Why Starcraft 2 won't be complete until Legacy of the Void

[solidsamurai]

Starcraft 1 had 3 campaigns, with 3 different races fearing against each other. That means the entire company had to play 3 different races and voice their opinions on strengths and weaknesses of each. Even the people who weren't pros at playing starcraft were forced to play the game with 3 different races just to QA the single player.

Why would the entire company need to playtest all three races?

In most companies the only people who playtest are the testers (grunts), programmers (bare bones), designers (the lay out, includes people in what I think is now called 'gameplay balance department' ), and the level design. This doesn't include the management, story writers, artists (includes the CGI department), voice actors, and marketing (which includes PR guys, of course). In fact, that's really all the testing you need to create a full campaign (intro, climax and resolution) anyway.

You can't insinuate that the story writers (includes the ones that collaborate to work on the overriding theme of which the publisher then approves for finality) actually play tested the game (sure they might have played once it went beta/gold, but that's irrelevant)?

Why did they put in the Roach unit? Because they are easy cannon fodder for Marauders which is a new and cool unit (latest and greatest in bada boom hardware) that they can put into single player.

More like cannon-absorbing fodder, but go on.

We'll have a real Starcraft 2 game come 2013 and it will be magnificent.

And then they'll probably announce their new MMO they've been working on with bungie, and all the casual gamers will split, because the feeling of anticipation eating at their fallible hearts will distract them from anything to do with SC2.

[DemolitionSquid]

Roaches are just pure fail, though. Its a fragment of its original idea.

[solidsamurai]

Roaches are just pure fail, though. Its a fragment of its original idea.

What's the original idea?

[DemolitionSquid]

What's the original idea?

The Roach was just supposed to regenerate fast. That was its thing. It was supposed to have low HP and Armor, but regenerate fast enough to always survive a 1 on 1, even a 1 on 2 with Marine/Ling/Zealot. It would have added great micro to the Zerg arsenal.

But Blizzard couldn't make that work. The Roach should have been like the Ghost, sneaking around and picking off small groups or SCV's, then regenerating to safety. Now its just... way too complicated and a front-line unit. It regenerates fast... after an upgrade. And only when burrowed. So senseless.

[GnaReffotsirk]

Yeah, and I remember them changing the roach when protoss players didn't utilize blink and proper micro. They just rushed to their deaths. It was also the time when roaches ate 1 supply.

So they first changed the effectiveness. Then supply. This is huge.

The roach was actually a good tier 1 unit that saved you resource and larva for tier 2 transitions.

Now that you've mentioned it again Demo, I think roaches in their previous state would have been good medium counters to tanks and colossi. Now, there's just nothing that could counter these units. All the zerg can do is match these spartans 10 to 1.

I want my spawn broodlings on corruptors at least, or overseers, whatever.

[Aldrius]

Roaches are a pretty decent counter to Colossi and Siege Tanks as long as they don't outnumber them food-wise. (Takes 4 or 5 hits for a colossi to kill a roach, takes 3 for a siege tank to and Roaches are quick enough that they can close the distance and kill the colossi or tank.)

But Blizzard couldn't make that work. The Roach should have been like the Ghost, sneaking around and picking off small groups or SCV's, then regenerating to safety. Now its just... way too complicated and a front-line unit. It regenerates fast... after an upgrade. And only when burrowed. So senseless.

It was always supposed to be a front-line unit. It was supposed to be a massable zerg response to things like Psi Storm and Colossi. Something which won through numbers but wasn't vulnerable to strong AoE. Which is what it wound up being really, just in a different way.

I imagine it either...

A) Didn't work. (Because Colossi and Siege Tanks do burst damage.)
B) Did work but was too strong to balance.
C) They wanted something more traditional, or they wanted something that took a bit more micro-management. (This is the most likely one to me)

They added the concept of burrow-move roaches late in development, I'm not sure why, but I think it's actually kind of redundant. Burrow roaches are useful. Burrow-move on the Roach has pretty limited use overall I find. But maybe I can't just use them very well yet.

[Turalyon]

Also...Zerg.....boring.....WWWWWAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHH HHH!!!!

No, you're doing it wrong!

Only Orkz are made fur fightin'.

[Drake Clawfang]

My first thoughts when I clicked the thread link and saw the topic creator - "oh yay, Wanky is wanking again".

And from there the rest of the post was a bunch of bull about Blizzard pushing a Terran bias in their storytelling and gameplay. Such nonsense. To specifically address your points, what's been nerfed for Terrans?

Ghosts are more expensive. More useful yes, but also more expensive.
New AoE units like the Colossus and Infestor make short work of Marines. Yes they get +10 HP - after a research upgrade, diverting time and money from other things.
Medivacs are much higher tier than Medics and are more expensive. They're also easier to disable with, say, Neural Parasite or Feedback, because they're larger and easier to pick out.
No air unit that can attack both air and ground unlike other two races. Yes there's the Viking but they need time and room to transform.
Limited ComSat sweep options as now Comsat essentially costs 300 minerals per sweep.

Agreed Terran got a lot more compared to other races, but it's not as imbalanced as you make it out.

What was buffed for Zerg?

Neural Parasite
Dedicated anti-air unit buffed, made cheaper and lower-tier
Aerial siege unit buffed heavily
Spawn larva
Ability to spread creep without mineral cost, also affords advance knowledge of opponent's movements and speed bonuses
Ability to build base defenses without needing creep colonies
Ability to rally drones and units to different places means less micromanagement
Transfusion allows you to have a spare queen or two to act as a speed-healer medic
Nydus Worm gives them unequalled drop ability.
Changelings make effective spies, if you opponent doesn't notice it you can look around their entire base.
Roach easier to deploy as a cloaked attacker than Lurker.
Banelings.

Also, I lol'd at the idea of the Marauder as a spellcaster unit.

[Spartan13]

i agree with op

[GnaReffotsirk]

No, you're doing it wrong!

Only Orkz are made fur fightin'.

Xeno...

They added the concept of burrow-move roaches late in development, I'm not sure why, but I think it's actually kind of redundant. Burrow roaches are useful. Burrow-move on the Roach has pretty limited use overall I find. But maybe I can't just use them very well yet.

It would have been obvious and discovered, Aldrius, if it was there. The principle is there, but its practical utility is a mere fancy.