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Immaterial
Canada510 Posts
On December 06 2012 12:39 Scila wrote: Anyone know if any preorder methods get you a beta key? I'm hearing that amazon is out of beta keys. The beta key thing still shows up on my Amazon. Maybe its only for the US though, idk | ||
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Joedaddy
United States1948 Posts
On December 06 2012 12:39 Scila wrote: Anyone know if any preorder methods get you a beta key? I'm hearing that amazon is out of beta keys. I got my beta key 2 nights ago when I pre-ordered through GameStop. The beta access code was on my receipt. | ||
opterown
Australia54784 Posts
On December 06 2012 12:37 Yoshi Kirishima wrote: Not to mention SC2 is striving to become better than BW at this point, by attempting to make every unit find use, and making many compositions viable. Not to mention mirror match-ups not sucking dick. (with exception of the "not serious unit" mothership...) imo they should make the mothership the ultimate BM unit, give it ridiculous over the top abilities that are really flashy but would not impact a pro game haha. | ||
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awesomoecalypse
United States2235 Posts
On December 06 2012 12:34 Wombat_NI wrote: Apart from bugs/abuses, they functioned properly. They may not have been designed with that kind of stuff in mind though. In this patch, I agree with a lot, disagree with a lot. It's merely the lack of a coherent philosophy in terms of what Blizzard are trying to do isn't visible. It's incredibly annoying because if there's no clear logic to what they do, that will make addressing certain concerns harder. I don't think there's no clear logic. Most of the changes make perfect sense, and even the ones that seem op like the medivac upgrade could be good additions if modified. Their overall idea for the direction of the game seems to be: Make Zerg less reliant on Infestors overall, by giving them better aggressive options in the midgame (e.g. Hydra speed upgrade on lair), significantly improving Utralisks, and nerfing both of the Infestor's primary spells, with the ultimate goal being a Zerg army that is less built around macroing passively for a Broodlord/Infestor unstoppable deathball, and more around aggression throughout the game that eventually builds to a more balanced T3 composition rather than just a couple units. Make Terran mech viable throughout the game, by buffing Hellbats, by giving mech improved anti-air via the new Thor attack, and allowing them to combo seamlessly with air units to make supplementing a mech army with vikings and ravens easy as hell. At the same time, improve bio so that it remains competitive throughout the game. Make Protoss air a viable tech path, by giving Oracles real harass ability, seriously improving Phoenixes (with the range upgrade, they can now infinitely kite vikings and corruptors), and giving Voids better harass ability as well--combined with Tempests, the new Protoss air force is extremely formidable. I mean, the design goals seem pretty clear: more unit diversity and strategic options for Zerg, better mech for Terran, better air for Protoss. | ||
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PhoenixVoid
Canada32750 Posts
Mech may be somewhat more viable in TvP because the upgrades are combined, so the ultimate late-game Mech TvP army is now possible. Vortex is strange though, I guess it was changed to make Mothership Core more utilized, and the Dark Shrine change is probably going to increase the amount of DT usage in rushes and late-game. Perhaps some changes are a bit too strong, the Medivac upgrade is just insanely powerful, and now DPS'ing Bio looks incredibly difficult without certain units.I like the changes, but they might need to be toned down. | ||
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L0L
United States176 Posts
there is no cap for comcast now | ||
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AcrossFiveJulys
United States3612 Posts
Medivac New ability: Emergency Thrusters Speed boost that increases movement speed and acceleration to 4.25 for 8 seconds. 20 second cooldown. The Medivac’s Caduceus Reactor upgrade at the Starport Tech Lab: Health restored per second from 9 to 15. Energy cost reduced from 3 health per 1 energy to 5 health per 1 energy. Cost increased from 100/100 and 80 seconds to 150/150 and 110 seconds. Wow, HUGE buffs. Like, ridiculously huge. I think the medivac boost ability is a great change. Medivacs were shot down in far too many situations. As for the new upgrade, it seems like too much for how accessible it is. It's hard to imagine very many situations where you wouldn't want to go for this immediately in a bio strategy. The latest you'd want this is probably after the initial first two medivacs pumped out of a reactored starport. I think this upgrade should either require a fusion core, cost something like 250/250, or take 180 seconds or so (like stim). Otherwise, getting it almost immediately in bio strategies is a no-brainer. Reaper Base speed increased from 2.95 to 3.375 Upgraded speed increased from 3.84 to 4.25. This is a good change. I'd like to see their upgraded speed even faster though; speedlings off creep have about 4.7 speed, so if upgraded reapers could be made to have 4.7 or 4.8 they might have a real chance of being scary harass units... getting close to the glorious harass ability of vultures minus the spiner mines. Widow Mine No longer hits cloaked units. New upgrade: Drilling Claws Decreases burrow time from 3 to 1 second. Requires Tech