EPT
For those who don't know yet, the current build (about 1 week old) has now removed Medics, and instead added the Medivac Dropship. for more info check the spoiler
+ Show Spoiler [Original Post from Dustin Browder] +
Dustin Browder Lead Designer - Starcraft II posted:
It's the "Medivac Dropship" and it's something we have been playing with for a week or so. If we keep the mechanic, the art will get a going-over.
Here is the thinking:
Question: Reapers are fun and powerful but they are rarely built. Why?
Possible Answer: Since Medics can't keep up with Reapers it's safer and more effective to build more Marines. But a FLYING Medic, now that's something that would be useful with both Marines and Reapers.
Issue: Medics aren't something an enemy player can effectively counter. If you have a bunch of Medics then you are just harder to kill.
Possible Solve: Make the healing unit into a larger vehicle that can be effectively targeted.
There are a ton of issues that might kill this idea. Your heal is now much later in the game, the Terrans are even more air mobile now, etc. So far this one has been somewhat successful in our playtests, but we will see where it ultimately goes. Think about what it will do to and for gameplay and post your thoughts.=)
Remember that what you are hearing about is a "snap shot" of our game. The build that a few folks have had the chance to play was made last Thursday and it has ALREADY changed in a number of key ways (Zerg Base Defenses are no longer 1x1 for instance).
So basically we would love to hear your thoughts, but try not to freak out too much if you see something that bothers you. Things change a lot around here.=)
It's the "Medivac Dropship" and it's something we have been playing with for a week or so. If we keep the mechanic, the art will get a going-over.
Here is the thinking:
Question: Reapers are fun and powerful but they are rarely built. Why?
Possible Answer: Since Medics can't keep up with Reapers it's safer and more effective to build more Marines. But a FLYING Medic, now that's something that would be useful with both Marines and Reapers.
Issue: Medics aren't something an enemy player can effectively counter. If you have a bunch of Medics then you are just harder to kill.
Possible Solve: Make the healing unit into a larger vehicle that can be effectively targeted.
There are a ton of issues that might kill this idea. Your heal is now much later in the game, the Terrans are even more air mobile now, etc. So far this one has been somewhat successful in our playtests, but we will see where it ultimately goes. Think about what it will do to and for gameplay and post your thoughts.=)
Remember that what you are hearing about is a "snap shot" of our game. The build that a few folks have had the chance to play was made last Thursday and it has ALREADY changed in a number of key ways (Zerg Base Defenses are no longer 1x1 for instance).
So basically we would love to hear your thoughts, but try not to freak out too much if you see something that bothers you. Things change a lot around here.=)
Source
Dustin Browder posted:
Question: Reapers are fun and powerful but they are rarely built. Why?
Possible Answer: Since Medics can't keep up with Reapers it's safer and more effective to build more Marines. But a FLYING Medic, now that's something that would be useful with both Marines and Reapers.
Question: Reapers are fun and powerful but they are rarely built. Why?
Possible Answer: Since Medics can't keep up with Reapers it's safer and more effective to build more Marines. But a FLYING Medic, now that's something that would be useful with both Marines and Reapers.
First of all, this reasoning makes no logical sense whatsoever. If you have to bring the Medivac Dropship to heal your Reapers, why not just unload Medics from the old dropships? And isn't one of the main ideas behind the Reaper is being able to jump into an opponent's base WITHOUT the need of having to dropship units? You might as well just use marines and medics in a dropship rather than reapers + Medivacs, right? I really don't like how they're going about trying to make the Reaper more used, they should work on improving the Reaper rather than removing the Medic, WTF. Besides, hit-and-run raiders shouldn't need Medics with them anyways.
Secondly, you have to have a Starport just to make your new "medics." They cost more as well, have a longer build time, but they are easier to kill? Just the thought of having to have your Dropships chase your Marines around to heal them makes no sense. If I have a dropship I'd much rather be *gasp* using them for Drops! And after I drop I don't want to feel forced to keep them with my dropped marines, I want to run them away and maybe use them for more drops.
And in large battles I need several dropships to heal my units. Costly as it is already, I'd actually need more of them than I'd need medics, since they die faster.
Also I believe dropships still retain that slowwwwww acceleration type movement (they take a while to reach full speed from a motionless state) which could mean they would serve as poor support units for an otherwise very mobile infantry army.
And we lose the 2nd most important role that Medics provide: protecting your units by serving as natural blocks from melee units. I think some do not realize how much they often help in this aspect. The fact that Medics don't attack, so units don't naturally target them makes them even better blocks, and this eliminates a portion of micro/positioning from the game, for both the terran and the player attacking them.
This all seems so very wrong. I really hope Blizzard scraps this idea and returns back to the Medics we all love.
And it really doesn't affect, significantly, the medics relationship with any other unit.
