Welcome to issue 32 of the Legacy Weekly! This issue emphasizes the creative minds of the StarCraft community. Also, SaharaDrac has assembled a Plays of the Week piece that covers the recent IEM tournament. The opening is especially catchy!
We published an editorial, by Crota, that explains the vespene gas mechanics.
Ever find yourself getting gas-locked during competitive play? This little guide will show you how to look at the numbers behind your build orders. High level players use this technique to maximize their efficiency, and you can too.
StarCraft: Legacy’s Custom Unit Contest has ended, and we are really pleased with the general enthusiasm of the community when creating their entries. Remember, the Melee Map Contest is still running with a deadline that’s closing in fast. Submit your contest entries before the fourth of September in order to be eligible as a winner.
Blizzard is showcasing an art exhibition of more than 700 pieces in the Museum of Contemporary Arts at Taiwan. Kotaku announced his over-seas event recently.
The heavy critique of the fans on the South East Asia server has influenced Blizzard to open the locks between North American servers and SEA servers. Fans all around the world have expressed their concern regarding region locking in StarCraft II.
Bashiok, a Blizzard community manager, has also stated that they will not base their content patches on the feedback of the first weeks after launch. The main reason for this decision is that StarCraft II players are still developing tactics and finding new ways to use units. There appears to be differences in the meta game on different servers.
Some fans argue that the Zerg are too weak, but GlaDe, the the most highly ranked player on the South East Asia server, disagrees. GlaDe plays as Zerg in StarCraft II, and he's willing to answer a series of questions from the community.
“My Life for Aiur” is an illustration created by LuneCheetah. The style of this artwork aids the legendary atmosphere of the Dark Templar, for it diffuses them in the shadows.
“Wings of Liberty” was the title given to the reaper created by StormTitan. The clouds and smoke share the same texture effect, and they freeze the moment when the Reaper flies out of the clouds.
Many skilled artists have started to show what they have planned for the StarCraft universe. Some of them have never created StarCraft related artwork before. Dainisse, StormTitan, LuneCheetah and t2100ex9 are a few of these fresh artists from Deviant Art.
The following video by Dainisse shows the making of a Zergling illustration with a great mimic of Blizzard’s art style:
Read through the current hot topics at the StarCraft: Legacy Forums and discuss your point of view on each of the topics. MTV sprouted a recent discussion surrounding a byte of information related to “Heart of the Swarm”, the first expansion (second release) for StarCraft II. Finally, Andrew from the North America Battle.net Forums recently posted a critique of StarCraft II. Members from StarCraft: Legacy haved mentioned that this critique is either fantastic or quite deficient. Be part of this debate and choose a side to support.
Welcome to issue 31 of the Legacy Weekly! This is the first issue since the release of the Wings of Liberty campaign. Enjoy!
Interested on keeping the best arsenal in town? StarCraft Legacy is offering a series of contests that will give you the chance to obtain the top gear for gaming. Create your very own Protoss, Terran or Zerg unit concept and get a chance to play StarCraft II with Razer’s gaming hardware. As well, feel free to design your very own “Scenario of War” in StarCraft Legacy’s mapping contest. The prize for the best map will be our own favorite video card, the Nvidia EVGA GeForce GTX 460 (768 MB). We love this video card, and you can read StarCraft Legacy’s own review on it and its 1GB sister card.
We recently analyzed the first volume of the manga series, Ghost Academy. If you don’t plan on reading it, plunge into our spoiler-crowded article.
It just seems that StarCraft II was released yesterday, but a month has passed since its launch. Around the world, StarCraft fans rush through the campaign achievements or try to join the ranks of the top melee players on their servers.
Since release, Blizzard has updated StarCraft II with small patches that have resolved achievement issues. The first content patch is still under the cloak of Blizzard Entertainment. Players wait for the infamous “Void Ray Fazing” issue and other balance concerns to be addressed in upcoming patches.
Meanwhile, getting a BlizzCon 2010 ticket is out of many people’s hands. The tickets for this annual event were sold within an hour of sales being opened. Yet, Blizzard gives their fans one of the last chances to attend BlizzCon this year. Blizzard recently announced their UMS map contest. This contest offers three major prizes for the best custom maps. An all-inclusive trip to BlizzCon 2010 in Anaheim California and $5,000 US are the prizes for each of the three qualifiers. These prizes are enough of an incentive to get your mapping skills back into top priority.
