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[Holden]

get gud m8

 

[Lethe82]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur69gng_8zk

destiny goes full sellout for 2 days

also destiny's chat in a nutshell

warning: lots of cursing

He made like 10k in one evening alone.

Wish nobody gave him any attention at all.

He's actually quite smart. It's not like he's a pro or anything, he's a professional streamer and you can often find interesting talks where he has people on who start arguing about fiscal policy, or he's trying to get through to someone who is mentally disturbed, or someone is threatening to kill his baby. Whatever the it is, it's entertaining and sometimes educational.

He's like the 4chan ying to Winters SCII focused Yang.

 

[SamuraiX-]

Soulkey joins TCM

Good shit! Finally. Now all the former SKT1 players have found a team.

Hopefully this means more of Soulkey at foreign tournaments.

 

[Lethe82]

Reemember when we were all spit balling ideas to make the corrupter more interesting? In that huge write up I came a hairs breath from putting a section in that came to the following conclusion, it's actually in the old text document where I brain stormed ideas:

"but this range delayed AOE with a visual indicator as to where it would land might be more dynamic and interesting throughout the length of the game if it was attached to a core Zerg unit. You couldn't just make it an upgrade to an existing unit without breaking it, so I think creating an evolved state of the Roach that has this ability would be, frankly, awesome"

Blizzard probably has my computer hacked.

 

[AdventureRacing]

Team Rotterdam versus Team Zen: watch both commanders at the same time.
Rotti vs Zen commanding in Archon mode!

I dunno guys, I think this mode has a lot of potential to make the game more social.

I've been asking for something similar for a few years now. Blizzard really need to make sure they have a ladder for this and push this mode heavily.

 

[SamuraiX-]

GSL 2015 Season 1 Code S Qualifiers are happening right now!

http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/2015_Global_StarCraft_II_League_Season_1/Qualifier

Bomber and MMA already in! w00t w00t

Some big surprises so far: soO knocked out by Rogue, Seed 2-0'ing Life and 2-1'ing jjakji to qualify, HerO knocked out by PenguiN, DeParture knocking Zest down to losers bracket...

 

[StopMakingSense]

MarineKing back in Code S!

Flash didn't qualify

 

[Lethe82]

Y'know I wasn't even sad when MKP got bopped in Hot6ix, it's great to see him with another tournament and go so far. From being nowhere to 2nd place in Hot6ix and getting back into GSL code S? Welcome back MKP!

So Flash is in code A? D: (that's still a thing right, or not until next season?)

The 2015 Global StarCraft II League Season 1 is one of the two Korean leagues of the 2015 StarCraft II World Championship Series. For this season there is exceptionally no Code as qualified players will directly advance in Code Code S.

http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/2015_Global_StarCraft_II_League_Season_1

EDIT: Well he's in SSL at least : D

I've been asking for something similar for a few years now. Blizzard really need to make sure they have a ladder for this and push this mode heavily.

I think they confirmed a ladder for Archon mode?

 

[Lethe82]

EVERYONE WHO PLAYS THIS GAME SHOULD WATCH THIS VIDEO AND USE THESE TOOLS

Learn Starcraft 2 Builds Quick and Easy with SALT and Spawning Tool

 

[demosthenes]

He made like 10k in one evening alone.



He's actually quite smart. It's not like he's a pro or anything, he's a professional streamer and you can often find interesting talks where he has people on who start arguing about fiscal policy, or he's trying to get through to someone who is mentally disturbed, or someone is threatening to kill his baby. Whatever the it is, it's entertaining and sometimes educational.

He's like the 4chan ying to Winters SCII focused Yang.

I don't care how smart you are if you're an asshole (not you, him).

edit: Will watch the video you posted later.

 

[SamuraiX-]

Bomber coming in as a player-coach for the StarTale-YoeFlashWolves alliance in SPL.

lawd

Also, SSL kicks off in a little over 9 hours. Hold onto ya butts!

Really love that they're doing it at a reasonable time. 10 PM PST is wonderful.

EVERYONE WHO PLAYS THIS GAME SHOULD WATCH THIS VIDEO AND USE THESE TOOLS

Learn Starcraft 2 Builds Quick and Easy with SALT and Spawning Tool

This looks awesome. Definitely wanna try it out.

