EPTBlizzard's post is in quotes, my response is below.
In-Game Clock
First, we’d like to inquire once more on the in-game clock changing to real time. This change is looking positive so far, so we’d like to start thinking about committing to making this change for Legacy of the Void. On our end, we see the advantages and disadvantages of going either way, and we’d really love to rely on you all to make a call in this area that you feel is best. The only thing we must avoid is having an option to go back and forth between the HotS clock and a real-time clock. We are sure that this will be confusing, especially when viewing various events that use different clocks.
First, we’d like to inquire once more on the in-game clock changing to real time. This change is looking positive so far, so we’d like to start thinking about committing to making this change for Legacy of the Void. On our end, we see the advantages and disadvantages of going either way, and we’d really love to rely on you all to make a call in this area that you feel is best. The only thing we must avoid is having an option to go back and forth between the HotS clock and a real-time clock. We are sure that this will be confusing, especially when viewing various events that use different clocks.
Blizzard time vs real time has always been confusing. While the transition will leave a lot of people uncomfortable as nearly every number in the game relating to time has its displayed value altered, the way the game is actually played is not changed at all. Attack speed, movement speed, build times, upgrade times and so on will have to be re-memorized if you're using the clock to make judgement calls, while your intuition will remain in tact. In game times should all reflect actual time in life. It makes sense that way.
Automated Tournament Game-Length
The second thing we want to address also relates to time. As you likely know, the StarCraft II development team is currently working on an automated tournament feature. Just as it was in Warcraft 3 automated tournaments, we can’t have two people that play for hours drag out a result for everyone else in the same automated tournament. The solution that we are currently testing for this dilemma is to end every automated tournament game at the 30 min mark (~42 min or so in HoTS time), at which point the winner is determined by whichever player earned more XP in that game. This number itself isn’t final, and we’ll be looking at how the actual tournament games turn out. We can easily tune this as needed when we start testing automated tournaments.
The second thing we want to address also relates to time. As you likely know, the StarCraft II development team is currently working on an automated tournament feature. Just as it was in Warcraft 3 automated tournaments, we can’t have two people that play for hours drag out a result for everyone else in the same automated tournament. The solution that we are currently testing for this dilemma is to end every automated tournament game at the 30 min mark (~42 min or so in HoTS time), at which point the winner is determined by whichever player earned more XP in that game. This number itself isn’t final, and we’ll be looking at how the actual tournament games turn out. We can easily tune this as needed when we start testing automated tournaments.
The vast majority of stalemates arose from swarmhost play vs a 'do nothing' army like ravens or protoss turtle. With the change of swarm host, this situation will rarely occur. That being said, having a limit in place for automated tournaments is fine. If the automated tournament system can be broken by malicious players, then there's not much point. 30 minutes might be a bit too short, but in LoTV the games do tend to be on the shorter side anyway.
Stalemate Limits
When exploring this specific concept for automated tournaments, we also wondered if every melee game in SC2 should also have a rule like this to prevent long, boring, dragged out games in the future. We believe with the Swarm Host fix, as well as how so many changes in LoTV cater heavily towards aggressive play, the chances of 2-3+ hour games happening in the future is quite low. However, we also know that some dragged out games have happened due to players trolling, or other player behaviors that can’t be controlled. To avoid this, we are considering putting a time limit on standard melee games around the 1.5 hour mark or so since this seems to be beyond the longest a legitimate game could go. We are only beginning to consider this idea, and we wanted to hear your thoughts on this subject in order to make a better decision.
When exploring this specific concept for automated tournaments, we also wondered if every melee game in SC2 should also have a rule like this to prevent long, boring, dragged out games in the future. We believe with the Swarm Host fix, as well as how so many changes in LoTV cater heavily towards aggressive play, the chances of 2-3+ hour games happening in the future is quite low. However, we also know that some dragged out games have happened due to players trolling, or other player behaviors that can’t be controlled. To avoid this, we are considering putting a time limit on standard melee games around the 1.5 hour mark or so since this seems to be beyond the longest a legitimate game could go. We are only beginning to consider this idea, and we wanted to hear your thoughts on this subject in order to make a better decision.
I don't like a hard cap on time limit from a theoretical perspective, although it won't matter in 99.9% of games. Some specific players (goody/avilo) could suffer in particular from a hard time limit, but turtle mech is a style that is not much fun to play against anyway. The majority of long games have arisen from either swarmhost turtle or malicious players. With the swarmhost's old nature totally gone, it should be up to the players and admins to prevent this sort of situation from occurring frequently. I can't think of any recent legitimate game that's gone over 1.5 hours so even if this change were to happen there wouldn't be much issue.
