World Wide Invitational Information Zone

Jun. 30 12:52 PM by Scott Pytlik

So Blizzard's World Wide Invitational 2008 has come and gone and now we are left with sorting through hours of video footage from around the world, hundreds of screenshots and images, reviews, reviews and more reviews of all three races, the gameplay and the changes that have been made.

Rather than update this site with posts about individual changes and additions to the game I'm going to keep everyone contained in this one post that I'm calling the WWI Information Zone. Since I wasn't able to attend the event I won't have any first hand feedback about what the game felt like. However, a number of my contacts in the StarCraft community were lucky enough to fly to Paris for the extravaganza and have tons of home made videos from the showroom floor, as well as images and reviews they have written about their hands on experience with the game.

This will be the longest blog post you've seen on this site and I will continue to update it throughout the week and document the changes by date at the top of the post so you know when something has been added. I think I'll start first by just bulleting the main changes to the game that most people in attendance took notice of first. From there it'll be a lot of videos, images and links to other SC2 fan site's reviews.

I hope you enjoy!

Quickly navigate this post with these links:

Developer Panel

Gas Game Mechanic Q&A

Gameplay and Race Reviews

Screenshot Galleries

Art Renders and Q&A Panel

Videos, Videos, and more Videos!

    Important Game Changes:

  • Vespyne Gas mechanic altered; 2 Gysers at starting base (See Dustin Browders explanation below)
  • Creep now crawls up and down ramps
  • Artwork has been changed for all races (see artwork render section)
  • Animations have been changed for all races, especially Zerg creep
  • Hydralisk now a mid game unit and much more powerful
  • Queen is much weaker and not overpowering
  • Protoss forcefield ability gives great new strats
  • Spore and Sunken colonies have been replaced with Spine Crawlers and Spore Crawlers
  • Nydus worms now need creep in order to create an exit to unload units

Blizzard Developer Panel

Part 1

The Overlord, Nydus Canal and Zerg base defenses are discussed. Much has changed.

Part 2

The Zerg Queen is fleshed out in this video as well as some new tricks with the Baneling. If you rather just skip to the 6 minute mark and check out the SICK new Protoss tactics using the new force field ability, that's cool too.

Part 3

The Devs talk about the Thor in this video and showcase its 2 new badass abilities that really help set the Thor apart as a worth while unit now (finally).

Part 4

The last video is a Q&A session with the audience.

StarCraft 2's new Vespyne Gas mechanic

Dustin Browder, lead developer, explains the new gas mechanic on the battle.net boards and answers some questions from fans.

Here is how it works. All numbers are subject to change. We have changed the balance since the WWI build and will be fiddling with the balance this coming week for sure.

You start with two Vespene Geysers in your base and at every expansion (some maps will not do this of course, but all the WWI maps do). Optimal number of workers per gas collection building is 3 (so you need 6 total).

All gas collection buildings start with a certain amount of gas (like SC1). I believe it's 1000 in your WWI build.

When a gas collector runs out it becomes "depleted" (like SC1). A depleted gas collector still allows you to harvest some gas (like SC1). In the WWI build you collect 6 gas per trip from a working gas collector and 2 gas per trip when depleted.

All gas collectors have a "Restore Gas" (name temp) button that you can use to return your gas collector to a non-depleted state. In the WWI build this gets you 400 gas back into your collector. Restoring Gas costs 100 minerals and takes the gas collector down for 45 seconds (all numbers temp).

Like all things this is work-in-progress, but here is what we have seen in the games we have played:

1) You can choose how much gas you want. The more gas you want, the less minerals you will have. If you build your 2nd gas collector too soon, you may have the wrong resource mix. If you go gas too late, you may have the wrong resource mix. If you use "Restore Gas" too few times you may not have enough gas to do some of the crazy end-game stuff. If you use it to often early on you may have too much gas and not enough minerals.

2) Some of the more mass-able units are very, very gas heavy. You can scout a player and gain some sense which way he is headed based on how quickly he goes for double gas.

3) Sometimes you don't want to "Restore Gas" if you need just a little more gas in the short term because you are trying to tech or build something critical. Since it takes down your gas collector for 45 seconds you may need to hold if you are close to being able to afford something that requires gas. This of course damages your gas collection for the long haul which makes the choice difficult.

