My thoughts:
I think that the reintroduction of the Spider Mine is great. It's great from a nostalgic stand point and it's great from a balance stand point. The Nomad will have to use energy to produce Spider Mines now and when they detonate you'll have to replace them using more energy, this creates a risk/reward factor. Originally the Nomad would use energy to build a Mine Drone which was a structure that created three mines and when those mines detonated the drone would rebuild more. There was no micro involved and there was no risk/reward system with the Mine Drone.I also think it's important that we've learned that the Reaper's mines can be targeted and destroyed before they detonate; I think you will see a lot of players trying to quickly destroy these mines using their drones/scvs/probes rather than running for the hills. Also, Reapers now have to upgrade to be able to use mines. This is a good addition that will balance early game economic harassment because it adds a risk/reward factor. Do I tech to grenades or do I spend my money elsewhere?
The answer to the Baneling question comes as news to me, apparently when you kill a Baneling it still explodes and does AoE damage. Also, if it's lifted into the air by the Nullifier's anti-gravity ability and killed it still does AoE damage to whatever enemy air units are around it; this will at the very least be your Nullifier. Not sure I like this and I'm hoping Karune misspoke. Where is the reward for having good micro skills and focus targeting incoming Banelings before they detonate on your troops?
For those of you who haven't heard, Blizzard will be hosting the 2008 World Wide Invitational in Paris, France on June 28th and 29th. I will not be personally attending the invitational but I believe someone from GamePro will be which means we'll have plenty of live, fresh coverage for you.
Today, Blizzard has announced that they will be holding plenty of tournaments for the attendees in Paris, France. There will be matches to watch between some of the world's top pro StarCraft players as well as community matches for everyone else to prove their mettle. GosuGamers will be hosting StarCraft: Brood War qualifiers in order for entrance into the StarCraft II tournament.
What this means for you:
Most of you, including me, won't be in Paris, France to experience the World Wide Invitational but we will get to see and read about all of it online. Blizzard will certainly have plenty of exciting new updates for the world and we are sure to see some new gameplay trailers showcasing the progression of StarCraft II. May should be an exciting month leading up to the event in Paris, and June is sure to knock our socks off.
-
What to look for from WWI 2008:
- Unveiling of new Zerg artwork
- Unveiling of new Terran artwork
- Lengthy gameplay trailers showcasing game changes
- Videos of professional StarCraft 2 matches
- New trailers showcasing SC2's singleplayer aspect
- Unveiling of Battle.net 2.0
- Beta announcement
- Diablo 3 announcement (just throwing it out there)
Check out Blizzard's 2008 World Wide Invitational site here, as well as the list of cool prizes that will be won.
The newest Q&A update from Karune is shorter than usual but did give us a new screenshot of a Baneling invasion which I posted yesterday before the actual Q&A was posted by Blizzard. This update talks briefly about a number of different topics that are all kind of equally cool and basically just clear up some confusion. I guess the most notable thing about this update is there is nothing unveiled in this Q&A that we didnt already know about. Nonetheless, it is still a quick and worthy read. Enjoy!
Karune posted:
Reminder: This is the final week for I<3 SC Submissions to be eligible for T-Shirts! Send your entries in today! Be a part of StarCraft history! http://www.blizzard.com/us/inblizz/contests/ilovesc/
ScreenCraft: This batch's screenshot is to show the significant size increase of the Baneling since the original Protoss announcement gameplay trailer. The size increase is to allow the possibility of focus firing on incoming Banelings with additional micromanagement.
Feel free to discuss the evolution of the Baneling in our Monthly Discussion Topic at: http://www.battle.net/forums/thread.aspx?fn=sc2-general-eu&t=463
Baneling Invasion
http://www.starcraft2.com/screenshot.xml?s=80
An army of Banelings invade a developing rival Zerg base.
The 35th update batch brought us some exciting news, some of it good, some of it not so much. I break it down for you and give you my thoughts on what these changes mean if left in for the final release.
My thoughts:
The most notable news in this batch is the return of the Sunken Colonies and the Spore Colonies. They now return with a new trick up their sleeve, they're mobile. That's right; the Zerg's static base defenses are static no more. Now they can uproot from the creep and crawl to anywhere else creep is present. This is a HUGE advantage for the Zerg, especially if used in conjunction with the Overlord's ability to generate creep anywhere on the map. You can essentially use your defensive structures on offense now. The devs thought this capability was "more Zerg like," and I have to agree with them.
However, the Protoss Phase Cannon mine as well go back to being called a Photon Cannon because the devs have taken away its ability to "phase" and relocate within Pylon power. So the Zerg gain a huge advantage and the Protoss lose a huge advantage. Is this a fair swap? Not in my opinion. The devs now have to go back to the drawing board with the Protoss static base defenses and rethink what they should be. Both Zerg and Terran have new additions -- retracting bunkers and crawling colonies -- and the Protoss are left with their same old Photon Cannons.
Another topic that has become a thorn in my side is the Mothership, should it stay, should it go, what the heck should it be? Let's face it; the Mothership is a shell of its former self. Conceived and developed as a Protoss super weapon, now it has been relegated to nothing more than a support unit, like an Arbiter. Why should this unit even be in the game anymore? It's a huge monstrosity in the air sure, but it does little to no damage to anything anymore. Either give the unit back some of its oomph, re-conceptualize it and give it some new art, or scrap the thing all together. I think the Mothership needs to be the devs next big focus.
In batch 34 Karune and the Devs discuss the new modifications to the Protoss Carrier which include some auto-build functions as well as new escort ability.
The Q&A also addresses the following: The long-range bombardment capabilities of all three races, the Zerg Infestor, Corruptor and Roach, the Terran Medivac, and the Protoss Colossus.