Balance Changes
Mothership Core & Mothership
Mass Recall cost reduced from 100 energy to 50 energy
With the resource changes in LotV, we agree that Protoss seems to be struggling the most when it comes to defending bases at various locations. We believe that decreasing the cost of Mass Recall is a good change, in that it will both help Protoss players defend multiple bases easier, and also allow them to play more aggressive throughout the early/mid stages of the game.
I'm not a fan of this change. Recall is one of the most frustrating spells to play against. As a Terran, I don't deal with this as much as Zergs do but I've seen the kind of plays that Protoss can make vs Zerg with mass recall. Right now, recall is a band-aid for the fact that Protoss is very bad at being mobile on the map and actually disengaging and retreating as needed. I'd rather see some changes to other units rather than putting even more emphasis on the mothership core, which is already the most valuable and cost efficient unit any race can buy. Perhaps giving a late game tech for the oracle/adept/something that is a movement speed aura or movement speed buff zone (reverse time warp) would be sufficient to increase Protoss's army to safely poke without being fully engaged.
Mothership
Movement speed increased from 1.41 to 1.88 to match the Mothership Core
Same abilities as Mothership Core + Cloaking Field
Previously, we were exploring a lot of new abilities and ideas on this front. For now however, we have decided to make the Mothership simply a much improved version of the Mothership Core. Mothership Core abilities are critical throughout the course of the game, but towards the end of the game, the Mothership Core becomes an extremely fragile unit. Therefore, we’d like to try having the Mothership be just a better version of the Mothership Core that no longer has trade-offs for its increased stats.
Movement speed increased from 1.41 to 1.88 to match the Mothership Core
Same abilities as Mothership Core + Cloaking Field
Previously, we were exploring a lot of new abilities and ideas on this front. For now however, we have decided to make the Mothership simply a much improved version of the Mothership Core. Mothership Core abilities are critical throughout the course of the game, but towards the end of the game, the Mothership Core becomes an extremely fragile unit. Therefore, we’d like to try having the Mothership be just a better version of the Mothership Core that no longer has trade-offs for its increased stats.
As a Terran I don't have much to say here as protoss never make motherships vs my race. Look for a Zerg's perspective to get a better idea of the implications.
Oracle Stasis: Forced Auto-cast
We’re seeing certain strategies with the Oracle’s Stasis ability where players are stacking the ability several times, and then manually detonating them over time to indefinitely leave units in Stasis. With our focus on constant combat, this is obviously something that we have no desire for and this change should effectively end this behavior.
We’re seeing certain strategies with the Oracle’s Stasis ability where players are stacking the ability several times, and then manually detonating them over time to indefinitely leave units in Stasis. With our focus on constant combat, this is obviously something that we have no desire for and this change should effectively end this behavior.
They're fixing a very abusable and frustrating mechanic that had little counter play. Good.
Brood Lord
Range increased to 11
No longer has the frenzied passive
We’ve been exploring potential changes to the Brood Lord, and we’ve recently settled on a range increase to differentiate the unit further from other tech options Zerg has at that tier. Additionally, we’re removing the passive ability of Frenzy now since it is not needed. For context, this ability was added back when ZvZ defensive Swarm Host + mass Spore Crawler was an issue, but now that the issue is gone, we no longer see the need for this ability to protect Brood Lords from the Viper’s abduct.
Range increased to 11
No longer has the frenzied passive
We’ve been exploring potential changes to the Brood Lord, and we’ve recently settled on a range increase to differentiate the unit further from other tech options Zerg has at that tier. Additionally, we’re removing the passive ability of Frenzy now since it is not needed. For context, this ability was added back when ZvZ defensive Swarm Host + mass Spore Crawler was an issue, but now that the issue is gone, we no longer see the need for this ability to protect Brood Lords from the Viper’s abduct.
Losing the frenzied passive is good design. In the past, Blizzard has failed to revert old changes when the reason for the unit being changed was no longer relevant. It's good to see them keeping the game as clean and as up to date/consistent as possible. That being said, 11 range terrifies me. Broodlords have their place vs Terran, although it's generally a small one that's isolated to timing attacks, especially vs. mech. This change may be enough to revive broodlord infestor as a general unit composition. My body isn't ready for that.
Upgraded Zealot speed increased from 2.75 to 2.953
With the addition of the Adept, the Zealots role has been reduced in the later stages game. To adjust for this, we decided to make a mid/late game buff to Zealots that makes the Zealots be a more ideal choice in certain situations compared to the Adept. Alternatively, we could have toned down the effectiveness of the Adept, but overall we agree with the community opinion that Protoss isn’t as powerful as the other two races currently, so we felt this change was best.
