Sc2 is a game with 3 different races. I know that seems a bit obvious, but that's how I'd like things to start out. I think Blizzard is screwing up the HotS design, and I don't think it really has anything to do with balance or whatever. I think it's because Blizzard doesn't know what races are in WoL. I'm not going to talk about whether units are good or bad (because I'm confident they'll all be good) or whether or not the game will be fun to play (because I'm sure it will be). I'm going to talk about the way I FEEL about the units, and how some of them don't FEEL like they belong.
Terran
When I saw the Terran additions I was immediately glad. First off, the Widow Mine is the shit. That unit is gonna be fucking hilarious. Battle Hellion and Warhound both looked like awesome units that will make mech play more viable. The more I see them used, though, and the more I think about it, the more I think these units are bad. I don't mean bad in the sense of unuseful, for they will certainly be useful units, I mean bad in the sense of evil, or destructive, to the nature of Terran. The race feels and plays a certain way and these two units do not belong.
Terran as a race is based off several concepts, but just in terms of combat units, Terran has a few strengths: the ability to tech quickly, the ability to use mobile mineral armies supported by gas units (bio with medivacs, for example), the ability to use drops to do lots of small engagements, and in all of its matchups, tactical space control/artillery. If we focus on the micro aspects here, we're talking about basically two philosophies in the terran army: Kiting and Artillery. Most terran units are designed for kiting-- Hellions, Marines, Marauders. Those that aren't are either support units, rarely-used T3 units, or are Artillery units (Tanks, Vikings, Thor AA).
I'll start by talking about Kiting. Being the race without a melee unit (unless you're bitbybit huehuehuehue) Terran almost universally needs to kite, or benefits from kiting, in every engagement. Terran's main mineral sinks, the Hellion, Marauder, and Marine, all have short attack animations, high speed (with stim), and decent-sized cooldowns between attacks. The marine has short attack cooldown, but like no animation at all, so it balances out: they all benefit hugely from kiting, either towards the enemy, or away from the enemy. There are of course zerg and protoss units for which this is the case (Roach, Stalker, etc) but for Terran every mineral dump is a kiting machine. Terran rarely stands and fights with a mineral-based army unless he has to support slower units, and it's one of the really cool things about Terran. I kinda think of Terran marines as like hardened guerrilla warriors who are constantly on the move in combat, and the idea of a hammer/anvil army with artillery and running elements, really are what Terran MEANS to me.
Those Terran units that aren't kiting units tend to be Artillery. In TvZ and TvT, Tanks add an element of positional play since they have the best range. In ALL the matchups, Vikings with their enormous range are hugely important. Terran's whole thing is making people sad they're poking-- punishing people for engaging part-way then pulling back. Obviously a Viking is more mobile than a tank, but if you see battles between Vikings and BL/Corruptors or Collossi or other Vikings, it's clear that a Viking's whole "thing" is range. It's SO HILARIOUS when an army accidentally stumbles into range of Tanks and it's like "oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck we gotta engage, we're taking damage" or even better "omg no run" and stuff. That's SO Terran. Whether it's Collossi being sad about Vikings or Banelings regretting the existence of the Arclite Cannon, those moments are exactly what make Terran Terran.
So we've got Artillery and Kiting units, and between the two of them they define Terran. This is why I get a bit nervous when I hear things like the Warhound and Battle Hellion added in. The Battle Hellion is an effective unit, but it is decidedly un-Terran in the way it's used. The same goes for a warhound. If we're talking about a primary combat unit (as opposed to a support unit like a Thor or a Ghost) it needs to either kite or be an artillery piece if it wants to be Terran. In fact, Terran in WoL was almost ruined by the Thor's strong ground attack via early game rushes and the like. This wasn't a problem because it was imbalanced-- the problem is that it wasn't TERRAN.
So, Widow Mine is definitely terran-ey. It's not an artillery piece per se, but you set it up and it controls space kind of like one. The Battle Hellion, though, is like literally a Hellion with the Terran subtracted out of it. Warhound is like a Marauder with the Terran subtracted out of it. You know what I want to see? I want to see the Warhound have War Mode where it extends out little legs and then gets an AA attack and has its rockets guys. I want it to be a scary ass semi-mobile turret and general shit wrecker. I want to see the Battle Hellion actually be just like a regular Hellion that can, I dunno, lay down a mine or snare an enemy or something. It's gotta do SOMETHING cool. In fact, maybe just get rid of the Battle Hellion and make the hellion have an alternate melee attack that's like the Battle hellions' attack, but with an even LONGER cooldown so you have to kite EVEN MORE for it to be good. I want to see shit exploding and running all over the place, or I want to see ridiculous ranged awesomeness. It has to either Kite or be Artillery or it's not Terran, not Terran at all.
Protoss
I think a better job was done with Protoss, sort of. The Oracle feels pretty protoss-ey. It's got that cloak, which is Protoss, and it's got some harass stuff, which I guess is okay. It'll be a nice addition to the deathball for sure. The Tempest, though, does not feel at all like WoL Protoss. If anything, a slow-moving long-ranged unit should be a Terran unit! That being said, the Tempest's design is awesome, it's just not Protoss. I'm gonna talk about what I think Protoss is so I can explain why Tempest should be different.
Protoss units typically strike me as very capable of retreating (via blinks, cliffwalking, recall, and the like) and also as pieces in a puzzle that works together. If you've ever played MtG, Protoss units are like that Sorcery called Coalition Victory. "A perfect machine can be made out of imperfect parts." Almost every Protoss unit is really bad alone, with a few exceptions (stalkers can blink away from bad situations). They don't have the huge range of tanks, or even the raw speed or strength of Terran or Zerg units... in fact, they seem kind of weak in direct combat. Together, though, the army is strong, and if it's not direct combat, the army is HILARIOUS.
Protoss' T1.5 unit is by far the weakest of them (Roach, Stalker, and Marauder) but is the fastest before upgrades, has blink, and can hit air. Furthermore, Protoss has a T1.5 CASTER unit, the Sentry, and it costs more Gas than Minerals. This is huge, and I think this is one of the defining features of Protoss: you can mine all this gas and put it into Sentries, a unit that makes your other units stronger. You get casters right away and they're super important to your engagements and unit preservation. It's brilliant and it gives you the FEELING of a dying race where all the best and greatest warriors come together to combine their various talents. Like, who else gets a T1.5 caster. Terran? Hell naw. Zerg? PSSSSSH the Queen doesn't count, get out. Protoss is elegant and glorious and the early Sentry is awesome.
The other feeling I get from Protoss is the trickiness and mobility it gets, not from speed (though it has phoenixes and Warp Prisms) but from warpins and other hilarious strats. Warpins are the shit. People might say they're broken or bad for the game or whatever, but I personally think Warpgate is awesome. When I see someone defend a 1-1-1 by warping in zealots outside their base from a high-ground pylon and flanking, I'm just like "omg that's awesome" and IT IS DAMN AWESOME. God it's awesome. Protoss harass, like zealot warpins, DT drops/walkbys, and Phoenix harass, is just SO FUNNY. It's by far the most annoying of any of the harasses, and it really just gets down to one of the cores of Protoss which is inducing true rage in your opponent.
If I were going to make a new Protoss unit, it'd be called the Warp Templar, and it'd have a infinite-range blink (with like a 2 minute cooldown or needing energy or something) that could only be turned on in a powerfield and would let it blink to a power field. It'd have like the DPS of a stalker, but inverted-- more vs light, less vs armored, and it wouldn't be able to hit air. This unit would be so damn protoss-ey! It'd be annoying as hell, you'd blink it around and harass, and yeah it wouldn't be great in a straight-up fight but it'd be cool. It'd also fit in well with Power Field as protoss space control and proxy pylons being awesome as hell.
So overall the Oracle feels Protoss-ey since it's an annoying unit and needs support, and Cloak is a Protoss-ey ability for sure. The Tempest does not. It is an artillery piece and having a big range and being immobile is what Terran is all about, not Protoss. A Protoss air unit should be a beast, of course, but honestly even like a Carrier with Hardened Shields or something would be more awesome than this thing. Mothership core is very Protoss, the recall thing seems like something Protoss should have. I kind of think just bringing back the Arbiter would be better, but hey, what are you gonna do.
Zerg
Next we come to Zerg. Zerg is actually a really fun race, and probably one of the ones that people understand the most easily. Zerg units are fast, you can make a lot of them, and they're just insane and awesome and cool. Hordes of banelings and zerglings and flocks of mutalisks... yes, it's truly a well-defined race. The T3 units are super awesome battle tanks of the sky or ridiculous blitzkrieging Ultralisks. The Brood Lord represents not just an artillery piece, but a uniquely ZERG artillery piece, since instead of shooting acid or whatever it shoots out EVEN MORE damn units. Infestors can spawn little units or help the swarm get to melee, and Creep is probably the best possible sort of space control mechanic you could give to a race like Zerg.
I think the upcoming changes for Zerg are mostly good, but don't really add much. Blizz played it safe, and I get it, you don't want to screw up the Zerg expansion, but come on guys. Well, first off much props for ultralisk burrow charge. I personally would have just given the ultralisks zergling-walking (much like how colossi have unit-walking) because seeing ultralisks crawl over zerglings to punch stuff would have been aweseome, but I get how burrow charge is also awesome. Hydralisk speed, while it won't be a game changer up at hive tech, is much needed. Hydralisks are too damn slow to be real zerg units, and this fixes them and makes them cool again, even if it's never used.
