Starcraft Forum News
Diablo 3 now has an official release date! May 15th, 2012 Diablo 3 servers will go live. Prepare to battle the forces of hell once more.
Pre-orders are now available on Battle.net. You’ll still need a pre-order your collector’s edition at a retailer. Happy hunting!
Source: Battle.net
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MLG Winter Arena play is this weekend, and MLG had previously announced that they would be trying a new pay per view model. Well, it’s been less than heartily received by fans of StarCraft streaming. Traditionally MLG has offered at least a couple streams free of charge with some ads. Now, however, these are unavailable.
According to a TeamLiquid poll, the measure has fallen mostly flat on its face. We expect to see a return to the earlier free option model, which is better for eSports anyway. It’s a little difficult to convince your friends to pay $20 to watch it. Although you could throw an awesome barcraft…
Sources: MLG.com, Teamliquid.net
In a press release today Blizzard Entertainment announced their 2012 Battle.net World Championship “somewhere” in Asia “toward the end of 2012.” Because of this additional scheduling Blizzard has decided to cancel BlizzCon 2012. The conference (which has run concurrently in Anaheim, California since 2005) will be held again in 2013 barring any future changes in planning.
While a major change in Blizzard’s eSports policy (likely a change for the positive) this will also have a profound impact upon the StarCraft community. Likely this means less communication between the community, and more emphasis on eSports related content.
Source: Blizzard.com
So much to go over this week.
First there was BlizzCon 2011 which was, as usual, awesome. There they announced the plans for free Diablo III for 12-month subscription World of WarCraft users (if you’re among those who partake of the digital narcotic, you should also know you can get the Collector’s Edition free too).
We were fairly certain that Activision stock jumped immediately during that announcement. Mike Morhaime is more effective than the treasury at printing money.
Also at BlizzCon were our first looks at the new Heart of the Swarm units. If you’re interested in the single player info for HotS check out SCLegacy’s coverage from May (no new info this time). The new units, however, were awesome.
Click here to read the full article (including new units)
Source: Blizzcon 2011
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A few updates are in order today. Make sure you guys are checking out the IPL tournament over at IGN. Here’s the link. As I’m watching Stephano (my pick to win) is currently battling to get into the semi-finals. Great games were had yesterday as well including the best game I’ve ever seen (starts at 34:00). The Mothership play was simply amazing.
Also, Steelseries has asked us to spread the word that they have a coupon for 30% off all Steelseries products today only using the coupon “dv2011″.
Lastly, look for our MLG Orlando updates and also our BlizzCon 2011 coverage in the next two weeks. Might want to follow us on Twitter and Facebook!
Well it would appear that Diablo 3 beta has begun. Sure, it’s friends and family at this point, but the launcher has already been leaked. We’re not going to link it for security reasons (and out of respect for Blizzard) as well as the fact that it appears you can’t do much anyway without an authorized Battle.net account. But this is a strong indicator that invitation beta will be starting imminently.
Here’s a screenshot of the beta installer on my own PC, so you know it’s actually working.
And here’s a leaked YouTube video of the gameplay that is actually live (not live for me yet as I have a press invite).Source: Anonymous
Patch 1.4.0 entered Public Testing last week and includes balance changes. This is the first patch to include actual gameplay balance since Patch 1.3.3 which released officially on May 13th after entering PTR on May 4th. Why so long on a balance patch? We’re not sure, but either Blizzard thinks the game is nearing balance or their testing is slowing down in anticipation of Heart of the Swarm release. Time will tell. Some of the changes include a reduction in vision up ramps for all units by 1 (a long needed change) and various buffs (and one nerf on Blink research time) to Protoss units.
There is also a significant change in the Hellion’s Blue Flame upgrade which has halved its damage increase against Light units from 10 to 5. Really? Now it’s really not worth the upgrade. Lastly, the Ultralisk got a reduction in build time and the Infestor got a buff against armored units. Awesome.
Read the full changelog here.
