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Designated Balance Discussion Thread - Page 1061

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r691175002
Profile Joined October 2012
249 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-08-13 14:07:26
August 13 2014 14:07 GMT
#21201
It is clearly easier for skilled players to differentiate themselves when playing terran. The top terran players are consistently the best.

Many Protoss champions snuck by on a single clever build order or some lucky cheeses, but end up failing as soon as the meta shifts.

The number of individual Protoss champions is dramatically higher than the number of individual Terran champions, and Protoss wins are far more widely distributed because of the lower "mechanical barrier to entry" of the race.
pure.Wasted
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
Canada4701 Posts
August 13 2014 14:09 GMT
#21202
On August 13 2014 22:41 Mojito99 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 13 2014 22:28 pure.Wasted wrote:
On August 13 2014 22:13 Mojito99 wrote:
On August 13 2014 18:50 pure.Wasted wrote:
On August 13 2014 18:41 Mojito99 wrote:
On August 13 2014 18:15 deacon.frost wrote:
On August 13 2014 18:10 pure.Wasted wrote:
On August 13 2014 17:59 Mojito99 wrote:
On August 13 2014 17:35 pure.Wasted wrote:
On August 13 2014 17:25 Svizcy wrote:
[quote]

Yes, i agree with this compleatly, thats why Maru won in the end, cause when all this was happening, he was able to macro up at home durring this kind of micro intensive battle and zest wasnt able to.
So yea, Maru is better at macro than Zest i would then conclude from your post.
I didnt see the game so i am compleatly dependant on your post that you provided link to.
From your post i can read that bassicly in the end Maru won cause he did have more units, and while Zest did take the 2 engagements cause of maybe better unit compossition or better possition or w/e the reasson was, he had nothing at home produced to fall back to after the battles.
Am i correct?


Absolutely. So my agenda here is pretty clear I think, not only am I outright saying that it takes less than half the mechanical skill of Terran to play Protoss in TvP, I'm also insinuating that Zest, GSL champion and a deservedly well-respected Protoss, wasn't even able to macro and multitask competently while doing less than half of what Maru was doing. (This isn't the only time Zest's macro has seemed to slip in recent memory.)

This would be fine if we were comparing Maru to Terminator, but we're talking about Zest, the guy who was lifting his Colossi in Warp Prisms against Rain during SPL to huge roars from the crowd. This is as mechanically demanding as Protoss ever gets.

On August 13 2014 17:25 RaFox17 wrote:
[quote]
I just have to say that the idea you and many terrans seem to harbour that top terrans are simply better players than top players from other races is totally subjective and highly annoying. It also leads to equally frustrating arguments when terrans are dominating that there is no imbalance cause terrans are simply so good and talented and terran is so hard to play etc. Really hope this bullshit would stop someday.


I would appreciate you reading my post next time and not replying to me as though I'm some generic Terran supremacist.

I specifically addressed this point when I said that there's no coincidence as to why Terran players are so mechanically skilled. They have no choice. If Protoss units took as much mechanical skill to use, many top Protoss players would become good enough to use them that way over the course of years of practice.

No Terran got as good as Maru overnight. It took MKP to invent marine splits at all. Protoss doesn't reward "marine splits," or any similar equivalent, so they don't do it, so they don't develop those skills. Thus if the game were to suddenly become balanced (by my definition of balance), yes, Protoss would have a very, very hard time. For a while. Then the great Protoss players would adapt and the not-great Protoss players would stop edging their way into Code S Ro8 like they did last season.


I find this a bit irritating because it reads as if
a) you imply that mechanics = skill
b) you suggest that apm = mechanics

both are undoubtedly related but arguably far from synonyms.
What about map vision, positioning, hitting timings, scouting, adapting unit compositions, harassment. All of these are not necessarily shown by high apm and are still mechanics of an RTS.

Essentially mechanics are the Real-time element of RTS. the Strategy aspect however is often overlooked as skill. Unrelated to balance - strategic diversity is also a skill element. The myth that every protoss can hit you with dts, oracle, blink, pressure plays, voidray all in, colossus builds etc - is exactly that, a myth. If you are up against a protoss player who is able to properly execute all these builds, that in itself is an incredible display of skill in an RTS.


It is NOT OK for one race to be significantly more mechanically demanding while another race is significantly more strategically demanding (whatever that is; I'm still convinced it means "I have the freedom to do basically anything" and is actually an advantage as opposed to a disadvantage). Every race should be equally demanding mechanically, tactically, strategically, and in terms of multi-tasking. Obviously having total parity is impossible, but the standards for what passes for "good enough" have to be MUCH, MUCH higher than what Blizzard have set for themselves.

I kind of agree, but I think we need a race which is more mechanically demanding and less strategically and vice versa and something in between. Not all the races the same, so players can choose their race according to their style(am I a robot or a more thinking player?) Though it should not be the state of the game now, because now the difference is simply too big. The gap should be smaller, but it should still remain. IMO


Then let me reiterate the point i was trying to make:

You cannot equate apm to mechanical skill. Mechanics are more than just playing fast and pressing more buttons than the opponent. And when you start incorporating more than just apm into the definition of mechanics, then the difference in mechanics between races becomes a different story.


So what is mechanics if not playing fast and pressing more buttons efficiently?


Pressing buttons more efficiently is a whole story all together.
But to answer your question what mechanics is other than apm. I do not know if there is an official definition. But here is an example of what is part of mechanics other than apm.

a) spellcasting
a regular pvt game usually sees: snipe, emp, sometimes nukes, medivac boost, stim for the terran and
force field, guardian shield, hallucination, blink, storm, feedback, revelation, pulsar beam,revelation, envision, pulsar beam, time warp, nexus canon, recall.

To use spellcasting efficiently and precisely is part of your mechanic skill. As you can see, there is quite a discrepancy in the number of spellcasters you need to control as protoss if you are going for the current popular strategies. And thats not including voidray busts etc.



Do you think that I didn't account for spellcasting when I did my tally of Maru vs Zest actions? Believe me, that 70 (Maru) vs 30 (Zest) included everything the HTs did, the MSC did, and the Stalkers did. Just because Protoss has all these different abilities doesn't mean they actually have to use them nearly as much as what Terrans have to do in battle. I suggest clicking on the link I provided a few posts back and reading through that post, because it accounts for everything you say. Or, if you think that the random game I chose isn't a fair representation of the races' mechanical demands, you're welcome to find another micro-intensive game, like something from Polt vs Classic at IEM and count up every one of their actions in battle. They're both GSL champions too, so that should be a telling result as well. Personally, I would be shocked if the result was different from what I got, but you're welcome to try and prove my analysis wrong.

From what I've analyzed, accounting for their spellcasting, Protoss mechanics is not demanding enough. Literally not by half.


Assuming the last sentence is correct. What is the conclusion?


I'll answer these one by one because these are all valid interpretations.

That terran players are superior RTS players and the fact that the top 100 world wide does not consist of 75% terran speaks to the imbalance of the game?


