StarCraft II Beta — Patch 13 (version 0.15.0.15449)

As a bonus to this patch we have the Starcraft Situation Report again where Blizzard replies to some of the balance changes they they make. It’s nice to see what is behind the changes and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

I have to say that this patch seems misplaced. Blizzard talks about improving the Ultralisk but it instead gets an HP nerf and an ability from the Infestor to help it. The problem is not with the Ultralisk as a unit itself. The DPS and (previous HP) were very good. The problem was the pathing on such a large unit was terrible. It would get caught on a roach of hydralisk, spin around, and die before playing its role as a damage soaker and high DPS melee unit. Additionally very late resources are better spent on a large ground force backed by infestors and Brood Lords as Bood Lords arguable play a better role than Ultralisks because of the AI pathing issues that arise when you have 10 constant Broodlings attacking your front line. Since Blizzard noting this was an issue with the Thor and Collosi I can see it easily being fixed and HP restored. Additionally the cost of making Ultralisks viable late game doesn’t seem to arise as Zergs don’t have as much to contain with while they expand and tech up. Brood Lords are high on the tech tree and Ultralisks even higher because of their very necessary upgrades.

Another confusing addition is the buffs to Stimpack and Shield for the Terran infantry. I know TvP is slightly favored in Protoss favor by about 5% currently but that is a broad range buff. With new builds seemingly being introduced every week a large change like this (a 50/50 decrease in cost is important early game because it can create a timing push about a minute earlier) I think is uncalled for. Speaking as a Terran player I find that TvP in a high level is very micro intensive and both players much react very quickly to each others builds. As Marine/Tank/Raven becomes more popular I think we will see a revert of Terran buffs.

The changing around of skill for the Zerg casters seems confused at best. While the Overseer abilities are good (More options is always better) the new Frenzy ability (aka Bloodlust) seems geared towards late game support. Since it only costs 25 energy we could see more Infestor play but at 150 gas making additional roaches and hydras seems like a better idea than buffing a few low-tier units that won’t benefit much. Perhaps we will see more use of it in 2v2 substituting some critical upgrades (That is it can be cast on friendly units).

Some expected nerfs this patch but more importantly new content and a map editor! Looks like those rumors were actually true after all. Lets get down to balance changes first, then talk about the new content.

“Immortal build time (40 to 55 seconds)” – Feel pretty good about this since it gives both T and Z more time to either attack or defend while 1 less Immortal is out. Damage and survivability is still ridiculously high, but at least there won’t be as many of them.

“Slow upgrade 100/100/80 reduced to 50/50/60″ – With Concussive Shells time and cost being reduced considerably the ability to put that early pressure on with 2 tech lab rax vs a protoss seems to have returned. It is delayed of course, but those 30 seconds (Gas mining time) saved sure helps a lot early game if they only a few stalkers.

“Neural Parasite range increased from 7 to 9″ – Infestors now have range parity on Collosi. That is a major change for ZvP. Apparently the data being sent to Blizzards servers indicated that when a P had 5 Collosi he never lost! (With Sentries along side anyway). The lack of ability to semi dodge Fungal growth is disappointing since it is now instant. A nice buff especially if banelings are around.
*Queen speed nerf off creep was to deal with Queen rushing on Asian servers, possibly to reduce their effectiveness vs Mutalisk harass as well.

New stuff:

Map Editor, New Maps, Achievements, Better Voice Chat, 1000 Match History + Sorting, Graph tab for score, all fantastic wonderful things.
I am so excited for this new patch and what the community is going to create with the editor.

StarCraft II Beta – Patch 8 (version 0.10.0.14803)

The latest patch notes can always be found on the StarCraft II Beta General Discussion forum.

Some very game changing changes in this patch!

Most important hands down is the Marauder change. No slow early game takes away a lot of pressure Terrans were putting up against Protoss. Early Marauder pushes are history since Zealots and Stalkers can catch up now. Same goes for Roaches vs Marauders early game (before slow). They are less effective than they were. Luckily they still outrange Roaches so you can micro in a few extra hits to get the advantage.

Thor build time decrease I really like. The time is a noticeable change (30 seconds for a 2 Thor push) and most importantly Hydralisks now die in 1 attack from the Thor without needing the upgrade. In addition to dealing insane amounts of splash damage with 10 range the Thor looks like even more of a key unit to be using in any TvZ push.

The Void Ray changes are not that big, but it does increase its starting base damage by quite a bit. This makes them fend for themselves a bit better and are not so dependent on the opponents armor level. Queens should be easier to kill now at the very least.

