Assistant Community Manager

Blizzard Entertainment is seeking a highly motivated, organized, and proactive assistant community manager for our RTS (real-time strategy) titles, including StarCraft II. This individual should be well aware of the latest technologies and techniques used in building and maintaining successful gaming communities. Furthermore, the assistant community manager must be both a team player and able to complete tasks with minimal supervision. Areas of responsibility include interacting with fansites, moderating the official forums, and assisting with various events such as gaming conventions and player gatherings. Lastly, this individual should have a strong desire to work collaboratively on a team to evolve the way we support and expand the Blizzard Entertainment gaming community.

The ideal candidate would be an avid Blizzard Entertainment RTS gamer with experience as a member or moderator of a forum-based community. This person would also have a strong understanding of popular social networking trends on the Internet, as well as a desire to continually take on new projects. An even temper and a passion for providing top-notch customer service in a fast-paced environment are essential. Also, the ideal assistant community manager will be highly motivated, conscientious, and detail-oriented, with excellent communication skills.

Karune has posted up Q&A Batch 26, this time answering some lore questions and discussing new gameplay mechanics for the Protoss.

This batch we're going to shed some light on the storyline and lore aspect of StarCraft II. Following StarCraft and even Brood War, there have always been many unanswered questions surrounding the powers of the Protoss, which we'll be tackling today.

Chat with Devs: For this batch, Ive been fortunate to snag some time with our Lead Writer for StarCraft II, Andy Chambers, and I had a chance to talk to him about what happens to Protoss warriors after they die. On the forums, there has been much speculation to what the true meaning of the blue flash of light that is seen when a Protoss Zealot dies. Furthermore, have you ever wondered how exactly an EMP burst would have an effect on Psi energy? Andy gives us insight into the Protoss ways in fan questions 1 and 3.

Gameplay Blog: Force Fields are my new favorite ability! During my latest skirmish with a Zerg opponent, I was rushed early with Zerglings. The Protoss Nullifiers (previous known as the Stasis Orb) and their 15 second Force Field ability saved the day. As the attacking Zerglings charged up my ramp on the classic Lost Temple map, I simply created a Force Field in between the group of Zerglings, separating his attacking force. With their numbers divided, my Zealots easily took care of the split force of Zerglings, allowing me to make a decisive counter-attack. In subsequent games, I have found that the Force Field is quite useful in many situations, as you are able to create your own choke points, separate incoming armies, and also erect barriers as needed for your Protoss Stalkers to take advantage of their Blink ability. Furthermore, the Force Field can provide another obstacle for melee units approaching your Colossus, whereas your Colossus is able to step over the Force Field at ease. These Protoss Nullifiers at tier 1 are now one of your most effective defenses to an early game rush. Currently, the Force Field ability costs 30 energy with the Nullifiers energy capacity at 100. Next batch, well see if we can find some interesting games with the Nullifiers other new ability, the Null Void.

As always, feel free to give the Devs and I a w00t if your enjoying these Q&As!

---StarCraft II Q&A Batch 26---

1. Do Protoss warriors actually die? What is the blue flash when they die?

In the chaos of the battlefield, Protoss warriors fight with tremendous power and grace, but even so, they can be mortally wounded. Then the Protoss' foes often bear witness to a startling sight: the injured Protoss disappears in a bright flash of light. Such a vision has caused primitive races to quail in superstitious fear, and yet it has no supernatural cause. On the contrary, it is merely the result of teleportation, which is one of the chief strengths of Protoss technology. Protoss warriors typically have teleport mechanisms built into their armor. If the warrior is sufficiently injured, a properly functioning mechanism will automatically teleport the body to the nearest safe haven.

A Protoss warrior who is badly injured but still living may be placed in a dragoon--or latterly an immortal--shell to continue to fight. This is the choice of the individual warrior. Some warriors elect to shoulder the burden of remaining among the living instead of joining the sum of Protoss lives embodied in the Khala. It is worthy of note that the lives of individual Protoss that have passed into the Khala are no longer coherent entities, and the Protoss cannot speak with their dead per se. However, there are memories and strands of experience that can be accessed. Only the most skilled Protoss preservers can locate and follow specific desired strands of knowledge. The tremendous value of preservers comes from the fact that they carry within themselves and can access the sum total of Protoss experience at an individual level.