Yes and no. Yes in that playing a mechanically demanding race for 4 years is obviously going to make someone more mechanically skilled than doing timing attacks for 4 years (and that's just as true of SCV pulls as it is of Roach busts). So if the question is really asking "if we forced all SC2 players to play a completely different RTS where mechanics are the most important factor, would former Terran pros start out being very dominant?" Then I think the answer has to be yes. That doesn't mean they are innately more skilled. But it seems sensible that Protoss and Zerg would attract a lot of innately less skilled players.


That terran is more demanding in general and therefore people which play terran are handicapping themselves?


Again, yes and no. It is more demanding, but that doesn't mean Terrans would have more success as Protoss or Zerg. It doesn't matter how good you are at the game mechanically if it comes down to Roach vs Roach war, or Oracle vs DT openings. Other skills come into play there. Skills that I think are less deserving of accolades and monetary compensation in a competition that wants (in the long run if not right this second) to be taken seriously.

That terran needs to become less mechanical and/or Protoss needs to be more mechanically demanding? (The latter of which was hinted at by Blizz)


Considering that Terran games frequently top "Best Games" lists, and the most loved PvPs in recent memory have all come from mechanically gifted players like Zest, Parting, Rain, and Classic, I think it's pretty clear that Protoss needs to be more mechanically demanding and not the other way around. So yes, "Blizzard is right" (finally), but saying and doing are two different things, and in typical Blizzard fashion they've said nothing about how much more mechanically demanding they want Protoss to be. It's possible they'll throw in another Oracle-esque unit and be satisfied with the results, when it's clear to me that that would have no significant effect whatsoever.

That the game is imbalanced in favour of terran because the top protosses cannot even show how good they are because the race does not allow for it?


Absolutely!!! This is one of the biggest problems, I think. Terran is the spectator-friendly race because they're the ones who have to get things done in a game. They're the ones who show "heart" by microing their units to achieve greatness. A Protoss player who turtles on a deathball for 20 minutes while preventing drops isn't showing heart, on a subconscious level he is the goliath whom David must defeat, so I firmly believe that a lot of viewers will identify with the Terran. That's bad. It divides the community in a way that's more fundamental than "Player X is better than Player Y!"

I hate to see Rain struggle against mid-tier Terrans, not because I know for a fact that "in a fair universe" he's skilled enough to take them on, but because he eschews a lot of the trickery that lesser skilled Protoss get results with. He could be getting better results if he did more coin flippy builds, but he doesn't, so it's no wonder he thinks Terran is imbalanced while all the other Protoss are laughing to the bank for over half a year. I want to know what he's truly capable of, and I feel like the current design of the Protoss race isn't pushing him to his limits and giving him those opportunities at all. The skill ceiling for what he can do with his playstyle isn't limitless. There are diminishing returns to how much you can micro 3-base Colossi with Zealot runbys. I think that's bad for players like Rain, bad for Protoss, and bad for SC2 in general.

I hope you find my stance reasonable enough to continue the discussion.
INna Maru-da-FanTa, Bbaby, TY Dream that I'm Flashing you
Grumbels
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
Netherlands7031 Posts
August 13 2014 14:10 GMT
#21203
I can play the same piano piece at the same tempo as a professional player, and even not make any obvious mistakes in terms of wrong notes. Yet it will be obviously clear that one performance is better than the other. Mechanics is more than apm.
Well, now I tell you, I never seen good come o' goodness yet. Him as strikes first is my fancy; dead men don't bite; them's my views--amen, so be it.
pure.Wasted
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
Canada4701 Posts
August 13 2014 14:16 GMT
#21204
On August 13 2014 23:10 Grumbels wrote:
I can play the same piano piece at the same tempo as a professional player, and even not make any obvious mistakes in terms of wrong notes. Yet it will be obviously clear that one performance is better than the other. Mechanics is more than apm.


Earlier, I divided up the primary categories of SC skill as mechanics, tactics, multitasking, and strategy. Do you really think that there's something more to mechanics than the physical action of clicking that isn't covered by tactics, multitasking, or strategy? If so, what is it?
INna Maru-da-FanTa, Bbaby, TY Dream that I'm Flashing you
Morbidius
Profile Joined November 2010
Brazil3449 Posts
August 13 2014 14:30 GMT
#21205
On August 13 2014 23:16 pure.Wasted wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 13 2014 23:10 Grumbels wrote:
I can play the same piano piece at the same tempo as a professional player, and even not make any obvious mistakes in terms of wrong notes. Yet it will be obviously clear that one performance is better than the other. Mechanics is more than apm.


Earlier, I divided up the primary categories of SC skill as mechanics, tactics, multitasking, and strategy. Do you really think that there's something more to mechanics than the physical action of clicking that isn't covered by tactics, multitasking, or strategy? If so, what is it?

I think multitasking is part of mechanics in the first place. Mechanics isn't just mindless clicking, it consists of sophisticated decisions and a lot of game knowledge, and it only comes with a lot of mastery over the game. There are players with 300 apm and terrible mechanics and players with 200 and amazing mechanics.
Has foreign StarCraft hit rock bottom?
pure.Wasted
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
Canada4701 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-08-13 14:39:31
August 13 2014 14:36 GMT
#21206
On August 13 2014 23:30 Morbidius wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 13 2014 23:16 pure.Wasted wrote:
On August 13 2014 23:10 Grumbels wrote:
I can play the same piano piece at the same tempo as a professional player, and even not make any obvious mistakes in terms of wrong notes. Yet it will be obviously clear that one performance is better than the other. Mechanics is more than apm.


Earlier, I divided up the primary categories of SC skill as mechanics, tactics, multitasking, and strategy. Do you really think that there's something more to mechanics than the physical action of clicking that isn't covered by tactics, multitasking, or strategy? If so, what is it?

I think multitasking is part of mechanics in the first place. Mechanics isn't just mindless clicking, it consists of sophisticated decisions and a lot of game knowledge, and it only comes with a lot of mastery over the game. There are players with 300 apm and terrible mechanics and players with 200 and amazing mechanics.


There is always going to be overlap between all the skills, that is inevitable. But I think there are sufficient differences between mechanics and multitasking to set them aside as separate skills. In the game between Zest and Maru, Zest was microing intensely during the fights, but failed to macro behind them. And although he won both engagements due, in part, to his unit control (mechanics), he still lost the game soon after. I don't think that a unified mechanics/multitasking theory would account for this.

Multitasking is closer to willpower than it is to mechanics, I think. It comes from focus of the mind. When Innovation gets reverse swept by Soulkey or crumbles under the pressure of Maru's ridiculous all-ins, it's not his mechanics failing him, it's his ability to effectively parse the game for information while shit is goin down something fierce.
INna Maru-da-FanTa, Bbaby, TY Dream that I'm Flashing you
Mojito99
Profile Joined October 2013
Germany154 Posts
August 13 2014 14:43 GMT
#21207
On August 13 2014 23:07 r691175002 wrote:
It is clearly easier for skilled players to differentiate themselves when playing terran. The top terran players are consistently the best.

