How long did it take to improve?

[Jennifer]

I'm curious how long it took most people to improve from Light->Standard, and from Standard->Heavy.

I notice my progress went really swift at the begining, and now it seems to be leveling out. I'm at the point where my average rating on light songs is a B (most vary from C-A, with a few D's and AA's sprinkled in), and I can *barely* do some of the 5-foot rating Standard songs. I've been playing a week now. I intend to stick it out no matter what for fun and exercise, but I'm looking forward to getting better. Mostly right now the struggle seems to be getting my feet to move fast enough for the harder songs!

[Jennifer]

Oh and when answering how long, I mean how long did it take you to solidly get to the next level, that is, could consistently do well through an entire game/three-song set, and get some B's and A's.

"Barely there" like I am on Standard doesn't count.

[Cowman715]

Back in my day it wasn't called standard or light or heavy. It was called basic trick and maniac lol.

It took me about a month to go from basic to maniac. I never played trick just kinda... skipped over it (because I didn't know the code on 1.5 mix... Yes... You needed a code to go to trick and to maniac. I only new maniac so thats all I played lol)

[DevilHunterWolf]

I'm not quite sure how long it took me to go from light to standard or even standard to heavy. I do know this though. Keep playing what you can do. You'll get better. My improvements used to seem big, but nowadays they aren't too special. Probably because I play heavy constantly now. Don't be afraid to switch back to an easier difficulty. During my transition times, I used to switch between playing some songs on one difficulty and playing some on another. Just do what you can do right now and you'll see improvement if you keep it up.

And as far as moving your feet fast enough......keep playing and improving. You'll be surprised how much faster you can really move your feet when you look back on the stuff that used to be "too fast" for you to complete. It only seems like yesterday that I was repeatedly playing Patsenner on basic because a bunch of songs where deemed by me too fast for me to do at my level. I've come a long way since then and I know you can do it too. I can't stress this enough. Never give up. Keep at it and you'll definally see improvement.

[kitty121787]

I've been playing steadily (as in every single day, for at least an hour a day) for about a month or so... and I moved up to Trick in most songs about two or so weeks ago... Now I can get pretty much B's on most Trick songs, but I still stick to basic for some of the harder ones... Good luck, don't give up, and you'll get there soon!!

[dancin' fool]

It's really true - stuff that seemed incredibly fast to me a month ago is now starting to seem a little slow.

[psmo290]

yeah, all u need is a little practice, i've been playing for 8 months now and i can get an A on 10 footers

[Jennifer]

I think I know what you mean, even with my limited experience. I remember the first day I played over at my friend's house, he was laughing himself silly watching me stomp around like crazy just trying to keep up with one of the easier "light" mode songs, and now I can get a AA on that song without even breaking a sweat.

Some songs on standard looked like gibberish to me a few days ago, I can now understand what I am supposed to do, just a matter of getting the messages from my brain to my feet fast enough. Other songs still look like total gibberish.

I have been playing at least an hour a day every day, just flirting with standard right. I definately will take your advice and stick to light for a while I think because my feet are starting to feel cramped (literally) from me frantically trying to keep up with standard.

Anyways, I am still interested in hearing more stories about how quickly (or slowly) people learned. I'm definately not giving up! Since becoming a mother I don't really allow myself video game addictions anymore, but this is one game addiction I am permitting myself to have because of the health benefits.

[iamjay]

took me less then a week to understand what needed to be done in all the Easy modes cept max 300, that chinese one, and parinoa (mix 7) but now that stuff's simple. beeen playing for 10months and loving it. but now and then I would take 2-3 weeks off just beacuse the mat would be away and my ps2 wasnt out. so I was just lazy to put it together

[psmo290]

my biggest achievment right now is that i got all AAA on all songs on light mode, even the maxes

[Mar]

It took me about 3 months to go from light, to being able to AA heavy songs. Heh, I remember back in my early days, I couldnt play hysteria on light. I thought it was the hardest song ever! I couldnt even finish it my first couple of tries. Looking back, I smile at my progress. Take that, Hysteria!!!!

[psmo290]

hysteria used to be a crazy song for me, but now I do it on heavy with a 2X speed mod.

[kitty121787]

Mar said:

Heh, I remember back in my early days, I couldnt play hysteria on light. I thought it was the hardest song ever! I couldnt even finish it my first couple of tries.

I know exactly what you mean!! When I first started playing I really did think it was the hardest song on there.. and I hardly ever passed it... then I played it in the arcade one day and got a B and was just thrilled... now I can easily get an A on it and I'm really proud of all the progress I've made!

[psmo290]

cool i've already achieve my goal on getting a AAA on hysteria light and standand, i'm not even going to try to get it on heavy. All i can get on it on heave is an AA with like 16 - 24 greats.

[Mar]

Awesome "kitty"!!! Good job!!!

[psmo290]

I almost got a AAA on Sakura heavy last night on stepmania

[Jennifer]

Hee, I passed Hysteria on Light my first try (with a "D"), but it was crazy. I had like one *sliver* of green left and I remember thinking that it was sheer luck that I passed the song, because I felt like I was jumping around randomly throughout it. I have passed it since but I havn't tried it in a while. I think I might be able to do better on it now!

In other news I can do up to 6 footers on standard mode now pretty consistently, as long as they aren't particularly fast songs! I am still only getting C's and D's, but I can make it through a whole game regularly without failing. It's like I had something "click" with me with the 8th notes and I can keep up on many songs now. Much better exercise than most light mode songs, too! (I've now been playing almost two weeks now.)

So I'd say another week or two I can qualify as "solidly" in Standard probably - which puts me at 3 or 4 weeks for getting from Light -> Standard. That seems to put me in a normal rate of progress, which means Heavy mode isn't unattainable for me I hope!


I do notice I still need to improve my strength and stamina. After I play for about 20-30 minutes on standard I notice my legs getting tired and I start losing control, and I need to go back to light.

[Mar]

Nice job Jennifer! Dont worry, once you play concistantly, you'll gain a lot of stamina. I remember when I used to play from 11am to 11pm at the arcade!! I only had potty and food breaks in between! I cant play that much now though, but Im working back up to that! ;D

[psmo290]

the most i can ever play to is like 5 hours. I'm not that hardcore but i consider myself a not-bad ddr player

[Jennifer]

Oh it must have been fun to play that long at the arcade! I wish I would have 'discovered' this game when I was still childless and could do that. As it is I can only do an hour or two at a time due to the demmands of my daughter.

One of these days though, I'm going to leave my daughter with my husband and sneak off to a Dave and Busters or something to try the "real deal". I've never DDRed anywhere except a friend's house and the privacy of my basement!