2. Will there be more ways to give energy(mana) to a caster? ([url]www.starcraft2.hu[/url])

Protoss casters will have an ability to transfer energy from one caster to another. This ability will allow for a lot of micromanagement opportunities to maximize the amount of energy to a single caster, for the maximum number of special abilities casted.

3. On what kind of energy are based Protoss shields? If they are based on PSI energy, how can be possible for a Terran EMP attack to drain their energy? ([url]www.starcraft-2.cz[/url])

Protoss energy sources are highly esoteric because their starting point was the Protoss' use of their own psionic powers to protect themselves; to charge their tools and weapons; and to make, manipulate, or meld matter. Over time technological advances have enabled the Protoss to mimic these psionic processes to the extent that the Protoss can now construct inorganic devices to tap into the same universal processes to power shields, drives, weapons, and robots. Thus, for example, the energy field projected by a pylon that powers Protoss structures cannot truly be called psionic in nature, just as the shields protecting a zealot are not purely technological constructs. Rather, the two processes are so closely interlinked that they are almost the same. As a result, Protoss power sources and particularly their shields are vulnerable to disruption by technological means such as EMP weapons. Similarly such power sources can be restored or recharged from artificially stored energy.

4. Are you planning to make another statue, for example, statue of Kerrigan? ([url]www.starcraftcz.com[/url])

We are planning to fully explore the high end collectibles realm with plenty of StarCraft II merchandise, and yes, there are projects already in the works.

---End of Transmission---

Karune answered another question asking whether the force field is vulnerable or not to attack.

Force Fields are invulnerable for their casted duration.

It is also possible to completely block off your entrance using Nullifiers.

Yes, you could block off a choke point for a very long time. Although, there is probably more than one way to enter your base :)

Karune also talked about how the testing of ghosts as tier 1.5 unit turned out.

I think the Devs are liking the Ghost as a more used unit than in the original StarCraft. It is still up in the air, to if they will keep the EMP ability, but we will see in time. Balance tweaks will still be happening on the Ghost of course, but it is likely it will stay as an earlier created unit than in the original.

Source:

[URL=""http://www.battle.net/forums/thread.aspx?fn=sc2-general&t=269104&p=1&#post269104""]Karune's Starcraft II Q&A Batch 26[/URL]

StarCraft II Q&A Batch Archive - Batch 26

We're back to tie up some loose ends about the Nullifier from our last batch, as well as some more focus on gameplay design, to fuel our discussion on the forums (especially to those who are already anxiously creating their build orders- don't lie, I know you are out there :) )

Chat with Devs: This week I talked with Dustin Browder, our Lead Designer for StarCraft II, to answer some more questions in regards to StarCraft II gameplay. I presented Dustin with some very specific gameplay questions from teamliquid.net, which he was very excited to be able to answer for the eSports community. Hopefully I will be able to get him back for a BlizzCast interview down the road.

Gameplay Blog: By the way, Im still looking for a good name for this section, that I hope everyone here could help me with Additionally, this week I want to elaborate on the second ability of the Protoss Nullifier mentioned in the last Q&A Batch. The Null Void, an ability currently at 50 energy cost, prevents abilities from being cast in an area of effect radius. In recent skirmishes with Terran opponents, when my Zealots engaged a group of M&Ms (Marines & Medics), my Nullifiers were able to cast Null Void over the enemy group, and the Medics were unable to heal for a good 15 seconds. When they retreated out of the Null Void area, I cast a second Null Void on them, and by that time, more than half of their Marines had fallen to my Zealots. Furthermore, my Nullifiers, having a base ranged attack, were able to focus fire on fleeing Marines.

However, I still did end up losing that game versus the Terran player, as Ghosts later on were able to devastate my army with EMP, followed with their Marauder units, replacing the old Firebat, making quick work of my ground army. GG. Next time.

As always, feel free to give the Devs and I a w00t if your enjoying these Q&As!