Many Protoss champions snuck by on a single clever build order or some lucky cheeses, but end up failing as soon as the meta shifts.

The number of individual Protoss champions is dramatically higher than the number of individual Terran champions, and Protoss wins are far more widely distributed because of the lower "mechanical barrier to entry" of the race.


I think thats a bit unfair.

I don't disagree but you can also look at this in another way:

The protoss race is very much about "builds" and trying to confront your opponent with a scenario that they have to react to. This is an inherent race philosophy and not exactly a lucky cheese.

At the same time, because of the variety of openings you have to throw at your opponent to be competitive, consistency is harder to acquire.
Mojito99
Profile Joined October 2013
Germany154 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-08-13 14:55:51
August 13 2014 14:47 GMT
#21208
On August 13 2014 23:09 pure.Wasted wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 13 2014 22:41 Mojito99 wrote:
On August 13 2014 22:28 pure.Wasted wrote:
On August 13 2014 22:13 Mojito99 wrote:
On August 13 2014 18:50 pure.Wasted wrote:
On August 13 2014 18:41 Mojito99 wrote:
On August 13 2014 18:15 deacon.frost wrote:
On August 13 2014 18:10 pure.Wasted wrote:
On August 13 2014 17:59 Mojito99 wrote:
On August 13 2014 17:35 pure.Wasted wrote:
[quote]

Absolutely. So my agenda here is pretty clear I think, not only am I outright saying that it takes less than half the mechanical skill of Terran to play Protoss in TvP, I'm also insinuating that Zest, GSL champion and a deservedly well-respected Protoss, wasn't even able to macro and multitask competently while doing less than half of what Maru was doing. (This isn't the only time Zest's macro has seemed to slip in recent memory.)

This would be fine if we were comparing Maru to Terminator, but we're talking about Zest, the guy who was lifting his Colossi in Warp Prisms against Rain during SPL to huge roars from the crowd. This is as mechanically demanding as Protoss ever gets.

[quote]

I would appreciate you reading my post next time and not replying to me as though I'm some generic Terran supremacist.

I specifically addressed this point when I said that there's no coincidence as to why Terran players are so mechanically skilled. They have no choice. If Protoss units took as much mechanical skill to use, many top Protoss players would become good enough to use them that way over the course of years of practice.

No Terran got as good as Maru overnight. It took MKP to invent marine splits at all. Protoss doesn't reward "marine splits," or any similar equivalent, so they don't do it, so they don't develop those skills. Thus if the game were to suddenly become balanced (by my definition of balance), yes, Protoss would have a very, very hard time. For a while. Then the great Protoss players would adapt and the not-great Protoss players would stop edging their way into Code S Ro8 like they did last season.


I find this a bit irritating because it reads as if
a) you imply that mechanics = skill
b) you suggest that apm = mechanics

both are undoubtedly related but arguably far from synonyms.
What about map vision, positioning, hitting timings, scouting, adapting unit compositions, harassment. All of these are not necessarily shown by high apm and are still mechanics of an RTS.

Essentially mechanics are the Real-time element of RTS. the Strategy aspect however is often overlooked as skill. Unrelated to balance - strategic diversity is also a skill element. The myth that every protoss can hit you with dts, oracle, blink, pressure plays, voidray all in, colossus builds etc - is exactly that, a myth. If you are up against a protoss player who is able to properly execute all these builds, that in itself is an incredible display of skill in an RTS.


It is NOT OK for one race to be significantly more mechanically demanding while another race is significantly more strategically demanding (whatever that is; I'm still convinced it means "I have the freedom to do basically anything" and is actually an advantage as opposed to a disadvantage). Every race should be equally demanding mechanically, tactically, strategically, and in terms of multi-tasking. Obviously having total parity is impossible, but the standards for what passes for "good enough" have to be MUCH, MUCH higher than what Blizzard have set for themselves.

I kind of agree, but I think we need a race which is more mechanically demanding and less strategically and vice versa and something in between. Not all the races the same, so players can choose their race according to their style(am I a robot or a more thinking player?) Though it should not be the state of the game now, because now the difference is simply too big. The gap should be smaller, but it should still remain. IMO


Then let me reiterate the point i was trying to make:

You cannot equate apm to mechanical skill. Mechanics are more than just playing fast and pressing more buttons than the opponent. And when you start incorporating more than just apm into the definition of mechanics, then the difference in mechanics between races becomes a different story.


So what is mechanics if not playing fast and pressing more buttons efficiently?


Pressing buttons more efficiently is a whole story all together.
But to answer your question what mechanics is other than apm. I do not know if there is an official definition. But here is an example of what is part of mechanics other than apm.

a) spellcasting
a regular pvt game usually sees: snipe, emp, sometimes nukes, medivac boost, stim for the terran and
force field, guardian shield, hallucination, blink, storm, feedback, revelation, pulsar beam,revelation, envision, pulsar beam, time warp, nexus canon, recall.

To use spellcasting efficiently and precisely is part of your mechanic skill. As you can see, there is quite a discrepancy in the number of spellcasters you need to control as protoss if you are going for the current popular strategies. And thats not including voidray busts etc.



Do you think that I didn't account for spellcasting when I did my tally of Maru vs Zest actions? Believe me, that 70 (Maru) vs 30 (Zest) included everything the HTs did, the MSC did, and the Stalkers did. Just because Protoss has all these different abilities doesn't mean they actually have to use them nearly as much as what Terrans have to do in battle. I suggest clicking on the link I provided a few posts back and reading through that post, because it accounts for everything you say. Or, if you think that the random game I chose isn't a fair representation of the races' mechanical demands, you're welcome to find another micro-intensive game, like something from Polt vs Classic at IEM and count up every one of their actions in battle. They're both GSL champions too, so that should be a telling result as well. Personally, I would be shocked if the result was different from what I got, but you're welcome to try and prove my analysis wrong.

From what I've analyzed, accounting for their spellcasting, Protoss mechanics is not demanding enough. Literally not by half.


Assuming the last sentence is correct. What is the conclusion?


I'll answer these one by one because these are all valid interpretations.

Show nested quote +
That terran players are superior RTS players and the fact that the top 100 world wide does not consist of 75% terran speaks to the imbalance of the game?


Yes and no. Yes in that playing a mechanically demanding race for 4 years is obviously going to make someone more mechanically skilled than doing timing attacks for 4 years (and that's just as true of SCV pulls as it is of Roach busts). So if the question is really asking "if we forced all SC2 players to play a completely different RTS where mechanics are the most important factor, would former Terran pros start out being very dominant?" Then I think the answer has to be yes. That doesn't mean they are innately more skilled. But it seems sensible that Protoss and Zerg would attract a lot of innately less skilled players.

Show nested quote +

That terran is more demanding in general and therefore people which play terran are handicapping themselves?


