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Can the lurker popularize overlord drop harassment?
I have my doubts about 2 Lurkers being used as harassment, the burrow time gives workers plenty of time to move away and avoid all damage. Lets not forget the overall cost for that drop is 325 gas, it's not like the overlord has a boost to get away from sticky situations making it a very risky proposition.
Does the lurker overlap with current Zerg units, or does it remain unique enough for its own clique?
It's a unique unit no one can deny that, but the problem isn't that its role is already filled it's that the units don't exist to effectively complement it in a realistic example. (No fungal/blinding cloud set up) The difference between Dark Swarm and Blinding Cloud is huge. Dark swarm the onus is on you to effectively place it and keep your units inside it's AOE, Blinding cloud on the other hand the responsibility is on the opponent to escape it's AOE and the AI even tries to.
How can the hold fire ability be used most effectively?
Probably going to be most seen in ZvT, since it's the only matchup where mobile detection isn't prevalent, but even then it's not going to be too effective and what I blame that on is the Medivac. The most effective position for a lurker would be on the top of a chokepoint, like a ramp but since the Medivac is an air unit it provides vision to the top of the ramp allowing an observant opponent (Which I hope most professionals are) to either avoid them, or scan and kill them. They will not function like they did in Broodwar, with a lack of strong zerg complementary units and large changes in the matchups (Medic to Medivac, prevalence of drops and the stronger air armies of the other races) negating most of the positional holding strength of the Lurker. To compensate the potential damage this unit can dish out is ridiculous but I find it all very hit or miss making the unit either a game winner or an expensive dud. We're bashing the square Lurker through a circular hole forgetting that a lot of the "small" changes between the games will massively change how they functioned.
Is the lurker better as a siege unit, or a harass unit?
Neither. Terran bio is mobile enough to avoid it containing them too effectively (assuming a level playing field economy/army wise in all these examples) Terran mech, trying to out siege what is considered the ultimate composition seems pretty futile. Protoss has the Tempest, sure you will have a pretty large window where they don't but Warp prisms are very effective at pulling back the supporting units for the Lurker and the protoss army can run over lurkers if left alone (as most races can) The exception is in ZvZ, where it's an excellent siege unit due to spores you get into pretty awkward matches where the best option is always to sit back creating a stalemate play with little room for outskilling your opponent, you can't run in a ground army vs already set up Lurkers you can't harass effectively without committing a large portion of your army and if they position the accompanying units correctly it's very unlikely to be cost effective. Mutalisk just get run down by spores until you have a massive clump and you can't split them up because spores would decimate them and if your opponent managed to run down the smaller clumps you've lost the game. ZvZ with Lurkers and an even footing is not in a good state, a matchup is never in a good state if the best play you can make is to sit back and not engage or harass.
Should the lurker retain its nine range, or should the seismic spines upgrade return, reverting the lurker back to six range?
It was buffed up to that range for a reason the "small" changes between BW and SC2 mean if we want the unit to exist in SC2 it's stats needs to be seriously amped up.
It’s possible to micro against the lurker's attack by sidestepping the spines. Should this remain the way it is, or should a slower, but guaranteed to hit attack work better?
The animation makes it very hard for you to count the amount of lurkers as it seems to adjust the positions of the already popped up spines in a sort of ripple effect. My suggestion would be for each popped up spine to remain stationary until the animation is completed. The spines also look more complex than they should as they've been curved backwards and flick backwards slightly during the animation, they should be a little more plain with a vertical spike. They should be spaced out more so imagine each . is a spine so currently it's . . . I would suggest . . .
The largest complaint is the sound, for such a powerful unit you need a powerful audio cue, the current one needs to be is quiet an unassuming you need something that really conveys the strength of this unit.
Is the lurker model too big?
The size is fine but the aesthetics are not, it looks far to willowy in it's torso making it looks a bit like a preying mantis the front claws are as pathetic as a T-rex's arms and what in the hell is that spike on it's head. Make it bigger and more armored on the back give it more menacing front claws and scale that spike way down also adding a bit more of a contrast between the claws and it's appendages would help.
Is the lurker's speed an issue, or is it fine the way it is?
It's fine it's what makes the unit effective due to it's set up time and comparatively small range for a siege unit.