As we all share the joy of StarCraft II, Blizzard and the artist community group “Sons of the Storm” pay tribute to Michel Koiter. He was one of the twin brothers of the art group “Twincrusier,” and he passed away in 2004. Michel was honored in the Wings of Liberty cinematic “Worth the Fight” where he was a fallen crew member of Raynor Riders. The close relationship between Blizzard employees gave them the power to make one of the most badass memorials ever. You can read the memorial article written by his brother here.
Lastly, Blizzard stated that they will grant every player a free character name change. Subsequently, the name change feature will become a premium service:
We wanted to let everyone know that in the near future we’ll be allowing everyone a chance to change their chosen StarCraft II character name for free.
In some cases, people chose character names that don’t represent their usual multiplayer nicknames, as they were unaware of how the character names were being used. It’s important to us that everyone is represented by a name of their choosing in their multiplayer games, ladders, and on the forums and community site.
In addition, beyond this initial free name change, we’ll be launching a service similar to the one we offer for World of Warcraft which will allow additional character name changes for a fee. We'll announce more details on how the free name change and additional paid character name changes will be implemented in the near future.
This artwork was created by Deviant Art user t2100ex9. It is the first StarCraft-themed piece that he has illustrated.
StarCraft Legacy has linked StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty reviews from all around community into a single news post.
StarCraft Legacy’s community has its own hot topics. Join the discussions or vote in our polls. Currently, the front page poll asks, “On what difficulty did you play the Wings of Liberty single player campaign?” If you visit the forum, be warned that you might encounter storyline spoilers because spoiler tags have been lifted.
You can discuss WoL's final scene here. You can predict and speculate about HotS here. Finally, browse the North American ladder thread here.
Finally, this a YouTube video featuring College Humor. It provides a general viewpoint of the casual StarCraft commander.
Vitals
Map:Storm of the Imperial Sanctum Creator: ekcolnovkol Players: 5v5 Map Type:Aeon of Strife / DotA Length: 15-60 minutes URL: http://www.sc2mapster.com/maps/storm-imperial-sanctum/ Reviewed by: asfastasican
Description
Storm of the Imperial Sanctum (referred to as Sanctum) is StarCraft II’s first, bold attempt at creating a worthy successor to Defense of the Ancients (DotA). Sanctum is a map where you have two teams with bases located on opposing sides of the map, and every player selects a unique hero unit to control as their avatar. Both teams fight down three lanes with friendly NPC units, and they clash with the other team along the way. As the army units die around them, each player gains experience and minerals from participating in the action. Your hero will level up, get better stats, get new abilities and upgrade them. You spend your minerals on items and equipment to make your hero stronger. As players kill each other, they take each other’s minerals. Dead players respawn after periods of downtime, and teams will try to gain the upper hand while pushing down the lanes and destroying the enemy’s defensive towers. Victory is achieved when one team is able to push back the enemy into their base and kill their main building.
The loading screen in all of its generic glory!
Review (History Lesson Included!)
We’ll likely cover this map frequently, for, seeing as though many see it as StarCraft II’s official DotA, we’ll be expecting this map to evolve over long periods of time. Think of this review as my first impressions of Sanctum and less of an actual review. It wouldn’t be fair if we took only one look at such an ambitious project and then determine its worth merely a month or two after StarCraft II’s release! Be prepared for quite a history lesson in DotA-type maps as well.
Say hello to Molgloo Grunty, the Murloc space marine! He’s a pretty good roamer, meaning he’s built to spend most of his time running around the map while ganking enemies.
Sanctum is a map that has its roots in the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) or “DotA Clone” genre. Several stand-alone games and mods/maps alike have tried to build upon this newfound genre ever since it evolved from the AoS (Aeon of Strife) type maps of the distant past. AoS (which was also a reference to a fictional period in StarCraft lore where the Protoss tribes fought against each other in civil war) was a simple map with 1-3 lanes between two enemy bases. Players would select various types of Warcraft III heroes and run down these lanes fighting in a small war against two factions.
Meet Garamond Singsprocket, the little MULE that could!