Again, yes and no. It is more demanding, but that doesn't mean Terrans would have more success as Protoss or Zerg. It doesn't matter how good you are at the game mechanically if it comes down to Roach vs Roach war, or Oracle vs DT openings. Other skills come into play there. Skills that I think are less deserving of accolades and monetary compensation in a competition that wants (in the long run if not right this second) to be taken seriously.

Show nested quote +
That terran needs to become less mechanical and/or Protoss needs to be more mechanically demanding? (The latter of which was hinted at by Blizz)


Considering that Terran games frequently top "Best Games" lists, and the most loved PvPs in recent memory have all come from mechanically gifted players like Zest, Parting, Rain, and Classic, I think it's pretty clear that Protoss needs to be more mechanically demanding and not the other way around. So yes, "Blizzard is right" (finally), but saying and doing are two different things, and in typical Blizzard fashion they've said nothing about how much more mechanically demanding they want Protoss to be. It's possible they'll throw in another Oracle-esque unit and be satisfied with the results, when it's clear to me that that would have no significant effect whatsoever.

Show nested quote +
That the game is imbalanced in favour of terran because the top protosses cannot even show how good they are because the race does not allow for it?


Absolutely!!! This is one of the biggest problems, I think. Terran is the spectator-friendly race because they're the ones who have to get things done in a game. They're the ones who show "heart" by microing their units to achieve greatness. A Protoss player who turtles on a deathball for 20 minutes while preventing drops isn't showing heart, on a subconscious level he is the goliath whom David must defeat, so I firmly believe that a lot of viewers will identify with the Terran. That's bad. It divides the community in a way that's more fundamental than "Player X is better than Player Y!"

I hate to see Rain struggle against mid-tier Terrans, not because I know for a fact that "in a fair universe" he's skilled enough to take them on, but because he eschews a lot of the trickery that lesser skilled Protoss get results with. He could be getting better results if he did more coin flippy builds, but he doesn't, so it's no wonder he thinks Terran is imbalanced while all the other Protoss are laughing to the bank for over half a year. I want to know what he's truly capable of, and I feel like the current design of the Protoss race isn't pushing him to his limits and giving him those opportunities at all. The skill ceiling for what he can do with his playstyle isn't limitless. There are diminishing returns to how much you can micro 3-base Colossi with Zealot runbys. I think that's bad for players like Rain, bad for Protoss, and bad for SC2 in general.

I hope you find my stance reasonable enough to continue the discussion.


Yes i do find your responses reasonable. Despite arguing for the complexity of Protoss, i play random so I am not emotionally invested. I replied to another post on how it is more difficult to achieve consistency as protoss because the high win rates are distributed across the board and are due to meta shifts and - although not lucky - the unpredictability of BOs.

PvZ best illustrates this point where, for the longest time, any scouted pressure immediately spells defeat for the protoss and any unscouted pressure results in a zerg loss. This is a bit different for pvt because of the way terran produced units, but the logic applies nonetheless.

On an unrelated note:
The recent changes have force protoss into a very predictable playstyle as certain compositions as well as all ins and pressure builds in general are significantly weaker. The effect of which is blatantly obvious. From GSL to the EPS finals that are going on right now where terran just goes 5 rax double starport and pulls SVS against a protoss on
a) 2 base
b) against a P which was not harassed before
c) is on 2/2 vs Terran 1/1

and so far its 13 T vs 2 P wins in terms of the SCV pulls.

The issue being here is not that the SCV pull is so incredibly strong and comparably easy to execute, but that the predictability of protoss now can be hard countered by a quick 2nd SP and the same SCV pull BO at all times.
Not even taking balance into account. I would not be surprised if there was another patch adjustment announced this month to stop the SCV pull from being the exclusive pvt strategy.
Nebuchad
Profile Blog Joined December 2012
Switzerland12172 Posts
August 13 2014 15:04 GMT
#21209
On August 13 2014 23:09 pure.Wasted wrote:
Absolutely!!! This is one of the biggest problems, I think. Terran is the spectator-friendly race because they're the ones who have to get things done in a game. They're the ones who show "heart" by microing their units to achieve greatness.


My guess is terran was always the "spectator-friendly" race, whether it was dominant or underpowered, whether it had to do stuff or not. It's not really about having to overcome stuff, it's mostly the flashy micro (like you said) and the fact that it's little humans against little aliens, and we happen to be humans.

Showing heart is a dangerous word choice in that context, I feel.
No will to live, no wish to die
Morbidius
Profile Joined November 2010
Brazil3449 Posts
August 13 2014 15:06 GMT
#21210
On August 13 2014 23:36 pure.Wasted wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 13 2014 23:30 Morbidius wrote:
On August 13 2014 23:16 pure.Wasted wrote:
On August 13 2014 23:10 Grumbels wrote:
I can play the same piano piece at the same tempo as a professional player, and even not make any obvious mistakes in terms of wrong notes. Yet it will be obviously clear that one performance is better than the other. Mechanics is more than apm.


Earlier, I divided up the primary categories of SC skill as mechanics, tactics, multitasking, and strategy. Do you really think that there's something more to mechanics than the physical action of clicking that isn't covered by tactics, multitasking, or strategy? If so, what is it?

I think multitasking is part of mechanics in the first place. Mechanics isn't just mindless clicking, it consists of sophisticated decisions and a lot of game knowledge, and it only comes with a lot of mastery over the game. There are players with 300 apm and terrible mechanics and players with 200 and amazing mechanics.


There is always going to be overlap between all the skills, that is inevitable. But I think there are sufficient differences between mechanics and multitasking to set them aside as separate skills. In the game between Zest and Maru, Zest was microing intensely during the fights, but failed to macro behind them. And although he won both engagements due, in part, to his unit control (mechanics), he still lost the game soon after. I don't think that a unified mechanics/multitasking theory would account for this.

Multitasking is closer to willpower than it is to mechanics, I think. It comes from focus of the mind. When Innovation gets reverse swept by Soulkey or crumbles under the pressure of Maru's ridiculous all-ins, it's not his mechanics failing him, it's his ability to effectively parse the game for information while shit is goin down something fierce.

I'm not sure i watched the game you mentioned, but macro and micro are both part of mechanics. So in the situation you mentioned Zest lost because the macro part of his mechanics failed. Multitasking is merely the part where your mechanics are challenged to their extreme and even top tier players like Zest and Maru will make errors there.
Has foreign StarCraft hit rock bottom?
Big J
Profile Joined March 2011
Austria16289 Posts
August 13 2014 15:10 GMT
#21211
PvZ best illustrates this point where, for the longest time, any scouted pressure immediately spells defeat for the protoss and any unscouted pressure results in a zerg loss. This is a bit different for pvt because of the way terran produced units, but the logic applies nonetheless.


I don't agree with this. Protoss in HotS - unlike WoL PvZ - does not rely on coinflipping and BO-diversion.
You can play macro in PvZ while allowing the Zerg full information of what you are doing and you will still be fine for as long as you also acquire all the information about what the Zerg is doing.
It's similar for PvT.

