sc2pod [News]

Patch 5 Live

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:31:26 +0000

A brand new patch was just released, the notes haven't even been put on the official forums yet.
I've posted the patch notes in the first reply to this thread.

by Tiger0211

Developer Chat on Twitter Today

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:03:56 +0000

Update: The Dev Chat has ended and Blizzard has posted a ton of questions & answers in this thread on the forums (you can view it here on our blue tracker, but the edits mean you'll be rereading a lot; personally I'll be reading it on the official forums instead). If you're looking for a shorter read, I've posted the questions that I thought most interesting in this post.

Blizzard wrote:We will be holding our next Developer Chat on Twitter on Friday, March 12th, at 4:00 p.m. PST with StarCraft II’s Production Director and Game Director. This chat session will focus on the recently released StarCraft II beta.

Questions will be taken live through Twitter, so be sure to sign up for a Twitter account at https://twitter.com/signup and follow account @StarCraft in order to participate!

To submit a question for the Developer Chat, please tweet using the #BlizzChat hashtag between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00p.m. PST on March 12th. Due to the character limitation on responses within Twitter, all answers will be posted on the StarCraft II forums in a dedicated thread.

In summary: tweet a question with the #BlizzChat tag between 4 and 5 p.m. PST today, (0:00 to 1:00 March 13 in GMT; click here to see the starting time in your time zone) and the blues might answer it on the SC2 forums.

by Tiger0211

Interview with Dustin Browder

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:59:05 +0000

VG247 has posted an interview with Dustin Browder, lead designer of StarCraft II. They discuss the single player campaign, the release of StarCraft II, and of course the beta. Read it here.

by Tiger0211

Baneling Short Story & Patches

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 04:22:56 +0000

Blizzard has released "Broken Wide", a short story by Cameron Dayton featuring the Baneling.

Also, Patches 3 and 4 of the SC2 Beta were recently released. View information on all patches in the Patch Notes thread. The patches feature shorter research times for all main Terran weapons and armor upgrades, a 10 HP nerf to the Zealot's shields, and some minor bug fixes.

by Tiger0211

Patch 2 & More Videos

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:23:43 +0000

The second SC2 beta patch was released a few days ago. Major changes include shortened building times for many Terran buildings, and big nerfs to the Mothership and the Chrono Boost ability.

You can check it out in the Blue Tracker:

StarCraft II Beta - Patch 2 (version 0.4.0.14133)

Also, PiF has been busy putting up many more videos to our YouTube account. Check them all out in his thread.

by Tiger0211

StarCraft II Beta - Patch 1

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:00:31 +0000

The first SC2 beta patch includes several balance changes and some bugfixes. It is really interesting that some abilities has been completely removed and replaced with others.
The Mothership and the Infestor has been changed the most.

You can check it out in the Blue Tracker:

StarCraft II Beta - Patch 1 (version 0.3.0.14093)

by aston

BlizzCast #13 - SC2 Beta Special

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 23:51:50 +0000

Blizzard.com wrote:Welcome to BlizzCast 13! In this edition we are pleased to present our StarCraft II beta special. StarCraft II developers chat about what players can expect now that the beta has begun. Our second segment includes a Q&A with World of Warcraft and Diablo community managers sharing exciting information about those games.

BlizzCast Episode #13

by Tiger0211

SC2 Beta Casts #2

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:02:36 +0000

The second match of PiF's series of video commentaries on StarCraft II Beta matches features Jinro (red Terran) versus Gardn (blue Protoss).
View a playlist with both parts, or view them separately at these links:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34Jv6ifx8Rc
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfgrQrGG__U

Part 1 is embedded above. Part 2 is embedded in the next post in this thread. For best quality, set it to 720p (HD) and make it full screen.

