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On May 17 2016 21:23 Musicus wrote:
Stephano taught us not to take gas too early and how to defend your early third base with the bare minimum of units.
As great as Stephano was, Spanishiwa was at the forefront of this movement.
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There was Kyrix_Zenex waaaaaaaay before ST_Life became a thing. His time was admittedly short (I do not think he was into the game that much) but he was one Z who knew how to be aggressive.
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United Kingdom20274 Posts
On May 18 2016 04:28 BioNova wrote:Show nested quote +On May 17 2016 21:23 Musicus wrote:
Stephano taught us not to take gas too early and how to defend your early third base with the bare minimum of units. As great as Stephano was, Spanishiwa was at the forefront of this movement.
Ahaha that's a name that i have not heard for a looooong time :D
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On May 18 2016 05:03 Cyro wrote:Show nested quote +On May 18 2016 04:28 BioNova wrote:On May 17 2016 21:23 Musicus wrote:
Stephano taught us not to take gas too early and how to defend your early third base with the bare minimum of units. As great as Stephano was, Spanishiwa was at the forefront of this movement. Ahaha that's a name that i have not heard for a looooong time :D Oh spanishiwa, its been too long
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On May 18 2016 04:36 usethis2 wrote: There was Kyrix_Zenex waaaaaaaay before ST_Life became a thing. His time was admittedly short (I do not think he was into the game that much) but he was one Z who knew how to be aggressive.
He just did a dum 2 base baneling all in that had no long time impact on the meta. The only reason it worked was because terran didn't open reactor hellion.
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On May 17 2016 21:16 Olli wrote:Disagree with the protoss part. I think for the development of protoss as a race and figuring out how to properly play macro games, even during a time when protoss was horribly underpowered, (former) LiquidHerO stands out the most. He's still, imo, the most influential protoss in history. Here's why: - Figuring out the 1/1/1 with various counters using each tech option - robo, SG and twilight council.
- Figuring out phoenix openings in WoL PvP (HerO was one of the first to ever use them, and certainly made them popular in the Korean metagame. They never stopped existing.) AND PvT (HerO was the first to mix phoenix openings in against gas-first Terran - something that stuck around until LotV).
- Revolutionizing small scale game management in scenarios that derive from standard gameplay. A ton of things HerO did are still around. Example: Dark Shrine against an economically weakened Terran, using small squads of units with certain abilities to their largest possible effect.
- Figuring out warp prism play in macro games all by himself (this is probably the most important one, warp prisms have been a core unit in EVERY protoss matchup since). HerO essentially invented protoss backstabbing the same way Life did for zerg.
- Figuring out how to beat the Stephano roach max. HerO remodelled one of MC's existing builds (4 gates, robo, third base) and adapted it to the metagame of roach midgame timings (1gate, robo, 3gates, third).
- Figuring out how to adjust stargate to the same metagame and popularizing them during WoL. Largely refined SG into colossus play, better than anyone else in WoL. The same build essentially existed until HotS, when +2/blink builds took over.
- Speaking of which, HerO did +2/blink macro back in WoL. He was one of the first to do so and helped popularize it. +2/blink was used by MC before, but almost exclusively as an all in.
- Figuring out how to play against slow armies of any kind (Bl/infestor as well as mech armies) - that includes figuring out completely new playstyles that enforce mobility, harassment, completely re-modelling the way protoss economy management functions (using mineral heavy units to harass, a gas heavy, safe army to threaten frontal attacks, all the while expanding faster than any other protoss to turn pressure into faster tech and stronger armies).
This point is gigantic, because it shows a completely new mentality. HerO revolutionized economy management, army positioning and especially army movement and coordinated multi-pronged attacks AND non-committal aggression. This is the main pillar that protoss macro play is built on to this very day and it started with HerO.
- Figuring out and perfecting blink macro vs Terran better than any other protoss, eventually leading to the widow mine patch. HerO began doing blink into templar play months before everyone started doing it.
- Figuring out templar styles vs zerg, including the use of storm drops.
- Figuring out one of the strongest PvT playstyles in HotS that only became weaker after the widow mine patch: Phoenix into Templar. Stuck around until BlizzCon 2014, where Classic used it to eliminate Polt, shortly after HerO himself beat Polt with it.
- Figuring out multiple macro playstyles vs Terran: most notably perhaps early versions of double forge + charge/archon after pressure. Double forge was then refined by others.
- First to use colossus drop macro builds, an idea that always sort of stuck around and eventually became a legitimate thing in HotS.
