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I can see that the PTS from HotS SH still lingers. I wasn't a huge fan of mass SH either, but watching TLO utilize SH drop harass was the most beautiful thing in starcraft. Similarly Snute's SH play in LotV left me speechless. No question, SH is the least seen unit in the game right now, even more rare than motherships. Funnily enough, the unfamiliarity playing against them is what's making building SH kind of viable. I am only diamond, but I've been laddering by building 5-6 SH instead of mutas midgame. Although it is heavily map dependent, it is a breath of fresh air for myself and sometimes even my opponents. I am loving the idea of less cost more supply Blizzard, I can see SH being a viable support unit in groups 5-6. Although don't rush and make huge number buffs; I don't want other people to start using them too much!
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Im just gonna come out and say it. Starcraft must not generate a lot of capital for blizzard compared to monthly subs for WoW and all the B/s u can buy (Skins,Mounts,characters,stimpacks) for Heros of the storm. Think about it, you buy sc2 once for 40$'s and that's all the money they get off you. Meanwhile they have to keep putting money into changes, so i honestly think they are designing a game that is imbalanced and frustrating so we'll go play other blizzard games and make them more money.
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On April 21 2016 04:57 BazookaBenji1 wrote:so i honestly think they are designing a game that is imbalanced and frustrating so we'll go play other blizzard games and make them more money.
That is one of the silliest conspiracy theories I've heard.
It'll be interesting to see what changes occur, if any. Gotta say, I'm kinda surprised by the sheer amount of vitriol coming out of everyone at even the thought of a proposed swarm host change. It's not like the game's going to immediately switch into swarm host turtle mode.
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On April 21 2016 04:57 BazookaBenji1 wrote: Im just gonna come out and say it. Starcraft must not generate a lot of capital for blizzard compared to monthly subs for WoW and all the B/s u can buy (Skins,Mounts,characters,stimpacks) for Heros of the storm. Think about it, you buy sc2 once for 40$'s and that's all the money they get off you. Meanwhile they have to keep putting money into changes, so i honestly think they are designing a game that is imbalanced and frustrating so we'll go play other blizzard games and make them more money.
I've been thinking about that alot. It's a bit too tinfoilhat, sure, but let's not forget this isn't the old Blizzard anymore. The fact that people even think up these theories about them says something about the state of the game.
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On April 21 2016 04:57 BazookaBenji1 wrote: Im just gonna come out and say it. Starcraft must not generate a lot of capital for blizzard compared to monthly subs for WoW and all the B/s u can buy (Skins,Mounts,characters,stimpacks) for Heros of the storm. Think about it, you buy sc2 once for 40$'s and that's all the money they get off you. Meanwhile they have to keep putting money into changes, so i honestly think they are designing a game that is imbalanced and frustrating so we'll go play other blizzard games and make them more money.
Because the first thing I'd do as an angry consumer would be to give the company that angered me MORE money
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On April 21 2016 06:05 chipmonklord17 wrote:Show nested quote +On April 21 2016 04:57 BazookaBenji1 wrote: Im just gonna come out and say it. Starcraft must not generate a lot of capital for blizzard compared to monthly subs for WoW and all the B/s u can buy (Skins,Mounts,characters,stimpacks) for Heros of the storm. Think about it, you buy sc2 once for 40$'s and that's all the money they get off you. Meanwhile they have to keep putting money into changes, so i honestly think they are designing a game that is imbalanced and frustrating so we'll go play other blizzard games and make them more money. Because the first thing I'd do as an angry consumer would be to give the company that angered me MORE money
Sound like a Blizzard's supporter. I don't see what's wrong with this :D.
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I think that's a little too tinfoil hat. I think the reality, is just like any other business, they've slimmed the team down to barebones, so you have a handful of passionate yet limited individuals. The executives will never give them more resources until the next money project comes around, so they're stuck dealing with all our bullcrap about the actual game design with like 5 guys with whatever money is on the line with e-sports teams already. I'm sure there's a political side we're not even privy to, so the most politically sexy option is to not rock the boat, despite enthusiast dreams. The diehards aren't going anywhere, so who cares. They still have a brand to protect, so they won't abandon Starcraft.
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Here is the deal with Swarm Hosts... the idea wasn't executed right from the beginning...
The Swarm Host should spawn Broodlings, not a ranged unit, the Broodlings should move very quickly, (almost as fast as Speedlings) but die in ~10 or less seconds. The spawn timer should be relatively low too. Those change alone means that massing Swarm Hosts isn't viable, because only a certain amount of Broodlings could attack at once (they would have collision) and the ones in the back would die off before they got to fight.