Source: StarCraft2.com
If you take a look at the numbers of players in each league, you’ll see there’s a huge gap between Master and Diamond (2.6% of players versus 10.9% in Diamond), and a slightly smaller one between Diamond and Platinum (14.2%). The next time you see such a huge difference is between Silver and Bronze (21.1% of players in Silver and 34.2% in Bronze). What do these numbers tell us? There is a huge gap in the skill, and consequently the understanding of fundamentals of the game, between the various leagues on Battle.net. What it means is that there is an elite group in the higher levels that have a significantly better understanding of how Protoss, Terran, and Zerg interact that allows them to play the game at an entirely different level.
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Season 2 is winding down, meaning Blizzard will once again be locking league positions and encouraging users to once again become active and fight their way to the top of their divisions. The lock will take effect July 5th, 2011 5:00 am PDT. We’ll be moving to two more seasons through the end of the year. Season 3 starts on July 19th. Blizzard’s system attempts to reward users for remaining consistently active rather than in spurts by continuing to update MMR ratings but locking positions as the seasons close.
In other news, Razer is currently offering a promotional rebate for StarCraft II products: $30 off the Marauder keyboard and Banshee headset, or $20 off the Spectre mouse. Our recommendation? Buy a cheaper set like the Lycosa and Imperator. Woot.com has a Lycosa for $40 today.
Sources: StarCraft2.com, Razerzone.com
Blizzard announced the development of Heart of the Swarm, StarCraft II‘s second installment of three. Designed as an expansion pack to the first chapter Wings of Liberty, Blizzard has not released any information pertaining to the HotS’ impact on the multiplayer aspects of the game.
However, the announcement has given us a wealth of information about the storyline of the single player campaign. For instance the confirmation that Kerrigan will again be the focus of the campaign. It also introduces some new characters including a rival to Kerrigan’s control of the Zerg, a Queen by the name of Izsha. You can read about the full outline of the Heart of the Swarm campaign preview here.
Check out the Heart of the Swarm trailer here as well.
Look out for more Heart of the Swarm updates in the coming weeks!
Source: StarCraft2.com
Make sure to check back late tomorrow for important StarCraft updates following a planned visit with Blizzard on undisclosed topics.
Patch 1.3.3 was released last week featuring some important promised balance changes, among them the re-classification of the Archon as a massive unit. This protected it from a number of abilities. This combined with some previous changes (including a reduction of EMP damage to shields) has made the unit more effective in combat. Also in the changes were reductions in train time for the Sentry from the non-Warpgate Gateway.
This was a deviation as reductions in train times for Stalkers and Zealots was also expected but not forthcoming.
PROTOSS
- Archon
- Now a Massive unit.
- Range increased from 2 to 3.
- Cybernetics Core
- Research Warp Gate research time increased from 140 to 160.
- Gateway
- Sentry train time decreased from 42 to 37.
- Warp Gate unit train times remain unchanged.
- Pylon power radius has been decreased from 7.5 to 6.5.
TERRAN
- Bunker
- Salvage resource return reduced from 100% to 75%.
- Ghost
- Cost changed from 150/150 to 200/100.
- Thor
- Thor now has 200 max energy, and starts with 50 energy.
- 250mm Strike Cannons now cost 150 energy to use (cooldown removed).
ZERG
- Infestor
- Speed decreased from 2.5 to 2.25.
- Spore Crawler
- Root time decreased from 12 to 6.
Read the full patch list here.
Source: StarCraft2.com
Just in time for spring break, perfectly aimed to pull you in for that week of unabated StarCraft, Blizzard has released the much-anticipated Patch 1.3.0 as of 3 pm PST. The patch includes a number of balance changes including the removal of the Khydarin Amulet upgrade for the High Templar, a much debated change.
Other balance changes include the limiting of the Ghost’s EMP to removal of 100 energy, increased Battlecruiser speed, and an increase in the research time for Terran Stimpack from 140 to 170 seconds.
The patch also unveils the new GrandMaster League which will remain unpopulated for now as Season 1 rankings have been frozen in anticipation of the end of this “season.” Matchmaking rating will continue to be updated although Blizzard has not commented on how new rankings will be determined once the freeze is lifted.
