EPTThey Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To
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First pictures of Razer's new 'One Aiur' HotS keyboard
First pictures of Razer's new 'One Aiur' HotS keyboard
Where the Warhound inspires enduring hatred, the Swarm Host, alarm and the Viper, frank incredulity, the ineptly-named Tempest, like some kind of emotional Large Hadron Collider, has contrived to isolate the smallest possible quantum of excitement for the briefest imaginable time, and then let it evaporate.
It can shoot a really long way.
It's also 6 supply and 300m/300g, and does 30 damage every 3.3 seconds. Fun fact: It's actually not possible for a Protoss player to get less dps for the supply and money. Six probes (300m/0g) have the dps of two Tempests, as does a single Colossus (300m/200g) with AoE.
It really is a very long way, though.
Given that the Tempest is the least useful 6 supply you can have in a pitched battle, what is it for? Ostensibly, it forces engagements on the Protoss's terms: the idea is they can pick away at a favourably-positioned army until the attrition forces them to advance.
However, 9 dps probably isn't going to cut it, so you'll be needing more than one Tempest. Let's suppose four (enough to 2-shot a stalker) is sufficient to instil a sense of urgency. That's twenty-four supply. You're not going to want to leave them unsupported, either. So in effect, what your Tempests are doing is to send your opponent little exploding invitations saying "I'm over here, and my army is four Colossus short of what it should be. RSVP!"
Did I mention how far it can shoot?
But it's not (just) the stats that make the Tempest a flying facepalm. No, the worst part is that this tepid, unimaginative, characterless frisbee is coming at the cost of one of the top three most iconic units in the Protoss army: the Carrier.
Actually, the worst part is that there's an easy solution, but it probably won't be implemented:
Give the Carrier a 'Tempest' upgrade, which lets it fire its interceptors as explosive projectiles across huge distances.
Imagine it. Not only would we not lose the carrier, they would be channelling the spirit of the much-beloved Reaver. Instead of thirty supply invested in a long-range tickling-stick, a Tempest-equipped Protoss would have the might of the fleet ready to deploy in the skies above its armies the instant an enemy was goaded forward - only now the Carriers would have a way to blow the living shit out of clumped Marines, too. Hell, I play Zerg and I almost don't care if it would be possible to stop that. Dying to it could well be more fun than winning.
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Exactly.
Thanks for reading!
