• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 13:15
CET 19:15
KST 03:15
  • 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
RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups A & B Preview1TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners11Intel X Team Liquid Seoul event: Showmatches and Meet the Pros10[ASL20] Finals Preview: Arrival13TL.net Map Contest #21: Voting12
Community News
[TLMC] Fall/Winter 2025 Ladder Map Rotation10Weekly Cups (Nov 3-9): Clem Conquers in Canada4SC: Evo Complete - Ranked Ladder OPEN ALPHA8StarCraft, SC2, HotS, WC3, Returning to Blizzcon!45$5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship7
StarCraft 2
General
RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups A & B Preview [TLMC] Fall/Winter 2025 Ladder Map Rotation Mech is the composition that needs teleportation t Weekly Cups (Nov 3-9): Clem Conquers in Canada Craziest Micro Moments Of All Time?
Tourneys
RSL Revival: Season 3 Constellation Cup - Main Event - Stellar Fest Tenacious Turtle Tussle Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 499 Chilling Adaptation Mutation # 498 Wheel of Misfortune|Cradle of Death Mutation # 497 Battle Haredened Mutation # 496 Endless Infection
Brood War
General
FlaSh on: Biggest Problem With SnOw's Playstyle [ASL20] Ask the mapmakers — Drop your questions BW General Discussion Terran 1:35 12 Gas Optimization BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues Small VOD Thread 2.0 [BSL21] RO32 Group D - Sunday 21:00 CET [BSL21] RO32 Group C - Saturday 21:00 CET
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Current Meta PvZ map balance How to stay on top of macro?
Other Games
General Games
Should offensive tower rushing be viable in RTS games? Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread EVE Corporation Path of Exile
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
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 Russo-Ukrainian War Thread US Politics Mega-thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI
Fan Clubs
White-Ra Fan Club The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! Korean Music Discussion Series you have seen recently...
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion NBA General Discussion MLB/Baseball 2023 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
Blogs
Dyadica Gospel – a Pulp No…
Hildegard
Coffee x Performance in Espo…
TrAiDoS
Saturation point
Uldridge
DnB/metal remix FFO Mick Go…
ImbaTosS
Reality "theory" prov…
perfectspheres
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1544 users

Warpgates are NOT the biggest problem of protoss . - Page 2

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 HotS
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next All
wcr.4fun
Profile Joined April 2012
Belgium686 Posts
October 15 2012 21:27 GMT
#21
well yeah the collussus is a fucking awful unit especially when you consider that an e-sport unit like the reaver (which created tension, excitement, micro,...) got dropped for it.

But I'd say the sentry ties with the collussus. I never 'aw' at someone using good forcefields. I rather get annoyed by seeing all the units of the opponent stuck between them unable to do anything.

Collussus, forcefield and no disadvantage for using warp gates versus gate ways are the things that make the game play of sc2 when protoss is involved rather boring.
Jasiwel
Profile Joined June 2012
United States146 Posts
October 15 2012 21:34 GMT
#22
I voted for the Carrier because I loved Brood War Carriers. I also love the Colossus as is frankly because of Marauders and how less expensive Colossus are than Archons. I feel like there should be some redesign in terms of being less linear and more interesting gameplay-wise (for me, it's interesting aesthetic-wise). I've been thinking about how to do this without changing the shock factor of the Colossus, but without making it have slower DPS or making it a bit like the Void Ray where the damage is at its peak the longer it fires, I'm not exactly sure. People are outcrying for the Reaver back, but frankly I don't think it would do well enough in SC2 since everything is a lot faster-paced in terms of gameplay. They could also further make issues of Protoss AoE being too overbearing for the other races (because that is a concern that needs to be recognized).
Qgelfich
Profile Joined November 2011
Germany90 Posts
October 15 2012 21:44 GMT
#23
What if they would change the line of attack from horizontal to vertical.

All units ingame create a concave during fights, therefore extremely increasing vertical splash damage. If the colossus had a horizontal line of attack then the protoss would have to try to flank with colossi, maybe even in warpprisms to bring them in position.