However, I fully agree on the statement that Protoss players can and often do rely chances. Not because they must, but because they can. (Also in other matchups - especially ZvZ - such options exist)
Big J
Profile Joined March 2011
Austria16289 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-08-13 15:24:07
August 13 2014 15:20 GMT
#21212
On August 14 2014 00:04 Nebuchad wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 13 2014 23:09 pure.Wasted wrote:
Absolutely!!! This is one of the biggest problems, I think. Terran is the spectator-friendly race because they're the ones who have to get things done in a game. They're the ones who show "heart" by microing their units to achieve greatness.


My guess is terran was always the "spectator-friendly" race, whether it was dominant or underpowered, whether it had to do stuff or not. It's not really about having to overcome stuff, it's mostly the flashy micro (like you said) and the fact that it's little humans against little aliens, and we happen to be humans.

Showing heart is a dangerous word choice in that context, I feel.


Yup, I agree. On the one hand, since most of Terran micro comes down to kiting or other visible movement-like action, it immidiatly looks flashy. Similarily , mutas, blinking stalkers, banelings and HT are seen as "micro-units", because you can clearly see what they are doing. While a roach can flank, kite-forwards and targetfire all you want, it's not going to look very distinct and the immidiate gameplay effects aren't very visual (even though the effect between roaches being stuck behind each other or behind forcefields, or being microed/positioned correctly can be immense).
While on the flipside, a zergling does move regardless of being microed or not, so the difference between a microed and unmicroed zergling only becomes apparent if you additionally ask yourself, whether that Zergling hit certain targets or moved in certain ways.

On the other hand, it's pretty easy to bond with "the guys" and "their cars", while some sci-fi space alien requires a specific lore and explanation to identify them as "your race".
Also blizzard did an amazing job with differentiating Terran units visually from each other (especially units like tanks and marines or Thors and Marines are easy to distinguish), while I feel like many Z units are too similar in ingame looks and movement (think about how Zerg units always swarm towards an opponent, regardless of the unit; while with Terran there are often moving and standing parts of the army) and Protoss is a visual clusterfuck anyways due to the Colossus standing on top of the other units most of the time.
Salient
Profile Joined August 2011
United States876 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-08-13 15:34:09
August 13 2014 15:33 GMT
#21213
On August 14 2014 00:20 Big J wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 14 2014 00:04 Nebuchad wrote:
On August 13 2014 23:09 pure.Wasted wrote:
Absolutely!!! This is one of the biggest problems, I think. Terran is the spectator-friendly race because they're the ones who have to get things done in a game. They're the ones who show "heart" by microing their units to achieve greatness.


My guess is terran was always the "spectator-friendly" race, whether it was dominant or underpowered, whether it had to do stuff or not. It's not really about having to overcome stuff, it's mostly the flashy micro (like you said) and the fact that it's little humans against little aliens, and we happen to be humans.

Showing heart is a dangerous word choice in that context, I feel.


Yup, I agree. On the one hand, since most of Terran micro comes down to kiting or other visible movement-like action, it immidiatly looks flashy.
While on the flipside, a zergling does move regardless of being microed or not, so the difference between a microed and unmicroed zergling only becomes apparent if you additionally ask yourself, whether that Zergling hit certain targets or moved in certain ways.

On the other hand, it's pretty easy to bond with "the guys" and "their cars", while some sci-fi space alien requires a specific lore and explanation to identify them as "your race".
Also blizzard did an amazing job with differentiating Terran units visually from each other (especially units like tanks and marines or Thors and Marines are easy to distinguish), while I feel like many Z units are too similar in ingame looks and movement (think about how Zerg units always swarm towards an opponent, regardless of the unit; while with Terran there are often moving and standing parts of the army) and Protoss is a visual clusterfuck anyways due to the Colossus standing on top of the other units most of the time.


Terran has a lot of fans because it is by far the most noob-friendly race in the gutter leagues (Bronze to Gold). The race gets a get out of jail free card "with one click" for supply blocks and total lack of detection. Stimmed marines and marauders provide simple brute force power that is easy for novices to understand. I think Terran also probably has themost little kids for the same reason.
WombaT
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Northern Ireland25237 Posts
August 13 2014 15:49 GMT
#21214
I feel one of the annoyances for many about the strong Protoss period was also the sense that there was a different champion every other week, for reasons I don't fully understand there seemed to be a lot of peaks and subsequent troughs. Part is no doubt how Protoss functions as a race, but very few Protoss stick around at close to their peak level, it rotates a lot more. Rain and Zest are there, Parting is a baller and Dear is hanging in there just about. The most recent Code S champion is now out of the GSL for the season ffs

Conversely, the weak period for Terrans still saw the big names performing well, and those are the guys who are doing well now. It's probably not even the case if you really analyse things, but it is the perception that gets formed and reinforced.

There is to me a happy medium between a stagnant top level with the same few names winning everything, and something that feels very volatile and changeable, making it harder to really get behind and support certain players. It's also tough to figure out who is who if you were to watch unmarked VoDs, HerO perhaps with his wilful inefficient styles
'You'll always be the cuddly marsupial of my heart, despite the inherent flaws of your ancestry' - Squat
Mojito99
Profile Joined October 2013
Germany154 Posts
August 13 2014 16:16 GMT
#21215
On August 14 2014 00:49 Wombat_NI wrote:
I feel one of the annoyances for many about the strong Protoss period was also the sense that there was a different champion every other week, for reasons I don't fully understand there seemed to be a lot of peaks and subsequent troughs. Part is no doubt how Protoss functions as a race, but very few Protoss stick around at close to their peak level, it rotates a lot more. Rain and Zest are there, Parting is a baller and Dear is hanging in there just about. The most recent Code S champion is now out of the GSL for the season ffs



why do you think this is though?
TheDwf
Profile Joined November 2011
France19747 Posts
August 13 2014 16:21 GMT
#21216
On August 13 2014 23:47 Mojito99 wrote:
On an unrelated note:
The recent changes have force protoss into a very predictable playstyle as certain compositions as well as all ins and pressure builds in general are significantly weaker. The effect of which is blatantly obvious. From GSL to the EPS finals that are going on right now where terran just goes 5 rax double starport and pulls SVS against a protoss on
a) 2 base
b) against a P which was not harassed before
c) is on 2/2 vs Terran 1/1

and so far its 13 T vs 2 P wins in terms of the SCV pulls.

The issue being here is not that the SCV pull is so incredibly strong and comparably easy to execute, but that the predictability of protoss now can be hard countered by a quick 2nd SP and the same SCV pull BO at all times.
Not even taking balance into account. I would not be surprised if there was another patch adjustment announced this month to stop the SCV pull from being the exclusive pvt strategy.

5 rax 2 port all-ins do not "hardcounter" Colossus openings at all, if only because Protoss is not at all forced to stay on the Colossus path after he opens that way… As for SCV pulls on 2 bases, they're bad and can be easily dealt with:

- Stay on 2 bases yourself and tech switch to Storm: Bogus vs MaNa, King Sejong, ATC Finals.
- Stay on 2 bases yourself and simply keep building units: Bbyong vs Stats, Merry, Code S.

