The Zerg Queen put in perspective

As stated, there are so many things wrong with the core design of SC2 - to focus on the queen specifically seems a little weird.

Before touching units, Blizzard should really look at:

• reverting starting workers to 6 or so
  
• adopting Brood War's "diminishing returns" economy, instead of the current scaling economy
  

Wait a few minutes (months) then take a look at what needs to change beyond that. I agree Queens do too much, like police! But without Brood-War-esque 1-supply "mediocre" hydras (which won't happen), what do you do?

On top of all that

• bio is too strong and the most microable units in the game (reminiscent of mutas in Brood War)
  
• gateway units suck ass and are purely about mobility over sustainability
  
• robo units failed hard when push came to shove, with aesthetic design and narrative intrigue coming in a distant second to gameplay
  
• warp-in is ridiculous and, again, another thing that on paper seems cool but actually just warps (heh) the game into something completely bizarre with the company of the warp prism especially
  
• splash units that are set-and-forget and can win games in a second (banelings, widow mines, disruptors)
  

So I dno if the Queen is worth pulling to the side to discuss. There's just so much fundamental badness that works great for spectators but is ultimately quite shit for the players.

Game's too fucking fast and way too reliant on build orders and unit comps

List:
1. Bio is fine where it is, it's strong, but it takes ages to get running, with stim being one of the longest upgrades in the game. There are a number of decent counters to it, it offers high octane play and counterplay, it is what makes the game actual fun for terrans and their opponents.
2. gateway units, in particular the Stalker being shit is a direct consequence of warpgate being a thing. Its a design choice there won't be a change coming. Never.
3. Robo units, actually, still see a lot of play and aren't nearly as bad as you make them out to be. Being out of the meta because recently stargate is more popular doesn't necessarily mean that they are in dire need of a buff. Besides, in the lower leagues ( anything below GM) the tosses that actually win games are the ones that field archon immortal (why everyone always complains about gateway units being weak when the archon literally can be warped in anywhere and just flushes all Bio and zerg units down the toilet is a mystery to me. Apparently at this point the whole weak Gateway story has taken on a live of its own)
4. Yes, but would the game actually be more fun if you had to waddle dragoons around? BW reminiscence is a bit of a traditional TL sin, doesn't mean the change would work well for SC2
5. If you set and forget your Mines you ll be in for a surprise when a handful of lings charge your bio. The fact that you set and forget just means that you aren't fast enough to micro, bane and mine micro is a thing, just not in gold:D
6. you are right that picking out the queen without changing the early game dynamics between the races is just silly. Queens are just as strong as they need to be right now just so zerg doesn't outright lose to every silly hellbat all in.

And yes, the game is about speed and execution. Real time is big in sc2, strategy and planning are for in between games and that's just how it is. If you prefer slower RTS where you can adjust your wholesome strategic approach in the game that's fine but you ll never be happy with Sc2 because that's just not what the game wanted to be.

I was writing a response to a discussion about the Queen and while I was writing I really came to understand the insanity that is the Queen and the stubbornness of Blizzard. This is what led me to write this post.

Although there are many flaws in SC2's design none compare to that of the Zerg Queen. If you think for a minute about all the jobs the queen does for the Zerg you start to understand the insanity. All this just because Blizzard wants to keep Hydralisk on Lair Tech?

Let's start with what it was designed to do.

Inject larvae, spread creep, heal Zerg units or buildings.(support unit)

As strategy develops in sc2 it seems clear Zerg needs good anti air earlier because of how quick Terran and Protoss make their Starport/Stargate units.

They need the range to deal with Liberator harass and warp prisms, they need good damage to deal with mass phoenix, void rays and banshees.

Queens are also quite capable at fighting ground units because of how durable they are on top of that they can heal each other, they are also good at blocking pathways because of how big they are making it harder for units like hellions to run past them.

They are also psionic so no light or armored damage multipliers work against them.

Because of this combination of healing ability, high hit points and psionic armor zergs started to realize they could rely on mostly pure queen for defense for a lot longer staying safe without having to sacrifice drone production.

This also makes zerg super flexible when facing a attack they were not completely ready for, micro combined with the durability of queens gives zerg the time they need to mass produce the combat units needed to stop the attack. And not only that, they can then be used in an attack like an army of moving photon cannons.

This is the reason Zerg players have managed to be a lot more consistent with their results at the very highest level of play over the years compared to their Terran and especially Protoss counterparts.