• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 23:30
CEST 05:30
KST 12:30
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview0[ASL21] Finals Preview: Two Legacies18Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO12 Preview2herO wins GSL Code S Season 1 (2026)5Code S Season 1 (2026) - RO4 & Finals Preview5
Community News
Crank Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League2Weekly Cups (May 11-17): Classic wins double0Code S Season 1 (2026) - RO8 Results2Weekly Cups (May 4-10): Clem, MaxPax, herO win1Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule !18
StarCraft 2
General
Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview herO wins GSL Code S Season 1 (2026) Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO12 Preview Weekly Cups (May 11-17): Classic wins double Code S Season 1 (2026) - RO4 & Finals Preview
Tourneys
Crank Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League GSL Code S Season 2 (2026) GSL Code S Season 1 (2026) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule !
Strategy
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3 [A] Nemrods 1/4 players
External Content
Mutation # 527 Hell Train The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 526 Rubber and Glue Mutation # 525 Wheel of Misfortune
Brood War
General
25 Years Since Brood War Patch 1.08 BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ VPN experiences vespene.gg — BW replays in browser (Spoiler) ASL21 Winner's Interview
Tourneys
[ASL21] Grand Finals [Megathread] Daily Proleagues Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2 Small VOD Thread 2.0
Strategy
Any training maps people recommend? Muta micro map competition [G] Hydra ZvZ: An Introduction Fighting Spirit mining rates
Other Games
General Games
Path of Exile Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Dawn of War IV ZeroSpace Megathread
Dota 2
The Story of Wings Gaming
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Trading/Investing Thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Dating: How's your luck? European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
streaming software Strange computer issues (software)
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Esports Organizations: Raisi…
TrAiDoS
Why RTS gamers make better f…
gosubay
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1314 users

In Defense of Blizzard

Blogs > Sc1pio
Post a Reply
Sc1pio
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
United States823 Posts
March 03 2010 22:53 GMT
#1
I will preface this by saying that I don't have a key. It shouldn't affect what I write here but for full disclosure I felt like it was necessary to say.

Something which commonly is being viewed as undesirable is SC2 being easy to pick up and play. It's fairly obvious why SC2 is easier to pick up and play; MBS, lack of "wrestling with the AI", etc. But is this really a bad thing?

Let us consider what Blizzard's ultimate goal is. Essentially, they want to create the ultimate western e-Sport. The way that this will be accomplished is through mass appeal, both in spectatorship and in playing. The former is fairly obvious to understand: nobody will want to watch something which doesn't appeal to the masses in terms of spectatorship. To do this, there needs to be some high skill ceiling. The biggest and most valid criticism of SC2 in its current form is the lack of a high skill ceiling, but it is entirely too early to determine if this is actually true: if, a year from now or even further down, players are no better than they are when the game is released, then Blizzard has clearly failed.

So Blizzard wants to have a high skill ceiling. This is nothing new. But what Blizzard also wants is a low entry point. Why is this? Imagine trying to watch a Brood War match without having played Brood War before. Sure, you could understand what was going on, but it's pretty difficult to be a fan of it. Therefore, a required part of fandom is attempted emulation. Your parents not "getting" BW is not based on age, it's based on lack of experience. Even in the case of other gamers this occurs. A prolific FPS gamer watching BW will have one of two reactions: either they will dislike the game (game meaning BW, not the individual game being played) or they will want to try the game. They aren't "fans" of BW, they're looking at it in terms of how fun it would be for them to play.

True, we enjoy strategical depth in BW, but it's literally impossible to understand strategical depth fully without playing the game in the first place. You may understand in a general sense, but not in the deep sense which drives fandom and therefore an increase in audience. BW is popular in Korea as a spectator sport because it was incredibly widely played, and it isn't as popular internationally because it isn't as widely played.

So Blizzard wants as many people as possible to play SC2, in order to maximize the e-Sports audience, which in turn maximizes the playerbase, etc. The second half occurs as people randomly turn on the TV or see a link to a stream through some website and see how awesome SC2 looks and therefore purchase the game. In order to start this chain reaction, and to retain the casual audience of SC2 as an e-Sport, it needs to have a low entry-point in terms of skill. Everybody sucked when they first picked up BW; they only got better through practice. SC2 will be the same way, but Blizzard wants to nurture the players, easing them into a clearly competitive game. They want to turn the typical MW2 player into a competitive SC2 player, and the only way to do this is to ease the entry-point.