Lab and Armory. Costs 150/150, 110 second research time. I don't like this change. For some reason bilzzard wants us to use mines offensively when they should be used for positional play. A better change, for example, would be making them take MORE time to burrow but reducing their supply cost to 1 and nerfing their health. That way if they are unprotected and the opponent has detection they can be cleaned up, but otherwise they completely zone out the opponent. Thor 250mm Strike Cannons has been removed. The Thor can now switch between two modes: High-Impact Payload and Explosive Payload. The mode shift takes 4 seconds. When in High-Impact Payload mode, the Thor switches to a different anti-air gun (250mm Punisher Cannons) that has 10 range and deals 24 flat damage. Thor radius, inner radius, and separation radius increased from 0.8215 to 1. This is really interesting. The new mode basically buffs the thor's anti-air attack against units with high armor, as it is the same base damage as the standard mode but the shots all hit at once. Time will tell whether this makes a significant difference in using thors as anti-air against non-light units -- the old attack was not even close to viable against non-light units, so I'm not sure this will be enough. Raven Seeker Missile has been redesigned: Can now fire from 10 range. Missile comes out and stays immobile in front of the Raven for 3 seconds while charging up, then rapidly moves (it’s not dodgeable at this point) and explodes at the target for 300 single target damage. Targeted unit lights up red when targeted. If the unit moves 13 range out of where the Seeker Missile is, the Missile fizzles. This is pretty cool, as it essentially forces the opponent to decide between taking the targeted unit out of the battle or losing it in 3 seconds. So in the case of a targeted infestor for example, the opponent can either get a fungal off and then lose the infestor or just run the infestor away. I think this might be a way to prevent infestors from being effective in battle AND easily retained afterwards (even if the battle is lost for the zerg player). I have a good feeling about this change. It adds a new dynamic we haven't seen before in sc. (For those saying it's the same as yamato, realize that running away from a yamato is not really feasible.) Hellbat Splash damage radius increased from 90 to 110. No comment. Armory The Armory now only has one weapon and one armor upgrade for both air and ground upgrades for both Factory and Starport units. This is a huge buff to terran lategame/mech, and might be exactly what's needed without going overboard. Excellent change. Ultralisk change Really, really great change. I think blizzard is trying to set up a more interesting TvZ lategame dynamic. Bio is insanely buffed now, but from the looks of it ultra/infestor will soft counter it. But mech with air should be a soft counter against zerg ground compositions with the new armory upgrades, which should be soft countered itself by broodlord/infestor/corrupter styles (only soft countered since infestors are nerfed, thors AA is buffed, and air upgrades will be available for terran). Blizzard, thanks for stepping it up with this patch. My faith is restored. | ||
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awesomoecalypse
United States2235 Posts
On December 06 2012 12:42 opterown wrote: imo they should make the mothership the ultimate BM unit, give it ridiculous over the top abilities that are really flashy but would not impact a pro game haha. They should give the Mothership a self destruct power. 10 second countdown, then it blows up like a giant baneling. Hilarious, and really perfect for trolling defeated opponents. | ||
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EleanorRIgby
Canada3923 Posts
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TheFrankOne
United States667 Posts
On December 06 2012 12:37 Yoshi Kirishima wrote: Not to mention SC2 is striving to become better than BW at this point, by attempting to make every unit find use, and making many compositions viable. Not to mention mirror match-ups not sucking dick. (with exception of the "not serious unit" mothership...) This is clearly the goal. If they can make a wide variety of composition viable, mech, lair tech, and skytoss in particular, it will be a huge improvement. I don't understand why they nerfed vortex so hard, with the mothership core as part of the game it seems like the mothership should still be a strong unit. With the WoL recall it would still have a purpose but right now I don't know why they want us to have a low tech version of the mother ship but make its improved form practically useless. Vortex should really be replaced though, don't get me wrong, this new vortex just seems bad enough that the core is practically as good as the mothership itself. Haven't played it yet but still, its not like the damage justifies getting the upgrade. Edit: Derp, I forgot about the cloaking field, which is important but still... just not sure on this one. | ||
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Virid
United States130 Posts
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vandelayindustries
United States290 Posts
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RavenLoud
Canada1100 Posts
I find a lot of these changes very interesting, sad that they didn't do anything for the carrier though. Still, my faith in HotS is being restored. | ||
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Inf-badguy
Canada171 Posts
