Announced on Blizzard's thingy the new PTR is out, adding GameHeart for WCS, better team colors, and also if you play on it you can win tickets to Blizzcon since I would guess people would otherwise never play on it. Instead of putting things in quotes I just copied them so pretend I'm sourcing things like a journalist or whatever. WCS GameHeart
We previously mentioned the development of an official WCS GameHeart extension mod and Ryan Schutter’s work at Blizzard. The 2.1.4 PTR will be your first chance to take a look at the new WCS GameHeart in action.
We’ve provided a small preview on some of the features you’ll enjoy here: WCS Gameheart Enhanced Team Colors
With enhanced team colors, you’ll be able to give your in-game colors a boost. By increasing the color intensity of units, building and some effects, you can customize your experience based on your specific preference.
Updated Unit/Spell Effects: In addition to providing enhanced colors for units and buildings, we’ve also added the option to enable team colors for some unit/spell effects. This includes Time Warp, EMP, Scanner Sweep, and the coloring on the Mothership Core. You can enable this feature by navigating to the Gameplay tab in the options menu. You can then select ‘Enable Additional Team Color Textures’ to apply team colors to these abilities.
Color Intensity Slider: Controlling the coloring on enhanced team colors can be done by adjusting the value on the new ‘Team Color Intensity ‘slider. You can find the slider on the Gameplay tab in the Options menu. Looking for a minor boost? Try setting it to 2 or 3. Want a major boost? Try out 10, or even 11! Yes, it goes to 11.
Importance of testing the 2.1.4 PTR
While the high profile features often receive the most attention and testing on a PTR, less visible systems often benefit the most from PTR testing. While these types of back-end adjustments may not be noticeable to a player, they interact with nearly every aspect of the game. Ensuring that these types of changes are working as intended and do not negatively impact the experience for StarCraft II players is a top priority.
That’s where we can use your help! By testing the new features on the PTR in all the various game modes (Matchmaking, Custom Games, Arcade, vs AI), you’ll help ensure that Patch 2.1.4 continues to offer a smooth experience for StarCraft II players when it goes live. To help highlight the importance of testing on the 2.1.4 PTR, and offer a bonus to those who participate, we’ve got a few goodies we’d like to give away. Prizes for participation To all players who reach level 5 on the PTR:
A one month subscription for Twitch Turbo
To 50 random players who reach level 5 on the PTR:
A Twitch subscription for WCS EU/AM
To one random player who reaches level 5 on PTR:
A pair (2) of 2014 BlizzCon tickets
You’ll have from 12:00 AM PST August 26, 2014 to 11:59 PM PST September 22, 2014 to become eligible for these prizes. You can check out the official rules here: Patch 2.1.4 PTR Participation Giveaway – Official Rules How to Get In
Accessing the Public Test Realm is easier than ever with the Battle.net Desktop App. Once you've installed and run the App, select StarCraft II from your list of games to get started. Next, click the region selection box above the Play button, choose "PTR: Heart of the Swarm" from the dropdown list, and hit Install. If you don’t see a PTR option available, but own a copy of StarCraft II, you can enable PTR access by navigating to the Battle.net Account Management page and clicking on the Public Test Region button under your game license. Once your installation is complete, just hit Play to launch the PTR and start digging in to all of the goodies mentioned above.
On August 28 2014 09:04 UberNuB wrote: Interesting to see PTR participation has been so low that they are willing to give out prizes this time.
There is not really too much for players to try beside the color mod... and it has been around for a long time, so I guess almost anybody already tried it just once
On August 28 2014 09:27 ETisME wrote: Level 5 is really easy to get to. But there's no unique level for random race, so I guess they mean hitting level 5 with all 3 races?
Oh it's probably the player level I guess
I read it differently. I don't think they want anyone to particularly play 'random' race.
I think they meant, *everyone* who gets level 5 gets 1 month free twitch turbo
50 players, who hit level 5, will be chosen at *random*, will get WCS twitch pass
1 player, who hit level 5, will be chosen at *random* will get 2 tickets to Blizzcon.
Unless I'm misreading, they don't need us to test random race on this PTR release.