It does mean, however, that a few Swarm Hosts split off from the main army could harass an expansion effectively and force a response. It also means that you'd see a few in an army to support the army, but again, over doing is just wasteful because the melee Broodling will just get stuck behind each other.
If you did that you could remove Broodlords and replace them with Guardians and give them more micro opportunities. Zerg doesn't need so many "free units."
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Why not take it out of the game completely. Simply the design of the unit is idiotic and frustrating sometimes because of the free unit concept.
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On April 21 2016 07:32 Rollora wrote: Why not take it out of the game completely. Simply the design of the unit is idiotic and frustrating sometimes because of the free unit concept.
I agree, remove it from the game. Units that cost minerals fighting against free units is not good in anyway.
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On April 21 2016 07:13 BronzeKnee wrote: Here is the deal with Swarm Hosts... the idea wasn't executed right from the beginning...
The Swarm Host should spawn Broodlings, not a ranged unit, the Broodlings should move very quickly, (almost as fast as Speedlings) but die in ~10 or less seconds. The spawn timer should be relatively low too. Those change alone means that massing Swarm Hosts isn't viable, because only a certain amount of Broodlings could attack at once (they would have collision) and the ones in the back would die off before they got to fight.
It does mean, however, that a few Swarm Hosts split off from the main army could harass an expansion effectively and force a response. It also means that you'd see a few in an army to support the army, but again, over doing is just wasteful because the melee Broodling will just get stuck behind each other.
If you did that you could remove Broodlords and replace them with Guardians and give them more micro opportunities. Zerg doesn't need so many "free units." Hmm, this doesn't sound like a bad idea at all to me!  Melee Broodlings could be dealt with by ranged units decently, and if they time out pretty fast, they don't give Swarm Hosts an insane siege range which made them the untouchable siege units they were in HotS. But you could plant some beside an enemy base and harass with them, and they would be viable defense as well. At the same time, they could be attacked, unlike the old Swarm Hosts, so they could be removed if it comes to a direct engagement.
One minor detail is, should SH need to be burrowed to spawn Broodlings? Because if so, it would be very reminiscent of Lurkers (a unit that has no attack normally, but deals considerable damage while burrowed) – this is not necessarily a bad thing; it could give players a choice. If not, it might be a bit strong, but at least you could micro it constantly (something, something, micro potential, something, something, cool factor).
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Czech Republic12129 Posts
On April 21 2016 20:06 Sholip wrote:Show nested quote +On April 21 2016 07:13 BronzeKnee wrote: Here is the deal with Swarm Hosts... the idea wasn't executed right from the beginning...
The Swarm Host should spawn Broodlings, not a ranged unit, the Broodlings should move very quickly, (almost as fast as Speedlings) but die in ~10 or less seconds. The spawn timer should be relatively low too. Those change alone means that massing Swarm Hosts isn't viable, because only a certain amount of Broodlings could attack at once (they would have collision) and the ones in the back would die off before they got to fight.
It does mean, however, that a few Swarm Hosts split off from the main army could harass an expansion effectively and force a response. It also means that you'd see a few in an army to support the army, but again, over doing is just wasteful because the melee Broodling will just get stuck behind each other.
If you did that you could remove Broodlords and replace them with Guardians and give them more micro opportunities. Zerg doesn't need so many "free units." Hmm, this doesn't sound like a bad idea at all to me!  Melee Broodlings could be dealt with by ranged units decently, and if they time out pretty fast, they don't give Swarm Hosts an insane siege range which made them the untouchable siege units they were in HotS. But you could plant some beside an enemy base and harass with them, and they would be viable defense as well. At the same time, they could be attacked, unlike the old Swarm Hosts, so they could be removed if it comes to a direct engagement. One minor detail is, should SH need to be burrowed to spawn Broodlings? Because if so, it would be very reminiscent of Lurkers (a unit that has no attack normally, but deals considerable damage while burrowed) – this is not necessarily a bad thing; it could give players a choice. If not, it might be a bit strong, but at least you could micro it constantly (something, something, micro potential, something, something, cool factor). In the eyes of Blizzard micro means more buttons to press. See Protoss.
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Should just redesign the SH instead.
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Locusts were originally melee units; I don't think changing them back is the way to go. We HAVE something that fires broodlings already.
One idea I'd love to see tried would be this: make it so a burrowed Swarm Host generates a small patch of creep and spawns larvae. It stockpiles,say, three gradually while unburrowed and spawns them all at once when burrowed, then they tick out at intervals like a hatchery.
While unburrowed, hitting the 'spawn locusts' button would eject all stockpiled larvae as fast-hatching locusts. That way you could spawn just a few locusts at quite rapid intervals, or stockpile them for a big push.
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