EPT+ Show Spoiler +
Mothership core: Removed
Nexus ability card updated:
Manual shield battery: can restore 4 shields to a friendly unit each second for 1 energy per second
Chrono Boost: changed back to older version (25 energy)
Pylon overcharge: large cast range. For 25 energy, overcharge a pylon. Requires a cybernetics core on the map.
Mass recall: for 100 energy, recall all units in an area to this nexus. Requires a cybernetics core on the map.
Oracle:
Pulsar beam: removed?
Can cast time warp (lotv version)
Time warp requires 150/150 upgrade at the fleet beacon
Nexus ability card updated:
Manual shield battery: can restore 4 shields to a friendly unit each second for 1 energy per second
Chrono Boost: changed back to older version (25 energy)
Pylon overcharge: large cast range. For 25 energy, overcharge a pylon. Requires a cybernetics core on the map.
Mass recall: for 100 energy, recall all units in an area to this nexus. Requires a cybernetics core on the map.
Oracle:
Pulsar beam: removed?
Can cast time warp (lotv version)
Time warp requires 150/150 upgrade at the fleet beacon
I'm sure we all know the mothership core and photon overcharge was a pretty blatant bandaid fix to protoss' early game defense. With the new pylon overcharge, playing against protoss and wanting to attack them early on got really frustrating. Playing with an MSC is also very tedious, as you have to constantly babysit this crucial unit which seems to always get itself into trouble and killed. Even top koreans frequently mess up and lose it, despite having played with it for so long. Finally, hero based units, those which you can only have 1 of on the field at a time, have no place in starcraft. My proposition is small, but is the following:
Remove the mothership core and change the ability card of the nexus:
Restore shields: a built-in manual shield battery. For 1 energy per second, restore 4 shields to a target unit
Chrono boost: reverted to it's older version, costing 25 energy
Pylon overcharge: range increased to 9-13~. otherwise, same as MSC variant. Requires a cybernetics core on the map.
Mass recall: Teleport a group of units on the map to this nexus for 75-100 energy. Requires a cybernetics core on the map.
Now you might be wondering: "wait, this doesn't remove the band-aid at all! Protoss still has a bad early game, covered by PO this time on the nexus!" Thats true. But what this change does is make it feel much less like a band-aid and more natural, and it increases strategic depth in the game. Having defensive-utility based abilities on a protoss main structure, at least in my opinion, feels very natural. Plus, players don't have to worry about losing and babysitting their MSC. All of the strategic depth relies on chrono boost costing energy: players will have to decide if they want to chrono boost something to boost their economy, or save up energy for defensive spells. Also, this depth stems further, as players will have to decide which nexi they want to use for chrono boosts. Maybe dumping all energy from 1 nexus is a bad idea since you will be weak to drops, but maybe you really need the energy at your nat and third nexus. Shield battery is just for early game and a niche little ability. In addition, using PO to deny scouting becomes more of an investment as 1 PO = 1 CB. This was very frustrating for players going reapers or losing an early overlord.
One thing I am afraid about with this change is that protoss would not be able to secure additional bases, or doing so would be incredibly hard since photon overcharge would not be available. A small little "fix" could be to have nexi start with 25 energy? But thats not even close to a sufficient buff. If this MSC removal change were to happen, protoss would need to have better, more mobile early defense. I have no idea what that change/those changes would have to be. Maybe making PO have a range of 13 so that you can overcharge some pylons barely on the low ground? But then again, that also feels really band-aidy. Like, protoss' defense is based so much on PO early game that players are fine to throw away a group few adepts for like 3-5 enemy workers. They don't need units: just some band-aid defensive ability and structures. Hence why securing a base would be so hard: no good defensive strcutures to secure it.
Now, onto the oracle. Here is what I believe should be changed:
Remove Pulsar beam?
For 150/150 at the fleet beacon, the oracle can use time warp.
Time warp was moved from the deceased MSC onto the oracle, but must be researched. Pulsar beam kinda ruins the idea of what the oracle is for me: a spiritual successor, earlier tech, and nerazim arbiter. It's a support vessel, not a hit-and-run harass unit. And the thing about the oracle is that its completely meant to catch the enemy off-guard. And if it doesn't, it has decent supporting spells. Low risk, high reward. I believe that if the oracle pulsar beam was removed (or built in to be a very weak basic attack like the arbiter), phoenix play might come back into prominence given the dominance of muta play right now. Ironically, another reason phoenix openings might come back into style is because since its weaker than an oracle opener, it would be scouted for less, giving it more of an element of surprise. I do believe that phoenix play is healthy for the game: instead of oracle harass which is fairly easy to excecute, it takes a good player to constantly be getting the maximum worth out of their phoenixes, and theres a lot of room for creativity with them aswell.
Time warp on the oracle has huge implications. Stargate/Fleet Beacon tech seems to be the end-game goal of all protosses now, with the new powerful carrier and sieging abilities of the tempest. From what I've been seeing in PvP, players want to get to that stalker/disruptor mid-game, and then add on fleet beacon tech lategame for increased sieging powers. Having time warp on the fleet beacon will further increase the potency of this late-game switch. Time warp will shift the positional metagame in not just PvP, but every matchup where the protoss can get to a fleet beacon. It will create "dead-zones" where the enemy will be forced to escape from and give up, allowing more aggressive plays: you can time-warp where the enemy army is, and they would be forced to leave that position before it comes up or get disrupted. It could also be used to deny enemy armies from coming up a ramp, since splitting inside a time warp is much less effective. I think it would be a great addition to the game.
Btw, mark my words, players will begin to split up armies into 2 groups later in the game PvP. The zoning powers of the disruptor are so potent that it could probably zone out an army twice it's size.
. Whoever voted, voted a 1-star and it hurts my ego