Roach armor decrease is a very big change. Marines now do 5 instead of 4 (25% increase), Zealots do 14 instead of 12 (16% increase), but most importantly Zerglings do 4 instead of 3 damage (33% increase). Overall the roach is much weakened as a damage absorbing unit (It still has an ungodly amount of HP for costing 100 resources and 1 food though) and this might change early ZvZ to include more Zergling play in the beginning and for Roaches to serve as ramp blockers or damage sponges for Zerglings rather than the must get, must mass unit they used to be.

Hydra HP loss is a straight nerf. Thors 1 hit them, two Collosi can 1 hit them, Tank splash damage that much stronger, so are hellions. They still are incredibly strong DPS units, but are slightly weaker. They are fitting into their role just as they did in SC1 and I have no problem with this change.

Large buffs to static defense in this patch. I partly felt they were needed simply because every building seems to die so quickly. More importantly a buff in early game will help make matches longer and more macro oriented. If you can throw down a bunker / cannons / crawler and be protected from an early push to get an expansion why wouldn’t you?

That much said I think that the Spine Crawler buff is too large. That is a massive DPS boost to light units (See: hellions harassment) and reading the patch notes feels like a free expo to the Zerg. Of course you can’t know anything until people start playing.

If Missile Turrets still do 2 attacks the new 24 damage to Mutalisks and Banshees is a really big bonus over the previous 14. Same goes for Thor splash damage vs air.

Photon Cannon buff I felt was fair since to toss is very vulnerable to early marauder pressure. Psi Storm AoE was absolutely massive and I felt it needed a nerf.

Roach regeneration above ground added a ton of hp if you didn’t focus fire (which is hard if you have 50 units) so this shifts towards a more late game use of attacking or harassing, then burrowing to a new position. The Roach is still a very strong early game unit. Its high armor, high damage, and cheap cost make it a fantastic unit in so many ways that I see no trouble with the regeneration change since it was Hive tech.

*Smaller notes: The problem with Broodlords is not their initial damage but the Broodlings that mess up unit AI, pathing, and deal tons of damage to buildings.
Spore Crawlers cheaper to guard against Banshee tech (Note you will need 2 or 3 to fully protect each base)
Banshees buffed by 10 health? Seems like an odd change but all static defense was buffed so this goes along side it.

Wow! What a patch.
Lets try to tackle the bolded in order.

Pre-patch Zergs could force hold position units aside that walled off a ramp and run by. Zergling run ‘throughs’ were literally unstoppable on the small maps and Toss had to pull all probes to stop it. Good fix.

25/25 Mineral and gas trade on the Viking with a 50 gas price drop on the ghost. Since gas is more valuable than minerals these are good changes. It is also forcing Terran to lean away from massing those Marines they seem so fond of. EMP radius was reduced to punish proper units instead of an end all shield nuke (Which it still can be if you have 3 ghosts).

Marine production nerf. That extra 5 seconds doesn’t seem like much but that is a 25% increase in production time. Toss in doubled reactor time (+10 seconds pre 2nd patch) and the higher mineral cost of ghosts and vikings and it looks like less focus on marines being the meat DPS ball of your army unless you cut elsewhere. Early game 2 Barracks reactor marine rushes are no longer viable partly thanks to…

SCV HP nerf to 45hp. This drop allows: Dark Templar to 1 hit them, Banshees to 2 hit them, Zealots to 3 hit them, and Banelings to 2 hit them (more effectively). Also less effective in absorbing damage in fights and all-in rushes. I can’t say I feel that the HP nerf, marine production nerf, and reactor nerf were all needed to combat the Terran rush early game, espcially with Blizzard saying they would buff Terran mech. All that happened was a 50 mineral drop in the cost of a factory.

Collosus damage nerf is glorious and everyone rejoiced. Hooray! No more 1 hit marines, 2 hit hydras, and a 15% damage nerf to everyone else. They are still imbalanced in large numbers (so some players say) but it is a welcome change.

With detection being more costly and harder to get it makes sense that the observer increase in cost (Especially since it does not require another building like SC 1). Maybe it will be worth it to scan or get an early Raven / Overseer to kill them.

The Stalker buff is interesting. Overall it gets a nice damage boost, but it loses the +2 damage per upgrade to armored units. Instead it only gets +1 now. Overall good.