 

[Lethe82]

I really wish that SSL would use different maps to differentiate themselves from GSL. Right now this feels it's just the same league but they cloned it. Having completely different maps was something that really helped the Total Biscuit Nation Wars league stand out.

 

[Lethe82]

This looks awesome. Definitely wanna try it out.

Yep, I think I need to buckle down and just fully commit to the standard meta game, and use this tool to help get there. I know I can be at least high masters but I have like zero discipline to 'train' as it were.

 

[AdventureRacing]

I really wish that SSL would use different maps to differentiate themselves from GSL. Right now this feels it's just the same league but they cloned it. Having completely different maps was something that really helped the Total Biscuit Nation Wars league stand out.

I think this is a problem with the WCS system in general. I know they're trying to make things 'fair' but it stagnate the map pool IMO. Not all WCS tournaments should have to use the exact same map pool. I think having tournaments with unique maps adds a bit of flavour to them, it also allows for unique strats/cheeses that players can prepare in advance.

 

[Lethe82]

I think this is a problem with the WCS system in general. I know they're trying to make things 'fair' but it stagnate the map pool IMO. Not all WCS tournaments should have to use the exact same map pool. I think having tournaments with unique maps adds a bit of flavour to them, it also allows for unique strats/cheeses that players can prepare in advance.

Hm, yeah. I think as long as you have one 'main' WCS tournament per region with a standardized map pool that should be enough. To be honest the current WCS map pool is just kind of 'there'. One of the reasons I loved Shout Craft Clan Wars league is because they had tons of different maps and were fairly aggressive about map rotation.

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/17222794

Legacy of the Void: Multiplayer Development Update – December 17, 2014

We wanted to give everyone an update on the current state of Legacy of the Void in order to gather more feedback and work together with everyone in order to prepare better for the upcoming beta next year. Obviously, nothing is final (even for the beta) and as you’ll see below, we’re still in a phase of exploration and testing, so please keep this in mind.

General Gameplay Changes

Resource changes
First, we’d like to give an update on the resource changes we showed at Blizzcon. In that build, resources were reduced to 70% of what they currently are in Heart of the Swarm. From our playtesting, we really liked that this set-up encouraged players to move out more and take expansions more aggressively which led to action packed games. One element we were still concerned about was the potential diminished importance of harassment since workers were being transferred much earlier. Since Blizzcon, we’ve looked at changes that keep the positive aspect of encouraging players to take more bases, while still providing incentives to harass bases in various locations.

The change we are currently testing is as follows:

Half of the mineral patches have 1500 (same as HotS), and the other half has 750.
Gas is at 75% of total.

The main things we like with this change so far are:

Players are still encouraged to move out and take bases aggressively.

There are still reasons to harass most of the bases since they remain operational at half efficiency.

Macro on bases and transferring workers throughout the game becomes more meaningful and more rewarding to players who do this better.

We currently feel like this solution help resolve the main negative side of the change we proposed at Blizzcon, but we’ve only been testing this for a few weeks, so we can’t say with 100% certainty. We’d definitely like to hear your thoughts in this area.

Worker count change

We’ve heard a lot of thoughts and suggestions on different starting worker counts for Legacy of the Void, so we’ve tested alternate starting counts internally. Currently, we feel 12 is the correct number because that number feels like the point right before decisions start diverging. However, we feel that since this is a simple change from a development standpoint, we could explore alternate worker counts in the beta without any issue. Looking at our data, we believe this is the correct starting worker count, but it’s still something we are willing to test further in beta.

Upgrades

We’re exploring a couple things in this area. The first is to have more meaningful upgrades in the game. Here is what we’re thinking in this area.

Locate units that are used in the game that could potentially bring an impactful change at a much later stage of the game.

We’re currently looking at upgrades that bring a meaningful change to how existing units on the battlefield are used in later stages of the game. The upgrades for Zergling speed and Ghost cloaking are good examples of this. These units are already used in gameplay, but the upgrades provide visible changes to the interactions with that unit.

Don’t add upgrades on for unit late-game units.

