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[Zen]

Terrans Breathe Sigh of Relief as Polt Loses IEM

Terran players have collectively expressed their relief at Choi “Polt” Seong Hun’s loss in the IEM Cologne finals last night after an unexpectedly racially balanced tournament, where an astounding three of the eight quarterfinalists were Terran.
The general feeling among Terran players at the beginning of IEM was one of excitement, as many hoped that mass-losses incurred by the Terrans in attendance would finally lead to help in the form of a Blizzard patch.

“A Polt victory does nothing for Terran players in general, most specifically, myself.” said one professional Terran who did not qualify for IEM. “But a Polt loss would help the Terran race against our real opponent: David Kim.”

The mood soured as Polt defeated several Protosses, including SK Telecom Players Kim “Classic” Doh Woo and Jung “Rain” Yoon Jong.

“Polt shouldn’t be so selfish,” said Reddit user Saladtoss. “His IEM tournament run could undo months of dedicated failure by Terran players.”

Fortunately for Terrans everywhere, Polt lost to Liquid’s Song “HerO” Hyeon Deok in the best-of-seven finals despite being donated a draw in Game 1. More importantly, Polt lost to a Protoss player, adding definitive evidence based upon one series that StarCraft 2 is imbalanced at the game’s highest level.

“After the finals, I logged onto Battle.net hoping to lose a TvP so I could complain, but I went on a massive win streak instead,” said one anonymous Terran who was afraid a Polt victory could force him to take personal responsibility for losses. “Protoss is so OP even when I win, I lose.”

From the Protoss perspective, players were disappointed in their performance at IEM Cologne when compared to other recent tournaments. At Cologne, Protoss players made up only 50% of finalists, compared to the 100% PvP finals in ASUS ROG, IEM Sao Paulo, and the Ender’s Game on Blu-ray tournament.

Despite the encouraging defeat, Terran leaders everywhere urged players to not get complacent.

“We may have lost and thus won the battle, but this is just the beginning,” said Terran grand mechanical wizard and aspiring professional player David “Avilo” Blowe. “Begun, the patch war, has.”

http://esportsexpress.com/2014/02/terrans-breathe-sigh-of-relief-as-polt-loses-iem/

So good, and true.

 

[giri]

Terrans Breathe Sigh of Relief as Polt Loses IEM



http://esportsexpress.com/2014/02/terrans-breathe-sigh-of-relief-as-polt-loses-iem/

So good, and true.

Not to start a ballance war (again), but Polt is one of the few high level Terrans whose mechanics really aren't that great. He's just other worldly at decision making and engagements. Hence why a lot of balance issues don't affect him too much.

 

[unknownstranger]

Terrans Breathe Sigh of Relief as Polt Loses IEM



http://esportsexpress.com/2014/02/terrans-breathe-sigh-of-relief-as-polt-loses-iem/

So good, and true.

I get the point they're making but this reads like a massive troll. It makes it sound like Terran are going to start throwing games if there aren't changes soon.

 

[survivor]

I get the point they're making but this reads like a massive troll. It makes it sound like Terran are going to start throwing games if there aren't changes soon.

It is supposed to be a troll, the site is like the Onion of esports.

 

[unknownstranger]

It is supposed to be a troll, the site is like the Onion of esports.

Should have guessed by the end of it.

 

[Corran Horn]

All this salt even with each other? WTF sc2 gaf.

 

[SamuraiX-]

DAY[9] DAILY #681 - FUNDAY MONDAY - OFFENSIVE TURTLE TERRAN

Submit to me a game in which you win with "offensive turtle terran." You know the pieces to turtle terran: mass bunker + turret + tank + MAYBE some planetaries. The important thing is that you're gonna be slow and steady and ALL over the map! Use your best judgment xD.

 

[Crimsonlink]

All this salt even with each other? WTF sc2 gaf.

FFs wouldn't work on her since massive breaks FFs. ;b

 

[Zen]

I get the point they're making but this reads like a massive troll. It makes it sound like Terran are going to start throwing games if there aren't changes soon.

Spoiler

It is a massive troll, but frankly Terrans are largely at the point where they'd rather Terran continue to do poorly to force changes from Blizzard then see the top 0.01% MCGuyver wins, giving 'David Kim' an excuse to not make changes.

