[A] Starbow - Page 490

It currently has Cloak + Nuke and a weird and boring version of Lockdown. I have not found a solution I am super happy with.

The role of the Ghost is IMO:
- Harass/pick off key units
- Support the army
- Sneak around like a ninja and cause trouble

It shall preferably not be a pure combat unit.

Potential spell: Shock
- Launch a missile at target area (can be dodged)
- Upon impact, all units inside a small area become affected
- They are greatly slowed down and can not use abilities or attack for a few seconds

In TvP: Mainly support bio armies vs Reaver + Warp prism, Templars, Stalkers, and maybe Dragoons?
In TvT: Disable sieged Siege Tanks so your army can advance/attack
In TvZ: Use on Vipers and Defilers to disable their spells. Useful to catch flocks of Mutas?

I am not super excited over a spell like this. It can probably be ok, and it would be easy to make in the editor at least.
Other alternatives:
- Invent a better spell
- Remove the Ghost and add it in the future when it feels like it can be needed in the game

The Stalker is now a weaker, fragile, faster, more agile harassing & skirmish unit. It requires Twiligt Council, starts with Blink, can see up cliffs and is extra strong vs Light units. (Like Workers, Zealots, Zerglings, Marines, HT, Mutas etc) It deals quite low damage but has a high attack speed. (Compared to Dragoons who are the opposite.) It can be warped in, which Dragoons can not.

IMO it feels fun to control it due to its high speed and Blink.
PvZ - Helps to change the BW meta. P can now go Templar tech and still get map control + defence vs Muta play. (In BW, Protoss pros goes Corsairs 90% of all games?)
PvT - Help to clear up Mines, useful in lategame due to Warp gates (at least from the games we saw today), Blink into Siege Tanks to attack positions other units can´t reach as easily.
PvP - Maybe can be useful for harassment and vs Zealots? (Much better than Dragoons are vs them)

But still this unit does not feel 100% great. It seems to bring confusion. What is its role? When is it good to get it? The easy thing is ofc to just scrap it. But I really would like to find a place for it in the game, since I think there is potential in it.

It also has a secondary ability called "Evade." It can be researched at Twilight Council.
Once activated, the Stalker becomes "ethereal" for 8 seconds. During this time, no long range attacks or traps will attack the Stalker. (Unless players orders their stuff to shoot at the Stalker.) But the Stalker can still move and attack as normal. It just looks transparent, so all players can see it has the buff.

This works vs: Siege Tanks, Ghosts, Spider mines, Reavers, Null wards, Guardians. None of those things will auto-attack the Stalker. (Since they all have attack range over 7, or are considered "traps.")
PvT: - Now possible to harass heavily defended mech positions and bases. (Not strong enough to A-move though)
PvP - Possible to move close and snipe Reavers. Also possible to ignore Null wards from the Sentinel.
PvZ - Actually kinda pointless. Only works vs Guardians.. (When is that important??)

Obviously this ability is a bit odd. The good thing is that it adds something more unique that fits the theme of the Stalker - makes it more of a harassing/sneaky unit. (Rather than just a faster, weaker Dragoon who can Blink.)

Possible solutions:
- Invent a way to make this ability meaningful and feel good
- Just remove it.
- Add an ability later, after Starbow is released, in case we find a way where it is necesasry.

The Robotic facility has haunted me for so long. I have always wanted to fit a forth unit into it, since Warp Prism, Observer and Reaver offers very limited options. If there was a forth unit, preferably a combat unit or caster, we would see more build order variations and if properly balanced, a deeper meta game. Nothing has felt good enough. I recently removed the Starbow Colossus from it. It basically was a larger Dragoon with different stats - It was controlled in a similar way for a similar purpose. Even if we managed to get the stats to be balanced, it was IMO not fun or exciting to control. (I found no good editor solution)

I guess I will just leave this open for now. Later on, after Starbow is released, maybe we find a purpose of an additional Robotic unit and can add one.

Many of you would prefer a rearrangement of the abilities on the Protoss air units. (Corsair, Scout, maybe Sentinel)

Two alternatives:
- Let it be as it is. After Starbow is released, evaluate what works and not, and then change it.
- Find a better solution before release.

Great answear, he? ^^

Some of you report problems with the micro between those units.
Zealots can´t catch Marines
Zerglings pathing insanely good

Would anyone mind to write a more accurate description of the problems?