The Viper kind of seems to me like the Infestor but in the air. I have no real comments on this unit, the hook thing is definitely zergey since it's an anti-hero spell (so to speak), it punishes other races for being different than zerg, for having 3-4 support units like collosi rather than being a horde. The Reverse Swarm is cool, kinda seems similar to fungal in terms of "let your dudes get into melee" so I feel like there's a bit of overlap with the Infestor, but in terms of how it feels, the Viper is a great zerg unit. Totally Zerg-like.
Then we come to the Swarm Host. The Swarm Host... well, it's definitely at least partly a zerg-ey unit, since it burrows, which is zerg-ey, and it makes units, which is also zerg-ey, but it's a bit on the slow side. Yes, the BL is slow, but I let it have that because it's a Hive unit, it has an excuse. If Zerg wants to have a slow space control unit, like a Lurker or whatever, doing it via making units seems kinda dumb. What would be MORE awesome would be for the Swarm Host to be this massive melee beast, like something between a zergling and a ultraalisk (imagine a melee roach, but a bit better), but then when you kill it BAM a bunch of broodlings explode out of its corpse! Oh shit Terran player, now the horde is even hordier! Suddenly you have an awesome super zergey unit.
Now if you want to keep it as a slow space control unit, that's fine, but the things it spawns seem so slow and lame... when a Broodlord spawns a broodling, it FLINGS that shit, and the broodling is a super fast super crazy motherfucker who doesn't stop until his timed life runs out of you're crying for mommy. I want to see the Swarm Host FLINGING units, swarming crazy shit. I want to feel AFRAID of it, in the same way a Broodlord viscerally scares me. Come on guys, make the Swarm host AWESOME. It has so much potential.
Emotions
Humans are not machines. We are slaves to our emotions, and what we think is secondary to what we feel. I know Blizz will make a balanced and fun game, but I want it to feel good too. I want to cower and curse every time I step in range of Terran's ridiculous artillery and get annoyed at his kiting. I want Protoss units to be all up in my business being invisible or quick or whatever, then teleport away just as I show up. I want him to flank me with warpins. I want Zerg to be scary as crap by being quick and hordelike, and I want to constantly be doing battle with his attempts to paint the map with creep and pour broodlings on my face.
HotS will be okay without the feel of the races, but I want more than just okay. I want to experience the game at a more visceral level than just moving units. I want distinction and definition for the races, like there was in WoL, and to a greater extent, BW.
There's three conditions for a Terran unit to be 'terran-y'
1) It is a siege tank 2) It is not a melee unit. 3) It has a devil-may-care attitude towards life and the enemy.
Every unit you describe uses tactics similar to those of other races units, and this has been the case since Broodwar. You don't like the battle hellion? Well fuck it's just a firebat that can take baneling hits. You don't like the warhound? It's a somewhat chunkier goliath that can't shoot up.
Fuck I hate how everyone has this idea about terran units when it actually just boils down to that it's fun to look intelligent and talk shit about HotS units despite teh game not being out and having not actually played with it.
I like the warhound, it seems like a supply efficient transition after I'm at 200/200 5 base TvP and I don't know what to do. I like widow mines they seem like sneaky littler fuckers that give opponents the shits. I like battle hellions because.... I havent' decided yet I want to play with them. I want to play this game and I hate people who critique shit without knowing anything about fucking anything.
On August 18 2012 03:41 iaguz wrote: Your terran analysis is wrong.
There's three conditions for a Terran unit to be 'terran-y'
1) It is a siege tank 2) It is not a melee unit. 3) It has a devil-may-care attitude towards life and the enemy.
Every unit you describe uses tactics similar to those of other races units, and this has been the case since Broodwar. You don't like the battle hellion? Well fuck it's just a firebat that can take baneling hits. You don't like the warhound? It's a somewhat chunkier goliath that can't shoot up.
Fuck I hate how everyone has this idea about terran units when it actually just boils down to that it's fun to look intelligent and talk shit about HotS units despite teh game not being out and having not actually played with it.
I like the warhound, it seems like a supply efficient transition after I'm at 200/200 5 base TvP and I don't know what to do. I like widow mines they seem like sneaky littler fuckers that give opponents the shits. I like battle hellions because.... I havent' decided yet I want to play with them. I want to play this game and I hate people who critique shit without knowing anything about fucking anything.
You may not believe in the true nature of Terran, but railing against reality won't change things. The fact of the matter is, the Battle Hellion is nothing like the Firebat, because the Firebat was a unit that required lots of positioning, splashed in a line rather than a cone, and had stimpack. The regular Hellion is more like a Firebat than the Battle Hellion could ever be. Unless you're talking about WoL Campaign Firebats, but those weren't included in multiplayer for a reason. The Warhound is fundamentally different than the Goliath because anyone who's played BW is aware that the Goliath sucked crap against ground units-- you'd make it to fight Carriers and stuff. Calling a Warhound the same as a Goliath is simply not correct.
EDIT: Originally there was a snarky response here, but I don't think it's appropriate, or helpful if we want to foster good relations. You're welcome to disagree with me, and also allowed to hate me for writing this blog. I personally would give me another chance, but then again, I'm a biased source, what with being me. I think reasonable people can disagree without hating each other, and I hope you consider unhating me in the future.
A lot of what your saying makes sense, especially concerning what you would have done in Blizzard's place with some of the new units. I think the Zerg units are completely fine, they fit in with the race and its mechanics AND will be cool when used by pros. I don't like the tempest for Toss, I think it's just stupid.
Terran will be interesting but I can't judge these units until I use them. I want to use mech though as a Terran player so the new units are at the very least opening up my playbook v. Z and P.
Yea, extremely fun read, 5/5, love the enthusiasm (over-enthusiasm? ) and optimism. I never thought of emotions while playing, for the most part I have always tried to erase emotions while playing, so that my play is more consistent (i.e. less human).
Note that in the campaign of WoL, Raynor and his buddies (you) discover the existence of the Hybrid and its minions, the failed experiment of the Dominion secret labs, so... maybe the fact that Terran is losing its Terraniness and mixing itself with some Zerginess and Zerg is mixing itself with some Protossiness is just some more manifestation of whatever idea is behind this Hybrid concept (from the campaign, yes, but still) of Blizz.
i agree with your thots on terran. warhounds just doesnt feel right. but widow mines are completely terran. the rest of the new units are okay too imo.
On August 18 2012 05:13 Qwyn wrote: Zerg needs a power unit. A unit which just rips shit apart. Hmmmmmmm....
techincally zergs heavy hitting units should be the ultra and bane..
but in the case of the ultra(if you look at the patch history) dustin really doesn't understand that.
and the Roach ruined zerg so much.... its such a badly designed unit and everyone knows it.
also don't you find it strange how we went from "oh get hydras" to "OH NONONONO DON'T BUILD HYDRAS EVER"
the reason why SC2 is the way it is, is simply because dustin never played BW himself.
the only games he played from blizzard was WOW.(hes said that plenty of times in old interviews)
Uusually when your a game designer you play the Prevous title in the gaming franchise so you can understand what you have to do for the sequal title your doing.
Also he said that he never took anything he learned from the other game projects he works on......which is a lie BECAUSE HE STILL DESIGNS BAD UNITS.
Actaully want to know something really strange?
in 2004 he worked on LOTR Battle for middle earth as a lead designer and it was released that same year.
in 2005 he offically started working at blizzard on sc2.
in 2006 LORT Battle for middle earth 2 game out..... he was also the lead designer for that game and it was also released that same year.
Hmmmm the idea for the swarm host sounds like what was done in a load of games in particular halo had something like that. I don't know how I feel about it other than I don't love the swarm host. I don't think it will be as useful as they are trying to make it out to be. Id much prefer a reshuffle of where hydra are in the tech tree and bringing back lurkers which were a perfect unit for synergy in an army. Like you have lurkers attacking underneath, lings and ultras attacking overhead and infestors holding everything down till they die. It would be great for players who are genuinely good at space control and it rewards smart play.
Hydras can work as they are in t1 if range was only available at t2 and speed was only available at hive. Mainly because hydras suck pretty hard in this game early so the only reason why you would make them is for a really early scout on a stargate or if you were making 2 or 3 for turning into lurkers at lair. The timing would be fine for stopping early pushes if you rush to lair and get lurkers out. Roach would still be made because they are better and cheaper early game (unless there is some very specific non range hydra all in that appears).
So the answer to the swarm host make lurkers thats what I say.
Alter the battle hellion mechanics similar to that of a siege tank. Make the hellion immobile in battle hellion mode while adding a .5-1 second unsiege and siege time. This would force players to keep deploying and undeploying battle mode to change position and even flame direction. Considering hellion movement speed is fairly fast you could really scramble around hellions in and out of battle mode around your force pretty quickly. Would really rank up the micro skills.
As far as warhounds go, I initially say they don't really fit in the game. Assuming they stay though, make them relatively fragile units (they easily look the part). Ideally I would love to see players dropping on warhounds to draw friendly fire on them. Warhounds seemed to be designed to have a ton of range. Crank that range up to 10, make them fragile enough to get 1 shotted by a volley of say 4+ tanks, and then you have the beautiful situation of players being rewarded for dropping on warhound lines.
Widow mine? Sure. You can't go wrong with surprise explosions.
Protoss feels broken as is. A majority of a race's strength lies in 2 units, sentries and stalkers? Yeah, great plan. But anyways, looking at each unit specifically doesn't turn out so bad.
The Tempest adds a whole new element to the game. That much range literally reaches across multiple bases. I am highly disappointed it doesn't have splash, was really expecting that. Imagine a 3 base Protoss panic as his natural gets run over by lings and roaches as his Tempest aims down 1 ling at a time. Good luck effectively using them before the very late game. On the other hand, the Tempest could contribute Protoss players to building 10+ observers just to even give these damn things sight. Interesting elements all around.
