Starcraft 2 editorial

Starcraft is huge e-sport and basically a national sport in Korea.
The question that naturally arises now is if Starcraft 2 replaces Starcraft in Korea and if so in what time, what will happen to e-sports in general and similar questions.

I feel that Starcraft 2 will eventually replace Starcraft but it’s not going to be an instant process. It will take at least 6 months before Korea starts adopting Starcraft 2 and I’m guessing probably a year until the end of competitive Starcraft comes!
On a more global level I can see more countries strengthening their e-sports, Starcraft 2 competitions in particular.

Blizzard are basically making Starcraft 2 to be a competitive game and improving battlenet as well, what specific things are new in battlenet we'll have to wait a bit more to see but I think Blizzard will be revealing more on battlenet at the WWI 2008 in France!

As far as the gameplay goes it looks good but hopefully we'll either see some automations removed, degraded or new stuff added to compensate for the loss of skill automations contribute.

You are probably one that likes everything so far in Starcraft 2, one that thinks there are too little changes and new ideas or one that thinks there is too much changes and new "things" making the game feel less Starcraft.
This is a thread to check out all the new things incorporated in Starcraft 2 and see if they are good, bad or just average.

I'll start with units abilities and go towards new mechanics, UI and so on...

Blink ability: Pretty simple ability, probably already familiar to you from other games or WC3... Nothing ground braking or unique here, though it adds a little bit more to the micro side of things.

Hardened shield: The Immortal is a unit that immediately feels like it was in Starcraft all along or that how could Starcraft not have this unit... Its strong presence is rock-solided by its hardened shield which neglects huge amounts of damage done to it. The hardened shield is a very interesting ability that adds a lot to the gameplay of Starcraft and has significant strategy effect on the Protoss.
Overall a worthy and interesting new ability that is a bit looked-over because it fits so well in the Starcraft universe!

Overload ability: When we were first introduced with the overload ability some considered it to be too powerful and others too weak, denying each other and proving its quite well thought and balanced out. This is not some unique ability or very interesting one but opens up possibilities with new Protoss tactics and warfare traditions. It requires a "six' sense" or in other words good game sense and prediction to use it effectively.
In the overall sense this adds a little bit more micro management but as already said it requires other skills as well...

Anti-Gravity: As far as I’m familiar with RTS games and I consider myself I am then this ability is one of the most unique in Starcraft 2 and overall RTS games world. It's an interesting ability with great potential and with recent Q&A explanations it causes for some interesting tactics from dual matchups.
Is it balanced is another question though as it seems to me that it can be quite devastating if used right and there is even the scare of mass anti-gratifying lifting whole armies in air while using the time to destroy the enemy base.
Still though great ability which I’m sure is going cause some controversy in the Beta balancing...

Since i'm not sure what abilities will end up on the Mothership I will leave it alone in this batch.

New Carrier interceptors/escorts: Although recognizable from Starcraft the "new" interceptors or better yet the way they now work needs for a little analysis.
The new interceptors or how they work are pretty much the bad side of things in my opinion, having them automated and fire by default without being able to click point them where to fire is a downward thing made that will reduce the skill level. Although just a little bit it’s still enough to cause the need for worry. The new escort ability can only been really commented and analyzed when you play the game but from what I've read I can say that it really doesn’t work too good considering it last 40 seconds but then again can be build unlimited amount of times. I fail to see the strategic and/or gameplay improvement here and am skeptical about it.

Phase Prism-prism ability: Call it revolutionary, evolutionary or ground braking but this ability along with warp-in(which I'm going to talk about later on)is like a gameplay element like send from the Protoss themselves. It has Protoss written all over it and its just perfect.

Marauder's slow ability: You have probably seen this ability elsewhere in some games and it doesn’t feel like it belongs to the Starcraft universe from the start but anyways its strategic use is clearly visible and meant as a crucial ability especially against little but powerful armies and/or already slow moving units. How much this ability is needed to have a new unit for it is another question, will the attack fewer marauders are worth the price for building it is hard to say at this point? Overall it’s a useful ability but I can't seem to shake off that it would be better to put it on an already existing unit...

The Queen: The old-new Zerg Queen can be classified as a group of abilities and gameplay changes that have been incorporated into the Zerg. I won't go into details as you probably already know what the Queen does and what her abilities are instead I’m going to talk about the strategic and gameplay changes and more importantly Zerg gameplay changes she will bring.
The Queen looks like a well balanced and thought out unit for the Zerg right off the bat and actually fits the Zerg very nicely considering they are sort of the bug-like race and is controlled by "greater" units (de la Queen bitch Kerigan>cerebrates=queen).
It’s pretty safe to say that because of the importance and most of all slowness of the Queen as well as you can have only 1 at a time, she will not be used in offensive battles, though I’m not excluding her to be a game turnout if it comes to last army victor.
Its progressive enlargement(improvement)makes it useful in every time of the game as well as not overpowering or feeling like a hero unit like in WC3.

Roach regeneration ability: Nowhere even close to unique, new or interesting but year hearing, eye catching and mind gobbling is this "new" roach regeneration ability. It instantly screams IMBA and with reason too. Just this ability alone certainly moves the Zerg from small, weak but many to powerful, resilient and many. This raises concerns with the balance side of it and overshadows its gameplay and strategic importance. This regeneration ability by itself is not even close to IMBA but what concerns me personally is the pretty high HP of the roach and thus making it extremely difficult to destroy it, not to mention the implications it will have if you have a tight choke point and it’s been blocked off by dozens of these roaches. You will be forced to retreat, loose some precious minutes until you come back with high damage units such as the Colossus and/or the siege tanks.
Overall although this is an ability that adds to the gameplay for Zerg it has balance implications that may be hard to overcome...

Infestations/infester and moving while burrowed: One thing that i would have liked is to see the Lurker able to move while burrowed no matter how slow that would be.
But no it’s not the lurker that has this ability it’s actually the new ugly unit the infester. This ugly new unit has 2 very important and powerful abilities - moving while burrowed and infesting buildings so it produces your own Zerg controlled units. This seems well in place and on track with the original Starcraft yet bringing it to a new level of usage and adding more depth and strategy to it.
Overall I can't say much more until I hear more about the unit, though I would certainly like the infester to be visually remade!

Gameplay mechanics:

IK system: The IK system is a breeze of fresh air to the Starcraft 2 universe and a huge leap towards modern standards; it opens up a lot new strategies and tactics as well as some interesting map making ideas which I’m not going to tell you right now.
Anyways this is incorporated smoothly into the universe and feels totally right.

Warp in: I've mentioned this in the phase prism ability above and as I’ve said it’s like the perfect ability for the Protoss anyone can invent. It’s quite unique, gameplay improving, strategy increasing or in other words Oscar worthy.


Poll: Starcraft 2 is
(Vote): Inventive
(Vote): Reserved
(Vote): Plain