Patch 11 Notes

[GRUNT]

So, when I'm not charging in with fat stuff like Thors, how does the Colossi change affect Zerg and Terran Bio?

Colossus - At a glance, the fact that the Colossus deals less burst damage, but has a faster firing rate (overall same DPS) seems like a slight nerf. Infantry-heavy armies sound like they'll fare better, but I'm not certain. That slower rate of fire might be better (for non-Protoss) because sometimes the Colossus (if not microed properly) will single out a lone Zergling or something, and not hit anything else with the beam.

Hellion = :'(

Accessibility of Seeker Missiles = :'(

Siege Tank buff = extra :'(

Thor - Not sure what to make of this. Although its burst damage is lower, it deals the same DPS overall. However, it'll have to 'overkill' Hydras by two-shotting them and dealing 120 damage, as opposed to one-shotting them and dealing 90 damage. So, it might be good for Zerg players! On the other hand, this makes Thors better at killing Zerglings . The nerf to 250mm cannons is a welcome one. I know that not many of you guys may have encountered it, but Thor dropping and having my tech buildings sniped with 250mm cannons is one of the most annoying things ever .

Phoenix - Like Hamshank, I felt that these units weren't bad before - they were just underutilised because most people didn't have the finesse required to use them well. Now they're going to be pretty beastly in the air :O. They outrun anything that flies, so even the speedy Mutas will have a tough time gracefully retreating from an unfavourable encounter.

Sentry nerf - yeaaaaaaah! Pity that Force Fields still kick ass, but at least this punishes Protoss just a wee bit for going too Sentry-heavy. I hope >_>.

Brood Lord nerf - SADGRUNT! (but not too sad )

Corruptor - ok this is one of the more interesting changes in the patch . Not sure what to make of Corruptors now! I wish they'd just bring back the original corruption ability - turning destroyed enemy units into a Corrupted Mass. I know Blizzard said that it can be difficult to visually read in the heat of battle, but it was such a simple and 'pure' ability that didn't feel gimmicky by being an activated skill.

Perhaps these changes will make Corruptors a better choice against Colossi, since the rest of your army benefit from the bonus damage. It just bites that most of the time, the rest of your army will be out of range, so it just comes down to Corruptors again .


Infestor - ARghaglarghg! I was just starting to really like this guy, and the ONE ability which made me like it (yes more than Fungal Growth ) gets made a whole lot more difficult to acquire . It can target air now, which is pretty frickin' sweet, though. So it's difficult to argue that it's a flat-out nerf (although I think the cons outweigh the pros).


Crawler root times - this, along with the changes to the Infestor, are what is most saddening in the patch . Oftentimes, my Crawlers (both Spines and Spores) relocate JUST in time to respond to an attack. Sometimes, if I get hit by air, and my Spore Crawlers are out of position, I can relocate them, too. But they've actually gone ahead and doubled the relocation time, so it really seems like Blizz doesn't want these things relocating in the heat of battle at all .

Ultralisk - wowow, nice buff . But unfortunately, the Ultralisk still strikes me as being an unattractive option, because it still falls pretty quickly, which to me, is its main problem. I'd gladly stick with 18 damage in return for increased durability :[.

[GnaReffotsirk]

You guys getting crash upon exit?

[ArcherofAiur]

You guys getting crash upon exit?

YES!!!

[dingdongs]

From Blizzard:

In an effort to better explain changes being made within the StarCraft II beta, we wanted to establish the Situation Report in which we take the time to share a little more insight into the balance choices we make and how we believe these changes will play out. We are incredibly dedicated to bringing you the quality and high standards that you expect of a Blizzard game and StarCraft II, and hope that by sharing more of our thoughts with you, that we can continue to both receive great feedback, but continue to see great matches within the game.

We have been working hard over the last many weeks to try to make the races as fun as possible to play. We are seeing win/loss ratios (when you factor in skill) of as little as 6% between each of the races. This is a great place for us to be during a beta, when players are still learning the races and we are still making a lot of changes. In general we believe that Terrans are still a little weak against Protoss. The other match ups are too close to call and (according to our current numbers) are within 1% win/loss. We are also getting more and more excited about what we are seeing in our mirror matches. Terran vs. Terran is a very diverse match for example and we are starting to see some really nice diversity in Zerg vs. Zerg which is a huge win for us and the community considering how stale that match was when we started the Beta.