That way the unit could be more interesting, not be changed too much and still be a siege weapon. If needed the numbers could be tweaked to balance out for the different splashway.


Alternatively change colossi to a mainly anti light unit..... They are meant to hardcounter marines, lings, and zealots anyway, right?
Yoshi Kirishima
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States10366 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-10-15 21:59:39
October 15 2012 21:56 GMT
#24
Maybe make Colossus weaker somehow (and ideally more "skillful"), and make sentries/forcefields better? That way you would have incentive (there is some now but not much) to try to trap enemy units in a donut like MC does and watch them melt, but ofc that wouldn't happen all the time because the sentries would need to get close enough to die for that.

Or instead of replacing the colossus with reaver like many suggest, why not change immortals' attack into scarabs? That way immortal is like anti armored and splash (to deal with marauder and mech without having to get charge/blink fast) and colossus is more like anti-light splash, and the immortal could be used to drop and kill workers, giving protoss more harass options through the robo tech.

They could make the immortal scarab attack do little damage to light units, but decent against armor, so as to not make it very strong with the AOE. That way it can help deal with MMM early with some weak splash so protoss doesn't always need to, no matter the tech, turtle TvP. The anti-armor splash could help with roaches too so they can take 3 bases.

Just saying it's an option, doesn't have to be the colossus that must be removed.
Mid-master streaming MECH ONLY + commentary www.twitch.tv/yoshikirishima +++ "If all-in fails, all-in again."
GARcher
Profile Joined October 2012
Canada294 Posts
October 15 2012 22:01 GMT
#25
Colossus is a unit that does not benefit much from good micro. It definitely needs reworking.
ZvZ is like a shitty apartment: Roaches and Fungal Growth everywhere.
Jasiwel
Profile Joined June 2012
United States146 Posts
October 15 2012 22:01 GMT
#26
On October 16 2012 06:44 Qgelfich wrote:
What if they would change the line of attack from horizontal to vertical.

All units ingame create a concave during fights, therefore extremely increasing vertical splash damage. If the colossus had a horizontal line of attack then the protoss would have to try to flank with colossi, maybe even in warpprisms to bring them in position.

That way the unit could be more interesting, not be changed too much and still be a siege weapon. If needed the numbers could be tweaked to balance out for the different splashway.


Alternatively change colossi to a mainly anti light unit..... They are meant to hardcounter marines, lings, and zealots anyway, right?

In a way. It's meant to counter units below Tier 3, which is why Protoss needs it badly to counter M/M/M and a lot of Zerg compositions. It would still have to be a splash unit to accomplish that. It couldn't be just anti-light because it needs to be able to stop Marauders and Hydralisks. I would say Roaches since they are in that tier range, but Roaches are wickedly cost-effective against the Colossus when they focus fire or catch it exposed. Either way, Protoss needs that siege-AoE unit that can tackle those solid Terran lower tiered compositions.
EsportsJohn
Profile Blog Joined June 2012
United States4883 Posts
October 15 2012 22:05 GMT
#27
The more I've been thinking about it, the more I concede that warp gate actually IS the problem with protoss. However, I don't expect this to ever be changed and Blizzard just needs to find better solutions to getting around the weakness of unmicroed/unupgraded gateway units, and I'm okay with that. Here are my thoughts:


The difficulty with protoss, and especially going into HotS against widow mines and swarm hosts, is that protoss needs a big army in order to control an area, sparing only handful of zealots, DTs, or HTs for harassment. This is particularly evident in PvP, where we see deathball face off against deathball and the better army composition and battle positioning wins. This is because, while vortex can delay a push, it cannot stop a push; in fact, nothing can stop 12 colossus from walking into your base except 12 of your own colossus.

