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qxc's thoughts: Adepts are too Strong - Page 3

Forum Index > SC2 General
162 CommentsPost a Reply
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TheoMikkelsen
Profile Joined June 2013
Denmark196 Posts
September 25 2015 14:59 GMT
#41
While I think its ok to make adepts scale better to lategame and be weaker, protoss will have trouble in the earlygame if some changes goes through to the extend that the current investmentratio for protoss builds has to change negatively when focusing on macro.

Compensate that with better photon overcharged, buffed zealots? Dont know. I kinda like the strong earlygame adept and weak lategame adept EXCEPT for the offensive stuff (nerf prisms.)
Any sufficiently cheesy build is indistinguishable in skill
GohgamX
Profile Joined April 2011
Canada1096 Posts
September 25 2015 15:03 GMT
#42
This is still beta so I'm sure a change is incoming.
Time is a great teacher, unfortunate that it kills all its pupils ...
zizerg
Profile Joined March 2010
Kyrgyzstan16 Posts
September 25 2015 15:03 GMT
#43
I don't like second shade ability. I think much more interesting will be controlling teleport. Not waiting while adept teleport to shade position, but control it.
Whitewing
Profile Joined October 2010
United States7483 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-09-25 15:08:44
September 25 2015 15:08 GMT
#44
On September 25 2015 23:10 Tiaraju9 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 25 2015 23:05 DinoMight wrote:
On September 25 2015 21:06 Whitewing wrote:
Adepts were made overly strong because the Protoss early game is atrocious otherwise.

The problem is that they have no time to tech anymore, and they are a race design based on teching. To compensate, they were given a unit that can hold them over to allow them time to actually tech, but that unit has to be very strong on almost no tech in order for that to function.

In short, the Adept is a product of the Protoss race design with the economy changes. If you want to nerf the adept in the early game, some consideration needs to go towards solving this problem.


You took the words out of my mouth (err, keyboard?).

Basically the economy system fucks Protoss over because they don't rely on massing cheap units like Terran and Zerg but rather on tech which still takes the same amount of time to get out despite accelerated economy.


This was repetitively brought up by Teoita and others in the beginning of the beta, but somehow it didn't get traction in the community. Its a very good point.


Yeah, we in TL Strat still aren't generally too fond of the econ changes, but it is what it is, and better to work with it and see what you can get than complain about something that isn't going to change.
Strategy"You know I fucking hate the way you play, right?" ~SC2John
TimeSpiral
Profile Joined January 2011
United States1010 Posts
September 25 2015 15:25 GMT
#45
Well-written and well-thought-out post. I'm expecting a balance patch very soon, maybe even today.
[G] Positioning, Formations, and Tactics: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=187892
Umpteen
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United Kingdom1570 Posts
September 25 2015 15:33 GMT
#46
Ok, explain to me why this idea is wrong (I'm assuming it must be):

QXC makes a very good point about marauders, in that their effectiveness was moderated indirectly rather than through nerfs.

Applying that same thinking to Adepts, I got this:

Remove Photon Overcharge.

The biggest issue I saw in the Red Bull games was that the protoss's aggression had zero downside. Make a quick robo, which means you're already insured against anything sneaky. Load up with a couple of adepts and go poke around. Warp in more if it looks promising, or don't. And if they do leave their base and you don't see it coming - no worries. Throw down two or three POs while you empty their mineral lines.

Maybe, with the Adept, Protoss no longer needs PO?
The existence of a food chain is inescapable if we evolved unsupervised, and inexcusable otherwise.
ZAiNs
Profile Joined July 2010
United Kingdom6525 Posts
September 25 2015 16:10 GMT
#47
On September 25 2015 23:33 Ouija wrote:
its been apparent since day 1 of beta... Thanks for the reminder?

Blizzard does NOT like to change actual unit numbers.. so good luck. Knowing them they will try to fix it through nerfing the warp prism. The only other thing I could see them doing is making the shade ability available later.

Wow... Day 1 beta the Adept was terrible and pretty much a joke unit. It was only strong when they buffed its stats considerably. In fact Protoss in general was awful in LotV until recently, a couple of months ago Lycan was offering extra money if anyone won a Lycan Cup (or whatever they are called) playing Protoss, and I don't think anyone got that extra money. Day 1 beta Protoss was arguably worse than HotS Protoss.
Big J
Profile Joined March 2011
Austria16289 Posts
September 25 2015 16:20 GMT
#48
On September 26 2015 00:33 Umpteen wrote:
Ok, explain to me why this idea is wrong (I'm assuming it must be):

QXC makes a very good point about marauders, in that their effectiveness was moderated indirectly rather than through nerfs.

Applying that same thinking to Adepts, I got this:

Remove Photon Overcharge.

The biggest issue I saw in the Red Bull games was that the protoss's aggression had zero downside. Make a quick robo, which means you're already insured against anything sneaky. Load up with a couple of adepts and go poke around. Warp in more if it looks promising, or don't. And if they do leave their base and you don't see it coming - no worries. Throw down two or three POs while you empty their mineral lines.

Maybe, with the Adept, Protoss no longer needs PO?


