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Heart of the Swarm Preview: Leveling & XP

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acidbean
Profile Joined January 2011
Germany287 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-10-25 17:23:42
October 25 2012 17:14 GMT
#1
Im surprised that hasn't been posted yet.

Blizzard revealed, that you will gain experience for playing the game. Just like in BF3 (dont really know about LoL & Dota2) you will gain level and unlock rewards (mostly portraits and decals, maybe other unannounced stuff)

The basics

In the Heart of the Swarm leveling system, players earn experience while playing Blizzard matchmaking modes and custom games on Blizzard maps. You’ll earn XP for the race you’re playing with each unit you build or destroy. Experience is awarded at the end of the match, and accumulates as you level up from 1 to a maximum level of 20 for each race.



The rewards

The Leveling system is how you will earn most portraits and decals in Heart of the Swarm. We’re creating a multitude of new images for players to collect and display. Your cumulative (Protoss+Terran+Zerg) level will also be displayed right next to your player portrait, so others will be able to easily see how far you’ve gone in mastering the races of StarCraft II.


[image loading]


For the full preview see the official HotS-Blog

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/7681240/Heart_of_the_Swarm_Preview_Leveling-10_25_2012
Swish 41
Profile Joined September 2012
Germany154 Posts
October 25 2012 17:15 GMT
#2
A step in the right direction. But I don't care about portraits or decals...
Draconicfire
Profile Joined May 2010
Canada2562 Posts
October 25 2012 17:15 GMT
#3
Hm, interesting.

So are they essentially forgoing the achievements and just doing levels?
@Drayxs | Drayxs.221 | Drayxs#1802
MachinimaToasty
Profile Joined July 2012
Canada27 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-10-25 19:23:28
October 25 2012 17:22 GMT
#4
Beat me to posting this In the process of reading, will edit with thoughts.

*EDIT*

First thoughts... Cool! I hope they dont do away with achievements completely, but this is good for portraits... from the looks of it, it wont be too daunting than those 1000 wins achievements that get the portraits. Curious as to what else they can throw out with this concept to keep it from falling under as "oh portraits... yay..."
You're not doing well, unless your being hated on.
Crawdad
Profile Joined September 2012
614 Posts
October 25 2012 17:25 GMT
#5
On October 26 2012 02:15 Draconicfire wrote:
Hm, interesting.

So are they essentially forgoing the achievements and just doing levels?


Presumably, only the achievements that unlocked portraits.
Aquila-
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
516 Posts
October 25 2012 17:34 GMT
#6
This sounds weird at first, but it is exactly the right thing to attract casual players and keep them playing the game. A great way for the community to grow.
FeyFey
Profile Joined September 2010
Germany10114 Posts
October 25 2012 17:42 GMT
#7
haha I like it, its the same as getting achievements. And they actually make the bronze portrait farming less effective with this.
Ljas
Profile Joined July 2012
Finland725 Posts
October 25 2012 17:44 GMT
#8
Now if only they expanded that chat window from a tiny button on the bottom right to something that takes a good portion of the screen.
Existor
Profile Joined July 2010
Russian Federation4295 Posts
October 25 2012 17:47 GMT
#9
We had similar system in Dawn of War 2. Each game you play on ladder, you gain score, that levels up you and every new level you have new skin for your units. Each race have 60 levels, where every level gives new skin for one of your units.

Glad they implemented this into SC2, and it looks like we will have minimum 20 new portraits/decals. Finally no more portraits/decals for number of wins! Hope it will rely on ingame statistics, like if you built more units, killed more enemies and expanded a lot, kiled many structures, so you will have better score. Awesome!
OskO
Profile Joined February 2011
Argentina369 Posts
October 25 2012 18:43 GMT
#10
I don't really care about portraits, but seems to be a step in the right direction to give a sense of reward, specially for the most casual players. I think being able to spend points in order to further customize your avatar/decal would be pretty good, if they decide to go for something like that.
Though we strike at you from the shadows, do not think that we lack the courage to stand in the light.
D4V3Z02
Profile Joined April 2011
Germany693 Posts
October 25 2012 18:51 GMT
#11
It's like WC3. Love it!
http://www.twitch.tv/d4v3z02 all your base are belong to overlord
CruelZeratul
Profile Joined May 2010
Germany4588 Posts
October 25 2012 18:58 GMT
#12
Does that mean I do lose my current portraits? I mean most of the characters and models in the game are already uses as portraits, where do they want to take new ones from? I'd be really pissed if i lose those things which cost me a lot of time to gain. Aside from that I think it's a fine choice.
Existor
Profile Joined July 2010
Russian Federation4295 Posts
October 25 2012 19:09 GMT
#13
On October 26 2012 03:58 CruelZeratul wrote:
Does that mean I do lose my current portraits? I mean most of the characters and models in the game are already uses as portraits, where do they want to take new ones from? I'd be really pissed if i lose those things which cost me a lot of time to gain. Aside from that I think it's a fine choice.

Of course, it's separate from WoL. In WoL you got your portraits with WoL possibilities. HotS gives you some new features into gameplay, so with that you can have new rewards for using these features, aka swarm hosts or widow mines
iSEV
Profile Joined November 2010
Sweden47 Posts
October 25 2012 19:23 GMT
#14
I love this, makes you atleast log-on everyday to get your first win
And it makes it more fun to ladder aswell, I guess you still get some experience for losing aswell, so when you lose atleast you dont get nothing.
Overall great idea
Keep it up blizz!
Disappointment is the gap that exists between expectation and reality
benzcity07
Profile Joined February 2011
United States79 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-10-25 19:27:37
October 25 2012 19:26 GMT
#15
I think it is an awesome feature. Time has certainly shown that people love achievements and this drives home that desire very well.

