Some Suggestions & Fixes

[Genopath]

It looks like a long post but it isn't .

Here is what I have been able to see so far. If you guys agree/disagree please post why. Discuss:

1- Aesthetic/Art suggestions:
Destructible Rocks (Physics): These would look better if you could see small pieces of rock flying around.
Archon (Attack Animation): Defenitely to attack with both hands or the other hand.
SCII login screen (Realism): Hyperion (I assume that's the bc model) needs perhaps some more flash effects when it goes into warp, otherwise it just looks like you are simply moving the model on direction Z.
Zerg Greater Spire (build model): Spire needs a better transition to greater spire.
Xel Naga Watch Towers: They don’t make sense on some maps like Metalopolis, substitute them for something else.

Broodlord (model, subjective): I still fail to understand why the old model was ditched if it was perhaps way more unique than anything I’ve seen before. Sad to see good models hit the dust.
Hellion (model, subjective): Needs a revamp, in my opinion.


2- Aesthetic/Art bugs:
Physics bug on planetary fortress death animation.
Bushes/Trees(The ones that block sight, but allow units to traverse) glitching under fog of war in Lost Temple.

3- UI:
Tooltip: Chronoboost tooltip needs clarification with regards to "all buildings"
Friend/Foe colors suggestion - Give the player the ability to decide which color for their own units, for their opponents and allies.
Phoenix’s anti gravity icon is a marine with a circle? This needs a change.

4- Balance suggestions:
Balance (unit & abilities): I personally don't see much purpose for these abilities but I could be wrong here:

Zerg:

Overseer's Changeling ability
Justification: This unit has 2 problems. Firstly it wouldn’t work if the opposing player is not building their main T1 unit. They will be spotted immediately and killed. Second if the overseer is seen nearby then players might have strong suspicions to look into their bases for non-worker units and then once spotted, they won’t help much.

My solution: Bring back parasite.

Infestor’s Neural Parasite
Justification: This one is from a common sense point of view. The restriction to biological units was fine. Taking away this restriction gives me sense devs are just running out options to balance this spell because they wanted this spell to be effective vs massive units (which are not biological).

My solution: Give it a plague-like spell if you want to counter big massive units.

Lurker gone, banelings and roaches:

I believe Zerg has some serious balance problems that were never properly addressed. Zerg has much less units compared to Protoss or Terran. Zerg needs lurker back. Just need a way to get this unit back in the game without overlapping another unit’s role. On the alpha build lurkers were rarely built because roaches or banelings were perhaps a safer way to proceed. Devs tried buffing this unit with an excessive range of 9 (2 more than photon cannon) but it still wasn’t used. Both units are tier1 making them much faster to make and their role is to devastate light ground.

In my opinion Banelings and Roaches are perhaps in a much more conflicting state. Since on most counts both units are effective against most ground units although generally you are better off with roaches than with banelings unless you are fighting someone who has made a lot of defense in terms of structures. Their usage is very different so I wonder if one of them will get neglected in the future.

Going back to the Lurker, its role should be somewhat similar to the one of the DT. Think of a DT. DT when spotted can be killed easily by almost every unit but with no detection DT can wreak anything on any base in a short period of time. This is also equivalent to the ghost with the nuclear strike and Ghosts also die really quickly when spotted. Going either ghosts or DTs is risky because they don’t do much in the long run. Think of the original SC. Ghosts weren’t built that often in long games unless lockdown was needed which was very rarely the case. Their role was a support unit. Same deal with DT’s. Although they had some utility combined with corsairs vs Zerg. If this isn't enough for you, if you are still not satisfied, keep reading.

My solution: Give the lurker the ability to move underground at roach speed, increase its supply cost to 3. Think it’s imbalanced? I think not since by this time (tier 3) it almost certain a player will have detection of some sort. People might try this unit because of its large range and splash. The lurker will take a similar role to the siege tank and colossus. Unlike the roach, this unit does not regenerate fast so players would have to place other stuff in front of them. The idea around this is similar to the Thor and Siege Tank role conflict. I think perhaps there’s more to be done here but at least is at start to bring the lurker back.

Terran:

Reapers D4-Charges: I’m glad this unit got a nerf. I wonder if its going to be enough. 8-12 reapers can take down someone’s main really fast and in most situations there wasn’t anything a player could do to counter. A good terran player with good timing might have 8-10 reapers ready to attack someone’s main and destroy it and get home in time for dinner.

My solution: Have this ability on a bigger cooldown.

Archon: So the way I see it there is absolutely no way one would merge two templars to form an archon when playing against a Terran or Player. The bonus damage only to biological units is a big downer for this unit. This unit needs a better defined role in my opinion.

My solution: Change bonus from biological to something else.

5- Maps (Lost Temple): There is a small bug on the center of the map. If you have units selected while they are at the center one cannot see the unit selection circle.

[Nicol Bolas]

Justification: This unit has 2 problems. Firstly it wouldn’t work if the opposing player is not building their main T1 unit. They will be spotted immediately and killed. Second if the overseer is seen nearby then players might have strong suspicions to look into their bases for non-worker units and then once spotted, they won’t help much.

