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A few weeks ago when the Zerg were unleashed upon the world, Blizzard also released some minor and mostly overlooked information regarding the fate of the Terran medic, namely that it was being cut. Now maybe this doesn't piss you off because you're not a Terran player like myself, but for anyone else that plays Terran listen up.

Your beloved Medic has been cut from the game!

Blizzard has instead decided to replace the medic with a unit called the medivac dropship. The medivac dropship is basically nothing more than a modified version of the original dropship. Now in addition to being able to transport troops it can also heal infantry. For weeks after the Zerg announcement we had limited details on the medivac, all we knew was that it was now in the game. But last week the devs addressed a question in the 34th Q&A that shed a little more light on this developing situation.

So, this week I would like to have a showdown between the two most non-violent units in the StarCraft universe, the medics! And I promise you, there won't be anyone standing by to heal them.

Medic:

Pros:

• Nearly as cheap as a Marine. 50 minerals and 25 gas.
• Early game unit; Tier 1.5
• Because they were cheap, multiple medics could be purchased to assist large groups of marines, making the marines a force to be reckoned with.
• Had restoration ability which removed negative effects from friendly units cast on them by enemy units.
• Had optical flare ability which blinded the enemy and significantly reduced their vision. This was great for retreats or for attacks.

Cons:

• No defense against ground or air attacks
• Very weak against Dark Archons because of low hit points vs. DAs high powered attack.
• Were great target for mind control because they could be used to heal Protoss Zealots ect.

Medivac Dropship:

Pros:

• More than twice as durable as the original medic, 150 hit points.
• Is an air unit, thus is not susceptible to ground attacks by units that have no ground-to-air attack.
• Can fly over cliffs and canyons that medics could not navigate, thus can keep up with quick moving Reapers.
• Can transport units as well as heal

Cons:

• More than twice as expensive as the original medic, 100 minerals 100 gas and 2 supply.
• A late game unit, Tier 3. Requires a Starport to build.
• Only heals 1 unit at a time.
• Has no defense against air or ground.
• Is susceptible to the Zerg corruptor which would leave the Terran without an expensive medic and give the Zerg the healing ability.
• Doesn't have additional abilities like restoration or flare.

The Scorecard:

I'm not going to dance around the issues, I think it's plain as day. The original medic has 5 positives and 3 negatives and the fancy new medivac dropship has 6 negatives and only 4 positives. The medivac dropship is completely useless in its current state. Although I've read some interesting suggestions on how to save the unit, quite frankly the unit is not worth saving.

Don't fix what is not broken. The original medic more than did the job and the only reason it was scrapped was because Blizzard found that the medic couldn't keep up with the reaper when it was traversing cliffs and canyons. I understand the desire to make all units relevant and useful to all other units but this is one example where that rule need not apply. Reapers can run their raid missions and then jet-pack themselves back to base to get healed. Why do we need an entirely new unit that costs more and is built later in the game just to cater to the needs of the reaper? It seems to me like the few have won out over the many.

The medivac dropship not only costs more and is tier 3 unit, but for your expensive investment you will only be able to heal one unit at a time ... WHAT'S THE POINT!? Why would anyone even bother buying it? To be honest, by the time you can build it, you will have probably been wiped out by a rushing wave of Zerg Banelings.

With new units like the reaper being introduced, new strategies are formed, but that doesn't mean that other new units need to be built to cater to those strategies. Part of forming new strategies is figuring out how to use the old units, like the medic, to work with the new units. Terran players can load dropships with medics and drop them off with the reapers if they really think they will need to be healed. Let me stress this one final time, there is absolutely no need to have a flying medical ship to accompany a unit that is not meant to stand toe-to-toe with the enemy for a long period of time like the marine.

This fight was over before it began; the original medic wins one minute into round 1 by way of TKO.

Blizzard, bring back the medic!

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