Does the lengthy tech time justify the end product? Should the lurker den be reduced in time?
The unit either wins games or is an expensive dud, usually the former. So yes it's justified.
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On October 08 2015 11:41 Cricketer12 wrote:
9. I don't see why the BW approach (upgrade from hydra den) can't be adopted.
It's to give a better scouting que about lurkers than an upgrade could.
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The Lurker is one of my favourite units since BW. That being said I don't like one aspect of the LotV version of the unit: speed. IMO siege units should not have good mobility AND good damage output. Colossi have shown just how bad that combination can be for the game. Not having good dps is the only reason Tempests are not breaking the game. Siege tank pick up is another example of this and I'm sure that it will be nerfed or removed from the game eventually.
I would like the Lurker to have even greater damage, but to have slower movement speed and to take longer to burrow. Preparation and good positioning should count for something. Remember the way Lurkers worked in BW? 2 of them could hold a narrow ramp against seemingly infinite numbers of Bio. LotV Lurkers can't do that, but they can bum rush you and burrow faster than you can blink (pun intended). And I find that sort of dynamic rather dumb.
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1. No, Banes would have been used for that far more often if it was something zergs wanted to do.
It might however popularized doom drops with lurkers at ramps/chokes to slow down army.
2. Similar to Broodwar, the lurker is a situational unit. Range 9 however makes it slightly too powerful.
3. Bio traps similar to bane mines.
4.siege.
5. I would actually put the range at 6.5 or 7. 9 is way to powerful and 6 is simply not worth the investment.
6. In broodwar it was micro-able and it lead to great things. Id keep it this way.
7. Yes, but especially to "fat". Its hard to make precice clicks this way.
8. No idea on this subject.
9. Lurker is never going to be a mainstream unit like the ultras or even vipers. The tech length is something that can be tweaked once the game has been out for a while.
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1. Can the lurker popularize overlord drop harassment?
Yeah, for sure. I see a lot of people here disagreeing with that, but lurker drops are something I've been playing with extensively in the beta. For an actual opening, 2 base lurker drops have been working very well for me, actually. Against terran, it's kind of a 50% chance of "Do they have 2 scans" or not, but if they don't, or they don't have any air to deal with them, the lurkers pay for themselves many times over before they die.
As for sporadic drop harassment throughout the game, I think lurkers are going to be fantastic. You only need a small number of lurkers to obliterate any attacking army, so your main army can be much, much smaller. If you choose to toss some of that money into 2 extra lurkers to drop near a base, I think it would be incredibly worth it. This is just compounded by their range, since you don't need to facehug a planetary to try and do damage, you can place the lurker at the edge of the radius and still pull the attention of the terran player, for example.
2. Does the lurker overlap with current Zerg units, or does it remain unique enough for its own clique?
The lurker is unique in the zerg army, easily. Lurkers are space control. You burrow a lurker, and everything in range of that lurker is in danger of being ripped apart. The baneling does this too, except the range is something like 1.5, and only kills marines.
With the addition of the lurker, the baneling moves on to a brute force role (It's always had a brute force role, lets be real). I don't think banelings ever served the role of the lurker, I don't think they ever came close. You have this small, expensive suicide unit with a range of 0, then diminishing returns the further the enemy is from it. Once it attacks, that's it. It's over. You need another one. That's the opposite of space control. That's kamikaze. Lurkers are on the expensive side, but they pay for themselves extremely quickly if you place them in good positions. They will hold a choke indefinitely, and that's really what separates them from a baneling.
Regarding the broodlord, I don't think they compare. The broodlord serves as an 'infinite swarm' unit. They spawn temporary units and complement your army. They're not so useful for controlling a choke, for example.
3. How can the hold fire ability be used most effectively?
Definitely chokes. Ramps, entrances to expansions. Those two bridges on bridgehead. Ideally, you want a couple of lurkers sitting on one side of the bridge on hold fire. When the opponent fills the bridge, you let loose. Everything dies.
You can do that in an open field, too. Except you run the risk of losing all your lurkers.
Any case is good, really. If you can trap a large army deep in lurker range, you're going to destroy it, plain and simple. Even if you lose all the lurkers, you're more than likely going to be making a beneficial trade.
4 .Is the lurker better as a siege unit, or a harass unit?
