Beta Update #4

[The_Blade]

HotS forum post

We will be bringing the beta service down this afternoon to make the following balance changes:

Protoss

Mothership Core:

Purify has been changed to the following:

• Purify can now only be cast on your Nexus at max 10 range.
• Once cast, the mothership core will attach itself to the Nexus, transforming into a weapon with range 10.
• While attached to the Nexus, the mothership core will be unable to cast abilities and regenerate energy.
• The damage of Purify has been lowered to 20 and can attack both air and ground units.
• Purify will last until cancelled.

Recall has been changed to the following:

• Recall is now a simple cast-and-click ability on a player’s Nexus.
• Once cast, the mothership core and every friendly unit within a 7-range radius to the core will be recalled to the Nexus.

A new ranged weapon called Repulsor Cannon has been added to the mothership core while in its mobile state.

• Repulsor Cannon deals 8 damage to ground units with an attack speed of 0.85.

The cost of the mothership core has increased from 50/50 to 100/100.
Movement speed has increased from 0.47 to 1.875.

Oracle

• Health has increased from 20/80 to 60/100.
• Speed has decreased from 3.75 to 3.375.
• The duration of Entomb has increased from 30 to 45.

Terran

Widow Mine

• The duration of Activate Mine has been decreased to 2 sec.Auto-cast can now be turned off in both activated and deactivated modes.

Zerg

Swarm Host

• Locust attack range has increased from 2 to 3.
• Locust damage has been reduced from 14 to 12.

Bug Fixes

• Battle hellions can no longer load into Bunkers.
• The splash damage from widow mines will no longer hit friendly activated widow mines.
• The Stargate Command Card now properly includes a Set Rally Point button.
• Swarm hosts now have proper collision while burrowed.

David Kim's comments

thoughts?

[Carsickness]

little confused....if a mothership core is within 10 range of a nexus and uses purify it warps to the nexus? ya?
so if its not within 10 range, purify doesn't work? and what if your completely in the middle between 2 nexus'?

I like the changes though

[Pr0nogo]

If you're not within the range of 10, I imagine the ability returns the 'out of range' error.

Also, goddamn, did you not read that post? Its formatting is atrocious. Copy/pasting out of Battle.net or wherever you did so from is a no-no. -waggles finger-

[The_Blade]

hmm, thought I'd fixed that. Anyways, there it is.

[DemolitionSquid]

Those Mothership Core changes are SO confusing!

What I read:
- Mothership Core now flies 4 times faster
- has a regular AtG attack of 8 at a .85 cooldown
- If the Mothership Core is in range 10 of a Nexus and uses Purify, it teleports to the nexus and basically becomes an immobile giant Photon Cannon until you tell it to stop
- Recall is now a Nexus ability. I assume it shares energy with Chronoboost. When cast, it Recalls the Mothership Core and any units near it to the Nexus.

Does that sound right?

Edit: Read David Kims explaination. It says the Mothership Core now targets a Nexus to Recall to it. So I'm confused... is Recall on the Nexus or on the Core?

[The_Blade]

Nope, mothership core now works more like a "glass" town portal scroll. You have to take it with your army in order to retreat. You just select the target nexus where you want the warp in to happen.

[DemolitionSquid]

I see.

I acctually like these changes a bit more then. Definitely a more defensive unit.

Consider: base is being attacked. Use Purify to quell. Purify not powerful enough, Recall to another Nexus with all remaining Probes in range. Sweet.

[Alar]

The Recall change is rather startling. No more raids and sneaky harassment attacks followed up by a quick Recall! If you want to do anything like that, you'll have to risk your Mothership Core.

[RamiZ]

The Recall change is rather startling. No more raids and sneaky harassment attacks followed up by a quick Recall! If you want to do anything like that, you'll have to risk your Mothership Core.

Which is the point? You won't sacrifice it, you have to play carefully because you might lose it. The old Recall with no cooldown and 100 energy cost means you can just go for an all-in attack where you would destroy enemy base with no drawbacks whatsoever, since you will just recall your whole army with minimal losses, and you could do that TWICE! Now Mothership core is as mobile as Overlord with upgraded speed, so you can still do that, but it might fail if you don't micro properly or enemy tricks you somehow.

I definitely like it, I just don't know about the Purify, it seems a bit weak that is only 20 damage now and only can go on Nexus, becomes Immobile, and can't cast any spells.You have normal attack with Mothership Core now, so it seems like that Purify isn't really worth it.

[TheEconomist]

I like the idea of taking my Core with you. Makes it less turbo noob.