The colossus needs to be redone, but I also think protoss really needs a unit aside from the archon that is produced at a warp gate, but powerful enough to deal with stuff without needing constant micro. Right now protoss lacks any real meaty units and cannot control space like it did in BW; zealots are literally cannon fodder so colossus/stalker/storms can kill everything, stalkers themselves are super-impressive micro units with no ability to hold their ground in a direct engagement, and DTs literally melt to everything as soon as detection is made readily available. I propose that protoss needs a meatier mid-tier gateway unit that can deal with roaches/MMM in a straight up engagement; a multipurpose unit akin to the warhound. With a stronger mid-tier unit protoss can begin to feel a little less fragile in so many areas. In fact, even a unit much like the widow mine or the old shredder would work well for protoss and allow it that much-needed space control.

I would go so far as to say it might be okay to bring back shield batteries even to make it more possible to control space. In fact, protoss should probably have easy access to shield regeneration, despite the new way shields work in SC2. I think this is becoming more and more apparent.
StrategyAllyssa Grey <3<3
Tedde93
Profile Joined October 2010
Sweden169 Posts
October 15 2012 22:12 GMT
#28
Protoss aren't really weak early game, they are weak midgame, before stim gateway units are very good.
Patiance is the element of succes"
Patate
Profile Joined January 2011
Canada441 Posts
October 15 2012 22:18 GMT
#29
Warpgate is still one of the main issue with Protoss at the moment. It is the main reason why toss's timings are so good, and why gateway units are so bad. So to compensate for the bad gateway units on the late game, protoss needs good support units (colo and HT). Colossi need to be redesigned from the ground up, even though it is a needed unit at the moment. Zealot charge needs to be re-done: It should be a castable ability where you can use it to flank the enemy units (charge behind them, pincer). Add more skill required for this race and I might consider switch back to it, because it is simply not fun at the moment.

PvP is simply unplayable because of warpgate and colossi. A matchup that ends in 1 base play 80% of the time is NOT a
Starcraft matchup, it is a WC3 one.

Get rid of Warpgate, balance things with that in mind, and the game will be better (especially pvp, oh my god).

Also sentries need a re-work. Forcefields being undestroyable, and sentries having no cooldown to cast them makes it very hard for a T or Z to deal with a good toss (if the units were balanced). Maybe breakable forcefields (but the opponents needs to manually aim them), would be a good idea. Why doesn't Blizzard do massive changes to the Protoss design instead of tweaking the Mcore and the Oracle? Really, who gives a shit about those units? It's not them that will change the overall design of hte Protoss race which is a race that REQUIRES a deathball in order to compete. Army splitting with Toss is suicidal, except vs a medivac drop. Support units need their gateway tanking units, and gateway units need their DPS units.. and all of them need the sentry to avoid a studder step bioball or a roach ball to close up.

Dead game.
rollAdice
Profile Joined June 2012
Germany32 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-10-15 22:29:03
October 15 2012 22:24 GMT
#30
I think the colossus needs some kind of deploy mechanic, something similar to siege mode, and when deployed it shouldn't be vulnerable to aerial attacks. That is actually very similar to the way reaver + shuttle worked, when loaded in the shuttle it was mobile and vulnerable but unable to attack, but once dropped in the right position it was very deadly and in the end allows for great micro battles and positional play and it would also make the coloussus a very good defensive unit.

That plus warpgate beeing a later optional tech with drawbacks to production rate, a slight buff to warpgate units and the carrier fixed would make protoss a race that's fun to play once again.
TrickyGilligan
Profile Joined September 2010
United States641 Posts
October 15 2012 22:30 GMT
#31
On October 16 2012 07:24 rollAdice wrote:
I think the colossus needs some kind of deploy mechanic, something similar to siege mode, and when deployed it shouldn't be vulnerable to aerial attacks. That is actually very similar to the way reaver + shuttle worked, when loaded in the shuttle it was mobile and vulnerable but unable to attack, but once dropped in the right position it was very deadly and in the end allows for great micro battles and positional play and it would also make the coloussus a very good defensive unit.

That plus warpgate beeing a later optional tech with drawbacks to production rate, a slight buff to warpgate units and the carrier fixed would make protoss a race that's fun to play once again.