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With the “downfall” of the Terran Reaper, it would seem the Terran have lost some of their edge for harassment. Allow me to introduce the rightful heir, the Hellion. At a cost of 100 minerals this is by far the most cost effective unit in the game against light units. Heck, it might be the most cost-effective unit in the game period. Why, you ask? Because of the Infernal pre-igniter of course, silly! For a measley 150/150 you can add 10 damage to the Hellion’s bonus against light units. You guessed it, that includes workers…
Read more articles at the Shokz StarCraft 2 Mastery Guide
For all of you crazy StarCraft fans out there who haven’t yet built yourself a sweet gaming system for StarCraft 2, I’ve updated my “Build a SC2 PC for $700″ thread with new links. Check it out if you’ve been waiting!
We just have a quick recap of the official StarCraft 2 news for this week.
Patch 1.2.1 went live on the 15th with absolutely zero balance changes, only bug fixes.
New StarCraft fan art was added to the main site. One of which I thought was awesome, a piece by Nathan Boyd.
Oh, and Blizzard banned some more hackers and GSL is starting again. Woo-hoo!
Here we are hoping for some balance changes, but it doesn’t look like we’ll see that until the next public test finalizes.
Sources: StarCraft2.com
Blizzard announced in a press release earlier this afternoon that BlizzCon 2011 will again be held (as if there was any doubt) in the Anaheim Convention Center on October 21-22 (a Friday and Saturday, again). No word yet on any planned events or guest performers. However, it’s likely that this year will be a celebration of the pending release of Diablo III which, by the progress of the multiplayer versions of the game seen at BlizzCon 2010, should be nearing the end of production.
In StarCraft 2 news, we are again awaiting a new balance patch since the last patch added chat channels and a new “Masters League.” No resets of accounts have occurred since that time. However, custom Blizzard maps Left 2 Die, StarJeweled, and Auir Chef have been released to Battle.net. All three are high quality maps.
We would like to note that Blizzard’s support of the map-making community has been slower than expected. No further announcements have been made regarding the advent of the planned Battle.net Marketplace.
More updates to follow!
Source(s): Blizzard.com, Battle.net
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In a much-anticipated update, Blizzard has announced that chat channels have been added to the public test. Some other small changes have also been introduced but at this time are all temporary, such as a reduction in the Bunker’s build time from 35 to 30 seconds.
Among other changes, the Observer’s cost will be reduced to 25/75 and the Phoenix’s build time decreased from 45 to 35 (what in the name of–how much better can you make this unit?)
The Void Ray also received a buff of 20% additional damage against massive units (WarCraft percentage game anyone?). Hallucination research also decreased in time from 110 to 80. Also included are numerous bug fixes.
We’ll keep you updated about any other updates but for now those seem to be the only changes worth noting.
Source: Battle.net
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Merry Christmas everyone! It’s that time of year again… seems to be snowing on the site. Hmm, I’ll have to talk to the host about that one. Shouldn’t be THAT cold!
I’ve no presents for you just yet but I do have some tasty StarCraft merchandise laying around. I’ll have to talk to Santa about what he wants to do with it. For now, Merry Christmas!
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Well first off have to apologize for the vacation. Because of finals time (grad school is apparently less lax) I haven’t had any time for the site. But we’re back online and I’m rearing for improvements. We’ll be keeping you up to date on StarCraft 2 once again.
We’re still developing our new front-end page and that will be completed soon as well as an upgrade to vBulletin 4.
As far as StarCraft 2 news, I’m a little disappointed that in the three weeks I was swamped that not much has changed. No patches have come out, but we are in a testing phase for the 1.2 Public patch beta. I’ll post an in-depth explanation of the public test and what it’s doing tomorrow!
Also, JINX came out with some pretty awesome T-shirts. Loving the race logos, you won’t look like a total dweeb unless they know what they mean!
Also of interest were the new round of StarCraft 2 account bans. According to our sources, cheating overall in StarCraft 2 is down although still somewhat widespread. Keep it up Blizzard, and maybe we can get bans more than every 8 weeks?
