• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 15:43
CEST 21:43
KST 04:43
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
TL.net Map Contest #21: Voting10[ASL20] Ro4 Preview: Descent11Team TLMC #5: Winners Announced!3[ASL20] Ro8 Preview Pt2: Holding On9Maestros of the Game: Live Finals Preview (RO4)5
Community News
Weekly Cups (Oct 13-19): Clem Goes for Four0BSL Team A vs Koreans - Sat-Sun 16:00 CET6Weekly Cups (Oct 6-12): Four star herO85.0.15 Patch Balance Hotfix (2025-10-8)80Weekly Cups (Sept 29-Oct 5): MaxPax triples up3
StarCraft 2
General
The New Patch Killed Mech! Team Liquid Map Contest #21 - Presented by Monster Energy herO joins T1 Weekly Cups (Oct 13-19): Clem Goes for Four TL.net Map Contest #21: Voting
Tourneys
SC2's Safe House 2 - October 18 & 19 INu's Battles #13 - ByuN vs Zoun Tenacious Turtle Tussle Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament $1,200 WardiTV October (Oct 21st-31st)
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 496 Endless Infection Mutation # 495 Rest In Peace Mutation # 494 Unstable Environment Mutation # 493 Quick Killers
Brood War
General
BSL Season 21 BW General Discussion BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW caster Sayle BSL Team A vs Koreans - Sat-Sun 16:00 CET
Tourneys
Azhi's Colosseum - Anonymous Tournament [ASL20] Semifinal B [Megathread] Daily Proleagues SC4ALL $1,500 Open Bracket LAN
Strategy
[I] TvZ Strategies and Builds Current Meta BW - ajfirecracker Strategy & Training Relatively freeroll strategies
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Path of Exile Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Dawn of War IV ZeroSpace Megathread
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion LiquidDota to reintegrate into TL.net
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread SPIRED by.ASL Mafia {211640}
Community
General
Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Men's Fashion Thread Sex and weight loss
Fan Clubs
The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Series you have seen recently... Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion!
Sports
Formula 1 Discussion 2024 - 2026 Football Thread MLB/Baseball 2023 NBA General Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
SC2 Client Relocalization [Change SC2 Language] Linksys AE2500 USB WIFI keeps disconnecting Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
The Heroism of Pepe the Fro…
Peanutsc
Rocket League: Traits, Abili…
TrAiDoS
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1459 users

Why such difference in balance of SC2 and SC1?

Forum Index > Closed
Post a Reply
SiarX
Profile Joined December 2021
104 Posts
January 11 2025 18:28 GMT
#1
SC2 is still not balanced after so many patches. Yet SC BW managed to achieve great balance with very few (relatively) patches... I wonder why. Maybe the issue is in core design of SC2 races?
Nirli
Profile Joined February 2023
Bulgaria373 Posts
January 11 2025 19:08 GMT
#2
Because BW is the pinnacle of gaming and 1v1 across all games, virtual, tabletop, etc.
tskarzyn
Profile Joined July 2010
United States516 Posts
January 11 2025 20:06 GMT
#3
On January 12 2025 03:28 SiarX wrote:
SC2 is still not balanced after so many patches. Yet SC BW managed to achieve great balance with very few (relatively) patches... I wonder why. Maybe the issue is in core design of SC2 races?


Broodwar PvT is easily more imbalanced than any SC2 MU. The difference between games it not balance. It's difficulty. For example, the difficulty of BW macro being much higher, which gives the better macro player the ability to reap huge dividends from a small difference in skill. Individual battles are also less decisive in BW, making it more difficult for weak players to grind out wins against superior opponents. And so on and so forth. It's so much harder to beat stronger players in BW that the race becomes secondary in many casees.
jimmyjac19
Profile Joined January 2025
1 Post
January 12 2025 09:59 GMT
#4
--- Nuked ---
jztjhgfgh
Profile Joined January 2025
3 Posts
Last Edited: 2025-01-12 10:12:25
January 12 2025 10:03 GMT
#5
--- Nuked ---
prosatan
Profile Joined September 2009
Romania8439 Posts
January 12 2025 12:25 GMT
#6
On January 12 2025 04:08 Nirli wrote:
Because BW is the pinnacle of gaming and 1v1 across all games, virtual, tabletop, etc.

