EPTThe first day of live SC2
I'd like to preface this blog by saying how excited I am to finally have this game out and in my possession! 12 long, long years we waited for this and despite all the 'bnet 2.0' drama I still am enjoying my experience immensely. So lets start off with launch night.
Who here watched Day[9]'s launch event? Who here watched Day[9]'s launch event in it's entirety? I don't blame you if you didnt, but I sure as hell did. What an exciting showcase of stuff he had! God, I don't know how to fill 10 minutes and somehow he went through enough content to fill 12 hours and probably could have gone on a little longer I think going over the last few matches.
The ending of the KotB [King of the Beta] Tournament could NOT have gone much better. Tester vs idrA? If that alone doesn't spark interest, I don't know what will. Usually you hope for the final matches to be climatic and not a 3-0 sweep, and it was just that. 3-2 to idrA in some really cluch plays that sweeped Tester pretty badly. The broodlords, the mutalisk micro, and 'oh my god' Ultralisks made IdrA's win just that much sweeter. Tester's wins came from denying IdrA some time spent on his builds and just slowing him down to a crawl to the point where he just can't put to work his amazing macro game. You may not be a fan of the player idrA, but you need to respect that he does a damn good job.
As much as people didn't enjoy JP as much as Day9 (when you set the bar that high, it's difficult to) I thought he did a pretty fantastic job helping out Sean get through what seemed like an endless show. He really showed up when Day9 started losing his voice near the end and did his best to keep things going strong so that poor Sean didn't blow his vocal cords! Seeing Jim Raynor and the Tychus voice actors were pretty awesome too. I'm not surprised he got them to come though since he's such an important SC2 figure now. Anyway, show was fantastic. If you missed it, I'm so sorry. Day[9], DJ Wheat, JP, and company did a really great job keeping my night at work alive with excitement.
First experiences
I will not spoil any fun you're bound to have playing single player, but I will hype it up because so far it's been pretty great. I made sure to replay (most of) SC1 before this dropped and I'm glad I did. Always nice to get a small backstory revealed again for the new story to take off. The introduction and betrayal of Mengsk, the fall and loss of Kerrigan, and Jim Raynor's redemption are all experiences you may remember from SC1 that pick right up in SC2. I was really happy to see how the single player worked out. For once, I felt like I wanted to get the achievements, and not for the meaningless points. Instead of being the observer "Magistrate" Or "Captain", you function as just the control of Jim Raynor's faction as Commander. I'm not sure how this all worked. I think Captain died at the end of broodwar, but what happened to the once Confederate Magistrate (you in SC1 in the first terran campaign)? Well, I guess it doesn't matter since they didn't really play a huge part in the story. SC2 single player graphics are fantastic at a medium to high setting. Lots of new flora and fauna, new signs and general filler stuff really ink out Mars Sara (my point in the campaign). All of the techniques like walling off work well in the single player and are pretty much required for doing anything hard or brutal difficulty. If you're playing casual you shouldn't be reading a blog right now!
After two hours or so in the campaign I thought I'd get my placement matches finished in single player. Tried using some idrA build orders that I've never really tried before. Hatch before pool, speedling to muta back to hydra if there's a lot of anti-air or viking. Well, placement went well. Would have been thrown into Platinum if I didn't fuck up my ZvP on one of the new 2v2 maps. Can't remember what it's called. Very dark and has a Xelnaga tower right in the middle and unguarded by walls or ramps. I have a bad habit of hitting escape to deselect, which cancels stuff being created. If I didn't cancel my fucking pool when it was nearly done, the 2 gate wouldn't have pushed me to breaking point. My few games in gold went pretty badly... Fell victim to good hellions and some way fast gateways before my expo would give me enough stuff to keep rolling. If I had the presence of mind to grab some infestors, I could probably handle all of these big ground armys pretty easily. Always feels like im scrambling to catch up though.
Lots of QQ from people who didn't play in beta trying to do placements vs someone who did play. I can see why, but getting a beta key was as easy as going to GameStop 2 months prior to release and preordering... A $5 returnable investment.
I go under the name "tomeeeo#506" now (as my name+identifier to add to friends list). Hope to see you all on the ladder! Usually on @ 6pm-11pm EST.