On August 28 2014 11:27 OhDearGod wrote: I would definitely do this without thought if I weren't close to my internet cap . Damn Australian internet T_T
Remember that you can stream SC2. I just downloaded a little bit of it and tried it out, it's great. Since I'm from Germany and can't participate though I won't play that much
Color Intensity Slider = Fuck Yeah! Gotta try this out later. Hopefully gonna be sweet like the stronger team color mod. Ability to see the difference on banes ect. Really useful in teamgames especially.
"If you reside in the States of North Dakota, Vermont, Connecticut or Maryland in the United States, the Province of Quebec in Canada, or Queensland, Victoria or the Australian Capital Territory in Australia, you are not eligible to participate in this Contest. "
Hungary is there which is a nice surprise, still I don't think I'm going to get into it.
"THIS CONTEST IS OPEN ONLY TO RESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, BELGIUM, BELARUS, BULGARIA, CROATIA, CZECH REPUBLIC, FRANCE, HUNGARY, IRELAND, ITALY, THE GRAND DUCHY OF LUXEMBOURG, NORWAY, POLAND, SERBIA, SPAIN, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, THE UNITED KINGDOM, AUSTRALIA, MALAYSIA, NEW ZEALAND, SINGAPORE, TAIWAN AND THAILAND" (Sry, for Caps just copy and pasted from: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/14057035996
In my opinion Blizz could make this OK, if they give the ones from countries that are not on the list, a Heroes-Beta-Access, i whould play to LVL 30 if necessary...
The team colours option is nice, but I think its different than the old mod/gameheart version. I like the gameheart/old version better. Or maybe I'm on crack and it is the same. I'm tired, but I think its different :p
On August 28 2014 17:56 DiktaThor wrote: "THIS CONTEST IS OPEN ONLY TO RESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, BELGIUM, BELARUS, BULGARIA, CROATIA, CZECH REPUBLIC, FRANCE, HUNGARY, IRELAND, ITALY, THE GRAND DUCHY OF LUXEMBOURG, NORWAY, POLAND, SERBIA, SPAIN, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, THE UNITED KINGDOM, AUSTRALIA, MALAYSIA, NEW ZEALAND, SINGAPORE, TAIWAN AND THAILAND" (Sry, for Caps just copy and pasted from: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/14057035996
Why are Germans excluded? Or better not included?
Probably because of GEMA and Twitch not having an HQ in Germany. They would have to pay fees like TV channels etc. Wouldn't be worth to include Germany for the hassle of going through this.
Hm maybe, but also the dutch aren't eligible to win and they don't have sth. like GEMA afaik... Whatever i feel kinda ignored by Blizz... As i sad, i think they should compensate it in some kind of way...
On August 28 2014 16:34 PVJ wrote: I'm alwayss baffled by all these legal quirks
"If you reside in the States of North Dakota, Vermont, Connecticut or Maryland in the United States, the Province of Quebec in Canada, or Queensland, Victoria or the Australian Capital Territory in Australia, you are not eligible to participate in this Contest. "
Hungary is there which is a nice surprise, still I don't think I'm going to get into it.
The fuck? Well, that sucks.
Wondering why those states can't participate, but NSW/WA/SA/TAS/NT can?
On August 28 2014 16:34 PVJ wrote: I'm alwayss baffled by all these legal quirks
"If you reside in the States of North Dakota, Vermont, Connecticut or Maryland in the United States, the Province of Quebec in Canada, or Queensland, Victoria or the Australian Capital Territory in Australia, you are not eligible to participate in this Contest. "
Hungary is there which is a nice surprise, still I don't think I'm going to get into it.
The fuck? Well, that sucks.
Wondering why those states can't participate, but NSW/WA/SA/TAS/NT can?
On August 28 2014 16:34 PVJ wrote: I'm alwayss baffled by all these legal quirks
"If you reside in the States of North Dakota, Vermont, Connecticut or Maryland in the United States, the Province of Quebec in Canada, or Queensland, Victoria or the Australian Capital Territory in Australia, you are not eligible to participate in this Contest. "
Hungary is there which is a nice surprise, still I don't think I'm going to get into it.
The fuck? Well, that sucks.
Wondering why those states can't participate, but NSW/WA/SA/TAS/NT can?