Units like Battlecruisers, Carriers, or Thors come out so late that additional upgrades aren’t as interesting. Generally speaking, the late tier units are used only after the upgrades are purchased anyways, so we don’t see a huge value in adding more upgrades to them. For example, Ultralisks wait until their armor upgrade is done because both building Ultralisks and researching the upgrade start at the same time. So this upgrade is clearly not as interesting as say like Zergling speed or Marine stim pack that really change up how the units already on the battlefield are used.
We’re also considering splitting-up mech and air upgrades once again for Legacy of the Void. Currently, the unit lineup for the Factory and Starport are both very solid, and so we wonder if bringing back the choice of which tech to upgrade will make those upgrade decisions more interesting. For example, our internal playtests are seeing multiple builds that involve mixing bio with mech or air independently. Therefore, we believe splitting the upgrades might add to the strategy. It’s important to remember however, that we’ve made a lot of changes in order to make mech viable, so we need to be careful and see if this change would make mech less of a strategic option.

Terran Changes

We’ve gone through lots of iterations on various units and abilities, and this is just a snapshot of where we are at right now.

Changes to the HERC
The main things we didn’t like about the HERC were:

Too much overlap with Hellbats
Grapple ability isn’t really needed for the unit to function well.
Changes:

Tech level changed to Armory requirement
No longer deals splash damage
No longer effective for cost
Grapple is to target ground
When landing from grapple, knocks enemy units in that area back

One of our goals with the HERC is to help give Terran an advantage vs Zerglings and Banelings and encourage the Zerg player to tech switch. By adding a knockback to Grapple, the HERC can counter Banelings in a way that makes the ability more core. And while these changes clearly fixed the two main issues we had with the HERC, it also brings in new challenges with the unit. If Grapple is too spammable, it takes too much control away from the opponent. We’re seeing that it feels silly because players using HERCs can shut down the ability for micro on the opposing side by timing the knockbacks correctly. In general, what we want is the potential for micro on both sides, and this new HERC was going against that philosophy. Therefore, we’re currently not in a good place on the HERC, and we’re working towards a better solution.

Banshee attack range decreased back to 6
With the Banshee speed upgrade alone, Banshees were doing many cool things to the game. However, we felt the range increase didn’t really impact the late game but hurt the early game vs. Zerg. The number of Spore Crawlers needed to counter just normal banshees became high enough that it felt cost effective to just build a Banshee and show it to the opponent. Because we already get the effect we want with the Banshee speed upgrade, we felt we didn’t have to also increase the Banshee’s attack range.

Cyclone ability is autocast, and the unit is rebalanced accordingly
In Legacy of the Void, we’ve added a lot of units that are more active or difficult to use. So we’ve been exploring various ways to keep the high-level, intensive micro play while allowing the game to be a bit more casual for average-level players. We believe the Cyclone’s ability being autocast is a good step in that direction. We wanted to push the importance of the positioning of the Cyclone more so than the click micro and because they’re autocast now, where they stand when engaging the army will be a lot more important. Prior to this change, whoever clicked faster was the more effective player using this unit. And players who want to make 100% sure that their Cyclones hit the right targets to turn off autocast and use it manually still.

Zerg Changes

Lurker siege range upgrade no longer has a Hive requirement
The Lurker is still working out well for us, but we felt the siege range upgrade comes in a bit too late. Seige range will still be at a very late Teir 2 tech level because it’s still gated by not only the Lurker Den, but also an upgrade on top of that. This isn’t set in stone, but we currently believe this is a better place for it.

Infestor ability removal + add?
Aggressive Mutation was only really effective when combined with Zerglings, due to the fact that ability provides a flat damage buff. At the same time, we also didn’t want to make a general upgrade that just generally buffs all Zerg ground units. If we feel that the buff its providing Zergling damage is needed and is good for the late game, we can just buff their Tier 3 attack speed upgrade. Therefore, we’re looking for other areas where the Infestor can be utilized.

Zerg AA vs. mass air strategies
We’re currently trying out an ability on the Viper to help deal with large numbers of air units (but not small numbers of them). This new ability deals an AoE dot to enemy air units. If only a few air units are in play, it’ll be easy for the opponent to micro against this ability, whereas when the air unit count gets really high, dealing with this ability will be exponentially more difficult.