Patching SCV pulls (how would you even do that?) now would be a stupid decision because there is no evidence, so far, that they're a structural problem (= even given several months, Protoss players would be unable to find solutions). As usual people confuse what may be only a temporary trend (Terran metagaming Protoss' recent strategies after a major shift) with a structural problem. There was already a "SCV pull period" in the past that faded away after Protoss adapted. What symptoms do you see that a similar phenomenon is not going to happen again?

You also have to be careful about what games you pick to analyze that. For example take the heroMarine vs Showtime series:

Game 1 = Showtime opens gate 10 MSC pressure into Oracle expand, inflicts little damage and misreads the game after scouting heroMarine's fake third, going Dark shrine and warping a few DTs against a SCV pull. He also blunders away his MSC before the fight (no Overcharge at natural). He blocks heroMarine's army with Forcefields but then is left with no energy to cast Guardian Shield. He probably missclicked his Blink Stalkers, because he blinked towards the back of his natural exactly when heroMarine unleashed his Vikings on his Colossi. There were 9 Vikings left when all the Colossi fell. No way this is a normal scenario.
Game 2 = heroMarine gets away with CC rax CC, the only build that allows Terran to hit at 13'30 with 170 supply. Again no Guardian Shield when the fight occurred.
Game 3 = Showtime finally tries to adapt (it's only the 6th TvP in a row in which heroMarine plans to pull SCVs…) but loses his Nexus to a stim timing, so he could not have Storm ready in time.

You can't evaluate SCV pulls based on that material. Protoss needs to be in an even game for that.

I also don't know why you quote GSL for your "SCV pulls are too strong" argument since they're actually 1-3 there. Unless I forgot something we have:

Reality vs Hush, King Sejong: Terran loses.
Reality vs Hush, Merry: Terran wins.
Bbyong vs Stats, King Sejong: Terran loses.
Bbyong vs Stats, Merry: Terran loses.

On August 14 2014 00:33 Salient wrote:
Terran has a lot of fans because it is by far the most noob-friendly race in the gutter leagues (Bronze to Gold). The race gets a get out of jail free card "with one click" for supply blocks and total lack of detection. Stimmed marines and marauders provide simple brute force power that is easy for novices to understand. I think Terran also probably has themost little kids for the same reason.

9/10 would read again that delectable troll. I'll make a violent effort to ignore the fact you actually think every single of those words.
Salient
Profile Joined August 2011
United States876 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-08-13 16:48:02
August 13 2014 16:41 GMT
#21217
On August 14 2014 01:21 TheDwf wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 13 2014 23:47 Mojito99 wrote:
On an unrelated note:
The recent changes have force protoss into a very predictable playstyle as certain compositions as well as all ins and pressure builds in general are significantly weaker. The effect of which is blatantly obvious. From GSL to the EPS finals that are going on right now where terran just goes 5 rax double starport and pulls SVS against a protoss on
a) 2 base
b) against a P which was not harassed before
c) is on 2/2 vs Terran 1/1

and so far its 13 T vs 2 P wins in terms of the SCV pulls.

The issue being here is not that the SCV pull is so incredibly strong and comparably easy to execute, but that the predictability of protoss now can be hard countered by a quick 2nd SP and the same SCV pull BO at all times.
Not even taking balance into account. I would not be surprised if there was another patch adjustment announced this month to stop the SCV pull from being the exclusive pvt strategy.

5 rax 2 port all-ins do not "hardcounter" Colossus openings at all, if only because Protoss is not at all forced to stay on the Colossus path after he opens that way… As for SCV pulls on 2 bases, they're bad and can be easily dealt with:

- Stay on 2 bases yourself and tech switch to Storm: Bogus vs MaNa, King Sejong, ATC Finals.
- Stay on 2 bases yourself and simply keep building units: Bbyong vs Stats, Merry, Code S.

Patching SCV pulls (how would you even do that?) now would be a stupid decision because there is no evidence, so far, that they're a structural problem (= even given several months, Protoss players would be unable to find solutions). As usual people confuse what may be only a temporary trend (Terran metagaming Protoss' recent strategies after a major shift) with a structural problem. There was already a "SCV pull period" in the past that faded away after Protoss adapted. What symptoms do you see that a similar phenomenon is not going to happen again?

You also have to be careful about what games you pick to analyze that. For example take the heroMarine vs Showtime series:

Game 1 = Showtime opens gate 10 MSC pressure into Oracle expand, inflicts little damage and misreads the game after scouting heroMarine's fake third, going Dark shrine and warping a few DTs against a SCV pull. He also blunders away his MSC before the fight (no Overcharge at natural). He blocks heroMarine's army with Forcefields but then is left with no energy to cast Guardian Shield. He probably missclicked his Blink Stalkers, because he blinked towards the back of his natural exactly when heroMarine unleashed his Vikings on his Colossi. There were 9 Vikings left when all the Colossi fell. No way this is a normal scenario.
Game 2 = heroMarine gets away with CC rax CC, the only build that allows Terran to hit at 13'30 with 170 supply. Again no Guardian Shield when the fight occurred.
Game 3 = Showtime finally tries to adapt (it's only the 6th TvP in a row in which heroMarine plans to pull SCVs…) but loses his Nexus to a stim timing, so he could not have Storm ready in time.

You can't evaluate SCV pulls based on that material. Protoss needs to be in an even game for that.

I also don't know why you quote GSL for your "SCV pulls are too strong" argument since they're actually 1-3 there. Unless I forgot something we have:

Reality vs Hush, King Sejong: Terran loses.
Reality vs Hush, Merry: Terran wins.
Bbyong vs Stats, King Sejong: Terran loses.
Bbyong vs Stats, Merry: Terran loses.

Show nested quote +
On August 14 2014 00:33 Salient wrote:
Terran has a lot of fans because it is by far the most noob-friendly race in the gutter leagues (Bronze to Gold). The race gets a get out of jail free card "with one click" for supply blocks and total lack of detection. Stimmed marines and marauders provide simple brute force power that is easy for novices to understand. I think Terran also probably has themost little kids for the same reason.

9/10 would read again that delectable troll. I'll make a violent effort to ignore the fact you actually think every single of those words.


Are you a bot or just unemployed? You swoop in to argue with anyone who posts something that you feel threatens Terran in some way. It's pretty impressive. And you posted that big and admittedly biased article QQing about balance. The one that used a graphic from season 1 and old stats to argue for a Terran buff in season 3. And it worked! Avilo probably wishes he could be you.

PS: I wasn't trolling the first time.
Luolis
Profile Blog Joined May 2012
Finland7104 Posts
August 13 2014 16:53 GMT
#21218
On August 14 2014 01:41 Salient wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 14 2014 01:21 TheDwf wrote:
On August 13 2014 23:47 Mojito99 wrote:
On an unrelated note:
The recent changes have force protoss into a very predictable playstyle as certain compositions as well as all ins and pressure builds in general are significantly weaker. The effect of which is blatantly obvious. From GSL to the EPS finals that are going on right now where terran just goes 5 rax double starport and pulls SVS against a protoss on
a) 2 base
b) against a P which was not harassed before
c) is on 2/2 vs Terran 1/1

and so far its 13 T vs 2 P wins in terms of the SCV pulls.