With the addition of the Adept, the Zealots role has been reduced in the later stages game. To adjust for this, we decided to make a mid/late game buff to Zealots that makes the Zealots be a more ideal choice in certain situations compared to the Adept. Alternatively, we could have toned down the effectiveness of the Adept, but overall we agree with the community opinion that Protoss isn’t as powerful as the other two races currently, so we felt this change was best.
The adept is better than the zealot in many situations. It's faster, can scout easily, deals a ton of damage to light and is hard to catch while requiring very little gas investment and no upgrades to be effective. Increasing the zealot's movement speed to give it a more unique identity from the adept is a good start, although I don't forsee people using zealots over adepts vs Terran. Adepts are simply too tanky and too strong against marines, which is one of the biggest issues Protoss has always had vs Terran.
Lurker damage changed from 30 damage to 20 +10 vs. armored
We feel that the counter to mass Lurkers is too heavily leaning towards mass air. We’d like to try out this change in order to see if we can get more ground based interactions against the Lurker. With the unique way that Lurker’s deal damage, it would be great to see more micro against players using Lurkers.
We feel that the counter to mass Lurkers is too heavily leaning towards mass air. We’d like to try out this change in order to see if we can get more ground based interactions against the Lurker. With the unique way that Lurker’s deal damage, it would be great to see more micro against players using Lurkers.
Yes, please. Lurker damage feels completely out of control right now. This gives the lower hp units like lings, marines, zealots, adepts a bit more staying power vs lurkers while maintaining their effectiveness vs. the things that did 'okay' vs them before (immortal/stalker/colossus/marauder/tank/thor)
Disruptor gains unit type: Armored
The Disruptor survives for a bit too long even when caught off guard, and we didn’t want to do a big nerf to the unit yet, so we picked something small in adding that +armored damage units will deal more damage against them. It’s also convenient that the unit looks armored, so this felt like a good change to test out.
The Disruptor survives for a bit too long even when caught off guard, and we didn’t want to do a big nerf to the unit yet, so we picked something small in adding that +armored damage units will deal more damage against them. It’s also convenient that the unit looks armored, so this felt like a good change to test out.
Right now, the disruptor is the hardest new unit to use in the beta. Very few protoss use it well against Terran. Most of the time, the disruptors come from the front, and it's easy to just stim and run backwards until the effect wears off at which point the unit is easy pickings. As such, this nerf seems directed at ZvP, but that doesn't make much sense to me because, besides the new Lurker, none of Zerg's units deal bonus damage to armored ground except fungal. Perhaps this is a PvP thing or maybe in their testing the disruptor is actually used effectively vs terran? Even when the disruptors come from different angles, the Protoss has to also have a way to keep the Terran army from just picking up and running out, which requires a significant gas investment in stalkers or phoenix. Blink + disruptor might be a composition that allows disruptors to be effective vs Terran but I haven't seen it yet.
All in all, this change is more confusing than anything else. Of all the changes, this one clashes the most with my personal experience and either due to lack of knowledge (PvP) or due to big differences in style, I just don't know where it's coming from.
Closing
As a final update, we wanted to let you know more about the areas we’re testing internally.
We’re exploring ways to give more power to Terran bio play.
We’re trying new ability ideas for the Raven’s PDD and Ghost’s Snipe.
We’re developing the new Terran unit
We’re getting comfortable with the air unit we’ve been exploring. Here’s how it currently operates:
Two attack modes:
Fast movement with splash-damage vs air
Can enter a stationary-mode where it changes to attack vs ground. This attack targets an area where any units within that area receive high single-target damage.
As a final update, we wanted to let you know more about the areas we’re testing internally.
We’re exploring ways to give more power to Terran bio play.
We’re trying new ability ideas for the Raven’s PDD and Ghost’s Snipe.
We’re developing the new Terran unit
We’re getting comfortable with the air unit we’ve been exploring. Here’s how it currently operates:
Two attack modes:
Fast movement with splash-damage vs air
Can enter a stationary-mode where it changes to attack vs ground. This attack targets an area where any units within that area receive high single-target damage.
If it were up to me, I would address bio play's complete lack of an end game unit. I would add a mid/late game upgrade to the reaper and instead of adding an air unit, I would add a new bio unit that requires a fusion core or armory to build and is on the order of 4 supply.
PDD being changed wouldn't make me too sad and if it makes the game healthier as a whole (less stalemates/drawn out games) then it sounds good. As far as snipe goes, I already hashed that issue to death years ago.
The new terran air unit sounds like a flying siege tank. Or a brood lord with more versatility. I guess the idea is to make 'sky terran' feel like a complete unit composition rather than just something that's tacked onto ground mech or bio. As I already mentioned, I'd prefer to see some late game love for bio in the new unit, but the idea of a 3rd complete unit composition for terran seems pretty cool too.