We’ve tried out abilities like this in the past and we’ve experienced a couple problems. Counter micro on the opposing side is to just kill the unit that has the DoT on it. This is problematic, because it’s not difficult to just select everything you have and kill the one afflicted unit. Design wise, this type of enemy reaction is also problematic because it just becomes a doom type spell, and not the spell we’re going for. To solve this, we’ve tried versions in the past where burst damage goes through if the unit is killed. The problem in this case is that I can then cast this spell on the enemy unit and quickly focus fire it down.

In order to solve both of these issues, we’re trying a version where if you use the ability, the effect is applied to the enemy air unit, but if the unit is killed before the DoT damage expires, the DoT damaging effect still remains flying in the air at the location where the unit died. This way, the optimal move for the opposing player is to move the affected unit away from the other units rather than just killing it. On the user’s side, it’s slightly more effective to have the affected unit move around with the DoT damage, than to have the DoT damage remain stationary, so there’s little incentive to quickly focus fire the affected unit down.

We haven’t had as much testing with this ability yet, and we’re not even sure if the Viper is the correct unit for this ability, but the general idea of exploring a late game Zerg AA vs. mass air armies is something we’re focusing on.

Protoss Changes

Additional new Protoss unit
We haven’t finalized design on a new Protoss unit, but it’s something we’re heavily focused on these days. We have general concepts and ideas we’re trying, but haven’t nailed down something solid yet. Generally speaking, we’re experimenting with allowing Protoss to play a more aggressive containment game in the early game by utilizing a new unit. We feel this will give some more variety to Protoss openings, since Protoss generally tends to play defensively. If you have good ideas or feedback in this area, it would be appreciated.

We’re currently exploring a very different type of harassing unit. We don’t yet have the specific details yet but these are the things we’re thinking right now:

Early game unit
Slow movement speed (to differentiate from other early game harassers)
Phase shift ability. Unit goes completely invulnerable for X seconds on a short cooldown (to be able to move in and harass and to get out in a different way compared to say like Blink harass)
Doesn’t counter core units for cost (idea of having a core unit that goes invulnerable just sounds like it would be too much. Plus with this effective ability, this unit could still be a great harasser even if it’s not effective for cost).
But like we said, we’re still in the concept/discussion phase of this unit so additional feedback is welcome. It could even be suggestions on a completely different unit that the Protoss can use to make the game more exciting for everyone.

Mothership Core’s Photon Overcharge ability now hits both ground and air again.
Because of the resource changes we’re currently testing, Protoss is most impacted as they’re the ones that struggle the most with taking additional bases. We felt this nerf was no longer needed because to this.

Immortal Barrier ability is an upgrade
The Barrier ability combined with the new ranged pick up from Warp Prisms has been too difficult to defend against without having air units. We’re currently testing having the ability as an upgrade. We may need to make tweaks to improve the ability if needed, but this is something we’ll look at going forward.

Personal thoughts:

I really like the concept of aggressive mutation for the Infestors and disagree that it was only useful for Zerglings. I mean Hydras that do an additional +5 DMG can shred air or ground.

Minerals: bumping half the patches up to 1500 and putting half at 750... hmmm... well it would help to spread out SCVs more.

Herc: In general I just don't think the unit is going to work. It might actually be 'better' if the hellbat was removed and they just made the herc the new Hellbat, even though I love Hellbats.... dunno. I feel like this unit is really weird and I'm not sure how to make it click.

New Protoss contain/Harass unit: Dislike. Protoss already has a lot of contain options, at least Colo are still at 8 range, making the death ball less effective.

 

[Syf]

It seems they just don't understand why toss is awful

 

[Lethe82]

Adding yet another harass unit will just give protoss yet another option to harass while staying completely defensive. I mean, maybe, MAYBE, the new mineral changes that will force Protoss to spread out more will alleviate this in the early/mid game, but I'm not so sure since it's during those stages that they are incredibly solid defensively.

Protoss already has an amazing amount of harass: Oracles, Pheonix, blink stalkers, speedlot warp ins, storm drops, DTs, DT drops, Warp Prism Warp ins in general.

 

[Woorloog]

They should bring back the Dragoon and Reaver just because.
Those two units have style, style all SC2 Protoss additions lack. Where the style comes, i can't say, i just know they have style.