Its better as a siege unit. It's long range, invisible, and dishes out terrible, terrible damage. It's the perfect siege weapon. That said, the invisibility factor of the lurker is what makes it a viable harassment option. A lurker in the main can't be dealt with with a single banshee. You need a scan, or a raven. It's different from other harassment because you need more to deal with it, in addition to it being a standard part of the army.
Look at the banshee, or the oracle. Harassment units. You don't see them in the main army. Dealing with them is part of your build. The only time you see them is during your respective openings, and you know how to deal with them. Very rarely do we see a cloaked banshee going to town on a mineral line in the mid-game. The reason is simple: You only made the one banshee, and it doesn't usually make it to the midgame.
A lurker on the other hand, is a midgame unit. It's a standard part of your army. You're always going to have some on hand (if you're going lurkers). This is different from the banshee/oracle situation. Those aren't core army units. You can drop a single lurker inside the enemy's base, and it will be more annoying than a cloaked banshee or oracle, all while leaving your army more or less in the same state it was before you dropped it.
Unlike the banshee/oracle, the lurker is a ground unit. A turret isn't going to shut it down. It's invisible, and obliterates light units. You can't send 6 marines at a burrowed lurker, you'll lose all your marines.
5. Should the lurker retain its nine range, or should the seismic spines upgrade return, reverting the lurker back to six range?
I think the current range gives a lot of options to zerg, defensively and offensively. At 9 range, lurkers are enticing. You want to make them. I haven't played any games where my lurkers were overwhelmingly powerful, most people know how to deal with them.
6. It’s possible to micro against the lurker's attack by sidestepping the spines. Should this remain the way it is, or should a slower, but guaranteed to hit attack work better?
Remain the same. If you can dodge it, let people dodge it. I've never seen someone do it, so it can't be easy.
7. Is the lurker model too big?
No, I think the size is fine. You don't make many of them, and units can walk on them. It's not a problem.
8. Is the lurker's speed an issue, or is it fine the way it is?
Probably. Lurkers are speed demons. I haven't seen many complaints about the speed, though. Probably because they spend most of their time stationary. I think if they were going to nerf the lurker, speed is what they would change, though.
9. Does the lengthy tech time justify the end product? Should the lurker den be reduced in time?
Lurkers are so fucking good. It definitely justifies the end product. If the lurker den build time was reduced, zerg would become completely safe from any 2 base aggression, and we all know what happened the last time zerg was safe from 2 base aggression.
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1. Can the lurker popularize overlord drop harassment?
Assuming the opponent don't react in time, lurkers will kill many workers. However, banelings would have deal the same amount of kills and are less expensive.
So the lurker drop is useless unless the zerg player can save his lurkers, which is very unlikely, we don't have speedivacs or recall.
During the era of macro mechanics removal terran had a lot less scan so burrowed lurkers behind mineral lines was very useful : terran players couldn't both kill lurkers and clean the creep very often.
2. Does the lurker overlap with current Zerg units, or does it remain unique enough for its own clique?
Lurker is unique, some people may argue that lurker overlap broodlords but it is not true.
Lurkers are a strong siege unit because of his very high dps and very bad mobility (the unit has to be burrowed to attack).
Broodlords are terrible siege unit, protoss players can blink under broodlords to kill them and marine/marauders can stim in broodlords.
Broodlords are units that force the opponent to attack because their long range allow to attack the opponent for free.
There is a huge synergy between lurkers and broodlords. Lurkers protect broodlords while broodlords can attack the opponent for free... unless there are air units.
3. How can the hold fire ability be used most effectively?
Isn't it obvious ? wait for unit to be clumped up on top of the lurkers then attack.
4. Is the lurker better as a siege unit, or a harass unit?
Siege unit. The unit is too expensive to be used alone has a harass unit.
5. Should the lurker retain its nine range, or should the seismic spines upgrade return, reverting the lurker back to six range?
I think lurkers come very late in the game, so there are no imbalanced lurkers timings.
If the lurker start with 6 range nobody will produce lurkers until the seismic spines upgrade is researched because a lurker with 6 range is useless.
So this upgrade simply add a certain amount of time before zerg players can produce a lurker and this add nothing else interesting to the game.
6. It’s possible to micro against the lurker's attack by sidestepping the spines. Should this remain the way it is, or should a slower, but guaranteed to hit attack work better?