I think that is alway a valid strategy. I question whether it is the best one. The thing with these sorts of compensation-nerfs is that they hit every Protoss strategy, not just the ones in this discussion which are mainly the offensive early game adept plays as far as I would say.
Though I like the suggestions because I don't like PO.
oOOoOphidian
Profile Joined January 2011
United States1402 Posts
September 25 2015 16:51 GMT
#49
I think they could leave the adept the way it is if they remove the mothership core completely and nerf the build time of warp prism as well as some of the other buffs to warp prism they added in the past.
Creator of sc2unmasked.com
ROOTFayth
Profile Joined January 2004
Canada3351 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-09-25 19:03:22
September 25 2015 19:03 GMT
#50
I think people would see a massive difference with just a big warp prism nerf when it comes to adept, just straight up mass adepts without a warp prism isn't particularly game breaking
TheWinks
Profile Joined July 2011
United States572 Posts
September 25 2015 19:26 GMT
#51
On September 26 2015 04:03 ROOTFayth wrote:
I think people would see a massive difference with just a big warp prism nerf when it comes to adept, just straight up mass adepts without a warp prism isn't particularly game breaking

The stats of the unit itself are overtuned. No warp prism nerf is going to change that.
carcelink
Profile Joined September 2015
Spain10 Posts
September 25 2015 19:37 GMT
#52
I agree with the fact that Adepts are OP now, I was thinking the same they told about that we must adapt the game to them, and then we will see is a normal unit. On the other hand, after seeing the Archon tournament of the last week, I realized that for pros, Adepts are a very OP unit, the things they were doing with only adepts were ridiculous, and we are speaking about a tier 1 unit.
I agree with the changes qxc says, but for me would be more simple to decrease light damage and time of shade, and with upgrade in twilight, the actual Adept. Because now it's a completely OP unit, as a terran seems quite quite difficult to hold.
royalroadweed
Profile Joined April 2013
United States8301 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-09-25 19:56:49
September 25 2015 19:56 GMT
#53
On September 25 2015 19:48 parkufarku wrote:
You're a respected player and a good writer, but you are also a Terran player and tend to write things from the T perspective. Even if this article is well-written, I have a hard time not believing QXC's views are distorted and biased from the race he plays. High level players can't be biased? Look at Avilo.

Look, Liberators are WAY more of a balance problem than anything, and the article complains about Adept. That alone make me disregard this post as a 'polished balance whine' on SC2 general page.

You disregarded every point made and attacked qxc simply for playing terran. You also somehow expected an article titled "Adepts are too strong" to focus on Liberators (which were even nerfed recently). I'm not surprised though. Shitposter gonna shitpost.
"Nerfing Toss can just make them stronger"
[PkF] Wire
Profile Joined March 2013
France24209 Posts
September 25 2015 20:03 GMT
#54
Twilight requirement is something I've been advocating for for a long time. I think it'd be a pretty reasonable starting point.
Agh
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
United States986 Posts
September 25 2015 20:03 GMT
#55
The unit seems to be in a good place right now.

Hoping they leave everything as is until launch and they base any further balance changes around the top players.
I may appear to be an emotionless sarcastic pos, but just like an onion when you pull off more and more layers you find the exact same thing everytime and you start crying
Asamu1
Profile Joined February 2014
8 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-09-25 20:24:08
September 25 2015 20:11 GMT
#56
The problem I see with the initial nerfs you are suggesting is that it's attack rate is way too slow to be dealing that little damage. Shade or no, the unit can't become outright weak before the upgrade.

If you nerf it's damage, it's attack rate needs to be increased to compensate for the mid-late game.

Something like 10(+8) vs light with a ~1.8 attack timer (On normal speed; the current attack timer is 2.25).
Benefits of this change: It now 3 shots workers/Marines, increasing the time to kill them from 2.25 seconds (With 1 of them), to ~3.6. It retains it's strength vs Lings, which is something Protoss has sorely lacked since BW; early lings dominate Protoss gateway units until they are in large numbers, and make it overly difficult to punish Zerg for being greedy. If in doubt, go watch Pro PvZgames on Vaani Research station, where Zerg took their first expansion at the mid-map gold and Protoss were entirely unable to punish it; This is also, largely, the reason the MSC was a necessary addition to the game, and why FFE was considered the only viable opener vs Zerg throughout both BW and WoL.
In addition, this reduces the Adept's power when harassing workers by increasing the number of hits needed to kill them to 3, and with reduced HP, they would be easier to kill before dealing major damage.

Combined with this DPS change, a reduction in HP would be necessary; reducing the total HP from 180 to ~140-150 would make the unit fill a bit less of a tanking role.

IMO, the shield upgrade should be removed from the unit entirely, in favor of a more DPS oriented upgrade, involving a faster attack rate or a bounce attack; this would give Protoss a bit more reliable DPS in the mid-late game from a low tech unit, which is another thing the race is sorely lacking compared to Terran and Zerg.