+1 Nirli !
Lee JaeDong Fighting! The only church that illuminates is the one that burns.
THERIDDLER
Profile Joined July 2014
Canada126 Posts
January 12 2025 15:00 GMT
#7
Because BW doesn't have a playerbase of 90% protoss players
Please don't fricken hack, its just a game.
WombaT
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Northern Ireland25891 Posts
January 12 2025 23:21 GMT
#8
On January 12 2025 05:06 tskarzyn wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 12 2025 03:28 SiarX wrote:
SC2 is still not balanced after so many patches. Yet SC BW managed to achieve great balance with very few (relatively) patches... I wonder why. Maybe the issue is in core design of SC2 races?


Broodwar PvT is easily more imbalanced than any SC2 MU. The difference between games it not balance. It's difficulty. For example, the difficulty of BW macro being much higher, which gives the better macro player the ability to reap huge dividends from a small difference in skill. Individual battles are also less decisive in BW, making it more difficult for weak players to grind out wins against superior opponents. And so on and so forth. It's so much harder to beat stronger players in BW that the race becomes secondary in many casees.

Yeah it’s certainly a big part of it for sure.

And SC2 is still incredibly demanding, but it’s very difficult to pull back from a deficit, or pull ahead much in an even game from macro alone.

Macro is a bit easier, the eco ramps up much faster as well. Even if you can gain an edge, it’ll not be all that big and you’re unlikely to have enough game time for it to count.

I think you see this really illustrated with stylistic divergence between players. I feel in SC2 this often stems from what styles and approach players think are best, whereas in BW it’s people adjusting to their mechanical ability and what they’re best at there. To degrees of course!

Best, Bisu, Snow, Stork and others within say Protoss play very differently because nobody can really be S tier at everything simultaneously. Nobody’s looking at Bisu’s PvZ, or Snow’s Reavers and going ‘hm that’s bad, I don’t think it’s a good way to play’, they just can’t do it all.

In SC2, you somewhat can, so it shifts a little from that to ‘just play like Maru/Serral’ etc. Similar but just that few percentage points better

SC2 is more predictable, maps are pretty similar and you get guaranteed scouts, so that offsets this potential volatility. Players like Serral and Clem can still be dominant. A combination of lacking multi spawn maps, and IMO the underrated factor of most tournaments featuring groups, or double elimination make it really hard now to see the S tier players sniped too much.

However I think some of these factors are somewhat external to the games and balance themselves, which I think is somewhat neglected in these kinda discussions as well.

You’ve only really seen the rise of truly consistent dominant players in SC2 with a move to 2 player maps, with a pretty homogenous map pool and tournament formats that are mostly quite forgiving, and a fall off of prep tournaments as well. Someone like Serral is still probably winning the most regardless, but is he placing top 4 in basically every tournament with a bunch of divergent maps, Bo1s in Premiers etc? Conversely you probably would see a more predictable and dominance-friendly BW if you had very samey ‘standard’ map pools with less spawn RNG, Bo3 in groups and double elims in playoffs more.

This isn’t to undersell SC2’s difficulty mechanical difficulty at all btw, but it comes more in other forms. Because coming back from deficits is that bit harder, and you tend to have a few big impactful engagements being super important, your execution and judgement has to be absolutely on point.