The oracle seems to be the most gimmicky and, at the same time, the most rewarding unit added to the game. Of course things like blocking each mineral patch separately to force out more APM is a given. The oracle's in-game elements can't go anywhere but up. I am very hopeful for it.
I have no idea what's happening with the mothership (core) so no comment there.
Ran out of steam for Zerg. Just about what needs to be said was said. Hydralisks are still slow lame granny units no one wants to build because they are just so lame. LAME. At least now we get slightly faster granny mode. Swarm host attack is almost as pitiful as hydralisks. While I found it cool the spawned units have range now, something else needs to be done. And I have it! Make the spawned units move up and down cliffs (or maybe even just "glide" down cliffs). This should add a huge element to them.
The viper is the most badass thing since the infestor. That's really all that needs to be said about that.
I disagree with some of what you said, but in general I like what you wrote, and I enjoyed the way you wrote it ^_^ I think the battle hellion has potential, as long as they make the heavy mode slow as hell. nippy and fast, slow and tough, but if its too fast in slow mode it'll be really bad. The warhound either needs to be completely removed, or completely revamped (again!), almost everything about it is terrible.\ I like the swarmhost, but I but I agree in that I think it needs to be faster, either when moving, or the units coming out of it. In general I feel like there are more positives than negatives in HotS, the only thing that really needs a huge change is the warhound, everything else just looks like it needs tweaking and they'll be good.
Blizzard: instead of relying on their vast experience and maticulous testing they'll scrap all that to please some people that want their units to be stronger.
On August 18 2012 07:25 worldpeace30 wrote: Blizzard: instead of relying on their vast experience and maticulous testing they'll scrap all that to please some people that want their units to be stronger.
Great blog here, and by great I mean really bad.
it's not about strength, it's about style and feel.
Two things. 1) I totally agree with you on the Battle Hellion not feeling very Terran, but to be fair... as a Terran player I need something to combat those damn zealots... and kiting all day is unfair.
On August 18 2012 08:49 spbelky wrote: Two things. 1) I totally agree with you on the Battle Hellion not feeling very Terran, but to be fair... as a Terran player I need something to combat those damn zealots... and kiting all day is unfair.
I am not a mathematician but that appears to be a list of length 1
On August 18 2012 08:49 spbelky wrote: Two things. 1) I totally agree with you on the Battle Hellion not feeling very Terran, but to be fair... as a Terran player I need something to combat those damn zealots... and kiting all day is unfair.
I am not a mathematician but that appears to be a list of length 1
What the OP needs to realize is that the essence of expansions is so to change. Blizzard is trying to make the game play differently, and to make it a more intricate game that is more fun and interesting to play and study. Not keep everything the same with new skins.
Its a new expansion the gameplay should jurastically change, blizzard has this in mind and it affects how they create units.
For example right now zerg really has no way to punish the opponent if they are ahead without getting to the ultimate endgame army, but with vipers we'll be able to snatch up siege tanks and collusus, units that pretty much rape a lot of zergs mid game compositions and control the game.
Overall I like the changes they have made, but i still think that they need to change the maps/units to create gameplay reminiscent of brood war.
The biggest and most detrimental flaw in starcraft is the deathball, if blizzard can create scenarios where this fades out this game has no limits.
I don't know why people keep complaining about the Tempest. I mean... yes... it may not seem fitting right now and many question the usefullness of it.
But what is it supposed to be?
It is a sniper, a unit that enables you to deal with certain units without risking too much. I'm talking about tanks, infestors, vipers...
But mostly about the Broodlord. Let's be honest, the Tempest is created to be the new counter to the Broodlord. Because right now, we lack one.
- Mass Stalker isn't really a solution against a strong Broodlord/infestor army with spines. - Templer tech is completly useless against it - An air based Army has a really hard time, Protoss lacks good anti air and corrupter+infestor can kill nearly any protoss air force - Archon Toilet
Yes, archon toilet is the most common and effective response. But it's still very risky to have to rely on a unit that you can only have 1 on the field, has a ridicoulous build time and needs alot of time to gather enough energy. Especially when you need to tech to Tier 3 air to build it... and most likely never use ANYTHING else from the air tech tree.
With the changes to the Mothership (mothership core) you'd rather keep your core and not build a mothership, as it takes away alot of usefull abilities.
So we get the Tempest to deal with it... The tempest can shoot broodlords from afar and there is no real way to avoid it. you can't just snipe them with corrupters because the toss will guard them with ground anti air. The Zerg will be forced to engage or take a different tech route
It may not be the most elegant solution, BUT! it works and i'm sure we will discover many more uses for the tempest
The problem with the swarm host is the spawn time on the locusts..it just takes too long and without more than 3-4+(200 gas each), the investment isn't worth it.
Fuck, I'm just going to point out that I read your blog title in Obi Wan Kenobis voice.
Don't hate on him Wilshire, Blazinghand is a smart guy and a person in the community that I always take the time to listen to. He's not just some random Joe Silver that is upset because he lost. Actually read it before tossing out a reddit quality post.
I liked your post and think it's a refreshing view on HotS. I would like to offer a counter view.
I agree with your points on Terran but I'm not sure I agree with the conclusion. I actually think it's cool that the mech style will have a brute force assault feel (it already does sort of, just hellions don't fit in that paradigm -- until HotS!). Adding a new dimension to a race isn't necessarily a bad thing, in fact I think the more dimensions the better. I mean the hellions and warhounds don't really change the Terran feeling in bio play, right? It just defines the mech side a little more.
Almost every Protoss unit is really bad alone
I'm not sure I agree with this statement. When I think of Protoss I think of expensive but strong units. I mean it's a valid point, but it can easily be generalized to almost every unit in the game, and I think even more valid for Terran and Zerg. One zergling certainly doesn't compare to one zealot.
I'll give you that the tempest certainly feels more Terrany. But I'm willing to give it a try because I really enjoyed the TvP battle report where the tempests force an engagement on a turtled T.
I cannot comment on the validity of what makes the race, but I agree the game can only really benefit from being bigger and more exciting. I also like, but again can't say anything about the validity, of having the races really feel unique and dynamic.
I'm not sure I agree with this statement. When I think of Protoss I think of expensive but strong units. I mean it's a valid point, but it can easily be generalized to almost every unit in the game, and I think even more valid for Terran and Zerg. One zergling certainly doesn't compare to one zealot.
By "alone" I didn't mean in singular, but rather massed as a single type. For example, stalkers or zealots on their own are pretty worthless in early game TvP, barring certain extremely early rushes. However, coupled with sentries, each other, or both, these units are extremely capable.
On August 18 2012 13:53 Bronyaur wrote: I'll give you that the tempest certainly feels more Terrany. But I'm willing to give it a try because I really enjoyed the TvP battle report where the tempests force an engagement on a turtled T.
I don't doubt that the Tempest is an awesome unit, nor do I doubt that it can be useful. However, the reason you are willing to give it a chance is the same as the reason I find it questionable-- the ability to siege up and force someone to come out and play is something Terran does, not something Protoss or Zerg does, and I feel that sharing this ability across all three races is part of the vanillification that's taking place in HotS. We see the same thing and draw different conclusions, it seems.
I feel like there is too much emphasis on the hero units and terrible terrible damage. I hate watching max supply battles occur in a four square inch box on my screen, and i feel like with hots nothing will really change, unless we get really vocal about it
There is no way of telling anything you have just said until the game is released. If the units turn out to be bad, they can always be removed in a later patch. It is ridiculous to talk about this before the game has even been released.
On August 18 2012 13:53 Bronyaur wrote: I'll give you that the tempest certainly feels more Terrany. But I'm willing to give it a try because I really enjoyed the TvP battle report where the tempests force an engagement on a turtled T.
I don't doubt that the Tempest is an awesome unit, nor do I doubt that it can be useful. However, the reason you are willing to give it a chance is the same as the reason I find it questionable-- the ability to siege up and force someone to come out and play is something Terran does, not something Protoss or Zerg does, and I feel that sharing this ability across all three races is part of the vanillification that's taking place in HotS. We see the same thing and draw different conclusions, it seems.
This seems like a terrible reason. They are all unique siege units and what kind of army lacks a siege weapon? If they did not have siege weapons it would seem stupid.
You could make the argument that the reaver and siege tank where too similar. Both did huge bursts of damage at long range on a long cd between attacks.
How about the BW hydra and BW marine? Pretty much the same unit. Both fairly fast 1 supply ranged units. One has a little more health and less damage while the other is the opposite.
Having similar role units is not an issue. They will likely end up being used way differently than another race would. Having similar units within the race itself might be an issue however.
The only problem I have right now with the HOTS expansion might be the warhound. It seems to be good against everything despite seemingly be anti-mech.
I'll take a blaster thanks rather than the hokey religion of Blizzard... :D
Seriously though, nice blog and well written. I don't know that I agree with all of that, I haven't really thought of what makes Terran Terran or Zerg Zerg but I don't agree with regards to Protoss. Protoss units are strong alone or in formation (actually, ok, stronger) but more to the point, they are not some sort of cutesy invisible type race that wins by tricks and gimmicks. When they use their abilities it is, or should be, awe inspiring and evoke the full grandeur and might of the race. I think BW had this as they, with no apologies, showed the Protoss as nothing other than a race of intolerant, insular Astro-Fascists. God I loved that so much. Just listening to the unit sounds gave you that feeling of an arrogant, confident and powerful race that had no compunction about razing whole planets to dust if it served their own ends. They weren't nice, just bad.
