My suggestions/observations/opinions of Starcraft 2

[sandwich_bird]

Well I finally was able to mess around with the game and after playing, this is what came out:

-Sensor towers could cost less gas:

After watching a lot of streams and videos as well as playing myself, I didn't see the sensor tower being used a lot. This is a problem because, of course, we want every units and building to be used one way or another. This is what I believe is the reason for the lack of usage of the tower:

Imo 100 gas for a sensor tower is a bit much considering how gas is not as abundant as in Starcraft 1 and that the tower is not that good for the price if you compare to scouting techniques of other races. Indeed, the sensor tower cannot move or be salvaged, is not a detector and reveal his presence to your enemy. An observer is 25/75 (25 gas less) is invisible, is a detector and can move around freely because it's an air unit. The overlord, while being slightly less good than an observer, is still also clearly superior to the sensor tower. He can fly and if he becomes an overseer, he can detect as well as scout the enemy base with a changeling. Of course, he's a supply provider and so must be used carefully (you lose one, you can be in trouble...) but being a supply provider also implies that you will have lots of them at your disposal just like in Starcaft 1. The zergs also have some other tricks they can use to scout around like, for example, their burrowed moving units and also their fast/cheap zerglings. Back to the tower; it's lack of scouting capacity can be a balance factor due to the fact that the Terran has the most powerful scouting technique (scan). The problem with this now is that scan is in competition with the mule. My other problem is that a reaper is half the price of a sensor tower and could serve as a way better scouting technique because he is mobile, fast and can jump cliff.

With all that said, the possible solution, as mentioned above, would be to decrease the gas cost. If the tower cost less, there's a good probability that players will be more inclined to use it. Other solutions could include: giving it detection, giving it salvage or making it an upgrade to the missile turrets. Those other solutions are a bit too radical imo though.


-Flying units could stack on top of each other like in Starcraft 1 instead of mixing into each others:

Something I didn't enjoy while playing is the fact that if you have a large air force, the units "mix into each others". For example, the wing of one phoenix goes through the body of another phoenix and it's like if they fused with each other. The "muta ball" term is clearly more literal than it was before. This has the effect of really making a major air battle less clear because it's hard to actually see your units individually and select them. Microing becomes harder under this situation. This also removes some realism from the game and simply makes air battles less enjoyable to watch imo.

If the units could stack on top of each others like in Starcraft 1 instead of mixing into each others, I believe this would help the problem a lot. Of course, stacking is obviously not a complete solution because even in starcraft 1 this was somewhat a problem but I believe "stacking" is still visually better than "mixing". The visual change is, without a doubt, due to the jump from 2D to 3D but it might still be possible to keep how it was in SC1 (I'm not programmer though so I wouldn't really know).

-The nydus worm could be only placed on creep:

The nydus canal/worm/network (w/e how you want to call it) is obviously something that has changed a lot since the beginning and might continue to do so. Personally, I don't like the fact that he can spawn anywhere without creep atm. It decreases the usefulness of the overlord abilities because of the reduction of possible common situations that those abilities could be used. Making the worm spawn only on creep is not that much harder than bringing an overlord over to spawn the creep for your worm because the "generate creep" ability is almost instantaneous once the overlord is there and because the overlord is pretty mobile (assuming that you researched speed which doesn't cost that much). I also really like the concept of being sneaky with your overlord to spawn the worm.

-They could upgrade the ghost range to 7

This is something that I already mentioned in another thread but I'm still holding my point after trying out the game. Right now the ghost got a range of 6 which is the same as the marauder and only one more than a marine. I mean he got a sniper rifle; he should be able to shoot farther. The change would also make the unit more useful in TvZ. In fact, if you look at the description of the ghost in the beta, it clearly state that he's supposed to be strong against mutalisks. Having a longer range would really help him in this “role”.

-When you select both a barrack with a tech lab and a barrack with a reactor, you could be able to build units from both of them without having to select one or the other individually

Right now, when you select a "techrax" (barrack with a tech lab) and a "raxtor" (barrack with a reactor) (yes I just made up those terms but I'm sure someone was gonna do it eventually) and you click to build 3 marines (assuming that the raxtor is the main one selected) those 3 units will be build in from the raxtor only instead of having 2 units at the raxtor and one at the techrax. It's easy to understand why this is this way but, imo, it would be more practical that 2 marines would be build at the raxtor and one marine at the techrax.