However, I am very dismayed that spending resources on implementing such a system won over much more important issues the community has made very clear they want badly. Nothing in Sheth's recent poll for what features are most wanted by the community does it have levels and portraits.

The feature is nice, shows that Blizzard is working but also that they aren't truly listening.
Be the change you want to see in the world.
Seiniyta
Profile Joined May 2010
Belgium1815 Posts
October 25 2012 19:27 GMT
#16
On October 26 2012 04:26 benzcity07 wrote:
I think it is an awesome feature. Time has certainly shown that people love achievements and this drives home that desire very well.

However, I am very dismayed that spending resources on implementing such a system won over much more important issues the community has made very clear they want badly. In this I completely agree with Hannibal's sentiments.

The feature is nice, shows that Blizzard cares but also that they aren't truly listening.


They are listening, they just have their own way going about things.
Pokemon Master
Chronos.
Profile Joined February 2012
United States805 Posts
October 25 2012 19:28 GMT
#17
I really feel like they should take this a step further and add custom unit models to the leveling system. Now that's REAL incentive, I know it would have made me want to play a lot was I was casual and even now it would be cool.

Pretty good addition anyway though, it felt like you hardly ever got new portraits or decals in WoL.
benzcity07
Profile Joined February 2011
United States79 Posts
October 25 2012 19:28 GMT
#18
On October 26 2012 04:27 Seiniyta wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 26 2012 04:26 benzcity07 wrote:
I think it is an awesome feature. Time has certainly shown that people love achievements and this drives home that desire very well.

However, I am very dismayed that spending resources on implementing such a system won over much more important issues the community has made very clear they want badly. In this I completely agree with Hannibal's sentiments.

The feature is nice, shows that Blizzard cares but also that they aren't truly listening.


They are listening, they just have their own way going about things.


How do you figure? That they will get around to adding the features that the community has explicitly said they want, but only after they add their own stuff?
Be the change you want to see in the world.
Rnevermore
Profile Joined October 2012
23 Posts
October 25 2012 19:29 GMT
#19
Good stuff! As long as they can be a little more creative than portraits and decals. I think present them with feedback and ideas on different things to add, like skins, maybe unlockable dances or other animations. Green explosions, different color creep ect...
grs
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
Germany2339 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-10-25 19:37:23
October 25 2012 19:30 GMT
#20
---deleted
XaCez
Profile Joined May 2010
Sweden6991 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-10-25 19:51:01
October 25 2012 19:50 GMT
#21
Incentive to play, hopefully it will work out the way I envision it.
People get too easily offended by people getting too easily offended by the word rape.
Mastazaka
Profile Joined March 2012
United States19 Posts
October 25 2012 19:54 GMT
#22
I think its cool, but I don't really think it will end up meaning that much. I mean, in a way Portraits already work the same way. I like how they are adding a reason to ladder and play even if you lose. However they need to add like dance moves to units you could unlock like taunts in TF2. I really don't want them to add skins to units, maybe there portraits but nothing else, feel like it would be a distraction.

However all in all, its great Blizz is adding new fresh content to the game, cant wait til the next beta patch.
""
jamesapjoyce
Profile Joined August 2012
61 Posts
October 25 2012 20:40 GMT
#23
These changes can give players more ways to enjoy their own playstyle.
LockeTazeline
Profile Blog Joined June 2012
2390 Posts
October 25 2012 20:44 GMT
#24
These are the kinds of irrelevant things that make the game so much more fun to play. <3
DrGreen
Profile Joined July 2010
Poland708 Posts
October 25 2012 20:47 GMT
#25
A step in right direction. But why cap the level on 20? I would like to see how far ahead of everyone players like Kas are ^^
stichtom
Profile Joined March 2011
Italy695 Posts
October 25 2012 20:55 GMT
#26
I want to say that Blizzard is doing an awesome job regarding the comunication between them and the community.

I mean, the game designer is posting daily on the US forum. I don't think that other companies do this.

Thank you Blizzard.
Favourite player: IM.MVP ~ Favorite league: IPL
-NegativeZero-
Profile Joined August 2011
United States2142 Posts
October 25 2012 20:56 GMT
#27
On October 26 2012 04:28 benzcity07 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 26 2012 04:27 Seiniyta wrote:
On October 26 2012 04:26 benzcity07 wrote:
I think it is an awesome feature. Time has certainly shown that people love achievements and this drives home that desire very well.

However, I am very dismayed that spending resources on implementing such a system won over much more important issues the community has made very clear they want badly. In this I completely agree with Hannibal's sentiments.

The feature is nice, shows that Blizzard cares but also that they aren't truly listening.


They are listening, they just have their own way going about things.


How do you figure? That they will get around to adding the features that the community has explicitly said they want, but only after they add their own stuff?

Pretty much. They probably already had a bunch of stuff planned, such as this, which they were going to do regardless of what the community said. They wouldn't just, for instance, stop working on the single-player campaign completely if people complained too much about multiplayer - no, they'd still finish it and then (hopefully) address the community's complaints.
vibeo gane,
TheLunatic
Profile Joined February 2011
309 Posts
October 25 2012 20:59 GMT
#28
Come on add army skins
imPermanenCe
Profile Joined July 2011
Netherlands595 Posts
October 25 2012 21:02 GMT
#29
Also works for customs :D I like that. I've played like 2000 custom 1v1s and 200 ladder 1v1s. Finally some rewards haha.
Micro at its best is like an elegant dance between two people trying to achieve a similar end.
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