Patch #8 HotS beta

[Hawki]

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

Defensive matrix maybe?

[Pr0nogo]

That wouldn't make it a viable combat option. Remember its cost.

[Carsickness]

That wouldn't make it a viable combat option. Remember its cost.

How about giving it a similar ability to the Raven's PDT (maybe even removing it from the Raven as well)?

The Battle cruiser has how many turrets? 8?
Maybe give it the ability to shoot down projectiles, and would put a turret on cool down when it does.
Trade DPS for army protection. And vice versa.
This way, just having the Battle Cruiser present and positioned right would make it useful.

[Pr0nogo]

That's feasible, but I doubt Blizzard would use that approach. They're more than likely going to just slap something retarded on it and call it a day. Most of the melee game in the expansion is just a jumble of bandaids.

[RamiZ]

Defensive matrix maybe?

Even if it sounds cool, I think that they will give it some sort of AoE ability, since Seeker Missile was the only Terran AoE "spell". Some sort of modified missile barrage from WoL Alpha? Maybe, don't really know what their plans are.

[Alar]

Hell naw. We gotsta have Ramming Speed up in he'ah. The Battlecruiser speeds up and collides with the target, dealing huge AoE damage. Boom.

Also, Nuke is an AoE spell. >.>

[Pr0nogo]

It uses a projectile/unit that's built at a separate structure. It's certainly not a spell in the conventional sense.

[DemolitionSquid]

I'm trying to think of ways to improve the BC now, thanks to this discussion. When you think about the BC, its purpose in the game is very general. It can take a lot of hits, it dishes out decent damage, it does everything alright but doesn't excel in any one area so is mostly used for absorbing damage, and its Yamoto cannon ability. The question becomes, do we want to embrace its current nature as a tank and siege weapon, or would it be more valuable to the Terran army in a different role?

[Todie]

I like the BC. the one thing now though, is that the new seeker missile only has a slight difference from the yamoto canon, witch frankly is a bit dull... so even tho the BC is OK now, i suppose, if they like the new state of seeker missile, this overlap leaves room for an ability change and some potential added spice.. idk what thoguh, but its a good question to raise.

[Sietsh-Tenk]

I think the main problem the BC faces currently is large groups of medium strength ground units, such as upgraded Marines, Hydra's and Stalkers. These units have become far more effective versus air in Starcraft 2 because the improved pathing allows them to dish out their entire damage potential immediately in a way that was impossible in BW.

To make the BC viable as a powerhouse the same way it was in BW, in accordance with its image as a hugely expensive, slow-moving behemoth, the best approach to take would be to mitigate the damage done by rapid small arms fire.

One idea could be a temporary armor boost, though it sounds a tad Warcraftish. Even a +2 or +3 armor boost for 10-15 seconds at a 75-100 energy cost would allow the BC to weather the initial onslaught of these large deathballs and create an opportunity to unleash their firepower and cull some of the critters below.

The low duration means that people who pay attention to their micro will be able to safely run away and come back once the effect has worn off. The low cost would allow the Terran player to play around with it a bit, so you can actually get some old-fashioned dancing micro. The Terran player would have to exploit positioning in order to drive enemy armies into a corner where they can't run, mowing down small enemies with impunity.
The upswing of such a minor armor boost would be that the designated counters to BC's, such as Corruptors, Tempests and Thors, while to a lesser extent Vikings, would be able to punch through the extra armor easily, not to mention either being long-ranged enough (Tempest/Thor) or mobile enough (Corruptor) to successfully engage from a distance and/or not get cornered, further negating the armor advantage.

The downside to all this is that it would reinforce the hard-counter structure already so ingrained in SC2, which I'm not a fan of.

Any comments?