[Q&A Session] I got to play StarCraft II for about 5 days, with devs and Blizz Staff

[HappyMint]

Hey everyone,

I'm a recently retired professional World of Warcraft gamer and I was recently in Cologne, Germany for the Blizzard North American regional finals (I was competing in the tourney). In Cologne there were about 12 computers set up 12 hours a day playing starcraft 2 for the public. I had the good fortune of having the opportunity to play Starcraft 2 for hours every day for about 5 days straight, with and against Blizzard employees and devs. I also got to hang out with the Blizz staff after SC2 was closed down for the day and talk to them about SC2, their thoughts, recent changes, new builds vs old builds etc.

I can say with certainty SC2 is the best game I have ever touched. The game is already incredibly well polished with only a few OP elements which I am sure will be addressed in the near future.

Anyways, I figured I'd make an account and post here to see if anyone had any questions, specific or not about the game. I got to play it for a while so I have a pretty good grasp on it. I just know that I had about 8 billion questions before I got to play and talk to the Blizz staff so I thought maybe you all might like to know also.

So if you post your questions here I would be happy to try to answer them as much as I can. The build I played is about three weeks old at this point I believe and I was already told by the blizz staff what the changes were in the new one over the old one.

[Zigurd]

What are the OP elements you found ?
Your favorite race, units and why.
Things that should be changes in your opinion and things that will most likely change.
What was the build you played ?

Thanks broseidon !!

[Gifted]

Overall if you get some time to write down, I'd like you to pick your favorite race to play. Put down generic strategies that you started with and explain what you were able to counter and what countered you.

Are there any counters which worked as intended and are there any counters that surprised you?

Lastly, I've heard about a command delay where units were not able to react as fast due to how the new Surround AI works... Do you find anything like that impeding on your ability to play?

Thank you for contributing your knowledge buddy.

[Blazur]

Hi HappyMint, and thank you for giving us the opportunity to share your experience playing the game. I'm interested in the following:

1) Can you describe in detail how Creep Tumors are used? Is the ability instant and does it have a cooldown? When casting on receding creep, does it instantly halt the recession and will it magnify creep around it within a radius?

2) Any experience with resource trading in team games? Are any limitations imposed and how does it function within the UI?

3) What was the game lobby screen like when you played the game?

4) Do you know if mic chat is currently supported in the game?

5) Are there any significant changes with the UI from what we've seen in the latest screenshots? Can players now draw on the minimap in addition to the standard ping?

6) What was the Thor like, and how effective did you find this unit?

7) I understand an adjacent sensor tower is now needed to grant detection to missile turrets. Can you confirm this? Also, does the sensor tower still reveal itself to enemies once constructed?

Thanks again.

[unentschieden]

How usefull was the Planetary Fortress? Are nukes now really valid now?

[HappyMint]

What are the OP elements you found ?
Your favorite race, units and why.
Things that should be changes in your opinion and things that will most likely change.
What was the build you played ?

Thanks broseidon !!

I am not entirely sure what specific build it was. All I can say is I played it three weeks ago and according to the Blizzard staff there, there was only one very recent build that they were messing around with out since then.

Most OP elements:

Raven (Previously Named NightHawk) - New new "Sci vessle" of Terran basically can be teched to incredibly fast and has turrets that it can drop. You would think like I did "Oh it must be crap" but in reality it's insanely good. The turrets only cost 50 energy, have 2 armor, 150 health, and do 8 damage per attack, attacking at approx the same speed of a non-stimmed marine. Energy seems to regen faster than in SC1 from what I could tell, so I could kill players entirely with turrets or with the Ravens heat seeking missles (also very good). The missles, according to the blizz Staff were nerfed in the most recent build to move slower than the one I was in. They were immensely good and perhaps needed the nerf. Now if you use them you have to be dangerously close to enemy units for it to actually hit. You can upgrade the range at which it will chase units though.

There were games where I had 8 Ravens and flew over the zerg expo and base and used smart casting (also in wc3) to drop approx 30 turrets on theri base. The player had to sacrifice its entire army almost to fend off these turrets which gives terran very quick map control.


OP Element #2: Banelings. In the build I played their AOE was a bit smaller but they did 40 damage on explosion which would 1 shot infantry. They were incredibly good and anyone who says they aren't worth it hadn't played enough. The newest build nerfed them according to the blizz staff there but also increased their AOE.

OP Element #3: Can't remember the name, but whatever it is that turns your CC into a giant cannon - PLANETARY FORTRESS. A big terran weakness in SC1 is the inability for terran to easily defend expansions (i.E - no sunkens/photons etc.) In this one you can turn you CC into a Battle Station (can't remember the name sorry >.>) which youc an spam repair with your SCVS. It only hits ground but does AOE damage and 40 damage per attack. There was a game I had my CC take out 12 zealots and 5 immortals while I was spam repairing it before they could kill the CC (it never dipped in hp) or the SCV's repairing it. It is not without cost though. You can only get this, OR Comsat.

