Iam first just gonna write down the properties my dream Protoss unit for LotV would have and then I'll elaborate and reason about it.
- it's built on the warpgate/gateway and unlocks after twilight council - it's a female protoss unit which uses psi technology. A templar guardian. - she can build up to three orbs/droids which cost money (mb also gas). the orbs fly over her head. - she can consume an orb to recharge shields in an aoe around her over time. This effect does not stack so it is more effective in small to medium sized groups. - you can research the second ability which allows her to consume an orb to deal a targeted nuke which lowers the armor of the opponent and has a small aoe. It is not effective to just spam the nuke on random opponents because of the cost allthough the damage should be reasonably high. It can be used on buildings as well. - the unit does not attack by itself but with a short to medium ranged (4-6) attack from the orbs. the damage is low, in the sense of costefficiency. Part of its damage only works vs light. - important restrictions would be a relatively high supply cost (4+) to make it more efficient in constant action games and less so in maxed out deathball scenarios and a high gas cost so P cannot freely tech everything behind making those.
So why do I wish such a unit?
This unit would make P stronger in small to medium skirmishes without making the P deathball stronger in general. Allthough it would be effective to use it in a big fight as well it would obviously cut into other expensive units you want in there. The important part is the tech timing. Let my talk about how I think this unit could change the individual matchups. The 'on the field rebuild' mechanic (orbs) would make this unit very momentum based while requiring some attention because you have to use the two actives well and keep the unit alive because it would be a high priority target.
PvP Because of the before colossus timing, the aoe shield recharge and the nuke allows P to play a more mobile gateway heavy style if he keeps up the momentum. The key here is the burst from the nuke which can be used to snipe colossi if you have a few of them and some stalker shots. The shield recharge helps to fight the AoE of the colossus. With warpgate, warp prisms and forward pylons P could do multipronged attacks that are more efficient. The burst from the nuke helps to dispatch the first incomming defenders quickly and the recharge keeps the small drop force alive a bit longer. Since the unit is a high priority target P has to try and keep it alive. In a PvP situation where both sides use this unit it would be alot about spotting the opponents position first and nuking the opposing templar guardian.
PvT Instead of being forced to defend and getting to high AoE tech. P can also use the templar guardian to quickly (in the sense of timing and in the sense of production) augment the gateway army with a strong support which helps to hold up to MMM attacks and drops. The nuke is supposed to be used vs medivacs and marauders and the aoe recharge helps to keep up with medivac heals and stim. The natural transition from this would be high templar tech and alot of upgrades. Vs mech this unit could be used to snipe cyclones but it would also be a priority target for them.
PvZ edit: completely forgot this section -.- The shield recharge would help P to fight against the costefficient roach ling or roach hydra comps. Allthough the gas cost would cut into sentry production it would be a synergetic relation to those. The forcefields (before ff breaking units) and the guardian shield synergize with the shield recharge. Her nuke add to P's front loaded damage to cut quickly into the roach/hydra count. Z can't amove into a gateway ball as much anymore since Z has to try to target fire the templar guardian because of the shield recharge ability. sieging and defensive units like the lurker and swarmhost can be nuked with the orbs.
Another female protoss unit would be nice. Something to augment the midgame. Would be nice to see some alternatives from: heavy pressure to keep terran at home until you can tech out collosus by 9 minutes.
apparently iam not a game designer lol. But the core idea is still something I really like to have implemented by Blizzard. It's not about the appearance nor the mechanics.
What I'd like to have as a P player is a unit or mechanic that lets P to choose a tier 1.5-2 tech path which is momentum based. Similar to what the medivac does for T and the mutalisk for Z. Both are high gas units which allow you (and force you) to be aggressively multitasking and constantly attacking. They cut into tech because of their gas cost so it's a really interesting decision to get them in high numbers and it defines your playstyle alot by doing so. That's an interesting tradeoff: Do I want to play a fast multitasking game or do i turtle to higher tech aoe and burst units which have to be protected? T and Z players right now can differentiate themselves alot by having the tools to play momentum based or tech/turtle based. If P had that too then mb even Bisu would come back to s2 (jk, but it illustrates the point).
P doesn't have that yet: The other low to mid tech options are specific counter units and slow damage dealers like the voidray and the immortal. The phoenix is good for air dominance and a decent harass unit but the speed at which the phoenix kills stuff is really slow except for light air. Oracle is pure harass and support. Blink stalkers are to some extend filling the momentum role but they fall off really really fast, so in order to trade efficiently with Blink vs T and Z at the same tech and eco level P has to (almost) go all in and outnumber his opponent by cutting economy and tech too hard.
I think that a nonstackable aoe shield recharge and a single target nuke which both cost money serve that idea's purpose but I might be mistaken ofc.
I really like the logic behind this idea. I also think it is time to bring in Blizzard's post on LotV development, and their ideas for the new protoss unit.
Additional new Protoss unit We haven’t finalized design on a new Protoss unit, but it’s something we’re heavily focused on these days. We have general concepts and ideas we’re trying, but haven’t nailed down something solid yet. Generally speaking, we’re experimenting with allowing Protoss to play a more aggressive containment game in the early game by utilizing a new unit. We feel this will give some more variety to Protoss openings, since Protoss generally tends to play defensively. If you have good ideas or feedback in this area, it would be appreciated.
