Starcraft 2

[VKCA]

uhhhhgghghg
those things
at 1:48

guhhh


I was really looking forward to a replacement for the corruptor.
Something like a flying baneling would be fantastic for anti air.

Also:
unit preview - toss
unit preview - zerg

 

[Furosuto]

A flying baneling? ummmm. scourge. They should definitely bring those back.

 

[VKCA]

A flying baneling? ummmm. scourge. They should definitely bring those back.

God fuck yes.

Also, does anybody have any clue about mlg orlando vids?
ruvery

 

[Furosuto]

Alright. I am so happy for zerg. Vipers are quite nice (never liked infestors, hope those are gone), and swarm hosts are gonna be just so nicely OP. I am a little sad about hellions though. Now they can become bulky fire bats? Now terran only has to go m/m/H to win. Man.....

But protoss, oooooh maaaaan. Thsi is gonna be sick. I am actually pretty pissed with this new raiding unit. Doesn't look nice at all. And I'm a zerg so macro is gonna be tough. But the tempest looks awesome. so does the replicator. Replicator is gonna bring me some laughs when trying to take out my opponent only to get countered by my own strat!

 

[Tonykantos]

I am REALLY hoping that zerg gets a tier 1 unit that can hit air.

get more queens, they are always useful for creep spreading, larva injecting, and complements well with roaches ( also , sharing upgrades from evo chamber )

 

[Furosuto]

You know, never mind me being ticked about these oracles. All I need to do is use some vipers to bring them far away from the mins and then have the spore crawlers pick them off. Wonder what buildings you will need for vipers and swarm hosts..... Hopefully you can get them early on.

 

[VKCA]

Alright. I am so happy for zerg. Vipers are quite nice (never liked infestors, hope those are gone)

what


Also 1/1/1 toss is quite fun.

I really really wish there was an unranked ladder.

 

[Furosuto]

Viper is a better caster than infestor IMO. It would be a great counter to those long range units. Ima use them agains raiders to bring them to my army. heheheheh.....

But hellions look awesome. While at first I was upset with them, they might just be enough for me to use terran.

Swarm hosts are the big thing for me though. Massing up 15 of them with all of those locusts= 1sec built army right there.

But what I don't get is why there were only 2 new zerg units released, while terran technically got 3 (hellions transform into practically new unit), and protoss got three as well....this is heart of the swarm. We should be getting more zerg units.

 

[Unreality]

Viper is a better caster than infestor IMO. It would be a great counter to those long range units. Ima use them agains raiders to bring them to my army. heheheheh.....

But hellions look awesome. While at first I was upset with them, they might just be enough for me to use terran.

Swarm hosts are the big thing for me though. Massing up 15 of them with all of those locusts= 1sec built army right there.

But what I don't get is why there were only 2 new zerg units released, while terran technically got 3 (hellions transform into practically new unit), and protoss got three as well....this is heart of the swarm. We should be getting more zerg units.

obviously there will be more zerg units added, but apart from the two new units, the zergs get a lot of old unit changes that terran and protoss didn't: ultralisk charge and baneling move burrow

 

[Furosuto]

Yeah, zerg is gonna be a fun race to use. I'm sure we'll see lots of swarm host abuse througout the metagame. I just hope they don't change their design to those big fat 3 mouthed things.

But kind of a shame that we don't get detection until vipers which come from a spire. By then the opponent can DT rush or cloak banshee you. Bring back the overseers bliz. Please.

 

[VKCA]

Being able to give any unit detection will be super dope.
Just give detection to random units in your arm, don't have to worry about ghosts sniping your one overseer.
Only having vision by spire is a little iffy though, I agree.

 

[Furosuto]

Hey VKC, I've noticed that we are about the only ones discussing this serious topic. Where'd everyone else go?

But on another note, what do you guys think about the designs of these new units? Here's my opinion on them.

Tempest-Looks cool enough. I like how it has a sleek design, and it's attack is even pretty cool looking. Whenever I see it, I want to yell "Zap cannon!" and take cover.

Replicator-I like it. It's an orb of energy surrounded by little triangles. Simple, yet unique.

Oracle-I will try not to be too pessimistic about this one. Not only does it have a trolly ability, but it's design seems to bland. With replicators, sentries, and warp prisms all have orbs of enery in one way or another, this one just seems to be a wannabe guy.

Hellion battle md-I love it. Way cooler than a firebat who looked like a red marauder. It has a different armoured design that makes it look similar to a transformer, which is automatically cool in my book.