This style of map was fun and refreshing from other maps of that time, and there were many variations of these maps created by many different mapmakers. It’s hard to say who started everything from scratch, but it’s safe to say that AoS was pretty fun even in its infant stages. It had a certain appeal where you felt satisfaction as your hero got stronger and as you proved your dominance over the other guy doing the same thing. It was a different kind of satisfaction compared to the satisfaction you got from leveling up in a RPG or other custom maps. The rounds were quicker, the replayability was definitely apparent, and there was a strong PvP aspect to these maps as well.
Garamond attacks with his targeting lazer while his automated SCVs and his two missile-type attacks do even more damage!
DotA was born from a series of maps that refined these AoS maps. The original DotA maps had a different, yet similar style, where “jungles” were introduced in the empty spaces between the lanes you fought in. The heroes that were created were more interesting and original, creeps in the jungles added more killing fun to the game, and the items had a lot more thought put into them. Having a more refined item system introduced more strategy to the game beyond simply getting life steal items or giving your character more stat points. Later on, Eul created Defense of the Ancients. DotA was an refined version of AoS where competition and aggressive play was further rewarded. As time went on, Guinsoo took what Eul created and further developed it as DotA Allstars. After Guinsoo’s Allstars map grew in popularity over many years, Icefrog took over, and he still develops the map until the present day.
One objective of Sanctum is to destroy the enemy’s defensive towers and push your way towards the enemy’s base.
Why bother to learn about this genre’s history? Well, the whole point of giving you a more in-depth understanding of the game’s origins is to point out that Sanctum has very big shoes to fill. We’re talking clown sized shoes here, people! DotA Allstars was what I would call the second coming of Counter-Strike. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past twelve years, you’ve probably heard of a little shooter game called Counter-Strike. It’s a game that actually became more popular than the original game (Half-Life) it was based on! Imagine if your game company made a smash hit, “Game of the Year” title. Now, imagine how you would feel if your game found itself overshadowed by one of its own mods very early on and for the rest of the game’s entire life? You would probably be as dumbfounded and excited, simultaneously, as Valve was about Counterstrike.
The item menus pop up where you are in the base or next to a shop.
There came a time where DotA Allstars actually became more popular than WarCraft III’s melee ladder was. The map was continuously updated by fans and for the fans, which resulted in the map being played for a great many years. It has remained popular and loved by many players across the world. During the past two years, a handful of new game developers have developed their own stand-alone games, Heroes of Newerth, which are similar to DotA Allstars, and they have since become relatively successful franchises.
The Vernal Inhibitor (a.k.a Power Trends/Steam Boots/ Berserker’s Greaves) is an item that increases your attack speed and movement speed while giving you decent regen effects.
Demigod was the first DotA clone to be released. Unfortunately, it ultimately ended up being a failure, seeing as the game was plagued by extensive piracy and was a victim of its own horribly written netcode. League of Legends was later released by Riot Games, a company founded by Guinsoo himself after he left DotA Allstars and had supposedly disappeared into obscurity. Finally, Heroes of Newerth was released by S2 Games, the European game developer that had made hybrid genre (FPS+RPG+RTS) Savage and Savage 2 during the past half-decade. Most of these new games, along with the original DotA Allstars, are played by many gamers all over the world, and many more players are being introduced the MOBA genre now as we speak.
Zerg Symbiosis (a.k.a Mask of Death/Hungry Spirit/ Vampiric Scepter) is your basic life steal item if you want to gain life back while attacking your enemies.
Now, as for Storm of the Imperial Sanctum, the map sports a healthy selection of unique heroes that have cool abilities and special, custom-made effects. It basically has the same foundation all of these previous games have, and it achieves its goal of being a SCIIDotA clone. In one of my games, I played Garamond, who is a durable version of a Terran MULE with special abilities. Garamond deals ranged damage to his targets by using a lazer. He also sends out pet SCV drones to deal additional damage to his targets and casts spells against his enemies as well. As I played him, I tried my best to push down a lane and take out my enemies with the help of my allies.
The Ironforge Beacon (similar to a Necronomicon or a Puzzle Box) is one out of many beacon items in SotIS. These items give stats and allow you to summon mercenary units by your side and help fight the good fight.