Just give us the Reaver back =/

It's superior to the Colossus in every way in terms of spectating, and it gives Protoss a unit that can actually harass mineral lines.
"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it." -Groucho Marx
wangstra
Profile Joined March 2011
922 Posts
October 15 2012 23:01 GMT
#32
You said it right in the OP. To gain much traction, Protoss is being steered towards acquiring 3 bases every game which is reflected in the map selection we're currently dealing with. It leaves little room for diversity in the map pool. It's not quite as clear cut as you've put it.
happyness
Profile Joined June 2010
United States2400 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-10-15 23:13:49
October 15 2012 23:05 GMT
#33
On October 16 2012 04:12 fickazzz wrote:
well i think we had already like 10+ polls which showed that almost noone likes the design of the colossus...
but it's such a core unit, that it would require drastic changes of the protoss race if they change the colossus... so i doubt blizzard will do this...
sc2 without the colossus could only get better imo :D


Ya unfortunately it is a core unit so nothing will happen. It seems pretty clear to me that blizzard doesn't want to mess with the WoL side of the game too much, which is unfortunate.


If they do decide to do anything though, the change wouldn't be too drastic. I think if they were to give the colossus some sort of weakness, like slower movement speed, and then try to focus on making the carrier as the core lategame unit, HotS would be soooo much better for it.
Zaurus
Profile Joined October 2010
Singapore676 Posts
October 15 2012 23:13 GMT
#34
Protoss need reaver.... Good enough for early mis game defense. Strong in late game with warp prism micro. We should actually stop creating such threads, it is a common knowledge colossus are retarded and Protoss need tier3 to get their splash. But will blizzard add in a reaver like unit? Don't think so. Have fun defending with gateway while waiting for colossus in HOTS.
Patate
Profile Joined January 2011
Canada441 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-10-15 23:37:48
October 15 2012 23:24 GMT
#35
On October 16 2012 08:13 Zaurus wrote:
Protoss need reaver.... Good enough for early mis game defense. Strong in late game with warp prism micro. We should actually stop creating such threads, it is a common knowledge colossus are retarded and Protoss need tier3 to get their splash. But will blizzard add in a reaver like unit? Don't think so. Have fun defending with gateway while waiting for colossus in HOTS.


Actually I need think that the more we talk about things that we, as a community, annoy us, the more Blizzard can listen. The warhound episode showed that to us.

They screwed D3, they won't screw a second franchise out of 3... no?
Dead game.
wcr.4fun
Profile Joined April 2012
Belgium686 Posts
October 15 2012 23:39 GMT
#36
On October 16 2012 08:24 Patate wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 16 2012 08:13 Zaurus wrote:
Protoss need reaver.... Good enough for early mis game defense. Strong in late game with warp prism micro. We should actually stop creating such threads, it is a common knowledge colossus are retarded and Protoss need tier3 to get their splash. But will blizzard add in a reaver like unit? Don't think so. Have fun defending with gateway while waiting for colossus in HOTS.


Actually I need think that the more we talk about things that we, as a community, annoy us, the more Blizzard can listen. The warhound episode showed that to us.

They screwed D3, they won't screw a second franchise out of 3... no?


imo they've already screwed up sc2. But they can still change it, it's not too late.

If I see how sc2 turned out (as a game, online experience,...), i'm scared for wc4.
Illiterate
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
Netherlands49 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-10-16 00:17:41
October 16 2012 00:13 GMT
#37
This hurt me so much in my nazi grammar organ (which is most likely the sphincter) that I had to do this:

On October 16 2012 03:16 StandAloneComplex wrote:
0. Introduction


Nearly all Protoss players of the community, and many players of other races, like the concept of an alien high tech race which is technological superior against its enemies but are unhappy (to say the least) with the way Protoss has to be
played in WOL to be successful. But is the reason the Protoss race seems boring in WOL, which is only a shadow of the Aiur-spirit of the past, really the warpgate? Or is it something else, something even more disturbing?