Lastly, why is there a giant Cataclysm ad (annoying?) on the StarCraft 2 homepage? This is not WarCraft in space!!
Source: StarCraft2.com, Blizzard.com
Another balance patch was released late Monday, but hardly what we expected. Despite what has to be weeks of incoming information about the latest patches, all that was changed was the Thor’s threat assessment. Now it will target ground units on a first priority rather than Medivacs. A small Terran buff that isn’t really needed. We can focus fire just fine at higher levels, thanks.
Balance
- TERRAN
- Thor
- This unit will now prioritize attacking ground combat units over Medivacs.
- Thor
In other news, Blizzard release three new super-vague race highlight videos, and if you make a poor choice, you can also change your name once on Battle.net for your Character ID.
Source: StarCraft2.com
It almost seems like there’s a BlizzCon every 365 days now. It’s really getting crazy. This year, honestly, we weren’t expecting a whole lot of StarCraft 2 updates. What we were expecting, however, were some awesome StarCraft 2 matches. I think we got plenty of that over the three days. With an awesome exhibition series between SlayerS`BoXer and FruitDealer (Fruit Distributor?), and the StarCraft 2 Tournament finals featuring NexGenius and Lotus (honestly, we were pretty disappointed in Loner’s play–gotta spot that observer buddy), we more than got our fill of awesome SC2 action.
Aside from StarCraft 2 gaming, we also got indications that Battle.net will be receiving chat channels in an “imminent” patch. No specific date has been offered for this patch, but again, the patch has been described as “imminent.”
During multiplayer discussion panels, a lot of issues were brought up with the Blizzard balance designers, including the TvP Feedback range vs. EMP range (and similarly Feedback vs. Infestors). We feel confident that Blizzard has a better idea of what changes you, the users, and the community, feel are necessary changes.
In case you missed any of the other tidbits popping out this week, you might also want to check out the latest Marauder Short Story or Blizzard’s Pumpkin Carving Contest (Due Oct. 27th)
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As they’ve been threatening for a few weeks, Blizzard has released patch 1.1.2. And as they promised and we were hoping wouldn’t happen, Blizzard has nerfed Terran’s early game options. Yes, they nerfed the Void Ray and buffed Zerg buildings, but we see a major flaw in the direction of Blizzard’s patching. They’re patching down rather than up. Here’s the changelog:
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty – Patch 1.1.2
Balance
PROTOSS
Buildings
Nexus life and shields increased from 750/750 to 1000/1000.
Damage level 1 increased from 5 to 6 (+4 armored).
Damage level 2 decreased from 10 (+15 armored) to 8 (+8 armored).
Flux Vanes speed upgrade bonus decreased from 1.125 to 0.703.TERRAN
Buildings
Barracks requirement changed from Command Center to Supply Depot.
Supply Depot life increased from 350 to 400.Medivac
Acceleration reduced from 2.315 to 2.25.
Speed reduced from 2.75 to 2.5.Reaper
Nitro Packs speed upgrade now has a Factory Requirement.
Thor
Energy bar removed.
250mm Strike Cannons is now cooldown-based on a 50-second cooldown. Ability starts with cooldown available (useable immediately after upgrade is researched).
ZERG
Buildings
Hatchery life increased from 1250 to 1500.
Lair life increased from 1800 to 2000.
Spawning Pool life increased from 750 to 1000.
Spire life increased from 600 to 850.
Ultralisk Cavern life increased from 600 to 850.
Corruptor
Energy bar removed.
Corruption is now cooldown-based on a 45-second cooldown. Ability starts with cooldown expired (must wait for full 45-second cycle before usable).
Fungal Growth now prevents Blink.
Roach
Range increased from 3 to 4.
My biggest issue with these patches (and specifically this one) is Blizzard’s top-down approach to balancing StarCraft 2. Instead of encouraging and extending options for players with each race, they’re intent on limiting the game to one overall strategy with multiple smaller tech branches until everyone’s playing the same style.