We’re currently exploring a very different type of harassing unit. We don’t yet have the specific details yet but these are the things we’re thinking right now:
Early game unit Slow movement speed (to differentiate from other early game harassers) Phase shift ability. Unit goes completely invulnerable for X seconds on a short cooldown (to be able to move in and harass and to get out in a different way compared to say like Blink harass) Doesn’t counter core units for cost (idea of having a core unit that goes invulnerable just sounds like it would be too much. Plus with this effective ability, this unit could still be a great harasser even if it’s not effective for cost). But like we said, we’re still in the concept/discussion phase of this unit so additional feedback is welcome. It could even be suggestions on a completely different unit that the Protoss can use to make the game more exciting for everyone.
I think your idea makes significantly more sense. These are the flaws I see in their design:
Phase shift doesn't make sense to me in the logic of the game. Functionally, I think the unit either becomes useless, or becomes a dark templar that even low-league players can see coming. Terran can wall it out, Protoss will simply follow it with some units back into their base and kill it when it becomes vulnerable. I only see this being viable either lategame, or when several are sent into different bases at once in the earlygame. In that case, it becomes coin-flippy and a significant investment for the player. Against Zerg it might be viable, but Zerg have the most capability to defend by sending back a few zerglings.
Your design makes more sense for these reasons:
A pure harassment unit does not make sense for Protoss. They have plenty of capability to harass early already in LotV - oracle openings, blink, zlot harass, even dts or warp prisms. The biggest problem of PvX games in general is not that the Protoss cannot harass enough, its that there are only two things going on at any point: harass, and deathball. Drops don't work the same way. The doom-drop and versatility of the medivac mean that the Terran does not do two separate things in harassing AND having an army, but that those two things are blurred.
So, we need a unit that interacts with the main army, similar to the way the medivac does. Your design certainly accomplishes that, without feeling like it simply buffs the deathball. I think your "mini nuke" idea seems like it could develop to have some harassment capability, without that being the focus of the unit. I also feel that your design encourages not just harassment, but actual multipronged attacks by having several small armies, each buffed by a single guardian templar. The shield regen makes this significantly more viable than it is now, because when the enemy counters or tries to attack one of the small armies, it is possible to simply retreat with shield regen active, and join together the separate armies to defend a counter.
This versatility is exactly what we see in TvZ (specifically bio vs ling/bane/muta, but also in mech vs roaches or similar) and is a large part of why audiences love watching TvZ. It is exciting because action occurs everywhere, and standoffs between deathballs are nearly nonexistent. For Brood War purists as well, the complaint time and time again is "Starcraft 2 is a deathball game. You both build an army, and then they fight and one dies." While that ignores a great deal of subtlety, there is a ring of truth in it. The hotkey limit in Brood War, while making the game much less casual-friendly, also encouraged the kind of army-multitasking that we simply do not see Sc2 Protoss capable of.
It is clear, with the economy changes that Blizzard is trying to implement, that they want more excitement in the game, yet they have not suggested any changes that could adjust how Protoss move around the map. Offering more harassment options doesn't solve the problem because it doesn't reconsider the army being built back home. I think your suggestion does so in a brilliant way, and I hope the dev team sees this blog at some point.
I envision a world where protoss doesn't have one army hotkey, but 4-6, poking and prodding everywhere, with the ability to flow and merge together where weaknesses are found. It would discourage deathballs, turtling, and everything that ever made a TL poster complain about Protoss being a boring race.
I think it's too complicated. Imagine having 5-6, or more, of a unit that can have up to 3 balls of energy above it, that cost resources, that are then used for abilities like lowering armor or recharging shields.
The video is very funny, but the message obviously is that simple is often the best way to go - Blizzard never implements anything that is needlessly complicated in their games. Instead of having roundabout resources that cost other resources, that are then used to activate complicated abilities, why not have it just be energy-based - it's supposed to be a psionic unit anyway, not having the weakness of other psionic units makes little sense. It can then use energy for recharging shields, or to do small AoE damage. That accomplishes the same thing, and isn't complicated at all. You have to remember that, beyond Blizzard's design philosophy, this is an RTS game where you're building up an army, and an overcomplicated unit causes more harm than good.
Vexon thank you for understanding and liking the idea and welcome to TL.
On December 22 2014 13:21 NewSunshine wrote: I think it's too complicated. Imagine having 5-6, or more, of a unit that can have up to 3 balls of energy above it, that cost resources, that are then used for abilities like lowering armor or recharging shields.
The video is very funny, but the message obviously is that simple is often the best way to go - Blizzard never implements anything that is needlessly complicated in their games. Instead of having roundabout resources that cost other resources, that are then used to activate complicated abilities, why not have it just be energy-based - it's supposed to be a psionic unit anyway, not having the weakness of other psionic units makes little sense. It can then use energy for recharging shields, or to do small AoE damage. That accomplishes the same thing, and isn't complicated at all. You have to remember that, beyond Blizzard's design philosophy, this is an RTS game where you're building up an army, and an overcomplicated unit causes more harm than good.
I think you have a good point. But I don't fully agree that an energy based unit would have the same role or impact. First off all there are countermeasures to energy based units like feedback and emp. EMP especially allready has the utility of being able to shut down the templar tech path as it drains energy from templar, shields from archons and reveals DT.
Also since the core idea is to have a unit that is momentum based makes this "ability cost ressources" mechanic a unique and interesting tradeoff. In order to increase momentum you can make the on the field decision to use more droids/orbs or w/e in a shorter time but it would cost you and slightly cut into other production/tech/economy. Also it warrants to make the abilites reasonably powerful.
edit: Also I like the idea that in PvP you could make a timing attack vs colossus tech that is less all in and can be reasonably transitioned out of because you invested in unlocking upgrades at that point.
EPT
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/dWQ9WjR.jpg)
(jk, but it illustrates the point).![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/0G5x6Hb.jpg)
