Patch 1.4 PTR Notes (updated 9/8) - Page 63

On August 25 2011 13:32 cHaNg-sTa wrote:


Even if Ultras were 55 second build time, no one would build them to reinforce because they're still bad and who the hell reinforces something that comes a minute later? Battle would be already over. You never played Zerg obviously as even if you were sane enough to go Ultras, they took absolutely forever to build for a unit that isn't even all that great. And it's not like you can "mass" them. You would have needed to stockpile a ton of money and gas to even make half a dozen of ultras.

Thors are more deserving of that buff? I don't know if you know, but Thors are actually much better than Ultras, and I don't think many people would disagree with that.

Obviously I'm a Zerg player that thinks that Ultras needed to be buffed. But all Zerg players can tell you that the build time wasn't really the thing that needed buffing.. not that it doesn't help you get ultras faster, but it really doesn't solve them getting countered by many units in the game.

On August 25 2011 13:27 Whole wrote:

No one masses Ultras though. You get 5 at the very most to tank some hits to move in. And you can't do anything when a Protoss or Terran is containing your bases without Ultralisks to tank hits. The change will attempt to fix a problem where Protoss and Terran can break a Zerg easily while Zerg cannot do the same.

On August 25 2011 13:33 DizzyDrone wrote:


I'll agree that Zerg would have a hard time dealing with Raven, but I disagree that it's a problem with the Raven itself. If anything, it's a problem with Zerg and it's ability to deal with caster units. Perhaps increasing Hydralisk's damage against Psionic units at the cost of overall damage, and allowing it's damage to pierce Point Defense Drone and Guardian Shield would allow the underused Hydralisk to fill that role.

On August 25 2011 10:14 awu25 wrote:
Interesting contaminate change, didn't think many people used it, let alone thought it needed a change.

On August 25 2011 13:37 Hybris wrote:

Idk man, Broodlords are a pretty good unit at breaking things rofl...

On August 25 2011 13:33 DizzyDrone wrote:


I'll agree that Zerg would have a hard time dealing with Raven, but I disagree that it's a problem with the Raven itself. If anything, it's a problem with Zerg and it's ability to deal with caster units. Perhaps increasing Hydralisk's damage against Psionic units at the cost of overall damage, and allowing it's damage to pierce Point Defense Drone and Guardian Shield would allow the underused Hydralisk to fill that role.

On August 25 2011 13:27 Whole wrote:

No one masses Ultras though. You get 5 at the very most to tank some hits to move in. And you can't do anything when a Protoss or Terran is containing your bases without Ultralisks to tank hits. The change will attempt to fix a problem where Protoss and Terran can break a Zerg easily while Zerg cannot do the same.

On August 25 2011 13:36 Shinespark wrote:
Will these changes be in effect at this weekend's MLG or is this a kind of "let's try it this way and if it's good, we'll keep it" sorta thing?

At the very least I would expect the changes in private messaging to stick, so morons/trolls/cheaters stop bothering pros at events.

On August 25 2011 13:09 _Search_ wrote:
Now that I've had a good think here's my reaction to 1.4:

(Rank 1 Master Terran perspective)


General
Unit vision up ramps has been reduced by 1.

Defender's advantage!! Very necessary. This will stop Toss from saccing a unit up a ramp to warp stuff in past static defense.


PROTOSS
Immortal
Attack range increased from 5 to 6.

I first suggested this exact change a year ago. I knew back then that immortals were simply not effective enough for their cost, even if I was in gold league.


Mothership
Acceleration increased from 0.3 to 1.375.
The Mothership’s Cloaking Field no longer cloaks all units instantaneously, but rather adds units to the cloak field over time (maximum of 25 per second). This should alleviate “Mothership Lag” issue when a Mothership comes online.

I hope this promotes more Mothership play. It's such an interesting unit. At the same time though, Protoss late game definitely did NOT need any help. Colossus nerf please.


