• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 10:59
CET 15:59
KST 23:59
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt1: New Chaos0Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - Presented by Monster Energy7ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT30Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book19Clem wins HomeStory Cup 289
Community News
Weekly Cups (March 16-22): herO doubles, Cure surprises3Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool43Weekly Cups (March 9-15): herO, Clem, ByuN win42026 KungFu Cup Announcement6BGE Stara Zagora 2026 cancelled12
StarCraft 2
General
Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool Weekly Cups (March 16-22): herO doubles, Cure surprises Weekly Cups (August 25-31): Clem's Last Straw? Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - Presented by Monster Energy What mix of new & old maps do you want in the next ladder pool? (SC2)
Tourneys
Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament World University TeamLeague (500$+) | Signups Open RSL Season 4 announced for March-April WardiTV Team League Season 10 KSL Week 87
Strategy
Custom Maps
Publishing has been re-enabled! [Feb 24th 2026]
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 518 Radiation Zone Mutation # 517 Distant Threat Mutation # 516 Specter of Death
Brood War
General
BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ mca64Launcher - New Version with StarCraft: Remast ASL21 General Discussion Soulkey's decision to leave C9 JaeDong's form before ASL
Tourneys
[ASL21] Ro24 Group B 2026 Changsha Offline Cup [ASL21] Ro24 Group A ASL Season 21 LIVESTREAM with English Commentary
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2
Other Games
General Games
General RTS Discussion Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Path of Exile Dawn of War IV
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion The Story of Wings Gaming
League of Legends
G2 just beat GenG in First stand
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread YouTube Thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Cricket [SPORT] Formula 1 Discussion Tokyo Olympics 2021 Thread General nutrition recommendations
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Laptop capable of using Photoshop Lightroom?
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Money Laundering In Video Ga…
TrAiDoS
Iranian anarchists: organize…
XenOsky
FS++
Kraekkling
Shocked by a laser…
Spydermine0240
Unintentional protectionism…
Uldridge
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 2661 users

5.0.11 Patch Released - Balance Changes - Page 4

Forum Index > SC2 General
223 CommentsPost a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12 Next All
Moonerz
Profile Joined March 2014
United States461 Posts
January 24 2023 15:13 GMT
#61
Not a fan of the timing of the patch. Generally Zerg struggles a bit right after a patch until they adjust to the new timings etc, but I dont feel there is going to be a big shakeup due to this patch. Same reason why I think weekend tourneys also strongly favor Zerg, they see other players builds over the weekend and adapt to them. Once they see the builds its hard to catch the Z off guard and youve got to go late game and we see how that goes generally.

Personally I think the default of Zerg having to be the strongest race lategame has really warped the last few years of the game.
Argonauta
Profile Joined July 2016
Spain4967 Posts
January 24 2023 15:58 GMT
#62
what a bummer, right before Katowice we nerf terran and toss and buff zerg...
Rogue | Maru | Scarlett | Trap
TL+ Member
tigera6
Profile Joined March 2021
3479 Posts
January 24 2023 16:02 GMT
#63
So until now nobody was able to give a logical explanation for why they want to have the World Championship played on a entirely new map pool AND a new patch? Not Scarlett, not Harstem, not Lambo, not ESL nor Blizzard representative (whoever the hell that is)? Like there must be a good explanation for this, right? Do we have the same thing done for WC3/AoE before?
QOGQOG
Profile Joined July 2019
834 Posts
January 24 2023 18:14 GMT
#64
On January 25 2023 01:02 tigera6 wrote:
So until now nobody was able to give a logical explanation for why they want to have the World Championship played on a entirely new map pool AND a new patch? Not Scarlett, not Harstem, not Lambo, not ESL nor Blizzard representative (whoever the hell that is)? Like there must be a good explanation for this, right? Do we have the same thing done for WC3/AoE before?

They want to shake things up so we finally have a chance at a Zerg champion.
Sprog
Profile Joined April 2010
New Zealand83 Posts
January 24 2023 19:59 GMT
#65
There's probably a decent reason for releasing the patch before Katowice. People are right tourneys and weeklies have been played on the maps/patch for some time.

I personally find it refreshing to have the community members work on the patch, breathing some new life into the game. Great work team/people.

I was a little concerned re disrupter, played a few Diamond ladder games yesterday and it seems to work just as well as before.
dysenterymd
Profile Joined January 2019
1250 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-01-24 20:03:11
January 24 2023 20:02 GMT
#66
On January 24 2023 21:28 InfCereal wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 24 2023 21:06 MJG wrote:
On January 24 2023 20:29 InfCereal wrote:
Are we all just going to ignore Spirit winning the "first" tournament after the patch went live?

