Patch 13 notes released

[Pick]

Did anyone else notice the word "lobby" in the Battle.Net changes section? Looks like they are finally adding chat rooms?

EDIT: Woops... maybe that is just the game creation lobby?

[n00bonicPlague]

***READ THIS NOW***

Source: http://forums.battle.net/thread.html...o=1&sid=5000#6

Please bear in mind that this patch is not yet live and is slated for release in the near future.

[n00bonicPlague]

Source: StarCraft II Situation Report: Patch 13

There have been many new additions to Patch 13 including the map publishing feature, but as with previous Situation Reports, we wanted to take some time to go into some of the balance changes in particular and explain a bit more about them.

In this patch we are looking to address several balance issues that the community has discovered over the last few weeks. We are also addressing some of the zerg units and abilities that don’t see a lot of use in competitive games. These changes are big enough that we think it’s likely there will be further balance changes to these units as we learn more about how they are playing in the game.

Sentry Force Fields - Force Fields can now be destroyed by Massive ground units walking over them.

We are seeing a lot of great games that rely on Force Field as a key part of protoss strategy. The ability is fun, but we do want to create some more options for enemy players to deal with Force Fields to create some additional gameplay choices in a fight against the protoss. Now Massive units (Thor, Colossus, Ultralisk) will smash a Force Field if they are told to move through them. Ultralisks can use this ability to lead a Zerg charge onto a protoss position while protoss players can use their Colossus in an emergency to allow their army to attack or retreat.

Ultralisk - Life decreased from 600 to 450. Damage changed from 25 to 15 (+25 Armored). Damage versus structures increased from 60 to 75.

We have put in a large number of buffs to the Ultralisk to allow him to close the gap on his enemies. The Ultralisk can now ignore Force Fields and with the Infestor’s Frenzy ability he can ignore all of the ways that the enemy could slow or disable him. With all of these buffs the Ultralisk needed to be rebalanced. We are focusing him more as an anti-armored unit since zerg players already have a few ways to deal with mass light units (Banelings and Fungal Growth). This Ultralisk should be able to deal with both mass Marauders and mass Roaches which are a common threat to zerg players in some end game scenarios.

Infestor - Infested Terrans spell removed. Frenzy spell added: Costs 25 energy - Targets a single biological unit which deals 25% more damage and is immune to snare, stuns, and mind control for 30 seconds.

We are cutting Infested Terrans since the ability rarely saw use. We have buffed this ability in internal testing and were unable to find a place in which we were happy with it on the Infestor. We are introducing a new ability called “Frenzy” that is especially useful for the short range zerg to get close up to the enemy to do some real damage. Frenzy should be especially helpful on Ultralisks who are trying to get past Thor Strike Cannons, Fungal Growth, or Neural Parasite.

Overseer - Contaminate spell added: Costs 75 energy - Targets a single enemy structure which cannot train units or research upgrades for 30 seconds. Infested Terran spell added: Costs 125 energy - Infested Terrans have the same stats as those previously created by the Infestor and are placed directly under the Overseer when spawned.

The Overseer is designed as a harassment caster. We don’t want to see hundreds of Overseers flying around, but we do like the ability for the zerg to annoy and harass the enemy with spells like Changeling. We added two abilities on the Overseer that were recently removed from other more “combat oriented” units. We expect that player’s will still build 1-2 Overseers to watch the enemy base and provide detection support for your force, but now you can also use the Overseer’s energy to disrupt enemy production and research, or to make small drops that force the enemy to spread their forces.

Void Rays - Range decreased from 7 to 6.

Void Rays are being used aggressively against terrans now, using their range and speed to trap a terran player in their base. This is pretty fun for the protoss player but at a variety of skill levels it is too difficult for the terran player to stop, even if the player sees it coming with good scouting. We think a slight range reduction will help with this match-up without doing too much damage to other matchups.

Terran Upgrades - Marine - Stimpack research cost decreased from 150/150 to 100/100. Combat Shield research cost decreased from 150/150 to 100/100.

We still believe that the terrans are spending too much on infrastructure and are struggling to compete at certain times in the game against the protoss. Reducing the cost of essential infantry upgrades should make the terrans a little bit more dangerous when going with an infantry heavy force.

As always, we are continuing to watch the data as we make these changes as well as are continuing to watch for constructive feedback on these changes and more.

[screw_ball69]

Uhh I thought that info was assumed.

[n00bonicPlague]

Many assumed otherwise.

[AdmiralMengsk]

Holy crab apple batman! I'm liking the Terran research cost reduction.

[GRUNT]

Oh man, what cute changes to the Overseer!

It's not a pure support spellcaster like a Science Vessel - it's still primarily used to scout out your opponent, but now it can be annoying while it does so! Not a game-changing buff, but lets the Zerg player have a little bit of fun now and again . Not sure how good Infested Terrans are going to be, though.

The Ultralisk changes....ehhh, I'm kinda iffy about them. On one hand, it deals more damage to its arch-nemesis - the Marauder. But on the other hand, it now has an even harder time getting close enough to do that damage! Ultralisks weren't affected by the Marauder's slow to begin with.

The trampling of Force Fields though....THAT is extremely interesting! Maybe Ultralisks will be worth getting in Hive tech JUST to deny your opponent the ability to mess up your army so easily. Very excited to see what comes out of this!

Sadly, Frenzy is a really bad spell for the Infestor, I feel . It's too much Energy to spend for a boost to small units like the Hydralisk, Roach, or Zergling. This means that it's only really useful on the Ultralisk and Brood Lord, and even the Brood Lord isn't seen too often because games don't always get so late. As a default spell of the Infestor, I would like to see it have utility right from the get-go :[.

Also sad that Roaches are still 2 supply! It hurts only having half the number of these guys as I could have lategame! You kinda need those extra bodies to deal with all the damage that evil Terran and Protoss balls can dish out!

Still pretty excited for these changes though. Maybe, just maybe, Ultralisks will be better than they sound. At the very least, Overseers are now strictly better than they were before!

[TWD]

Also sad that Roaches are still 2 supply! It hurts only having half the number of these guys as I could have lategame! You kinda need those extra bodies to deal with all the damage that evil Terran and Protoss balls can dish out!

Still pretty excited for these changes though. Maybe, just maybe, Ultralisks will be better than they sound. At the very least, Overseers are now strictly better than they were before!

Exactly with patch 12 it was mass lings until you could get to hydras. Now it's mass lings until you get to hydras, but then there's all sorts of fun you can have after that as well.
________
Harmed By Prilosec

[ManjiSanji]

Frenzy works well on single targets in games like Warcraft 3, where each single unit means a lot more.

However, Zerg are supposed to be about massing, and you lose units much faster in SC2.
I think Frenzy could work, but I'd say it needs to be an AoE effect, of course boosting the cost appropriately.

[MajinX]

lol wow i cant wait to see ultras run through forcefields with a bunch of lings and hydras behind it.