At this time, terran players simply split their bioball and a-clic in lurkers. They never try to dodge the lurkers attacks.
I think the opponent should not be able to engage so easily in lurkers and try to attack from an other angle or do some drops.
I think it might be interesting that lurkers deal higher damage against bioball (for example bonus damage against light units so the lurker can kill the marine in one shot) but slower the attack of the lurker so terrans players can avoid lurkers attacks, even in big fights.
Also, the attack animation of the lurker should be changed to be more clear. It's difficult to see the exact size of the attack.
7. Is the lurker model too big?
I would prefer a smaller lurker but i don't think it is something important.
8. Is the lurker's speed an issue, or is it fine the way it is?
I don't think the lurker's speed is an issue, but it might be a good idea to have a slower lurker out of creep but a stronger lurker on creep (for example, higher damage against bioball).
This way, it will increase play around creep spread and zerg players will have to be more careful with their lurkers when they are not on creep.
9. Does the lengthy tech time justify the end product? Should the lurker den be reduced in time?
Yes. No.
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The fact that every lazy protoss is going skytoss is making hard to predict and analyze the state of Lurker in PvZ (and other ground units such as ultras, disruptor).
Blizzard should really nerf the carrier for this very reason.
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On October 08 2015 22:44 Tiaraju9 wrote:
The fact that every lazy protoss is going skytoss is making hard to predict and analyze the state of Lurker in PvZ (and other ground units such as ultras, disruptor).
Blizzard should really nerf the carrier for this very reason.
What a superb idea. Reducing strategic options and depth is great for the game.
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On October 08 2015 22:59 CheddarToss wrote:Show nested quote +On October 08 2015 22:44 Tiaraju9 wrote:
The fact that every lazy protoss is going skytoss is making hard to predict and analyze the state of Lurker in PvZ (and other ground units such as ultras, disruptor).
Blizzard should really nerf the carrier for this very reason. What a superb idea. Reducing strategic options and depth is great for the game.
Massing one imbalanced unit is "great for the game" ?
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On October 08 2015 23:12 FireCake wrote:Show nested quote +On October 08 2015 22:59 CheddarToss wrote:On October 08 2015 22:44 Tiaraju9 wrote:
The fact that every lazy protoss is going skytoss is making hard to predict and analyze the state of Lurker in PvZ (and other ground units such as ultras, disruptor).
Blizzard should really nerf the carrier for this very reason. What a superb idea. Reducing strategic options and depth is great for the game. Massing one imbalanced unit is "great for the game" ?
How is it imbalanced? Was watching Stephano yesterday and he kept wrecking Protoss who go for Carriers with nothing but Speedlings and Spores. And Skytoss isn't about building Carriers only.
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1.Can the lurker popularize overlord drop harassment?
I think that it takes too long to get to lurkers for them to be effective in overlord drops in SC2.
2. Does the lurker overlap with current Zerg units, or does it remain unique enough for its own clique?
Lurker gives Zerg some good space control which is nice and adds variety to the race.
3. How can the hold fire ability be used most effectively?
If the enemy doesn't know the lurkers are there it can be devastating. Best use is to not allow the enemy to see you've got Lurkers. Same as Baneling bombs.
4. Is the lurker better as a siege unit, or a harass unit?
Siege. The 9 range is ridiculous against anything but Tanks, Liberators and Tempests and the damage is nothing to laugh at either.
5. Should the lurker retain its nine range, or should the seismic spines upgrade return, reverting the lurker back to six range?
I think the Lurker should not exceed 8 range. 9 range is a little too strong I think vs. Protoss ground. It forces air units.
6. It’s possible to micro against the lurker's attack by sidestepping the spines. Should this remain the way it is, or should a slower, but guaranteed to hit attack work better?
Lurkers are very strong as is. I'd like to retain the ability to dodge their attack so that good players can micro against them.
7. Is the lurker model too big?
Seems fine to me, maybe a TAD smaller? But it's okay.
8. Is the lurker's speed an issue, or is it fine the way it is?
I think its movement speed is okay, but its burrow speed is a bit too fast. I think leapfrogging Lurkers to siege a Protoss early is very hard to stop and you can hardly attack them while they're getting in position.
