Blizzard is looking for nominations for the StarCraft II Community Choice Awards, and is asking everyone to head over to Reddit to upvote nominees for categories such as 2013 Game of the Year, 2013 Global StarCraft II Player of the Year, and WCS Korea Player of the Year. To find the Reddit posts for each of the categories, head over here, and promote your favorite nominees!
Source:
Battle.net - Nominations for the 2013 StarCraft II Community Choice Awards
The upcoming StarCraft II patch, patch 2.1, is active on the Public Test Realm. The features included in this patch are: extension mods, clan and group additions, the classic StarCraft soundtrack, and the afk lobby host kicker. To see the full explanation of each feature, click here.
You can access the Public Test Realm via the Battle.net Desktop App. In the app, you can select StarCraft II and change the region to "PTR: Heart of the Swarm", after which there will be small installation. After the install is complete, you can start up StarCraft II and log in to the Public Test Realm. To change back to the current version of StarCraft II, simply change the region back to what you had originally in the Desktop App.
To give feedback, visit the PTR Discussion forum.
Source:
Battle.net - Public Test Realm: Operational
Season 6 is just around the corner, and Blizzard has shown us a peek at which maps will be added to the map pool, and which ones will be removed.
For 1v1, the maps removed are Akilon Wastes and Whirlwind LE. The new maps are called Star Station TE and Alterzim Stronghold TE. Images of Star Station TW and Alterzim Stronghold can be seen below (click to magnify):
 
And so, the complete season 6 1v1 map pool is this:
Complete Season 6 1v1 Map Pool
Alterzim Stronghold TE
Bel’Shir Vestige LE
Derelict Watcher TE
Frost LE
Polar Night LE
Star Station TE
Yeonsu LE
For the full post including map pools for 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4, click here.
Source:
Battle.net - New Maps for 2013 Ladder Season 6
With BlizzCon having concluded, and the WCS in its off-season, Blizzard has made a balance update to Heart of the Swarm. Below are the changes to Heart of the Swarm multiplayer:
Protoss
Oracle
Movement speed increased from 3.375 to 4.
Acceleration increased from 2 to 3.
Units that burrow or cloak while under the effects of Revelation will once again be revealed after unburrowing or uncloaking.
Terran
Armory
Vehicle and Ship Weapon upgrades have been combined.
Siege Tank
Siege Mode attack period decreased from 3.0 to 2.8.
Widow Mine
Sentinel Missiles now deal reduced damage to units caught within its splash radius based on their distance from the target:
40 damage within 1.25 radius.
20 damage from 1.25 to 1.5.
10 damage from 1.5 to 1.75.
Zerg
Roach Warren
The Tunneling Claws upgrade now increases burrowed Roach movement speed from 1.41 to 2.
Source:
Battle.net - Heart of the Swarm Balance Update: November 11, 2013
In preparation for the upcoming patch 2.1, Blizzard is planning to open up the Public Test Realm to allow players to test all the changes and improvements.
Soon after BlizzCon ends, anyone with the Battle.net Desktop App and StarCraft II will receive access into the Public Test Realm. Once on the PTR, players will be able to see all the changes that will come with patch 2.1 and be able to send feedback through the Open Beta forum. More information on how to access and use the PTR will come after BlizzCon, so keep your eyes peeled.
Source:
Battle.net - Public Test Realm Access is Coming Soon
|
