EPTShould have been the Topic, I seem to have screwed that up however. My point still stands.
Though if an admin reads this, feel free to Change the Topic and erase these first three lines or only change the Topic
As many of you already know, Patch 1.4.2 hit the PTR.
You can see and discuss all the changes in this thread.
I only want to discuss the Protoss Upgrade Buffs.
A lot of Terrans and Zergs feel that Protoss has gotten a huge buff and that Protoss now overall is so much stronger it might become OP due to the Changes.
Skip to the end if you are only interested in the results.
So what exactly changed?
Protoss Ground Armer, Protoss Ground Weapons and Protoss Shields!
Changelock of all the Protoss Upgrades:
+ Show Spoiler +
The cost of Upgrade Shields Level 1 has been decreased to 150/150, down from 200/200.
The cost of Upgrade Shields Level 2 has been decreased to 225/225, down from 300/300.
The cost of Upgrade Shields Level 3 has been decreased to 300/300, down from 400/400.
The cost of Upgrade Ground Weapons Level 2 has been decreased to 150/150, down from 175/175.
The cost of Upgrade Ground Weapons Level 3 has been decreased to 200/200, down from 250/250.
The cost of Upgrade Ground Armor Level 2 has been decreased to 150/150, down from 175/175.
The cost of Upgrade Ground Armor Level 3 has been decreased to 200/200, down from 250/250.
The cost of Upgrade Shields Level 2 has been decreased to 225/225, down from 300/300.
The cost of Upgrade Shields Level 3 has been decreased to 300/300, down from 400/400.
The cost of Upgrade Ground Weapons Level 2 has been decreased to 150/150, down from 175/175.
The cost of Upgrade Ground Weapons Level 3 has been decreased to 200/200, down from 250/250.
The cost of Upgrade Ground Armor Level 2 has been decreased to 150/150, down from 175/175.
The cost of Upgrade Ground Armor Level 3 has been decreased to 200/200, down from 250/250.
Almost everyone agreed that the Shield changes were reasonable and necessary.
I will not discuss the changes the Shield Upgrade Buff brings, if you want to, feel free to do so I might steal something later if I find it worthy
So to finally get to the point:
People say that +2 Weapons and +2 Armor or +3Weapon/+3Armor Timing-Pushes will hit a lot harder and faster.
First of all, this is wrong. If I design my strategy around getting +2/+2 or +3/+3 as fast as possible I will have the resources saved so that I can constantly Upgrade. Therefore my timing-push should not hit any faster because of this patch, as the Upgrade time remains the same. This is regarding a push based on the Forges not being idle until I push.
It is true however that someone who has his build not designes around getting the upgrades asap may research them a little quicker as before due to the reduced cost.
If however, the Push hits faster because of the reduced cost it will not hit harder because I did not save resources since I just used them earlier, resulting in less mining time during the research resulting in overall less units at the time my Upgrades finish. Or if they finish about ~2-3 Seconds earlier the Unit count might remain the same.
But again a +X/+XTiming-Push in my eyes is designed to hit right as the Upgrades finish and to not have idle forges at any point in time.
Now, "the push hits harder".
It is true that resources saved in the Upgrades will get put into either Economy or Army(since I will get the same amount of tech for my timing push either way)
Lets first see the +2/+2 Timing change!
It is -25 Minerals and Gas per Upgrade, granting me a total of 50/50.
I can not afford any Unit with 50/50 except for a Probe.
However, with the excess Gas and Minerals I could replace a single Zealot with one Stalker and still have 25 Minerals left.(for one Interceptor lateron maybe?)
So lets see what happens if I get a Probe instead!
A Probe Mines 50 Minerals in 87 Seconds
The Upgrade takes 190 Seconds without Chronoboost, I estimate a maximum of 8 Chronoboosts off of 2 Nexi to get out the Upgrades asap (I think this is a fair number, could be wrong however, I will change the calculation if you prove me wrong) One Chronoboosts speeds Production by 50% for 20 Seconds, hereby shortening the production by 10 Seconds if completely used.
190 - (80:2) = 190 -40 = 150
The Probe takes 20 Seconds to build so I have 130 Seconds of mining time.
So I have 130 Seconds of mining time, Note that this will result in less than 100 Minerals, still not giving me enough excess resources for a single Zealot.
Summary for +2/+2:
+ Show Spoiler +
I can replace a single Zealot with one Stalker and that is IT!
Now to get on +3/+3
I have now saved 150/150.
That is quite a bit more than for +2/+2 lets say I would have 25 unused Minerals at the time my push hits, then I can afford 1 Stalker 1 Sentry for my 150/150 OR
1 Zealot and 1 Templar (this works even without the excess 25 Minerals).
If I put all 150 Minerals in Probes, it will grant me roughly 80 Minerals from the +2/+2 Probe to my 100 at +3/+3+
Again I am doing this push off of 2 Bases or more, allowing me to produce both Probes at the same time!
+3 = 220 Seconds
220-50(Chronoboost)-20(Probe production) = 150 Seconds Mining Time = ~ 165 Minerals.
So, if I play 100% perfectly I would have an excess of 250 Minerals and 150 Gas at the time I finish +3+3
Summary for +3/+3:
+ Show Spoiler +
You have either
+1 Zealot +1 HT; +1 Sentry +1 Stalker right as you start +3/+3.
or
2 Stalkers; 2 Zealots and a Templar; one Immortal(actually the Immortal Production starts right as +3+3 finishs); one DT and one Zealot; 2 Observers(the second Observer starts right as +3+3 finishs) and 2 Zealots; 1 Observer 1 Stalker 1 Zealot as you finish +3/+3.
+1 Zealot +1 HT; +1 Sentry +1 Stalker right as you start +3/+3.
or
2 Stalkers; 2 Zealots and a Templar; one Immortal(actually the Immortal Production starts right as +3+3 finishs); one DT and one Zealot; 2 Observers(the second Observer starts right as +3+3 finishs) and 2 Zealots; 1 Observer 1 Stalker 1 Zealot as you finish +3/+3.
To sum everything up:
+2/+2 Timing push will be able to replace one Zealot with one Stalker due to the excess Minerals
+3/+3 Timing push will be able to add:
+1 Zealot +1 HT; +1 Sentry +1 Stalker right as you start +3/+3
or
2 Stalkers; 2 Zealots and a Templar; one Immortal; one DT and one Zealot; 2 Observers and 2 Zealots; 1 Observer 1 Stalker 1 Zealot as you finish +3/+3 (Remember that only Gateway units instantly spawn, making the Immortal and second Observer useless for your push)
I now let you judge wether this will completely break the game or not, remember though that this only applies if you Macro is 100% perfect the entire game, otherwise the Units that you can produce as +3+3 finishs will be less.
Remember that this Thread is aimed to discuss the Changes, not the differences in the Upgread Mechanics of all the races.
Edit: some minor cosmetic changes and I further addressed the idea of a timing push now hitting faster.