9. Does the lengthy tech time justify the end product? Should the lurker den be reduced in time?
I think Lurkers are a very strong unit and I'd be scared to see them come out earlier.
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On October 08 2015 23:12 FireCake wrote:Show nested quote +On October 08 2015 22:59 CheddarToss wrote:On October 08 2015 22:44 Tiaraju9 wrote:
The fact that every lazy protoss is going skytoss is making hard to predict and analyze the state of Lurker in PvZ (and other ground units such as ultras, disruptor).
Blizzard should really nerf the carrier for this very reason. What a superb idea. Reducing strategic options and depth is great for the game. Massing one imbalanced unit is "great for the game" ?
Getting to mass Carriers is a lot more difficult than it seems.
PvZ is actually so hard that I think if you reach mass Carriers your reward should be to win the game :p
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On October 08 2015 23:20 CheddarToss wrote:Show nested quote +On October 08 2015 23:12 FireCake wrote:On October 08 2015 22:59 CheddarToss wrote:On October 08 2015 22:44 Tiaraju9 wrote:
The fact that every lazy protoss is going skytoss is making hard to predict and analyze the state of Lurker in PvZ (and other ground units such as ultras, disruptor).
Blizzard should really nerf the carrier for this very reason. What a superb idea. Reducing strategic options and depth is great for the game. Massing one imbalanced unit is "great for the game" ? How is it imbalanced? Was watching Stephano yesterday and he kept wrecking Protoss who go for Carriers with nothing but Speedlings and Spores. And Skytoss isn't about building Carriers only.
Why is it imbalanced ?
Skytoss beats every zerg army, no matter how well the zerg can micro his army.
So the only way to beat a protoss going skytoss is to kill him before (impossible) or get a lot more ressources and trade ressources.
Since protoss players can go for very early third base (which is safe), zerg players have to get at least 80 drones to out-produce protoss players and in the meantime harass the protoss player to trade ressources.
This is why Stephano is playing speedlings and spores.
Speedlings harass might still work now, but protoss players will learn to make good base build to use photon overcharge/canon to defend.
So the zerg player will have to find other units to trade ressources against skytoss player... And we don't have other units to trade ressources against a player defending on 3/4/5 bases.
Zerg players had the same problem to trade ressources against skytoss players in the early days of HoTs. The only answer was the SwarmHost because it makes free unit (so the trade is obviously very good for the zerg).
In LoTv we have these new options :
ravager : useless since the removal of his range upgrade
lurker : doesn't shoot air but can protect hydralisk, however hydralisk still lose against carrier...
viper : his new spell doesn't work on interceptor and can't reach carrier (they are too far)
Skytoss, SwarmHost play, broodlord infestor, mech ...
At the beginning all these strategies are very difficult to play because you have to know how to defend everything.
This is why you see these strategies either never play or almost always play. Look broodlord infestor, once zerg players learnt how to secure 3/4 bases every zerg was going for broodlord infestor. Same with mech camping, every koreans terran players were playing bio in ZvT, now they have learnt how to defend 3/4 bases with mech and use this strategy all the time. It was almost the same with Swarmhost play but David Kim decided to nerf much earlier than broodlord infestor and mech play.
Protoss players know that skytoss beats every army zerg can make, so they are trying to find ways to play this style, like zerg was trying to play broodlord infestor or terrans trying to play Battlecruisers.
It took months (if not years) for zergs to learn how to play broodlords/infestors or SwarmHost.
It took months (if not years) for terrans to learn how to play mech.
I hope protoss players will need more than 2 weeks to learn how to play skytoss.
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Anyway have videos/replays of successful, in-game, Lurker micro?
I've seen the theoretical tests, where a handful of marines split and decoy lurkers on a flat plane with nothing else happening, but can you really dodge spines in real-world in-game scenarios in LotV? It seems that what they mean by "dodging" is "not being there when the line spawns" because it looks like the line hits the whole line at the beginning of the animation.
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You have to reach 4 and 5 base so fast in lotv that it feels like I'm giving up map control going lurkers, which is what they were actually good at in broodwar.
I'm sure I'm doing it wrong, but I just get my rear handed to me when I try for them.
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- Can the lurker popularize overlord drop harassment?
Probably not, but this isn't really a strategy I have much interest in.
