Archons movement

[overmind]

this is a poll to see what you think about the new Archons movement




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My Opinions: it looks bad and not as unique or mystical as the old one :no:

[Itsmyship]

Eh, its not that big an issue with me, but if i had to pick one, i would pick hover just because it gave the feel of "power overwhelming" :P

[[LightMare]]

the feet are less than .5 centimeters. in a game, that's hardly noticable.

[Fenix]

Eh, it's not a biggie to me, but I like the hover more. It gives them a more mystic feel, same with the High Temps.

[Outcaster]

they sure need to hover, walking makes him look clumsy

[kehmdaddy]

I think walking makes him look far more powerful actually. And the original Archons had legs as well, they weren't just floating torsos. But I feel like every footstep he takes just radiates power and causes shockwaves hahaa.

[PowerkickasS]

i vote for walking
ooo tied battle :D

[coalescence]

Floating! The walking looks stupid.

[Patuljak]

Kehmdaddy, I agree with you to some degree, but if they plan on keeping the walking, they should make it look a little less clumsy. He looks like he's going to trip.

[Remy]

Not a big issue, but I voted for walking.

I agree with Kehmdaddy as well, I think walking makes them look more mencaing.

[GuiMontag]

lol, archons walked in sc1, you just couldnt see the animation

[Major Willy]

I like the walk. I want to be able to hear the stomps of this fearful mass of energy.

But they need to change that flimsy little shockwave. The Starcraft 1 Psionic Shockwave looked deadlier.

[sagrado_corazon]

i personally like the walking. ^_^

[JudicatorPrime]

Yeah... Archons need hover, Templars hover so why does two Templars = walking?

It does make him look clumsy, the original had a thing about it that said, "Yeah, im the most bad ass unit ever I don't need to walk, PYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"

This one is like... Oh god im so slow *thump thump thump*

I actually didnt see his feeti n the animation thing on starcraft2.com all I saw was his hulking shoulders and I was like.. "Huh?"

FLOAT !!!!

[mc2]

I think hovering suits the Archon. It is a psionic entity, and because the High Templar hovered, it matches well for the Archon to hover above ground. And its psionic shockwave can attack air units, so it makes senses for them to be higher above ground in the 1st place

[josh]

still i choose hovering but i wish they would fix the sprites. the archon's walking animation is like he's just standing there only its moving.

[Scarecrow]

Hovering makes them look much scarier so that's the way to go.

[I)4rk]

Definately float, it made me kind of sad to watch the archon walk, because I mean it floats on its pure energy from the Khala, so common it has to float.

[Major Willy]

I love the idea of a Twilight Archon and his buddy stomping around wreaking havoc though.

Stomping is the source of power. Godzilla. King Kong. Chuck Norris. A titan in Greek mythology.

[Star-Crap]

the new walking look looks better IMO

it gives them a sort of juggernaut look to them. ****ing stopable!!!!

[Major Willy]

Now if we had destructive enviroments I'd break through and yell, "I'M THE JUGGANAUT B****!"

[PhantomFF]

I personally think the walking gives it the more "powerful" feeling then floating. Wierd? probably but I just like the idea.

[zeratul11]

walking, they look more bully and powerful.ive seen them walking with their feet i forgot where. anyway it looks totally cool when they are walking. hovering makes them look slender and relax.

[burkid]

i like the walking, but i would prefer it if they took fewer, longer steps

edit: is it just me or did archons lose their splash damage?

[PhantomFF]

It looks to me like they might have lost splash...but gained in overall power as well...

I just kinda wonder if they have actual health now.

[brc9210]

No if you watch the game footage the marines in the back die far faster than the marines in the front. Which means that there must be splah

[burkid]

they all died in 1 hit...

[Remy]

The first marine died from both archons attacking it, the rest died in one hit. EXCEPT the marine on the far left of last row, bottom most of the screen. That one took two hits from the same archon to kill it. You don't see the archon move its arm out a second time but you do see a second arc of lightning that shoots out to kill that particular marine.

If you take into consideration the positioning of all the marines and the order they were killed, it appears that there is splash damage.

But anyway, I think I've already posted elsewhere that you can see the archon dropping two marines in the same attack in the leaked video. So far, twilight archon appears to have splash damage.

[PhantomFF]

Good Point Remy...now that I look at it like that there definately is a splash.

[SirBaron]

Hmm, makes me wonder if TA's can kill Cerebrates now that they're pumped up with DT power?

[GuiMontag]

probably, the zerg should be more worried about the DT incorporating the special energies into their vehicles

[DontHate]

I think the stomping is pretty cool. That'd be awesome if they gave him a little shockwave or made the ground crack everytime he walked. Sort of like with illidan when he moved.