- First to figure out the HotS PvT playstyle of mass immortal centered templar styles. Probably the strongest pre-mine-patch playstyle in PvT.
And last but not least, when KeSPA players switched over, they all named HerO as the player they studied to learn protoss in SC2. Concepts that were improved upon, macro gameplay, etc. they all learned from him. So the groundwork for all they know about the game was already in place and they learned it from HerO. PartinG's PvT revolution and perfection of immortal/sentry execution doesn't hold up imo.
I am a true and true HerO fanboy, but this in not a fanboy post, its reality. Warp prism was built into the game by Blizzard, but its role was decided by HerO himself
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interesting pov
i agree with Olli about HerO's contribution
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On May 18 2016 04:28 BioNova wrote:Show nested quote +On May 17 2016 21:23 Musicus wrote:
Stephano taught us not to take gas too early and how to defend your early third base with the bare minimum of units. As great as Stephano was, Spanishiwa was at the forefront of this movement.
I dunno, maybe if you say so, but Stephano made it work vs the best players in the world. I know that Spanishiwa demonstrated how good queens are, but I don't think he took the third as early as Stephano.
Still he was definitely an innovator and fun to watch!
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Fruitdealer contributed way more than nestea in the larvae management and drone/units production.
It was because of the fruit vendor that all zergs learned to cycle between drone production and unit production. The one player that defied that rule was Life, and that is why he will be the best zerg of sc2.
And on the Terran side, MKP invented terran micro, literally. That's half of the terran game, come on. Jinro deserves some credit when it comes to terran macro: more than Mvp, imo.
Despite Mvp being the GOAT of sc2, his contributions to terran mechanics are sparse. He was the king of one-off builds and strategy tweaks. But defining terran macro, idk, Jinro for me is the one we should credit for establishing the basis of terran macro, especially in his two semifinals runs at GSL.
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That single map changed the very basic rules of unit interaction in TvT for the rest of time TL writers sure like their hyperboles.
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Jinro deserves some credit when it comes to terran macro: more than Mvp, imo.
No not even close. Watch MVP play in 2010 and compare that to Jinro. MVP's playstyle is by far the most modern you'll find of any player in 2010. On the other hand Jinro does some weird ass stuff and often relies on cheesy stuff to get ahead.
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On May 18 2016 02:06 BronzeKnee wrote: I find this article interesting because I've been slowly writing a piece focused on the history of the Mutalisk in SC2 and how each race countered it, displaying how the game has become increasingly easier to play and watered down strategically.
The difficulty in playing SC2 now compared to before is that the game is faster. Economies develop quicker, bases mine out faster, and units move literally faster, as compared to WOL. The game at its height, while it was slower, was strategically far richer, in part because it was slower, but also due the lack of hard counters. Unfortunately, WOL reached an impasse strategically due certain unit and abilities being too strong (Fungal, Vortex, ect.) and Blizzard had no idea what to do.
To put it into the context of this article, there is a lot less to "figure out" or develop strategically now because of hard counters. And this is because Blizzard's balancing focus has been, and probably always will be, on individual units and not strategies. It is why they could never balance even basic strategies like the 4 Gate, the 1-1-1, Stephanos Roach Max, or the Soul Train as the the units themselves in those individual all-ins weren't "unbalanced" and Blizzard literally spun their wheels. Blizzard's solution to a problem was always to introduce a new unit that was a hard counter. And that is why we have things like Photon Overcharge.
I should finish my piece.
This sounds really interesting, but how in the world can you balance strategies? That doesn't seem to make sense? We have the units, we devise the strategies, no?
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FruitDealer seems underappreciated for his contributions to the very early days of Zerg. Saw Zerg as the reactive race it later became known as and doing it in a meta where zerg struggled due to small maps and GomTvT.
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Fruitdealer needs a mention, it seems every match in his first GSL epic run he did something new or unheard of.
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On May 18 2016 11:46 Aiingel wrote:Show nested quote +On May 18 2016 02:06 BronzeKnee wrote: I find this article interesting because I've been slowly writing a piece focused on the history of the Mutalisk in SC2 and how each race countered it, displaying how the game has become increasingly easier to play and watered down strategically.
The difficulty in playing SC2 now compared to before is that the game is faster. Economies develop quicker, bases mine out faster, and units move literally faster, as compared to WOL. The game at its height, while it was slower, was strategically far richer, in part because it was slower, but also due the lack of hard counters. Unfortunately, WOL reached an impasse strategically due certain unit and abilities being too strong (Fungal, Vortex, ect.) and Blizzard had no idea what to do.
