Infestor Musings...

[ArcherofAiur]

I am guessing he meant the skull of blight item that heroes could carry around.

Also a big Welcome to B~E. One thing to clarify the current queen is more of a support unit than a defence unit.

[Eligor]

Actually, I meant Archimonde in the final level, which perhaps is a bit obscure.

Another precedent in WC III is Illidan in the Frozen Throne, who leaves temporary burning footprints as part of the walking animation, if the WarCraft III engine can allow units to leave temporary marks on the terrain, then the SC II one should have no problems with it as well.

So I bothered to register just to give my two cents on the Infestor. I feel that desesperat over this unit.

So as I see it, if the Queen is a defense-oriented spellcaster, then the Infestor should be based on supporting offense. Therefore...

Corruption: With an AoE similar to the Plague ability, affected units become corrupted for a short period of time (15-20 seconds). Which mean that if they'd died during that period, they would spawn mantalings, or preferably organic structures that attack both air and ground, like the Corruptor.

And as an homage to SCI, the player would also gain the vision of the corrupted units, as long as the ability last.

Spawn mantalings/organic towers: As its been suggested earlier, it'd effectively replace the infested terrans, thus resolving any lore/suspension of disbelief problem. Spawned units/structures would attack both air and ground, and die shortly.

These two abilities would work well together, for obvious reason. One Infestor could distrupt an entire mining zone single-handedly. Still, this would make the infestor less OP than a Templar...

The third ability could be Infestation, which would spawn creep, roots, and tentacles in an AoE, disabling a handful of buildings and units (zerg as well) for a short period of time. The player could gain all advantage associated with the creep in the AoE. It'd be a lot like the Corsair's distruption, but wouldnt affect units that enter the AoE after the spell in casted.

I think that Corruption and Spawn Mantalings/Towers overlap too much (BOTH ultimately spawn Mantalings or towers), you would like to have either the one or the other. I would personally go for the former as it is an interesting twist on Plague (I have my own thoughts on the subject I may put down here later). "Spawn Mantalings/Towers" isn't very different from the Brood Lord and Queen and overall not particularly exciting, nor possessed of any great offensive potential (building towers made sense for the Queen when she was a base protetor and spawning Broodlings is perhaps even less inspired than Infested Marines (those at least have the novelty of being ranged units), besides I believe that by and large spellcasters shouldn't have abilities that would make them too self sufficient).

I do like your idea for "Infestation", even though I think it's a bit too much. As I explained in the first post of the thread, Zerg have mostly low-key spellcasters that almost never fully kill or incapacitate a unit outright (the Queen's Spawn Broodling in the first SC is a big exception), but primarily serve to weaken the general mass of the enemy force with conventional combat units doing the brunt of the job. An ability on such a scale as you propose would make the Infestor in my opinion even more powerful than a High Templar, as the latter is is not particularly effective against buildings and Psi-Storm can still be escaped. In fact it's much closer to the Mothership's Vortex (again, perhaps even more powerful since it affects buildings as well). So these are my overall thoughts on the subject. Welcome to the Legacy by the way.

[B~E]

Although you're probably right about my ideas, overlaping isnt a bad thing in itself. Think of how invisibility, lockdown and ocular implant all make the ghost better at launching nukes.

Spawning infested terrans/whatevers is stronger than I thought. Imagine what 3 or 4 infestors could do once they've sneaked into a mining zone. Spawning 15 or 20 ranged units at a moment's notice. This will make them good harrassers.

[Eligor]

Although you're probably right about my ideas, overlaping isnt a bad thing in itself. Think of how invisibility, lockdown and ocular implant all make the ghost better at launching nukes.

I meant that they both ultimately spawn Mantalings through slightly different mechanics. Invisibility, Lockdown and Ocular Implant are all very different abilities which can be used for diverse ends, there's no overlap between them just because they all make the Ghost potentially more efficient at launching Nukes.

As for Plague, and any other "diease" themed abilities I believe that a timed dispersion mechanic is the way to go. Instead of it being a simple AoE as in the original StarCraft it should instead be cast on a single unit from which it'll spread to any adjacent units and so on and so forth for a certain duration of time. The enemy player will be able to halt the spread of the Plague by scattering his own units as much as possible, however that will require some serious micro. Overall this makes the Plague a very dynamic ability, potentially very lethal (especially if the enemy is foolish enough to send large clusters of units against your spellcaster) but possibly equally inefficient, all depending on your guile and your opponent's alertness and micromanagement skills.