Just letting you know......

[rcp181]

This is a good enough video I think it deserves a repost from time to time. I hope it's reposted shortly before SC2 release as well

Regarding the guy complaining about SC balance: It's mostly about the maps now, otherwise SC is pretty damn close to perfect in balance.

[supercool]

Scouts are still overpriced if you ask me.

Yep

Everything will be just fine!!! People in blizzard knows their jobs as we all know.

[ArcherofAiur]

It's a lot more convenient then saying "SC is a game as balanced as it can be with such diverse races and dependence on map."

And every single game that has diverse races is dependent on map, in fact, every game in existience relies on maps to be balanced.

Agreed. Starcraft is the prime example of a perfectly balanced RTS. I know Demo thinks that map balance is a detrimental thing but its actually one of the best things about Starcraft. If anything some high micro units like queens could be used more often but again thats to some extent determined by the macro style metagame.

[Quirel]

Well, hats off to the person who made that video. Not only was that battlecruiser assault the best thing ever, but it restored some of my confidence in the final balance of SCII.

[Xyvik]

Agreed. Starcraft is the prime example of a perfectly balanced RTS. I know Demo thinks that map balance is a detrimental thing but its actually one of the best things about Starcraft. If anything some high micro units like queens could be used more often but again thats to some extent determined by the macro style metagame.

I share DSquid's opinion that map balance is detrimental, and I offer a rebuttal: CnC Generals (no, not the god-awful Zero Hour x-pak) is actually more balanced than SC is at this point in time. In Generals a player has to pretty much use every unit available to their nation in order to win properly, whereas in current SC things have devolved into 2/3 unit combos. I fail to see how 2/3 unit combos are "perfectly balanced." A prime example is scouts being overpriced. A protoss player going for scouts is wasting his money and his build order, two things you positively can't do in today's version of "build this, click MOAR and win!" known as StarCraft.

SC was at one time nearly perfectly balanced, but certainly not in its current iteration. I certainly hope that over time SC2 doesn't follow the same pattern.

Good video, though. Never saw it before. Although I disagree with some of it's conclusions. It was a part of patch 1.08 (can't remember which part) that introduced the lovely tactic known as Terran Heavy Metal which led to the 2/3 unit combinations we see today...oh well.

[rcp181]

Xyvik, when we talk about balance we mean between races/players, not units. The fact that the scout sucks doesn't make the game imbalanced :P

Honestly I think having to use every unit to play normally would be a bad thing, having to choose a plan and tech pattern (like bio or mech) is part of what makes SC great, and I'm very happy SC is not CnC.

[Xyvik]

Xyvik, when we talk about balance we mean between races/players, not units. The fact that the scout sucks doesn't make the game imbalanced :P

Honestly I think having to use every unit to play normally would be a bad thing, having to choose a plan and tech pattern (like bio or mech) is part of what makes SC great, and I'm very happy SC is not CnC.

So you're perfectly fine with 2/3 unit combos? it never bothers you that certain units are never seen because they waste money and build orders? it doesn't bother you that there are maybe 3 specific build orders per race and if you deviate from them in just the slightest you're going to lose?

If that's truly the case I can't argue with you, as that's your opinion. But I believe balance, and strategy, should be more than that. Again, that's also just my opinion.

[ArcherofAiur]

So you're perfectly fine with 2/3 unit combos? it never bothers you that certain units are never seen because they waste money and build orders? it doesn't bother you that there are maybe 3 specific build orders per race and if you deviate from them in just the slightest you're going to lose?

Im fine with some units not being as good against certain races, build orders or maps. Its a question of degree. If only a couple units were useful then you would have too much homogeneity in a match up. Likewise, if all units were useful then you would have too much homogeneity in matchups. You cant just blanket say all units should be equally useful in all situations.

[Xyvik]

Im fine with some units not being as good against certain races or on certain maps. Its a question of degree. Theres a point when there would be too little units in a match up. But you cant just blanket say all units should be equally useful in all situations.

I concur that not all units should be equally useful in all situations, but the number of un-used units in SC is disproportionate. Here's a list of units I haven't seen in ages in common use:

Terran: Ghost(except vs P), Nukes(i count it as a unit for this), BCs, Firebats (used, but not nearly as much as M&M), Valkyries

Protoss: any air units, with the possible exception of Corsairs with DWeb, both types of archons,

Zerg: ultralisks(games rarely last long enough to see them, and if the game does last that long there are better options), queens, infested terrans, guardians(late game) or devourers(who needs them anymore when the other races don't do mass air?),

I can't think of any more just off the top of my head, but considering how few units in total there are for SC this list makes up quite a portion. And yes, some of the units listed here are used more than others but the fact of the matter remains that they aren't used as often as they should be. You are essentially forced to follow certain paths and deviate from them as little as possible.

I personally don't like that, at all. I know there are those that do, but you cannot consider a game "perfectly balanced" if it has a slew of units that are pure suicide to use except under rare (very rare) circumstances.

[ArcherofAiur]

I concur that not all units should be equally useful in all situations, but the number of un-used units in SC is disproportionate. Here's a list of units I haven't seen in ages in common use:

Terran: Ghost(except vs P), Nukes(i count it as a unit for this), BCs, Firebats (used, but not nearly as much as M&M), Valkyries

Protoss: any air units, with the possible exception of Corsairs with DWeb, both types of archons,

Zerg: ultralisks(games rarely last long enough to see them, and if the game does last that long there are better options), queens, infested terrans, guardians(late game) or devourers(who needs them anymore when the other races don't do mass air?),

You see carriers, archons, ultralisks and gaurdians in a ton of pro games.