Roaches regen is halved. ZvZ still only Roaches regardless. Probably see a shift of less Roach openings vs T and more banelings. In a full out battle this doesn’t change much because the roach is used for its high armor, damage, hp, and low cost.

Some other things to note: Stalkers vs Mutalisks are slightly better, Toss doesn’t have to worry about early marines pressure as much, PvT harass looking to be more focused on DT/Zealot. Zealots with Charge are fearsome indeed.

With good micro Reapers can kill slow zealots / slow lings without getting hit.

It takes around 30 seconds to travel base to base on small maps.

Since there are no more Dark Archons, an Archon can be made by combining any two templar. 2 Dark Templars = 250(Minerals)/250(Gas), DT/HT 175/275 , 2 High Templars 100/300.

To accurately storm air units aim for the dark blobs underneath units.

Zerg can hide tech by using overlord creep drop and morphing your building on it away from your main.

Raven Seeker Missiles are still detonated if the target dies. Target your own units to drag one wherever you want.
The missile shoots fast when it is within 3-4 range of the target. To prevent enemy units from running away shoot at close range.
Bonus: Cloak a banshee and fly into a swarm of mutalisks outside of your sight range with 2 HSR following it (100 damage each).

In a Terran vs Terran call down a MULE onto your opponents tank line for a MULE bomb.

Two burrowed banelings can kill 20 marines going up a ramp.

Ground units cannot attack higher ground without sight. If you have sight, damage is 100% and hit chance is 100% unlike SC (Could see units shooting from high ground, shoot back with 50% miss chance).

Mules mine 240-270 minerals and can mine over SCV’s.

Carrier interceptors all get a free shot if their target is directly in front of them when they fly out. Particularly dangerous with the upgrade.

As Terran if you take a high yield mineral expansion call down your MULES there from all your command centers. 42 vs. 30 minerals per trip.

Placing a Pylon next to the guy’s cliff to Warp Gate zealots or such into his base is just as effective as a Warp Prism, and cheaper.

The broodlings that Brood Lords shoot cause enemy units to target them and are very effective for stopping advancing troop movement or having tanks shoot their own units.

The commands “/dance” and “/cheer” for marines and marauders make them dance. (You must have them selected)

Ctrl+Alt+F gives you framerate.

StarCraft II Beta – Patch 5 (version 0.7.0.14356)

(In case you were wondering Patch 4 was a Korean Language update of some sort)

Looks like Blizzard finally decided the best thing to do was to delay warpgate research. I’m glad they did because the prevalence of 2 or 3 gate warp rushes were forcing players to do the same.

The burrow nerf is in part due to Roaches. I find it interesting that did didn’t go ahead and nerf roaches, but rather the timing where they become effective. The extra 50 gas and 50 seconds makes it so the Zerg might have to get two geysers, or one extremely early geyser. If nothing else it gives the opponent another 50 in-game seconds to prepare (37 on faster). It seems clear that roaches are intended to be used all game long as an effect backbone unit for zerg since with all 3 upgrades they are very formidable (Speed, move while burrowed, insane hp regen)

The Nydus worm is much less effective now, but fits into it’s role properly. It fits flanking, sneak attacks, and harass rather than an all-in recall (which you can still do, just worse).

But the infestor! Oh, the infestor. .. Blizzard is having such a hard time with you. I love the unit itself and these changes are rather interesting.

Overall it is a nerf, make no mistake about it. The 30 hp loss down to 90 is huge. Collosi 2 hit them. Immortals 2 hit them. Sieged tanks 2 hit them. Previously it took 3 hits. That is a critical downgrade. Not to mention they are overall more prone to dying. Cast range is now less then upgraded Collosi range and much much less than siege tank range.

It’s a good patch and I’m looking forward to another wave of beta keys. Hopefully.

Without hard timing attacks and lack of knowledge for critical upgrades (Say having 2 attack in Terran vs Terran makes your tanks kill theirs in 2 hits vs 3) I wonder what this patch is really for. I don’t think it will have any large impact right now as the game stands. Zealot nerf might also be for the early 2 gate pressure but if they keep nerfing gateways and zealots who knwos where Protoss will end up. Zealots are a key factor for the Toss army the entire game so to see them nerfed because of early game pressure the put (So I am guessing) is disheartening.

Of course I can only speculate what they are thinking over at Blizzard and they have top players, David Kim and CowGoMoo, who are both in at least the top 20 playing right now. That fact alone along with the resourcefulness of the community and the replay tools available gives me confidence that SC II will be balanced in no time.