more advanced I would try creating a blockbox account and playing the survivor mode on there. (Garbage rises from the bottom of the screen to kill you at an increasing speed). I wouldn't do this straight away though as Blockbox has different controls from TF.

Skills:
Learn to fix missdrops

Learn to do twists.. these are useful at the most unexpected of times
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Learn tspins

(optional) Learn to combo.... if you want to combo though please use 4-Wide. This is the most deadly Multiplayer combo style, and learning it will also teach you other useful things like using piece previews, holding peices better, efficient stacking. I would practice stacking for combos in TF (since that is where you VS) but I would practice downstackign your combos in Nullpomino . It is a downloadable tetris game which has a mode called combo dig.

Some people would advise against learning setups... but I think it is worth it  Good to have some fun and something to be proud of early on!... Just don't spend too much time on this! (I spent about 3 weeks getting good at perfect clearing... fun but not that useful!)

[caffeine]

I'd say the single most important thing a beginner can do is learn and practice the principles described in Ryan Heise's article (as Xael pointed out). These principles are not only useful for Tetris stacking, but for all types of stacking. I wish there could've been an article like that around back when I started out.

The next best thing you can do is to learn how to downstack: how to efficiently deal with all types of holes, gaps, and awkward situations where there's no easy placement. This is the number one weakness of players I've watched.

Tetris fundamentals aren't something you just get out of the way in the first month, either. I still practice basic stacking (especially lately). And there's something very aesthetically pleasing about regular Tetris stacking, downstacking, and especially "free form" stacking. Tetris is an amazingly deep game even without T-Spins, Combos, and the like...