EPThttp://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/6794032960?page=1#4
This is more about design than balance, and it isn't the usual whine, or at least I hope not. I hope to advance a constructive dialogue much like ArcherofAuir did with his article on macro.
Introduction: What are Protoss and how is this identity reflected mechanically?
First Born of the Gods, the Protoss represent the setting's height of civilization and cerebral development. They are Purity of Form made manifest. Mechanically, the Protoss reflect this favored station with high unit damage and health versus their counterparts, absurdly powerful spells, and a high cost in minerals, vespane, and supply. When playing Protoss, the player should feel like they are in command of a small, but elite group of warriors.
What does Micro mean to Protoss? Protoss do not reproduce quickly. After the events of Starcraft 1 and the ensuing Brood War, the Protoss are a shattered people and a broken empire. Thematically, Starcraft 2 captures this with units like the Immortal, as well as their increasing reliance on robotic units like the Sentry and Colossus to supplement their waning numbers. This means that each unit, while durable, is precious and hard to replace. Every unit saved is a victory, every unit lost, a defeat. A Protoss general should be worried when their Stalkers take hull damage, and grimace when they lose a High Templar to a Ghost’s sniper rifle. Design that supports this theme is good for the game and the experience because it encourages a distinct skill set and builds tension for player and unit alike. In this respect, Starcraft 2 does very well in communicating the identity of the Protoss. They know they are an endangered species and they are resorting to whatever means they can to tip the scales in their favor.
The Old Way: Unfortunately, playing the defeated guys doesn't feel terribly fun. Protoss players miss the days when they commanded infantry that demanded the enemy to make tier 2 units to meet them on even terms. Times have changed, and Zerg and Terran have units at tier 1 that efficiently exchange in straight up fights: The Marauder and the Roach, while these units enable a play style diversity, this is coupled with some really cool Protoss advances that have necessitated balance tweaks, creating an unfun dynamic which I will explain below.
Warp In is a fantastic and awesome mechanic that feels very Protoss. They need to allocate their few warriors where and when they need them. However, introducing it as a staple mechanic at a pivotal point in the Protoss tech tree (Cybernetics Core) is problematic. The ability to make units anywhere you have a power grid drastically reduces the defender’s advantage for the opposing player. Moreover, Warp Gate is treated as a macro mechanic, meaning that the optimal play is to always make your gateways into Warpgates, raising the skill ceiling due to the fact that you can’t queue up units. To make this fair, Protoss units have been diminished significantly. The Stalker has 20 less health than its predecessor, the Dragoon (along with the coveted +2 damage per upgrade), and the Zealot has lost 10 Shield. Because of the power of Warp In, the High Templar can’t enjoy an energy upgrade without breaking match ups, and the Dark Templar has a 100 second structure with no upgrades to compensate for the ability to appear next to a Hatchery the moment the tech finishes.
What does this dynamic do? It creates an environment where Protoss still pay the most for their units, but their units aren’t worlds ahead of their tier 1 or tier 1.5 equivalents, and often inferior when upgrades like Stim are taken into account. This means that Gateway units are frantically warped in as fodder to protect their powerful Tier 3 units like the Colossus and the High Templar. It’s like playing Zerg with a bad credit rating. I feel like I spend and sacrifice so much to achieve so little.
To better understand why this is dynamic exists, let’s look at the numbers between the tier 1 units of BW and SC2.
Unit Name Cost: Supply: HP/Shields Damage
BW Zealot 100/0 2 100/60 16
BW Dragoon 125/50 2 100/80 10 (+5 Med+10 Large)
BW Zergling 25/0 .5 35 5
BW Hydra 75/25 1 80 5 (+2.5 Med +5 Large)
BW Marine 50 1 40 6
BW Firebat 50/25 1 50 4 (+4 vs Med +12 vs Small)
The relationship is pretty stark between Protoss and the other races. Protoss units cost around double (or quadruple in the case of the Zergling) the amount of resources, but in exchange have 100%+ advantage in damage and durability. A Zealot about 3 times as much damage as a zergling or a marine. A Hydra literally does half the damage of the Dragoon. These are huge discrepancies that made Protoss the powerhouse it was in Brood War. Let’s look at current unit relationships in Wings of Liberty.
