EPTLike - things like Swarmhost and the WMine - everyone knew it was a good start (design-wise), but sadly - it was a start that never "evolved"..
Swarmhosts were supposed to be Battering-rams at the first thought, then they were supposed to be the "day-night" unit that is strong half of it's time and half-not, so it created those "wavy" dynamic overall..
Well - that also failed too: Simple - SHost was never "tweaked" at all.. Almost as if it was "good enough despite everyone seeing it's flaw" - like - even from day1 it was clear that they were too expensive and that upgrade they had wasn't a "choice" but rather a must-have, so..
So yes - basically any unit that isn't designed to harass - it's a bad idea to "force" the player into committing it's production, like everyone knew even from week 1 (ok, not from day1, but certainly from week 1 for sure) that 6 SHosts won't do a "thing" and that 15 were like - unstoppable..
We never EVER saw a single try/test/tweak of the SHost.. They could've made it cheaper but less "snowbally" in large numbers or sth.. Just like the Raven - another very badly designed unit overall, 1 does nothing (except detect), 10 are not even approachable
..We didn't see SHost being cheaper, not having the upgrade, Locusts not having the upgrade, locust lifetime wasn't ever changed for a single day not even in a test map overall.. I mean - there were things like make SHost 150 then 180HP (now what - it has 200 ?, not sure though) from 120 or so.. But, BUT - the attacking power of that unit was never experimented for.. And there are loads and loads of ways they could think/deal with that problem TBH, like - at least give some "not main pathway curves" a try regarding that one.. They could even make Locusts lose life instead of timer so the farther those were going the easier to be dealt with overall..
The WMine - same - I was disgusted even from day one from that unit - was made against Zerg and Zerg only.. And Terrans were like "yum yum Zerg tears" well - it's a flaud.. I mean - the unit was designed vs Ling/Bane and that's it overall.. We didn't see the unit change - nor tweak.. Even from day1 I knew it was a bad thing that one - they didn't "think" of it over.. If you made vs Protoss - big deal, P will warp in another round and mines won't be active for 10 seconds later, but with Zerg - not that they were overkilling those (remind you I'm talking about the earliest days of HotS, now Zergs do split, send in "scouting Lings", do Infested-Terran "sweep" e.t.c. to prevent that from happening or so, and even the Overseer was far too slow to follow the Muta flock)..
The thing is - not that the mine would've destroyed Zerg, but also by the time they consolidate for the next wave - mines would recharge again, lol.. The unit couldv'e been tweaked in million and one ways, but NO - it was never done, as if it was fine from day 1 on (it was not)
Tempest - again - w.t.f. - why does it need +50, yes + FIFTY bonus damage vs "blips" in the air ??, like - does it blow them away or sth ?, like they could've "played with it blowing away massive air back further, by blow-away I literally mean knockback, rofl" and still not end in a worse spot than now..
.. That unit currently shuts down ANY Broodlord, BC, Carrier, MS (not that it means something though, lol, like - that's another unit that could use some love, like - at least be not abductable, BLord IS now frenzied, and this thing can be pulled away ?, rofl) play.. PERIOD..WHY that huuuge bonus ??, let me say again - HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE bonus ??, why ? - Tempests were left like that "unfinished" for us to "play toys with".. Like - here's a MIND-BLOWING fact - if that vs massive Air Tempest bonus was like +30 instead of +50, or even better - +25 + 15 vs shields instead of +50 - we probably might've seen BCs and BLords..
A 60 damage-per-shot (dps, lol) instead of 80 Tempest would've ended like this:
4 shot instead of 3-shot Broodlord, 10-Shot instead of 7-shot BCs (and if they made it 25 instead of 50 bonus, BCs would require 11 instead of 10 shots - based on upgrades on both sides, so adds that one too upon, and BLords would probably survive to a 6th shot cause of regen, unless upgrades were done for Protoss), and 6-shot instead of 5-shot Colossi (but yah - what's the big deal with the Colossus - they could add up +10 to shields (or even +15), and be back to square 1 regarding using it vs Colossus)
Like - that's a VERY SMALL STEP to even consider, but it was never done - TRUE - tft - it probably would've not changed almost anything overall, but it certainly is AN IMPROVEMENT for a very small "'try-see" cost IMO.. And it's not even "game-changing" or anything, but it certainly is a "refreshment" of some kind, that "gives hope", for a little-to-none cost
Then there's the things like - divide Locust damage in 2 shots (like Phoenix do, not that like Locusts don't shoot 2 spines instead of 1 already - even visually, lol) - the gain would've been VERY SIMPLE - Armored units like the Colossus or Thor would last longer vs Locust shots (not to even say that Guardian shield would've mitigated 4 damage instead of 2).. Terran also have that "building armor" upgrade thing, so yah - it was never even tried.. (o.f.c. - the cost of that would've been Immortals falling twice the faster due to double rate of HS depletion overall)..
LIKE = AGREE - YES - HotS was, WAS awesome and looked very promising from day one it came out, and it was like - everyone was thinking - wow this game is AWESOME, gonna be the BEST EVER RTS, but since that - almost nothing was addressed upon (except the Hellbat drops - and that one was even inspired mostly by TvT, the irony, lmao)..
OK, let's not be "that cinycal" and "bashing" over them cause they certainly did an awesome job regarding the other units than the mentioned there - the Viper, the Oracle, the Prismatic alignment to Voidray, the Reaper, the new ability of Thor.. Pretty well done job regarding those overall :D
