Blizzard Discusses StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm

[torque79]

Doesnt anyone else realize the massive problem with getting rid of overseer detection? Zerg now have the FAR slowest path to detection units (having to build a spire then spawn a viper makes it WAY longer than morphing an overseer after Lair, and a LOT more expensive) so we'll often be forced into spores which waste larva, and we have to do it at 2 bases to keep up.

 

[HolyCrusader]

Quote: ... these and other units that don’t exist in Heart of the Swarm multiplayer will still be available in Wings of Liberty multiplayer and the solo campaign. /Quote

This is a very damning statement from people that once said that the game's MP would be unchanged from each SC2 installment. They said that each installment would only be continuing the single-player, being more akin to DLC or an expansion and that you'd not have to "repurchase" the entire multiplayer experience.

We'll see how this pans-out, but considering how often Blizzard stretched the truth about SC2 and then WoL, I'm very pessimistic about HotS.

 

[nikkidpartypooper]

Ah! This game is full of S**t and that is all it's good for.

 

[noblerabbit]

I'm not at all interested in playing Zerg stuff in this upcoming expansion. I can't tell one unit apart from another, and I finished the Terran campain 3 times over, and I still don't know what those Zerg things are.

 

[cnox]

I don't like these changes. I'm pretty sure that most players will buy the expansion to see the story, but for MP they'll go back to WoL. My issues:

Zerg:
Banelings need the ability to move while hidden now? Really?
Corruptors leach resources while they do damage? That makes sense how?
Ultralisk burrow charge? So not only can they move while burrowed now, they can just ignore collision detection and just teleport directly through units to their target (forget siege lines now)...

Protoss:
They need another unit to counter mass air? Templar psistorm didn't give enough AOE dps (and hits air and ground...)

Replicants? So having access to any (non-massive) unit from any other race is balanced? I can see the medivac/zealot rush now...

Terran:
Warhound = weaker thor.
Hellion mech form = code instead of line flame but shorter range. Siege tanks will still be the primary output from factories.
Old Mothership = New Thor. Considering how much use I see Motherships utilized, I imagine that putting 1 thor on the field isn't going to do much.
Shredder? Really a structure that TURNS OFF when you send units out to keep it alive? I can see allies screwing up the utlity of this structure.

In all, they had a good balance, they should have spent their energy into interesting gameplay mechanics instead of bringing in stupid ablities (did you see that floating unit drag a COLOSSUS to it int he video? So retarded.)


Arc Shield and Mass Recall? Really? So protoss now can transform into a temporary Planetary Fortress and then summon back it's entire army to defend. Then they can just mass teleport their army up to a proxy nexus (which can stay alive longer with the aforementioed arc shiled).

 

[gm0n3y]

As a casual player (maybe 10 MP games a month) all of the new activated abilities sound a little daunting (I already have trouble using the existing ones). Seems like those of us with poor microing are going to lose badly. Oh well, I'm up in the air about whether I'm going to buy this or not. Probably depends on how addicted I am to Skyrim at the time.

 

[Deleted member 978]

I've enjoyed this game from COOP multiplayer, but I started to get bored with it rather early. There is no dynamic map, just occasional new map downloads.

I'd like there to be a "Random" map and "Random AI" using different methods of attack/defend rather than was almost always seems like "early game rush attack".

Graphics are nice, sound is nice, but Multiplayer COOP against AI is stale.

There is no sense of "defense" either, it's always ATTACK mode ... no ability to build walls, shields, fortify ... just get some turrets and siege tanks and bunkers that are pretty ineffective.

Unit upgrade paths are just WAY too limited.

Oh, and they gotta figure out a way to stop the scripting folks that create a key script and play the script as soon as they enter a game and site back and wait for optimal attack time ... boring. Sorta like playing scrabble and going to the scrabble web site that lets you put in all the letters of a board and it'll find your best word/position. What's the fun in scripting ? Why even show up to a game if all you do is script it.

 

[doorspawn]

Underwhelming. Considering my flatmates decided to buy me SC2 since I was boycotting them (not sure how to feel about that, still), I might never get this.

However, I play with flatmates I have a platinum/diamond acct, so I know a bit about the mechanics.

Note: I thought SC2's unit mix was better than SC:BW but worse than WC3 and TFT.



SC2:HotS:
These changes seem good and bad.

I like the Shredder, it sounds strategically interesting.
I don't like the loss of the carrier. Protoss now have poor AtG, there'll be less need to check whether you need AA.
The replicant seems a bad idea, also. If you lack something, you should suffer - Jack-of-all-trades units reduce strategic depth.


HotS:Editor:
The editor was the most disappointing thing about SC2 (obviously apart from the new anti-consumer activision ethos).
I wonder if they will catch up on the things that TFT does better - such as pathable water (boats), high-resolution terrain (it's chunky at the mo), more cliff levels, and a far simpler/faster way to create custom units.


Anyway, the RTS crown seems ripe for the taking for any company ready to put a tonne of effort in, Blizzard is slipping.

 

[dangur]

yeah, it looks really strange when vipers move units that are a way more massive then them..
they could retire only mothership and replace it with strengthened carrier.