Joneagle_X 2009 BlizzCon StarCraft 2 Gameplay Review

That would make it a bit complicated when Starcraft is about simplicity and precision, which is why the lowground penalty was wiped away and why the percentage increase in damage is so wrong, as you've rightly noted.

I know Starcraft 2 is a game and gameplay comes first. But a crippled zealot coming from the robotics facility would leave everyone scratching their heads, not just lore enthusiasts. However, I don't know where this OP thing comes from to begin with. Immortals are a waste without the hardened shield upgrade, and that 1+ minute and ~200/200 resources should validate the effective counter that the immortal is to tanks. Tinkering with the research time would be enough to balance the unit (without increasing its production time), or at the very most make hardened shields upgrade at the forge, thus making it a 'soft' prerequisite.

 

Not a bad idea, Kuvasz. The shield upgrade coming from the forge would make a lot of sense.

 

I wish all games had graphics like starcraft 1.

 

@cameronnielsen

As far as the Banshee is concerned it's a solid unit. I do feel like it needs to not require the tech lab addon but then again you need that to research cloak...

It's just not all that accessible. But you can get to it pretty quick. I prefer the Viking unless you're going up against tanks, etc. But the Viking is better for raiding because you can avoid most base defenses.

And the Disruptor is okay (although I want the name changed back to Nullifier). It's effective against Marines and Marauders as well as all other tier 1 units because you can use force field very effectively to divide up forces and crush them.

 

Excellent report Jon. I wished I was at Blizzcon this year but due to some business issues I have to attend, I couldn't make it.

Regarding the Immortals. I don't really mind them been in the Rob Facility in the first place. I think the Gateway has way too many units. Zealots, Stalkers, Disruptors (GOD I HATE THAT NAME. BRING BACK THE NULLIFERS!!!), High Templars, Dark Templars. If you include the Immortals in the Gateway, thats a total of 6 units coming out from the Gateway. I think thats way too much. HOWEVER, I believe that if the Immortals were to come out of the Robotic Facility, they need some sort of Buff since bringing it to Robotic Facility will make the Immortals harder to produce. Not to mention, Colossus is such a kick ass unit and we wouldn't want the Colossus totally overshadowing the Immortals in the Robotic Facility. Increase it's HP/Damage and make it come with the Hardened shield. Or make it move faster. Any kind of buff is fine, but the buff should be significantly enough that the Immortals is justified at been moved to the Robotic Facility.

I'm so glad that the Hellions are getting a remodel. Because when you compare the Hellion model to say the Vultures and the Diamond backs from the Single Player, the Hellions just looks very cheap.

Roaches getting underground movement? Really? That's probably the most awesome thing I have heard since learning that the Thors are actually useful again. If Roaches can actually move underground, and have the insane regen rate, HOLY $%^&*!!! I can see some awesome micro and strategy with this unit. I'm all for it if Blizzard is really deciding to implement it.

I think the Infestor's Spawn Marines is really lame. I hope it gets a make over too.

 

@Kuvasz

The lore part of the Immortal coming from the Robotics Facility makes sense. Zealots and Dragoons were directly connected, Immortals are different. Zealots used to be warped back to the Zealot shrine on Aiur through the Gateways. Now the Aiur Gateway is unavaileble, and making new Dragoons appears to be impossible. Immortals are still just "pimped" Dragoons. And where did they do the pimping? In the Robotics Facility would seem like a logical choice to me. The Gateway is just a Gate, not a garage. However, lore comes after gameplay. It's just that I'm a huge fan of complex and logical lore in a game.

On a different subject: are those Xel'Naga towers still in the game? If so, maybe Jon or Seradin can tell us if they found them to be usefull, and under which circumstances?

 

Having a non-robot come from a building producing robots leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Dragoons had about as much relation to robots as immortals do, yet they could come from the gateway - by this principle immortals could, too. The upgrading is done in the cybernetics core I think.

Disruptors are robots, get them to the robotics so the gateway doesn't have too many units on it. And I know gameplay comes before lore but come on... why have 1 robot among flesh warriors and 1 flesh warrior among robots when you can group them and create that much better of a unity? Not to mention disperse the ground spellcasters, as right now they come from the same building, making the gateway a very busy place. I know the disruptor is supposed to be an early caster which needs a place in the gateway but this mixture irks me... it's as if tanks came from where medivacs did.

Maybe the high templar could fill the early caster role somehow. Psionic storm would not be overpowered that early because there aren't even that many units in game, and with fewer units it's easier to evade storms; and as far as I know force field is on the disruptor, so no choking+storm either, which would be overpowered. Fewer units early on would also translate into illusion actually becoming useful because there, unlike with 150 units in a battle, what the opponent attacks and thus doesn't attack would matter a lot. This would solve the issue of having an early caster, having similar units (flesh/tin) together, dispersing spellcasters, and reducing the number of units produced at the gateway.