Warhound-Looks like they just threw a bunch of stuff together. Not much to say. Although it does make sense seeing as terran are sometimes depicted as rednecks in space. Well, at least when they aren't wearing armour. It seems to be using spare parts and be as resourceful as possible. Not as cool as I would like it to be, but still nice.

Viper-A snake/scorpion/hornet. That is pretty awesome. Plus it has what looks like a lizard tongue (that cord that attacks units and brings them to your army). How could you not like it?

Swarm host-I looks like a giant crab with a giant shield on its back. Except the shield blorbs out a bunch of armoured melee creatures. BEST. UNIT. EVER!

 

[Squarewalker]

Took them long enough to add a Hydra speed upgrade, but at least they finally did. I think it speaks for itself when the crowd at BlizzCon was the most hyped about this change (even slightly more hyped than about Baneling burrow move).

Most of these stuff will inevitably get nerfed to death or completely changed until retail (which is still way too far away), but in its current state, Viper seems to be the most interesting (but also admittedly an imbalanced) unit.

Dark Swarm, although its AoE isn't the biggest, but together with Baneling burrow move, is going to be ridiculous. Also Dark Swarm + Swarm Guardians against Blink Stalkers. And fast Hydras + Meat Hooking any Colossi / Templars next to them. Also if Ocular Parasite can give detection to massive units as well, then good luck killing a detector Ultralisk. Burrow charge will actually make them much more viable. (I know Ultras are actually used fairly frequently these days, hell even at BlizzCon just now, but still).

Swarm Hosts do seem like a poor man's Lurker; the attack cooldown is long, the "summons" are rather weak, and it's currently on Hive tech as I understood. I don't see why someone wouldn't just either rather go for Baneling burrow move or Ultras or Swarm Guardians instead at that tech level?? I wish they rather just added Lurkers back onto Lair tech, with a +3 range upgrade at tier 3.

Oracles aren't cost-effective.

And so instead of giving HT Feedback the same range as Ghost EMP, they added Replicators to copy Ghosts with Cloak researched and EMP the opponent Ghosts.

The Tempest is a "1a" unit that requires less micro than the Carrier that it's replacing (although Carriers were worse than their BW counterparts to begin with, which is what they should've rather tried fixing than removing the Carrier due to it being "too weak", despite the fact that White-Ra, Socke, etc. have actually used it with some decent success).

But the Nexus Recall might be the biggest change for Protoss. They better balance that properly if they intend to keep it.

And hey let's remove the Mothership because apparently hero type units don't really work well in SC2. Then let's make the Thor a hero type unit because maybe they do work out after all!

Shredders for stationary defense? Yeah right, Terrans don't already have Tanks, PFs, Bunkers and PDDs.

The BC speed boost ability with the cooldown is really nice though.

Not sure how to feel about Battle Hellions and Warhounds.



tl;dr overall some very cool changes (Hydra speed upgrade, Baneling burrow move, Vipers, Ultra burrow charge, BC speed reactor) and some very lackluster ones.

 

[VKCA]

Yeah hydra speed and baneling burrow move are the only thing I'm terribly interested in at the moment. The unit upgrades seem cooler than the new units.

 

[Furosuto]

Ya, swarm hosts could get buffed up some more to even things out. How long is there cool down time? And how many locusts can one host make at a time again?

Now I think I speak for all of us zerg when I say, bring back the overseers. Getting a detection unit almost halfway through a game is pretty pathetic. By then DTs and Banshees can kill you. Bring them back and things will be better.

I know I've said this a lot, but I really hate those oracles. They are gonna be a pain in the butt to deal with. Those force fields look like they last a long time. Either that or get rid of the stun ability they have. Then they can just hurt the min line.

 

[Unreality]

Ya, swarm hosts could get buffed up some more to even things out. How long is there cool down time? And how many locusts can one host make at a time again?

Now I think I speak for all of us zerg when I say, bring back the overseers. Getting a detection unit almost halfway through a game is pretty pathetic. By then DTs and Banshees can kill you. Bring them back and things will be better.

I know I've said this a lot, but I really hate those oracles. They are gonna be a pain in the butt to deal with. Those force fields look like they last a long time. Either that or get rid of the stun ability they have. Then they can just hurt the min line.

given that protoss has been given nothing but new gimmick abilities, it would be very easy for a zerg to just walk to a protoss' base and kill it before dts come out

 

[Furosuto]

what about the tempests though? They seem pretty powerful. I mean, they're replacing carriers. CARRIERS. care. ree.eeeeeeerrrrrssss..... You DO know how tough they are right?

