The answers for the changes were said at Blizzcon.
Go to 9:15.
- EMP is the strongest burst damage spell in the entire game, and deemed a little too powerful - Protoss needs to be more competitive against the other races so a general buff to upgrades is given. (Keep in mind they are probably balancing around the highest level, Korean SC2).
On October 26 2011 06:46 BobMcJohnson wrote: Well a radius nerf is a range nerf, is a range nerf; since the real range is range + radius. So it effectively nerfs the range by 0.5
no ... think about it for just a second
Think about it again, it nerfs the range by 0.5 o.o
You sure about range+radius = range?
This is a stupid argument. You guys are talking about range in two different ideas of the word. Yoshi is saying that if a unit is the range + radius away from the ghost, the ghost can still emp that unit. Which is true. The two naysayers are saying that that doesn't count as range. I don't see why it matters... aside from what Yoshi said.
EMP I don't mind, since you normally end up overlapping emps anyway. Not that big of a deal, will reduce single emp's killing off battles at the start.
However, when did Toss need a buff to their upgrades? They get the most of any race from their forge upgrades anyway, and they can get them quicker than anyone else too. :S double forge builds are gonna be even more frightening, and I bet Zergs are worried about +2 blink all ins being even stronger now.
On October 26 2011 06:54 DMKraft wrote: EMP gets 45% nerf, every protoss I meet is cheesing, I am 1/1/1 this whole season, no more fast expos for me vs toss.
may be say cheese because they don't see the light at the and of the tunnel?
On October 26 2011 06:55 CHOMPMannER wrote: as if protoss doesnt get 3-3 fast enough already
sadly 3-0-3 is not the same as 3-3 for the other races
also don't forget upgrades for Zerg / Terran scale way better. meaning on equal upgrades the higher it ges Zerg and Terran will get better.
On October 26 2011 06:41 HwangjaeTerran wrote: Buffing protoss seems quite straightforward.
On October 26 2011 06:34 Kava wrote: Area covered by:
1.4.0 EMP: ~12.6 1.4.2 EMP: ~9.4
25% less area covered by each individual EMP. Not game-breaking but it will be more difficult for a terran to EMP your entire army as long as you're not letting all of your shit cluster up.
I think they need to implement some sort of anti clumping AI for protoss.
You mean like, spliting manualy your unit ?
Damn that must be hard, i'm happy terran don't have to do it since the begining of the game.
lOl but really. the ghost change is going to make the process of scan+empsniping HT a little more difficult, but I really don't understand the upgrade changes, as said by other members toss have the ability to have very quick upgrades, so should they not be more expensive to compensate? but then again maybe they were alittle to expensive, hmm only time will tell.
in TvZ you will need to snipe infestors now. with a group of 5+ infestor it will be much harder to emp all of them I think, but the only good kind of infestor is a dead one sooo I guess nothing has changed
Explains why Browder mentioned not liking to touch upgrades in the interview. It was fresh on his mind.
I think upgrades was the smartest way to go about buffing PvT. Gives the protoss players an opportunity to get an advantage mid game without directly adding to the strength of their deathball in the long run. The alternative would have harsher effects for zerg players to deal with.
Shield upgrade buff was expected, but weapon and armor too ? Protoss now has by far the easiest upgrades. Would love to have upgrades that easy for zerg too..
But i guess its fine, since toss units are more food heavy and expensive in average compared to T or Z.
EMP radius from 2 to 1.5 is huge i feel, maybe even to much, but we'll see. Ghosts will still be very good i think.
I've always wondered why people don't choose to upgrade Shields over Armor as Protoss, especially for Blink Stalkers, Archons, etc. I never realized it was so fricken expensive, hehe. Now it'll be much more attractive. I'm not sure if the Weapons and Armor cost decreases were necessary, although we'll see how it plays out.
The EMP nerf is great. It was always ridiculous how you could instantly deal 700 damage to the enemy's army with a single spell. The nerf might be a bit much, but it's a start.