EPT
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Last month, we requested your help in playtesting a variety of potential balance changes for Heart of the Swarm. After two iterations of potential changes, two brand new versions of the test map, and a community-driven balance test tournament, we're pleased to announce that we're ready to move forward with a balance update as we begin ladder play during the World Championship Series off-season.
Today, we'll be making the following balance changes for StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm multiplayer:
PROTOSS
Oracle- Movement speed increased from 3.375 to 4.
- Acceleration increased from 2 to 3.
- Units that burrow or cloak while under the effects of Revelation will once again be revealed after unburrowing or uncloaking.
The speed changes are something we’ve tried in the past and we believe this is a better direction than a straight cost reduction for the unit. The main reason is that we’d like the difference between someone who’s amazing with Oracle micro to be able to keep them alive the whole game to get the most out of them, whereas lesser skilled players won’t get as much out of this change. Not only that, this direction is a smaller buff to the all in case and/or early game use cases compared to the previously proposed 50 gas cost reduction.
Revelation right now is the main late game ability for Oracles, meaning if it’s a bit easier to use, we’d see a lot more Oracle usage in the late game as well.
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/10081798294
Revelation right now is the main late game ability for Oracles, meaning if it’s a bit easier to use, we’d see a lot more Oracle usage in the late game as well.
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/10081798294
TERRAN
Armory- Vehicle and Ship Weapon upgrades have been combined.
- Siege Mode attack period decreased from 3.0 to 2.8.
- Sentinel Missiles now deal reduced damage to units caught within its splash radius based on their distance from the target:
- 40 damage within 1.25 radius.
- 20 damage from 1.25 to 1.5.
- 10 damage from 1.5 to 1.75.
- 40 damage within 1.25 radius.
Armory
We've been looking at this for a long time now, and it feels like a solid step in the right direction.
Siege Tank
Bio play may be more interesting with the Widow Mine change and this buff. Not only that, we believe Terran mech armies can be a lot more viable because faster attack speed naturally means Siege Tanks will be better against their hard counters.
Widow Mine
We'd like to push out the Widow Mine a little bit and bump up the Siege Tank so that bio play becomes more interesting. Ultimately, we believe a mix of Widow Mines and Siege Tanks with your bio army will be a lot more fun to watch than just Widow Mines with bio alone.
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/10038734466
We've been looking at this for a long time now, and it feels like a solid step in the right direction.
Siege Tank
Bio play may be more interesting with the Widow Mine change and this buff. Not only that, we believe Terran mech armies can be a lot more viable because faster attack speed naturally means Siege Tanks will be better against their hard counters.
Widow Mine
We'd like to push out the Widow Mine a little bit and bump up the Siege Tank so that bio play becomes more interesting. Ultimately, we believe a mix of Widow Mines and Siege Tanks with your bio army will be a lot more fun to watch than just Widow Mines with bio alone.
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/10038734466
ZERG
Roach Warren- When Tunneling Claws are researched, Roach burrow movement speed has been increased from 1.41 to 2.0. New burrow speed does not requires Glial Reconstitution (Roach speed) upgrade.
We just don’t see Tunneling Claws coming into play much. There’s some really cool micro potential with burrow-moving Roaches, and we'd like to see how this goes in a test map.
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/10038734466
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/10038734466
Thank you very much for taking the time to playtest each of the changes throughout the last month. The vast amount of feedback that you, pro players, and the StarCraft II Community at-large offered during this testing period has been instrumental in our decision to move forward with the changes above. We'll share more of our thoughts on StarCraft II balance in the future, but for now, let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Poll: Impressions on the Oracle Speed change?
Disapprove (1570)
69%
Approve (571)
25%
Neutral (150)
7%
2291 total votes
Approve (571)
Neutral (150)
2291 total votes
Your vote: Impressions on the Oracle Speed change?
Poll: Impressions on the Oracle Revelation change?
Approve (1249)
82%
Neutral (142)
9%
Disapprove (137)
9%
1528 total votes
Neutral (142)
Disapprove (137)
1528 total votes
Your vote: Impressions on the Oracle Revelation change?
Poll: Impressions on the Armory change?
Approve (1029)
61%
Disapprove (482)
29%
Neutral (166)
10%
1677 total votes
Disapprove (482)
Neutral (166)
1677 total votes
Your vote: Impressions on the Armory change?
Poll: Impressions on the Siege Tank change?
Approve (1197)
74%
Disapprove (310)
19%
Neutral (115)
7%
1622 total votes
Disapprove (310)
Neutral (115)
1622 total votes
Your vote: Impressions on the Siege Tank change?
Poll: Impressions on the Widow Mine change?
Approve (1014)
59%
Disapprove (547)
32%
Neutral (152)
9%
1713 total votes
Disapprove (547)
Neutral (152)
1713 total votes
Your vote: Impressions on the Widow Mine change?