Unit Name Cost Supply HP/Shields Damage
WOL Zealot 100/0 2 100/50 8x2
WOL Stalker 125/50 2 80/80 10(+4 Armored)
WOL Zergling 25/0 .5 35 5
WOL Roach 75/25 2 145 16
WOL Marine 50 1 45+10 6
WOL Marauder 125/25 2 125 10(+10 Armored)
Here we see the relationship get pretty murky. Zerg gets a unit that has 2.5% less total health than a Zealot and 20% less HP than a Stalker, yet does effectively more damage than the Zealot (Armor reduces damage by 1 for the roach vs twice for the zealot) and does more damage than the Stalker’s base or vs armored values. We see the same issue with the Marauder and the Stalker where a Tier 1.5 Terran unit can solo a Stalker. This is because the Marauder does 40% more bonus damage than its Protoss counterpart without losing much in the way of durability (it has about 70% of the Stalker’s hp) while the Stalker is more fragile than its predecessor. WoL’s basic unit relationships are not clear in their power relationship to one another, making things frustrating for everyone involved. This means that Protoss are the most expensive race without being the most powerful per unit. This is the core problem, not Warp In in of its self. It is important to note that Warp In limits how powerful Gateway units can be. (The Immortal was moved to the Robotics right before the WoL beta because of this issue.)
So we have established that the defining elements of core units have changed considerably between Starcraft 1 and 2, making Protoss’s status as “heavy hitters” less distinct. This dissatisfaction has yielded a backlash from traditionalist portions of the community (most notably Team Liquid). These portions of the community wish to revert to older norms, the scrapping of Wings of Liberty’s additions in favor of old favorites like the Reaver, Dragoons, Corsairs, and Old Carriers. This is an understandable reaction because presumably the old system works. However, this is not necessarily correct, nor desirable. A sequel should draw on the design roots to further the design of a game, not replicate it. Warp In and Force Field are fantastic additions to Starcraft 2, but like many things in design, their current implementation produces gameplay that is less satisfying and dramatic than it could be.
A less noticeable identity crisis: Khala and the Dark Templar casts.
With Wings of Liberty, Blizzard has pushed the theme of unity between the despondent Protoss tribes. This is fantastic and naturally flows from the events of Starcraft 2, while producing potentially divergent playstyles within the same race. Love it. And some of their implementation is fantastic. The Stalker is more fragile than the old Dragoon, but has mobility and cunning in exchange. A good Executor can use Stalkers to infiltrate and backstab unwary opponents and retreat to the shadows in the span of 30 seconds. Top notch. The Immortal is a very Khala unit, it is very durable and has very high damage, but is very expensive and is prone to being overwhelmed by lesser units. Units like the Oracle are also spot on where conflict is avoided and tricks are used to harass and befuddle the enemy. All Protoss units are expensive and (should be) high damage relative to their opposing factions. The difference between the casts should be the Khala’s direct and durable vs the Dark Templar’s subtly and fragility (relative to cost). The Voidray is a deeply confused unit and should be addressed.
Gameplay Solutions:
I am not going to claim that these are the best options, and some of them certainly aren't the easiest. But implementing these changes requires no programming or fundamental overhaul of the Protoss tech structure. They require no new units, and they synergize well with the new Mothership Core and the new Stargate units.
Potential Solutions
Again, these ideas are not about achieving numerical balance, but rather to achieve the racial dynamic where Protoss will win fights on a unit to unit basis (not necessarily cost for cost, or supply for supply). All my proposed changes hopefully raise the skill ceiling without raising the skill floor. Good esports are easy to learn, tough to master. Finally, changes to thinks like force field are intended to create gameplay situations that have gameplay options on both sides, not just one. It makes for less binary gameplay, and more gradients in success that Dustin talks about in his lecture on esports.
Change Package #1
-Make Warp Gate require Twilight Council to research.
-Warp Gate Reduces unit build time by N seconds (N is a number to be determined by testing)
-Warp In cooldowns are equal to 120% of the unit’s build time.
-Increase Conversion time by 5 Seconds.
