EPTFirst, for reference, two other threads I have made about the raven previously:
Raven transition developed months before popular raven usage by other progamers
A previous thread discussing this exact same topic, that has been disregarded once again by blizzard in their new buff
I'm doing this in good conscience because i do not want to see SC2 die to obvious balance issues that are being left unaddressed by the developers for months at a time, and I want to directly provide direct feedback and a solution to blizzard that will be read openly by the community. I have posted similar things like this on the private pro forums to no avail. Maybe this will help open eyes up to a good solution as well as to the core problem with the raven.
The truth is I do not think certain people at blizzard understand what the problem is with TvZ lategame and why there has been a problem for a long time, despite the balance issues being much more pronounced in recent months.
The reason I say this is because their most recent announcement concerning the raven is a change that does not address the design issue that makes the "raven bad."
This article will be specifically to discuss the glaring lategame balance issue in TvZ right now, how the raven can quite easily fix this, and a solid balance change that goes along with why the raven is currently not working in the role it should be.
First off, I want to go through misconceptions and address arguments that I see here in the forums that are either misinformed and that you will see crop up in other places such as reddit.
Misconceptions about the raven
Misconception: "Players/Progamers are not building or using ravens"
This is the first misconception to address. The truth is players and progamers have been using and testing and playing around with ravens for almost the entire past year.
A lot of progamers have simply given up on attempting to use the raven because of a vast amount of situations where the raven is made into dead supply either from ground transitions from Zerg or from not enough time to gain seeker/PDD energy.
They have been tested, and tested. Ravens are "bad" as you've heard many progamers and myself say. Which leads me to the next misconception...
Misconception: "Ravens are bad."
Ravens are not bad. In fact, when you do have 5+ ravens with the energy for seeker missiles they can be OK.
You'll notice the raven's design in lategame TvZ is similar to the mothership vortex where it is your go-to option and almost the only direct counter option to masses of broodlords and corruptors. The problem with both of these? The time factor, luck factor, and the factor that it depends purely on your opponent "messing up."
You will see players and other spectators say "ravens are bad" but what they mean is that the design of ravens are bad. That the unit is not able to pay itself off like other units can. Keep this in mind when you hear us say the "raven is bad." We're really just shorthand condensing all of our play experience that tells us the raven doesn't work with the statement "ravens are bad."
Ravens are the answer for lategame TvZ, and so much that I have previously mentioned in this thread is currently not being put into application by the design team with the direction of their changes to the raven.
Misconception: "Get 1-2 ravens, learn to use them!"
This is one that pops up occasionally where someone mentions getting a raven to clear creep or for detection TvP. Players and progamers have already tried these things. It doesn't work because it's completely reliant on keeping alive a single unit.
When the opponent has a lot of ways to easily snipe a raven, something like getting 1 raven for detection is not ever worth it. The best way I can describe it is to liken it to depending on the mothership in lategame PvZ as the answer. You're relying on 1 unit that can be sniped, and if it's sniped, you're dead or in trouble.
With the above out of the way...
The fundamental design/balance TvZ issue for blizzard to address
The main underlying issue with the raven in lategame TvZ is that right now the raven is not a reliable unit. It is not a reactionary unit that you can make on the spot to be useful to counter your opponent's tech switches to broodlord/corruptor. It takes way too long to accumulate the necessary energy for a PDD or seeker missile to be useful when it is produced.
A lot of the raven issues has to do with reaction and the time it takes to react to Zerg tech. Ravens have to be prepared minutes in advance to get the seeker missiles. Zerg can pop 10-12 of either broodlord/corruptor or ultra/infestor at a moment's notice.
What needs to be addressed is this reaction time. The raven needs to be buffed in a meaningful way that bridges the gap to where you will be able to have more leeway to react to these massive ground to air and air to ground tech switches from Zerg.
Why should this be a concern for all of us in the community that eagerly are awaiting for blizzard to balance lategame issues in PvZ and TvZ? It's a concern because the most recent design decision announced from blizzard has nothing to do with the design problem:
"Raven Seeker Missile no longer requires an upgrade."
This is a problem. This change shows a lack of understanding from the design team of the design issue that the raven is plagued with.
The above change does not address the design issue of making the raven a more reliable unit, it does not address the issue of how long it takes for the raven to accumulate energy, and it is a change that has zeroimpact on lategame, which is where the balance/design problem lies.