I. The Warpgate


Almost all of the concerns are concentrating on the gameplay-mechanic of the warpgate. The argumentation is that warpgates allow, with their quick cooldown (and which can produce even faster with chronoboost), a reinforcing advantage against other races. In combination with a pylon, which can be placed nearly everywhere on the map with the exception of on creep, the Protoss can reinforce nearly anywhere on the map very quickly which negates the defender's advantage. Also, counterattacks can be taken care of with quick warp ins without splitting up the Protoss main army.

Following this argumentation Blizzard balanced this advantage of the Protoss race against the others by balancing the earlygame units, which are weaker compared to earlygame units of the other races, even though they cost equal amounts. So, in order to survive the earlygame, Protoss must either go all in with a timing push or rely heavily on the sentry's spell Force Field to hold the enemy out of their bases long enough to tech up to a healthy amount of expensive lategame units.





II. General design concept of the Protoss race.


The general overlaying design concept of the race is that the protoss units are very weak in the earlygame; without extensive micro and spell usage of Force Field and Blink. But if they survive long enough and are able to take 3 bases they can accumulate enough resources to build their expensive but very strong lategame-units such as Colossi, Archons, Immortals and the Mothership.

So:

Weak when not micro'd correctly in the earlygame, but strong in the lategame.

Important to know is , that this decision was not a design accident made by Blizzard, they wanted to design it that way. A race which is technological superior and has units that are stronger, but more expensive than the units of the other races. Balancing this concept so that all races have similar chances of winning, is very difficult and lead to the design toss is known for in WOL.

And that design is generally not a bad idea but the way Blizzard implemented it was not optimal because the lategame units are all strong but very boring to use because they are all non-microintensive-a-movers (Colossus, Immortal and Archon). It wouldn't be a bad idea that earlygame units are weak and must rely on support units if the lategame units are strong if the lategameunits would be more micro intensive and multidimensional. This would differ the way Protoss is played clearly form the other races. It creates a tension of surviving the earlygame and then, if you managed that, it's payback time.


So even if the warpgate would be a lategame upgrade in the twilight council or would be completely taken out of the game it would lead to the same unit composition in the lategame:


1. x Stalkers + 5-6 Colossi + Mothership against ground based armies.

2. x Stalkers + y Archons + Mothership against air based armies.


Because these two combinations are the most effective way to deal with the most unit compositions of the enemy. Only change there would be, if for instance warpgate were to be taken out and Stalker would be buffed, is that we would see more early Stalker + Sentry deathballs instead of Colossi + Stalker deathballs. But a deathball is a deathball.

Their is no reason for toss to go anything else, except maybe some immortals against a meching Terran.





III.Conclusion


And that leads to a situation in which nearly all Protoss games look the same. It's the bad and boring unit ideas, with the Colossus as a too powerful all-round unit, which hurt protoss gameplay and diversity in lategame unit compositions, not warpgates. The decision of being weak when not micro'd correctly earlygame but strong lategame would be good if the units would be more versatile and would lead to more different openings and more potent lategame compositions so that for example airplay would be an option. If i start Phoenix airplay in WOL it's a loss in most games if the enemy is on an even skill level because of the weakness of toss air units in the followup (carriers are a joke against target-firing vikings/corruptors).


Think about it. Which units of the protoss race in WOL are really fun to play ?

Poll: Which unit has to be redone out of all existing WOL protoss units?

Colossus (206)
 
65%

Carrier (36)
 
11%

Void Ray (24)
 
8%

Sentry (18)
 
6%

None of them , they are all good the way they are (maybe a little tweaking in numbers). (18)
 
6%

Stalker (6)
 
2%

Zealot (3)
 
1%

Dark Templar (2)
 
1%

Archon (2)
 
1%

Phonix (2)
 
1%

High Templar (1)
 
0%

Immortal (1)
 
0%

319 total votes

Your vote: Which unit has to be redone out of all existing WOL protoss units?

(Vote): Zealot
(Vote): Stalker
(Vote): Sentry
(Vote): High Templar
(Vote): Dark Templar
(Vote): Immortal
(Vote): Colossus
(Vote): Archon
(Vote): Phonix
(Vote): Void Ray
(Vote): Carrier
(Vote): None of them , they are all good the way they are (maybe a little tweaking in numbers).