I also spent a lot of my time at the base exploring the in-game GUI and tried to sift through all of the item purchase menus. The menus and interfaces that pop up serve their intended purpose by relaying information about what items do, what items combine into other items, and allowing you to buy these items by simply clicking on them. Items that you purchase automatically buff your hero, and there is a very small window from which you can activate items that has additional abilities with cooldowns. The secret shop, where more powerful items can be purchased, is located near the center of the map on the west side.
The secret shop!
There are creeps on the map with respawn timers, and you get money for attaining the killing-blow on enemy minions just like in DotA. You also can kill enemy heroes to get minerals just as you can in DotA. However, there are a couple of new concepts that DotA does not have. In DotA, players can travel the river that flows through the center of the map and grab runes (power-ups) that temporarily buff your hero for a short period of time. In Sanctum, you instead gain control of a random temporary unit that you can use to fight enemies and destroy their minions and buildings.
You can gain control of Rune Creeps by grabbing them as they spawn along the river.
There are also items in Sanctum that can summon mercenary units to your side to help take out your enemies. One of Sanctum’s other key features are the unit types. Armored, Biological, and Psionic units counter each other in different ways, meaning that this system is reminiscent to WarCraft III’s armor system and also to its Strength/Agility/Intelligence hero system. Some things never change though, seeing as that Sanctum still has a big super creep like Roshan from DotA. The super creep named Aeon stands tall near the center of the map. Either team can move in and try to take him down for additional rewards.
Bigger and badder than the likes of Roshan, Kongor or even Baron Nashor, Aeon stands ready to curbstomp your team and prove to you that he is this genre’s true and only god!
Criticisms
Where does that leave Storm of the Imperial Sanctum as of this moment? Well, as things are right now, Sanctum is in its infant stages and it doesn’t really hold its own against what League of Legends and HoN have to offer. Some of you may not appreciate me comparing a map like Sanctum to games that have been created by full fledged development teams, but I feel it is valid to do so. In my eyes, it’s valid to compare them alongside each other, seeing as that these other games are the only few in the entire genre. I not only believe it is valid to compare Sanctum to sophisticated games like HoN that are in the same genre, but I also believe it is justified simply because League of Legends is free to play and is funded by microtransactions. To pick up StarCraft II in hopes of playing the next and best version of DotA is and will be a huge let down for WarCraft III fans. You will pay $60 dollars for StarCraft II when instead you could pay $30 for HoN or a bare minimum of $0 for LoL. Whether you like it or not, these other two DotA clones are competition for Sanctum.
Once you take out the front entrances to the enemy base, you not only make your forces stronger, but you also disable the main enemy building’s shields. Destroy it and you win the round!
Sanctum is, in fact, a DotA variant. Make no mistake about that. I’m not even saying this map falls short of expectations or that its creators are to blame for it not being perfect or awe-inspiring. Most of the blame generated by perfectionists like me will be placed on the shoulders of the Starcraft II devs themselves. Firstly, the lag when playing custom maps like Sanctum will prevent this map and many other maps from being enjoyable to play, or it will at least kill any expectations of these maps from ever being played competitively . Secondly, the creators of Sanctum have to use graphics, units and assets from what Blizzard has given them, which is mostly space themed units and random pieces of terrain supplemented with a customizable lighting system.
Some effects in Sanctum are flashy and fun, while others like this aura aren’t as easy on the eyes.
Sanctum, in its current state, is very dark, and the map itself has extremely poor readability. New players and veterans alike will have a very hard time focusing their attention on units and the playing space. Even other attempts at creating SC2 DotA like E.P.I.C. have better readability. When you compare Sanctum to a game like League of Legends, it’s literally like contrasting between night and day. LoL features a bright color palette, great character detail, and exceptional art design. Clicking and targeting units in Sanctum can sometimes be difficult because of current unit sizes and model scaling. Players that will try Sanctum may be turned off by how the map feels or looks when they play it. This effect on a player is subtle and may not be directly realized at first, but it could easily affect the player’s feelings and first impressions. If anything, the only thing you can blame Sanctum’s creators is its dark terrain, but they are still limited by what Blizzard has given them within a short period of time.
Can you see where I’m going around this dark swamp? Because I can’t!