I should play SC2 sometimes, rather than just think about it...

 

[demosthenes]

Taeja

 

[Tekniqs]

decided to pick up the game. Watched a terran video by Apocalypse (I think) then did my 5 placement games. Somehow I ended up in silver. I would have thought I'd be in bronze. I've never played the first starcraft either. Am I gonna get my ass whooped?

 

[Lethe82]

Maybe! Welcome to SCII, feel like posting your Bnet ID so people can add you?

 

[Tekniqs]

Maybe! Welcome to SCII, feel like posting your Bnet ID so people can add you?

Bnet = Tekniqs

I keep getting matched with people 40+ and sometimes in the 100s already. LOL, i don't know what to do.

 

[jasonng]

Bnet = Tekniqs

I keep getting matched with people 40+ and sometimes in the 100s already. LOL, i don't know what to do.

Don't let that intimidate you. Levels do not correlate with skill, it only means that person has played more than you. You can hit level cap and still be the shittiest player ever.

 

[unknownstranger]

My thoughts on the balance changes:

They're still trying to overcomplicate your economy when they should just lower each mineral patch to 1200.

I don't see the problem with upgrades for late game units as most of them take around the same time it takes to build that unit.

I don't get the Herc change to make Zerg tech switch when the only thing better than Ling/Baneling against bio is Ultra's.

The Banshee range change was stupid and needed to be reverted back to how it is now.

Didn't know the Lurker range upgrade required Hive but that was way too long for it to become useful except in late game. It still will take pretty long to get it and unless you skip Hydra upgrades or build a second Hydralisk's Den it'll take even longer.

Wasn't sure what was the point of the new Infestor ability.

THIS ABILITY NEEDS TO GO TO CORRUPTORS! Vipers are basically fine as is and were probably the most balanced HotS unit.

Protoss could use another unit but not another harass one. Give the Robotics Facility a melee unit that basically functions as a thicker Zealot.

Didn't understand the point of the Photon Overcharge change.

Ability should be baseline unless you want Immortals to be awful until they get it.

 

[SamuraiX-]

Three sexy TvZs on the menu for tonight in SSL:

http://www.twitch.tv/sc2starleague

 

[SamuraiX-]

Dream's Thor-Medivac pickup micro... absolutely godlike.

 

[Wedge7]

Oh god Flash, that was painful. Actually saw him visibly upset in the player cam a few times, looked extremely frustrated.

Damn, was so hyped for this season.

 

[fanboi]

Man Scarlett is looking good (in the match as well!)

 

[demosthenes]

Man, how do you lose after killing this much for free?

https://gfycat.com/AdolescentFrailGonolek

 

[kasane]

Flash broodwar advantage is long gone

His theory that perfect macro usually prevails was right on broodwar. Sc 2 is volatile enough that he cant just do 14 cc plus occasional cheese.

Hurting his wrist proabably didnt help either.

Flaaash ;(

 

[Lethe82]

Did he get knocked out of SSL?

https://gfycat.com/AdolescentFrailGonolek

And still went down 0-3 darn!

 

[kasane]

Yeah bad luck i should say. Maube he goes to international tournaments more or something

 

[Tekniqs]

i'm VERY new to the game so please excuse my question.

Why was Flash so dominant in SC1 but having such trouble transitioning to SC2? Who's made the transition successfully?

 

[fanboi]

i'm VERY new to the game so please excuse my question.

Why was Flash so dominant in SC1 but having such trouble transitioning to SC2? Who's made the transition successfully?

I would say Flash is one of the better transitions that have happened... he have finished top places in major tournaments and, as far as I know, been great in Starleague (?) earlier.

Jeadong has also done well I would say.

 

[Lethe82]

I think he's in a bit of slump right now, but the time off from SSL and GSL will give him more opportunities to really focus on adjusting his play and maybe picking up some foreign tournaments.

i'm VERY new to the game so please excuse my question.

Why was Flash so dominant in SC1 but having such trouble transitioning to SC2? Who's made the transition successfully?

Flash was so dominant in Brood War/SCI because he figured out how to play the game 'perfectly'.