Stalker
Blink research time increased from 110 to 140.

This is great because blink really should be a late game ability and not conducive to a timing attack. Terran is far too vulnerable to blink Stalkers on maps like Tal'Darim, though this change will likely have greater effect in the other matchups.


Warp Prism
Shields increased from 40 to 100.

Not a particular fan of this one, mainly because Warp Prisms are such a powerful unit already, especially for such a cheap cost (no gas?!?!). The only reason tosses don't use them is because they're afraid of losing them, which speaks more to the lack of maturity in toss play than imbalance because, considering what the unit does, it's DEFINITELY worth the money.


TERRAN
Barracks
Build time increased from 60 to 65.

lolwut? Is this to help with 2 rax? I don't know how much effect it will have on that, but Terran has the hardest time producing units in the early game, especially against toss, and this will make Terran far too vulnerable to early pressure.

I once suggested this very change, but coupled it with a marine time decrease and Orbital Command time decrease (5 secs). Terran is simply far too vulnerable in the early game to anything that can get around a bunker. Basically what this is doing is making any Terran non-bio build auto-lose to early pressure.

Can this nerf not be accompanied by a reactor core build time buff? The Terran macro game already suffers as it is, without double-punishing Terrans for trying to tech.

Hellion
Infernal Pre-Igniter damage upgrade decreased from 10 to 5.

Defense against hellions was already getting figured out. This nerf is totally unnecessary. Zergs have long learned to defend against them, Protosses have no fear of them and Terrans were learning to cope. 19 damage is still enough to 2-shot lings, just not workers until +2 mech weapons. Even worse, now zealots and marines are even MORE effective against hellions, when hellions should totally own both. This is the type of nerf that will remove the unit from the game, just like reapers, and Blizzard needs to be making Terran units less specialized and more cohesive, not the opposite.

Either remove Pre-igniter altogether and give hellions a +3 damage buff (11 +6 v light) or raise the hellion rate of fire and add a pre-attack pause, like in the alpha, like Thors currently have. This will force hellions to stay stationary before they fire, which will make hellion raids less effective, but allow them to gel more easily into a greater army mix.

Really Blizzard should be changing the Hellion to make it more effective in a general army and less effective in a raid. A straight-up nerf like this one will only remove it from the game, which is tragic, since the Hellion had essentially just entered the game.


Raven
Seeker missile movement speed increased from 2.5 to 2.953.

FINALLY!!!! No more vikings escaping Seeker Missile scot-free! Options in the imba Brood Lord/Corruptor/Infestor v. Viking/Marine wars! And, most importantly, AOE FOR TERRANS!! (besides tanks, which were hardly the equivalent of psi storm, colossi, carriers and fungal growth, if not also banelings (no one's ever perfected a "tank bust"))

ZERG
Infestor
Fungal Growth damage changed from 36 (+30% armored) to 30 (40 vs Armored).

This won't effect PvZ too greatly, unless units recharge shields while under FG (if they do then it's a big nerf as Zealots and Stalkers will each require an extra FG), but this is a welcome nerf in the Brood Lord/Corruptor/Infestor v. Viking marine match. Marines with combat shields and adequate medivacs will mostly survive 2 fungals and Vikings will require 4 FGs instead of 3 to die.

We all knew FG was too powerful. This nerf is well-deserved.

Overseer
Morph cost decreased from 50/100 to 50/50.
Contaminate energy cost increased from 75 to 125.

Still trying to help Zergs against cloaked units. This buff is unnecessary. Spore Crawler buff was enough.

Ultralisk
Build time decreased from 70 to 55.

Interesting, but I think Ultras were fine. It's not like Zerg was ever hampered by unit build times anyways. They can mass anything they have the money and larva for. I feel this is Blizzard's desire to bring an underused unit into the game, but build time is not the way to do it. They just need to let Ultra pathing be uninhibited by lings.