The raven change above only reduces a one time 150/150 investment cost in seeker missile research, and the change will only have a major impact in TvT where 1/1/1 is a very common build, as well as getting a raven early in the game is common.
I've seen posters and others making the misinformed analysis "oh so seeker missile builds faster now," or "we get ravens faster, we get seeker faster," etc. It is not true. Everything in the game in how the raven operates remains exactly the same as before. Unit interactions operate exactly the same as before. You do not have to have played this change to understand this.
How to buff the raven in a way that makes it more accessible, allows itself to be more reliable by paying itself off more often, and in a way that guarantees to not send the unit to the opposite end of the balance spectrum where it is too powerful:
Avilo's change: Corvid reactor now increases raven starting energy to 100.
This is the solution and design/balance change I have come up with from a while ago that I believe should be implemented and tested by blizzard.
There can be arguments made that fungal is too strong vs ravens because it holds them in place, or that the seeker range is too short and it's a suicide unit, etc.
My change addresses the core balance and design issue of the raven I have described above which is the amount of reaction time and time needed to make the unit useful and pay itself off.
What does the above change do?
Puts a limiting factor on when the raven becomes powerful
Blizzard's worry is that if they make too much of a change the raven becomes too powerful. My change's limiting factor is the corvid reactor research. This is an upgrade you really only research in lategame in response to the brood/infestor/corruptor army of your opponent.
Only 1 seeker missile at raven max energy
Another limiting factor of my change, you will still only have 1 seeker missile available with a 200 energy raven to keep it balanced as it currently is.
My change also does not fundamentally change any of the abilities of the unit, or associated resource costs in terms of minerals, vespene gas, or supply.
The amount of time necessary to wait for a seeker is reduced from 50 to 25.
This has to do with dealing with tech switches and making the raven more reliable. Now when you build a raven, the wait time for a seeker missile is cut by 50%. This is huge.
The raven is immediately useful now - PDD/x2 autoturrets
Once again, the core issue with the raven is the wait time and being able to make the raven pay itself off, as well as being able to react to Zerg tech switches.
With a PDD immediately available upon producing a raven, suddenly there is more leeway when your opponent just built 15 corruptors at once. You can now build those ravens in lategame and you do not die from not having spells. PDD is not changed, nor are costs, it's just the time factor at play here again. The raven suddenly becomes immediately useful.
The other thing at play here is now you will have x2 auto turrets available. Once again, this does not change any variable numbers with auto turrets or associated resource costs, it just makes them more accessible.
Having just read those explanations, keep in mind again - the limiting factor is corvid reactor research. This limits the PDD upon production and x2 auto turret upon production to a lategame utility that gives more reaction time to Terrans when they are preparing for broodlord/corruptor.
edit:
How the change affects the other match-ups
TvT: No change, lategame ravens still as good as they are. Corvid reactor once again is the limiting factor.
TvP: No change in WOL, ravens do not have to be useful in this match-up. HOTS: PDD provides a counter to tempest that is more accessible (a lot of people don't even realize PDD can block tempest shots and is one of the only counters).
That is about it. I understand that blizzard wants to take "baby steps" because they are afraid they will overpower the raven or overpower Protoss answers to infestors.
The problem is when that baby steps shows it is not addressing the fundamental design flaw of the unit (like the most recent proposed raven buff shows). So I hope this thread/analysis and proposed change would be the next logical progression from blizzard in "fixing" the raven.
I hope this thread helps people to understand more the core issue with ravens, and shows the best solution to make it stronger in lategame while not tipping the scale anywhere else. Notice not once in this thread have i mentioned nerfing infestors or other units (although I do believe the infestor is too strong).
I feel regardless of infestor strength, that if Terran is actually given a tool to fight brood/corruptor/infestor lategame that is more reliable then it may help the situation more than nerfing every unit into smithereens like there has been a history of with SC2 nerfs.
I'll just leave it here at the end again:
Avilo's change: Corvid reactor now increases raven starting energy to 100.
p.s. I know this thread has been obviously about Terran VS Zerg. I plan to write one regarding PvZ as well, as I think there is a potential solution/help to protoss if psionic storm dealt more damage to massive units (aka broodlords).
