PTR Patch 1.3.0

[JackhammerIV]

Wow. Blizzard is busy today. New ptr with balance changes yet to be announced and an improved custom game menu. Grandmaster is also being implemented. Links:
http://sclegacy.com/news/23-sc2/973-scl-news-ptr130
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/2356436#blog

EDIT: The patch notes are up at this link:
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/1213111662

[JackhammerIV]

HOLY WTF!!!!!! The balance patch changes.....look so crazy.

No more viking flowers to hide the number of air units.

No more archon toilet instead for 1.5 seconds after the units come out...they're immune to damage. So don't really want to use it on a main battleground with a whole chunk of enemy units being invulnerable for 1.5 secs.

Zealots with charge will hit fleeing units at least once. Big change considering stimmed units can usually run away without being hit by the zealots. Not sure how well it works.

No HT amulet.................wtf blizzard. Now with this you need to warp in HTs and wait 45 game seconds to cast one storm. So infestors and ghosts can spawn with enough energy for their AOE attacks (from an upgrade) but HTs need to wait around. HTs have to research storm anyways. They don't spawn with their AOE ability usable like ghosts and infestors. And storm damage is not guaranteed. At least buff the archon massively then if you're doing this. If this change really makes it in to the official patch no Toss will ever think of anything else other than colossi and/or air.

[TheEconomist]

# high templar

* khaydarin amulet upgrade (+25 starting energy) has been removed.

fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuu uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

[Wankey]

fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuu uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

I don't like this either, and I don't even play Toss. They simply need to make warp in a hell of a lot longer, its way too fast right now. Maybe a ratio of the build time for each unit.

[JackhammerIV]

The warp in is fine. The time waiting is basically between warp in rounds. And right now the cooldown after a warp in is proportional to build times from gateways. I saw the best thing ever. Kiwikaki posted on the TL thread for the patch:
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/view...rentpage=9#170

Kiwikaki:
"what a joke"

[Wankey]

Are you kidding? The cooldown doesn't take into account the amount of time it takes to get a unit there. Making warpin longer, at least double the warpin time, would give you at least time to react. Right now, you see a warp in, you can't even react or do much against it before it trashes much of your base.

[Crazy_Jonny]

Doh, I'll miss you insta-storm.

[MulletBen]

# An alert has been added when MULEs expire.

# An alert has been added when the Chrono Boost buff expires.

# An alert has been added when the Spawn Larva buff expires.

Not sure why this is under bug fixes, but it is important nonetheless.

Units inside a bunker no longer disappear if the bunker is destroyed and surrounded by force fields.

Casting Neural Parasite on a Zerg Egg will not cancel the spell until after the egg completes its transformation.

SCVs can no longer resume construction on buildings while inside bunkers.

Well, the Amulet change is a little extreme, but it isn't something you could say was completely balanced, either. It'll certainly make that deathball much easier to deal with; now once you kill it, you don't get instantly psi-stormed to death.

Good changes everywhere else, though. Interested to see how the stun duration part works; do units still take damage, but are just able to walk around? I feel as though the stun aspect of fungal was the most important part of the spell. also, no more viking flowers. Not sure how I feel about that.

Anyway, if this is anything like the previous PTRs, Blizzard will likely cave to massive pressure and not remove the amulet, while keeping the other stuff in tact.

There's a reason Blizz has a PTR, and it is for obviously crazy ideas like this. Anyway, GL toss.

EDIT:

# In 1v1 observed games, both players’ resource rows are shown in the upper right at the same time.

Loss counts are no longer displayed in Profile and Ladder pages for players below Master League.

# Several improvements have been made to the Join Custom Game section:

* The Details panel has been removed from this page. Map details are now shown inside a tooltip for each game.

* Players can now bookmark their favorite custom games! The number of times a game has been bookmarked will be shown in that game's tooltip.

* Games are now organized into several pages to make finding your desired game type easier:

o Featured: Our team is always on the lookout for new games that are lots of fun. Our latest favorites are shown on this page.

o Most Popular: Shows all game types, with the most played games sorted to the top.

o By Category: This page allows you to browse through Custom Games based on Category.

o Up & Coming: This page highlights games that other players are recommending, but haven't yet become popular.

o Fun or Not: From this page you can automatically join a random new Custom Game. After the game, players using Fun or Not are asked to recommend the map (or not). Recommending maps helps get them onto the Up & Coming page.

o Recently Played: The last several games you’ve played are shown here. Use this to quickly get back into games you play often, or to easily bookmark a game you enjoyed playing.

o Bookmarks: Use this page to view your Bookmarked maps.


# A search option has been added to the Join Custom Game interface.

[JackhammerIV]

Wankey...there's some really really thin timing with the first warp in to hold off aggression. And the units take extra damage while warping in. There's lots of time to react. Hence why toss tries not to warp in units close to enemy units if possible. Terran doing a drop on protoss. Protoss warps in like 3 stalkers right in front of the terran units. Terran can put one stalker down to like orange health, load up and leave without any units dying.

[JackhammerIV]

I still don't get why something isn't done to EMP but instead blizz likes to nerf HT storm. EMP instant 100 damage to protoss units in radius. Storm 80 damage if the enemy units just sit there for the whole 4 seconds.

Terran to reach ghost with EMP:
Ghost academy 150 min 50 gas 40 secs
Moebius reactor 100 min 100 gas 80 secs
Overall 250 minerals 150 gas and 120 secs.

Toss to get templar insta warped in for storms:
Twilight council 150 min 100 gas 50 secs
Templar archive 150 min 200 gas 50 secs
Storm 200 min 200 gas 110 secs
Amulet 150 min 150 gas 110 secs
Overall 650 minerals 650 gas 320 secs (can cut down to around 240 secs with non stop chronoboost).