To put it into the context of this article, there is a lot less to "figure out" or develop strategically now because of hard counters. And this is because Blizzard's balancing focus has been, and probably always will be, on individual units and not strategies. It is why they could never balance even basic strategies like the 4 Gate, the 1-1-1, Stephanos Roach Max, or the Soul Train as the the units themselves in those individual all-ins weren't "unbalanced" and Blizzard literally spun their wheels. Blizzard's solution to a problem was always to introduce a new unit that was a hard counter. And that is why we have things like Photon Overcharge.
I should finish my piece. This sounds really interesting, but how in the world can you balance strategies? That doesn't seem to make sense? We have the units, we devise the strategies, no?
Difficult things are difficult, but certainly not impossible. You have to understand, predict and plan for the interaction between units and how different matchups will be affected. And then make changes when players use them in different ways. It goes way beyond basic interaction between individual units.
It isn't really that difficult in game design honestly, especially if someone like me can do it. But Blizzard's focus has always been on individual units and counters, and the examples are literally endless since it is all Blizzard does (or doesn't do since they've shown a complete inability to balance strategies)... perhaps my favorite was the knee-jerk Thor nerf after Thorzain used Strike Cannons to wreck Immortals in TSL3. Looking only at the individual units certainly made it feel imbalanced, but Protoss had a lot of other choices... but no worries, Blizzard made sure that Immortals would counter Thors as they had intended.
In the end, you can only change units, but a unit should be thought of as a part of strategies, and not as an individual unit, since we only use units in a strategic context, no?
Blizzard can't see the forest due to the trees. Their thinking starts at stops at the unit level. And that is why they've never been able to balance strategies.
On May 18 2016 03:19 Ej_ wrote:Show nested quote +On May 18 2016 02:06 BronzeKnee wrote: I find this article interesting because I've been slowly writing a piece focused on the history of the Mutalisk in SC2 and how each race countered it, displaying how the game has become increasingly easier to play and watered down strategically.
The difficulty in playing SC2 now compared to before is that the game is faster. Economies develop quicker, bases mine out faster, and units move literally faster, as compared to WOL. The game at its height, while it was slower, was strategically far richer, in part because it was slower, but also due the lack of hard counters. Unfortunately, WOL reached an impasse strategically due certain unit and abilities being too strong (Fungal, Vortex, ect.) and Blizzard had no idea what to do.
To put it into the context of this article, there is a lot less to "figure out" or develop strategically now because of hard counters. And this is because Blizzard's balancing focus has been, and probably always will be, on individual units and not strategies. It is why they could never balance even basic strategies like the 4 Gate, the 1-1-1, Stephanos Roach Max, or the Soul Train as the the units themselves in those individual all-ins weren't "unbalanced" and Blizzard literally spun their wheels. Blizzard's solution to a problem was always to introduce a new unit that was a hard counter. And that is why we have things like Photon Overcharge.
I should finish my piece. this is very wrong in light of modern PvZ
Why?
PvZ, at it's height of game certainly had more strategic diversity than today. This was before maps allowed Zerg to turtle to Broodlord/Infestor, but after the Void/Colossus/Stalker deathball era.
And if you think about the great interactions we have in modern PvZ, it is between units that don't hard counter each other. That is actually true across matchups, the interaction between hard counters is boring. And is especially true with tier 1 units, where the presence of hard counters must be limited due to limited choices in the early game (and this is why the Adept needed to be nerfed).
No one wants to watch Immortals versus Thors because skill and positioning are almost not important at all, Immortals just win
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bomber was doing the scv pull against protoss before MVP.
also, hands down....it was ForGG who invented the reactor hellion cloak banshee opener tvz and used it as the standard
MVP was by far the most influential...but my underlying point still supports your case that there was more than one largely influential figure for Terran in WoL
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Austria24417 Posts
On May 18 2016 15:39 LtCalley wrote: bomber was doing the scv pull against protoss before MVP.
also, hands down....it was ForGG who invented the reactor hellion cloak banshee opener tvz and used it as the standard
MVP was by far the most influential...but my underlying point still supports your case that there was more than one largely influential figure for Terran in WoL
Hellion/banshee was an Mvp build.
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On May 17 2016 20:42 TeamLiquid ESPORTS wrote: by Rain heh
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The biggest game changers in my opinion, who came out with styles that were just unthinkable...were Life and sOs...
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People arguing who invented builds in a game with matchmaking and ladder It makes little sense -.-
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