I guess I just don't like this idea of oracles. But I'm sure everything will be fine. Hopefully they come from fleet beacons or something.

 

[Outlaw]

what about the tempests though? They seem pretty powerful. I mean, they're replacing carriers. CARRIERS. care. ree.eeeeeeerrrrrssss..... You DO know how tough they are right?

Tough enough to get removed.

On retrospect, protoss got shit on this blizzcon.

 

[Fishin]

Oracles seem cool but might be too expensive to be practical, Replicants sound like garbage. Tempest looks okay but the fact that it requires Fleet Beacon (which is 300/200 on its own, and has no other use now apart from making Tempests) and how expensive/slow they'll likely be, I don't expect them to see a whole lot of use but it's hard to say without more concrete numbers.

I'm much more interested in the new Nexus abilities, both of which should make it a lot easier to move out and expand early which is definitely something I felt was difficult as a Protoss.

 

[whistle]

I like that it adds an element of choice to Nexus energy. right now all I do is spam chrono boost on everything, but adding an opportunity cost to chrono boosting definitely adds complexity to the race. oracle/replicant/tempest sound like they could either be shit or quite good depending on the final costs/build times/stats. initially I hated them but the concepts definitely add a ton to the race so I will withhold further judgment. it's just sad that we didn't get any badass attacking units like T and Z!

sup fishin!!! lets play sc2!!!

 

[Furosuto]

The more I look at the zerg race this gen, the more it seems like blizz is actualy nerfing them. Vipers are now the only way to get detection units, so thats a bust, and while the concept of swarm hosts is cool, they just don't seem powerful enough to fight.

It seems like they are just buffing up some of our old units and adding a few "meh" units into the mix.

 

[VKCA]

The more I look at the zerg race this gen, the more it seems like blizz is actualy nerfing them. Vipers are now the only way to get detection units, so thats a bust, and while the concept of swarm hosts is cool, they just don't seem powerful enough to fight.

It seems like they are just buffing up some of our old units and adding a few "meh" units into the mix.

Fuck new units. Baneling. Burrow. Move.


I can't wait for hydra speed though. It keeps on hitting me while playing how nice it would be to get to enemy base faster/defending stargate openings, since movement around base is much faster.

Also: muta/b/ling is beyond fantastic. I've started using it vs p, and I feel much safer holding off fourgates. With roach/hydra it never felt like I had enough early on to really be safe.
How come muta/b/ling is such a zvt thing though?
Terrans have to get engineering bay earlier than protoss has to get forge since toss can chrono upgrades to catch up, and missile turrets are 50 mins cheaper than cannons... It seems like harassing with mutas would be more effective. Not to mention stimmed m/m can kite banelings much more effectively than zealots/stalkers (besides charge/blink). And mutas don't get murdered by stalkers quite the same way they do by marines.

I had a game where a guy offensive gg'd while banshee rushing, then when that failed he went for a marine/scv/medivac/banshee all in and said "lol, now gg" during that. Then when my last couple lings/mutas popped and killed his shit he said "fine fuck you then" and rage quit.
Gold has the worst fucking players. Both in manners and playstyle. Nothing but allins and no worker production...

 

[Furosuto]

Okay, I'll give you that one about the banelings. I guess what I'm just saying is that you think that they would make this more about the zerg. To me, the battle hellions and replicators are like a big deal to everyone. But the baneling burrow is gonna be great. Early rush agains SCV lines and against mass marines? That's what I'm talking about.

Does anyone know what building swarm hosts and oracles come from?

 

[Mithril]

Season 4 starts today with some changes to the map pool.

Maps removed:
Backwater Gulch
Searing Crater
Typhon Peaks

Maps added:
Metalopolis (No close by ground)
Shattered Temple (No close by ground)

I got to say I'm pretty happy with these changes. I hated backwater Gulch and Searing Crater, and all three of my vetoed maps just got removed. Looking forward to playing on Metalopolis again, and removing close spawns is long awaited for. Thoughts?

 

[VKCA]

all three of my vetoed maps just got removed.

I fucking hate double entrance naturals, they are the biggest bitch to defend.

Metropolis and shattered temple feel pretty similar to me. I don't dislike them though, especially considering there's no close by ground. I just wish there were more maps with only two spawns, crossfire and worldship are really awesome maps.