On December 06 2012 12:47 EleanorRIgby wrote: updating but beta servers still offline? cant wait to test new reapers and thors Seems to be. Can't wait to try it out! | ||
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WombaT
Northern Ireland27200 Posts
On December 06 2012 12:37 Yoshi Kirishima wrote: Not to mention SC2 is striving to become better than BW at this point, by attempting to make every unit find use, and making many compositions viable. Not to mention mirror match-ups not sucking dick. (with exception of the "not serious unit" mothership...) It's not a matter of copying Brood War's unit interactions that annoys us who like both BW and SC2, in my case someone who's more familiar with SC2. It's the fact that Blizzard's aim 'make harassment better' as one of the stated ones, isn't applicable to everything, or necessarily going to improve the entire game to that effect. To illustrate this I'm going to start from scratch with the same intent to show you what I mean. Do not, I swear to god criticise the individual examples I have pulled out of my ASS to show the logic as somehow being 'wrong'. My stated aim for this patch - Currently a mystery! Protoss changes Zealot: Charge is now removed with the replacement of an upgrade that increases its passive speed Collosus: All stats remain the same with the exception of movement speed which is now a lot slower Carrier: Microability is increased through implementation of Tyler's video and its ideas on things like leash range Phoenix: No changes other than a slight change to energy to give slightly more gravitons be available for each Dark Templar: Has an upgrade to give it a very short lived, but active ability that increases its speed Terran changes Hellion: Slightly reduced damage at the trade of an increase in microability Marauder: Concussive shells now slows a little less than before Thor: Replaced with a unit that is less strong individually but costs less individually and has better AA. More agile. Raven: Faster passive speed, auto-turrets no longer counted as buildings so able to be cast more intuitively. Zerg changes Infestor: Fungal growth unchanged from current WoL bar addition of projectile, and changing fungal to a slow Mutalisk: Acceleration is increased over where it is now, overall passive speed at full flight is the same Roach: The transition from burrow to unburrow is made faster for this specific unit Now, go ahead claim my changes are terrible. However if I hadn't told you my actual reason for every single change, could you guess what it is? If not, then you're perhaps not looking hard enough. If yes, then you validate my central premise, at least in terms of why Blizzard annoy me personally. Reveal to follow folks  | ||
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Rorschach
United States623 Posts
Meanwhile protoss have carriers and tempests are back to fleetbeacon t.t New voidrays seem interesting but still a gimmick, rather have the speed upgrade and 7 range back | ||
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EleanorRIgby
Canada3923 Posts
On December 06 2012 12:49 RavenLoud wrote: Given the DT buff, maybe there is no need to remove the ability to attack cloaked units from the widow mine. I find a lot of these changes very interesting, sad that they didn't do anything for the carrier though. Still, my faith in HotS is being restored. yea its weird but i think blizzard wants terrans to use turrets a lot more | ||
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Serpico
4285 Posts
And this is permanent for all intents and purposes? I can watch all my streams in HD NOW??? | ||
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mango_destroyer
Canada3914 Posts
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Blargh
United States2103 Posts
Medivac changes... Mostly good changes, it seems though that #'s are increasing, but HP isn't in HotS. The increase in heal rate should be good versus spells like fungal and storm. The speed boost is at least a little interesting, giving terrans the ability to maneuver out of 'sticky situations' every 20 seconds. Obviously, the CD really only has relevance with drops, but it should definitely help with escaping once your ground army gets cleaned up. With buffs come the increased costs/build times, which is okay. Reaper changes... Sort of bad, reapers are mobile as is, they do NOT need to be nascars. That won't really add any more depth to them than what they currently have. There really isn't anything anyone trying to defend against them can do differently other than just build a spine crawler and look away (no micro/skill involved there). Widow Mine changes... Seems okay. It is a bit too good to hit cloaked units, but cloaked units are a bad design in the first place, basically relying on the "DETECTION OR NO DETECTION" system. Terrans obviously have scans, but you can't always rely on those. I see this change mostly having to do with banshees, but DTs too I suppose. It seems weird though, getting a turret for detection (which counters banshee) but then also getting a widow mine. The upgrade seems alright, but still I feel widow mines don't really have that much depth to them. Widow mines should be much more of a positional thing, sort of like how vulture's mines were in BW. Thor changes... Definitely the right move to remove the stupid cannon... The different modes feel a little weird, but are probably there to make mech a bit more viable vs various things. I don't really have complaints with the two modes, unless the new one turns out to be way too strong. Raven changes......... These made little sense to me. Now, I'm -okay- with the 10 range thing, it's