Yes? Okay, just checking. Let me know when something fits everyone's narrative.

My narrative is that releasing any balance patch right before the finals of a year-long tournament is a ridiculous decision. The specific content of the balance patch is irrelevant.


It's not really released just before katowice. It's been in testing for 4 weeks, and it's been played in tournaments the entire time.

It's hardly a surprise to anyone.

A patch hasn't been truly tested until it's been played in high stakes tournaments, which ESL cups simply are not. If there are broken new strategies, the best players will be hiding them for Katowice. Players probably knew that the patch would go through before the rest of the community did, but that doesn't solve the problem of hiding strategies.

Problems like these are inevitable whenever a new patch is released, which is why right before a tournament like HSC would have been the perfect time to release a patch. The prize pool would be high enough to bring out players' best strategies, and players wouldn't have their yearly earnings ruined if something was seriously wrong.

I'm not nearly as pessimistic about the patch as some others but releasing it ahead of Katowice is insane.
Serral | Inno | sOs | soO | Has | Classic
Sogetsu
Profile Joined July 2011
514 Posts
January 24 2023 20:37 GMT
#67
I don't play Zerg, and I don't like Zerg, but I am super happy with the patch, specially before Katowice, it feels like Christmas came back again before leaving again until December.

A lot of people here are so salty it feels they are going to lose their jobs... damn, if TL is like this I don't even want to check the BNet forums right now.
Raptor: "Es hora de salvar a los E-Sports..." http://i3.minus.com/ibtne3liprtByB.png
Athenau
Profile Joined March 2015
571 Posts
January 24 2023 20:50 GMT
#68
The mag-field change still isn't in the game. Understandable, since Reynor lost a couple of games to Heromarine's battlemech, so they probably want to be extra cautious about that one. Maybe they'll wait till after Katowice in the interest of fairness?
tigera6
Profile Joined March 2021
3479 Posts
January 24 2023 21:03 GMT
#69
On January 25 2023 04:59 Sprog wrote:
There's probably a decent reason for releasing the patch before Katowice. People are right tourneys and weeklies have been played on the maps/patch for some time.

I personally find it refreshing to have the community members work on the patch, breathing some new life into the game. Great work team/people.

I was a little concerned re disrupter, played a few Diamond ladder games yesterday and it seems to work just as well as before.

And what is that "decent reason"? I believe most of us want to hear it as well. Normally the new patch is apply before IEM when is was NOT the World Championship (Blizzcon was) and its the start of a new season. But since this is now the Global Final, I dont feel the need to get a new patch in, whether it favors Zerg or not, unless something went really wrong and need immediate attention, which clearly isnt the case here.
Actually there might be another good reason, and that is everything ends after this IEM, no more EPT and they want to get the final tournament ends with a "splash".
Nakajin
Profile Blog Joined September 2014
Canada8989 Posts
January 24 2023 21:57 GMT
#70
On January 25 2023 06:03 tigera6 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 25 2023 04:59 Sprog wrote:
There's probably a decent reason for releasing the patch before Katowice. People are right tourneys and weeklies have been played on the maps/patch for some time.

I personally find it refreshing to have the community members work on the patch, breathing some new life into the game. Great work team/people.

I was a little concerned re disrupter, played a few Diamond ladder games yesterday and it seems to work just as well as before.

And what is that "decent reason"? I believe most of us want to hear it as well. Normally the new patch is apply before IEM when is was NOT the World Championship (Blizzcon was) and its the start of a new season. But since this is now the Global Final, I dont feel the need to get a new patch in, whether it favors Zerg or not, unless something went really wrong and need immediate attention, which clearly isnt the case here.
Actually there might be another good reason, and that is everything ends after this IEM, no more EPT and they want to get the final tournament ends with a "splash".


My guess would be that it's probably mostly an internal scheduling thing. Like they already started working on the patch, if they don't do it now, they would need to keep the team on the project for like 3 more weeks since you need to keep a buffer before Katowice for debugging and you can push the patch live during Katowice, so that would put them late february.

The teams could have other project to work on at that point.

Writerhttp://i.imgur.com/9p6ufcB.jpg
Captain Peabody
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
United States3128 Posts
January 24 2023 22:17 GMT
#71
Hmmm, alright, I can live with these changes, especially after being toned down a bit. Still think it's a bit odd balance-wise when the balance was so good beforehand, but hopefully this shakes out alright.

(I hope the bugs people pointed out with the Disruptor radius possibly being wrong and/or the Cyclone changes not going through are fixed, though!).