My solution: Bring back parasite.

Because Blizzard hasn't declared intellectual bankruptcy enough in SC2

And it's not like Changelings cost lots of money or something. If they die, they die. Big deal. My scouting Zerglings cost more than that, and you don't see me whimpering when one of them gets shot so that the other player can expo.

4- Gameplay bugs:
Fighting vs Terran: Ocasionally other players can see the sight radius of the censor tower. I think this has been fixed by now.

That's not a bug; that's how it's supposed to be. It's how it has always been. Indeed, if your opponent can't see the radius, then it's a bug.

Void ray: I’m not sure if its intended but I’ve seen void rays do maximum damage to N targets as long as the VR doesn’t have to move and engage other units. Right now as it is the unit role of this unit is a building killer.

My solution: have void ray’s charges reset when engaging new units.

This particular effect is pretty much the only thing that makes Void Rays a threat to anything of value. Blizzard added this specifically to make them worthwhile.

Justification: This one is from a common sense point of view. The restriction to biological units was fine.

BS. The restriction was not fine. Outside of Ultralisks and maybe BroodLords, most biological units don't live long enough to where taking control of one or two is going to be a significant problem for the enemy. Oh no, he stole my Marine! I guess I'll have to make due with my other 49. The spell was useless until the change.

Making it channeling is penalty enough for hijacking a unit.

My solution: Give it a plague-like spell if you want to counter big massive units.

Ignoring the obvious issue of throwing SC1 effects into SC2 because of a deep failure of imagination, how is this more interesting than hijacking a Raven and have it build me a couple of Auto-Turrets? Or hijacking someone's Mothership and watching them tremble in fear as my units disappear and his appear?

Zerg has much less units compared to Protoss or Terran.

Ignoring workers and timed units (and larva), the unit counts are as follows:

Zerg: 12
Terran: 12
Protoss: 14

So the Zerg have 0 less than the Terran and 2 less than the Protoss.

Reapers D4-Charges: I’m glad this unit got a nerf. I wonder if its going to be enough. 8-12 reapers can take down someone’s main really fast and in most situations there wasn’t anything a player could do to counter. A good terran player with good timing might have 8-10 reapers ready to attack someone’s main and destroy it and get home in time for dinner.

My solution: Have this ability on a bigger cooldown.

I haven't seen Reaper rushes since the earliest days of the Beta. They didn't even get a nerf; people just figured out how to block them and do so. They're not a concern.

Archon: So the way I see it there is absolutely no way one would merge two templars to form an archon when playing against a Terran or Player. The bonus damage only to biological units is a big downer for this unit. This unit needs a better defined role in my opinion.

My solution: Change bonus from biological to something else.

Right. Because an attack that already does 25 base damage with AoE is totally useless

The Archon may actually need a buff, but it isn't because of its measly 10 bonus damage.

[Wankey]

The problem with Zerg is their attack animations. You can barely tell when they are attacking. Other than roach, everything just looks like they're spasming and doing damage. You can barely see the muta's projectile (only its splash) and the corrupter's attack just looks uninteresting. Broodlords, you *can't* tell when they're attacking until the you hear or see broodlings on the ground. There isn't a distinct firing sound, you only hear a muted landing sound and stupid scratching. Zerlings, just spasms near people.

They seriously need to redo a vast majority of all the zerg attack animations to make them a lot more obvious otherwise zerg will be not only boring to watch, hard to follow.

[Aldrius]

Broodlords, you *can't* tell when they're attacking until the you hear or see broodlings on the ground.

That is so not true...

You can see the Broodling flying through the air.

[Pandonetho]

The problem with Zerg is their attack animations. You can barely tell when they are attacking. Other than roach, everything just looks like they're spasming and doing damage. You can barely see the muta's projectile (only its splash) and the corrupter's attack just looks uninteresting. Broodlords, you *can't* tell when they're attacking until the you hear or see broodlings on the ground. There isn't a distinct firing sound, you only hear a muted landing sound and stupid scratching. Zerlings, just spasms near people.

I agree with this statement. Mostly with the Zergling part, the attack animation of the ling is so pathetic, and the noise it makes is even more pathetic.

[Wankey]

That is so not true...

You can see the Broodling flying through the air.

lol, a brown object being thrown by a brown unit? There is no "flash" or a loud sound indicating a siege unit has launched its projectile. In a battle, you barely notice.

[ManjiSanji]

I'm all for bringing Parasite back, but I like that Changeling is new. I did like the idea somebody else had of making it turn in to a worker unit, instead of the race's basic unit.

[Genopath]

Because Blizzard hasn't declared intellectual bankruptcy enough in SC2

And it's not like Changelings cost lots of money or something. If they die, they die. Big deal. My scouting Zerglings cost more than that, and you don't see me whimpering when one of them gets shot so that the other player can expo.

First of all thanks for your reply. You have a point there but I rather have a better game for the cost of a small intellectual bankruptcy. Honestly I would love for balance team to honestly take the time to think of new spells or dynamics related to this unit but the game is in BETA so the chances of they changing anything in a major scale is slim to none.