---StarCraft II Q&A Batch 27---

1) How will the map pool for the ladder be handled? Only maps made by Blizzard or will there be opportunities for mapmakers to contribute? If so, how will new maps be selected/balanced and how often are you planning on updating the map pool?


Dustin Browder: The map pool for competitive play will only be Blizzard maps or Blizzard-approved maps. We are always excited to see new maps from the community and when we see new cool maps we will definitely include them in the pool. I have no idea how often this will happen. It really depends on the map makers and our schedule. We also have some really cool plans for mod support for Battle.net for StarCraft II, which we will be rolling out to the community soon. We have all watched with great enthusiasm the impact that mod makers have had upon our previous games, especially Warcraft III, and we really want to continue to support and encourage this community.


2) Terran in StarCraft 1 had a very interesting dynamic in that the optimal strategy combating a Zerg would require large amounts of infantry and science vessels, whereas Protoss would require a large amount of factory units, leading to more diverse gameplay between the two matchups. This dynamic existed in mirror matchups as well - Goliaths, Battlecruisers and Wraiths were very useful in Terran vs Terran, but are rarely seen versus Protoss and Zerg (with the exception of Goliath vs Carrier).

Protoss and Zerg also had this trait - Protoss would often need large amounts of Corsairs, Zealots, and Archons to combat Zerg and a large amount of Dragoons, Arbiters, and Carriers to combat Terran, skipping zealots entirely until the speed upgrade is done. Zergs would frequently use Hydralisks versus Protoss, but would always immediately morph them to Lurkers vs Terran until Plague was researched.

For some people this was viewed as a positive aspect of SC, others are frequently disappointed that Terran cannot realistically integrate marines into their strategy vs Protoss and so forth. What style of gameplay is StarCraft II looking to attain - will each of the 9 different matchups play in a unique fashion with less viable strategies overall, or is the game looking to ensure that every unit has a useful role against every race?
- Zanno

Dustin Browder: So far StarCraft II plays similar to the original StarCraft in that different matchups require a different unit mix. On the design team we enjoy this type of gameplay and prefer to have players use different strategies and different units against different races. Our goal is that every unit will have some use against each race, but that players will tend to prefer certain units against certain races. We are going to strive to make sure that no unit is completely worthless against any one race but there will definitely be better and worse choices depending on the enemy race, strategy, the map, and your start position on the map.

3) In StarCraft 1 the basic tier 1 units were balanced against higher tech units almost equally by their unique role within each race as they were by unique unit upgrades and a greater benefit from the standard upgrades.
How much effort are you putting into making lower tech units viable higher up in the tech tree in ways other than upgrades that just makes them a "better unit" such as hit points and damage?

(This question is brought up because of the Terran Marine +HP upgrade which IMHO is really cheap)
- CuddlyCuteKitten

Dustin Browder: We are putting a huge amount of effort into making sure that the tier 1 units are useful throughout the game. We are also putting a large amount of effort into trying to get as much mileage as we can out of each of our upgrades so that upgrades really change how you can use a unit (but without fundamentally altering its role). The Marine is an example of a work-in-progress unit. We think the shield looks cool, but we are still working on how it will affect gameplay. Actually, in current builds Marines+Medics+Stim are so powerful that the shield is not that necessary in a lot of matchups.


4) Some new maps used in the pro scene for StarCraft have started to include permanent spells like "Dark Swarm" and "Disruption Web" as a part of terrain. Are there any plans to allow this as a kind of special terrain by default or allow map makers to add it as a special attribute to some sections of the terrain?
Examples would be areas with decreased movement for some or all units like shallow water, terrain making units immune to missile fire like dark swarm or terrain making the units unable to fire like web.

If you plan to include it will it be usable on melee maps or UMS only?
- CuddlyCuteKitten

Dustin Browder: Our data editor allows the creation of this type of terrain. You could easily put this type of terrain on melee maps. We have not finalized our feature set for terrain yet so I dont know what will make the final cut for the default Blizzard maps.


---End of Transmission---

Source:
Karune's StarCraft II Q&A Batch 27

StarCraft II Q&A Batch Archive - Batch 27