Blizzard's Rob Simpson has hosted a very long segment on StarCraft 2 this week. Dustin Browder and Chris Sigaty sat down and discussed the fundamentals of the recently released StarCraft 2 Beta. Most of the points are over-arching and discuss the general process of the beta. However, they did confirm that Blizzard is planning on a full, 3 month beta (they were originally planning a 5 month beta) process.

They are also emphasizing the role of community sites like StarCraft2Forum.org to get opinions directly to developers (basically bringing your ideas to our attention so we can pass it on rather than posting on Battle.net like 30,000 others) and via the in-game feedback function which will provide indirect beta support.

Dustin also focused heavily on the Chronos Boost (he called it Time Warp) and its use for a Protoss player and its change from the BlizzCon 2009 build. He also discussed the Zerg's Fungal Growth ability and a player's ability to counter it by destroying a targeted unit very quickly and make the ability almost completely useless.

Chris Sigaty also talked about the potential release of the StarCraft 2 Map Editor and confirmed that it may be released during the beta. They are also planning a major content update for beta late in the process that will include Blizzard-created modification maps and game styles.

Lastly, they discussed some of the single player and mapmaking features including the achievement functions that will be available upon launch. Including the map publishing system which will allow mapmakers to upload their maps to a database to be downloaded (and purchased) by end users.

Dustin also mentioned a unit called the Diamondback that will be featured in the Terran campaign.

I want to reiterate that Blizzard is clearly emphasizing the community and sites like ours to provide reliable and speedy feedback to developers during the beta. Make sure to have your voice heard on our boards so we can pass on your thoughts to the developers! Get crackin'! And don't forget to check out BlizzCast 13 yourself!