Also not a fan of the big patch and maps changes always happening before Katowice, but I guess this makes sense inasmuch as the time before Katowice is basically the closest thing SC2 has to a true "off-season," such that the pros have more time to debate changes and test them than at any other time in the competition cycle. Which is fine I guess, if not optimal.
Dies Irae venit. youtube.com/SnobbinsFilms
RiSkysc2
Profile Joined September 2011
696 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-01-25 00:16:47
January 25 2023 00:16 GMT
#72
On January 24 2023 07:49 Charoisaur wrote:
Yeah letting pros handle patches is just a bad idea, they clearly have a conflict of interest regarding balancing the game which results in the race that has the most influential community members getting all the buffs. Shameful



Protoss has the most players in the balance discord by far and every change is voted on. Every player from the Dreamhack regionals and GSL is in the balance discord (or invited and declined) and thus protoss has the most representation.


So yeah there's no zerg cabal.
TanksALot
Profile Joined December 2002
United States153 Posts
January 25 2023 00:21 GMT
#73
I love Serral and Reynor but now I'm really hoping for a P or T champion so everyone is wrong about this
Big up
CicadaSC
Profile Joined January 2018
United States1891 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-01-25 00:45:21
January 25 2023 00:44 GMT
#74
0% chance serral loses to anyone except maybe dark. yes i know he just lost to byun but honestly he got really lucky. games go late and serral will cake him. Serral will cake anyone. but lets buff ultras and broods and nerf ghost and disrupter.
Remember that we all come from a place of passion!!
Athenau
Profile Joined March 2015
571 Posts
January 25 2023 00:45 GMT
#75
On January 25 2023 09:16 RiSkysc2 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 24 2023 07:49 Charoisaur wrote:
Yeah letting pros handle patches is just a bad idea, they clearly have a conflict of interest regarding balancing the game which results in the race that has the most influential community members getting all the buffs. Shameful



Protoss has the most players in the balance discord by far and every change is voted on. Every player from the Dreamhack regionals and GSL is in the balance discord (or invited and declined) and thus protoss has the most representation.


So yeah there's no zerg cabal.

How many of them actually vote on each change?
JJH777
Profile Joined January 2011
United States4415 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-01-25 01:43:21
January 25 2023 01:17 GMT
#76
On January 25 2023 09:16 RiSkysc2 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 24 2023 07:49 Charoisaur wrote:
Yeah letting pros handle patches is just a bad idea, they clearly have a conflict of interest regarding balancing the game which results in the race that has the most influential community members getting all the buffs. Shameful



Protoss has the most players in the balance discord by far and every change is voted on. Every player from the Dreamhack regionals and GSL is in the balance discord (or invited and declined) and thus protoss has the most representation.


So yeah there's no zerg cabal.


Do you actually know this is the case or are you just making stuff up? If you do know this is the case then does everyone get a chance to vote on the patch as a whole and not just each change? Each change is fine in a vacuum it's the overall package combined with the current meta and 4 years of Zerg winning >50% of events that makes it terrible.
Athenau
Profile Joined March 2015
571 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-01-25 01:33:36
January 25 2023 01:33 GMT
#77
If it's a pure majority vote that's incredibly dumb, as it favors whichever faction has the most members and/or is the most motivated to show up on any given day. I hope that if they're voting, they require a majority of each group to agree on a change.
RiSkysc2
Profile Joined September 2011
696 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-01-25 02:38:13
January 25 2023 02:37 GMT
#78
On January 25 2023 10:17 JJH777 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 25 2023 09:16 RiSkysc2 wrote:
On January 24 2023 07:49 Charoisaur wrote:
Yeah letting pros handle patches is just a bad idea, they clearly have a conflict of interest regarding balancing the game which results in the race that has the most influential community members getting all the buffs. Shameful



Protoss has the most players in the balance discord by far and every change is voted on. Every player from the Dreamhack regionals and GSL is in the balance discord (or invited and declined) and thus protoss has the most representation.


So yeah there's no zerg cabal.


Do you actually know this is the case or are you just making stuff up? If you do know this is the case then does everyone get a chance to vote on the patch as a whole and not just each change? Each change is fine in a vacuum it's the overall package combined with the current meta and 4 years of Zerg winning >50% of events that makes it terrible.


oh yeah i made it up my bad
Fango
Profile Joined July 2016
United Kingdom8987 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-01-25 06:28:02
January 25 2023 05:08 GMT
#79
On January 25 2023 09:16 RiSkysc2 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 24 2023 07:49 Charoisaur wrote:
Yeah letting pros handle patches is just a bad idea, they clearly have a conflict of interest regarding balancing the game which results in the race that has the most influential community members getting all the buffs. Shameful



Protoss has the most players in the balance discord by far and every change is voted on. Every player from the Dreamhack regionals and GSL is in the balance discord (or invited and declined) and thus protoss has the most representation.


