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So I peaked on the HotS unit previews and... you know, Brood War got much less extra units and yet the game got completedy changed. I think HotS will act as an entirely different game, much in the way the individual releases of the Heroes of Might and Magic Series do.
I'd like to share a few thoughts of the impact HotS will have when it hits the shelves:
1. WoL will die out - competitively
This is an obvious one. You couldn't see any tours and competitive events very shortly after Brood War was released and I have no doubts history will repeat itself. Whether you want to admit or not, whether you like it or not, Wings of Liberty will soon become a pleasant memory and the first stage of the Starcraft II experience.
Sure, you could have gotten $55,000 in the bank like Stephano did during this "first stage", and I'm quite sure people will still play Wings of Liberty; but all competition will move to HotS.
2. Balance Issues
People complain that the balance will be horrible and all of a sudden, all races are turning OP. I'd like to point to this Reddit thread where a game designer states that no one besides the persons actually in charge of game balance should claim their statements have any other than "discussional" value.
I have to agree with that. Blizzard has been around for many years and whether it was a handful of Diablo characters, three races in Starcraft or four in Warcraft, Blizzard has always kept things pretty balanced overall and enabled millions of hours of good gaming fun around the world. Let them do their job, shall we?
3. The Story
Let's not forget that one of the huge anticipation boost is the campaign story. Kerrigan has returned to her human form and I'm certain her narration will be more than interesting, not to mention that I myself play Zerg and it will be nice to have an entire campaign devoted to the Swarm. I wonder if there will be Cerebrates as well or whether this concept of Swarm captains died with the Overmind...
Blizzard has been criticized in the past for some weaker spots in their plots (such as Raynor fighting his way through Valerian's ship even though the heir wanted to talk to him anyway). But the question is - should we really care about petty details or enjoy the story as a whole? I vote for the option B).
4. That's It
I've been always skeptic about SC2 in general. I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised how is it doing so far. We should keep in mind that the game we're playing nowadays is just the first version of a three(!) part journey. Right now, we can just hope Blizz will keep up their end of the bargain and meet their high quality standards - and history suggests they will.
Thank you for reading!
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I was really concerned when Dustin Browder in the TL interview said that just about everything was balanced (points to almost 50% win rates in every division as proof) and acknowledges that GM Korea was a different story.
My concerns about balance entirely revolves around the pro-gaming scene and I hate watching what I believe to be an imbalanced game or imbalanced units.
I would say history does not always say that Blizz games are balanced for progaming. As far as I know, Undead in WC3 was unplayable at a pro-level since it was auto-lose vs Orc in tournaments. My biggest fear is that this scenario would repeat itself in GSL where P would get smashed and Blizz would let it happen since the game is relatively balanced in most leagues.
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Was it really that bad with the W3 issue? I never really paid too much attention to the pro scene in this particular game, every time I saw something like this I just thought the person whined too much.
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1. Yup
2. I agree completely. I think blizzard shouldn't even be concerned with balance at this point, and instead focus on a game that is fun to play and fun to watch. Hopefully deathball play will become less prevalent, but I doubt it.
3. I was not a fan of the story in WoL at all. All the ret-conning and plot holes just made it bad. The single player was still fun though, and I am curious to see where the story goes. They might be able to redeem the story a little.
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Every interview I see with Blizzard my faith in them is shaken. It just feels like they aren't trying to make a good story and focus completely on the wrong things when balancing or adding new units into the game.
Still, maybe through blind luck they will be able to pass off as competent and knowledgeable game designers 
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It will be really cool to see which players come out of the gate fast when HotS comes out. I get the feeling that NA will have to catch up to KR all over again.
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On October 26 2011 01:37 Vogin wrote:
Was it really that bad with the W3 issue? I never really paid too much attention to the pro scene in this particular game, every time I saw something like this I just thought the person whined too much.
Yeah it was, of course there were metagame shifts over time but there was a reason Undead players were almost never seen at finals of tournaments. The best UD can still be competitive but it's like competing with a weight on your mouse hand, or a game of BW on some retardedly unbalanced map like that snow map where you only see ZvZ.
Pertaining the campaign, I hate the direction that they take the characters but the gameplay itself was superb. It wasn't just "kill the other base," they actually went really outside the box (like the lava mission) and I had a lot of fun going through it once on normal and once on brutal. Really looking forward to playing HotS campaign.
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It's not a different game. It's an expansion. There are still Marauders and Medivacs. There are still roaches, there are still stalkers and sentries.
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On October 26 2011 02:25 mbr2321 wrote:
It's not a different game. It's an expansion. There are still Marauders and Medivacs. There are still roaches, there are still stalkers and sentries.
I believe Heroes 3 and Heroes 5 both have Troglodytes as the Tier1 unit in the Dungeon type of castle, yet they're very different games.
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On October 26 2011 02:25 mbr2321 wrote:
It's not a different game. It's an expansion. There are still Marauders and Medivacs. There are still roaches, there are still stalkers and sentries.
There are still Marines, Siege Tanks, Ghosts, Battlecruisers and Nada as well, but that doesn't make it Brood War.
Just because they call it "an expansion" doesn't mean you can use that as a meaningful argument. If even half the proposed changes make it into the game in any shape or form, it will change the game to the point where nothing you have learned and currently know about the game will be relevant anymore. Hence, it will be a new game.
I could begrudgingly accept one new unit per race, not a key, essential unit, just something to patch a hole in the races' biggest weaknesses. But adding several key units, new concepts, wacky special abilities that completely break the spirit of a classic RTS game - that's not patching a hole. That's cleaning up everything that existed before and starting over for no good reason other than to sell an expansion.
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Undead in WC3 was unplayable at a pro-level since it was auto-lose vs Orc in tournaments
Why is Orc imba vs Undead? I try to look for an answer to that question, but the only things I ever read are "lolol orc dominates everyone already", "UD must tech", or "Blademaster OP, so much damage..."
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I'm looking forward to HotS. I like all of the units and changes I have seen so far. I wonder when the beta will start so we will get a little preview about what HotS has in store for us. I assume that tourneys won't switch until it is fully released.
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On October 26 2011 03:29 a_flayer wrote:
I'm looking forward to HotS. I like all of the units and changes I have seen so far. I wonder when the beta will start so we will get a little preview about what HotS has in store for us. I assume that tourneys won't switch until it is fully released.
I'm worried it will take a longer while before they figure all new units and abilities out, I think there will be a lot of nerfs and patches shortly after the release.
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On October 26 2011 03:57 Vogin wrote:Show nested quote +On October 26 2011 03:29 a_flayer wrote:
I'm looking forward to HotS. I like all of the units and changes I have seen so far. I wonder when the beta will start so we will get a little preview about what HotS has in store for us. I assume that tourneys won't switch until it is fully released. I'm worried it will take a longer while before they figure all new units and abilities out, I think there will be a lot of nerfs and patches shortly after the release.
You've got to find the broken units before Blizz does and start owning people with them. Like Roaches pre supply nerf or Colossi pre damage nerf.
Then stop when your MMR hits Masters and never play the game again.
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