I think WOL went away from that, at least somewhat, and I think HOTS is going further in that direction. The Oracle may turn out to be an effective unit, but I'd rather, as I said in that TvP Battle Report thread, see the smoldering remains of scvs than entombed mineral patches. The Tempest, in that sense, is sort of a Protoss unit but seems gimmicky with its range and no splash (giving it Overload would be a nice option, perhaps?). Mothership Recall is cool though, as is the Purifier. I have reservations about what Recall may do to good Protoss play; still appearing from a proxy pylon, destroying a base, and then vanishing is cool, but, but, I'd rather recall into the enemies main and lay waste to everything around me (in style). I do hope LOTV brings some new combat units to Aiur that evoke that feeling of sheer power.
This seems like a well oiled and covered anti-terran rant. why you only attacked 2/3 of the best terran additions while hating on the tempest (where protoss players hate it in general) and nothing on zerg. Try to act less biased next time.
On August 18 2012 16:09 DaveVAH wrote: This seems like a well oiled and covered anti-terran rant. why you only attacked 2/3 of the best terran additions while hating on the tempest (where protoss players hate it in general) and nothing on zerg. Try to act less biased next time.
Erm, I hate to break it to you, but this isn't about balance at all... it's about game design. Also, I've been terran for years and years now, but I guess I could be trying to "nerf" my own race. I'm completely certain HotS will be balanced (after a few patches, at least) since that's something Blizzard is good at.
This isn't about how strong terran is, or how strong Zerg or Protoss are, it's about their flavors.
On August 18 2012 15:36 Blazinghand wrote: I don't doubt that the Tempest is an awesome unit, nor do I doubt that it can be useful. However, the reason you are willing to give it a chance is the same as the reason I find it questionable-- the ability to siege up and force someone to come out and play is something Terran does, not something Protoss or Zerg does, and I feel that sharing this ability across all three races is part of the vanillification that's taking place in HotS. We see the same thing and draw different conclusions, it seems.
Yeah that makes sense. I do like your points and ideally we have a Protoss unit that can force engagements but fit with the current Protoss paradigm, but I guess what I was trying to say was I would value the former over the latter if we can't have our cake and eat it too.
Though to be fair, the carrier already is a protoss siege unit that's been in the game since vanilla SC1. We just rarely see it in play in SC2.
First off, I appreciate the time you put into writing this thing. I also see the enthusiasm... albait, the over-enthusiasm.
But, in the name of most Terran players, fuck you. Who do you think you are, saying that units are not "Terrany" just because they don't feel so to you? Do you even know why those units were designed as they are? I'll give you a hint - it has something to do with the vast majority of people who actually play Terran wanting this change. You actually spoke of "An army moves into tank range, goes oh no we gotta either engage or run". Well, you might have missed something, but that wasn't the case for years, ever since the Tank damage became 45 from 70. Lets face it, Blizzard has ruined Mech in WoL, especially in TvP. And now, with the new expansion, they're fixing what they ruined. And I'm sure every mech player in the game today is glad this is happening. Even if they don't like some of the new units, they all realize the changes are gonna make Mech viable again. They feel it's a good thing. So why would your feelings, that a race should have weaker and harder to control units, have priority over people who actually play that race and feel the exact oposite? They don't. And that's why the expansion brings the units it does, and if you don't like it, feel welcome to stay behind - it's always you're choice.
"but I let it have that" wow, how generous and incredibly entitled of you!
In all seriousness though, I feel where you're coming from.. IMHO the terran changes, sans spider mines, look lame uncreative/lame and the tempest range is stupid, while the zerg additions look incredible.
" and it really just gets down to one of the cores of Protoss which is inducing true rage in your opponent." And that is why i fucking love my race. That and storm.
On topic: i feel like the Broodlord isn't actually very zerg like, because of the effect it produces on the whole race. I agree the unit itself is zergy, but then Zergs kinda only win games with this slow ass invincible flying deathball that only attacks once and it's do or die; to me that's not zerglike at all. So yeah fuck broodlords.
Regarding Hots, i feel like they don't really know what to do with a lot of units. The warhound was supposed to be a replacement for the Thor which is clunky in and of itself, then it turned into a marauder without stim made out of a factory, so right now it's looking really mleh. Same goes for the Tempest, it was supposed to own muta flocks (which is a hilarious idea in and of itself), then they were like oh wait we don't need that, let's just...uhm...give toss a flying siege unit. Well in that case, might as well get some more work done on the carrier no?
On August 18 2012 19:19 MaxSteel wrote: First off, I appreciate the time you put into writing this thing. I also see the enthusiasm... albait, the over-enthusiasm.
But, in the name of most Terran players, fuck you. Who do you think you are, saying that units are not "Terrany" just because they don't feel so to you? Do you even know why those units were designed as they are? I'll give you a hint - it has something to do with the vast majority of people who actually play Terran wanting this change. You actually spoke of "An army moves into tank range, goes oh no we gotta either engage or run". Well, you might have missed something, but that wasn't the case for years, ever since the Tank damage became 45 from 70. Lets face it, Blizzard has ruined Mech in WoL, especially in TvP. And now, with the new expansion, they're fixing what they ruined. And I'm sure every mech player in the game today is glad this is happening. Even if they don't like some of the new units, they all realize the changes are gonna make Mech viable again. They feel it's a good thing. So why would your feelings, that a race should have weaker and harder to control units, have priority over people who actually play that race and feel the exact oposite? They don't. And that's why the expansion brings the units it does, and if you don't like it, feel welcome to stay behind - it's always you're choice.
User was warned for this post
As a Terran player, why do you think you speak for most Terran players? The OP is a Terran player, I believe. And I, as a Terran player, think that they could make better units, more Terran-like units that still fix mech. It seems like you have a really creatively handicapped vision for what you think good mech must be.
Somebody has to say it. Based on everything we have learned about it so far, the Starcraft expansion is just further proof that Blizzard has no idea how to design a game. The new units range from bland "me too" designs, to completely broken units that will ruin the game. Let's look at them race-by-race.
TERRAN: To understand why the first new Terran unit is a bad idea, you need to understand the way the three races are designed. Until now, Starcraft has been balanced around the three races different ways of recovering damage. Zerg units regenerate. Protoss units regain shields. Terran mech units can be repaired, but bio units can not. Introducing the medic, a new bio unit that can heal marines, firebats and even SCVs not only makes Terran bio simply too powerful, but it removes the important uniqueness of the various races. In essence, it stops Terran being Terran. The valkyrie is expensive and, given all the answers Terran already has to air units, unlikely to ever be built. Special mention should also be given to the "Charon Boosters" upgrade for goliaths. By making it easier to a-move goliaths into guardians or carriers, Blizzard is dumbing down the game, and removing the importance of micro, positional play and strategy.
ZERG: The zerg army is all about manoeuvrability and strength in numbers. So why the hell are they getting a big, dumb, immobile, lame copy of a siege tank? Lurkers are not zerg-like at all and have no place in the game. Devourers, on the other hand, look promising as they finally give the zerg an answer to carriers and battlecruisers, where previously players would have had to build (and lose) scourge to take care of those threats.
PROTOSS: Dark Templar were fun in the single-player game, but I can't for the life of me understand why Blizzard think they will work in multi-player. Maybe they were just too lazy to make a new unit, and fell back on one they'd already developed? Zerg has to make Overlords anyway, so they already have detection everywhere, Terran can take out DTs with a single scan, and Protoss has cannons and observers. I don't see DTs being used in any kind of serious game. Dark Archon. Does Protoss really need another spell-caster? Some of its abilities seem useful (Mind Control could be potentially game-breaking as it allows you to exceed the supply cap (!)), but since nobody is going to be building Dark Templar, putting those abilities on the Dark Archon seems a great way to ensure they are never used. Corsairs: oh great. Protoss gets another useless air unit to go alongside the Scout. Yawn. Overall, I am incredibly pessimistic about the release of Brood War. All I can hope is that enough people keep playing the original Starcraft without these worthless additions that we can maintain a viable league for years to come.
That being said, you wrote it nicely and brought up points that were somewhat unique compared to what I've been reading from most people who have been posting on HOTS threads so good job :D
I already wrote a blog about P and T units for Hots but I never really thought about protoss in the way you wrote about them. They would be such a fantastic race if the Stalker and the Colossus weren't units that simply got exponentially better the more of them you have. In fact, people wouldn't complain about them being a badly designed race if it weren't for those two units working the way they do in all the MUs. I will be overly critical of P since I am a Protoss player myself. + Show Spoiler +
I'm going to take this opportunity to spill all of what I think is wrong with the current game out in one post, because this seems like as good a place as any to do so and I don't think it warrants its own thread.
The Colossus is too important for protoss in all MUs. People say it's because of the AOE dmg. I say NAY! It's because of the range. The colossus is a perfectly reasonable unit when it doesn't have extended thermal lance. Bio still dislikes them, but doesn't abhor them so much that they need to devote entire build orders to getting vikings out in time just to deal with the possibility of them being around. Colossi without the range upgrade operate in a much more fair and dynamic way in the protoss army. I'm not going to explain how, I just want you to imagine fighting colossi without thermal lance and how much more fun it would be. I don't even think you should buff the colossus in a different way to make up for it, just nerf it by getting rid of that specific upgrade and its uses will become way more niche and interesting. PvP might even become a cool MU.