In my opinion only the Sentry, Phoenix, Warp Prism and High Templar are deep in design and benefit from good micro. All the lategame units are boring because they all a-move.

This leads to the conclusion that most of the protoss units in WOL need a serious redesign and NOT the warpgate in the first place.

1. Nerf the Colossus heavily (make the lasers into a cast ability and give the colossus
energy to increase its micro and lower its damage output, perhaps let the laser fire in
a straight line away from the Colossus) and add therefore a micro-intensive
lategame unit with high damage output and low HP which is very difficult to micro. It could be the Reaver but if it must
not it can also be some new unit.

2. Protoss needs more support units like a mobile shieldbattery or teleporter which can
be also used for quick earlygame harass. The Oracle would be good for that purpose
if it had useful spells, which it doesn't the way it is now.

3. Give the protoss more expensive high tech units and especially buildings , like
cloaked probes (lategame) or Mothership Core transforming into a mobile Nexus
which can be set up in an mineral field. It can mine out of it and can flee if the
enemy is coming.

Plz discuss.


I don't know what kind of loving relationship you have with your spacebar and your comma-key, but FUCK YOU FOR MAKING ME DO THAT.

Btw, I counted 93 corrections. 93. Ninety three. I'm not saying I'm not glad that people who have imperfect English still post on the forums, but I don't like having my Nazi Grammar rectum disturbed like this. I'm going to go wash my eyes now.

Edit: I just realised my signature is more fitting than it has ever been before.
It's better to be silent and thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.
TelecoM
Profile Blog Joined January 2010
United States10682 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-10-16 00:16:40
October 16 2012 00:16 GMT
#38
On October 16 2012 05:50 DudeManAl wrote:
Fix for blizzard: Remake SC:BW using SC2 engine and sell it for $10.


You have the same thoughts as me, this is the best suggestion I have heard in awhile. xD

EDIT : But yeah, I hate playing vs colossi......
AKA: TelecoM[WHITE] Protoss fighting
wcr.4fun
Profile Joined April 2012
Belgium686 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-10-16 00:18:44
October 16 2012 00:18 GMT
#39
On October 16 2012 09:13 Illiterate wrote:
This hurt me so much in my nazi grammar organ (which is most likely the sphincter) that I had to do this:

Show nested quote +
On October 16 2012 03:16 StandAloneComplex wrote:
0. Introduction


Nearly all Protoss players of the community, and many players of other races, like the concept of an alien high tech race which is technological superior against its enemies but are unhappy (to say the least) with the way Protoss has to be
played in WOL to be successful. But is the reason the Protoss race seems boring in WOL, which is only a shadow of the Aiur-spirit of the past, really the warpgate? Or is it something else, something even more disturbing?




I. The Warpgate


Almost all of the concerns are concentrating on the gameplay-mechanic of the warpgate. The argumentation is that warpgates allow, with their quick cooldown (and which can produce even faster with chronoboost), a reinforcing advantage against other races. In combination with a pylon, which can be placed nearly everywhere on the map with the exception of on creep, the Protoss can reinforce nearly anywhere on the map very quickly which negates the defender's advantage. Also, counterattacks can be taken care of with quick warp ins without splitting up the Protoss main army.

Following this argumentation Blizzard balanced this advantage of the Protoss race against the others by balancing the earlygame units, which are weaker compared to earlygame units of the other races, even though they cost equal amounts. So, in order to survive the earlygame, Protoss must either go all in with a timing push or rely heavily on the sentry's spell Force Field to hold the enemy out of their bases long enough to tech up to a healthy amount of expensive lategame units.





II. General design concept of the Protoss race.


The general overlaying design concept of the race is that the protoss units are very weak in the earlygame; without extensive micro and spell usage of Force Field and Blink. But if they survive long enough and are able to take 3 bases they can accumulate enough resources to build their expensive but very strong lategame-units such as Colossi, Archons, Immortals and the Mothership.

So:

Weak when not micro'd correctly in the earlygame, but strong in the lategame.

