StarCraft 2

[Aidan]

Easily laid out, and some very useful advise. I like it

A perfect short intro for beginners.

[Professor Layton]

It's a nice image yeah, covers a lot of stuff without going too deep into details.

As for daybreak, I never said they completely stopped changing things, but blizzard is finally putting in better maps and they're editing a lot less so far. Daybreak hasn't even been ladder editioned, so we can't really hate on blizzard before they actually edit anything in can we? :p

[James]

But we can always prevent from previous experience, it is something we can assume and influence. It is also a small battle I feel we should take to influence Blizzard to create their own quality maps without their flawed standards.

[Professor Layton]

Sure, that's never wrong.

[James]

Analysing 10 reaper play by Thorzain in the late game vs Protoss.

[James]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5VIBQqpiXA[/youtube]

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/459275 ... -3_12_2012

[James]

"I am aware of KeSPA and OGN's wishes to run a Starcraft 2 tournament. I expect all issues to be dealt with and a tournament to open this year".

Blizzard Entertainment's CEO Mike Morhaime, who arrived in Korea on the 16th, revealed that a Starcraft 2 Pro League tournament would start this year while visiting the Yongsan studio during the SK Planet Starcraft 1 Pro League playoffs.

Morhaime met with Korean media before the match and talked details about the possibility of a Starcraft 2 pro league launching.

Morhaime said "This visit is to meet with all the parties involved with us and to improve relations with Korea. A lot of things are going to happen in Korea this year".

Currently Gom TV has exclusive rights to Starcraft 2 tournaments in Korea. Progamers under KeSPA are still focusing solely on Starcraft 1 leagues as negotiations between KeSPA and Blizzard were at a standstill.

However it is expected that negotiations for a Starcraft 2 pro league are going to pick up with Morhaime's visit to Korea. Industry representatives are predicting that there is a high possibility of a Starcraft 2 league starting as the first season of pro league ends and season 2 begins.

Morhaime also said "We expect to work with KeSPA to open a Starcraft 2 pro league this year".

Following the Starcraft Pro League playoffs Morhaime is also planning on heading to Mokdong to visit Gom TV's Starcraft 2 Team League studio.

http://game.inews24.com/php/news_view.p ... 534&rrf=nv

[Aidan]

I am currently dead on SC2 as you all can tell. Very busty with life atm / other games.

Any more news on HoTS yet?

[James]

Great thread on maps and the future of StarCraft 2's competitive gameplay.

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmes ... _id=321242

There is a certain.. spectrum of breadth of gameplay, and every RTS game has it's tendencies on this spectrum. By breadth I mean: how often should you be expanding? At what point do you no longer need to expand because you have all the resources you want or need to maintain a supply cap?

When it is more desirable to expand more rapidly and continue expanding longer, there is more opportunity for smaller engagements to occur over a larger area of the map more often. Expanding makes you more vulnerable, and vulnerability means action. However, if you were to do the opposite and concentrate more of the focus into a smaller area (by say, putting more resources in each base) you start leaning towards the "Deathball" [read: simple] side of the breadth spectrum.

Due to a relatively high maximum resource collection rate per mineral field and therefore base (among other things), SC2 is mathematically predisposed to the "Deathball" side of the spectrum as opposed to "smaller, more frequent, more spread out" engagements. Even though (like any good RTS game) SC2 is incredibly complex, this predisposition results in a relative lack of complexity, lack of map variety, lowered skill ceiling, improper risk vs. reward when microing individual units resulting in more emphasis on macro compared to micro - which in combination with other factors is self-perpetuating. Reversing this by reducing the maximum resource collection rate per base also positively enhances a host of other elements.

[James]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmmR-btIBMY[/youtube]

lol?

[Professor Layton]

.... what

[James]

Apparently promotion for a new online game in Korea.

[Aidan]

MMO Barber?

[James]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7Cv8jeEjHE[/youtube]

MLG Columbus 2012.

23rd to 25th.

First proper MLG event of the year.

Decent player lineup.

http://www.majorleaguegaming.com/schedule

Main streams
http://www.teamliquid.net/video/streams ... umbus_Main
http://www.teamliquid.net/video/streams ... umbus_Game

Low quality backup streams
http://www.twitch.tv/mlgstarcrafta
http://www.twitch.tv/mlgstarcraftb

Coverage
http://www.teamliquid.net/mlg/

[Professor Layton]

Shattered temple finally getting removed from the map pool!

Daybreak, Metropolis and Ohana got added.

In the end they still had to make Daybreak's middle base with 2 gas and 8 minerals Other than that it's all good.

[James]

GOD FUCKING DAMMIT BLIZZARD STOP FORCING YOUR DUMB STANDAR.DS

[James]

Current Korean Starcraft 2 teams Startale, IM, Prime, MVP, oGs, NSHoseo, FXO, TSL and ZeNEX have formed an organization named "e-Sports Federation". Startale's head coach Won JongWook will be its first president.