Ultimately hey I think both games are great but I think folks neglect quite a few factors when actually comparing them. Balance being one, but not just game balance but balance in the various factors that make up a good competitive game. Variety versus competitive fairness, or volatility versus predictability, or how fun they are to play versus how fun they are to watch.
'You'll always be the cuddly marsupial of my heart, despite the inherent flaws of your ancestry' - Squat
ejozl
Profile Joined October 2010
Denmark3437 Posts
January 13 2025 08:59 GMT
#9
I want to add to wombat's point that our tournaments rarely is a grindfest anymore either. So the players can rly play at their peak conditions all the time. It's a point made that tournaments shouldn't go on too long, or it would be past Serral's bedtime, while funny, it also just means that we for some reason don't want players to get out of their comfort zones. We also play long bo5, bo7 series, which means that if a race is favoured by only 5% that rly shoots up in a bo5, or bo7. More upsets = more balanced results.
SC2 Archon needs "Terrible, terrible damage" as one of it's quotes.
Blargh
Profile Joined September 2010
United States2103 Posts
January 13 2025 09:39 GMT
#10
I'm just gonna throw this out there, but out of the 17 ASLs that have happened from 2016 to present, I believe Protoss has only won 3 of those tournaments. Plus, the best SC2 player of all time happens to be a Protoss player and doesn't attend live tournaments (MaxPayne)!

But again, BW was largely balanced through map making, which sometimes would ignore some matchups in the design, knowing that players would veto the map if it was blatantly imbalanced. Additionally, since there are no more updates, the only way for there ever to be balance is through the maps.
True_Spike
Profile Joined July 2004
Poland3426 Posts
January 13 2025 10:03 GMT
#11
I don't believe SC1 to be more balanced than SC2 at all.
Waxangel
Profile Blog Joined September 2002
United States33459 Posts
January 13 2025 10:14 GMT
#12
Quasi-trolling from a BW forumer with a false-premise
AdministratorHey HP can you redo everything youve ever done because i have a small complaint?
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Monday Night Weeklies
16:00
#27
herO vs MaxPaxLIVE!
Clem vs TBD
WardiTV1394
TKL 474
IndyStarCraft 301
BRAT_OK 111
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
TKL 474
IndyStarCraft 301
UpATreeSC 145
BRAT_OK 111
Codebar 52
JuggernautJason37
MindelVK 34
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 15945
Calm 3337
Sea 1184
Mini 472
Soulkey 122
Dewaltoss 118
Aegong 29
Movie 12
HiyA 10
SilentControl 7
[ Show more ]
NaDa 5
Shine 3
Dota 2
BananaSlamJamma452
Counter-Strike
pashabiceps889
Stewie2K420
Heroes of the Storm
Liquid`Hasu416
Khaldor228
Other Games
FrodaN2352
Grubby2073
ScreaM1675
fl0m1015
Beastyqt717
Mlord288
ToD246
Skadoodle152
C9.Mang0146
KnowMe132
ArmadaUGS123
Mew2King55
Trikslyr54
Organizations
Counter-Strike
PGL534
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• kabyraGe 163
• Adnapsc2 12
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Other Games
• imaqtpie1654
• Shiphtur280
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
3h 17m
Wardi Open
15h 17m
Wardi Open
18h 47m
PiGosaur Monday
1d 4h
Replay Cast
1d 14h
Tenacious Turtle Tussle
2 days
The PondCast
2 days
OSC
2 days
WardiTV Invitational
3 days
Online Event
3 days
[ Show More ]
RSL Revival
4 days
RSL Revival
4 days
WardiTV Invitational
4 days
Afreeca Starleague
5 days
Snow vs Soma
Sparkling Tuna Cup
5 days
WardiTV Invitational
5 days
CrankTV Team League
5 days
RSL Revival
5 days
Wardi Open
6 days
CrankTV Team League
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Acropolis #4 - TS2
WardiTV TLMC #15
HCC Europe

Ongoing

BSL 21 Points
ASL Season 20
CSL 2025 AUTUMN (S18)
C-Race Season 1
IPSL Winter 2025-26
EC S1
Thunderpick World Champ.
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual

Upcoming

SC4ALL: Brood War
BSL Season 21
BSL 21 Team A
BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
RSL Offline Finals
RSL Revival: Season 3
Stellar Fest
SC4ALL: StarCraft II
CranK Gathers Season 2: SC II Pro Teams
eXTREMESLAND 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
SL Budapest Major 2025
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.