My thoughts: The Carrier is one of the most devastating units in the Protoss arsenal, it is the flagship of their mighty fleet, and I would expect no less in StarCraft II, so I am smitten to hear that it will receive these new upgrades that further make it a force to be reckoned with. Having the auto-build interceptor ability on the Carrier is a nice addition because it removes an otherwise unnecessary micro that takes attention away from what's really important, commanding the ships. The new "escort" ability should not only increase the volatility of the Carrier but also add in a micromanagement aspect that the auto-build function took away. Since escorts cost minerals and only last 45 seconds in the games current build state, players will be wise to summon them only when they need them. Without any screens of this new unit the possibilities are endless as to what it could look like. What do you think the new escort will look like?
The Protoss Carrier will now have up to 4 escorts that can be summoned along side of it for additional firepower
Starcraft2.com has updated their site today and with it came a "new" Terran unit called the Tauren Marine. The thing looks like a raging bull pulled straight from WarCraft 3 and it completely devastates huge groups of regular Terran Marines. My objective first look at this unit is...
First look at the Tauren Marine. Don't wave a red flag infront of it or your dead meat.
A.) It is completely unbalanced as it is demolishing Terran Marines in a blink of an eye and blowing up buildings in about 5 seconds flat.
B.) It looks nothing like any Terran unit ever before and frankly, it doesn't visually fit with any StarCraft lore i'm familiar with.
C.) With the Terrans already having the Marine, the Marauder and the Reaper at their disposal why the heck do they need another 2 legged ground troop. This is just excessive in my opinion.
Lets hope this is an early April fools joke by Blizzard, if it's not than SC2 just took a HUGE turn for the worse.
A group of Tauren Marines annihilates a larger group of regular marines. I'll be honest after you watch the video you'll understand that it would probably only take 3 of these new marines to do this kind of damage.
More shots, videos and lore here
I think I may have stumbled on this before Blizzard planned to have it released because the link no longer works but i'll keep it posted for tomorrow when the link goes active again.
We should all quickly build more pylons and get the Tauren Marine back. Quick, go, build...i'll wait here.
It's been a little over a week since the Zerg were unleashed on the world and there hasn't been much in the way of Blizzard activity on the battle.net boards, perhaps Karune had some well deserved time off. But, he's back with the 33rd batch of updates to feed our growing appetites.
In this batch:
The devs reveal to us that the Ghost has a new passive ability that acts similar to the sensor tower's detection ability. Ghosts can now detect cloaked and burrowed units within 30 yards, (what that translates into in in-game distance I have no idea) revealing them as red dots in the fog of war just like the towers do.
We now have a fresh new screenshot to take a look at as well! A large group of Archons battle it out toe-to-toe with a large group of Ultralisks, quite impressive.
Karune also addresses questions about the Viking, the Jackal, the Zerg's overlord carrying capacity and more. So, stop reading my nonsense and check out what Karune and the devs have to say!
StarCraft II
The Zerg are the last of the three races in StarCraft II and Blizzard has finally put an end to most of the fans drooling all over themselves and has released the Swarm upon the world! The following is a complete preview of the Zerg race in SC2, including everything from their history and lore to specifics about their structures and units. Enjoy, and have a good weekend peeps!
The History:
The Zerg are completely unlike the Protoss or the Terran, they are a race made up of many other species that have been assimilated into the Zerg collective known as the Swarm. The Swarm is not unlike the Borg collective if you are familiar with Star Trek; their strength grows by acquiring new species with diverse abilities that can be used for destruction.
The Zerg do not make use of technological advances in armor or weaponry instead, they are biological race that evolve and adapt through different Zerg strains and mainly use vicious melee attacks and massive numbers to overwhelm and decimate their enemy. Even the Zerg buildings are organic, acting as the organs of the race, every building has to be constructed on the Creep, organic tissue with a purple hue that spreads across the ground like a plague.
Here is a fairly detailed Q&A session with a Blizzard rep answering questions about the Zerg during the Zerg announcement event in Korea yesterday. More to come in a few minutes including gameplay videos and a cinematic trailer.
Q: How far in development is SC2? And how much of it will be included in the final version?
A: Nothing's for certain. It took us such a long time because we were developing other games. Because of our perfectionism we can't say for sure when SC2 will be released.
Q: I heard there were immense changes to Battle.net. What are these changes?
A: Unfortunately we can't give away too much on this right now. I can only tell you it's going along well. Expect great changes!
Q: There's no Kerrigan in the video. Is the Queen Kerrigan? If not, how is Kerrigan represented? Also the Roach looks like a... roach. People called Paladins from WoW Roaches so is that the reason?
A: The Roach has nothing to do with the Paladin. Kerrigan is a unique unit and will only be playable in the single-player campaign.
That was quick! After announcing that he would be taking requests from fans for screenshots in the upcoming Q&A batch, not a day later Karune releases the 32nd update and I'm happy to say that it's everything we could have hoped for.
Karune has managed to fit almost all of the fans requests into 4 quality screenshots. In addition he also gives a quality Q&A session that you can read through after you browse the new shots.
In this batch:
You will see how the developers have toned down the bright team colors a bit as well as the environment. They have also given the Terran units more of a battle worn metal look to them which helps everything on the screen look more realistic.
You will get first looks at the new Terran Jackal and Marauder units as well as the Protoss Nullifier and its anti-grav ability. The Dark Templars also make an appearance in one of the shots, but you have to look hard because those sneaky bastards are hitting the Terrans where they least expect it.
You will also get to see Protoss Immortals taking on Terran siege tanks while stalkers use their blink ability to navigate cliffs to get up close and personal with the tanks.
- << prev
- next >>
Matt Delman (3)
