[?Spoiler?] Thought on Recent Hero Portraits

[Alex06]

I've no doubt that Raynor will receive aid from the Protoss at some point in the campaign to acknowledge their past history together. But from half the Hierarchy at the same time? If Raynor could pull that off in a fraction of a campaign, Zeratul's had his work done for him even before LotV begins. And they just so happen to fill the Phoenix, Void Ray, Carrier line-up of the Protoss' combat air units? I'm smelling a trick here.




Achievements are not an indication of importance. If you notice, even Probes need to be unlocked and the heroes you mentioned rank below Executor, which is the standard building portrait for the Protoss. Plus, if you look at the other races, aside for the final portrait for those achievements, none of the others feature notable individuals from the campaign (e.g. Raynor, Zeratul, etc).

Who cares if they're important or not. THEY ARE IN THE GAME AND WILL APPEAR IN THE CAMPAIGN, case in point. :P

If they have achievements and portraits and even unit icons, they're definitely going to appear in the campaign. And there are also several achievements with Raynor himself (portrait, Raynor in his marine suit with a sniper rifle, and two of him in his marine suit with a normal gauss rifle), and even achievements for Nova, Tosh, Stettman, Kerrigan and Swann! (portraits and their ingame units)

[Aldrius]

They're just characters with relatively minor roles which Blizzard didn't bother to make completely original portraits for.

Some of the Protoss 'heroes' are simply the equivalent of the Warlord from the first mission of WC3 RoC. They're probably only around for the one mission.

From what I understand anyway.

[Eroldren]

He'd have to merge with someone to be a twilight archon.

Blizzard could pull future lore-stunt saying that a protoss single could temporary ascend to the physic/khala realm of archons. (Weaker version) Kinda see that happening limited in StarCraft MMO for protoss spellcasters "shapeshifting" forms. The end of the protoss sacrificing of two talent individual templars for one powerful entity.

[sandwich_bird]

Moved to the spoiler section.

[Visions of Khas]

For some of the Protoss heroes this palette swapping doesn't matter, like Urun and Mohandar, both of whom wear masks into combat. I think this serves two purposes: to clearly affiliate each with a particular unit; and because they may not serve an important role until later in the saga, by which point their in-game/briefing models will be completed.

Nyon is a relatively minor character, simply serving as the face to for a threat, and likely dies in WoL. So, there's no reason to show him as anything more than a palette-swapped High Templar.

And Tassadar is just in there for shits and giggles.

[gwoodkid]

Protoss have always helped Raynor, I'm sure they still remember him. They are probably in game. I'd put down money on it. If they have a portrait they will appear in WoL.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend"... Yeah, I guess this pretty much sums up the relation between Raynor (Raynor's Raiders) and Protoss. But I think the relation between Raynor and Zeratul, Artanis, Tassadar or some others might be a little bit different, and that might be not just enemy's-enemy-is-my-friend kinda relation. And of course, those who gave Raynor the most help are definitely only among a small group of Protoss.

Also, there might be some Protoss kinda hate Raynor, e.g. Tal'darim the Protoss fanatics. Since Raynor had no choice but to steal the tarazine, "the breath of creation", it might jeopardize Taldarim-Raynor relation...

[Sheliek]

Mohandar and Urun definitely will not be random Protoss heroes. They're the leaders of the Dark Templar and the Auriga Tribes respectively.

[mr. peasant]

Mohandar and Urun definitely will not be random Protoss heroes. They're the leaders of the Dark Templar and the Auriga Tribes respectively.

My thoughts exactly. This is what fit led me to think that some of these Protoss heroes generic/non-canonical heroes made for the map editor or some Enslaver-type campaign that isn't part of the main game. They are too important lore-wise to be used as throwaway characters and there isn't enough time in the Terran campaign to fully explain the Protoss' political situation for them to be used effectively.

Who cares if they're important or not. THEY ARE IN THE GAME AND WILL APPEAR IN THE CAMPAIGN, case in point. :P

If they have achievements and portraits and even unit icons, they're definitely going to appear in the campaign. And there are also several achievements with Raynor himself (portrait, Raynor in his marine suit with a sniper rifle, and two of him in his marine suit with a normal gauss rifle), and even achievements for Nova, Tosh, Stettman, Kerrigan and Swann! (portraits and their ingame units)

But with the exception of Nova, Kerrigan, Artanis and Tassadar (who are final unlockables), none of these unique individuals are part of the 'number of games played' achievement trees. At least, not according to Starcraft Wikia. Just because something has a portrait and unit icon doesn't mean it's in the campaign. It just means it's in the editor.

[Alex06]

But with the exception of Nova, Kerrigan, Artanis and Tassadar (who are final unlockables), none of these unique individuals are part of the 'number of games played' achievement trees. At least, not according to Starcraft Wikia. Just because something has a portrait and unit icon doesn't mean it's in the campaign. It just means it's in the editor.

They HAVE ACHIEVEMENTS FOR THEM.
And the "number of games played" achievement trees is for MP only. There is another tree for the campaign, but it's achievements are not viewable in the beta. Blizzard said Nova would have a unit in the game anyways.

[mr. peasant]

They HAVE ACHIEVEMENTS FOR THEM.
And the "number of games played" achievement trees is for MP only. There is another tree for the campaign, but it's achievements are not viewable in the beta. Blizzard said Nova would have a unit in the game anyways.

And I've already pointed out that all it shows is that the assets are in the editor, and does not necessarily mean they are in the campaign. Is it possible? Yes. However, it's also been previously highlighted the difficulty of putting such lore-significant Protoss characters into the game; there isn't enough time to explain their role in Protoss society and they are too important to be simply used as throwaway characters in the main campaign. Had these been randomly named characters, they'd more likely to be appearing in the main campaign.