[ZiiDriX]

I would love if they were half hovering half walking :)

[AdmiralAckbar]

The archon should float it shouldnt rely on its physical body as it is whithered and weak hence they only have 10 hp theyre not big lumbering beasts theyre psionic entities

[PhantomFF]

Just saying...we dont know if these archons have HP or not, and these guys look alot stronger physically then they were before.

Twilight archon /= light or dark archon (one looked light and zappy, one looked armored and heavy), so the usual rules dont apply.

[Major Willy]

I just noticed something. Dark Archons seemed to have armour through their energy. Blizzard's taken these shoulderpads and armoured look into the Twilight Archon which has the colour of the High Templarchons (see what I did there?).
But the Twilights can be made with Dark Templar, High Templar, or one of each. Thus the Twilight Archons have the essence of both original Archons.
...And that had nothing to contribute to this topic. Oh well.

I hope Blizzard gives them a slight shield boost and increases their health to atleast 50.

[Remy]

If vessel will be back, which it will, EMP will be back. Actually, EMP will be back regardless. But either way, if EMP is back TA will have HP.

I believe TA will have more HP than before,. Whether we're talking about archon's 10 HP or DA's 25, I personally think that TA will have more than that.

[PhantomFF]

Well it certianly has the light archons power...all that remains is to wonder what it got off the dark archon side.

[burkid]

more than 10 hp. and a cooler look.

[Major Willy]

Possibly one spell?

[burkid]

possible, but as far as we know, a spell that hasnt been added.

[overmind]

how can pure energy walk? i thought the whole point of them was to have no/little physical body

[ArchLimit]

Here's my suggestion. I voted for hovering, because I think it does fit the whole powerful energy mass thing better, however, I think it'd be friggin' sweet if it didn't stay at a "stationary altitude" like it did in SC1. Instead, I think the TA should be slightly lifted above ground where it's noticeable and sort of have him slowly float up and down, so that feeling of hovering is reinforced even more.

Also, as far as the look of the psionic attack goes, I think it would also just be the coolest thing ever if it actually look and behaved like a Chain Lightning spell from Diablo, with the each subsequent target receiving less damage to about the same proportions as what an area damage would cause. That way, the attack is still equivalent to what Blizzard had in mind but it would look so much sweeter IMO.

[TidalSpiral]

I voted for float, which I don't mind either way it moves but walking makes me think of a knight from Hell where as hovering evokes more of a religious feeling. Like a crusading spirit out to cleanse the world of non-Protoss. lol

[Wlck742]

I don't really care much if they walk or hover, as I'm not going to care about it when I'm storming an enemy's base, but if I had to choose, I'd say walking. A walking archon seems to be more intimidating and badass than hovering. They should make shockwaves come out of the ground with every step or at least leave some trail of burning psionic energy behind them.

By the way, it turns out that DT energy wasn't the only thing that could kill cerebrates. In the last (not sure) Terran mission in BW, you could use pretty much any unit to kill the cerebrate that was controlling the invincible sunkens. Maybe Blizzard just messed up. Obviously.

[SirBaron]

Whether we're talking about archon's 10 HP or DA's 25, I personally think that TA will have more than that.

I'd wager they could get 100 with a bit o' reduced shield.

[Star-Crap]

i hope blizzard doesnt read this and change archons movement. Walking FTW

[burkid]

By the way, it turns out that DT energy wasn't the only thing that could kill cerebrates. In the last (not sure) Terran mission in BW, you could use pretty much any unit to kill the cerebrate that was controlling the invincible sunkens. Maybe Blizzard just messed up. Obviously.

the cerebrates could only ressurect as long as the overmind was alive, because the overmind was the one reviving them. Since the new overmind in that level was still an infant, it either didnt have the power to ressurect the cerebrates, or if it did, it wouldnt have been able to ressurect the cerebrate before it was placed under UED control, because if you remember back to the protoss campaign in the original, on the third(i think) level you had to kill a cerebrate with fenix, and in the breifing, it was several hours later.

[Wlck742]

Yes, but in the toss campaign in BW, Legacy of the Xel'Naga I think it was called, you had to use DTs to kill the cerebrates, but the Overmind wasn't even starting to form, and yet the cerebrates resurrected if the DTs didn't strike the final blow.

[burkid]

well that was just so you dont have to sit around for a few hours, waiting for the thing to revive, just so you could kill it with a DT. just another place where fun beats reality.

[stat]

i like them walking.

[Remy]

i hope blizzard doesnt read this and change archons movement. Walking FTW


I doubt Blizzard will care about an opinion poll that's close to 50/50.

[Broken_Heart]

I vote for float.
It would be nice if they begin to walk(about 3 steps) right before they attack.

[Remy]

Welcome to the forums Broken_Heart.

