The incomplete story of the Zerg Spellcasters

[Aldrius]

At present, I think the Zerg Casters need some major work.

They're obviously incomplete, but how would you like to see them completed? Or how do you think they should be completed?

First off we have the Queen, the first caster in the game. Right now, I think the Queen is in pretty good shape. It's the AA specialized Queen of olde. I think it's three abilities are pretty good. Transfusion is a little weak... but otherwise, she's great.

My only concern is that she's very, very vulnerable. She gets taken out by 10 reapers with ease, and she rarely has time to burrow. I think that a possible solution for this might be a lair and hive stat upgrade. Not as drastic as the large/huge queen upgrade from when she was first introduced, but just something to give her a bit of durability. I don't know if that's a good idea, though.

Second is the Overseer. Right now this guy is just... blatantly unfinished. To the point that his tooltip mentions he's supposed to have Fungal Growth. Which could be a good ability for him, I suppose. Otherwise, this guy just needs some abilities besides spawn changeling. My personal favourites from what have been connected to him are Spore Cloud and that sight-range extension ability. But there are quite a few other options.

Finally we have the Infester. Right now I find the Infester to be a lot of fun. He's just lacking some teeth. Neural Parasite only affects biological targets, but at the same time they've greatly reduced it's energy cost. So you can mind control A LOT of enemy units. Conversely, though, the units it affects have so little HP it often isn't worth it. The biggest targets he can hit are the Brood Lord and Ultralisk for the Zerg, and then the Marauder, Ghost and Zealot for Protoss and Terran. I haven't managed to affect any of these units with the spell as of yet.

Fungal Growth is a lot of fun. If you get a lot of Infesters it's very easy to stop an entire infantry army in it's tracks. It's especially fun when you can get it off on a melee unit like the Zealot and then use Siphon Life to wittle his health away. Otherwise, this ability isn't that exciting, though, and is rather limited in it's use.

Finally there is Siphon Life. An incredibly difficult ability to use as it has a short range. The Infester attaches itself to any enemy. (Works on mechanical units and BUILDINGS as well.) And then drains it's health and adds it to it's energy. It's a lot weaker than it sounds, though, but in part it makes the Infester into a bit of an attack unit. I'm not sure how I feel about this ability. It's REALLY tricky to use due to the Infester's vulnerability and the short range of the spell.

There are a lot of options and directions they could take the Infester in, and at this time I can't safely say what line-up of abilities I like on it. There aren't really any abilities that it can just pop-up with and screw over an entire army with. Like a neural parasite that could affect technological targets would be, or an Infest ability. But I really like Siphon Life and Fungal Growth, so I find it tricky to decide.

Thoughts?

[RamiZ]

As you said, I do like Siphon Life, and it is good and, let we say, balanced since it has short range, but it is great in combination with Fungal Growth. And about Neural Parasite, only if they changed it cost to 25-50 it is worth it, but even then it is really a crap ability now that doesn't affect Mech units...

Even that Zerg is my favorite race, I am getting more and more disappointed by the changes. Didn't like removing Lurker and Infested Terran at all! Roaches seems strange as Nicol Said in his Blog. Ultras nerfed hard, Overseers losing Acid Spores. And Hydras seems really strong since they do 12 damage to all kind of units, imbalanced, just as Corruption from Corruptors(30 sec, ROFL) and Nydus Worm :/
Also Corruptors losing their ability to make Corrupted Mass sucks even more...

At least Zerglings and Banelings stayed the same... Don't know what to think of Zerg... I hope they will see how many Broken and Unfinished stuff they have so they will fix them. :/

Also maybe I am wrong at some points, I don't play the beta, that is just what I saw from all streams and videos...

[Nicol Bolas]

Hydralisks are not imbalanced. Those bastards are really expensive, and they don't have many Hp for their cost. Getting a big Hydralisk army takes a lot of gas.

Neural Parasite only affects biological targets

Oh, screw that! It's not like anyone but the Zerg has any significant bio targets.

[LegacyofTerra]

I think the Infestor should be able to mind control casters as well (psionic creatures are currently immune to NP), to give it more versatility, but otherwise the Zerg caster lineup looks good enough. What function do you need filled? That's the main question. Giving a unit additional abilities because one feels like it is hardly good game design.