That's not an answer,, this is:

Flash has PERFECT macro (spending your money efficiently and building units) and that made such a huge difference in Brood War because they game was actually much harder to play efficiently (macro/micro etc).

Starcraft II automates a ton of things that you have to do manually in SCI (like telling a recently built SCV to actually start mining) so SCI had such a higher skill ceiling that Flash being 'perfect' actually put him well above everyone else.

In Brood War even if you had a maxed out army, because of how the AI worked not all of it would engage at any one time. In Starcraft II the AI is much better, the units clump, and generally all engage in fights that have very high damage and AOE. Part of what made Flash just eventually overrun his opponents is that he was macroing perfectly and doing everything perfectly while each player was losing small chunks of army at a time in SCI, so he was replacing units faster than his opponents. That's not really the case in SCII, you take big losses very quickly, it's far easier to macro, and unit production happens a lot faster (warp gates, reactors, injects) and the skill gap for Macro (his strength) is much smaller. Flash has the best Macro in SCII, but that means less than it did in SCI because the difference between 'perfect' and everyone else is much smaller.

Flash is still a great player, and very likely he will adapt to his recent short comings. What made him a champion wasn't just his macro, it was that he learned from every game and relentless practices to overcome his weaknesses.

SCII minimizes his strengths while emphasizing his weaknesses (Micro, he hasn't been as good at Micro for a while, due to wrist problems and surgeries, he not BAD, but he's a very macro/mini map oriented player, if you want to see a great Micro Terran look at games from Marine King, though to be fair Flash has some of the very best micro in terms of understanding unit positioning and attack range, which helps him compensate). The way the scene operates is also a lot more volatile, with players facing a greater diversity of opponents over a smaller time frame (less time to prepare per MU).

 

[Yoshichan]

Bisu transitioned badly from BW to SC2

Flash didn't

 

[Corran Horn]

Going through my stuff before I move into my new home I found my extra of these cards from when I was at blizzcon in 2010 unscratched

 

[Lethe82]

Bisu transitioned badly from BW to SC2

Flash didn't

Flash only transitioned poorly (horribly) relative to Flash, he's still actually one of the better transition stories out there.

 

[SamuraiX-]

FPL is back bitches

Round 1, Week 1 matchups: http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/2015_Proleague/Round_1/Round_Robin

Bombs Away

Main Team
6 -

Bbyong
1 -

Believe
5 -

Bomber (captain)
4 -

Cure
7 -

Life
5 -

Rogue
2 - Team StarTale + YFW

Anti Team
7 -

Dear
2 -

Salvation
4 -

San

 

[Crimsonlink]

The King's return!

Main Team
5 -

Bomber
6 -

Creator
4 -

Cure
2 -

DeParture
3 -

HerO
7 -

MarineKing (captain)
3 - Team MVP

Anti Team
3 -

Hush
6 -

MyuNgSiK
4 -

San

All the protoss anti team lol.

 

[Lethe82]

My thoughts on the balance changes:

They're still trying to over complicate your economy when they should just lower each mineral patch to 1200.

I actually love the economy changes. Switching everything to 1200 will just mean that you will only perfect 3 base econ for slightly less, by making half the patches mine out faster you increase the reward for base taking by giving the player better econ. After a short period of time it basically recreates the old sub par worker efficiency in brood war that helped to spread workers out, and give more of an econ advantage for taking more bases. Since all the remaining patches will take longer to mine out than the old configuration, it will help elevate the severity of minning out, since you will mine out more slowly per base overall, softening the issue that resulted in some games being decided by who ran out of money/mining bases. I wouldn't mind if they made the split more severe than it is now, something like 1750, and the other half has 500 or even just 1500/500 (but maybe keeping equal saturation for mains or bases that are very hard to secure. It will still give players a nice temporary boost for securing a new base (important because of how aggressive lotv is) but will still encourage worker spreading and new base acquisition. Properly managing your mining will be more important than it is now, and that's great.

Whatever they do, limiting the economy is important, as it will prevent massive infrastructure booms that then can be sustained forever leading to massive death ball armies because of how fast production is in scii.