[DontHate]

The archon should keep their sheild. That's what made archons archons. They're shields are like a double edged blade. First of all they regenerate and can be healed with the sheild power thing, and plauge doesn't affect it. However it is emp-able and then is useless.

[Nikzad]

Rock-paper-scissors at its finest

I'm torn. The feet look big maybe. ARGHH I'M SO TORN

[Ych9]

I didn't expect the poll to be this close. I thought I was the few people that would loved the walking Archons. I guess I was wrong.

Since it is about 50/50, I hope Blizzard doesn't change into a hovering Archon. Because IMHO, Walking Archons really give him an attitude and really makes him look much more powerful.

[AdmiralAckbar]

The archon better keep its high sheild low hp. That definatly made it a more interesting and useful a unit. And it seems like its the only unit that actually has more sheilds than hp. The mothership has a horrendous shield to hp ratio, I dont the exact figures but with such a small amount of shields the mothership will basically be unhealable; so who will be willing to bring it into a fight. Its going to be a giant hit and run spellcaster (shouldve been more of a go-in-and-kick-some-ass capital ship). The allure of being able to have near fully regeneratable health with archons is one of the only things that can convince me to sacrafice templar (which is hard enough as it is)

HOVER! infernals dont belong in starcraft

[PancakeChef]

Yea, I thinking walking would make them seem more commanding and imtimidating. Although I think it would take some of the psionic "mysticism" and power away from them.

Honestly I'm not sure, but they looked great walking like they did in the Starcraft 2 gameplay video so I went on ahead and voted for walking.

[GuiMontag]

complaints like this are just wasting blizzard's graphic teams time
there is nothing wrong with the animation for the archon walking.

[Remy]

Good point and well said GuiMontag. Anything that needlessly delays the release of my sweet sweet SC2 is bad.

Power up, up, and away~~~~~~~

[JudicatorPrime]

I'll be waiting a year and more... they won't delay it for one animation, it'll be done while they're working on something else, thats the whole point of having a developement TEAM and being able to MULTI-task. Unless they're completely retarded and don't know how to change an animation, or simply remove the animation then it won't delay the game half a second. It could probably be done during someones lunch break, removing the animation that is and adding a simple hovering one... which I would assume is more simple because... its hovering, theres already a lot less movement.

I doubt anyone at Blizzard is even reading this seriously, subsequently wasting no ones time and still keeping it open for discussion. I for one don't think it makes sense, if the original Archon hovered, why should this one walk? If it did walk then whatever, but I get the impression that it didn't. Considering they're probably trying to stay true to the original Starcraft and its fanbase, nothing that pertains to keeping to originality is a 'needless' delay. Especially when it won't delay.

[gelu_gao]

Personally I like the new design of walking, which gives a feeling of steady and potent. The steps are like to say "Hi dude, you know, you r going to DIE". Floating, might be more silent and mystic, but I feel it's simply not the way of a proud protoss archon.
So vote the walking, and if there is any sound effect it would be better.

[Star-Crap]

they should make them jog. that would give them the unstopble look

[JudicatorPrime]

they should make them jog. that would give them the unstopble look


And a line that says "Im the Juggernaut, *****!"

[Remy]

I honestly don't know much about how unit motions/animations are programmed into a game. But why should anyone from Blizzard take half a second from their lunch break to alter anything that has nothing wrong with it in the first place? When they could be taking that same half a second to push SC2 closer to its release.

A lot of halves of seconds add up to be minutes, then over the whole course of development, become hours wasted. When the poll is more or less 50/50 it means it's just that some people have different opinions about something, not that the community feels there's is something seriously wrong. The marine shield and siege tank model were completely different cases. The great majority of the SC community cried out from everywhere, it was wrong, it was heard, it was changed.

The hover vs walk isn't even about a unit's look, it's about how a unit moves in the game. If Blizzard gives in this time when the opinion is almost equal on both sides, they'll set themselves up for a world of *****ing and crying later on. Every Bob and Jeff will complain that they don't like how a unit swings its arms why isn't it changed, or the angle at which a unit's head is tilted when it runs, etc etc it'll get stupid.

Let's play nice and be good to the kind gentlemen who are working to bring us a long awaited sequel to one of the most beloved games of all time, and a kick ass sequel at that.

[PancakeChef]

You always got to understand how much pressure it must be for the developers, I can't even imagine whats it like to be a developing a game that is the sequal to the quite possibly the most legendary and perfect RTS out there. Then they also got to please the fans and keep what we liked about the first game in the second one on top of that.

Like they said in that 1up interview, "its like taking a game like chess and making chess 2"

[JudicatorPrime]

Bleh, unless it theres already a set release date, because last I heard it was 2008- to sometime before 2010, they won't cared that much. Animation is easy to change, it doesn't reflect upon gameplay much... Unless they hover faster than they walk, which wasn't what I was implying, although it'd be nice if they hovered over cliffs and stuff. I never said I wouldn't buy the game or something if the animation wasn't changed. Just enforcing that one simple animation can't possibly delay the game for more than day... especially when we don't even know when it'll come out.