Important to know is , that this decision was not a design accident made by Blizzard, they wanted to design it that way. A race which is technological superior and has units that are stronger, but more expensive than the units of the other races. Balancing this concept so that all races have similar chances of winning, is very difficult and lead to the design toss is known for in WOL.

And that design is generally not a bad idea but the way Blizzard implemented it was not optimal because the lategame units are all strong but very boring to use because they are all non-microintensive-a-movers (Colossus, Immortal and Archon). It wouldn't be a bad idea that earlygame units are weak and must rely on support units if the lategame units are strong if the lategameunits would be more micro intensive and multidimensional. This would differ the way Protoss is played clearly form the other races. It creates a tension of surviving the earlygame and then, if you managed that, it's payback time.


So even if the warpgate would be a lategame upgrade in the twilight council or would be completely taken out of the game it would lead to the same unit composition in the lategame:


1. x Stalkers + 5-6 Colossi + Mothership against ground based armies.

2. x Stalkers + y Archons + Mothership against air based armies.


Because these two combinations are the most effective way to deal with the most unit compositions of the enemy. Only change there would be, if for instance warpgate were to be taken out and Stalker would be buffed, is that we would see more early Stalker + Sentry deathballs instead of Colossi + Stalker deathballs. But a deathball is a deathball.

Their is no reason for toss to go anything else, except maybe some immortals against a meching Terran.





III.Conclusion


And that leads to a situation in which nearly all Protoss games look the same. It's the bad and boring unit ideas, with the Colossus as a too powerful all-round unit, which hurt protoss gameplay and diversity in lategame unit compositions, not warpgates. The decision of being weak when not micro'd correctly earlygame but strong lategame would be good if the units would be more versatile and would lead to more different openings and more potent lategame compositions so that for example airplay would be an option. If i start Phoenix airplay in WOL it's a loss in most games if the enemy is on an even skill level because of the weakness of toss air units in the followup (carriers are a joke against target-firing vikings/corruptors).


Think about it. Which units of the protoss race in WOL are really fun to play ?

Poll: Which unit has to be redone out of all existing WOL protoss units?

Colossus (206)
 
65%

Carrier (36)
 
11%

Void Ray (24)
 
8%

Sentry (18)
 
6%

None of them , they are all good the way they are (maybe a little tweaking in numbers). (18)
 
6%

Stalker (6)
 
2%

Zealot (3)
 
1%

Dark Templar (2)
 
1%

Archon (2)
 
1%

Phonix (2)
 
1%

High Templar (1)
 
0%

Immortal (1)
 
0%

319 total votes

Your vote: Which unit has to be redone out of all existing WOL protoss units?

(Vote): Zealot
(Vote): Stalker
(Vote): Sentry
(Vote): High Templar
(Vote): Dark Templar
(Vote): Immortal
(Vote): Colossus
(Vote): Archon
(Vote): Phonix
(Vote): Void Ray
(Vote): Carrier
(Vote): None of them , they are all good the way they are (maybe a little tweaking in numbers).



In my opinion only the Sentry, Phoenix, Warp Prism and High Templar are deep in design and benefit from good micro. All the lategame units are boring because they all a-move.

This leads to the conclusion that most of the protoss units in WOL need a serious redesign and NOT the warpgate in the first place.

1. Nerf the Colossus heavily (make the lasers into a cast ability and give the colossus
energy to increase its micro and lower its damage output, perhaps let the laser fire in
a straight line away from the Colossus) and add therefore a micro-intensive
lategame unit with high damage output and low HP which is very difficult to micro. It could be the Reaver but if it must
not it can also be some new unit.

2. Protoss needs more support units like a mobile shieldbattery or teleporter which can
be also used for quick earlygame harass. The Oracle would be good for that purpose
if it had useful spells, which it doesn't the way it is now.

3. Give the protoss more expensive high tech units and especially buildings , like
cloaked probes (lategame) or Mothership Core transforming into a mobile Nexus
which can be set up in an mineral field. It can mine out of it and can flee if the
enemy is coming.

Plz discuss.