I think a lot of people who aren't Terran might not understand the frustration. When AR says 'Toss has been getting shit since WoL started' this is true, but it's not simply a case of whinning for the sake of it.

When Blzzard first revealed their win rates at Blizzcon, they also noted that 'just because the winrates are like 'X' doesn't mean something is 'fun'", and that's the heart of the issue for Terran players (and Zerg players seem to agree).

Facing Protoss just isn't fun. There's no worse feeling in the world than microing your heart out and simply dying the next wave of mass warp ins, knowing that there's nothing you can do. Or scouting one of the million all ins Toss has early-mid game, only to die anyway OR get the very specific preparation wrong because the toss just hid some tech or just switched to another all in after you scouted.

That's not getting into the perceived (which is larger than the actual, but still) APM difference between the two races when it comes to engaging while managing your production and harassing.

I kind of know what being able to warp in Zealots is like when I'm playing Mass Ravens TvZ, because I can just build Hellbats and start shift queing them around the map. Get a ping? I might have to look at them like once to do some target firing on structures but that's it.

Toss harass late game (which toss will almost always get to PvT/PVZ) is a lot like that, probably even easier.

I try to mix in humor with my whining about Toss, and I don't do it all that often because I know it might alienate some people. But when you, mr toss player, see it, try not to take it personally.

Many people are just frustrated with the design of Protoss and have been for years, and venting about it is something they feel the need to do because I can tell you, it makes people uninstall SCII.

That said, also notice that general whine has decreased somewhat with two rounds of nerfs coming in. At the end of the day (most) Terrans don't want Toss to suck, we just want to have options in the matchup and not feel like we had to outplay a player worse than us simply to win the match.

This is all largely surface level stuff, I don't need to get into how safe and greedy Toss can always be thanks to MSC, as it has been talked about to death. The good news is that Blizzard is trying to make the other races slightly more cost effective to compensate, and give Terran more options in the MU.

*Mech TvP is so much easier, and feels so much more fair than Bio, for the record.

if Anyone wants to get some of my replays or to ask quetions about the styles feel free to PM me.

Official Starbow ladder is alive

Disclaimer: This ladder system is in alpha stage. It is functional but it is not finished, and it will likely be buggy.
Go to:
Starbowmod.com to get started.
Huge thanks to:
Graylin Kim
Veritas
Acpc
Tobi G
Jonabley (Hiro)
Huxley
Cezary
For setting up the web-site and the ladder.

If you have some free time on your hands and are capable of doing HTML/CSS work that preferably isn't super ugly and some Python/PHP work then please PM me.
Edit: It seems to be working now, but it has a lot of issues. These will be resolved in in time. Look at this first period as extensive testing

http://www.reddit.com/r/Starbow/comments/1y7mg4/official_starbow_ladder_is_alive/

SC2 Proleague is the most watched stream in china on fengyunzhibo (chinese streaming site)

http://i.imgur.com/3hMaj5R.jpg

I hope we see the free Arcade help to sustain the SCII scene in China, haven't we heard that it's doing fairly well over there?

 

[AdventureRacing]

I think a lot of people who aren't Terran might not understand the frustration. When AR says 'Toss has been getting shit since WoL started' this is true, but it's not simply a case of whinning for the sake of it.

Actually it would be more correct to say that the whining started before the release of WoL.

Facing Protoss just isn't fun. There's no worse feeling in the world than microing your heart out and simply dying the next wave of mass warp ins, knowing that there's nothing you can do. Or scouting one of the million all ins Toss has early-mid game, only to die anyway OR get the very specific preparation wrong because the toss just hid some tech or just switched to another all in after you scouted.

Is there a consensus on such a thing? Protoss is probably my favourite race to face with every race. I guess judging by the complaints that probably answers my question.

That's not getting into the perceived (which is larger than the actual, but still) APM difference between the two races when it comes to engaging while managing your production and harassing.

I've played from bronze right through to masters and the only race that seems to consistently have a higher APM is zerg (including when i use them). At GM and above i think that's kinda true (though the top protoss have high APM generally).

That said, also notice that general whine has decreased somewhat with two rounds of nerfs coming in. At the end of the day (most) Terrans don't want Toss to suck, we just want to have options in the matchup and not feel like we had to outplay a player worse than us simply to win the match.

