HotsContest:Hots reaction

As I got to play Heart of the Swarm at MLG anaheim it felt like a completely new game to me. When I sat down and played 1v1's my friend it almost felt like the first time I installed WoL. Here are some quick thoughts on the new units and what I believe will come out of the new game.

Terran
Battle Hellion - In TvZ I think that hellion openings will still be very common and we will see a lot more hellion bio timings some intricate hellion -> battle hellion morph micro. Also due to the increase in HP they get in battle mode and the AoE cone damage they do will make Hellions more common in the TvP matchup. Other than that my only problem I have with the battle hellion is that you can not produce it as a normal hellion. (It would be great if Blizz made it right clickable to switch between BH and regH as it spawns.)

Widow mine - So good and so bad. As I was using the widow mine in the custom games we played I can definitely see it going either way. Due to the current crazy of 4+ queens in the TvZ MU widow mines are a great way to clear some queens off the map in the early stages. Other than that I don't think that widow mines have that big of a role in the upcoming game. Unless we use them in big 200/200 battles for that extra AoE damage.

Warhound - I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS UNIT BECAUSE I PLAY TERRAN EXPECT FOR ITS ART/DESIGN. Extra damage vs mechanical with its passive. Pretty strong primary attack good amount of HP and decent price. Blizzard please just make it look cooler. Aside from the aesthetics I believe that the warhound will complete change every match that uses mech and will also allow mech vs protoss to be viable strategy.

Zerg
Viper - Pretty cool lair tech unit, it seems like it was designed to break mid game siege lines and allow the Zerg to handle the 200/200 Protoss army as you can abduct key units and cast a dark swarm like ability. And just like in broodwar this unit has a consume ability but only works on buildings. I have a feeling we are going to see a lot of extra evos with low HP in Zergs mains once they learn how to use the viper.

Swarm host/locust - SH is probably one of my most favorite new Zerg units. It allows the Zerg to explore new types of offensive and defensive strategies that they do not have right now in WoL.
Also locust are surprisingly stronger than they look. Usually when you see a swarm of small units you imagine them to fragile but they are quite beefy and do a significant amount of damage not only to ground but to air as well. Has the same base damage as a roach but not sure if it scales the same.

Burrow charge - OK this is straight up broken. If I remember correctly you don't have to upgrade this ability? and even if that isn't the case its gonna make everyone really sad. Fungal + banes + ultra charge + and the mini AoE stun = gg. Sigh. Never going to beat late game zerg again. Obviously if i played Zerg I would love it but since I play terran I hope they take it this out. And I also hope they clean up the animation when they release the beta. ( sorry about the QQ)

Protoss
Mothership core - Really nice addition to the Protoss arsenal. With it being able to recall any unit in any part of the map to the core your never going to lose your army when applying light pressure to a Zerg. Purify a defensive ability will make Terran drops and mutalisk harass significantly easier to deal with. Last is the energy boost, didn't to play around but I'm guessing its the equivalent to a broodwar shield battery but for energy.

Mothership - pretty much the same mother ship we have right now in WoL just does not have the cloaking field. but instead has stasis. Its stasis is just like its broodwar counterpart nothing different that I had noticed.

Oracle - Honestly the most annoying unit in the entire game. The mineral entomb shenanigan is a pain in the ass and the vision spell is annoying as well as it grants vision in a certain radius. Aside from the annoyances the cloak field is probably the most coolest ability that it has. But with all good things come with a price. With all these amazing spells and its (slightly faster than muta) movement speed it is extremely fragile.

Tempest - 22 RANGE WITH UPGRADE. my god. I really enjoyed using this unit. Although it has a high cost and SLOW attack speed its pretty cool to have a 22 range air unit that moves quite quickly. I just a feeling the primary reason for the Tempest is to combat a Terran's siege line in the late game and to deal with the late game Broodlord army. (RIP carriers)

It seems like some of these new units are implemented to force certain match up a certain tech path. But we will see when the time comes.
Thanks for the long read.

P.S. - these are all initial thoughts of the game that I played for a total of 20mins per race. Not balance blog.

Terran<Protoss<Zerg

Jaaaaasper United States. June 11 2012 11:58. Posts 2436

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I like that you came out and gave some first hand experience, and i am glad that you cleared up that this is not a balance blog. I agree, but i wish they had kept the carrier, and warhound looks cool in abilities but so lame in looks. I hope that this doesn't make protoss even more death ball reliant. It might be balanced but it is boring to watch.
cool blog.

Sounds like your relationships suck, although probably not literally.- kwark Best part of waking up, KwarK banning rape apologists in my cup! I guess you could say... *puts on sunglasses* ... they were asking for it. colaboy and Kasaraki

fabiano Brazil. June 11 2012 12:08. Posts 3831

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From watching VODs I got the impression that the locust mechanics sucks, just like the broodlings mechanics suck rightnow.

Not in a balance sense, but in a gameplay sense. I hate it. Why not just give the fake lurker an attack type instead of this new idea of zerg units spawning more zerg units?

One thing they didn't show in the VODs was the fake dark swarm spell from that fake defiler. I still don't understand what exactly it does. Is it just like dark swarm or more like dweb?

"When the geyser died, a probe came out" - SirJolt

Jaaaaasper United States. June 11 2012 12:12. Posts 2436

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On June 11 2012 12:08 fabiano wrote:
From watching VODs I got the impression that the locust mechanics sucks, just like the broodlings mechanics suck rightnow.

Not in a balance sense, but in a gameplay sense. I hate it. Why not just give the fake lurker an attack type instead of this new idea of zerg units spawning more zerg units?

One thing they didn't show in the VODs was the fake dark swarm spell from that fake defiler. I still don't understand what exactly it does. Is it just like dark swarm or more like dweb?

It drops the range of the units under it to 1

fabiano Brazil. June 11 2012 12:14. Posts 3831

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But they still do full damage? What about air units, are they affected?

"When the geyser died, a probe came out" - SirJolt

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