The issue being here is not that the SCV pull is so incredibly strong and comparably easy to execute, but that the predictability of protoss now can be hard countered by a quick 2nd SP and the same SCV pull BO at all times.
Not even taking balance into account. I would not be surprised if there was another patch adjustment announced this month to stop the SCV pull from being the exclusive pvt strategy.

5 rax 2 port all-ins do not "hardcounter" Colossus openings at all, if only because Protoss is not at all forced to stay on the Colossus path after he opens that way… As for SCV pulls on 2 bases, they're bad and can be easily dealt with:

- Stay on 2 bases yourself and tech switch to Storm: Bogus vs MaNa, King Sejong, ATC Finals.
- Stay on 2 bases yourself and simply keep building units: Bbyong vs Stats, Merry, Code S.

Patching SCV pulls (how would you even do that?) now would be a stupid decision because there is no evidence, so far, that they're a structural problem (= even given several months, Protoss players would be unable to find solutions). As usual people confuse what may be only a temporary trend (Terran metagaming Protoss' recent strategies after a major shift) with a structural problem. There was already a "SCV pull period" in the past that faded away after Protoss adapted. What symptoms do you see that a similar phenomenon is not going to happen again?

You also have to be careful about what games you pick to analyze that. For example take the heroMarine vs Showtime series:

Game 1 = Showtime opens gate 10 MSC pressure into Oracle expand, inflicts little damage and misreads the game after scouting heroMarine's fake third, going Dark shrine and warping a few DTs against a SCV pull. He also blunders away his MSC before the fight (no Overcharge at natural). He blocks heroMarine's army with Forcefields but then is left with no energy to cast Guardian Shield. He probably missclicked his Blink Stalkers, because he blinked towards the back of his natural exactly when heroMarine unleashed his Vikings on his Colossi. There were 9 Vikings left when all the Colossi fell. No way this is a normal scenario.
Game 2 = heroMarine gets away with CC rax CC, the only build that allows Terran to hit at 13'30 with 170 supply. Again no Guardian Shield when the fight occurred.
Game 3 = Showtime finally tries to adapt (it's only the 6th TvP in a row in which heroMarine plans to pull SCVs…) but loses his Nexus to a stim timing, so he could not have Storm ready in time.

You can't evaluate SCV pulls based on that material. Protoss needs to be in an even game for that.

I also don't know why you quote GSL for your "SCV pulls are too strong" argument since they're actually 1-3 there. Unless I forgot something we have:

Reality vs Hush, King Sejong: Terran loses.
Reality vs Hush, Merry: Terran wins.
Bbyong vs Stats, King Sejong: Terran loses.
Bbyong vs Stats, Merry: Terran loses.

On August 14 2014 00:33 Salient wrote:
Terran has a lot of fans because it is by far the most noob-friendly race in the gutter leagues (Bronze to Gold). The race gets a get out of jail free card "with one click" for supply blocks and total lack of detection. Stimmed marines and marauders provide simple brute force power that is easy for novices to understand. I think Terran also probably has themost little kids for the same reason.

9/10 would read again that delectable troll. I'll make a violent effort to ignore the fact you actually think every single of those words.


Are you a bot or just unemployed? You swoop in to argue with anyone who posts something that you feel threatens Terran in some way. It's pretty impressive. And you posted that big and admittedly biased article QQing about balance. The one that used a graphic from season 1 and old stats to argue for a Terran buff in season 3. And it worked! Avilo probably wishes he could be you.

PS: I wasn't trolling the first time.

In the meantime youve called code S terrans patchterrans... I wonder if you have any bias at all lol.
pro cheese woman / Its never Sunny in Finland. Perkele / FinnishStarcraftTrivia
Salient
Profile Joined August 2011
United States876 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-08-13 17:09:08
August 13 2014 17:01 GMT
#21219
On August 14 2014 01:53 Luolis wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 14 2014 01:41 Salient wrote:
On August 14 2014 01:21 TheDwf wrote:
On August 13 2014 23:47 Mojito99 wrote:
On an unrelated note:
The recent changes have force protoss into a very predictable playstyle as certain compositions as well as all ins and pressure builds in general are significantly weaker. The effect of which is blatantly obvious. From GSL to the EPS finals that are going on right now where terran just goes 5 rax double starport and pulls SVS against a protoss on
a) 2 base
b) against a P which was not harassed before
c) is on 2/2 vs Terran 1/1

and so far its 13 T vs 2 P wins in terms of the SCV pulls.

The issue being here is not that the SCV pull is so incredibly strong and comparably easy to execute, but that the predictability of protoss now can be hard countered by a quick 2nd SP and the same SCV pull BO at all times.
Not even taking balance into account. I would not be surprised if there was another patch adjustment announced this month to stop the SCV pull from being the exclusive pvt strategy.

5 rax 2 port all-ins do not "hardcounter" Colossus openings at all, if only because Protoss is not at all forced to stay on the Colossus path after he opens that way… As for SCV pulls on 2 bases, they're bad and can be easily dealt with:

- Stay on 2 bases yourself and tech switch to Storm: Bogus vs MaNa, King Sejong, ATC Finals.
- Stay on 2 bases yourself and simply keep building units: Bbyong vs Stats, Merry, Code S.

Patching SCV pulls (how would you even do that?) now would be a stupid decision because there is no evidence, so far, that they're a structural problem (= even given several months, Protoss players would be unable to find solutions). As usual people confuse what may be only a temporary trend (Terran metagaming Protoss' recent strategies after a major shift) with a structural problem. There was already a "SCV pull period" in the past that faded away after Protoss adapted. What symptoms do you see that a similar phenomenon is not going to happen again?

You also have to be careful about what games you pick to analyze that. For example take the heroMarine vs Showtime series:

Game 1 = Showtime opens gate 10 MSC pressure into Oracle expand, inflicts little damage and misreads the game after scouting heroMarine's fake third, going Dark shrine and warping a few DTs against a SCV pull. He also blunders away his MSC before the fight (no Overcharge at natural). He blocks heroMarine's army with Forcefields but then is left with no energy to cast Guardian Shield. He probably missclicked his Blink Stalkers, because he blinked towards the back of his natural exactly when heroMarine unleashed his Vikings on his Colossi. There were 9 Vikings left when all the Colossi fell. No way this is a normal scenario.
Game 2 = heroMarine gets away with CC rax CC, the only build that allows Terran to hit at 13'30 with 170 supply. Again no Guardian Shield when the fight occurred.
Game 3 = Showtime finally tries to adapt (it's only the 6th TvP in a row in which heroMarine plans to pull SCVs…) but loses his Nexus to a stim timing, so he could not have Storm ready in time.

