After a month of Blizzcon 2008, many fansites finished their reviews of the event, and specially on Starcraft II. They were there, they played the game a lot, they were at the SC2 panels too, and finally they have written about it.
Starcraft Legacy made us lots of articles, including all developer panel discussions in an extremely detailed form, that means photos, videos, transcipts, etc. They wrote about their gameplay impression too, and grabbed up a FAQ where they answer many questions about the game.
Teamliquid attended the event too, with several members, who are interested more on the e-sport side of Starcraft II. Six of them wrote articles about different sides of SC2, each races analysis, matchup analysis, gameplay analysis, and more!
Enjoy!
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9 comments
#1 PiF
C'mon Blizz you can do better than that...
#2 aston
#3 phlored
Protoss OLD and repackaged: Immortals (Dragoon Mod), Mothership (Arbiter Mod), Phoenix (Scout and Corsair Cluster F&^#)
I think the Protoss sound very different. Every unit has either been changed or removed from SC1. Perhaps the feeling that they are weaker is because no one person has had enough time to master them yet.
#4 AUDIE
Yes the writers do say that the archon, colossi, and carriers need some work. All three races still need work. The thor needs to find its place and the zerg needs to fix the hydralusk.
All in all reading this article I think Blizzard has come a long way and is getting close to beta. I think many of the issues are going to be able to be solved in Beta and not Alpha.
I think this is a issue blizzard just needs to accept. Though I feel that the thor and phoenix need to go back to how they orginially were, I feel beta is where things will smooth out much more.
#5 PiF
Also, it is not only the strongest units that suck.
Here's a list I've made with Protoss units that suck and don't suck.
The Zealot Sucks -
- Less Shield points (which is unexplainable lore-wise and lacks any logic)
- With the new pathing they're impossible to micro
- They sort of "stack" better next to each other to give AOE attacks good advantage against them.
The Stalker is good -
+ Great unit for micro management,mobile and with plenty or roles.
The Dark Templar Sucks -
- Nothing new about it, seems like the templars are stupid and haven't learned anything new?
- The new Art with the heavy armor and dual-schythe weapon..sucks hard!
The High Templar is good -
+ Great Psi-Storm animation
- (not confirmed: psi-storm has a bit smaller area of effect)
+ Useful new Hallucination
The Nullifier Sucks -
- weak and useless support unit
The Dark Archon Sucks -
- Compared to the new buffed Ultralisk it's a joke
- Its splash is so tiny that it's almost useless unless the units have stacked perfectly
The Phoenix Sucks -
- The main Protoss anti-air unit ? Without its original and awesome Overload skill it's now a slow expensive corsair that doesn't even have splash...
The Mothership Sucks -
- Noobbasher unit. I dont really see it showing up in 100% of the games like the Queen will... heck I dont even see it showing up in 25% of the games.
- Good but not very useable support abilities.
The Colossus SUCKS -
- The WORST unit in the game so far.
- Totally uncontrollable and weak attack mechanic
- Too expensive
- Can be hit by both ground and air
+ Can walk on cliffs? wow how useful..
The Carrier doesn't suck that much -
- Only 4 Interceptors allowed
+ Comes with 4 interceptors when built
+ Has some new special ships that can be summoned to fight for him..which are not that powerful actually
- the mentioned above have a build time,they cost minerals/gas and they last no more than a minute
The Phase Prism is good -
+ It picks up and deploys units faster than the sc1 shuttle thanks to some new mechanics
+ It can be used as a pylon (which is simply precious)
+ It has a speed upgrade (I think)
So the Overall Ratio for the Protoss units is about 7:3
And having calculated that the Ratios for the Terran and Zerg are both about 1:9 I'd say one thing:
FIX THE PROTOSS PLEASE!!! I BEG OF YOU!
p.s. I really hope someone from Bizz reads this
#6 justinwoo
#7 phlored
Zealot HP (Subject to balance, right?) Plus you have to factor in charge.
Dark Templar art DOES REALLY SUCK compared to the cloak and sword thing happening in SC1. It's lame. I'd prefer the old art.
With the High Templar I am surprised they've weakened psi storm. This will force Protoss players to tech to Carrier in late game against Zerg where before they didn't necessarily have to.
Nullifier. You can Gate/Core right to it! I think it will serve really well in harassment. Fire the Molecular disruptor into the SCV, Probe or Drone stream. OR, even more annoying cast Force fields in front of minerals. Early game this unit could seriously disrupt enemy economy if properly micro'd.
Totally agree on Phoenix. BUT IT GOES DEEPER THAN THAT FOR ME It bothers me that the protoss lose Overload and the Zerg lose the Scourges while Terrans are upgraded with the missile barrage AND defensive matrix for the Battlecruiser?! Where's the air balance?! Zerg are supposed to fight Battlecruisers with the Corruptor while Protoss have to tech to Carrier...? I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Totally agree on Mothership.
The Colossus DOES suck! I find this to be incredibly disappointing too because it was probably one of the most exciting units. It was supposed to be "the same or better than the reaver"... not even close. It's now an incredibly expensive P.O.S.
I like the Carrier too. Plus I think they will be more easily fought now that their interceptors are smaller. In SC1 they blacked out the sky. You couldn't select anything under them so you were unable to micro attack the carriers unless you had previously hotkeyed in prep for the attack. FRUSTRATING.
The Phase Prism is amazing. I think we have yet to see this unit used to it's full capacity with warp-in. Sure people raid with it, but the idea is to keep the units coming. This unit hasn't been let off the chain yet.
#8 PiF
Compared to what? The 25-mineral cost Zergling and the 50-mineral Marine? Oh my god...how can 1 unit that costs twice or four times more than another be stronger?!?! Unbelievable...
ok,I didn't really know that,can you link me a source?
check out the colored words...
WOW!!! What an imba skill.. it can kill 2 marines for a large energy cost. Considering that 2 marines can now be built simultaneously with a Reactor this spell doesn't sound usefull at all.
note* I agree with Phlored who said that the Nullifier has some great early harassment potentinal
Ehh.. not really because Vortex can only be cast on GROUND units.
Did you know that Colossi cost 300/200 resourses? For that price you can get a High Templar and 2 zealots or something else that is much more usefull.
Plus... about the cliff climbing thing... where on an open-scale battle will there be cliffs? Colossi are only (sort of) good for defending one's base in PvP. Nothing else.
#9 phlored
Karune has said also that the colossus are only effective in packs of 3. LOL.
So 900/600. That's going to need to get balanced because NO ONE will pay that for a marine/zergling killer.
I hate that you can't micro it's attack just like PIF said.