I presume in both games of chess, the pieces move the same :)

[Remy]

It's not a huge world-ending deal over this single change, whether it happens or not. It's what will come after that's bad. Of course one little change will not be much of a setback at all, but it will be when there are a million little changes cried about.

I have a 14 month old son, and I already draw the line when it's necessary. If you let him get something by crying about it, then he cries for everything else too, every single time one little thing requires our attention. But I'm a strict parent as I was raised that way myself, and even at the young young age of just 14 months, my son has incredible discipline. A large portion of the SC fan base are more baby than my son. Not people who posted for hover in this thread, but much worse fans are out there waiting for a license to *****, especially on other forums.

Quite frankly JudicatorPrime, I do not share your same attitude of since there is no announced release date, a day or two doesn't matter. Note that there is a huge difference between not announcing any release date to the public and not having a projected release time frame at all. I personally will appreciate every last single stinking day that the game is released sooner. What can I say? I love StarCraft.

[PancakeChef]

Honestly, if the game is fun,enjoyable and starcraft, I will be completely satisfied.

It's one thing to listen to the community and another to have them develop for you and listen to every little thing they say. I just hope Blizzard knows where to draw the line.

There will be those that no matter what you do or change they will still complain about it.

[Nikzad]

in relation to other video game companies, Blizzard is really awesome at listening to the community

but let's get serious people...this is Blizzard, not Burger King...it's Starcraft 2, not "Custom-made-to-your-trivial-discrepancies-craft 2"

I'm all for feedback and criticism, but something like this, especially when the archon in SC1 HAD LEGS and therefore walked (although it was not animated as such) just makes me feel like we are looking a gift horse in the mouth

[JudicatorPrime]

Ugh, having legs hardly equates walking in SC.

[Nikzad]

especially when the archon in SC1 HAD LEGS and therefore walked (although it was not animated as such)


quoted and formatted differently for emphasis

[JudicatorPrime]

And who's to say it was meant to be like that? That they designed no animation because it did not walk. High Templar for one, did not walk either.

[Nikzad]

true true, but he did have hallucination-looking clones that trailed behind him... archons didn't have a special movement animation

[JudicatorPrime]

Pretty sure they thought no one would notice in the huge ball of energy.

[Nikzad]

well i don't mean to nitpick, but there you go

there is a difference between not walking at all and people not noticing, right?

[Remy]

Why does any of that matter? TA walks in SC2, end of story.

Blizzard went for a hulking menacing feel, and they got it. Who gives a rat's ass about how archons were slipping and sliding around with no animation like super greasy bowling balls?

[Nikzad]

I GIVE A RAT'S ASS!

Maybe even a hamster's ass

but i had made up my mind not to pursue it further

[JudicatorPrime]

53.8 Percent of a 130 people.

[Remy]

Too bad Blizzard won't give a rat's ass about those asses of rats given by the 70 people on one forum on the internet.

Even here alone, there is only 10 votes on the poll separating ass giving of rats and not. That is only 7.6923 % of total votes, that's quite a small margin for Blizzard to even take a quick look.

[Nikzad]

Too bad Blizzard won't give a rat's ass about those asses of rats given by the 70 people on one forum on the internet.

;D being a verbal person, i appreciate the articulation of that sentence

[venado]

I think hovering suits the Archon. It is a psionic entity, and because the High Templar hovered, it matches well for the Archon to hover above ground.

Yes, good point... and take off their armor

[capthavic]

I honestly don't care one way or the other. Walking is fine but if they change it back that's cool too.

[overmind]

notice its the walking people that say that blizz should not give a rats ass about what people want.
what if they did not give a rats ass about the seige tanks? then you would still have them looking like bloody plush toys!

[GuiMontag]

but the difference is that there is nothing wrong with the walking animation, people just want nostalgia.

[Remy]

I think I've already touched on why marine and siege tank changes/complaints are not exactly the same thing as complaints on the walk/hover.

I don't think anyone really cares. No one feels very strongly about this one way or another about the whole archon walk/hover thing. I don't either personally. Which is all the more reason why it's silly.

[DontHate]

yea, and if they keep it walking everyone won't mind. But, if they keep the siege tank everyone's gonna be like omfgwtfbbq?

[MarineCorp]

I think walking is good it makes it more dominant and more... powerful
it is quite scary when it is walking towards you really fast ;D

[Broken_Heart]

Wow! Can't believe Blizzard made the archons hovering now. ;D

[Remy]

Good. Now we can put this nonsense to rest.