Stalkers get exponentially stronger the more of them you have. I have no problem with the awesome gimmicky plays that involve blinking into your opponents main and stuff like that. Blink is a fantastic ability in theory that adds a lot of depth and planning to each of the MUs. As stated by the OP, it's very protoss as well. The problem makes itself clear in PvZ and to some extent PvP. In PvZ, you can have just blink stalkers for a very long portion of the game after your army has been cleaned up and have it be good enough because of blink stalker micro. Fungal was introduced as the solution to this problem but it is apparent to me that any race mechanic that is broken doesn't feel fixed when the solution is just to give another race a means of dealing with it. For example Vikings and Corruptors were given the range they have to terran and zerg primarily so they could kill colossi. Thats stupid. Creative solutions exist to the problem of blink stalker balls against zerg. Just give them a longer CD between blinks. Or, give them energy that replenishes when they are near a nexus so they can only blink a certain number of times before having to return home to recharge. Actually, I like that solution more. Give them 4 energy so feedback isn't a deal and make it so each blink costs 1 energy. Being a small distance from a nexus recharges their energy. Bam, blink stalkers solved.
If those two things change about protoss, with some minor tweaking to the other races, it becomes a much more fun race to play against. It also skews the balance and makes protoss much worse but that's a given with any radical change to the units. I would argue though that the change isn't even that radical. It's getting rid of 1 upgrade and changing blink slightly.
Terran is a great race. The viking has the obscene range it has because terran needed a way to deal with the colossus. Even though the viking has many other roles as well, it no longer really needs the crazy range it currently has. Air vision is an important aspect of TvT but will TvT really be much worse of a MU if the viking has 7 range instead of 9? It will make air dominance less important in wars between tank lines and Thors may have a bigger role clearing the skys. It will also introduce more room for banshee play in the mid-late game. Colossus sniping will be a much smaller aspect of PvT which leaves vikings the important role of dealing with Broodlord/ infestor. This is important, but I will soon be arguging for the changing of the infestor and corruptor as well (the only two things I see really wrong with zerg). Vikings are important in TvZ as a means of clearing out ovies in the early game (unaffected by range nerf) and killing broodlords in the lategame. Broodlords are traditionally protected by corruptors and infestors. I will talk about how I would change these soon. Apart from this, Vikings don't need to do much in TvZ. TvP is taken care of, and TvT's dynamics will change a little bit.
Terran is otherwise a great race in WoL so I wouldn't change anything else about them on a fundamental level.
Zerg's problem units are infestors and corruptors. I know some people have problems with the Roach. Listen, the Roach makes ZvZ a stable MU, gives interesting options in ZvT, and is the only cost-effective midgame unit in ZvP. It's necessary. I can't think of a way to remove or alter the roach in a fundamental way that would help the game. Infestors are too strong. They need to be that way in the current WoL build because zerg lacks a certain racial depth that this caster can make up for in every way. Fungal stops units in their tracks and does decent damage. With blink and vikings getting nerfed, this spell can't be as strong as it currently is. Terran doesn't have a way of killing a well established BL infestor position and with nerfed vikings they have even less of a way. Fungal shouldn't do dmg or it shouldn't trap units. One affect or the other. I say it shouldn't deal damage since zerg has plenty of means of dealing damage to units that are stuck in one place. So, lets say it doesn't deal damage, now in order to protect your BL, you need to rely on purely corruptors, queens, and infested terrans. Idk, this actually seems like a more fair and more fun situation to me than what we had before. Much of terran complaints about zerg revolve not around the BL, but the infestor. Having weaker infestors make the midgame a lot harder for the zerg, and makes their late game vulnerable but there is an expansion coming out which offers solutions for these problems.
Corruptors just need a decrease in health, armor, or damage. Nothing game-breaking since their only use is to kill colossi, vikings, and occasionally battlecruisers or phoenixes.
So, to sum up: Get rid of colossus range upgrade, make blink a resource that you need to recharge at base, lower viking range, get rid of damage on fungal, nerf corruptors slightly. Buff the rest of units as needed to achieve decent balance.
Okay, now I'll talk about what HOTS offers us
Zerg first The viper is another attempt to deal with the colossus without actually dealing with what makes the unit broken. Its range. We wouldn't need abduct if blizzard just lowered the colossus range.. Still, it would be cool to have but we wouldn't NEED it? See what I'm saying? It a cool idea for busting up tank lines and the like as well. I actually like the ability I just hope they find a way to make it something that doesn't force the T out of tanks in the lategame. I'm not afraid of it breaking ZvP because the Tempest's range could theoretically stop this unit from having an impact in the hands of a pro. We'll see tho. The cloud ability could be cool. Idk why the theme of this expansion is Break Siege Lines though. Siege lines are cool :| If this unit is squishy I don't have a problem with it though. As long as it's reasonably easy to prevent it from getting its spells off if you're aware its coming it should be a great addition to the game. Also, it's existence foreshadows nerfs to the infestor (which fills a similar niche) which is a good thing. The Swarm Host is badass. This isn't to say it's pretty, or it's very zergy. It's cool because it will give the zerg choices to make which zerg doesn't really have atm. Right now, Zerg play is essentially survive until the late game, build the perfect army, win. The Swarm host promises to be a unit with more applications in the midgame than the lategame so it gives zerg the ability to play the race in a different way. I'm excited to see if it ends up doing what I'm speculating which is weed out zerg players who mindlessly survive until they get the right composition. Hydra speed at the hive stage is fantastic in every way. Ultra burrow charge seems strong as hell. I'm a little skeptical tbh. But I suppose if BL infestor is getting nerfed (which it seems like is gonna happen.. I hope) then more stopping power at a different tech route is necessary.
Terran has the widow mine. People: It's not gonna work like a mine. The purpose of this unit is to give terran a way to deal with expensive spellcasters without having to produce an expensive spellcaster themselves. It's a good thing but you can't expect it to work like an AOE explosive that will kill armies. That's not an available niche. Battle hellion. Fine. Will beef up terran mech against P. Will subsequently beef up against Z. They better do some nice things to Zerg's midgame. Warhound.. It's gonna change. Don't know how just yet. Lots of speculation but I don't honestly know what they're gonna do.
Protoss has the oracle. Good unit. They will change entomb to make it target fewer patches and have it be harder to kill. They kind of have to. Invis is good, vision spell is good. It's a good unit. Tempest: I hope it will be cool. They will need to find a way to keep it away from deathballs tho. Maybe if they have it degen the shields of units around it at a slow and steady rate. This would definitely discourage using it in the deathball while still allowing it to have it's obscene range. I would really like it if they did that actually. Mothership core: Good all around. Gives agressive option in the early game at opportunity cost of more chrono. Makes protoss macro harder. Gives more choices and room for build creativity. I love it.
Okay that's everything.. Whew.
TLDR: WoL needs some tweaking, HOTS has cool units mostly
Somebody has to say it. Based on everything we have learned about it so far, the Starcraft expansion is just further proof that Blizzard has no idea how to design a game. The new units range from bland "me too" designs, to completely broken units that will ruin the game. Let's look at them race-by-race.
TERRAN: To understand why the first new Terran unit is a bad idea, you need to understand the way the three races are designed. Until now, Starcraft has been balanced around the three races different ways of recovering damage. Zerg units regenerate. Protoss units regain shields. Terran mech units can be repaired, but bio units can not. Introducing the medic, a new bio unit that can heal marines, firebats and even SCVs not only makes Terran bio simply too powerful, but it removes the important uniqueness of the various races. In essence, it stops Terran being Terran. The valkyrie is expensive and, given all the answers Terran already has to air units, unlikely to ever be built. Special mention should also be given to the "Charon Boosters" upgrade for goliaths. By making it easier to a-move goliaths into guardians or carriers, Blizzard is dumbing down the game, and removing the importance of micro, positional play and strategy.
ZERG: The zerg army is all about manoeuvrability and strength in numbers. So why the hell are they getting a big, dumb, immobile, lame copy of a siege tank? Lurkers are not zerg-like at all and have no place in the game. Devourers, on the other hand, look promising as they finally give the zerg an answer to carriers and battlecruisers, where previously players would have had to build (and lose) scourge to take care of those threats.
PROTOSS: Dark Templar were fun in the single-player game, but I can't for the life of me understand why Blizzard think they will work in multi-player. Maybe they were just too lazy to make a new unit, and fell back on one they'd already developed? Zerg has to make Overlords anyway, so they already have detection everywhere, Terran can take out DTs with a single scan, and Protoss has cannons and observers. I don't see DTs being used in any kind of serious game. Dark Archon. Does Protoss really need another spell-caster? Some of its abilities seem useful (Mind Control could be potentially game-breaking as it allows you to exceed the supply cap (!)), but since nobody is going to be building Dark Templar, putting those abilities on the Dark Archon seems a great way to ensure they are never used. Corsairs: oh great. Protoss gets another useless air unit to go alongside the Scout. Yawn. Overall, I am incredibly pessimistic about the release of Brood War. All I can hope is that enough people keep playing the original Starcraft without these worthless additions that we can maintain a viable league for years to come.
Somebody has to say it. Based on everything we have learned about it so far, the Starcraft expansion is just further proof that Blizzard has no idea how to design a game. The new units range from bland "me too" designs, to completely broken units that will ruin the game. Let's look at them race-by-race.
TERRAN: To understand why the first new Terran unit is a bad idea, you need to understand the way the three races are designed. Until now, Starcraft has been balanced around the three races different ways of recovering damage. Zerg units regenerate. Protoss units regain shields. Terran mech units can be repaired, but bio units can not. Introducing the medic, a new bio unit that can heal marines, firebats and even SCVs not only makes Terran bio simply too powerful, but it removes the important uniqueness of the various races. In essence, it stops Terran being Terran. The valkyrie is expensive and, given all the answers Terran already has to air units, unlikely to ever be built. Special mention should also be given to the "Charon Boosters" upgrade for goliaths. By making it easier to a-move goliaths into guardians or carriers, Blizzard is dumbing down the game, and removing the importance of micro, positional play and strategy.