That said, I think the general design of Protoss gateway units is a bit off; they are all high HP, but low or unreliable/melee, dps. With no significant differentiation as to their roles, you generally don't want to mix units more than you have to; generally a high stalker count, with a few Zealots/Adepts to tank anti-armored damage in the early-mid game, or a high Zealot/Adept count with a few Stalkers for AA. This leads to a serious lack of diversity within Protoss compositions based on their core units compared to Terran/Zerg, who generally want to mix their core units to complement each-other until they have utility units that can protect the more DPS oriented units (Marauders tank damage for marines, as well as dealing high anti-armored damage; Roaches/Lings tank for Hydras and add more mobility or burst damage to the army)

In WoL and HoTS, the reason Colossus were necessary wasn't because they were overpowered, it was because they were the only source of consistent, reliable damage output for the Protoss army; that damage being AOE made them a bit too strong in some situations (Like against marine-heavy bio armies, Hydras, and Marines), but nonetheless, the unit was necessary in the Protoss army because it fulfilled the role that basic units fill for Terran and Zerg: DPS.
Essentially, the tech-tree for Protoss is the reverse of the Terran/Zerg tech trees; Bio Terran get high DPS, but low HP units as the initial tech (Marines, Marauders), with more durability being added to the army are mid-tier tech (Medivacs, Thors), and utility units are high tech (Ghosts, Ravens). Zerg get their tanking units initially (Roaches, Lings), their DPS in the mid-tier (Hydras), and their utility at high tech (Vipers).
Protoss get their utility and army durability initially, specialized units in the mid game, and DPS from their higher tech units.


There is also the issue of the Liberator in late game TvP making it near impossible for the Protoss player to win though. Right now, Protoss are winning a lot because their early all in plays and warp prism harass with adepts are too strong, but if the game goes late, they are pretty much guaranteed to lose.


On September 26 2015 04:26 TheWinks wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 26 2015 04:03 ROOTFayth wrote:
I think people would see a massive difference with just a big warp prism nerf when it comes to adept, just straight up mass adepts without a warp prism isn't particularly game breaking

The stats of the unit itself are overtuned. No warp prism nerf is going to change that.

Actually, for the most part, the Warp Prism harass with Adepts is what is actually winning games. Adept plays without a Warp prism don't seem to be all that strong unless the Terran player just doesn't wall. I'm not saying the adept isn't too strong right now, but the Adept itself isn't nearly as big of a problem as people are making it out to be. It's the fact that it just has too much HP for a 2 supply unit, making it too good at tanking things like Marauders (so blink stalkers/Immortals can deal the damage), and that it has overly specialized DPS that is particularly strong for harassment.
[PkF] Wire
Profile Joined March 2013
France24209 Posts
September 25 2015 20:17 GMT
#57
On September 26 2015 05:11 Asamu1 wrote:
There is also the issue of the Liberator in late game TvP making it near impossible for the Protoss player to win though. Right now, Protoss are winning a lot because their early all in plays and warp prism harass with adepts are too strong, but if the game goes late, they are pretty much guaranteed to lose.

This is no reason not to nerf the adept. This is in fact a reason to nerf both the adept and the liberator.
Asamu1
Profile Joined February 2014
8 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-09-25 20:22:34
September 25 2015 20:21 GMT
#58
On September 26 2015 05:17 [PkF] Wire wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 26 2015 05:11 Asamu1 wrote:
There is also the issue of the Liberator in late game TvP making it near impossible for the Protoss player to win though. Right now, Protoss are winning a lot because their early all in plays and warp prism harass with adepts are too strong, but if the game goes late, they are pretty much guaranteed to lose.

This is no reason not to nerf the adept. This is in fact a reason to nerf both the adept and the liberator.

I didn't say it was a reason not to nerf the adept, I just figured it should be mentioned that the Liberator is also an issue, because if the Adept is nerfed without nerfs to the Liberator, TvP will likely swing entirely in the other direction, and become overly Terran favored, since the Liberator doesn't seem to be making it into balance discussions lately with the focus on adepts.
[PkF] Wire
Profile Joined March 2013
France24209 Posts
September 25 2015 20:31 GMT
#59
btw am I the only one to be very surprised no balance patch came out this week ? Release is coming close...
ZAiNs
Profile Joined July 2010
United Kingdom6525 Posts
September 25 2015 20:35 GMT
#60
On September 26 2015 05:21 Asamu1 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 26 2015 05:17 [PkF] Wire wrote:
On September 26 2015 05:11 Asamu1 wrote:
There is also the issue of the Liberator in late game TvP making it near impossible for the Protoss player to win though. Right now, Protoss are winning a lot because their early all in plays and warp prism harass with adepts are too strong, but if the game goes late, they are pretty much guaranteed to lose.

This is no reason not to nerf the adept. This is in fact a reason to nerf both the adept and the liberator.

I didn't say it was a reason not to nerf the adept, I just figured it should be mentioned that the Liberator is also an issue, because if the Adept is nerfed without nerfs to the Liberator, TvP will likely swing entirely in the other direction, and become overly Terran favored, since the Liberator doesn't seem to be making it into balance discussions lately with the focus on adepts.

What makes you think Liberators are too good? On The Patch (talk show with CatZ and various other pros) the consensus seemed to be that the Liberator is fine, CatZ even thinks the latest tech lab upgrade was an over-nerf.
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