So when you toss around that SC2 is too "easy" at this point, remember why it was made easier in the first place: to increase mass-appeal, which in turn increases the competitive base, which in turn increases the appeal, and so on for a decade. Essentially, Blizzard wants a game like the card game Bridge: simple enough to learn the rules, but with strategical depth so strong multiple volumes have been written about it.

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's there are few. " -Shunro Suzuki | fortuna fortes adiuvat
ErOs_HalO
Profile Joined January 2010
United States167 Posts
March 03 2010 22:55 GMT
#2
It's really not easy.
Pretty imaginitive, huh?
Sc1pio
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
United States823 Posts
March 03 2010 22:57 GMT
#3
On March 04 2010 07:55 ErOs_HalO wrote:
It's really not easy.


Easy is an oversimplification. In terms of the skill ceiling, hopefully it's not. But there are several reasons to believe Blizzard is making the game easier to pick up and play, which is what I'm talking about.
"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's there are few. " -Shunro Suzuki | fortuna fortes adiuvat
MasterReY
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
Germany2708 Posts
March 03 2010 22:57 GMT
#4
SC1: Easy to learn, impossible to master.
SC2: Easier to learn, still impossible to master.

I dont know why people complain.
https://www.twitch.tv/MasterReY/ ~ Biggest Reach fan on TL.net (Don't even dare to mention LR now) ~ R.I.P Violet ~ Developer of SCRChart
TL+ Member
The6357
Profile Blog Joined August 2005
United States1268 Posts
March 03 2010 23:07 GMT
#5
i complain because i lack beta key....fuck
2010 worldcup!! corea fighting!!!
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Replay Cast
00:00
KungFu Cup 2026 Week 8
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
JimRising 767
RuFF_SC2 190
Nina 18
StarCraft: Brood War
GuemChi 5763
Movie 80
Shine 66
Bale 62
NaDa 41
Terrorterran 9
Dota 2
NeuroSwarm174
Counter-Strike
Doublelift2249
taco 1026
Fnx 426
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox476
Other Games
Day[9].tv804
PiGStarcraft648
shahzam642
C9.Mang0521
monkeys_forever258
WinterStarcraft243
Maynarde137
Trikslyr42
Organizations
Counter-Strike
PGL325
Other Games
BasetradeTV82
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Hupsaiya 70
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Rush861
Other Games
• Scarra1400
• Day9tv804
Upcoming Events
Kung Fu Cup
7h 30m
GSL
1d 6h
herO vs Classic
Cure vs Clem
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
1d 11h
Replay Cast
2 days
GSL
2 days
Maru vs SHIN
Zoun vs Rogue
WardiTV Spring Champion…
2 days
SKillous vs Strange
Lambo vs Strange
Ryung vs Strange
Lambo vs Ryung
Ryung vs SKillous
Lambo vs SKillous
OSC
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
Maestros of the Game
3 days
Replay Cast
3 days
[ Show More ]
RSL Revival
4 days
Lambo vs SHIN
Solar vs Rogue
herO vs Clem
Maestros of the Game
4 days
IPSL
4 days
ZZZero vs WorsT
Julia vs eOnzErG
Replay Cast
4 days
RSL Revival
5 days
Maestros of the Game
5 days
IPSL
5 days
Dragon vs Artosis
dxtr13 vs Hawk
BSL
5 days
Wardi Open
6 days
Monday Night Weeklies
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

ASL Season 21
2026 GSL S1
Heroes Pulsing #1

Ongoing

2026 KK StarCraft Pro League
BSL Season 22
IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
KK 2v2 League Season 1
YSL S3
Acropolis #4
CSCL: Masked Kings S4
SCTL 2026 Spring
WardiTV Spring 2026
2026 GSL S2
RSL Revival: Season 5
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S2: King of Kings
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Maestros of the Game 2
Bounty Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.