Conclusion
There are other little things about this map that can be nitpicked, such as the lack of synergy between some of the heroes’ abilities, but the game has just been released, so we can’t expect so much within a short period of time. I did enjoy playing Sanctum, and I hope to return back to it soon to see it after matures. This is exactly why I plan on returning to Sanctum to give it a second review when its creators refine the map’s look and gameplay. Time will gradually change the game’s balance and make the game more fun. The effort that this map’s creators have put into it has already warranted at least a second review from guys like me. We promise to deliver further coverage as long as Sanctum grows and develops a small community that is alive and kicking. And yes, I personally promise you guys that if I do it next time, I won’t include another exciting history lesson that strangely resembles a boring wall of text!
Enter the Legacy Weekly - Ghosts in Our Pasts Edition.
What have the zany fellows over at StarCraft: Legacy been up to, anyways!? Thoe short answer? Not a whole lot on the exclusives front! But that's excusbale, because there has been a veritable torrent (yes, it was a word before "bit" got stuck in front of it) of news coming from Blizzard regarding StarCraft II as we are on the verge of the big release. You may have even missed some, there's been so darn much. Make sure you check the front page of sclegacy.com for all the news, big and small!
Some video game for nerds is coming out this week or something. I dunno.
Also, the final unlock for the "Join the Dominion" campaign has been revealed! If you haven't yet, make sure to check out the "Ghosts of the Past" StarCraft II Launch trailer. The news is on the front page and you can also view it on the official Blizzard STarCRaft II website.
This weeks Fan Art comes to us from BEN_BEN_BEN, via his DeviantArt page.
One of our members, GnaReffotsirk, is developing an campaign for StarCraft II named StarCraft: Survivors. The campaign will include an amazing in-game cinematic, made entirely in the StarCraft II Galaxy Editor. You can discuss the cinematic in our forums.
The three following videos is of a girl called Soe, who have published some videos of herself drawing two StarCraft art pieces and molding one StarCraft clay figure.
Zealot
Hydralisk
Clay Hydralisk
We have two major discussion topics in our forums that we feel are important to discuss, and we'd very much like you to follow and contribute to them.
Description: Matchmaking is a spinoff of the entire “Micro” custom map genre where you control a small number of units and effectively kill an opposing force without getting wiped out. As you command a few fighters and micro them individually, you are expected to overcome challenges or larger enemy forces that a simple attack move won’t handle. The Matchmaking game is your typical micro map that comes with an interesting twist. Before each round begins, you play a short puzzle game and your performance in the mini-game decides what kind of units you will bring into battle and how many of them you will have.
The AI just got MicrOWNED!
Review: As some of you may have realized, it has become harder to select custom maps for reviews, both popular and not. Since the StarCraft 2 beta servers are still down, we have been playing a handful of more single-player orientated maps. Fortunately for us, a good number of these single player maps aren’t boring and can still bring a smile to our faces during this multiplayer drought.
The Main Menu...
Matchmaking is the perfect candidate for a singleplayer map review, simply because Micro themed maps have always been predominately single player for as long as can remember during the past decade. In Matchmaking, you first select what mode you want to play, then play a short puzzle minigame before the round, eventually participate in that round and finally move on to the next if you happen to defeat the enemy forces.
See what you’re up against.
Every round begins with a preview of the enemy forces you will be pitted against. After the quick preview, you are shown a puzzle where you are presented with a square box of various unit portraits. These boxes will remind of other like-minded puzzle games such as Bejeweled, but how it plays itself out is somewhat unique. You are given a number of turns, in which you select pairs of matching units. The objective is to select matching units that are located as far from each other as possible, because if you make longer connections, you will receive a larger number of that unit at the beginning of the micro phase. After you make a connection, those two selected tiles disappear and you’ll continue to choose connecting pairs until you run out of turns and the micro phase begins.
I made a long connection between two Zealots at both corners, which rewarded me with 4 Zealots!
When the arena appears, the collection of units you earned during the puzzle phase will spawn on the map in one big lump. You must immediately reposition your forces and decide whether to attack beyond the line of brush in the center or ready your defense against the opposing AI-controlled group. Having good micro and some unit composition strategy are both key as you try to beat every level. If you command your forces poorly, you will lose even if you completed the puzzle like a pro and have a buttload of units. On the flip side, if you make very short connections during the puzzle phase, you will lose even if you have 400 APM micro’ing your units, because you will be put up against vastly superior numbers.
Queuing orders, focus firing, repositioning and having flat-out good micro will win the fight.
