Просто скину сюда, чтобы не потерять

In the sea of daily shitposts and memes, someone raised a point saying how there should be a F.A.Q. of sorts in the comment section of one post. The thread itself asked a question about how we should treat people new to the community, and I thought was a good thread anyways.

Either way, I thought that having a FAQ is useful, since most of the time you get responded with either a) a meme or b) play more. The point of this thread is to give a detailed answer to whatever question may arise, which means it won't include only "play more".

I also know that the Wiki and the stickied "Weekly Help Thread" share the same purpose, but I'm trying to gather the questions in one tidy place where answers are simple to find. For instance, the Weekly Help Thread changes each week but questions may still remain.

If it's useful to even one person, I suppose it's a success. :)

Anyone is free to send a question (and answer, hopefully!) in the comment section AND to improve an already existing answer if they want. Since this is /r/osugame there'll probably be memes as well, but I'll include only serious ones to the main post. Sorry!

How do I improve?
How do I break a wall or a "skill plateau"?
Is tablet better than mouse?
Do I need a mechanical keyboard for osu!?
What is "pp mapping" and why is it considered bad?
I have input lag/lag overall. How do I fix it?
Someone started to play later than me and has improved faster than me, am I doing something wrong or what?
How do I stop getting nervous during a FC?
I lost pp from a play! Why?
How can I know pp-related things from maps?

1. How do I improve?
Play maps slightly out of your skill level (0.5 stars above, for instance). Do not play maps that are way out of your skill level in order to improve - this means that you shouldn't be playing maps which are approximately 2+ stars higher than what you can FC, if you want to improve more effectively.

Oh, and avoid using mods (with the exception of Hidden) until you're able to read AR8/AR9 comfortably. HDDTHRing Normal maps won't make you more skilled than nomod maps of that star rating would. In fact, it's worse than doing nomod maps.
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2. How do I break a wall or a "skill plateau"?
Play maps that you find fun. Don't try-hard a specific map 100 times each time - making your maps varied is good if you've hit a wall. If you're struggling to get pp, don't force yourself to farm in that case. Perhaps go for scores on technical maps or maps that wouldn't award any pp for a while, then try to play your pp-map again.
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3. Is tablet better than mouse?
No. You may learn the game faster with a tablet, but it's essentially just preference. You can get just as good with a mouse as you would with a tablet. In both cases you'll need to find settings comfortable for you, though.
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4. Do I need a mechanical keyboard for osu!?
Not really. It's certainly more comfortable than a membrane one, but it's not a requirement for improving.
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5. What is "pp mapping" and why is it considered bad?
PP-mapping or "pp-maps" are maps that are relatively easy for the most part but have a sudden difficulty spike at some point in the map. This is frowned upon because it makes your ranking less accurate if you dedicate yourself to pp-farming on these maps instead of improving your skill overall.

In addition to that, some people consider it bad because you're "required" to play them in order to stay competitive/at your current rank. They're also considered rather boring in most people's opinion.
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6. I have input lag/lag overall. How do I fix it?
There can be many reasons for that. Firstly, check if you have put frame limiter on (it usually limits your FPS to 120 and/or 240) and set it to "Unlimited (gameplay)" if you can.

Secondly, if you have Windows 10, be sure to disable the Game DVR in the Xbox app if it's enabled. Some helpful threads regarding Windows 10 input lag:

https://www.reddit.com/r/osugame/comments/4xheoo/psa_new_windows_10_update_increases_tablet_input/

https://www.reddit.com/r/osugame/comments/4ithi3/psa_if_you_use_windows_10_disable_gamedvr/

Thirdly, if you use a Wacom CTL-490, it has been reported to have input lag. One known fix is to tape the pen nib down so it's always pressed, so be sure to try that if you use one of those.
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7. Someone started to play later than me and has improved faster than me, am I doing something wrong or what?
People improve at their own rate. That "someone" may have played more often, retried maps less, farmed more or simply is more skilled. It's not necessarily you that's doing something wrong.
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8. How do I stop getting nervous during a FC?
You should disable the UI (Shift + Tab by default) so you can't see your combo or accuracy. This may help as you can't see how well you're doing. Additionally, avoid thinking about the play during the map if you can. Playing maps offline may also prove to be helpful, since they don't really award anything but are essentially the same map.

Additionally, you can play longer maps so you get more used to holding a high combo (1000+) then you'll be less nervous on <500x maps for the most part.
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9. I lost pp from a play! Why?
Possible, but unlikely. In most cases, it's simply rank decay (other people have passed you in rank) instead of actual pp loss. To truly lose pp, you'll have to overwrite a score with worse accuracy/HD choke/etc. You can't lose pp in any other way.
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10. How can I know pp-related things from maps?
Firstly, to know what pp any ranked map would give you, PM "/np" to Tillerino in game to know the nomod pps, and after that if you want to know mod-related pps, send "!with <mods>". By default it'll show you the pp starting from 95%, but you can use a custom accuracy with "!acc <number>".

Secondly, you can see your progress in-game with Ameo. It's essentially similar to Tillerino. After your first update (I believe the command is "!u"), it'll track how much pp you've gained since then plus it'll show the highscores pp-wise.

Thirdly, to know what pp an unranked map would give you, the easiest method is to use "ezpp!" (link leads to Chrome page), a Google Chrome and Firefox extension. It'll calculate the pp of the currently opened unranked map when you go to the beatmap page. It'll also calculate ranked maps, but since Tillerino can be used for that too, I won't go into detail with them.