Even though they seem stubborn about simply introducing a worker efficiency change, maybe they feel that said change would be far too drastic to all aspects of the game, the way that they are fiddling with the econ seems like they really do 'get it' and why changes like this need to be made to make a more interesting game at every stage. I feel like these kinds of econ changes alone will go a long way to helping give SCII more longevity and diverse strategies and games. In BW you ahd bases with less patches, gas, etc. Bring on econ complexity!

I don't see the problem with upgrades for late game units as most of them take around the same time it takes to build that unit.

Me either. I like it when unit upgrades change dynamics, like stim, blinding cloud, etc. I don't see why this should be reserved only for early and mid game units. There are strategies where you can mass 'late game units' and we should be encouraging that kind of diversity.

I don't get the Herc change to make Zerg tech switch when the only thing better than Ling/Baneling against bio is Ultra's.

The Banshee range change was stupid and needed to be reverted back to how it is now.

Agreed, I know it was causing problems for P and Z but it seemed flat out broken for TvT. maybe all it was going to do was force the turret range upgrade, but eh. The Banshees being faster is a good change, they already do great damage with a range that is just right imo.

Didn't know the Lurker range upgrade required Hive but that was way too long for it to become useful except in late game. It still will take pretty long to get it and unless you skip Hydra upgrades or build a second Hydralisk's Den it'll take even longer.

Lurkers are already great in ZvT, especially because they don't have any tell when burrowed like widow mines do. I don't think the upgrade really needs to be moved down, I question the upgrade even being needed.

Wasn't sure what was the point of the new Infestor ability.

I love it concept and don't get their reasoning for removing it, saying "it's only useful with Zerglings' is ridiculous, like Hydra Roach doesn't also benefit from a flat +5 damage increase!

Hydra no upgrades has an air and ground/air attack of 12 with an attack speed of 0.75.
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Hydralisk_(Heart_of_the_Swarm)

Roach Ground Attack 16
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Roach_(Heart_of_the_Swarm)

So a flat +5 bonus would make them

17 (ground/Air)
and

22 (ground)

I mean how can you say 'no thanks' to that. Though if Anything I think the cost of the ability should be increased slightly, just to prevent total spamming by Zerg who has like 8 infestors.

I hope they keep this ability in because it's really cool, Zergy, and creates immediate action/reaction. I'd also want it to be on the infestor, it just makes sense.

THIS ABILITY NEEDS TO GO TO CORRUPTORS! Vipers are basically fine as is and were probably the most balanced HotS unit.

Protoss could use another unit but not another harass one. Give the Robotics Facility a melee unit that basically functions as a thicker Zealot.

Agreed, though I'm not sure what the Robo Unit should be. Protoss is kind of stuck with gimmicky gateway units that rely on one another because of how Warp Gates work. Actually wouldn't mind stalkers being 'nerfed' slightly and being made into more of a harass/FF unit, (more fragile?), and reintroducing the Dragoon, but making it not be able to be warped in anywhere on the map, give it the usual at base build time and spawn. So to say, even making just a stronger version of each core gateway unit that CAN'T USE THE WARP ABILITY and weakening the warped in units slightly (so just mass warping in won't create insta synergy. Might not be a bad idea.

Didn't understand the point of the Photon Overcharge change.

We'll see, given that toss has the most expensive units and expo's maybe it's needed. Although I hate the idea of it targeting medivacs again (it seems to do too much damage to them imo).

Ability should be baseline unless you want Immortals to be awful until they get it.

I think nerfing the immortal is the wrong way to go about it unless they give the upgrade a really cheap cost and time (a la concussive shell), on the other hand maybe Immortals are kind of 'really good' anyway with the way that Lotv is trying to spread things out and discourage death balls, and having that ability at the start for warp prism harass is just too much.

 

[Lethe82]

New maps all look pretty cool, and with a really varied template set.

1v1 Removals
King Sejong Station
Overgrowth
Merry go round
Nimbus

To replace these four removals, we’ll be adding in four new maps, some of which we’ve made here at Blizzard, and others which we’ve pulled in from top community contributors. As always, we’re looking for a good mix of balanced maps, maps that slightly favor a certain side in a given matchup, as well as maps that play differently compared to what we’re used to seeing. Here are the new maps for the next season. Please check them out not only in this blog post, but also in game!