So yeah there's no zerg cabal.

Details on the balance council are few and far between. It's clear that a lot of good players are involved because all of the changes by themselves seem like good or smart ideas. It's as a whole the patch ended up looking like a zerg players dream. There's no buff/nerf balance.

It's strange how an over represented protoss can come out with a patch that looks freakishly zerg favoured. So who actually makes the final decisions? The zerg cabal may be a meme but with the patch ending up how it did it's hard not to wonder why. What is the genuine reason behind the race with 8 world championship wins in a row getting buffed right before the 9th?

Also why this abominable map pool. Does the balance discord discuss that as well or is it someone else who's deciding these things based on undisclosed reasons.
Zest, sOs, PartinG, Dark, and Maru are the real champs. ROOT_herO is overrated. Snute, Serral, and Scarlett are the foreigner GOATs
MJG
Profile Joined May 2018
United Kingdom1429 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-01-25 08:39:16
January 25 2023 08:33 GMT
#80
On January 25 2023 09:16 RiSkysc2 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 24 2023 07:49 Charoisaur wrote:
Yeah letting pros handle patches is just a bad idea, they clearly have a conflict of interest regarding balancing the game which results in the race that has the most influential community members getting all the buffs. Shameful

Protoss has the most players in the balance discord by far and every change is voted on. Every player from the Dreamhack regionals and GSL is in the balance discord (or invited and declined) and thus protoss has the most representation.
So yeah there's no zerg cabal.

How many of those people have professional game design experience with a major game development company?

EDIT:

Even though they're detached from reality, I really enjoy the Zerg Cabal memes. Great stuff.
puking up frothing vitriolic sarcastic spittle
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 9h 1m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Lowko461
LamboSC2 313
Trikslyr24
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 37494
Calm 7486
Horang2 3293
Bisu 2888
Shuttle 1268
Larva 670
Mini 650
BeSt 530
firebathero 461
Soma 446
[ Show more ]
Stork 404
EffOrt 341
Light 328
Snow 305
ggaemo 253
ZerO 244
Rush 222
actioN 209
Leta 129
Zeus 110
Sea.KH 105
Mind 91
PianO 88
ToSsGirL 77
Backho 75
Free 75
Pusan 68
Sharp 67
HiyA 54
[sc1f]eonzerg 38
Barracks 33
Movie 29
Hm[arnc] 26
Nal_rA 21
Bale 21
sorry 20
soO 18
Terrorterran 15
Shinee 15
IntoTheRainbow 14
GoRush 13
Sacsri 10
ajuk12(nOOB) 8
ivOry 8
Dota 2
Gorgc6192
Counter-Strike
olofmeister1514
markeloff125
oskar70
adren_tv47
edward4
Heroes of the Storm
MindelVK25
Other Games
singsing2183
B2W.Neo753
hiko753
XBOCT412
DeMusliM292
Hui .236
crisheroes185
Sick107
ArmadaUGS71
QueenE69
ZerO(Twitch)16
Rex14
Organizations
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream54
StarCraft: Brood War
Kim Chul Min (afreeca) 11
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• poizon28 44
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• Noizen50
League of Legends
• Nemesis3394
• TFBlade872
Upcoming Events
PiGosaur Cup
9h 1m
Replay Cast
18h 1m
Afreeca Starleague
19h 1m
hero vs YSC
Larva vs Shine
Kung Fu Cup
20h 1m
Replay Cast
1d 9h
KCM Race Survival
1d 18h
The PondCast
1d 19h
WardiTV Team League
1d 21h
OSC
1d 21h
Replay Cast
2 days
[ Show More ]
WardiTV Team League
2 days
RSL Revival
3 days
Cure vs Zoun
herO vs Rogue
WardiTV Team League
3 days
Platinum Heroes Events
4 days
BSL
4 days
RSL Revival
4 days
ByuN vs Maru
MaxPax vs TriGGeR
WardiTV Team League
4 days
BSL
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
Afreeca Starleague
5 days
Light vs Calm
Royal vs Mind
Wardi Open
5 days
Monday Night Weeklies
6 days
OSC
6 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
Afreeca Starleague
6 days
Rush vs PianO
Flash vs Speed
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-03-23
WardiTV Winter 2026
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
BSL Season 22
CSL Elite League 2026
CSL Season 20: Qualifier 1
ASL Season 21
Acropolis #4 - TS6
RSL Revival: Season 4
Nations Cup 2026
NationLESS Cup
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual

Upcoming

2026 Changsha Offline CUP
CSL Season 20: Qualifier 2
CSL 2026 SPRING (S20)
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.