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Hey everyone, thanks for the discussions regarding the proposed changes. We hear your feedback and want to make the following changes for the next balance update.
As we mentioned in our last community update, the Auto Turret will be back on the Raven replacing the Repair Drone ability. However, we received feedback that Auto Turret harass was a bit difficult to interact with due to the Raven’s ability to deploy turrets and promptly leave. Thus, we have decided to lower the Auto Turret’s cast range from 3 to 1, making the Raven user commit more in order to pull off worker harassment. With this change, the effective range of the Auto Turret becomes 7 (1 Cast Range + 6 Attack Range), meaning that well-placed Queens (8 Range) and static defenses (7 Range) will be more threatening to harassing Ravens.
Next, the Disruptor’s Purification Nova ability was becoming difficult to use with its initial charge-up time before launch. We are making a change to the Purification Nova ability and it will no longer need to charge up before firing. Instead, this charge-up time will only exist if the Disruptor drops from a transport, increasing the reaction time for players fighting against Disruptor drops.
Also, we were alerted by a community post this week that High Templars are currently able to cast Feedback on Shield Batteries. In order to make the Feedback ability more consistent with other structures with energy, players will no longer be able to cast Feedback on Shield Batteries.
Lastly, there are several events and tournaments coming up so we want to try and give players as much time to practice as possible. Therefore, we will make the balance changes available for testing in the “Balance Test Mod” extension mod on January 23rd, along with the start of 2018 Season 1 Ladder. For next seasons 1v1 map pool, it will be:
- Abiogenesis LE (+ Show Spoiler +)
- Backwater LE(+ Show Spoiler +)
- Acid Plant LE(+ Show Spoiler +)
- Eastwatch LE(+ Show Spoiler +)
- Blackpink LE
- Neon Violet Square LE
- Catalyst LE
As always, please feel free to let us know what you think on the forums or any other community sites.
(Durations below are stated in faster game speed.)
Terran 
Raven
- Interference Matrix duration increased from 5.7 to 7.9.
- Affected units will now display a status bar to show the duration of the ability.
- Repair Drone ability removed.
- Auto Turret ability added.
- Auto Turret cast range reduced from 3 to 1.
- Hi-Sec Auto Tracking increases the range of Auto-Turrets by +1 again.
- Anti-Armor Missile
- Anti-Armor Missile will no longer have a delay and will fly immediately towards the target.
- Splash radius increased from 2.4 to 2.88.
- Splash damage changed:
- 100% damage radius increased from 0.72 to 1.2.
- 50% damage radius increased from 1.44 to 1.8.
- 25% damage radius increased from 2.88 to 3.
- Energy cost reduced from 100 to 75.
- Enhanced Munitions upgrade removed.
Ghost
- Starting energy increased from 50 to 75.
- No longer starts with the Personal Cloaking upgrade.
Ghost Academy
- Removed upgrade Moebius Reactor.
- Added Personal Cloaking upgrade
- 150 Minerals / 150 Gas / 85.7 Research time
Protoss 
Nexus + Mothership
- Mass Recall and Strategic Recall warp-in times increased from 0 seconds to 0.7 second.
Stalker
- Particle Disruptors damage reduced from 15 (21 vs armored) to 13 (18 vs armored) and period reduced from 1.54 to 1.34.
- Protoss Ground Weapons upgrade will provide +1 base damage and +1 armored instead of +2 base damage.
Disruptor
- Purification Nova initial pause duration reduced from 1 to 0.
- When Disruptors drop from transports, if Purification Nova is not on cooldown, then there will be a 0.7 second pause before being able to use Purification Nova.
- Range indicators will be displayed for Purification Nova when the Disruptor is selected.
Shield Battery
- Now has a 'Stop' command on its command card.
Adept
- Adepts will continue with their last issued command instead of stopping after using Psionic Transfer.
Zerg 
Hydralisk
- Split Muscular Augments upgrade into two separate upgrades:
- Muscular Augments
- Upgrade cost is 100 Minerals / 100 Vespene Gas / 71.4 Research time
- Grooved Spines
- Upgrade cost is 100 Minerals / 100 Vespene Gas / 71.4 Research time
Viper
- Bug fix: Parasitic Bomb initial pause duration increased from 0 to 0.7 seconds.
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Hydra nerf will make Protoss invincible in this matchup. Pretty safe against any Zerg midgame agression. Not a good change i think.
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That Disruptor change seems... not particularly elegant. It's not the kind of thing that a player will see and go "oh, that makes perfect sense".
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RIP Abyssal Reef and maybe Protoss
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Zerg masses one unit for 7 months: Nerf it to the ground.
Terran masses one unit for 7 years: That's okay, they're the highest skilled race.
User was temp banned for this post.
