Patch #8 HotS beta

[The_Blade]

The increase in cost for the medivac is still not in the beta.

[DemolitionSquid]

Purify should be something maybe more along the lines of what ms did in alpha, large barrages of energy projectiles on top of its basic attack.

I really think this is the best option. Replace Vortex with Purify as an extra attack. Doubles the damage output of the Mothership for a short time.

The increase in cost for the medivac is still not in the beta.

That's because was no cost increase to the Medevac listed in the notes. The cost increase was for the new Caduceus Reactor upgrade.

[The_Blade]

That's because was no cost increase to the Medevac listed in the notes. The cost increase was for the new Caduceus Reactor upgrade.

I see now.

These are my observations so far:

• PvP is air vs air again
• The mothership only works for cloak field and the occasional emergency retreat.
• Phoenix has a stronger worker harrass and is great for sniping the mothership core.
• Oracle has an op harrass and timebomb just ruins late game for Terran (storms).
• Void Ray is op again. Their new ability liquifies any potential counter and buildings.
• about 6:30 DT rush, a minute less than in WoL
• Tempest is still used, but due to the reduced MS support and the OP void ray it's role is supporting.
  
• Terran bio is super op during the mid game, far more op than before.
• Speed boost + Widow mine upgrade = death to the mineral line. My reaction time is not fast enough to stop this plays and haven't seen someone do it.
• Reapers can kite zerglins/drones so easily it's offensive and Queens can't catch up.
• I've rarely used the Widow Mine in the frontline, because of the friendly fire.
• Thor is still useless vs Mutalisks. It has some potential vs Brood Lords, but vikings still do better.
• Vikings with Seeker Missile support is my new anti colossus deathball unit composition.
• Hellbat's do better vs Zerglings and Zealots, as intended; and with Medivac support they can live forever [vs Zerglings and Zealots].
• Mech-Air play vs Zerg is great with the new upgrades.
  
• I love Hydras.
• Mutas can now catch fenix.
• That 40+ Hp on swarmhosts makes them even harder to play against.
• Corruptor-Swarm Host-Overseer is among the best combinations vs Protoss.
• It's hard to get used to the new fungal dinamics.
• I love Ultras.
• Vipers may survive more, but they are still hard to use at the hive tech level.

[Jconant]

Have you seen carriers more apt at micro? Husky made a comment that they made changes to the ai so that you can move carriers around without interupting the attacking of the interceptors...

[DemolitionSquid]

Here's a good video of how the Carrier works now.

[The_Blade]

It's nice that they finally updated the AI on the carrier, but I haven't seen much of carriers. Until voidrays get a nerf we won't see them much.

[Visions of Khas]

Oh, pretty neat. Much improved from the current carrier. This only takes effect with people in on the Beta though, right, and not WoL right now? =[ I'd love to micro these in 1v1s.

[The_Blade]

Seeker missile is extremely useful right now. I underestimated it's powers. BTW, killing a Raven won't stop the Seeker Missile. Getting out of range is also really hard, if the Raven hits SM close to the target unit.

[Carsickness]

It's nice to see the emphasis on air for Protoss in HotS. Looking at this recent patch you can tell that the Oracle will now just shred through light units (Marines,Zerglings,Zealots) while the Void Rays will shred through armoured (Marauders,Roaches, Stalkers), meaning that a Toss player can now fully commit to a complete air army. Without worrying too much about a mass ground based counter attack.

Have you guys seen the footage of the new Oracle? It's pretty disgusting how fast they chew through SCVs....

[RamiZ]

Seeker missile is extremely useful right now. I underestimated it's powers. BTW, killing a Raven won't stop the Seeker Missile. Getting out of range is also really hard, if the Raven hits SM close to the target unit.

Of course it is powerful, it is the same Yamato Cannon that doesn't need to be channeled, nor upgraded, and cost 25 more energy. Ok, it the range that you can leave and disable Seeker Missile is lowered to 13(Yamato's is 20), but I think it can be extremely potent in some situations. People are bitching about it, and at first, I was like "what the hell, another Yamato cannon?", but if you think about it, when will you go for Battle Cruisers? They are quite expensive, and take ages to get, so why not get their ability, that can be really useful, earlier? It is normal in the late game to get 3-6 Ravens and snipe Colossi/Brood Lords/Archons/Immortals with them, than ~3 Battle Cruisers.

And if this missile stays in the game, I am 100% positive that they will change BC's upgrade.