David Kim, game balance designer of StarCraft II, posted a "Q&A" earlier today, where he discusses feedback from pro players and addresses some of the concerns about the current state of the game.

Protoss Win Rate is Too Low in Tournaments

In terms of global tournament wins overall, we’re seeing zerg win the most tournaments, whereas in Korea terran is winning the most with zerg not being far behind. Protoss players haven’t brought home quite as many tournament victories compared to the other two races in major tournaments. On the other hand, protoss matchup win percentages are actually very solid in major tournaments. So while protoss tournament players aren’t winning as many tournaments, their match to match win percentages in the same tournaments look very solid.
With that said, we’re currently discussing whether a minor, more generic buff to bring the protoss more in line with the other races would be appropriate. Please note that we’re not considering a major change, and we’re still carefully analyzing this year’s adjusted ratings data from around the world, as well as major tournaments, to determine if a change is needed at all.

You can read the entire, quite lengthy article here.

Source:
Battle.net - Questions from the Community

Blizzard has just announced their plans for a 2012 Battle.net World Championship, where top pro players of StarCraft II and World of Warcraft will compete for first place.

Blizzard Entertainment is proud to announce the 2012 Battle.net World Championship, a major global eSports event featuring some of the best pro-gaming competition in the world. Slated to take place in Asia toward the end of 2012, the Battle.net World Championship will host this year’s StarCraft II and World of Warcraft Arena World Championship tournaments. Blizzard gamers and eSports fans from around the world will be invited to attend and witness some of the most skilled pro players on the planet battle it out for cash and glory.

The championship is planned to take place in Asia near the end of 2012, which would put the event close to BlizzCon, except that the next BlizzCon is going to be in 2013.

We’re excited to be showcasing Blizzard eSports on a truly global stage this year. We're also heavily focused on getting Diablo III, Mists of Pandaria, and Heart of the Swarm into players’ hands as soon as possible. In light of our jam-packed schedule, we’ve decided to hold the next BlizzCon in 2013.

With the championship taking place this year and BlizzCon being pushed back to 2013, hopefully we will have Heart of the Swarm and Diablo III to preoccupy us for a BlizzCon-less year.

Source:
BlizzCon - 2012 Battle.net World Championship Event

A string of Tweets from Tricia Helfer and Robert Clotworthy's Twitter accounts over the past few weeks show that voiceacting for Heart of the Swarm is underway, with both actors excited about their characters.

The tweets can be read below, in chronological order.

Robert Clotworthy:

Spent the day with Raynor. Man this is getting good

All I can say is there's some wicked stuff goin' down and a lot of ass kickin'. The Bourbon Cowboy is knee deep in it now.

Tricia Helfer:

Voicing some #Starcraft today. Kerrigan/Queen is so fun. Bet some of you wish I'd take a pic of the script : ) #fb

No...not allowed to show the #Starcraft script!! #fb http://pic.twitter.com/oeCZyLC1

Voiced more #Starcraft today and going back to the trenches tomorrow for more of the many layers of Kerrigan in this game. #fb

Also, Tricia Helfer posted a picture of her holding the script in a recording studio.

Sources:
Twitter - @RobClotworthy
Twitter - @trutriciahelfer

With recent reports of StarCraft II players "stream sniping" popular streamers, Bashiok gave a lengthy post explaining Blizzard's position on the matter. To those unfamiliar with the term, "stream sniping" is when a player views a stream and presses Find Match at the same time as the streamer. The player has a very high chance to play against the streamer when doing this, and, most likely, keeps the stream open to have an advantage over the streamer during their match. Recent incidents of stream sniping had the community in an uproar, which lead to the aforementioned Bashiok post:

We’ve continued to see reports regarding someone live streaming their match, and their opponent watching the stream in order to gain an in-game advantage (also known as stream sniping). While this is obviously poor sportsmanship on the part of the one viewing the stream, we’d like to clarify that this is not a violation of any current policies. In fact, we cannot enforce any ‘fair play’ policies if a user chooses to provide their opponent an advantage. If someone in-game chooses to tell their opponent every move they’re making, thereby informing them how to counter it, we cannot conclude that any violation has taken place. Even if this could be considered a violation, we simply cannot micro-manage every streamed match to ensure the opponent was not looking at it, or using it to their advantage. It goes far beyond the scope of what we’re able to enforce. It’s advisable for those streaming to take precautions, including delaying their streams by a significant amount of time, to avoid any potential advantage they may be providing their opponent.

We are absolutely able to enforce, and will continue to do so, violations that include harassment of others in-game, use of hacks, abuse of our reporting tools, and attempts to disrupt the gameplay of others. If you believe that someone is in violation of the game rules it does not warrant behavior, language, or abuse that would earn you, yourself, a suspension from the game. If you'd like to report an offense, please report the player using clear and descriptive language only once; support will review that report and take action based on the validity of the complaint, not the persistence of the reporting.

The intent with our policies is to ensure a fair and fun experience in Blizzard games, but the act of providing a window into your game for your opponent to see is not considered a violation, should they choose to use that to their advantage. We encourage anyone streaming to keep this in mind while doing so.

While regrettable that people have been achieving unfair advantages, it can't be expected by Blizzard to police every stream to make sure this doesn't happen, or to ban someone for watching a stream that is publicly available to them. Streamers have been suggested to put a delay in their streams of a few minutes so that stream snipers are deterred, however it isn't a good option for anyone that wants to maintain interaction with their viewers.

Source:
Battle.net - "Stream Sniping" and Customer Service Policy

Activision Blizzard is to release fourth quarter and calendar year 2011 results on February 9, 2012. In conjunction with the release, they will host a conference call that will be broadcasted over the Internet. The conference call could hint about Blizzard’s upcoming titles Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm, Diablo III, World of WarCraft: Mists of Pandaria, and their unannounced MMORPG codenamed “Titan”.