- Does the lurker overlap with current Zerg units, or does it remain unique enough for its own clique?
Nothing comes close. The Lurker is unique and fresh.
- How can the hold fire ability be used most effectively?
In areas that are common for armies to move through without scanning, yet are not popular locations for burrowed Lurkers in the metagame. Thus, this will change constantly, but will never be on creep.
- Is the lurker better as a siege unit, or a harass unit?
Siege, for sure. Although it's usable for harass, assuming your opponent is not defending an expansion attentively, and you sneak the Lurkers into the mineral line and burrow them so that your opponent doesn't notice until the "workers are under attack" warning.
- Should the lurker retain its nine range, or should the seismic spines upgrade return, reverting the lurker back to six range?
Seismic Spines should return and be adjusted on cost and time, so that it can be used to control the timings at which very strong Lurkers can be accessed. However, 6 range just isn't too hot for an immobile set-up unit in SC2, with 6 range Hydras, Marauders, and Stalkers, all with high dps density and long scan range for easy attack moving commands. There's not really any solution for this without severely restructuring the game, unfortunately. I feel that the Lurker Den itself needs to be cheaper and morph faster, and be available on Lair, and then have Seismic Spines be available on Hive. This allows Lurkers to be used as a defensive and harassment option sooner, and then have their formidable space control abilities take effect in the late game.
- It’s possible to micro against the lurker's attack by sidestepping the spines. Should this remain the way it is, or should a slower, but guaranteed to hit attack work better?
This should be increased in effectiveness even further, with spines traveling at one-half to two-thirds their current speed. I would maybe also like the see the line deal damage out to a range of 10, while keeping the targetable range at 9, similar to the attacks of Hellions.
- Is the lurker model too big?
It would be nice to actually increase the size of the model, particularly the burrowed one. This would make them less susceptible to splash, yes, but it would decrease the ability of a group of Lurkers to burrow all at once and immediately send out a freaking explosion of synchronized spines and absolutely shred everything within range of the Lurker group. As another commenter mentioned, it would also make them easier to click on.
- Is the lurker's speed an issue, or is it fine the way it is?
I think it's speed is good, as it should be. It could even have a greater on-creep speed bonus, up to maybe 1.5x, as is the unupgraded Hydralisk. However, burrow time is blatantly too fast. You should not be able to advance your Lurkers against enemy fire and burrow them right in the enemy's face without other measures such as Blinding Cloud support, or a flanking attack distracting them. I'm tempted to say they should unburrow slower too, but I'm worried that would make them too vulnerable to Corrosive Bile shots. I'm thinking a full 4 seconds of burrow time, like siege time of the tank, would make the most sense.
- Does the lengthy tech time justify the end product? Should the lurker den be reduced in time?
It does justify the end product, but I feel that both the product and the tech path should be slightly reduced in stature. Quicker to tech to, but add Seismic Spines back in, so that the fully decked-out Lurker is just as strong and takes just as much time and investment to reach, but weaker Lurkers are available with more ease.
As a further note, as many, many people have suggested, those attack sounds need to be sharper and more aggressive.
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Lurker used to have a long burrow animation but short unburrow in BW. Also, the spines moved slower and they gradually hit everything in the path not all at once.
I'd really like it if they changed those two things back to how they were in BW. Allows the Lurker to escape if it needs to but prevents them from just running up and burrowing and slaughtering everything, which is what they do now. Also, the spines look a little dinky. BW spines looked better IMO.
Basically, change everything back to Brood War lol. BW Lurker was a boss.
And the unit design had a lot more.... finesse to it than the SC2 Lurker.
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Can the lurker popularize overlord drop harassment?
It already is. The power of midgame lurker harassment, combined with the inexpensive single overlord drop upgrade, has created a great tool for zerg to slow down opponents en route to late game armies. Overall, zerg economy in LOTV is much less dependent on being a base up from your opponent as it was in HOTS, so lurker drops provide an avenue for gaining an economic advantage in a new meta where beefy zerg ground armies are increasingly becoming the norm in zvp and zvt.
Does the lurker overlap with current Zerg units, or does it remain unique enough for its own clique?