 

As I see it, the Dragoons were made on Aiur, then transported by Gateways. The Dragoons in Starcraft 2 are already there, and thus only need to be converted on-site. [since transporting to Aiur is out of the question] The organic components are already there, so that leaves the Robotic parts.

As for the large amount of Gateway units: your solutions are actually pretty good. I agree with most of them. However, the Stalker looks like it has become a formidable unit. I think that you should be able to hold of most threats with those until you get your first Facility out of that Warp Rift. No need for hardened shields when a player has had little time to research siege or armor upgrades for their Tanks. Just Blink right next to them and tear them apart. Seems good enough for me.

I like the concept of moving the Disruptor to the Facility. Give it the Illusion, call that Hologram, combine with some forcefield power: tada! The Disruptor lives up to its name. If that leaves only Psi Storm for the HT, then they can also remove that annoying cooldown. **** of with those Warcraft influences. I see this happening a lot since those ex War3 guys got added to the dev team. It pisses me of. What's next? Percentage damage? Oh crap, we already got that as well... No wonder the game is delayed again. Those Orc fanatics with their Blizzard honour shields are much more effective at threatening the chiefs then the SC guys with their plastic Guas Rifle collectables. lol

 

That's for replying to my Qs, Jon. I appreciate your comprehensive review and the format, really great stuff man!

 

@Aurora,

Yes, the Xel'Naga towers are in the game. And they're useful for both sides and I'll tell you why. It's great to be able to scout a base then go sit your SCV/Probe on the towers and be able to see a threat coming.

However, it also creates a false sense of security. A couple of times I knew their unit was on the Tower and so I sent my main force around its area of vision and caught them by surprise at their ramp. Great stuff.

So it's not the be-all-end-all of scouting but it does help.

As far as the Nullifier (I refuse to call it the Disruptor) is concerned, it already has forcefield and hallucinate. I don't think it should come from the Robo Fac either but it's possible that the suggestions people have made to compromise the Immortal coming from the Robo Fac could work.

 

Thanks for the review , been waiting for something like this for the longest time. Out of curiosity did you have time for any 2v2s or was playing a 2v2 match even available to you? If you did how balanced was it, and if not do you look forward to playing it?

 

I can see the gateway thing as a really good idea jonX I think they should do it with DT and immortals so you have a reason to switch between both the gateway and warp gate and it would make it weaker without actully nerfing the technology.

 

@SarkFall,

No, we couldn't play 2v2 matches. Only single player and 1v1.

 

Would any of those overlap issues concern the Battlecruiser by any chance? Perhaps I've just haven't been in the right place at the right time, but I have heard nothing of the Battlecruiser's three abilities in practice.

I took a look at Zero's report and apparently the devs think Plague unnecessary due to Zerg's current splash damage lineup. Unless they do yet more shuffling of the tech tree, I'd call bull**** on that. Wouldn't putting the Infestor (and therefore Plague) down at Tier 2 compensate for the Zerg units' lack of punch?

 

The Infestor doesn't have plague anymore. It only has neural parasite and spawn infested terrans.

 

did u use the corruptors alot? if so how powerful are the corruptors as a ata unit?

 

So was it any good compared to Dark Swarm, Consume and Plague in Brood Wars? Maybe I shouldn't be comparing so much, but that unit is vital for Zerg tactics. Plague a few buildings, Dark Swarm the bunkers/colonies/cannons and send in some Cracklings. Winning combo. I just cannot imagine a situation where I would want to spawn infested Terrans. Better to morph Hydras, at least you can makes Lurkers from those once the coast is clear. Good to repell new workers coming to rebuild an expansion. And the whole Parasite never fitted my style anyway. Better to burrow a few Zerglings. What do you guys think?

 

Neural parasite is not like parasite in BW, more like mind control except it's temporary. Oh and by the way, the unit doesn't need to have a neural system, even robots can be mind controlled. Makes sense, doesn't it?

 

how does the thor attack looks like? what does the 2 arm guns attack looks like? Are there red beam coming out?

The normal attack is just like... one, two... goosh goosh from each arm. It fires twice per attack 30 damage each so 60 total. Then when it uses its 250mm Cannon ability it settles in and the Cannons on its back come into play.

When it attack air units does it use its normal attack or is it ab ability? how about the thor with missile pod on its back? where is it?

It uses its back Cannons against air units

 

On its back, perhaps? And it can attack air without an ability. Its ability attacks ground with a stun dealing upto 500 damage. I wasn't at Blizzcon, just read up on it here.