T_T My Blizzcon tickets...
Even if you could win them, it sounds like you'd have to pay for your flight and hotel yourself any ways .
On August 28 2014 16:34 PVJ wrote: I'm alwayss baffled by all these legal quirks
"If you reside in the States of North Dakota, Vermont, Connecticut or Maryland in the United States, the Province of Quebec in Canada, or Queensland, Victoria or the Australian Capital Territory in Australia, you are not eligible to participate in this Contest. "
Hungary is there which is a nice surprise, still I don't think I'm going to get into it.
The fuck? Well, that sucks.
Wondering why those states can't participate, but NSW/WA/SA/TAS/NT can?
T_T My Blizzcon tickets...
Even if you could win them, it sounds like you'd have to pay for your flight and hotel yourself any ways .
Can you re-sell Blizzcon tickets or did they make it so you need photo Id and all that jazz?
If your hometown is excluded, that means you have some stupid law that Blizzard doesn't want to have anything to do with. Lawyers are expensive. Considering the prizes, I'm guessing it has to do with raffle rules.
Or in Quebec's case, nobody wants to do business there. I've seen some tournaments not even allow residents of Quebec to attend their qualifiers.
Nooooo, I thought it was going to be widow mine nerf!!!!!! These changes are still great I suppose, going in the right direction and all. Gotta stop teasing me like this though.
On August 28 2014 17:56 DiktaThor wrote: "THIS CONTEST IS OPEN ONLY TO RESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, BELGIUM, BELARUS, BULGARIA, CROATIA, CZECH REPUBLIC, FRANCE, HUNGARY, IRELAND, ITALY, THE GRAND DUCHY OF LUXEMBOURG, NORWAY, POLAND, SERBIA, SPAIN, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, THE UNITED KINGDOM, AUSTRALIA, MALAYSIA, NEW ZEALAND, SINGAPORE, TAIWAN AND THAILAND" (Sry, for Caps just copy and pasted from: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/14057035996
Why are Germans excluded? Or better not included?
Probably because of GEMA and Twitch not having an HQ in Germany. They would have to pay fees like TV channels etc. Wouldn't be worth to include Germany for the hassle of going through this.
tl;dr you need to puchase the game in order to take part. And then its not a competition but a lottery or gambling, and that is very regulated in like germany and austria.
tl;dr you need to puchase the game in order to take part. And then its not a competition but a lottery or gambling, and that is very regulated in like germany and austria.
On August 29 2014 05:00 Yurie wrote: Almost made me play again. So a good try from them. Would I have had to own Heart of the Swarm in order to participate? Or would WoL been enough?
I suppose you can't level up with WoL because it is available for HotS only. What you can do though is to ask someone with a HotS copy to play with you in a party mode. Only then will you be able to level up despite not having HotS.
The changes are okay. You can also just have the colours like they have always been, because it's an option and you can switch it off. That's good. That's what they should implement for those annoying skins too, e.g. the lings with wings bigger than a pterosaur's ...
Oh btw F11 in Gameheart interface shows you all the controls Alt+F11 gives you your friends list It seems like you need to activate the battle panel to be able to use RBQC
On August 31 2014 02:31 Knatterking wrote: it's an option and you can switch it off. That's good. That's what they should implement for those annoying skins too
My God, I hope they do that one day. Hopefully for LotV...
On August 28 2014 17:56 DiktaThor wrote: "THIS CONTEST IS OPEN ONLY TO RESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, BELGIUM, BELARUS, BULGARIA, CROATIA, CZECH REPUBLIC, FRANCE, HUNGARY, IRELAND, ITALY, THE GRAND DUCHY OF LUXEMBOURG, NORWAY, POLAND, SERBIA, SPAIN, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, THE UNITED KINGDOM, AUSTRALIA, MALAYSIA, NEW ZEALAND, SINGAPORE, TAIWAN AND THAILAND" (Sry, for Caps just copy and pasted from: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/14057035996
Why are Germans excluded? Or better not included?
(Everyone, don't mention the war!!)
It is due to twitch, umm..., not having legal rights..., umm... set up properly in German. Isn't that right everyone? I am so very sorry!
EPT
. Damn Australian internet T_T