ZERG: The zerg army is all about manoeuvrability and strength in numbers. So why the hell are they getting a big, dumb, immobile, lame copy of a siege tank? Lurkers are not zerg-like at all and have no place in the game. Devourers, on the other hand, look promising as they finally give the zerg an answer to carriers and battlecruisers, where previously players would have had to build (and lose) scourge to take care of those threats.
PROTOSS: Dark Templar were fun in the single-player game, but I can't for the life of me understand why Blizzard think they will work in multi-player. Maybe they were just too lazy to make a new unit, and fell back on one they'd already developed? Zerg has to make Overlords anyway, so they already have detection everywhere, Terran can take out DTs with a single scan, and Protoss has cannons and observers. I don't see DTs being used in any kind of serious game. Dark Archon. Does Protoss really need another spell-caster? Some of its abilities seem useful (Mind Control could be potentially game-breaking as it allows you to exceed the supply cap (!)), but since nobody is going to be building Dark Templar, putting those abilities on the Dark Archon seems a great way to ensure they are never used. Corsairs: oh great. Protoss gets another useless air unit to go alongside the Scout. Yawn. Overall, I am incredibly pessimistic about the release of Brood War. All I can hope is that enough people keep playing the original Starcraft without these worthless additions that we can maintain a viable league for years to come.
Lol, you deserve a medal
Whoever posted that on Reddit is a bloody idiot. It makes little critical sense and is a bunch of anecdotal ranting.
Somebody has to say it. Based on everything we have learned about it so far, the Starcraft expansion is just further proof that Blizzard has no idea how to design a game. The new units range from bland "me too" designs, to completely broken units that will ruin the game. Let's look at them race-by-race.
TERRAN: To understand why the first new Terran unit is a bad idea, you need to understand the way the three races are designed. Until now, Starcraft has been balanced around the three races different ways of recovering damage. Zerg units regenerate. Protoss units regain shields. Terran mech units can be repaired, but bio units can not. Introducing the medic, a new bio unit that can heal marines, firebats and even SCVs not only makes Terran bio simply too powerful, but it removes the important uniqueness of the various races. In essence, it stops Terran being Terran. The valkyrie is expensive and, given all the answers Terran already has to air units, unlikely to ever be built. Special mention should also be given to the "Charon Boosters" upgrade for goliaths. By making it easier to a-move goliaths into guardians or carriers, Blizzard is dumbing down the game, and removing the importance of micro, positional play and strategy.
ZERG: The zerg army is all about manoeuvrability and strength in numbers. So why the hell are they getting a big, dumb, immobile, lame copy of a siege tank? Lurkers are not zerg-like at all and have no place in the game. Devourers, on the other hand, look promising as they finally give the zerg an answer to carriers and battlecruisers, where previously players would have had to build (and lose) scourge to take care of those threats.
PROTOSS: Dark Templar were fun in the single-player game, but I can't for the life of me understand why Blizzard think they will work in multi-player. Maybe they were just too lazy to make a new unit, and fell back on one they'd already developed? Zerg has to make Overlords anyway, so they already have detection everywhere, Terran can take out DTs with a single scan, and Protoss has cannons and observers. I don't see DTs being used in any kind of serious game. Dark Archon. Does Protoss really need another spell-caster? Some of its abilities seem useful (Mind Control could be potentially game-breaking as it allows you to exceed the supply cap (!)), but since nobody is going to be building Dark Templar, putting those abilities on the Dark Archon seems a great way to ensure they are never used. Corsairs: oh great. Protoss gets another useless air unit to go alongside the Scout. Yawn. Overall, I am incredibly pessimistic about the release of Brood War. All I can hope is that enough people keep playing the original Starcraft without these worthless additions that we can maintain a viable league for years to come.
Lol, you deserve a medal
Whoever posted that on Reddit is a bloody idiot. It makes little critical sense and is a bunch of anecdotal ranting.
Somebody has to say it. Based on everything we have learned about it so far, the Starcraft expansion is just further proof that Blizzard has no idea how to design a game. The new units range from bland "me too" designs, to completely broken units that will ruin the game. Let's look at them race-by-race.
TERRAN: To understand why the first new Terran unit is a bad idea, you need to understand the way the three races are designed. Until now, Starcraft has been balanced around the three races different ways of recovering damage. Zerg units regenerate. Protoss units regain shields. Terran mech units can be repaired, but bio units can not. Introducing the medic, a new bio unit that can heal marines, firebats and even SCVs not only makes Terran bio simply too powerful, but it removes the important uniqueness of the various races. In essence, it stops Terran being Terran. The valkyrie is expensive and, given all the answers Terran already has to air units, unlikely to ever be built. Special mention should also be given to the "Charon Boosters" upgrade for goliaths. By making it easier to a-move goliaths into guardians or carriers, Blizzard is dumbing down the game, and removing the importance of micro, positional play and strategy.
ZERG: The zerg army is all about manoeuvrability and strength in numbers. So why the hell are they getting a big, dumb, immobile, lame copy of a siege tank? Lurkers are not zerg-like at all and have no place in the game. Devourers, on the other hand, look promising as they finally give the zerg an answer to carriers and battlecruisers, where previously players would have had to build (and lose) scourge to take care of those threats.
PROTOSS: Dark Templar were fun in the single-player game, but I can't for the life of me understand why Blizzard think they will work in multi-player. Maybe they were just too lazy to make a new unit, and fell back on one they'd already developed? Zerg has to make Overlords anyway, so they already have detection everywhere, Terran can take out DTs with a single scan, and Protoss has cannons and observers. I don't see DTs being used in any kind of serious game. Dark Archon. Does Protoss really need another spell-caster? Some of its abilities seem useful (Mind Control could be potentially game-breaking as it allows you to exceed the supply cap (!)), but since nobody is going to be building Dark Templar, putting those abilities on the Dark Archon seems a great way to ensure they are never used. Corsairs: oh great. Protoss gets another useless air unit to go alongside the Scout. Yawn. Overall, I am incredibly pessimistic about the release of Brood War. All I can hope is that enough people keep playing the original Starcraft without these worthless additions that we can maintain a viable league for years to come.
Lol, you deserve a medal
Whoever posted that on Reddit is a bloody idiot. It makes little critical sense and is a bunch of anecdotal ranting.
Its not supposed to make critical sense. Of course in retrospect BW was an absolutely fantastic expansion, but thats not the point of the post.
Somebody has to say it. Based on everything we have learned about it so far, the Starcraft expansion is just further proof that Blizzard has no idea how to design a game. The new units range from bland "me too" designs, to completely broken units that will ruin the game. Let's look at them race-by-race.
TERRAN: To understand why the first new Terran unit is a bad idea, you need to understand the way the three races are designed. Until now, Starcraft has been balanced around the three races different ways of recovering damage. Zerg units regenerate. Protoss units regain shields. Terran mech units can be repaired, but bio units can not. Introducing the medic, a new bio unit that can heal marines, firebats and even SCVs not only makes Terran bio simply too powerful, but it removes the important uniqueness of the various races. In essence, it stops Terran being Terran. The valkyrie is expensive and, given all the answers Terran already has to air units, unlikely to ever be built. Special mention should also be given to the "Charon Boosters" upgrade for goliaths. By making it easier to a-move goliaths into guardians or carriers, Blizzard is dumbing down the game, and removing the importance of micro, positional play and strategy.
ZERG: The zerg army is all about manoeuvrability and strength in numbers. So why the hell are they getting a big, dumb, immobile, lame copy of a siege tank? Lurkers are not zerg-like at all and have no place in the game. Devourers, on the other hand, look promising as they finally give the zerg an answer to carriers and battlecruisers, where previously players would have had to build (and lose) scourge to take care of those threats.
PROTOSS: Dark Templar were fun in the single-player game, but I can't for the life of me understand why Blizzard think they will work in multi-player. Maybe they were just too lazy to make a new unit, and fell back on one they'd already developed? Zerg has to make Overlords anyway, so they already have detection everywhere, Terran can take out DTs with a single scan, and Protoss has cannons and observers. I don't see DTs being used in any kind of serious game. Dark Archon. Does Protoss really need another spell-caster? Some of its abilities seem useful (Mind Control could be potentially game-breaking as it allows you to exceed the supply cap (!)), but since nobody is going to be building Dark Templar, putting those abilities on the Dark Archon seems a great way to ensure they are never used. Corsairs: oh great. Protoss gets another useless air unit to go alongside the Scout. Yawn. Overall, I am incredibly pessimistic about the release of Brood War. All I can hope is that enough people keep playing the original Starcraft without these worthless additions that we can maintain a viable league for years to come.
Lol, you deserve a medal
Whoever posted that on Reddit is a bloody idiot. It makes little critical sense and is a bunch of anecdotal ranting.
Absolutely true, but since it's written in an amusing and well-organized way, it deserves a point-by-point takedown.The author misses the basic point and strawmans quite a bit, and in fact presents evidence that directly undermines his position and confirms mine. I'll break it down with a point-by-point analysis:
Carlfish wrote: TERRAN: To understand why the first new Terran unit is a bad idea, you need to understand the way the three races are designed. Until now, Starcraft has been balanced around the three races different ways of recovering damage. Zerg units regenerate. Protoss units regain shields. Terran mech units can be repaired, but bio units can not. Introducing the medic, a new bio unit that can heal marines, firebats and even SCVs not only makes Terran bio simply too powerful, but it removes the important uniqueness of the various races. In essence, it stops Terran being Terran.