The key to completing every level is to have a healthy balance between generating a sufficient number of units and managing those units effectively. Level 3 is where the game begins to get harder, while a couple of the later levels (one being the final level) are real doozies.
You won’t get many units like Phoenixes and flyers even if you make long connections, so go long or go home!
Criticisms: As with numerous other StarCraft 2 custom maps that have been created during the beta phase, Matchmaking is strictly a demo map as it is now. It only has a single player mode where you fight the computer and try to generate a high score (displayed via your mineral count.) You can also skip to levels that you have already reached via the start screen. The puzzle and micro phases play out well, but the map can really use additional game-play modes, more than it can use design and balance suggestions at the moment. Fortunately for the author, the community has already provided a number of suggestions to improve on this map’s concept. Some of these suggestions include number tweaks, different puzzle game modes to spice up the experience and also suggestions how minerals and points could be used to help a player deal with upcoming levels as the game progresses.
Ahah! 30 Zerglings!
Conclusion: If Progammer caters to his fans and follows their suggestions, I’m sure he will improve on this map rather easily and other Micro mapmakers will be influence by his creation. Matchmaking reminds me of how other map genres have been heavily influenced by adding quirky mini games and puzzles to better the genre as a whole. Skibi’s TD from the WC3 era changed how players looked at tower defense and the couple that made that particular mp eventually had it published as an official Blizzard custom map. Thanks to Progammer and other mapmakers’ ingenuity, we will be able to harness the power of SC2’s editor and be able to expand on existing map genres in a big way. Keep an eye out on this guy and his updates of Matchmaking as he churns them out.
Welcome to the first ever StarCraft: Legacy Strategy newsletter! We have gathered a team of thinkers, strategists, and ladder junkies to bring you tips and methods to enhance your gameplay in StarCraft 2's Multiplayer. For the next nine weeks, we will be focusing on a single, different matchup, analyzing it, and providing you with video highlights, tips, build orders, and strategies. Our first newsletter will be covering a somewhat unexplored and fun matchup: Protoss vs. Zerg!
Hello again, and welcome to Legacy Weekly #29. We made Snickerdoodles, and there's lemonade over there on the table. You look really good in that dress, by the way. Seriously, you don't even look like a guy. Well, you do, but that's OK, because we have plenty of community comings and goings, superfluous Blizzard news bits, Fan art, and of course, the rabidly popular Plays of the Week! So read on, intrepid traveler, look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair.
Just in case you missed it, our Magnum Opus, "Battle.net 2.0 Concerns", is up and ready for your perusal. Rage along with us, folks!
If you haven't been watching our SC:L Commentaries on YouTube, you are one of the last 200 people on Earth still holding out. Yeah, I'm talking 6.7 Billion views per video. It's pretty serious. Crota and I provide expert analysis and awkward jokes for the Internet community all the time, so if you're looking for SC2 videos to enjoy while the beta is gone, look no further!
Warning! Due to the recent plethora of threads, posts, kitten videos and great editorials concerning Battle.net 2.0, this weeks Blizzard News will consists of huge amounts of blue posts, as Blizzard valiantly tries to control the raging masses! Some posts are very relevant to Blizzard and Battle.net, some relevant to StarCraft II, and some just for the lulz.
Please note that most of the posts will be edited to highlight some of the important parts. We suggest you click "Read more..." to be able to read the threads and the quotes in context.
Sixen, a moderator from SC2Mapster.com, brought up some issues that was troubling him regarding the identifiers for Battle.net 2.0. His post spawned these replies from Zhydaris and Bashiok:
Let's assume that player "A" decides to choose Sixen, and you'll obviously choose Sixen as well. One of you will be Sixen.XXX and the other one Sixen.YYY . Once everybody will know that you're Sixen.XXX the other player will be stuck with a nickname that doesn't represent him and will also be incapable of impersonating you anymore. Read more...
Ok, I understand your worries about these features, we'll try to address your questions once we'll be able to reveal more information about the mechanics of this system. Just let me remind you that we'll obviously monitor the situation and we'll look into this kind of problems, as I said Battle.Net 2.0 will be a dynamic environment and we'll always try to make it better. Read more...
Sixen, how would it feel if you log in day one, excited to grab your name, and someone else already has? And so you're stuck having to use some variation.