That's not a bug; that's how it's supposed to be. It's how it has always been. Indeed, if your opponent can't see the radius, then it's a bug.

This particular effect is pretty much the only thing that makes Void Rays a threat to anything of value. Blizzard added this specifically to make them worthwhile.

Thanks for clarifying that. I'll do the proper modifications.

BS. The restriction was not fine. Outside of Ultralisks and maybe BroodLords, most biological units don't live long enough to where taking control of one or two is going to be a significant problem for the enemy. Oh no, he stole my Marine! I guess I'll have to make due with my other 49. The spell was useless until the change.

Making it channeling is penalty enough for hijacking a unit.

Oh I wasn't talking on a balance note that it was fine, it was fine lore wise. Again, this shows the balance team is just running out of ideas of how to make this an interesting unit. Something like "fuck the lore, lets just get this done". They've done this before in World of Warcraft:BC and before you say this isn't WoW well I'm sure you know Chris Metzen was behind the creative development in WoW and here as well.

Ignoring the obvious issue of throwing SC1 effects into SC2 because of a deep failure of imagination, how is this more interesting than hijacking a Raven and have it build me a couple of Auto-Turrets? Or hijacking someone's Mothership and watching them tremble in fear as my units disappear and his appear?

True, but throwing in stupid spells is also a worthy proof of failure of imagination is it?

I haven't seen Reaper rushes since the earliest days of the Beta. They didn't even get a nerf; people just figured out how to block them and do so. They're not a concern.

You are probably thinking about DPS here. Which in DPS terms the unit would have received a buff. In terms of hit and run attacks, which is the interesting part of this unit, it received a nerf.

Right. Because an attack that already does 25 base damage with AoE is totally useless

The Archon may actually need a buff, but it isn't because of its measly 10 bonus damage.

You should see how the AoE works now. It isn't the same as in SC1. It is much smaller. A unit has to be almost completely in top of a unit for it to work.

Now tell me, why would you counter anything with an archon when you can counter that same thing with something else, with a much lower resource cost? Simply for the reason that you are being attacked and your templars ran out of energy?

[Nicol Bolas]

You have a point there but I rather have a better game for the cost of a small intellectual bankruptcy.

These are not mutually exclusive.

Again, this shows the balance team is just running out of ideas of how to make this an interesting unit.

Except that Neural Parasite has been in the game since Blizzcon 08, 1.5 years ago. And even then, it affected all units (possibly non-Psionic). If the development team wanted it gone, then it would be gone. So clearly, they think it was an interesting idea, and most users of Infestors agree.

If they had a problem with the lore of the ability, they've had plenty of time to change it.

They've done this before in World of Warcraft:BC and before you say this isn't WoW well I'm sure you know Chris Metzen was behind the creative development in WoW and here as well.

I don't see a lore conflict here. The whole concept of infestation, from the beginning of StarCraft, has been "gaining control of something someone else has." Neural Parasite is merely a focused and temporary form of that concept.

True, but throwing in stupid spells is also a worthy proof of failure of imagination is it?

If "stupid spells" are what is needed to make games like this possible, then bring on the "stupidity".

You should see how the AoE works now. It isn't the same as in SC1. It is much smaller. A unit has to be almost completely in top of a unit for it to work.

So, if the actual problem is the AoE radius, why did you suggest changing the damage bonus, which is not part of the actual problem?

Simply for the reason that you are being attacked and your templars ran out of energy?

That's what they're for, pretty much.

[Genopath]

These are not mutually exclusive.

Oh I didn't say they were but I rather have a better game at the cost of small "intellectual bankruptcy"

Except that Neural Parasite has been in the game since Blizzcon 08, 1.5 years ago. And even then, it affected all units (possibly non-Psionic). If the development team wanted it gone, then it would be gone. So clearly, they think it was an interesting idea, and most users of Infestors agree.

If they had a problem with the lore of the ability, they've had plenty of time to change it.

I don't see a lore conflict here. The whole concept of infestation, from the beginning of StarCraft, has been "gaining control of something someone else has." Neural Parasite is merely a focused and temporary form of that concept.

Well, the users at that time certainty did not. You sure you can say the same thing now? I do wonder how a mechanical unit can be controlled by a neural parasite. The idea as interesting as it is, it just doesn't fit.

If "stupid spells" are what is needed to make games like this possible, then bring on the "stupidity"

I've seen that game, I am not saying they are useless. I am saying they are poorly thought off. Considering all the spells I've seen on hiveworkshop, Dota, Footies etc I believe they could have at least thought of something better. I ain't saying they would all fit in the game but most of them do, and in the case they don't well Blizzard has attempted to do that lots of times just remember Blink.

So, if the actual problem is the AoE radius, why did you suggest changing the damage bonus, which is not part of the actual problem?

Because the damage bonus can help counter something else. The splash only helped counter muta stack. Recent games have shown that the sentry might be a more viable counter to mutas than anything else.

That's what they're for, pretty much.

Then unlike SC1, Archons will hardly be made. The unit will share the fate of the Zerg queen or a protoss scout in SC1.