You can't evaluate SCV pulls based on that material. Protoss needs to be in an even game for that.

I also don't know why you quote GSL for your "SCV pulls are too strong" argument since they're actually 1-3 there. Unless I forgot something we have:

Reality vs Hush, King Sejong: Terran loses.
Reality vs Hush, Merry: Terran wins.
Bbyong vs Stats, King Sejong: Terran loses.
Bbyong vs Stats, Merry: Terran loses.

On August 14 2014 00:33 Salient wrote:
Terran has a lot of fans because it is by far the most noob-friendly race in the gutter leagues (Bronze to Gold). The race gets a get out of jail free card "with one click" for supply blocks and total lack of detection. Stimmed marines and marauders provide simple brute force power that is easy for novices to understand. I think Terran also probably has themost little kids for the same reason.

9/10 would read again that delectable troll. I'll make a violent effort to ignore the fact you actually think every single of those words.


Are you a bot or just unemployed? You swoop in to argue with anyone who posts something that you feel threatens Terran in some way. It's pretty impressive. And you posted that big and admittedly biased article QQing about balance. The one that used a graphic from season 1 and old stats to argue for a Terran buff in season 3. And it worked! Avilo probably wishes he could be you.

PS: I wasn't trolling the first time.

In the meantime youve called code S terrans patchterrans... I wonder if you have any bias at all lol.


Everyone is biased to some extent, but we are all amatuers compared to the DWarF. He has been arguing about balance in this thread for years. It's really impressive.

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Mojito99
Profile Joined October 2013
Germany154 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-08-13 17:22:44
August 13 2014 17:09 GMT
#21220
On August 14 2014 01:21 TheDwf wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 13 2014 23:47 Mojito99 wrote:
On an unrelated note:
The recent changes have force protoss into a very predictable playstyle as certain compositions as well as all ins and pressure builds in general are significantly weaker. The effect of which is blatantly obvious. From GSL to the EPS finals that are going on right now where terran just goes 5 rax double starport and pulls SVS against a protoss on
a) 2 base
b) against a P which was not harassed before
c) is on 2/2 vs Terran 1/1

and so far its 13 T vs 2 P wins in terms of the SCV pulls.

The issue being here is not that the SCV pull is so incredibly strong and comparably easy to execute, but that the predictability of protoss now can be hard countered by a quick 2nd SP and the same SCV pull BO at all times.
Not even taking balance into account. I would not be surprised if there was another patch adjustment announced this month to stop the SCV pull from being the exclusive pvt strategy.

5 rax 2 port all-ins do not "hardcounter" Colossus openings at all, if only because Protoss is not at all forced to stay on the Colossus path after he opens that way… As for SCV pulls on 2 bases, they're bad and can be easily dealt with:

- Stay on 2 bases yourself and tech switch to Storm: Bogus vs MaNa, King Sejong, ATC Finals.
- Stay on 2 bases yourself and simply keep building units: Bbyong vs Stats, Merry, Code S.

Patching SCV pulls (how would you even do that?) now would be a stupid decision because there is no evidence, so far, that they're a structural problem (= even given several months, Protoss players would be unable to find solutions). As usual people confuse what may be only a temporary trend (Terran metagaming Protoss' recent strategies after a major shift) with a structural problem. There was already a "SCV pull period" in the past that faded away after Protoss adapted. What symptoms do you see that a similar phenomenon is not going to happen again?

You also have to be careful about what games you pick to analyze that. For example take the heroMarine vs Showtime series:

Game 1 = Showtime opens gate 10 MSC pressure into Oracle expand, inflicts little damage and misreads the game after scouting heroMarine's fake third, going Dark shrine and warping a few DTs against a SCV pull. He also blunders away his MSC before the fight (no Overcharge at natural). He blocks heroMarine's army with Forcefields but then is left with no energy to cast Guardian Shield. He probably missclicked his Blink Stalkers, because he blinked towards the back of his natural exactly when heroMarine unleashed his Vikings on his Colossi. There were 9 Vikings left when all the Colossi fell. No way this is a normal scenario.
Game 2 = heroMarine gets away with CC rax CC, the only build that allows Terran to hit at 13'30 with 170 supply. Again no Guardian Shield when the fight occurred.
Game 3 = Showtime finally tries to adapt (it's only the 6th TvP in a row in which heroMarine plans to pull SCVs…) but loses his Nexus to a stim timing, so he could not have Storm ready in time.

You can't evaluate SCV pulls based on that material. Protoss needs to be in an even game for that.

I also don't know why you quote GSL for your "SCV pulls are too strong" argument since they're actually 1-3 there. Unless I forgot something we have:

Reality vs Hush, King Sejong: Terran loses.
Reality vs Hush, Merry: Terran wins.
Bbyong vs Stats, King Sejong: Terran loses.
Bbyong vs Stats, Merry: Terran loses.

Show nested quote +
On August 14 2014 00:33 Salient wrote:
Terran has a lot of fans because it is by far the most noob-friendly race in the gutter leagues (Bronze to Gold). The race gets a get out of jail free card "with one click" for supply blocks and total lack of detection. Stimmed marines and marauders provide simple brute force power that is easy for novices to understand. I think Terran also probably has themost little kids for the same reason.

9/10 would read again that delectable troll. I'll make a violent effort to ignore the fact you actually think every single of those words.


Can you provide an argument as to why double starport does not counter colossus play? Any reactionary tech transition to double starport will most likely run into either an 1/1 2 base SCV pull for which the transition will come to late.
The other option of a 3 base SCV pull are specifically designed to counter the 3 colossus into storm transition.

Admittedly this assumes that terran is able to scout the transition. But we are trying to discuss the standard playstyles here, not a fake out transition hidden tech kind of route.

Again i feel you are cherry picking. An example you claim the most recent EPS Heromarine vs Showtime games cannot be used as an example because of essentially bad protoss play. You ignore the fact that for example on King Sejong, the Terran pulled SCVs 45 seconds after his 1/1 was done only do waste his entire SCV train in a chokepoint between nexus and ramp where they evaporated in a single colossus volley. I understand that there can be an argument made for why these games are a bad example, but you cannot blindly present only one side of the facts.

The fact that SCV pulls are to powerful vs colossus openings is evident in almost every scenario. I am not saying that they provide an imbalanced game. I am saying they are an all in for every situation:
Ahead? SCV pull
Behind? SCV pull
Tech transition of opponent? SCV pull
3 base protoss SCV pull

It is the best option in every scenario.

Another possible symptom that SCV pulls need to be adjusted would be that the answer to SCV pulls turned out to be a playstyle that terran had difficulty dealing with: The HT opening with mass zealots.
Ironically enough, the SCV pull all in gave rise to a playstyle that gave terran so much trouble with that it was significantly nerfed.
Arguably going HT again to avoid the SCV pull is not the way to go.

On an unrelated note: The way you phrase your post you are more likely to alienate anyone not already convinced of your opinion.
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