Should Heroes Look Different?

[Krikkitone]

Well I chose art first, because the units are best understood as representations anyways... either Buildings and Massive units are way too small, or other units are way too big.

Size is definitely not scaled, and since heros are a strictly single player thing, it would probably be OK if they were slightly bigger than units they were actually the same size/slightly smaller than.

I wouldn't want a Raynor marine looking like a Siege tank, but it'd be OK if he was as big as a Firebat

[Triceron]

The options are defined but I think it really applies to a case-to-case scenario.

A Hero/Elite Zerg unit could simply be a scale difference. Larger hyrdalisks, larger lings, larger ultralisks. This would be a gameplay change that doesn't necessarily break realism, as Zerg are biological and it makes sense for them to get bigger if they are 'heroes'. They have no decal options to distinguish otherwise.

Even if you were to scale up a marine to show it as a command unit, or scale up a tank or a Battlecruiser, I don't think it would be breaking the illusion much. Realism is relative if you consider the current in game units are not to scale with each other.

[pure.Wasted]

Actually, the Zerg are the one case where I think obvious differentiation between hero units and standard units is called for. A Hunter Killer is an elite Hydralisk. Well, what makes it elite, exactly? It can't be biologically identical and elite. There have to be actual physical differences.

But we're mainly concerned with Terran units at the moment.

Obviously 'realism' is tricky since nothing in the game is to scale, but we simply don't have the opportunity to make Battlecruisers scale with Marines. Not even if we wanted to. Because a single Battlecruiser would then take up half of most 1v1 maps.

Whereas I feel there is room for realism as far as Raynor/Marine sizes are concerned.

[MattII]

Realism first for me.

[Blazur]

I'm all for having unique models in the game, because not only does it give those special units distinction, but it also gives us more models to dabble with in the editor. I suspect they're already going down that route with the little Raynor and Zeratul models they've hidden in a few screenshots. Plus the latest screenshot of the Void Seeker shows further evidence of this.

[Hamshank]

I would say art first because these heroes are only going to appear on small skirmish maps and installation , etc. Making it bigger isn't necessary.

[Kimera757]

I voted "Other".

1) Realism, I think is suited for vehicles. If Raynor still has his vulture and didn't sell it like a piece of probably non-canon artwork suggested, I'd expect it to look like a regular vulture, except for decals.

2) Hero units should always be larger. You need to be able to pick them out instantly. This is true for infantry, vehicles, zerg... even special buildings.

3) I think most hero units should be unique, but you don't need Lt. Colonel Random, the Viking pilot defending Dominion Base ### to look different from Major My Name Is Not Important, the Viking pilot hero who attacked you in the previous mission.

[b]Playable[/i] infantry heroes always need to be unique, however.

[spychi]

Art first/unique units

[Quirel]

2) Hero units should always be larger. You need to be able to pick them out instantly. This is true for infantry, vehicles, zerg... even special buildings.

I, for one, had absolutely no problem whatsoever picking out Jim Raynor from a group of Marines in the Jacobs installation, or from a group of vultures in most of the other levels.
Size differences, for Terran and Protoss, should be secondary to coloring and unique models.

[Kimera757]

I, for one, had absolutely no problem whatsoever picking out Jim Raynor from a group of Marines in the Jacobs installation, or from a group of vultures in most of the other levels.

That's because Raynor was teal rather than his faction's color.

Which led to real silliness, like the Kel-Morian Combine mission where you couldn't face the actual Combine because Blizzard refused to make Fenix any color but teal. And then there were missions like Resurrection IV where the less important rescued heroes were the same color, and so (for instance) you couldn't tell the difference between your Skullder Unit 001 and the three regular goliaths you picked up.

My comments assume the palette-shifting is going away. There wasn't any of that in Warcraft III; why should StarCraft II use less advanced technology in its campaign?