[RamiZ]

Hydralisks are not imbalanced. Those bastards are really expensive, and they don't have many Hp for their cost. Getting a big Hydralisk army takes a lot of gas.



Oh, screw that! It's not like anyone but the Zerg has any significant bio targets.

Don't know, yes they cost 100/50 but with that attack speed and damage... I saw they utterly destroyed big Marine Army, I mean come on, Hydra takes 4 shots to kill a Marine... And you said that you destroyed a lot of Ultras with just Hydras, I mean it doesn't really mean that they are imbalanced but they are pretty strong.

And about neural parasite, I don't know if it affects Psionic units now... :/
If it doesn't, then it really is worthless...

[Aldrius]

And about neural parasite, I don't know if it affects Psionic units now... :/
If it doesn't, then it really is worthless...

You can mind control 16 zealots with 4 infesters with full energy.

That's... not... that impressive or game-turning, but it's something.

Still, I'd prefer a higher energy cost and the ability to affect mechanical units.

[LegacyofTerra]

And about Neural Parasite, only if they changed it cost to 25-50 it is worth it, but even then it is really a crap ability now that doesn't affect Mech units...

Take it easy will you? It's not like having an ability that can take over 4 Ultralisks in a few seconds is worthless. That actually sounds like a tide-turner to me. Abilities don't have to be equally useful against every race, after all.

Ultras nerfed hard, Overseers losing Acid Spores.

Now every Zerg player has to think of alternatives to teching to Tier 3 and demolishing the enemy with Ultralisks. Plain horrible, indeed!
Ultralisks were okay in SC 1, so having extra hitpoints and a bit more armor enhances that role, if anything.

And Hydras seems really strong since they do 12 damage to all kind of units, imbalanced,
just as Corruption from Corruptors(30 sec, ROFL)

What Nicol said about hydras, plus AoE damage really hurts them. Hydras are strong, but that's not a bad thing, is it? The lack of versatility is one reason they were constantly moved from tier 1 to tier 2.
Regarding Corruption, it gives Zerg more raid options. 30 seconds deprivation of a geyser or a production building should be a good reason to get Corruptors, giving them a bit more versatility. Maybe 30 seconds is a bit too much, but it shouldn't be much lower than that.

and Nydus Worm :/

With this, I agree the most. Nydus drops can kill an opponent right off, and a too quick Nydus Worm greatly reduces the chance to fight back.

Also Corruptors losing their ability to make Corrupted Mass sucks even more...

Why? Having their damage nerfed was way worse in my opinion. Corrupted Mass does not move, and competitive players will move their units out of it's small range if they get to be an actual threat. The Corruptors new ability more than makes up for it.

[Nicol Bolas]

Take it easy will you? It's not like having an ability that can take over 4 Ultralisks in a few seconds is worthless. That actually sounds like a tide-turner to me.

Know what else is a tide turner? 10 +2 Hydralisks (Hydras have a 2 damage mod, so that's 16 per shot). Why would you even build Ultralisks in ZvZ? Roaches are more effective.

[Aldrius]

Regarding Corruption, it gives Zerg more raid options. 30 seconds deprivation of a geyser or a production building should be a good reason to get Corruptors, giving them a bit more versatility.

Utterly pointless versatility. The corruption ability has nothing to do with what the corrupters supposed to DO.

The corrupter is an anti-air unit. Tech-wise it is accompanied side-by-side by the Mutalisk. That means the corrupter itself doesn't have to be versatile. It's free to be a reactive unit. And if Blizzard's air model is worth a damn, it'll see plenty of use. Especially if the Hydralisk stays at tier 2...

[LegacyofTerra]

Know what else is a tide turner? 10 +2 Hydralisks (Hydras have a 2 damage mod, so that's 16 per shot). Why would you even build Ultralisks in ZvZ? Roaches are more effective.

Good point. Then again, the Ultralisk might be made stronger, or you might use it to turn the tide in a hydralisk battle. Hydralisks being hard to mass, that might become more important than is currently thought.