Situation Report: Patch 1.4, Blizz's Explanations - Page 7

On September 23 2011 13:46 Thrasymachus725 wrote:
I hope people take some time to remember that there are two expansions to go. Content isn't a huge part of patches, but it is an enormous part of expansions. Large sweeping changes to the game are made from the expansions, and invariably they are made based on what they learned since release.
Lets go over, shall we?
SC1: Air units dominate and are too difficult to counter (among other problems)
SCBW: Corsairs, Valks, Devourers are added to shift the game in other directions.

WC3:RoC: Casters are very powerful and are being massed, due to the lack of counters. Some rock paper scissor style counters aren't working very well and races are a little too predictable and the hero is little more than a very powerful unit.
WC3:TFT: New armor and damage types make casters both easy to counter, and stronger support. Ranged non-casters are now effective. New tavern heroes open up many options and the new shops provide new effective uses for heroes.

WoW: Every expansion has fixed many issues in the game from story telling, to characterization, to customization, graphics. All of these issue were changed based on feedback both internal and external.

With the occasional exception in WoW, there have been no patches that have been able to fix the problems that existed in the game at that point. If in SC1, they had added armor on marines, or increased the range on goliaths, or increased their damage, or gave dragoons increased attack speed, or archons increased range... ALL of these changes would have helped the races against Mutalisks (the major problem of vanilla SC1), but would have been bandaids and would have thrown the game off. There were FUNDAMENTAL DESIGN PROBLEMS with the game that needed to be fixed with an expansion, because they required sweeping fixes. They can't simply be patched, because they can't POSSIBLY understand all the effects of the massive changes without large scale testing and counterbalances.

There are fundamental design problems with the balance of Starcraft 2, that prevent it from moving forward in certain directions, as there are with EVERY game. These design problems were not anticipated. They were not expected, or desired by blizzard. But they showed up. They are recognized. They are not ignored. Every expansion Blizzard has ever done has proved this.

Expect the expansion to allow Protoss to deal with the Vikings and marines that limit protoss so much.
Expect the expansion to allow Zerg to get some kind of way to punish turtlers and death balls.
Expect the expansion to allow Reapers to be used into the late game.
Expect the expansion to make Colossi more than just an a-move unit, and one that takes skill to use.
Expect an ability or an overhaul for Hydralisks that gives them a place in the game.
Expect heavier air builds to be viable for every race by the end of LotV.
Expect Protoss and Zerg to have building upgrades and the flexibility and/or options that the Terran enjoys.
Expect Protoss as a whole to not be so 1a oriented.
Expect Zerg as a whole to be able to direct the game and not be so reactionary.
Expect Terran to be able to play as a reactionary race if they need to be.

All of these are problems that exist in the game that cannot be fixed with a simple patch. They will take expansions. Don't fool yourself... Wings of Liberty is a beta test for HotS and HotS is a beta test for LotV.

On September 23 2011 14:34 BrosephBrostar wrote:


I really don't understand where your confidence is coming from. A lot of those issues should have been apparent before the game even went into beta testing. Take the colossus for example. The entire point of the unit was that it was a "cool robot" that was easier to use than the reaver. What about the mothership? It's obvious that the unit isn't going to work in a competitive game, yet they let the game release with it instead of replacing it with something else. What can they possibly do with the hydralisk that won't take away from the roach?

Besides when is Legacy of the Void even supposed to come out? Will we be having these discussions until 2014?

On September 23 2011 13:12 Ryder. wrote:

Since corruptors hard counter both colossi and carrier, then yeah they seem like a decent option.

They will probably lose the ground battle, but then since they are obviously on like 6 base at this stage of the game they could just remax with roach. You can't exactly remax with colossus/carrier/archon/HT after you lose it all, lol that is some serious gas consumption.

On September 23 2011 14:23 Brotocol wrote:
I don't get how blink nerf, justified as "we felt blink all-in was a little too much," can coexist with 1-1-1 not getting straight up nerfed.

How is blink rush is too much when 1-1-1's mere existence is almost an auto-win in TvP.

Priorities.

On September 23 2011 14:46 Rorschach wrote:



I personally never thought blink timings were all that great (maybe in lower leagues?) and the same line of thought you had about the 1-1-1 is what went through my head........

In the end, it came down to a choice between the Carrier and the Mothership.

On September 23 2011 14:51 Brotocol wrote:


Well, it's apparently really really urgent for Blizzard to nerf it.

But for 1-1-1... "try using immortals kthx."


edit: Yea, I'm becoming a little bit bitter. My faith in Blizz is just shot. I wish they had more than 1 person making balance changes.

On September 23 2011 14:56 windsupernova wrote:


Calm down dude, its just a game. I think Blizzard has been reluctant to nerf this because the build has been around since launch, and back then it was not OP at all.

On September 23 2011 10:36 xBillehx wrote:
Original link: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/3565234

Reading now.

Edit: Noooo! They had a choice between changing the Mothership and the Carrier yet they chose the mothership. T_T I've been craving some carrier usage in the GSL for a long time.

On September 23 2011 14:59 spicyredcurry wrote:


I dont think you understand. SC2 isnt just a game. People are payed to play it, thier livelyhoods depend on it to some extent. Saying that it is just a game is incredibly ignorant.

On September 23 2011 14:38 Joseph123 wrote:
"In the end, it came down to a choice between the Carrier and the Mothership."
I have no words to explain that.
I feel so fucking tricked atm, Blizzard CHOSE the mothership, so now we should expect it to be used, lets see......

On September 23 2011 15:07 GhostFall wrote:
I was really sad when they mentioned they think Hellions made TvT boring. Mech play vs Mech play, or Mech vs Bio is infinitely better than watching Terrans just throw bio at each other.

In fact Terran's throwing bio at the other 2 races in general, like it is now, is fucking stupid to watch compared to the Mech plays of Starcraft 1