PiF will keep a list of all of his commentaries in this thread.

by Tiger0211

SC2 Beta Casts #1

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:17:24 +0000

Our own PiF has started a series of video commentaries (think Battle Reports) on StarCraft II Beta matches! The first match features me (Tiger, blue Terran) versus TheCiaran (red Zerg).
View a playlist with all 3 parts, or view them separately at these links:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AzIzWl7-Xk
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHCRJhBJj7I
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKRqQFp3NQ4

Part 1 is embedded above. Parts 2 and 3 are embedded in the next post in this thread. For best quality, set it to 720p (HD) and make it full screen.

PiF will keep a list of all of his commentaries in this thread.

by Tiger0211

BattleCruiser video

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:22:42 +0000

In response to some discussion concerning the Battlecruiser's low damage numbers, I recorded the above video demonstrating the BC. First up is 4 BCs shooting up a Thor. Look at the HP on that thing drop! They can really dish out the damage! Then is a BC firing on a Thor, from 3 different angles (to show you the ground attack animation in more detail). Finally, a clip of a BC attacking a Viking for a few seconds to demonstrate the air attack damage and animation.

by Tiger0211

Roaches peekaboo in split screen

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 12:11:35 +0000

Roaches gameplay from the attacker and defender perspective. You really need detection when a Zerg researches Tunneling Claws.

Subscribe to our youtube channel for more videos.

by shadowie

SC2Pod Youtube Channel

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 02:45:15 +0000

To help with our Beta coverage SC2Pod now has a youtube channel where we will post all of our videos. So far just two gameplay videos are up but the plan is to expand to map editing tutorials, commentaries etc as the beta continues. So if you're a Youtube user go ahead and subscribe

The latest gameplay video has been embedded below, it's a 2vs2 game I played yesterday with some pretty interesting warp-in strategies. I'm the blue protoss.

Disclaimer: I'm not exactly a pro gamer and it was one of my first games, so plenty of mistakes were made

by shadowie

StarCraft 2 Beta Live!

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:10:39 +0000

The StarCraft 2 beta has finally been launched!

Blizzard wrote:The Koprulu sector rings once more with the sounds of battle, for the public beta test of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty has officially begun!
Invitations to participate in the beta test are now being delivered. As with previous Blizzard Entertainment titles, the beta-test process for StarCraft II will occur in phases. In each phase, we will be selecting players who meet specific criteria and who have opted in via their Battle.net accounts.

Players who have been invited to participate in the beta test will need to have a Battle.net account. For more information on the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty beta test, please read the FAQ http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?to ... 0&sid=5000 and our recent media alert.

If you didn't receive a beta test invite, don't worry -- it's possible that you'll be added in a later phase. Keep an eye on the email address associated with your Battle.net account, and stay tuned to http://www.StarCraft2.com for further updates.

Emails have so far been sent out to some of the first-wave key recipients, but not all. If you have been selected for the beta SC2 will be available for download on battle.net regardless of any email, so log in and check to make sure.

The computer requirements are:

Quote:PC Minimum Requirements:
Windows XP SP3/Vista SP1/Windows 7
2.2 Ghz Pentium IV or equivalent AMD Athlon processor
1 GB system RAM/1.5 GB for Vista and Windows 7
128 MB NVidia GeForce 6600 GT/ATI Radeon 9800 PRO video card
1024×768 minimum display resolution
4 GB free hard space (Beta)
Broadband connection

From SC2Pod so far the staff got keys, but hopefully we'll get more to hand out to you guys soon. We'll be keeping you updated with screenshots, videos and Q&As etc in the meantime.

I'll be updating the misc gallery during installation and the first login. There is also a thread in the forum with links to streams of people playing live.

If you're in the beta feel free to add all SC2Pod peeps as friends (we'll be updating the list during the day):

shadowie.pod (EU)
Tiger.pod (US)
Sixen.sixen (US)
undifty.pod (EU)

I recorded a short video showing some Brood Lord gameplay. The Brood Lord can charge up two Broodlings while idle and fire them at the same time when ordered to attack. After that, one Broodling is fired at a time, which seems to favor quick hit and retreat attacks.

by shadowie

SC2Pod Tournament Season 2

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:47:41 +0000

Notice: The first game has been pushed back a week (from the 21st to the 28th) due to too few people wanting to play.