Why we are trying it:

1) We think gas could be more interesting than it was in the original StarCraft.

2) We think StarCraft 2 can benefit from additional economy choices.

I think that's all of it. Now that you have complete information, please discuss. =)

- Cavez

Additional Questions and Answers:

Q: Sounds like an interesting game mechanic, and I welcome anything that offers more decisions in the heat of battle. While we're on the subject matter, can you speak about the rumor that all gas buildings will have an ability that temporary enables two peons in the building to harvest gas at a time, and operates on a cooldown?

A: We aren't doing that currently though we did discuss it. We certainly wouldn't add it to what we have at WWI. It would be one or the other. Generally the "cooldown" type abilities we tried were a bit dull because you just mashed the button whenever the cooldown came up. Putting a minerals cost to the ability has so far been much more interesting. - Cavez

Q: I like this a lot more than some of the rumors going around. Two questions: 1) Will there be any way to regenerate minerals? 2) Can you Restore Gas an unlimited number of times?

A: 1. No. At least not right now.=) 2. Yes. I'm a little worried about some weird end-game scenarios where you have way too much gas but so far it hasn't been as much of a problem as I thought it would be.- Cavez

Q: Does each mineral field have 1500 minerals still, or has that been lowered as well?

A: Still 1500. We are only trying to lower the rate of minerals collection. We still want an expansion to have the same minerals value that it did in the original game.- Cavez

Additional question regarding the Zerg Changeling unit.

Q: What is this I hear about the new Overlord changeling ability? Can anybody shed some light on this?

A: He's not making it up.=) Here's how it works.

Overseers can create a Changeling by spending energy. The Changeling is a small unstable Zerg creature with timed life. When he gets near an enemy structure or unit he will change shape into the correct basic unit type and color to match that player. So if you get near a Blue Barracks you become a Blue Marine. If you get near a Red Stalker you become a Red Zealot, etc.

Enemy players cannot control the Changeling. It's still owned and controled by the Zerg player who created it. It is very vulnerable and can be killed by a single hit from just about anything. The Changeling cannot fight. He is just a shapeshifter, when he looks like a Marine that gun in his hand isn't "real."

You can see that something is a Changeling by mousing over the unit, by trying (and failing) to drag select or by selecting the unit and seeing the name and portrait.

What it does for the game: 1) Gives the Zerg a fun way to scout (though really they already have plenty of scouting options). 2) Makes enemy players constantly fearful of all of their own units. Is THAT a Changeling?! What about THAT GUY!?

In live games it is pretty difficult to keep on top of the "Changeling Problem" if an enemy Zerg player is trying to sneak into your base. However when you do catch them it feels pretty good.

It's something we have been trying for a few weeks and we thought we would include it in the WWI build to see what people thought.

Gameplay and race reviews

The folks over at StarCraft-Source.com have written some great reviews based on their first hand experience with the current version of the game. Right now they only have a Protoss and Zerg review but they are writing a Terran review as well that will soon be posted under the same link I'm about to give you. There have been so many changes and additions to the game that even if you think you're an expert at SC2 at this point you should read this stuff because you are sure to be intrigued.

Check out all the written reviews on individual racesHERE at www.starcraft-source.comThe Terran race was just added.

Another second take on all 3 races has been written up at Joystiq and is also worth a read. Check that out HERE.

IGN's short-but-sweet review HERE

Gamespot's hands-on gameplay review HERE

Screenshots Galleries

There are 8 high quality screenshots with great explanations that you can see in their full hi-res size over at StarCraft: Legacy. GALLERY HERE.

New Artwork Renders

There are tons of new artwork for both Terran and Zerg. Check them all out in their full hi-res size at StarCraft: Legacy. GALLERY HERE.

StarCraft: Legacy.com also has a great page dedicated to the Blizzard Art Panel where Samwise Didier talks about all things art related. There are plenty of other artwork related photos and images as well as the Q&A that took place during the panel.

Check it all out HERE

Videos, Videos and more Videos!

Blizzard WWI 2008 Highlights

StarCraft II WWI Broadcast Matches

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