These people are naming themselves "ESPORTS" to protest against:
- Lack of Chat Channels ... and we just announced that Chat Channels are going to be in the game a few months after release.
- No Cross-region play ... and we just announced that cross-region play is definitely in our plans.
- No Unique ID ... And we just announced that every combination of nickname + 3 digit code will be unique and you will be able to add friends by using this combination.
- You need to give out your email address ... Which is not the case anymore, as adding Nickname.007 will be enough. Read more...
Unfortunately, there are a multitude of challenges we have to overcome due to the unique regional account and billing options that didn't exist in the past. But those hurdles aren't insurmountable, and we are looking into solutions that will allow interested players to obtain access to other regional versions without having to buy another full copy of the game. Read more...
Some players find Facebook integration controversial, this is Kapeselus' response to that claim.
I agree that Facebook integration was something that some players found controversial, but at the same time I disagree that this is something buyers are not looking for. Even _if_ majority of people don't have friends to add there are still some who will welcome an opportunity to use this (even here or on teamliquid of all the places :)). Read more...
While some feel like the Blizzard developers live in an alternate universe, and therefore they don't understand the fans.
This is definitely not true, especially not for our developers. All development teams consist of veterans, who remember the release of the oldest Blizzard games and some of them have been with the company since day 1. Read more...
Bashiok tries to explain Blizzard's relationship with Activision.
Q u o t e: So when I visit http://us.starcraft2.com/dominion/ I am greeted by a whole host of logos near the bottom of the page including Battle.net, Blizzard Entertainment, SC2, Twitter, and Facebook. However, one is noticeably missing: Activision. Doesn't it seem disingenuous not to include an Activision or Activision-Blizzard logo when Activision has been clearly intimately involved with the production of Starcraft 2/Bnet2.0?
Activision is our distributor. Activision|Blizzard is the name of our parent company. We still self publish. We develop our own games. (and websites, lol?)
Q u o t e: When the thirty second promo of Starcraft 2's cinematic was posted on Youtube only hours before airing it was immediately shut down but copyright complaints by Activision.
That's ... what? They don't hold our copyrights. We mistakenly posted the video early and then pulled it down. I'm not sure who if anyone actually asked YouTube to pull down any copies of it. Sort of a silly notion though, to try to clear the internet of something once it's out there. Oh well. Seems like people enjoyed it, so win-win-win! ;)
Q u o t e: But strangely enough around Starcraft 2's promotional sites/materials Activision's name is absent. It seems to be alarmingly deceitful practice directed at attempting to hide Activision's obvious machinations with Blizzard's IP.
This is difficult to argue with because if I do then I'm helping you realize that the things you're upset about are purely and completely within our control and are decisions made by the same exact people who have always made them. If I don't then I have to listen to you drone on and on about whatever it is you want to fabricate. It's a tough one. Either way I lose. Q u o t e: On Starcraft 2's retail packaging will there be any Activision or Activision-Blizzard logo? Or will it be attempted to be passed off a genuine Blizzard product as pure as spring water.
Our games don't feature the names of our parent companies, or distributors. This is unlikely to change.
For those of you who are going to compete in Blizzard's Propaganda Poster Contest, and are wondering which dimensions are allowed in the contest, you might find this helpful.
That's just semantics on orientation at that point. Turn a 1024x768 on its side and it's 768x1024. ;)
The size requirement is just to ensure that we don't get small, blurry images and they present well on the page. As long as it has 786,432 pixels you won't be disqualified.
Now on to some actual StarCraft II related stuff. [k]er, a poster on the official Battle.net forums, wonders if the Mutalisks attack bounce from air to ground and vice versa. To which Kapeselus responds:
Yes, Mutalisk attacks bounce from Air to Ground units. This is what made a difference in some ZvZ SC:BW games for example, where you would take your Zerglings and Overlords with you to Mutalisk vs Mutalisk fights to reduce the bounce attack a little bit and gain an advantage.
It is also part of the gameplay and adds more options for the players also making the Mutalisk more versatile.
The next blue post can be interpreted in a few different ways. A fourth race? If not for multiplayer, then maybe for single player?
Q u o t e: Is it just me or does it feel like sometimes Blizzard employees are watching us play? Sometimes I get the feeling that Blizzard employees are invisible and inside of my game watching.