The lurker is very unique as it provides the only sustained splash damage in the zerg arsenal, and the most reliable backbone unit for roach hydra armies, allowing zergs to go for ranged upgrades without fear of getting overrun due to reliance on weak unupgraded banes. Lurkers are especially useful when combined with fungals, and can provide support for air in the late game (more on that later)
How can the hold fire ability be used most effectively?
Like a ranged bane mine: wait for units to clump, and shoot
Is the lurker better as a siege unit, or a harass unit?
I'd say it's better as a siege unit, but the flexibility in deciding when to morph em makes it great for both. Another role that hasn't been mentioned here is its usefulness as an ANTI-harass unit, especially vs mech and protoss. 1 lurker can wipe out a hellion squad in seconds, and the fact that it is borrow gives it the usefulness of a DT when it comes to defending drops
Should the lurker retain its nine range, or should the seismic spines upgrade return, reverting the lurker back to six range?
Keep 9 range, or make initial range 7 with upgrade to 9. A critical role the 9 range plays is against templar in Zvp. With the prevalence of airtoss nowadays, the only reliable way to protect a corruptor/viper ball from storms is to zone templar with lurkers.
It’s possible to micro against the lurker's attack by sidestepping the spines. Should this remain the way it is, or should a slower, but guaranteed to hit attack work better?
I would keep the animation the way it is but make it just a tad slower. It's very very hard to dodge spines the way the animation plays out right now
Is the lurker model too big?
Just fine imo
Is the lurker's speed an issue, or is it fine the way it is?
Might be a tad too fast, but I think it should have a minimum speed fast enough to keep up with roach hydra balls, as a lurker's primary utility is to make roach/hydra viable
Does the lengthy tech time justify the end product? Should the lurker den be reduced in time?
It does. Lurkers take a very long time to produce, but are by far the most versatile and powerful weapon in a zerg's arsenal once they complete. Besides, it's not like corruptors where sometimes you'll have this useless unit while you wait for the GS to finish (like when facing terran w/o vikings or zerg). You have hydras to keep you safe, which are generally a great midgame unit
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Just want to say I generally agree with the comments here; overall I think the Lurker is tons of fun to play with, doesn't overlap hugely, and can work quite well balance wise with maybe a few small tweaks. Glad it's here finally!
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1. Can the lurker popularize overlord drop harassment? Potentially I think it could be, but I think it is more leaning towards your opponent making a mistake in order for this to happen. Right now in ZvT I think it would be too easily picked off to make it worth while with 2 overlords and 4 would be an over compensation if lost, but is the amount you would need to drop to be efficient. In ZvP I think most Protoss are going Skytoss so it COULD potentially work, if you it isn't seen by pheonix's around the map.
2.Does the lurker overlap with current Zerg units, or does it remain unique enough for its own clique? I think the Lurker most definitely overlaps with other Zerg units as it dominates the ground, which is why most Protoss players just go Skytoss as Carriers are also extremely powerful, and it avoids having to try to attack lurkers, really nullifies them completely and renders them useless.
3.How can the hold fire ability be used most effectively? I have used Hold fire effectively recently in ZvT vs bio, really had me remenissing of ZvT in Broodwar 
4.Is the lurker better as a siege unit, or a harass unit? The lurker is best as a defensive unit in conjunction with spines and spore crawlerss I feel, but I haven't used them offensively much yet.
5.Should the lurker retain its nine range, or should the seismic spines upgrade return, reverting the lurker back to six range? I think that the lurker should retain the range, but the spike speed should be nerfed so it is possible to micro against it.
6.It’s possible to micro against the lurker's attack by sidestepping the spines. Should this remain the way it is, or should a slower, but guaranteed to hit attack work better? I haven't been able to micro against the lurkers actually, I would need to see this done in action.
7.Is the lurker model too big? I think the lurker model is the right size, but it is often hard to notice along with all of the other Zerg units, they blend it a lot for me. T_T
8.Is the lurker's speed an issue, or is it fine the way it is? I think the speed is fine.
9.Does the lengthy tech time justify the end product? Should the lurker den be reduced in time? I feel like if Blizzard decided to drastically nerf the Lurker (Spine speed / damage output) , having the tech time reduced would be a really nice move and help to diversify Zerg a little more, right now I feel Lurkers are a pretty defensive unit as you hope to not die while getting to T3, but I may not be using them correctly.
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EPT
