Am I playing MTTs wrong?

Dunno I'm pretty much same way float around avg for a while then either lose or dbl up. I've also had some huge stacks early and didn't make the money so i dunno I doubt ur doing anything wrong.

If I'm not doing anything wrong that would imply I'm playing perfectly, and I really don't think I am. In fact I'm sure my plays are full of flaws. It's a completely different game from cash, yet I'm playing the 2 way too similarly...

so wrong

You want to be getting to flops early on with hands that can hit big flops and get payed off rather than hands like KJo or A10o. The players are so bad at the start that youre losing a lot of your edge if you dont try to build a stack early rather than playing a tight style. My vpip pfr after the first 2 hours of a big tourny would be something like 16/12.

I dont know how new you are to mtt's but theses are basic rules most good players will loosely follow:
<10bb shove only
14-18bb look for spots to reshove
<20bb dont raise/fold
>30bb somewhat normal poker.

you describe how my MTTs go

so yes you are doing something wrong LOL :D

i look spots to steal alot ..but u need image and pick spots ...

Yea i mean, make sure u have good push/fold, once antes kick in you want to be stealing blinds (depending on ur table ofc) and alot of what gadget said sorta... you dont really want to be raise/folding with less than 20bbs much, you can shove more than 10bbs though (good push/fold helps here alot), yea just learning about the stacksize stuff helps alot like what stacks to reshove w/ what hands etc. also less than 3x raise opening can be good and stuffs

is there a guide u'd recommend clay that gets into to stacks to reshove w/ hands ect. i really need to re-evaluate my tourney play also

Yeah, early on you have to go for it. If you play too tight early on you will just bleed away and have to rely on races to survive way before the bubble. Basically do not be afraid to see some flops with implied odds hands, like suited connectors or suited aces. Do not try and bluff cbet too much early on as alot of weaker players will call with all sorts of crap. But when you do hit a flop, you need to maximise and try to get whole stack in from some well sized bets that will make him get it all in on river as the players who call down alot early do not take stack sizes into consideration. Learn to use good betsizes to steal blinds wants antes kick in. You want to constantly looking for spots to pick up blinds. You only need to raise 2.5-3bb raises pre with antes.