If that last match thread was an example of the whining decreasing i'd hate to see what it's like at its worst. Hell that was in a tournament where terran actually did pretty decent as well.

The stuff about lack of variety is true but becomes less true the lower you go. Mech is viable right up to GM and you can do some fairly different stuff at lower levels.

My opinion is protoss is poorly designed and has had a negative impact on the game (ESPECIALLY map design). For me personally i don't really like using toss all that much. They need a big overhaul but not for balance purposes (that can be solved much more easily). I have thoughts on how to do this and it seems lots of other people do to. Most of it gets overlooked in favour of balance discussions and frankly blizzard aren't going to make big changes at this point so it simply won't happen.

Also for the record my annoyance with this stuff has nothing to do with toss. Toss players have been inflating my ladder rank since the release of WoL. I just think at a certain it just ruins any discussion involving SC2. It also drowns out the real discussion that is needed about how to improve the game.

I hope we see the free Arcade help to sustain the SCII scene in China, haven't we heard that it's doing fairly well over there?

I have heard that. I think BW actually stayed pretty popular after it died down elsewhere. Free arcade would be good there but like most regions the game going F2P would be much, much bigger.

 

[unknownstranger]

Random idea. The bunker upgrade has always been pretty useless. How about changing the upgrade to it placing a turret on top of the bunker like the campaign that does the damage of 2 Marines. Would allow Terran to feel much safer moving out against Protoss.

 

[EscapingJail]

I honestly don't think that people should let balance whining rub them the wrong way. Every race has had their turn (like Terran for a LOT of WoL).

The problem is that this is one of the most balanced games ever made even in its current form, and in a game where every race/character is different will always have imbalanced design.

The constant whining adds nothing to the discussion other than personal short-sightedness. There was a very long period of 9 months where Protoss won almost nothing. But yet people forget..

Sorry if I went on a bit of a rant.

 

[AdventureRacing]

Random idea. The bunker upgrade has always been pretty useless. How about changing the upgrade to it placing a turret on top of the bunker like the campaign that does the damage of 2 Marines. Would allow Terran to feel much safer moving out against Protoss.

This is one of the hardest things as terran for me, the lack of static defense (i know they get turrets and PF's). As a terran BW player i got accustomed to having spider mines everywhere. Personally my random though was, and i acknowledge it may be stupid, was to make the widow mine a 1 supply unit. It would obviously have to be weakened somewhat but man i would love it. It would allow you to actually leave some sitting around the place for defense.

That's a change that has approximately 0% chance of happening though lol which is why i don't usually mention such things.

The problem is that this is one of the most balanced games ever made even in its current form, and in a game where every race/character is different will always have imbalanced design.

The constant whining adds nothing to the discussion other than personal short-sightedness. There was a very long period of 9 months where Protoss won almost nothing. But yet people forget..

Sorry if I went on a bit of a rant.

Protoss sucked for a lot longer than that and for most of that time were just told to L2P. That was around the time i started playing protoss lol.

 

[Aaron]

The constant whining adds nothing to the discussion other than personal short-sightedness. There was a very long period of 9 months where Protoss won almost nothing. But yet people forget.

I don't think people forgot. There's been periods where the zerg couldn't win anything, and others where they dominated. Whining on both times. I agree now it's especially bad, but it's silly to pretend that whining didn't exist during these periods. People mostly want a balanced game, and while that's super hard to do in SC2, people are still going to want it.

Personally, I wish all the units in the game where at least potentially useful in every matchup. Right now, nearly all of mech is useless out of tvt. That matters more to me than balance.

 

[SamuraiX-]

[FeedMe] $100,000 IEM World Championships Katowice Hype Video

 

[Draft]

Personally, I wish all the units in the game where at least potentially useful in every matchup. Right now, nearly all of mech is useless out of tvt. That matters more to me than balance.

I think that's unreasonable. Every unit should be useful in at least one match up, preferably two, and units useful in all three are going to be the core guys like marines, stalkers, zerglings, etc.

I hate that some units are never useful. Carriers, all of Terran T3, I'm looking at you. David Kim says it's OK that BCs never get used because when they do it's a cool moment. That's crazy, David Kim. SC2 units shouldn't be like the good china.