The second season of SC2Pod's tournaments will begin this Sunday! (time and other details TBD, go to the thread to help decide) To sign up for this tournament all you need to do is be a registered sc2pod.com member and post a reply here or send a PM to PIF. (you'll just be signing up for this tournament, not the whole season)
For full details, see this thread.

by Tiger0211

Twitter in the Blue Tracker

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 15:05:09 +0000

Blizzard is delivering more and more information via their twitter accounts; @StarCraft, @WarCraft and @Diablo. Therefore it's about time they got added to the blue tracker. Since twitter has a 140 characters limit they can be displayed directly in-line for quick access. The tweets also get automatic wiki highlighting as all other texts here on SC2Pod. If you notice any bugs please post a comment to this thread.

Go to the Blue Tracker.

by shadowie

SC2 Beta Later This Month

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 23:46:39 +0000

As countless other fansites are reporting, (just look at the list!) during the highly anticipated Activison-Blizzard conference call today, Blizzard announced that the StarCraft II Beta will be launched later this month!

Keep in mind that the beta will start in the North America region (including Australia and New Zealand) and later expand to Europe and Asia.

by Tiger0211

New Battle.net Preview

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:50:25 +0000

Avarius wrote:The list of past innovations on to the legacy Battle.net service is long and varied -- the introduction of competitive ladders, server-hosted games, online-stored characters, automated matchmaking, and more. But with the release of StarCraft II, Battle.net will evolve into an even more powerful and advanced online game service that will power all Blizzard Entertainment titles moving forward.

Check out our new Battle.net preview and video interview with Greg Canessa, project director for Battle.net.
http://www.starcraft2.com/features/misc/battlenet.xml

I don't know that any info there is new, but it's still a great page showcasing the new Battle.net that will be coming with StarCraft II!
The blues sure have been busy lately.

by Tiger0211

More Updates (w/ Infested Terran!)

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:59:58 +0000

Twitter wrote:Check out the new model update for the #StarCraft2 infested terran. #SCUpdate http://bit.ly/cnq7gZ

Twitter wrote:One terran ability that the #StarCraft2 dev team is taking a hard look at balancing is Stimpack. #SCUpdate http://bit.ly/dbNnUh

Twitter wrote:Did you check the latest Comic Contest winners? Submit your comic, it’s your chance to get a #StarCraft2 Beta key! http://bit.ly/bbRCcV

The three Vespene Laughs winners for December 2009 are Kelli Hoover, Jason Leonhard, and Robert Addison.

by Tiger0211

Matt Horner profile up

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:58:40 +0000

Matt Horner, Jim Raynor's right-hand man, has now received his own profile on Starcraft2.com. Interestingly enough, Chuck Horner, a marine who served in the Confederate Marine Corps under Arcturus Mengsk, and his wife Carla Horner, could possibly be related to Matt. Both of these characters can be found Graham McNeill's "Starcraft: I, Mengsk" novel

Quote:The second son of a minor merchant on Tyrador IX, Matt Horner grew up longing for something more interesting than his boring, safe life.

He found that something in the tales of a visiting trader, who spoke of an evil empire and the men and women brave enough to plot its downfall. The trader was a member of the Sons of Korhal and was actively recruiting new members. Matt proved to be a perfect target: he was young, smart, idealistic, and bored.

[...]

To continue reading about Horner, check his complete profile.

by Sixen

New Nullifier

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 04:19:30 +0000

That's right folks, looks like the Nullifier [once again] has a new name, and a new look. Though it was previously called the Disruptor, it was still known as the Nullifier in everyone's heart and soul. Perhaps some last minute changes before the Beta? Who knows!

BrandonSc2 wrote:Awesome news, the nullifier has a new look and a new name.
Say hello to the Sentry!
I think the new look is way better and love the name.

by Sixen