Comsat has a really cool element in which you can spend 50 energy on a comsat, OR you can spend 50 energy on dropping a MULe for mining. Mules actually mine at the SAME time as your sCVs on the same mineral patches the SCVs can mine at. Drastically increasing income. So each Scan is actually "Worth" something. Blizz dev told me approx X minerals but I forgot what he told me it was haha. Keep in mind you can drop mules anywhere in the map that you have vision.

So suppose I set up a new expansion on an island and I carry 5 scvs in the CC to the island. As soon as it lands I can drop say 12 mules there from my other expansions/main and insantly mine at incredibly production. Mules = 15 minerals per trip (scvs only get 5 per trip) and can mine at same time as SCVs on a single patch.

#2 - Terran was my favorite race for sure. Terran has SOOOO many options in comparison to other races. More spells, more utility, but it requires a lot more micro because of all of this. More APM needed basically. Seige tanks kind of suck now, I was pretty disappointed. More money, only 65 damage when sieged and units like Immortals completely STOMP them.

#3 - Changes needed. Turret energy requirement increased. Baneling damage nerfed aoe increased (already in next build). Seige tank damage increased. Zerg tech needs to be reworked. Zerg seems to only be good right now because of banelings. Every good unit is way too late in tech and Zergs seem to constantly lose in the mid or early game. As you saw in Battle Report #3. The temporary force field / wall that can be put up by early tech units is obscenely good. Needs to be smaller AOE in my opinion, or more energy.


IMPORTANT: One thing I'd like to address is the speed of the game. I was very concerned by watching the battle reports. The game seemed ... slower - kind of like between SC and WC3 in speed. It really isn't. It is really just as fast or faster than SC1. Battle Reports were played/viewed at a much slower speed than "fastest" which is what everyone will play on for certain. Speed lings are so damn fast in this game it is incredible. Even faster than SC1 from what I could tell.

[HappyMint]

Overall if you get some time to write down, I'd like you to pick your favorite race to play. Put down generic strategies that you started with and explain what you were able to counter and what countered you.

Are there any counters which worked as intended and are there any counters that surprised you?

Lastly, I've heard about a command delay where units were not able to react as fast due to how the new Surround AI works... Do you find anything like that impeding on your ability to play?

Thank you for contributing your knowledge buddy.

I honestly don't have time to do many strategies based up on the number of responses sorry. But my favorite one was early wall off against zerg (ling tight is very easy) then fast tech to ravens and kill them with turrets. I would laugh so hard I cried. The sad thing is it's actually a valid strategy. Zerg have no anti air very early really without really teching and early expand for zerg is harder so tech is slower than SC1.


I didn't have any problems with command delay that I noticed. Everything seemed incredibly responsive. The game is extremely smooth to play.

[Zigurd]

Thanks broseph !!!!
Strongest, weakest race ?

[screw_ball69]

I really wish people would stop asking about what is over powered, wait till beta atleast before discussing this

[HappyMint]

1) Can you describe in detail how Creep Tumors are used? Is the ability instant and does it have a cooldown? When casting on receding creep, does it instantly halt the recession and will it magnify creep around it within a radius?

I didn't play zerg all that much unfortunately, but the Creep stays for a good while. It costs energy, no cooldown as far as I know. If you make creep tumors you can't inject larva into your hatches though because of lack of energy, and it's very important to do so because zerg no longer needs to spam hatches for lava, 1 or 2 queens is all that is needed. I had like 12 larva on one hatch at one point I think. It's quite good.

2) Any experience with resource trading in team games? Are any limitations imposed and how does it function within the UI?

No experience with resource trading at all really. We didn't play but one 2v2 and at that point (it was like my 2nd game) I didn't even know I could resource trade. In fact I think in the build I played it was not even possible.

3) What was the game lobby screen like when you played the game?

Can't remember specifically. I think there were planets in the background and BC's flying around or something along those lines.

4) Do you know if mic chat is currently supported in the game?

Not in the build I played.

5) Are there any significant changes with the UI from what we've seen in the latest screenshots? Can players now draw on the minimap in addition to the standard ping?

U.I seems to be about the same as the SS's I have seen. I was unable to draw on the mini map, and the blizz staff never mentioned anything about it in all my discussions with them.

6) What was the Thor like, and how effective did you find this unit?

Thor is a funky one. It's actually not that expensive, slightly more than a seige tank. It's clunky and slow, the damage is pretty measily. Only 2 good things about Thor. It has an instant 300 damage (I think it is 300 - something very high) 5 second stun that requires energy - Single target. And it is like the Goliath 2.0 against air. It shoots off volleys of like 6 rockets or so in the air. They are relatively low damage rockets though, so late game if the target has level 3 armor they are ineffective if thor's damage is not also upgraded.

7) I understand an adjacent sensor tower is now needed to grant detection to missile turrets. Can you confirm this? Also, does the sensor tower still reveal itself to enemies once constructed?

It does reveal itself to enemies once constructed. I have no idea why it doesn't make sense to me to be honest. I cannot confirm that sensor towers are needed for detection for Missle turrets. I can say that turrets are substantially better than before, though slightly more expensive. A welcome change if you ask me.