 

[Aylinato]

Is it alyinato? Can probably pm him

Yes, but I made almost all the members able to invite people. I'll be on tonight for a while around 10pm EST


Just read the rest of the thread about balance. Lol, why I don't discuss balance because back when Terran was dominating (by a good chunk of change) and we were always told to "learn to play" just like racing said. The problem IMHO is that Protoss has super super strong air units. But only really air units are viable (colossus are air IMHO) if you only go ground units, you simply would not be able to win. Like by itself late game strat, you have to have air or you will just die. So blizzard made sure our air was stronger to make up for that lack of strength on the ground. They should make a micro-sequence type unit that resembles the slug thing from SC and remove the colossus, adds that they have to micro while making it so marines can't just destroy everything Protoss has on the ground. Course I don't know if they nerfed the one Protoss air thing that melts faces. They need to fix that too, not sure how but they do.(if they didnt)

 

[SamuraiX-]

Prime is now sponsored by TV shopping channel Home & Shopping, ending a two year drought of new sponsors

Damn, that's awesome. Good for Prime.

Also:

(+ Maybe a new Prime uniform will be revealed next week too?)

MKP saving eSports. <3

 

[Yoshichan]

I am actually going to wear the MKP clothes and neclace for the first time in a looooong time!

 

[SamuraiX-]

Cool on XMG but 3 PvZs?? With the three biggest Swarm Host whores in the game, no less. At least one Terran would have been nice but the MSC/Blink nerfs + Hydra buffs should be interesting to watch

Spoiler

assuming any of those Zergs actually make Hydras.

 

[Syf]

Yeah I don't get that. PvZ will be interesting with the tempest vs. structure and hydra changes but PvT is the real hot issue in the community. I'm surprised they're ignoring it.

 

[giri]

Yeah I don't get that. PvZ will be interesting with the tempest vs. structure and hydra changes but PvT is the real hot issue in the community. I'm surprised they're ignoring it.

It's probably very hard to get Top Level terrans to play on test maps live. Most of the top terrans are all .kr where as there are comparable toss/zerg that aren't.

Out side of Polt, i struggle to think of a legit non .kr terran. And well. He's korean.

 

[Son1x]

It's probably very hard to get Top Level terrans to play on test maps live. Most of the top terrans are all .kr where as there are comparable toss/zerg that aren't.

Out side of Polt, i struggle to think of a legit non .kr terran. And well. He's korean.

Well the opponents are Grubby, Minigun and MaNa. They could have easily asked players like Bunny, qxc and HeRoMaRinE for example.

 

[kasane]

i give up, playing macro games on gold is a pipe dream.

I want to practice but everyfreakingbody will try to 1 base all in you or cheese you

 

[Sibylus]

Sucks that Scarlett was knocked out, but the double envelopment that Toodming set up with his roaches was brilliant. Watch the VOD of game 2 of their series.

 

[Crimsonlink]

NA WCS is way better than GSL frankly so far this season. Plus their VODs are free on YT channel. Watch Game 2 of Masa vs Toodming for an amazing TvZ. Much better than Bbyong vs True in GSL.

It disappoints me that GOM doesn't think of other ways to make money. Such as player interviews with English translator or having special showmatches that people have to pay to watch.

The scene needs money injected from the fans, this ad and sponsorship goes a long way but having the fans pay and get the quality they deserve for that payment needs to be worked out. GOM switching to twitch isn't helping especially since people aren't happy with the quality they get for their $80 something dollars.

I'd love to pay for a Kespa team shirt or other team merchandise. Prime seems to know whats up with their own Team Store their coach Gerrard runs. Which is probably why they have lasted so long with a terrible showing in 2013 with they losing in GSTL in last place and no team member in premier leagues. They even have a new sponsorship because MKP has such a huge audience in S.Korea and his return is gonna bring a few hundred or even thousand viewers a week or 2 from now when he plays.

Thankfully the scene seems to be stabilizing from all the disbanding and other crap going down last year.

 

[SamuraiX-]

Polt Partners with iBUYPOWER

Good for Polt. Go get it, baby!

 

[Crimsonlink]

Polt Partners with iBUYPOWER

Good for Polt. Go get it, baby!

LOL All those first place finishes. Too bad about IEM, he was so close.

 

[Aaron]

Good for Polt. It's crazy to think he was going to quit Starcraft when TSL collapsed.

