OneGoal

[topsecret221]

I know how much we like theory-crafting here on the forums. And I do know that ItWhoSpeaks' articles have been shown here before and haven't really received much negative criticism. So, I thought you guys might like to take a look at this.

The custom map with the changes proposed are available on the WoL NA server under the names OneGoal with HotS on Daybreak LE and OneGoal with HotS on Cloud Kingdom LE. Replays can be sent into onegoalptr@gmail.com to help them adjust balance, add abilities, nerf, buff, and even redesign units if the original design simply isn't working.

Seems promising!

[Carsickness]

Wow nice read! (plus one to you sir)

It took awhile to read it all, but it brings up (and attempts to fix) some great points in the game.

It's also nice to see that a lot of these problems have been brought up on this site over the years as well. I'm not going to attempt to see who came up with them first, us or them? Just that these issues are more universal to players and pros alike.

Being a Protoss player I especially like these changes, as I've always hated the dependencies of Force Fields and Colossi.
You can also tell that Blizzard has been reading this, as a lot of the more recent changes reflect this thread.

I'm going to go try this map right now
Thanks again.

[topsecret221]

There's actually a channel on b.net for this: OnGoal. I suggest hanging out in it if you want to mess with actual players, because it's rather scarce right now.

Also (note) it's only under the custom games section. NOT the arcade. Likely to help keep a few of you from spending lots of search time in the wrong section.

[DemolitionSquid]

The problem with these changes is that some are too extreme to implement. Moving old units up and down the tech tree with massive stat changes would be attempting to rebalanced the game from the ground up. These guys need to work within the current confines better.

[Jconant]

I duno....I really dislike how mmm balls and hydra/roach decimate a gateway army. Hopefully an oracle timewarp+forcfields will make "Training" zealots less feasible for a terran player to abuse, and buy time till you can get high templar or colossi.

[DemolitionSquid]

I have a kind of crazy suggestion, as usual.

The problem everyone except Browder feels we're facing, is that Gateway units are too weak for their cost straight up, because of the utility and power of Warp Gate and Force Field, correct?

My initial thought was, what about a mid-late game upgrade that only buffed gateway units? Say, increased their armor value or shield HP by X, separate from the Forge upgrades? But then I thought, we already have the Forge upgrades for that and its just not an interesting solution. Plus it would be hard to justify giving it to such diverse units and not giving it the Immortal or Collossus.

So my second thought, and suggestion, is change how Guardian Shield function. Right now GS is a flat -2 damage from all ranged attacks, in an AoE centered on the fragile Sentry. Here is what I propose for a new Guardian Shield:

- The area of effect of Guardian Shield is reduced to 3.5 or 3 from 4.
- Guardian Shield does not protect from GtA or ATA attacks, only GTG and ATG. This can be visualized for new players by the encompassing height of the shield in the 3D plane.
- Upon activation of Guardian Shield, the Sentry loses its meager 6 dps attack completely
- The Guardian Shield reduces ALL incoming damage by 7-10 (subject to balance) for 15 seconds instead of reducing damage by 2 to ranged only.
- The Sentry is immune to the effects of its own Guardian Shield and receives no defensive bonus
- However, the Sentry can be protected by the Guardian Shield of another Sentry

What this does is several things.

1. It lets the Sentry continue to utilize Force Field and its weak attack to defend against early game Zergling/Roach, Zealot, and M&M pushes.

2. Every unit that is paired with the Sentry under its shield gets a far more significant buff, while the Sentry itself becomes slightly weaker to compensate. This encourages the production of less Sentries and more of the other ground units.

3. By not allowing the Sentry to get a bonus from its own shield, and requiring another Sentry in proximity for defense, the effective area of Guardian Shield may be reduced late game. The player must decide if they want to protect their Sentries through overlap, drawing them closer together, or have them exposed by spreading them out to encompass more of their main army, but leaving the Sentry more vulnerable to enemy fire.

4. In relation to point 3, larger units like Immortals and Archons will have a harder time fitting under the Shield. More Sentries will be required to encompass a larger army. More Sentries is less gas to invest in higher tech units like Collossi and Archons. Colossi in the affected area will receive the defensive bonus from Guardian Shield, but only from GtG and AtG attacks. All units that use AtA or GtA attacks (like Vikings, Thors, Corruptors and Tempests) will still do full damage to the Colossus.

So, whats everyone's thoughts on this?

[Triceron]

I duno....I really dislike how mmm balls and hydra/roach decimate a gateway army. Hopefully an oracle timewarp+forcfields will make "Training" zealots less feasible for a terran player to abuse, and buy time till you can get high templar or colossi.

Are you talking about this happening in the mod, or in the current game? Because with Immortals as gateway units and anti-light stalkers seems to change up quite a bit here. Forcefields being destructible should be an interesting change too, it seems like they'll work like free fodder. I'm looking forward to trying out this mod and keeping an eye on it in the future. I loved the proposed suggestions when they were just words on paper, it'll be good to see how it all feels.

[topsecret221]

It feels pretty good, honestly. The immortal is difficult to balance, because prior to hardened shield it isn't effective enough, but afterwards it can become too effective. All the numbers are still being tweaked

[topsecret221]

http://www.twitch.tv/topsecret221

Streaming and casting games with this mod, if anyone would like to see it in action...

[topsecret221]

We have now gotten Patch 2 out for the mod, along with some accompanying videos.

Have at it and leave some feedback