This combination of changes allows Warp Gate to be a powerful Macro oriented research while allowing Protoss core units to be a little bit stronger since they are subject to the same defender’s advantage as the other races. This also lets late game macro toss be viable without heavy use of Warp In without screwing up early timings. With the addition of the Mscore’s recall, Protoss can be highly aggressive at the cost of delaying their Warp In research (Mscore costs 100 gas and the Twilight Council costs 100 gas)
Projected Effect: This change will allow for two different playstyles, a steady legionary march style vs a Special Operations deployment style. The following unit changes are less definite and would require more testing. I do feel that these changes would allow for a stronger Protoss army. Again, even if the numbers are squiffy, this is about yielding a better feel for the race.
Change Set #2
A Tier 1.5 Immortal!
-Move Immortal to Gateway from Robotics Facility. It requires a Cybernetics Core to be built.
-Hardened Shield is now an upgrade costing 150/150 with a research of 75 seconds at Twilight Council
-Health reduced to 100 from 200.
-Damage Reduced to 15+15 vs Armored. (Upgrades give +1/+2 vs Armored) The immortal may hit air units.
-Cost Reduced to 150/75. Supply Reduced to 3.
-Build Time reduced to 35 seconds.
Projected Effect: Making the Immortal a massable unit is a risky proposition. The reason I advocate for such a dramatic shift is because of its binary relationship to Mech. Currently, because a unit exists that can completely ignore tank volleys while doing 50+ damage a shot to armored targets, makes for a relatively predictable TvP. Making Hardened Shields a pricey upgrade allows for tanks and Immortals to have a less binary relationship. Given their slow speed, Immortals would be less likely to simply run over an opponent after a victory, allowing the opponent some time to rally, hopefully yielding more back and forth games. Ghots are also made more effective, as their EMP negates half of the Immortals effective health rather than one third. Finally, it would actually improve Protoss's ability to hold against mass Roach, and give Protoss soldiers that can unit for unit hold their own.
Anti-Light Stalker
-Damage changed to 10+ 4 vs Light (Upgrades remain +1)
Projected Effect: The Stalker becomes a rather nasty soft counter to marines until shields or stim are researched, but must be wary of marauders. They give Protoss a smoother solution to mass muta play. Zerglings are still dangerous post speed, given that it would take +3/0 Stalkers to 2 shot 0/0 Zerglings. What this would do would allow for Blink Stalkers to be more powerful as a core harassment or anti harassment unit. This answers the desire for a dangerous harassment option that deals physical damage to the enemy economy.
Tier-2 Sentry at Robotics
-Move Sentry to Robotics Facility from Gateway.
-Increase cost to 100/150. Supply increased to 3.
-Increase Health and shield to 80/80.
-Increase damage to 10
-Increase Build Time to 35 seconds.
-Guardian Shield now halves the duration of slows and roots.
-Force Field now counts as a neutral structure with 500 HP and N base armor.
-Hallucination no longer requires research.
Projected Effect: Making the Sentry a beefier slightly more expensive support unit allows Protoss to less reliant on landing a single spell. Furthermore, investing in Forcefield delays Colossus tech, making Protoss players choose how they want to dominate the ground. The change to Forcefield allows counterplay for all army compositions and forces the opponent to make a split decision. “Do I kill these forcefields at the cost of damage, or do I try to trade as best as possible?” It also lets the Protoss player kill Forcefields early if they chose.
Change Set #3 Star Gate Tech
Phoenix
-Pulse Crystal Upgrade increases range of Graviton Beam
Projected Effect: Phoenix can more reliably use Graviton Beam to snipe key units like Infestors, Ghosts, or Tanks in the late game.
Glass Cannon Voidray
-Decrease Health to 100 Decrease shield to 80
-Increase base damage to 8+2 Armored. Increase Charge damage to 14+4 Armored.
-Add Prismatic Battery upgrade at Fleet Beacon. (100/100/60 seconds) Increase charge rate by 50% +2 seconds to charge duration.
Projected Effect: This makes the Voidray a dangerous airborne harassment option that requires the opponent to deal with them quickly to mitigate damage. However, due to their decreased durability, they are not a cost efficient a move unit. (3 Storms will kill them.) The Prismatic Battery upgrade enhances their ability to perform their role as well as incentive protoss to move their Voidrays around more.
A non capital ship Tempest
-Tempests do not require a fleet beacon.
-Reduce Shields HP to 100/200 from 150/300
-Bonus damage to Massive reduced to +10
-Cost Reduced to 200/150 Supply reduced to 4 from 6
-Reduce Build time to 50 seconds from 75.
