Replacing Neural Parasite

[Wankey]

What the hell? This thing is armored? Great, buff Marauders some more please.

Either replace it with something like dark swarm or make it actually useful.

I hate how in SC2, so many spells lock down gameplay rather than increase it.

Plague, slowly drained enemy health *but* didn't slow them or lock them down.

Fungal growth, your units are now locked down, you cannot do anything. No micro allowed.

Mind control - drains all shields of the dark archon making it incredibly risky

Neural parasite - you unit is locked down until you either kill it or kill the infestor or wait for it to finish.

[RamiZ]

What the hell? This thing is armored? Great, buff Marauders some more please.

Either replace it with something like dark swarm or make it actually useful.

I hate how in SC2, so many spells lock down gameplay rather than increase it.

Plague, slowly drained enemy health *but* didn't slow them or lock them down.

Fungal growth, your units are now locked down, you cannot do anything. No micro allowed.

Mind control - drains all shields of the dark archon making it incredibly risky

Neural parasite - you unit is locked down until you either kill it or kill the infestor or wait for it to finish.

Yes, but you have limited time to use the unit that you control, so you should micro that unit, and use it to the full potential while Mind Controlled.

You are not comparing right abilities, You should Compare Ensnare with Fungal Growth more than you do with Plague, since the main point of Fungal Growth is to root units, slowing down the push, or to be able to catch them and flank them. Sure, damage is still there, but it is nowhere near the Plague.

Also, many people just throw the idea without thinking what will be the outcome of it. Replacing Neural Parasite with Dark Swarm is as good as giving the Marauders ability to walk faster together with ability to slow opponents(Oh wait, they already have that... damn...)!
On a more serious note, it would be the most imbalanced caster in the game. I still remember games when JaeDong in SC1 managed to pull out Lurkers with Dark Swarm and Ensnare on enemy units, it was awesome and the opponent couldn't do anything, but it was really hard to do. With both spells on Infestor, you would need 0 effort to take the game vs. Terran, or Protoss with them. Also, there are already spells like Guardian Shield, and Point Defense Drone, which are similar to the Dark Swarm, so I don't see it making into the game. Ever.

And Btw, you totally forgot about abilities like Maelstorm from Dark Archon, or Lockdown from Ghosts in SC1, those abilities are even more imbalanced then these in SC2.

[Twilice]

No, I will stand with my point. Infestors with neural parasite are not a counter to siege tanks.

[RamiZ]

No, I will stand with my point. Infestors with neural parasite are not a counter to siege tanks.

And who exactly said that they are? It is something what you use to deal with Siege Tanks easier, they aren't the real counters. I would even say that they are worse for the Siege Tanks, since they will snipe Infestors before you even use it, but also, you can use it at the right time. There are so many units that are worth using Neural Parasite. Immortals/Colossi/Thors/Ravens/Battle Cruisers/Carriers etc...

[Todie]

NP is hard to use right, even in the few situations where its basically made to shine.

... infestor use has plenty of depth to it without NP (infestors may be less good vs tank supported terrans than others, but theyre still very well worth it when used right - enough to warrant a ghost reply even, but NP hasnt much of a part in this) ... the thought of removing NP it is intriguing, but i dont think thats the way to go, its too late for that, as gifted says. this isnt beta.

same goes for the alternative of super-buffing the ability to become AoE or something, as has been suggested above.. that would probably just brake it and cause general mayhem..

... the best we can hope for is probably a battery of more subtle buffs; some brainstorming on that note:

* increase casting range with 1-1.5 -- would buy some time and make nifty NP use from up cliffs and behind obstacles some much needed extra utility.

*extra armor while chaneling (ideally some kind of one-way spirit-link with the target, but as i cant even be assed to explain what i mean, thats probably hard to get in place in an intuitive enough way)

*Changed duration mechanics, partial suggestions:

incite a delay between interrupted / stopped channelling and the stop of the effect, making for a form of "guaranteed damage" in terms of a few seconds of control

reduction of base duration in favour of extended duration that gradually drains remaining energy -- it always feels like an awkward waste of caster potential to be using NP with full energy infestors but this one is far fetched.

allow infestors to move while channelling but not use any abilities - including burrow - maybe at a slower movespeed (and moving too far away from the parasited target releases it)

... i bet we can do better than this. keep shooting ideas people, and by all means, pick mine apart

[Twilice]

Since the swarm is "a swarm" what about delaying the mind controll the longer the unit is mind controlled even if the infestor dies.

Maximum 10 seconds mind control channeled.
Maximum 3 seconds delay before mind control wore off.. (maxes out at 5 seconds channeling)

[GnaReffotsirk]

Well, let's assume things can drastically change, and reshape SC2 for what it is. Come 2012 or later in LotV.

Atm, there is so much suicide going on, not just with the NP, as you guys know. HT for example, instead of changing cost, they reduced damage effectiveness. Making it a cast-to-archon unit. It's a one-two unit thing.

Let's say the HT-to-archon is a justifiable element of the game. But what about NP? It is supposed to be the counter to gigantic units. Well, at least it was until it became useless or not purchase worthy.

How does a Zerg player counter a heavy mech army in a set of maps that does not allow proper surround? Go for the kill early on. But that's it. Imo, this is terrible.

[SaZun]

I've seen it used recently in a grudge match. Let me see if I can find the shout casted video. It actually did some devistating damage to the opponent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ8Q545eZEQ 12:45 mark is where the mentioned battle happens. Fairly uneventful game but it was pretty cool to see him stomp a terran force with a much higher mineral gas count. PsY Vs Fayth

How does a Zerg player counter a heavy mech army in a set of maps that does not allow proper surround? Go for the kill early on. But that's it. Imo, this is terrible.

This fight actually takes place in the choke on Xel'Naga Caverns

[RamiZ]

How does a Zerg player counter a heavy mech army in a set of maps that does not allow proper surround? Go for the kill early on. But that's it. Imo, this is terrible.

That is my point, every good Zerg is using it at higher levels of play vs. Mech army. Watch Idra or Fruit Dealer, even though, Fruit Dealer is the guy that like more buildings mass Ultras vs. Mech, there are still games where he is using them.

There are plenty of ideas, being castable while burrowed, don't have to be channeled, give it more range, delay on Neural when you kill the Infestor etc etc... Those aren't bad ides, as you said, but I don't think we will see any change to NP, maybe we are, who knows, but I think in Blizzard's eyes, NP is good and balanced ability.

[GnaReffotsirk]

That is my point, every good Zerg is using it at higher levels of play vs. Mech army. Watch Idra or Fruit Dealer, even though, Fruit Dealer is the guy that like more buildings mass Ultras vs. Mech, there are still games where he is using them.

There are plenty of ideas, being castable while burrowed, don't have to be channeled, give it more range, delay on Neural when you kill the Infestor etc etc... Those aren't bad ides, as you said, but I don't think we will see any change to NP, maybe we are, who knows, but I think in Blizzard's eyes, NP is good and balanced ability.

It can be overpowering even. I think more range is sufficient. Cast while borrowed might seem a little too much. Like, if the ravens get Np'ed in the queue first, right?

I've seen it used recently in a grudge match. Let me see if I can find the shout casted video. It actually did some devistating damage to the opponent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ8Q545eZEQ 12:45 mark is where the mentioned battle happens. Fairly uneventful game but it was pretty cool to see him stomp a terran force with a much higher mineral gas count. PsY Vs Fayth

This fight actually takes place in the choke on Xel'Naga Caverns

That is just awesome. I need to check out these stuff more.