Honestly, yes: medic changed a fundamental Terran mechanic. This made TvZ in BW different than TvZ in SC. However, you'll note that this guy says it makes bio "simply too powerful"-- I never make statements about power. Also, the Medic is basically irrelevant to TvT and TvP, so it's a relatively minor change. No amount of healing can prevent bio from getting completely brutalized instantly by Siege Tank and Reaver attacks.
Carlfish wrote: The valkyrie is expensive and, given all the answers Terran already has to air units, unlikely to ever be built.
Dark Archon. Does Protoss really need another spell-caster? Some of its abilities seem useful (Mind Control could be potentially game-breaking as it allows you to exceed the supply cap (!)), but since nobody is going to be building Dark Templar, putting those abilities on the Dark Archon seems a great way to ensure they are never used. Corsairs: oh great. Protoss gets another useless air unit to go alongside the Scout. Yawn.
Devourers, on the other hand, look promising as they finally give the zerg an answer to carriers and battlecruisers, where previously players would have had to build (and lose) scourge to take care of those threats.
See, this is where I wonder if the guy actually read my post. This is literally the opposite of what I'm saying. Giving Terran, Zerg, or Protoss something it ALREADY HAS is exactly what I want, not giving them new things. I'd consider these changes to all be excellent and within the flavor of the races: this is a strawman.
Carlfish wrote: Special mention should also be given to the "Charon Boosters" upgrade for goliaths. By making it easier to a-move goliaths into guardians or carriers, Blizzard is dumbing down the game, and removing the importance of micro, positional play and strategy.
Dumbing down the game is never mentioned in my post-- I an talking about the races becoming more like each other, not races getting units that dumb down the game. The fact that Hellions or Warhounds CAN be a-moved is certainly a problem, but the real problem is that they don't play like existing Terran units. Again: I don't think this guy really read my post.
Carlfish wrote: ZERG: The zerg army is all about manoeuvrability and strength in numbers. So why the hell are they getting a big, dumb, immobile, lame copy of a siege tank? Lurkers are not zerg-like at all and have no place in the game.
So, first off, Sc1 Zerg wasn't about speed-- people hadn't learned of muta stacking, it was typically about mass Hydra, then Ultras, so this is incorrect on its face. To talk about the analogy from my post: I don't particularly mind the inclusion of the swarm host, I just think it should be more "zerg-ey" in the way it spawns its minions. In fact, overall, the Zerg changes all seem pretty OK to me. Check out the paragraphs I have devoted to it when you get the chance.
Carlfish wrote: Dark Templar were fun in the single-player game, but I can't for the life of me understand why Blizzard think they will work in multi-player. Maybe they were just too lazy to make a new unit, and fell back on one they'd already developed? Zerg has to make Overlords anyway, so they already have detection everywhere, Terran can take out DTs with a single scan, and Protoss has cannons and observers. I don't see DTs being used in any kind of serious game.
A unit being weak is literally irrelevant to my post. I explicitly state that I suspect Blizzard will balance the game.
Overall, I get the feeling the guy just wanted to bag on someone who was complaining about HotS, which I get, but I hope that next time he reads my article more carefully. His points about the Valk, Dark Archon, and Corsair are actually completely inverted-- he thinks I'd complain about new units being similar in style and function to existing units. In fact, it's quite the opposite: I'd rather enjoy those units for being similar in style and function to existing units, they'd fit into the feel of the races.
His satire could have been an excellent critique of my article and views (and there have been), but the commenter simply didn't spend the time actually read my points. That being said, he's clearly a good writer and a smart guy, but I can see why he posted it on Reddit rather than TL. It's also possible he meant it as a more general satire of people who have reservations about the current direction that HotS is going in, which is why he made it its own thread on Reddit-- if that's the case, then his many points that don't apply to me at all are not actually a result of laziness on his part, but addressing other authors. Either way, I don't find his satire particularly salient, except the section about the Medic.
This is kind of a useless post because you cant judge units off of how you 'feel' its a computer game its run off of numbers and how the units interact, just because you watched two battle reports and dont 'feel' good about the units doesnt mean anything, you cant start making judgements like this without even playing it.
Somebody has to say it. Based on everything we have learned about it so far, the Starcraft expansion is just further proof that Blizzard has no idea how to design a game. The new units range from bland "me too" designs, to completely broken units that will ruin the game. Let's look at them race-by-race.
TERRAN: To understand why the first new Terran unit is a bad idea, you need to understand the way the three races are designed. Until now, Starcraft has been balanced around the three races different ways of recovering damage. Zerg units regenerate. Protoss units regain shields. Terran mech units can be repaired, but bio units can not. Introducing the medic, a new bio unit that can heal marines, firebats and even SCVs not only makes Terran bio simply too powerful, but it removes the important uniqueness of the various races. In essence, it stops Terran being Terran. The valkyrie is expensive and, given all the answers Terran already has to air units, unlikely to ever be built. Special mention should also be given to the "Charon Boosters" upgrade for goliaths. By making it easier to a-move goliaths into guardians or carriers, Blizzard is dumbing down the game, and removing the importance of micro, positional play and strategy.
ZERG: The zerg army is all about manoeuvrability and strength in numbers. So why the hell are they getting a big, dumb, immobile, lame copy of a siege tank? Lurkers are not zerg-like at all and have no place in the game. Devourers, on the other hand, look promising as they finally give the zerg an answer to carriers and battlecruisers, where previously players would have had to build (and lose) scourge to take care of those threats.
PROTOSS: Dark Templar were fun in the single-player game, but I can't for the life of me understand why Blizzard think they will work in multi-player. Maybe they were just too lazy to make a new unit, and fell back on one they'd already developed? Zerg has to make Overlords anyway, so they already have detection everywhere, Terran can take out DTs with a single scan, and Protoss has cannons and observers. I don't see DTs being used in any kind of serious game. Dark Archon. Does Protoss really need another spell-caster? Some of its abilities seem useful (Mind Control could be potentially game-breaking as it allows you to exceed the supply cap (!)), but since nobody is going to be building Dark Templar, putting those abilities on the Dark Archon seems a great way to ensure they are never used. Corsairs: oh great. Protoss gets another useless air unit to go alongside the Scout. Yawn. Overall, I am incredibly pessimistic about the release of Brood War. All I can hope is that enough people keep playing the original Starcraft without these worthless additions that we can maintain a viable league for years to come.
Lol, you deserve a medal
Whoever posted that on Reddit is a bloody idiot. It makes little critical sense and is a bunch of anecdotal ranting.
Absolutely true, but since it's written in an amusing and well-organized way, it deserves a point-by-point takedown.The author misses the basic point and strawmans quite a bit, and in fact presents evidence that directly undermines his position and confirms mine. I'll break it down with a point-by-point analysis:
Carlfish wrote: TERRAN: To understand why the first new Terran unit is a bad idea, you need to understand the way the three races are designed. Until now, Starcraft has been balanced around the three races different ways of recovering damage. Zerg units regenerate. Protoss units regain shields. Terran mech units can be repaired, but bio units can not. Introducing the medic, a new bio unit that can heal marines, firebats and even SCVs not only makes Terran bio simply too powerful, but it removes the important uniqueness of the various races. In essence, it stops Terran being Terran.
Honestly, yes: medic changed a fundamental Terran mechanic. This made TvZ in BW different than TvZ in SC. However, you'll note that this guy says it makes bio "simply too powerful"-- I never make statements about power. Also, the Medic is basically irrelevant to TvT and TvP, so it's a relatively minor change. No amount of healing can prevent bio from getting completely brutalized instantly by Siege Tank and Reaver attacks.
Dark Archon. Does Protoss really need another spell-caster? Some of its abilities seem useful (Mind Control could be potentially game-breaking as it allows you to exceed the supply cap (!)), but since nobody is going to be building Dark Templar, putting those abilities on the Dark Archon seems a great way to ensure they are never used. Corsairs: oh great. Protoss gets another useless air unit to go alongside the Scout. Yawn.
Devourers, on the other hand, look promising as they finally give the zerg an answer to carriers and battlecruisers, where previously players would have had to build (and lose) scourge to take care of those threats.
See, this is where I wonder if the guy actually read my post. This is literally the opposite of what I'm saying. Giving Terran, Zerg, or Protoss something it ALREADY HAS is exactly what I want, not giving them new things. I'd consider these changes to all be excellent and within the flavor of the races: this is a strawman.
Carlfish wrote: Special mention should also be given to the "Charon Boosters" upgrade for goliaths. By making it easier to a-move goliaths into guardians or carriers, Blizzard is dumbing down the game, and removing the importance of micro, positional play and strategy.
Dumbing down the game is never mentioned in my post-- I an talking about the races becoming more like each other, not races getting units that dumb down the game. The fact that Hellions or Warhounds CAN be a-moved is certainly a problem, but the real problem is that they don't play like existing Terran units. Again: I don't think this guy really read my post.
Carlfish wrote: ZERG: The zerg army is all about manoeuvrability and strength in numbers. So why the hell are they getting a big, dumb, immobile, lame copy of a siege tank? Lurkers are not zerg-like at all and have no place in the game.
So, first off, Sc1 Zerg wasn't about speed-- people hadn't learned of muta stacking, it was typically about mass Hydra, then Ultras, so this is incorrect on its face. To talk about the analogy from my post: I don't particularly mind the inclusion of the swarm host, I just think it should be more "zerg-ey" in the way it spawns its minions. In fact, overall, the Zerg changes all seem pretty OK to me. Check out the paragraphs I have devoted to it when you get the chance.