I don't know what kind of loving relationship you have with your spacebar and your comma-key, but FUCK YOU FOR MAKING ME DO THAT.

Btw, I counted 93 corrections. 93. Ninety three. I'm not saying I'm not glad that people who have imperfect English still post on the forums, but I don't like having my Nazi Grammar rectum disturbed like this. I'm going to go wash my eyes now.


Humans have more than 1 sphincter. Your error caused a disturbing contraction of both my outer and inner anal sphincter. (lol)
ThomasjServo
Profile Blog Joined May 2012
15244 Posts
October 16 2012 00:46 GMT
#40
On October 16 2012 08:13 Zaurus wrote:
Protoss need reaver.... Good enough for early mis game defense. Strong in late game with warp prism micro. We should actually stop creating such threads, it is a common knowledge colossus are retarded and Protoss need tier3 to get their splash. But will blizzard add in a reaver like unit? Don't think so. Have fun defending with gateway while waiting for colossus in HOTS.



The idea of Reaver drops with chargelot warp ins terrifies me in theory alone. I couldn't imagine seeing that in a pro match, it would be fantastic to watch.
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 6h 45m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
mouzHeroMarine 539
SteadfastSC 138
ProTech116
UpATreeSC 83
MindelVK 41
IndyStarCraft 31
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 3771
Sea 491
firebathero 472
Aegong 154
Shuttle 143
Soulkey 112
Dewaltoss 77
sas.Sziky 9
Dota 2
qojqva2657
singsing1869
Dendi949
PGG 115
Other Games
ceh9478
Lowko381
Beastyqt319
DeMusliM305
Fuzer 217
Hui .166
Sick127
TKL 91
QueenE74
Trikslyr56
C9.Mang041
gofns27
fpsfer 4
Organizations
Other Games
Algost 3
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 21 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Hinosc 27
• intothetv
• Kozan
• sooper7s
• Migwel
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• IndyKCrew
StarCraft: Brood War
• Michael_bg 5
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• FirePhoenix0
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• C_a_k_e 2020
• masondota2640
• WagamamaTV495
• lizZardDota247
League of Legends
• Nemesis2683
• TFBlade901
• imaqtpie399
Other Games
• Shiphtur254
Upcoming Events
PiGosaur Cup
6h 45m
RSL Revival
15h 45m
Classic vs Creator
Cure vs TriGGeR
Kung Fu Cup
17h 45m
GuMiho vs MaNa
herO vs ShoWTimE
Classic vs TBD
CranKy Ducklings
1d 15h
RSL Revival
1d 15h
herO vs Gerald
ByuN vs SHIN
Kung Fu Cup
1d 17h
Cure vs Reynor
IPSL
1d 22h
ZZZero vs rasowy
Napoleon vs KameZerg
BSL 21
2 days
Tarson vs Julia
Doodle vs OldBoy
eOnzErG vs WolFix
StRyKeR vs Aeternum
Sparkling Tuna Cup
2 days
RSL Revival
2 days
Reynor vs sOs
Maru vs Ryung
[ Show More ]
Kung Fu Cup
2 days
WardiTV Korean Royale
2 days
BSL 21
3 days
JDConan vs Semih
Dragon vs Dienmax
Tech vs NewOcean
TerrOr vs Artosis
IPSL
3 days
Dewalt vs WolFix
eOnzErG vs Bonyth
Replay Cast
3 days
Wardi Open
3 days
Monday Night Weeklies
3 days
WardiTV Korean Royale
4 days
The PondCast
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
RSL Revival
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2025-11-07
Stellar Fest: Constellation Cup
Eternal Conflict S1

Ongoing

C-Race Season 1
IPSL Winter 2025-26
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 4
SOOP Univ League 2025
YSL S2
BSL Season 21
CSCL: Masked Kings S3
RSL Revival: Season 3
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
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

Upcoming

SLON Tour Season 2
BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
HSC XXVIII
RSL Offline Finals
WardiTV 2025
META Madness #9
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026: Closed Qualifier
eXTREMESLAND 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
SL Budapest Major 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.