 

[kasane]

Can someone turn me into a korrean terran??

 

[Zen]

I'm not top tier, "high diamond, low masters" as they say but if you want help improving give me a shout!

 

[Hazaro]

Polt Partners with iBUYPOWER

Good for Polt. Go get it, baby!

Polt's a super cool dude, happy he's got another sponsor.
Revolt is a nice unit when it's not dying.

 

[unknownstranger]

Holy shit. Taeja on his stream had the most hilarious fuck up I've seen him do. He built his 3rd CC in his natural's wall, and literally the moment he lifts to move to his 3rd, a massive swarm and ling/baneling/muta comes right through the giant hole and wrecked him.

 

[Aaron]

Heh, I know that feeling. That terrible, terrible feeling.

 

[Zen]

SPL Round 2 Roster Updates

KT Rolster changes it Head Coach to H.O.T.-Forever
Samsung Galaxy KHAN adds Hurricane (P) (Previously of FXO/fOu)
CJ Entus adds GuMihO (T) (Previously of FXO/fOu)
IM adds Hack (T), Pet (Z), Curious (Z), Life (Z), and Panic (P) as part of their partnership with StarTale
Prime adds MKP (T), State (P) (Previously of ROOT) and Choya (P) (Previously of FXO/fOu) Choya is returning as a player.

http://www.inven.co.kr/webzine/news/?news=104612&iskin=esports

 

[danielcw]

Can anyone recommend some good maps for 3 players?

 

[Aylinato]

O man the group chat allows the creation of events. Yessssss.


So I created one for GAF night next Wednesday at 8PM est. hopefully we get a lot of people to show up.

 

[HolyCheck]

SPL Round 2 Roster Updates

KT Rolster changes it Head Coach to H.O.T.-Forever
Samsung Galaxy KHAN adds Hurricane (P) (Previously of FXO/fOu)
CJ Entus adds GuMihO (T) (Previously of FXO/fOu)
IM adds Hack (T), Pet (Z), Curious (Z), Life (Z), and Panic (P) as part of their partnership with StarTale
Prime adds MKP (T), State (P) (Previously of ROOT) and Choya (P) (Previously of FXO/fOu) Choya is returning as a player.

http://www.inven.co.kr/webzine/news/?news=104612&iskin=esports

Awesome Awesome AWESOME.

Prime will be playing on my 2nd or first day in seoul, so I'll be going to that and taking so many photos!!!!

 

[SamuraiX-]

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=444202

Nathanias knows wazzup!

This Sunday at 1 PM PST!

 

[Zen]

New Prime Jerseys

 

[SamuraiX-]

Simple and clean. I like them but why do the bottoms look like pajama pants?

 

[zargle]

Team Liquid signs Mana and Bunny: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=444244

 

[SamuraiX-]

Oooooh shiiiit!!

Team Liquid Welcome MaNa and Bunny!

Nice pickups! So happy MaNa has a team again.

 

[SamuraiX-]

Hey, guys! Don't forget FPL '14 Round 2 is starting!

Fantasy Proleague 2014 Round 2

• Signups: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=444122
• Round 2 Rosters: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=444101
• Week 1 Lineups: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=444190

Click HERE to join the NeoGAF group!

 

[fanboi]

Oooooh shiiiit!!

Team Liquid Welcome MaNa and Bunny!

Nice pickups! So happy MaNa has a team again.

Is it just me or is their heads way disappropriate

 

[Yoshichan]

Who the fuck is that girl next to FoxeR? Stop pretending to be hip by hopping on the return-of-the-king-train.

 

[Corran Horn]

Who the fuck is that girl next to FoxeR? Stop pretending to be hip by hopping on the return-of-the-king-train.

bitch you dont know barbie? Barbie was there for team prime while MKP was slumming with the LoL fools. Barbie is a true soldier!

 

[SamuraiX-]

bitch you dont know barbie? Barbie was there for team prime while MKP was slumming with the LoL fools. Barbie is a true soldier!

Preach.

Barbie giving MKP dat warm welcome back.


INnoVation streaming!

 

[kasane]

I'm not top tier, "high diamond, low masters" as they say but if you want help improving give me a shout!

Are you korean?

 

[Yoshichan]

Meh, stick to hugging other LoL disbanders and leave the man alone