Carlfish wrote: Dark Templar were fun in the single-player game, but I can't for the life of me understand why Blizzard think they will work in multi-player. Maybe they were just too lazy to make a new unit, and fell back on one they'd already developed? Zerg has to make Overlords anyway, so they already have detection everywhere, Terran can take out DTs with a single scan, and Protoss has cannons and observers. I don't see DTs being used in any kind of serious game.
A unit being weak is literally irrelevant to my post. I explicitly state that I suspect Blizzard will balance the game.
Overall, I get the feeling the guy just wanted to bag on someone who was complaining about HotS, which I get, but I hope that next time he reads my article more carefully. His points about the Valk, Dark Archon, and Corsair are actually completely inverted-- he thinks I'd complain about new units being similar in style and function to existing units. In fact, it's quite the opposite: I'd rather enjoy those units for being similar in style and function to existing units, they'd fit into the feel of the races.
His satire could have been an excellent critique of my article and views (and there have been), but the commenter simply didn't spend the time actually read my points. That being said, he's clearly a good writer and a smart guy, but I can see why he posted it on Reddit rather than TL. It's also possible he meant it as a more general satire of people who have reservations about the current direction that HotS is going in, which is why he made it its own thread on Reddit-- if that's the case, then his many points that don't apply to me at all are not actually a result of laziness on his part, but addressing other authors. Either way, I don't find his satire particularly salient, except the section about the Medic.
I thought your blog was well written and thorough, but I linked that post because it does make a great point about how we really can't know what the game will be like until we play it. When the beta comes out, these analyses will have a little more weight behind them.
I'd also like to remind people that a vast majority (although definitely not all) of the complaints levied against WoL during the beta ended up resolving themselves or being patched very well.
Somebody has to say it. Based on everything we have learned about it so far, the Starcraft expansion is just further proof that Blizzard has no idea how to design a game. The new units range from bland "me too" designs, to completely broken units that will ruin the game. Let's look at them race-by-race.
TERRAN: To understand why the first new Terran unit is a bad idea, you need to understand the way the three races are designed. Until now, Starcraft has been balanced around the three races different ways of recovering damage. Zerg units regenerate. Protoss units regain shields. Terran mech units can be repaired, but bio units can not. Introducing the medic, a new bio unit that can heal marines, firebats and even SCVs not only makes Terran bio simply too powerful, but it removes the important uniqueness of the various races. In essence, it stops Terran being Terran. The valkyrie is expensive and, given all the answers Terran already has to air units, unlikely to ever be built. Special mention should also be given to the "Charon Boosters" upgrade for goliaths. By making it easier to a-move goliaths into guardians or carriers, Blizzard is dumbing down the game, and removing the importance of micro, positional play and strategy.
ZERG: The zerg army is all about manoeuvrability and strength in numbers. So why the hell are they getting a big, dumb, immobile, lame copy of a siege tank? Lurkers are not zerg-like at all and have no place in the game. Devourers, on the other hand, look promising as they finally give the zerg an answer to carriers and battlecruisers, where previously players would have had to build (and lose) scourge to take care of those threats.
PROTOSS: Dark Templar were fun in the single-player game, but I can't for the life of me understand why Blizzard think they will work in multi-player. Maybe they were just too lazy to make a new unit, and fell back on one they'd already developed? Zerg has to make Overlords anyway, so they already have detection everywhere, Terran can take out DTs with a single scan, and Protoss has cannons and observers. I don't see DTs being used in any kind of serious game. Dark Archon. Does Protoss really need another spell-caster? Some of its abilities seem useful (Mind Control could be potentially game-breaking as it allows you to exceed the supply cap (!)), but since nobody is going to be building Dark Templar, putting those abilities on the Dark Archon seems a great way to ensure they are never used. Corsairs: oh great. Protoss gets another useless air unit to go alongside the Scout. Yawn. Overall, I am incredibly pessimistic about the release of Brood War. All I can hope is that enough people keep playing the original Starcraft without these worthless additions that we can maintain a viable league for years to come.
Lol, you deserve a medal
Whoever posted that on Reddit is a bloody idiot. It makes little critical sense and is a bunch of anecdotal ranting.
Absolutely true, but since it's written in an amusing and well-organized way, it deserves a point-by-point takedown.The author misses the basic point and strawmans quite a bit, and in fact presents evidence that directly undermines his position and confirms mine. I'll break it down with a point-by-point analysis:
Carlfish wrote: TERRAN: To understand why the first new Terran unit is a bad idea, you need to understand the way the three races are designed. Until now, Starcraft has been balanced around the three races different ways of recovering damage. Zerg units regenerate. Protoss units regain shields. Terran mech units can be repaired, but bio units can not. Introducing the medic, a new bio unit that can heal marines, firebats and even SCVs not only makes Terran bio simply too powerful, but it removes the important uniqueness of the various races. In essence, it stops Terran being Terran.
Honestly, yes: medic changed a fundamental Terran mechanic. This made TvZ in BW different than TvZ in SC. However, you'll note that this guy says it makes bio "simply too powerful"-- I never make statements about power. Also, the Medic is basically irrelevant to TvT and TvP, so it's a relatively minor change. No amount of healing can prevent bio from getting completely brutalized instantly by Siege Tank and Reaver attacks.
Carlfish wrote: The valkyrie is expensive and, given all the answers Terran already has to air units, unlikely to ever be built.
Dark Archon. Does Protoss really need another spell-caster? Some of its abilities seem useful (Mind Control could be potentially game-breaking as it allows you to exceed the supply cap (!)), but since nobody is going to be building Dark Templar, putting those abilities on the Dark Archon seems a great way to ensure they are never used. Corsairs: oh great. Protoss gets another useless air unit to go alongside the Scout. Yawn.
Devourers, on the other hand, look promising as they finally give the zerg an answer to carriers and battlecruisers, where previously players would have had to build (and lose) scourge to take care of those threats.
See, this is where I wonder if the guy actually read my post. This is literally the opposite of what I'm saying. Giving Terran, Zerg, or Protoss something it ALREADY HAS is exactly what I want, not giving them new things. I'd consider these changes to all be excellent and within the flavor of the races: this is a strawman.
Carlfish wrote: Special mention should also be given to the "Charon Boosters" upgrade for goliaths. By making it easier to a-move goliaths into guardians or carriers, Blizzard is dumbing down the game, and removing the importance of micro, positional play and strategy.
Dumbing down the game is never mentioned in my post-- I an talking about the races becoming more like each other, not races getting units that dumb down the game. The fact that Hellions or Warhounds CAN be a-moved is certainly a problem, but the real problem is that they don't play like existing Terran units. Again: I don't think this guy really read my post.
Carlfish wrote: ZERG: The zerg army is all about manoeuvrability and strength in numbers. So why the hell are they getting a big, dumb, immobile, lame copy of a siege tank? Lurkers are not zerg-like at all and have no place in the game.
So, first off, Sc1 Zerg wasn't about speed-- people hadn't learned of muta stacking, it was typically about mass Hydra, then Ultras, so this is incorrect on its face. To talk about the analogy from my post: I don't particularly mind the inclusion of the swarm host, I just think it should be more "zerg-ey" in the way it spawns its minions. In fact, overall, the Zerg changes all seem pretty OK to me. Check out the paragraphs I have devoted to it when you get the chance.
Carlfish wrote: Dark Templar were fun in the single-player game, but I can't for the life of me understand why Blizzard think they will work in multi-player. Maybe they were just too lazy to make a new unit, and fell back on one they'd already developed? Zerg has to make Overlords anyway, so they already have detection everywhere, Terran can take out DTs with a single scan, and Protoss has cannons and observers. I don't see DTs being used in any kind of serious game.
A unit being weak is literally irrelevant to my post. I explicitly state that I suspect Blizzard will balance the game.
Overall, I get the feeling the guy just wanted to bag on someone who was complaining about HotS, which I get, but I hope that next time he reads my article more carefully. His points about the Valk, Dark Archon, and Corsair are actually completely inverted-- he thinks I'd complain about new units being similar in style and function to existing units. In fact, it's quite the opposite: I'd rather enjoy those units for being similar in style and function to existing units, they'd fit into the feel of the races.
His satire could have been an excellent critique of my article and views (and there have been), but the commenter simply didn't spend the time actually read my points. That being said, he's clearly a good writer and a smart guy, but I can see why he posted it on Reddit rather than TL. It's also possible he meant it as a more general satire of people who have reservations about the current direction that HotS is going in, which is why he made it its own thread on Reddit-- if that's the case, then his many points that don't apply to me at all are not actually a result of laziness on his part, but addressing other authors. Either way, I don't find his satire particularly salient, except the section about the Medic.
I thought your blog was well written and thorough, but I linked that post because it does make a great point about how we really can't know what the game will be like until we play it. When the beta comes out, these analyses will have a little more weight behind them.
I'd also like to remind people that a vast majority (although definitely not all) of the complaints levied against WoL during the beta ended up resolving themselves or being patched very well.
Oh, absolutely. I wouldn't be writing blogs criticizing blizzard's unit design if I didn't expect them to change it. In fact, given that HotS is in Alpha, we can expect great changes between now and when the game is released, or even changes between now and Beta. Blizzard is a smart company, and mostly good at game design (despite what people say) and listening, eventually. This blog is an expression of my faith in people's ability to complain, and Blizzard's ability to read these complaints and make better games.
They may be screwing things up now, but I'm sure I hope it'll be all good eventually.
All we have to do to ensure that is to keep the dialogue alive.