-Range reduced to 9 from 15
-Speed increased to 2.25 from 1.88
-Add Gravitation Sling Upgrade at Fleet Beacon (100/100/ 80 Seconds: +6 Range to Tempests)
Projected Effect: This set of changes is intended to make the Tempest a more viable option for dealing with massive threats like Brood Lords, Thors, and Battle Cruisers. They are more supply efficient for their damage, allow for Stargate bases strategies be aggressive by giving Protoss an early siege unit that is vulnerable to units like Marines, Hydras, Mutalisks, Vikings ect, that evolves into a beast of a sniping unit late game that requires sight and good positioning to optimally use. Furthermore, this differentiates it from the Carrier while still making it a cool addition to the Protoss Armada. Entaro Tassadar!
Improved Carrier
-Decrease build time to 90 seconds from 120.
-Increase base Armor to 3 from 2.
-Increase Interceptor Armor to 2.
-New Passive: Interceptor Squadron Allow Interceptors to stay outside of a moving carrier so long as it is moving. If ordered to attack, they will deploy with greater speed. (Equal to that of a current Gravaton Catapult upgraded Carrier)
-Replace Graviton Catapult with Repair Bay upgrade (100/100 80 seconds: Interceptors are fully repaired upon entering the carrier.
Projected Effect: Carrier has arrived! The Carrier will be a capital ship worth fearing. By legitimizing the old interceptor bug, the vision of the Carrier as a sudden strike craft is enabled from the get go, allowing surprise tech switches to be dangerous. The upgrade provides the old tension that NonY describes in his video regarding the Carrier. The counters to this unit are still in place. Vikings and Corruptors are cost effective, but Marines, Hydras, and Stalkers must rely on good positioning rather than just shredding the Carrier's interceptors.
Mothership:
-Vortex Removed
-New Passive: Psionic Web: Mothership provides a constant powerfield in a radius around it.
-New Spell: Temporal Dilation (100 Energy/Range
/Radius:4 Reduce the movement speed and attack speed of all units within area by 50%Projected Effect: The Mothership continues to serve as a mobile objective that provides more counterplay than Vortex currently does. Temporal Dilation was a fantastic ability in the WoL beta and it is a shame it was removed. For one, you can't abuse it like you can the Archon toilet. Two, landing a good Dilation is strong, but still allows good army splitting to mitigate the damage before and during the spell. Finally, it synergies with good army positioning like Vortex. Also note, that a well timed Nerual could cancel a huge warp in. Big plays
General Projections- Gateway management becomes a measurable aspect of player skill and increases the skill ceiling without raising the skill floor. Good players can stabilize by having gateways pumping out reinforcing units mid battle, or if they are gaining an advantage, can choose to risk the potential of future units by converting their gateways to warp gates and going all in. It provides choices that are not clearly optimal. This makes for interesting gameplay and more involved matches for the viewer. Cooler Stargate play is something I think we all could enjoy watching.
PTR Update: Internal testing is going well. The Immortal is currently a bit too strong for what it costs and is being tweaked. (A bit less damage vs armor and we are giving it a projectile attack so PDD is effective at mitigating damage.)Pre Hardened Shield, Immortals and Tanks are well matched, post research the same issues arise. By making the attack a projectile, Terrans can support their Tank compositions via Bio with the Ghost's EMP, or use the Raven's PDD to further fortify areas. We are also experimenting with making the Jotun light armored and waving the tech lab requirement (but not the armory, allowing them to be mass produced like Hellions.) Gateway/Warpgate play really affects how you place your buildings. Stalkers are an Tier 2 unit and have been buffed slightly to compensate. Having that much damage out at Tier 1.5 was silly vs Hydras, Lings, and Marines. In short, TvP feels pretty damn fun again. With the Widow Mine and MShip core and Tempest, I think we could see a truly varied and rich match up.
PTR Update: 11/25/2012
A NOTE TO ALL: THESE VERSIONS ARE NOT FINAL. NOT ALL OF THE CHANGES WE WANT TO MAKE ARE IN PLACE YET. We are still tweaking HotS units as well as problem units like the Mothership. Feel free to play, and give us feed back at onevoicemod@gmail.com . Just know that things are changing rapidly.
needs, but a serious redesign of the core concepts.
