Improving PvP's watchability - Page 4

On March 26 2011 02:21 Liquid`Tyler wrote:
Someone should make a custom map to try this out. I think it would work great.

On March 26 2011 03:29 PJA wrote:
I just wish stalkers of different colors were easier to distinguish, fix that before fixing lasers imo.

On March 26 2011 03:29 PJA wrote:
I just wish stalkers of different colors were easier to distinguish, fix that before fixing lasers imo.

I can hardly tell red and blue stalkers apart in the middle of a huge fight, anyone else have this issue? I know I am R/G colorblind but it's pretty mild and has never actually had any effect on me in the past, other than failing at those colored dot tests.

On March 25 2011 14:15 Ketara wrote:
The other day I was watching some GSL PvP, specific game is unimportant. However, both players were doing 4gate because obviously that is all anybody ever does in this matchup (obviously), and I realized after a while that I was having some difficulty figuring out whose units were whose. Stalkers are mostly blue no matter what, one of the players was blue, their lasers are all blue, etc.

At this time I stumbled upon the greatest and most obvious realization of what would make Protoss better to watch, and play, on a competitive level.


Protoss units laser beams should be the hue of their player color.


Now, as we all know from Blizzcon and its horribly inane questions, Protoss beams are powered by warp and/or psi, and psi is clearly blue, because it is. Therefor, Protoss beams should always be blue.

But trust me when I tell you that this change, while breaking the incredibly airtight canon that is Starcraft lore, will be better for everybody. I shall explain why, point by point.


The problem
Quickly, here is a video of your standard PvP game. Fast forward to the end to see the inevitable 4 gate vs. 4 gate.


Can you tell whose Stalkers are whose? Wouldn't it be way more awesome if the laser beams were different colors?

Point A
It is a clear tenet of any sort of entertainment involving laser guns that each sides lasers should be different colors. I'd like you all to close your eyes and imagine how much fun you had watching cartoons as a kid. In fact, screw closing your eyes, watch this:
+ Show Spoiler +

Do you think GI Joe would have been as entertaining as it was without both sides having different colored lasers? Or any Saturday morning cartoon for that matter? Of course not. Obviously. I cannot tell the Joes and the Cobras apart half the time, I have no idea what most of their names are. But you know who is winning because of the different colors of the lasers.

We can bring this same kind of simple aesthetic beauty to Stalkers, Sentries, Phoenixes, etc. And it will be awesome like Saturday morning cartoons. Hell, Cobra Commander kinda looks like a Protoss, sort of. Clearly the creators of GI Joe had Starcraft in mind when they pioneered pew pewing and reaped its high entertainment value. They were paving the way for the future of PvP.


Point B
Nobody actually cares about Starcraft canon, which is clearly the only reason why Protoss lasers are currently always blue. I mean, this is a universe where a Marine on drugs can run faster than a state of the art space fighter jet, but can't run even close to as fast as the speed of a Nydus Worms bowel movements, which bend spacetime to shit banelings onto islands.

If we put up with that, we can put up with Stalkers having red and purple and green lasers. Because the above is silly, but Stalkers shooting red lasers would just be awesome.


Point C
I realize that a lot of you may be skeptic about how clearly awesome this change would be, so I took the liberty of creating a custom map in which Protoss's laser beams actually can be different colors. I played and recorded a TvP game vs. a red Protoss, in which the usual Colossus vs. Viking + MMM strategies were used.

I have the replay shown below, with a video of normal Protoss gameplay for reference, followed by the video on the new map where the lasers are red like the red Protoss player. I think you will agree that the video with the improved laser effect is much, much more entertaining.

Standard Protoss gameplay
+ Show Spoiler +

Standard Protoss gameplay, map where lasers can be different colors
PvT: + Show Spoiler +
PvP: + Show Spoiler +


I think based on these videos, it is clear that we would be much more entertained with Protoss gameplay, and PvP specifically, if their lasers could be different colors.

As usual, this is an extremely important issue that Blizzard desperately needs to address.

Thank you for your time.

On March 26 2011 03:58 Cain0 wrote:
The problem with PvP is a lot deeper than the Stalker lazor beam.