No, we don't do these kind of things.
By the way, your last build order was completely wrong, you should have gone for your expansion a little earlier. Not that I watched your game. Just sayin', you know.
Community hero Artosis has uploaded a new video of himself, Tasteless, IdrA and other pro gaming personalities discussing StarCraft II at an irritatingly noisy cafe titled "Nerds of the Round Table". The MVP of the video by far is the guy who gave up on SC2 after a week because "The Zerg are so overpowered". Way to know what a beta test is, champ. Anyways, it's entertaining when you can hear, it, so give a watch!
For you Day[9] fans, and I know there are plenty of you, there is a ridiculously long interview with him available. He waxes for 55 minutes about all things StarCraft and eSports. Another good time killer if you're jonesing for anything StarCraft related.
Weekly Custom Map Review
Map: Hex'd
Creator: Qancake
Players: Multiplayer (Alternatively, single player with AI)
Description: Hex'd is a spell centric Hero Arena map created by Qancakes. From a top-down view, you control a unit called the Hexer, that have five spells at his disposal, and the outcome of the rounds depend wholly on how good you are at using your spells. Having good aim and prediction skills are essential. It's reminiscent of the WarCraft III custom map Warlock.
The game modes.
There are five different games modes, including free for all, a random team mode, elimination, capture the flag, or in this case capture the Ultralisk(!) and a last domination style mode called the Hexnaught.
So as you might have gathered, this is a very competitive map created for multiplayer purposes. If a player is missing from the beginning of the game, or leaves during it, an AI player will be added. The AI has four different difficulty settings, ranging from easy to insane, though the AI is very well scripted I highly recommend playing the map with a full game of actual players. Bringing some friends in on this is great fun.
All 15 spell upgrades.
Review: After choosing game modes, each player receives five specialization points, which are to be used to upgrade spells. Each spell has three different and varied upgrades. If this is your first time playing, you can either guess which upgrades are best suiting your play style, or you have to read through all 15 upgrades and then evaluate which upgrades to choose.
When you have chosen your upgrades, Hex'd puts you straight into the action. Naturally, here is where the fun begins. It might seem like total mayhem in the beginning, but after learning each spell, both how to use them and avoid them, you should start to gain some perspective of how to play.
The spell design is great. They are varied and they have great synergy. I wouldn't call any of the spells over powered, because it all depends on how well you utilize them. Though the last spell, Orb of Binding, might be a bit too situational.
Overall this map is great fun, has a fast pace and maybe most of all; it still has big potential. Therefore we move on to the criticism part.
Free For All action! One poor Hexer has like eight incoming Barrage balls!
Criticism: The game modes: Personally, I would say that the three modes Free For All, Party Hex (the random team mode), and The Hexnaught delivers the most fun out of the current five modes. In Elimination you are cloaked while out of combat, though this might be good for variation, it is just frustrating while actually playing. The Capture the Ultralisk mode often turns into a stalemate where both teams are in the middle of the map, struggling to get control over both Ultralisk. In my opinion, points should be delivered to teams that bring home the enemy Ultralisk, even though their own Ultralisk is gone. I believe this would open up the gameplay.
Lighting and weather effects changes every round. This looks like a night time rave!
Terrain: This map would benefit much in replayability if it had several different terrains where players could battle it out. Both terrains designed for team modes and single modes would be a great addition. This could be done in WarCraft III, so I have no doubt that it is possible in StarCraft II as well.
Team games are crazy fun!
Spells and upgrades: Even though the spells themselves are great, I don't find the upgrades for them very interesting. Less upgrades that increases some passive stat, and more upgrades that do something cool. Examples could be adding another ball to your Barrage spell, or your Attack spell leaving a trail of fire.
But the thing that would really make this map great, was if you could gain resources after each round, which you could use to buy new spells and upgrades for them. This is what gave Warlock its great varied gameplay.
Victory at last!
Conclusion: I chose to review this map because I already knew how good it was, and because of how much I want the features I've listed above in it. The overall map is thoroughly created, with simple but fun and challenging gameplay. I would recommend this map to my friends, and if we see its continued development I would very much like to play it some more during the next StarCraft II Beta phase. I truly hope the author of this map, Qancakes, will continue supporting this map, until much, if not all, of its potential is reached.