In the midst of a transition period for the Korean SC2 scene, where KeSPA(Korean e-Sports Association) and its teams are looking to join the scene, the goal of the Federation will be to promote e-sports around the world, and secure rights for those current SC2 players and teams that have helped to build the SC2 scene so far.

There will be no special conditions for those willing to join the Federation, and invitations will be extended to foreign organizations as well.

The Federation means to, in the next few days:
- notify Blizzard of it's inception
- ask KeSPA for an official representative of the Federation inside the Association, and start talks advocating free participation of current SC2 players and teams in the incoming leagues, among other things.

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmes ... _id=324843


---

Player news: MarineKing is now on top form again.

---

Actual StarCraft 2 news: Protoss minutes = 0.05 milliseconds

http://www.imagocentre.com/images/96/13 ... 38_139.png

[James]

http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/games/supplydepot/

http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/games/blizzkidzz/

Also shows that they've been working with these type of games, interesting.

[James]

Season 7 time.

[James]

Terrans

Terrans have undergone significant changes since we talked about them at BlizzCon. We have not kept the shredder, and even the warhound is in contention. The shredder was very confusing for players as well as being something that was easily used to kill a large number of workers with little to no warning. It was rarely used for its intended role of map control. The warhound still feels a little too much like a small thor, which is just not new enough to give terran players new strategies. We are still experimenting with a wide range of units, particularly from the factory, which we think is a little light on options. We have had a great deal of trouble with the terrans largely because they are such a flexible and effective race in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. We want to provide terran players with new strategies, however, so we will continue to work on them.

If we keep the Thor, we are currently experimenting with an anti-air spider mine that would give the terrans a way to get some factory-built anti-air into small places that a Thor has trouble reaching (like near your minerals). Whether this is meaningful, considering terrans have marines, is still in question. We are also experimenting with an extremely long-ranged terran missile launcher that can be used to break siege tank lines to make terran-vs.-terran factory-based games more dynamic.

Protoss

Protoss have gone through some changes since BlizzCon as well. The oracle is still in and functioning as a protoss raider (as intended) that can give the protoss some reach in the mid-game to disrupt enemy plans. The replicant has been cut. He was causing enemy players to not build certain unit types and was actually removing diversity from the game instead of adding diversity.

The tempest was a powerful splash anti-air capital ship at BlizzCon. With the addition of the range upgrade on phoenix in Wings of Liberty we no longer feel like a splash anti-air weapon is necessary on the protoss, but we would still like to give the protoss some additional firepower in the air. The tempest is currently a very long-ranged aerial siege weapon that can strike both air and ground targets. This gives the protoss army some real reach to force an engagement on their terms in the end-game.

We’re also experimenting with some nexus abilities. One example is a mass recall that allows the protoss to be more aggressive. They can move out onto the map with their slower sentry/zealot force and, if things don’t work out, recall the force back to their base if and when things go wrong.

Zerg

Zerg are the most stable and largely unchanged since BlizzCon. The swarm host is still serving well as a zerg siege unit that can burrow and pressure the enemy from a distance (in a very zergy way), but the viper has some slightly different new abilities. In addition to Abduct, the viper also has the ability to blind biological units in an area of effect. Blinded units have their range reduced to 1. This is obviously effective against terran infantry as well as zerg roach and hydra armies. The viper can also regain energy by feeding off of minerals. This locks up the mineral patch and prevents it from being harvested, so you want to use this ability away from your base.

We have decided to keep the overseer and make the viper a pure caster. We will be taking a look at the overseer to see what we can do to make his abilities more interesting.

We are also trying some additional abilities on the nydus network to allow you to spawn different types of nydus worms. The most interesting worms have been a worm that can spew creep across several screens to create a zerg assault highway, as well as a worm that attacks only enemy buildings, meant to be used as a ground-based zerg base raider.

We have some more work to do before we’re ready to begin beta testing Heart of the Swarm. We know that everybody wants a date for when they can play, and we know how important it is to get this out in front of the community as soon as possible. We’re working on it.

http://eu.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/405588 ... _2012#blog

[Aidan]

Had to post this.

[Siva]

>MAC

[Aidan]

>MAC

OHSHIT

Thanks for pointing that out, just noticed.


Think the artist was too lazy to draw a whole PC setup.

[James]

SC series is for both Windows and Mac.

Also NANIWER STRONK

[Aidan]

SC series is for both Windows and Mac.

Also NANIWER STRONK

All blizz games are Dualplat, but it's a MAC, so have to make some sort of awkward remark, even though it runs fine.

[James]

Also that image's inaccuracy is people playing StarCraft 2 in S. Korea.

[James]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74INQOGIVzc[/youtube]

INGURLAND
>
JEW ES AY

[James]

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmes ... _id=332295

TSL4 announced.

[James]

http://www.esfiworld.com/news/blizzard- ... um=twitter

WE BROODWAR NOW

[Aidan]

Did jj switch to SCII yet?