1v1 Additions

Expedition Lost

Map created by algue. One strong features in this map is the choice it presents in taking a third base. One option is easy to access but far away and very open. The other third base is closer, but requires that you break the rocks in the main to easily access it.. Also, the placement of the collapsible debris leading to the center high ground location vs. the wider, further away ramp makes this map very unique and different from what we’re used to seeing on the ladder. We were looking for a balanced yet different in gameplay map, and this felt like the strongest choice out of the community maps we looked at this season.

Secret Spring

Secret Spring's unique feature is that there are 3 ground paths to your opponent, two of which are initially blocked by destructible rocks and a third which begins as open, but can also be blocked by breaking down collapsible debris. Therefore, although the rush distance is shorter on this map compared to most other maps, players will be able to make the choice of rushing early or breaking down debris to play a more of a defensive game. We’re excited to try out this map and see the effects of having ground paths which can potentially be cut off depending on the players’ choices within the game. We believe one of the main important factors when playing on this map will be to scout which paths are being opened up throughout the course of the game.

Vaani Research Station

Vaani Research Stations is the more standard map of those in the pool. Overall, the expansion paths are quite straight forward, and the main difference compared to other standard maps we’ve seen in the past is that there are lots of open spaces around various locations of the map.

Inferno Pools

We wanted to include at least one big macro map this season and Inferno Pools is that map. Even though rush distances are quite far away, defending the third base on this map will be more challenging than other macro maps we’ve tried so far. There are some unique choices of grabbing the high yield base as the third or taking the island expansion depending on where players spawn on this 4 player map. Overall, scouting and watching for when enemies are coming will be important in order to be able to macro well on this map.

hose are the four 1v1 maps we’ll be adding in for the 2015 Season 1 map pool. Keep your eyes peeled for future updates as we’ll soon be adding details on the team maps! Until then, make sure to check out the new 1v1 maps in the custom games section so you can prepare your best strategies to surprise players come next season! Below is a compiled list of the complete map pool.

Complete 1v1 Map Pool for 2015 Season 1
Foxtrot Labs LE
Catallena LE
Expedition Lost
Secret Spring
Vaani Research Station
Inferno Pools
Deadwing LE

 

[Syf]

New maps look neat. Idk when I'll be laddering again, finally got into Heroes of the Storm and it's kinda super fun.

 

[Lethe82]

I only really Heroes for dailies and when friends want to play, but that works out because they want to play Hots pretty almost daily anyway.

And yes my brother, Heroes is tons of fun.

 

[Tekniqs]

sup with guys online getting salty as shit when you beat them? dude checked out my stats at the start of the game and saw I was 9-27 and was like "lucky u". I end up beating him and he goes "you barely lucked out"....wtf? lol it's a freaking videogame bruh.

 

[SamuraiX-]

sup with guys online getting salty as shit when you beat them? dude checked out my stats at the start of the game and saw I was 9-27 and was like "lucky u". I end up beating him and he goes "you barely lucked out"....wtf? lol it's a freaking videogame bruh.

Welcome to the SC2 ladder. At least they're not personally insulting you yet.

Just expect it to get worse as you continue climbing the ranks. Usually the higher the league, the greater the ego. People can't wait to throw up their own self-loathing on you behind the cover of anonymity.

 

[Tekniqs]

Welcome to the SC2 ladder. At least they're not personally insulting you yet.

Just expect it to get worse as you continue climbing the ranks. Usually the higher the league, the greater the ego. People can't wait to throw up their own self-loathing on you behind the cover of anonymity.

I had a guy call me a "homo" because I harassed with a reaper early game. He promptly quit lol. I killed 1 scv and he quit.
edit: or guys base hiding for unknown reasons. Instead of wasting time, they could have been in another game actually getting better. Boggles the mind

 

[Lethe82]

Starcraft is an absurdly stressful game for some people, just ignore it. XD

 

[Tekniqs]

just realized something. At my level, scouting is OVERRATED. I have no idea what I'm looking for anyhow lol! I'm assuming my opponents aren't following a linear path either.

 

[kasane]

just realized something. At my level, scouting is OVERRATED. I have no idea what I'm looking for anyhow lol! I'm assuming my opponents aren't following a linear path either.

not really

you just have to know where and when

even the most basic things can tell you something like how many gasses and how many bases he has