-More subjective points
Well other than that, I understand more what wankey was talking about when he was saying that the voice acting and everything is like noise and that overall the soundscape is not that good. I have to agree with him. The visual are quite good and it's clear that the artists did a really good job (except for the carrier... even though it is more tolerable when you see it in-game instead of just a screenshot/video) but it's really the sound department that failed to deliver imo. I also used to like the music before playing the game but now that I played, I have mixed feelings about the soundtrack. It's still really good music but it sounds a bit out of place while playing. In the end, I really prefer Starcraft 1 music and sound bank. I hope that they will improve in this area before release (especially the zerg stuff like most people are saying).

Well sorry about the wall of text. Feel free to comment or post your own opinion.

[SinsWage]

So did you get in beta SB, or just find someone to let you hitch?

[sandwich_bird]

So did you get in beta SB, or just find someone to let you hitch?

One of my friend got a key but we both had mid-terms to study when the beta started and so we didn't really had the chance to hang out. Now that our tests are done, I had the chance to try it out with him on his account.

[mr. peasant]

-The nydus worm could be only placed on creep:

The nydus canal/worm/network (w/e how you want to call it) is obviously something that has changed a lot since the beginning and might continue to do so. Personally, I don't like the fact that he can spawn anywhere without creep atm. It decreases the usefulness of the overlord abilities because of the reduction of possible common situations that those abilities could be used. Making the worm spawn only on creep is not that much harder than bringing an overlord over to spawn the creep for your worm because the "generate creep" ability is almost instantaneous once the overlord is there and because the overlord is pretty mobile (assuming that you researched speed which doesn't cost that much). I also really like the concept of being sneaky with your overlord to spawn the worm.

I think they removed the creep requirement for precisely this reason. Adding that requirement doesn't add much to the overall difficulty while at the same time limits when Nydus Worms can be used. For instance, players can sneak a Nydus Worm behind tall grass (or whatever acts as a backdoor into a base). If creep is required, the spread of creep across to the other side would alert the enemy of the impending attack.

On the other hand, spreading creep with the Overlord is still useful as they raise the speed of your units as they traverse across it. This is still a useful attribute for a Nydus Worm ambush to have though it's not necessary, depending on strategy and level of sneakiness.

[moosh]

I disagree with the nydus worm point. Otherwise, I think those are all pretty good ideas. Especially increasing ghost range!

[ManjiSanji]

Doesn't the Nydus Canal actually produce Creep once it's produced? So it still could tell the enemy it's there. Sure it's already popping out units at this point, but it's not like it remains hard to detect. I still say it would be more balanced if it required a unit itself to move, but meh.

As to Sensor Towers:
Would it be imbalanced to make it so having them does NOT reveal their position to the enemy?

[Aldrius]

As to Sensor Towers:
Would it be imbalanced to make it so having them does NOT reveal their position to the enemy?

Yes.

The sensor tower has an insanely huge sight-range. It's possible to keep an eye on a LARGE portion of the map without needing to scout. If you could put that somewhere where it can look into your enemies' base, he should be able to know without having to see it. It's range is THAT big.

But if you're just using it the way it's supposed to be used (in your base, to keep an eye on your surroundings), then it doesn't matter, because if your opponents any good he already knows where your base is.

Honestly, I don't think it's gas cost is too high. You only need 1, maybe 2. And once people figure out how GOOD it is, they'll use it. It's the perfect counter for Mutalisk harassment quite frankly.

[Krikkitone]

With the Nydus canal, I think the bigger problem is that it Generates Creep... If you want Creep there, you should have to have an Overlord.

[Nicol Bolas]

-Sensor towers could cost less gas:

No way. The Sensor Tower is basically the "get out of harass free" building. If a single building is going to automatically prevent all attempts at dropship or harassment, then it had better cost some gas.

Making the worm spawn only on creep is not that much harder than bringing an overlord over to spawn the creep for your worm because the "generate creep" ability is almost instantaneous once the overlord is there and because the overlord is pretty mobile (assuming that you researched speed which doesn't cost that much).

Nonsense. Currently, all you need is an Overseer (remember: they don't need a speed upgrade to move reasonably fast, unlike Overlords) that can see a 4-square section of their base. Or even less than that: a single Changeling that you dropped into their base. That's all you need to get your Nydus.

If you have to move an Overlord over terrain, then you need 2 things: Overlord speed, and more than one. They are far less likely to spot a hidden Overseer lurking out of sight than they are to spot an Overlord that is actually in their base.

[GnaReffotsirk]

I would also like to add a few suggestions:

1. Sound effects for when the hatchery finishes morphing. Currently, I cannot notice it.
2. Larva selection sound effects. Currently I cannot tell if I've selected larva.
3. Egg morphing sound effects. Currently I cannot hear a sound when an egg is being morphed from larva.
4. More clearer audio feedback for game events such as 1,2,3. This way the audio will tell me if something is done or being done.