cool and all. So is the 3 second charge up time, hi-lighting the target. But then, wtf, AoE is removed, so really the ONLY function of seeker missile now is to auto-kill T3 units. When I was first reading, I was thinking now people would be able to select the target being tracked and remove them from the group of units (to minimize splash dmg), requiring skill, but then nope, it's just that you move the single unit OUT of range (13 range) then it cancels. So, this is basically like a battle cruiser's laser beam???? Stupid change! Hellbat I think it's okay to have more splash radius, but the hellbat is a sort of stupid concept in the first place. It's pretty herpderp vs light melee units, which is always bad. Armory ffs yes. Best change in the whole thing, since switching from one tech to another is way harder for terran than any other race, really. Protoss can manage it easily enough since forge ups are pretty universal except air. Hopefully terran will have a more diverse army vs toss and even zerg now. Mothership Recall change is okay since the current one seems a bit weird. But why, why the fuck, is there an autokill spell for ONE target, which cannot even target massive?? What is the function of this? What will this add to the game? Is it the same placement as it is now or is it a target-style spell? Do not want! Oracle The new beam might have some place in the game, but honestly, what would this really be used on? Seems like they are just adding random spells/effects to their units and hoping they strike rich. The build time makes sense because the thing came out way too fast for how strong it was. Penix change... I don't think the unit needed more range. Since it attacks WHILE moving, you basically don't/can't micro it (you stop when you focus fire, if I recall) which just adds to the herpderpness of the game. Also, I don't want penix killing my shit from even further away, since OL's still die despite the whole main being covered with spore crawlers... Seems like another random change which shouldn't add any depth to the game. The researchable passive sure seemed like it. Dark Shrine Why the fuck are they making the thing even LESS expensive? Watching DTs =/= fun. The most skill-requiring part about DTs is just coming up with DT expand builds that force their opponent in their base or they take too much damage. Also, this affects early game so much more than it does late game because of obvious reasons (it costs less, you have more econ. late game). This change is horrible, DTs are a bad unit in the first place. "Free wins are even cheaper now! LOLX!" Void Ray Removal of the charge is okay since it pretty much didn't take any skill anyway. The unit itself is sort of too big, slow, expensive to be viable though. The CD spell seems like it's purpose is to give toss a way to kill T3? Seems a bit weird honestly. The toss will use it when there's armored units that need killing, but won't use it otherwise. It's available 1/3 of the time and finds don't usually last more than 20 seconds, so it seems sort of stupid. VR needs to have a more interesting function than what it's got. Hydralisk Yeah speed hydras seemed more of a lair thing since they are useless without it. Having it be hive tech seemed off because hydras were only truly viable for shitty timing attacks and ZvZ lategame (sometimes...) which means you wouldn't be able to get the upgrade in time for the timing attack or it wouldn't have any real use because hydras lategame zvz just tag along with BL's (slow units). Mutalisk Increased speed is about the worst thing you could do to the mutalisk. Now, it's even MORE of a hit and run unit. The thing will zip right across the map. What will this add to the game? Drop ships now get cleaned up a little bit faster? Spire rushes will now catch people even more offguard? I don't get it. Swarm Host The problem with the SH was sort of that it would just get sniped by blink stalkers and shit. But honestly, the thing is basically just a broodlord. It spawns some painful free units, but need support or just get sniped off. Unit should be like Lurker or something instead. I suppose increased HP helps some, but it doesn't really make the unit any more interesting. I'd like to see it with even less HP actually. Then zerg have to be really careful with them. Infestor I think we all knew that fungal should be a projectile.... But I'd like to see a decreased radius or something. Maybe decrease energy required and decrease damage and duration by a bit or something. Projectiles definitely take more skill than insta-derp casts, at least. IT eggs should have never been more than the unit itself... and since the things can snipe buildings relatively well even at 0/0, I'd say that change is okay. Ultralisk Not really sure what was wrong with the charge, but now it's just a super duper herp derp unit where you let it a-move into marine marauder. It's basically a stronger, tankier zealot. Zealot is a really shitty unit. In fact, zealots might be one of the stupidest units in the game, just because it literally doesn't take micro and it is tanky. Viper Increased health is an alright change, but I sort of feel that zergs should just take care of their spellcasters better. They have been spoiled with infestor being impossible to kill (fungal roots?). Which is still in the game too, so keeping a viper alive shouldn't be that hard. Ok done, I give the overall changes a 4/10. Too many stupid, negative changes, but a few of the positive ones I definitely do agree with (Infestor.......) | ||
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