We’ve made a significant amount of changes within the latest beta patch 11 and wanted to give a brief overview on these changes.

Splash- Splash damage now originates from the center of the target, rather than the impact location near the unit in order to maintain more reliable splash damage.

We have changed how splash works for several units across the game to make it always hit the dead center of the target unit. Previously splash was centered on the front of the target unit. This makes splash generally more effective, though against certain large targets (buildings, Thors, Ultralisks) you will now not get any splash damage since the splash radius will be contained entirely within the radius of the large target.

Battlecruiser -The build time has been decreased from 110 to 90.

We are trying to make this ship a little more useful. In reality this unit is easily countered by Corruptor, Void Ray, or Viking which may already be in play by the time it arrives, but we think it might see a little more play if it’s just easier to build.

Hellion- The range has been increased from 5 to 6.

This is not an actual change to the area effect of the weapon. The weapon was always range 6, but it would only acquire targets at range 5 so it would get a little bit of splash that would hit enemies behind its initial target. By making the weapon range 6 it is easier to shoot and run from enemy units. It does make the splash a little less useful if you are just using the “attack move” command.

Raven- Seeker Missile range has been decreased from 9 to 6.- Splash radius has been decreased from 2.4 to 2.- upgrade no longer requires Fusion Core.

We are hoping to see some more Seeker missiles without unbalancing the unit. At the same time we want to reduce the effectiveness of Seeker missile in 2v2 games where mass Ravens have (on occasion) been a problem.

Siege Tank- Life increased from 150 to 160.

Siege Tanks are seeing good use in several match-ups but we still think they could be a little tougher so they can maybe get in one more shot during big fights.

Thor- Ground damage decreased from 45 to 30- Ground rate of fire improved from 1.93 to 1.28.- Air damage changed from 8 (+4 Light) to 6 (+6 Light).- 250mm Strike Cannons are now an upgrade at the Factory Tech Lab; research now costs 150/150 and 110 seconds; energy cost increased from 100 to 150.

The damage change reduces the Thor’s opening burst, which will mean that some units will be able to shoot a little longer before being destroyed. The increase in rate of fire means the damage-per-second remains the same, but it does change a few relationships. Thors are no longer as effective against Roaches (for example) without fire support from Marauders.

The Thor Strike Cannons have become an upgrade to try to help out the Ultralisk, who is countered so hard by this attack that we see very few Ultralisks in Terran vs. Zerg. This is (of course) not enough to really change that relationship, but we have some more plans for the Ultralisk in the next patch.

The anti-air changes make Thors a little more clear in their role as an anti-light AA weapon which gives more value to Vikings and Marines.

[ Post edited by Nethaera ]

[Crazy_Jonny]

Hmmm, interesting patch. Most of these changes are good - especially the protoss changes. There's 2 of them that don't settle with me though - the Thor and Corrupter change.

The Thor's artillery cannon IMO had this problem from the start - it kinda overlaps with the yamato cannon. Now that the BC comes earlier and the artillery cannon comes later, no one is going to get artillery cannon. They shouldve just decreased the damage. I have no problem with the Thor just being a Valkyrie on the ground, unless they can give a more unique ability, OR change the Yamato Cannon. I might make a thread about this later.

And yeah... the corrupter's new ability sucks. Why can't that thing target structures? It should just loose the ability altogether.

[KDraconis]

You guys getting crash upon exit?

It is really bothering me. I hope they fix it soon.

[DemolitionSquid]

Yeah mines crashing too. Its homosexual.

[rainynightz]

*game hangs upon exit* So THAT's what's going on! A crash! =( Must be becaues I spent half an hour trying out Zerg and ended up just filling the map with hundreds of Creep Tumors....

[Chameleon]

Yeah mines crashing too. Its homosexual.

Classy.

Also, yes crash.

[TunaFish]

For those saying the Corruptor is the new Devourer, you're wrong.

It's the new:




...and yes, it's a silly ability.

Phoenix attacking while moving sounds like a really bad idea to me.