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On January 23 2018 07:49 ZigguratOfUr wrote:
Shield Battery
- Now has a 'Stop' command on its command card.
this makes a lot of sense I have a few times where I needed to target a gateway with a battery to heal it vs zerglings but expended the whole energy of the battery even though the zerglings backed off. You cant stop healing a target once you start unless there is another valid target to re target to.
I'm not sure how I feel about the adept change protoss unit control is often fairly simple so removing actions that protoss players need to control units does not seem like such a great idea, It just lowers the skill ceiling. Also now all protoss players are going to have to relearn how to control adepts with the new mechanic and untrain their brains from how it used to work.
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United States27614 Posts
I have no opinion on the actual changes, but I do appreciate the frequent communication from Blizzard.
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On January 23 2018 08:05 NewSunshine wrote:
That Disruptor change seems... not particularly elegant. It's not the kind of thing that a player will see and go "oh, that makes perfect sense".
its not eligant but it solves the problem, frankly im ok with fixes like this if they cant find another decent way of fixing problems, the disrupter drop was broken, but adding a delay on disruptors in armies just felt clunky and bad. this lets them work well in armies without being able to consta trade with terran bio for free while terran has no time to react. From a gameplay standpoint its the best of both worlds.
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nice change to the Raven's Autoturret. Anything to weaken the # of air-to-ground attack options Terran has is a good thing.
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On January 23 2018 08:07 Solar424 wrote:
Zerg masses one unit for 7 months: Nerf it to the ground.
Terran masses one unit for 7 years: That's okay, they're the highest skilled race.
bio has been nerfed in the past what are you talking about?
-stim nerf
-maurader attack nerf
-bunker build time nerf
-widowmine nerf
its also been indireclty nerfed repeatedly through buffs to the other races. I dont think this nerf kills hydra bane but it does make the timing that zerg can get out speed hydras more reasonable and creates more moments of vulnerability in the mid game where terran and protoss have some breathing room. its a good change.
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Abyssal is gone. Whory shiiiiit
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On January 23 2018 08:16 Cricketer12 wrote:
Abyssal is gone. Whory shiiiiit
I will miss it in my opinion its the best map we have had in LOTV. still all maps need to be retired at some point or the game gets stale, we learned that from the dream pool.
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What's with these interference matrix times?
5.7 -> 7.9 in Blizzard time is 8 -> 11 in real time, and I'm pretty sure interference matrix currently takes 6 seconds, and the plan was to increase it to 10 seconds.
Also the anti-armor missile radii are inconsistent.
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Sad to se Abyssal go. I guess people are sick of it now. It really is the best map we've had in LoTV
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Pretty big Raven changes in a way that looks like it's going to just make them all around better, which is required.
I think the Hydra change is pretty severe but Protoss is suffering pretty badly in the match up at the moment, so obviously some type of nerf was on the table.
Protoss changes all seem decent except for the Purifier which should just be flat out removed from the game. The changes are super inelegant and really reflect the balance teams lack of a clue on how to make the unit good.
Here's an idea..
Put the Reaver...in the game...
Problem solved, Protoss players already have a clue on how the unit works and the unit was able to be balanced in BW relatively well, no reason it shouldn't be implemented to replace the garbage unit that is the Purifier.
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On January 23 2018 08:27 jpg06051992 wrote:
Pretty big Raven changes in a way that looks like it's going to just make them all around better, which is required.
I think the Hydra change is pretty severe but Protoss is suffering pretty badly in the match up at the moment, so obviously some type of nerf was on the table.
Protoss changes all seem decent except for the Purifier which should just be flat out removed from the game. The changes are super inelegant and really reflect the balance teams lack of a clue on how to make the unit good.
Here's an idea..
Put the Reaver...in the game...
Problem solved, Protoss players already have a clue on how the unit works and the unit was able to be balanced in BW relatively well, no reason it shouldn't be implemented to replace the garbage unit that is the Purifier.
Reavers with non-retarded scarab AI sounds pretty broken.
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United States27614 Posts
Don't forget that BW reavers were given a hard delay after dropping from shuttles specifically because reaver drops were too strong 
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On January 23 2018 08:05 NewSunshine wrote:
That Disruptor change seems... not particularly elegant. It's not the kind of thing that a player will see and go "oh, that makes perfect sense".
Ghosts with 75 energy is not very elegant either 
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1 cast range? lol thats useless.
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Even with the buffs, I just don't see the Raven making a comeback tbh. 100/200 and techlab time on the starport is just too much of an investment for the utility it provides. The starport is basically the Terran robo–always overtaxed, and the opportunity cost of using it for a Raven just isn't worth it.
Even in TvT, the mass Cyclone meta means a Raven disables one Cyclone before getting shot down by the rest. The Raven needs buffs, yes, but the real issue is with the starport moreso than the Raven itself.
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