Our long-awaited conclusion of our
Worldwide Invitational 2008 coverage is finally here! Our unit pages have been updated and you can access them from the WWI 2008 sidebar on the right. In addition, we also have a list of
Zerg and Protoss Upgrades.
LordofAscension has written a fully comprehensive, overarching review of the
StarCraft II build at the 2008 Worldwide Invitational. Mainly focusing on the Protoss, the review gives us an in-depth assessment of
StarCraft II strategies and feel:
The High Templar is one of my favorite units in StarCraft. It was with some apprehension that I tested these units out. Despite my anxiety and the horrible purple web-like animation for Psi Storm they still pack a massive punch - dealing up to 112 damage in the target area. Combined with the Nullifier's Force Field or a choke point, the High Templar shines. Players that had obviously played StarCraft extensively went right for the High Templar and explored the new strategies and mechanics that could be employed. One of the more interesting scenarios I experimented with was to bring in a of group two or three High Templar and a few Zealots in with a Phase Prism, deploy the Phase Prism, use the Zealots to Charge into a group of defending enemies and Psi Storm the entire area thus securing my position while my units were warping-in from the Warp Gates. This strategy became even more effective when I Blinked in Stalkers to help cover my position. Another variation of that tactic was to bring in nothing but High Templar and Nullifiers in with my Phase Prism and use Force Field to create chokes and Psi Storm them while the bulk of my force was warping-in. Both worked extremely well against either enemy - as long as you stayed away from the Zerg Creep (thus keeping both the Queen and the Spine Crawler out of reach).
Read the rest
here.
LordofAscension pulls through again and gives us his take on the resource system in
StarCraft II:
Quote:
The last change that seemed to influence resource gathering was the fact that like WarCraft III, the maps are pre-scouted and are just covered by the fog of war. This means that even on maps which you don't know well, you know where to send your units to establish expansions, scout for the enemy, etc. This also means fewer mis-clicks and less time wasted accomplishing the same task. The larger effects of this lifted shroud of darkness remain to be seen - assuming that this wasn't just for the WWI build and all games will be begin with the map pre-scouted.
Read the rest
here.
ChaosSmurf discusses the
Diablo III panels in full detail:
Quote:
There is also a focus on maintaining the random aspect of the original Diablo games. This includes, in addition to random loot, dungeons and monsters, a new feature called ""Adventures"". This is a system in which the developers have managed, via a clever piece of programming wizardry, to create completely random scripted events within a game world. For instance, were you passing through a forest, you may happen upon a clearing where evil cultists had begun to summon particularly deadly foes. This wandering, and thus finding of these random events, encounters and delicious loot, will be assisted by an ""opt-in"" style of storyline, where a player can avoid or participate in the storyline as much as he wishes.
A must read for anyone who didn't attend the panels themselves. Read the rest
here.
Dauntless gives us his take on the Zerg race and how they played at WWI 2008:
My second strategy however, involved fast teching to Roaches. When I had three Roaches, my Protoss opponent had five Zealots and a Stalker. Amazingly enough, I managed to pick off three of his Zealots, without loosing a single Roach, until he got reinforcements. Stalkers, Zealots and Roaches move at the same speed, so it was very possible to pull my strategy off. To make things clear, my strategy was to harass effectively with Roaches, and win the game by microing better than my opponent. As he got his reinforcements so did I. However the more Roaches I got the harder it was to micromanage them, but at that time I had weakened him so much it was already settled. Victory was mine, and the Roach rush proved successful.
Read the rest
here.
StarCraft:Legacy has conducted an exclusive Q&A between our staff that attended the WWI and members of
Blizzforums:
Quote:
Are Zerg units actually disadvantaged by cliff-climbing and so forth, as some players on other boards suggested? - Nicol Bolas
Disadvantaged? eh that's a tough one to answer - do we think they'd benefit from one? Yes. But every race could/does benefit from one - the mechanic is very cool and we'd love to see something from the Zerg race do it. When we asked Karune/Samwise about it - their answer was that the Nydus Worm kind of made it a moot point - however in the build that we played there was no worm - it worked just like a Nydus Canal - and you did have to have creep for the exit (though the Overlord drop creep thing facilitated this), so we'll see what happens.
Do the Zerg feel like they have the AA/GtA capability to protect their Overlords/Overseers right now, especially during the transition into early Tier 2 since the Nydus Network now requires Overlords to act as escorts to drop the Creep to deploy? - XSOLDIER
Good question. The short answer is no. There were many people that had problems going up against big forces of air, like many Battlecruisers. Both Hydras and Corruptors failed massively. This is really something Blizzard has to work with. Smaller forces like harassment of the Overlords etc. wasn't really a problem considering how fast you have the speed upgrade. Overseers got better speed without upgrades.
Read the rest
here.
Finally, our Zerg Technology Tree has been updated to reflect the WWI '08 build:
Karune made several posts on Battle.net, they can all be found
here.
Another gameplay video has been added to our WWI '08 video section.
Also, if you seek even more
StarCraft II gameplay impressions from the Worldwide Invitational our friends at
TeamLiquid have written up just that:
Team Liquid - From The Baneling's LairTeam Liquid - Nyo's SC2 reviewBe sure to watch StarCraft: Legacy in the coming days. We still have our upcoming live mIRC panel with members of starcraft.org and starcraft2forum.org. Also, if you have any more questions or concerns about the Worldwide Invitational or the latest
StarCraft II build featured there, you can
directly ask our staff that attended the event.