By requiring the supply depot before the Barracks (after already having nerfed the Reaper’s build time significantly to my applause) Blizzard is essentially limiting Terran’s options to an early eco build, at the same time making them much more vulnerable to a 6-pool Zerg strategy. I give this a solid “Boo!”
As I’ve shown in a number of builds (and consistently in my own play), Reapers are the premiere Terran starting strategy. Since you’re going to build a Barracks with a tech lab at some point in the game anyway, why not skip the relatively weak Marine early in the game and go for a gas-intensive early-game rush? In no way does an effective Reaper build affect your economy. This is not an all-in rush. There are two parts to the Reaper build, the build order, and the micro. 
Read the full article!
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In a long-awaited move, Blizzard announced that they have banned 5,000 cheaters and hackers yesterday from the StarCraft 2 Battle.net service. According to official conversations with Blizzard, this means players affected by the ban will have their suspected Battle.net accounts suspended, including restricting access for the players to any games associated with that Battle.net account.
Now players can rest easy knowing that those hackers they met a few weeks ago aren’t still out there hacking. And at least it will cost them another $50 to try it again.
However, with the large number of bans taking place (5,000 at one time is a lot, don’t you think) it’s clear that hacking is quite rampant. Hopefully the next round of bans will come quicker. Could we hope for once a week? That would significantly curb players’ appetite for hacking. Mpa hack on!!1
Update: In other news, Blizzard also released Patch 1.1.1 which has solved the Ultralisk extended AoE damage glitch. Repair is back!
Source: StarCraft2.com
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We’d love to thank Steelseries for helping us celebrate StarCraft 2’s launch right. If you’re one of our lucky followers who was at a location where StarCraft2Forum.org was throwing launch events, you may have nabbed yourself a SteelSeries StarCraft 2 mousepad. In my gaming opinion, SteelSeries mousepads are among the best. I’ve used a few of Razer’s and I certainly prefer the washable and flexible material that SteelSeries offers. I myself use a QcK+ pad (it’s ginormous) and it both makes my desk more comfortable as well as helps me keep a quick response in game.
But last week SteelSeries wanted us to take a look at the StarCraft II Zboard keyboard and keyset. They sent me one to play with and asked for me feedback, and that’s exactly what I’m going to give…
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Battle.net updated this morning with a new Patch 1.1. This is a very anticipated change and was announced several weeks ago. Among the changes are reductions in damage for the Terran Battlecruiser and Zerg Ultralisk, as well as a change in the way the Terran Siege Tank does damage (changed to 35(+15 vs. Armored)). Also, increases in build times for the Protoss Zealot, Terran Reaper, and an extension of cooldown for the Protoss WarpGates.
No unexpected changes were included in the patch. However, there is a very long changelog for bug fixes and map editor changes, as well as some new Battle.net features added. Among these are an in-game match timer and a local clock (and battery/wi-fi meter for laptops). Support for Nvidia’s 3D play has also been enabled.
You can check out the full changelog here!
Source: Battle.net
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At least partly in response to our article last week about Hackers in the StarCraft Top 200, Blizzard released a statement this week concerning their attitude toward cheating in StarCraft 2. The statement clearly outlines that users caught hacking or cheating in any manner will have their Battle.net account banned from Battle.net.
Blizzard Entertainment has always taken cheating in any form in Blizzard games very seriously, and that’s no different for StarCraft II. If a StarCraft II player is found to be cheating or using hacks or modifications in any form, then as outlined in our end user license agreement, that player can be permanently banned from the game. This means that the player will be permanently unable to log in to Battle.net to play StarCraft II with his or her account. Playing StarCraft II legitimately means playing with an unaltered game client. Doing otherwise violates our policies for Battle.net, and it goes against the spirit of fair play that all of our games are based on. We strongly recommend that you avoid using any hacks, cheats, or exploits. Suspensions and bans of players that have used or start using cheats and hacks will begin in the near future.
Blizzard also asks that if you suspect a player of cheating and have some form of proof (usually a suspicious replay) you should immediately report the player to support@blizzard.com or via the Battle.net forums. Unfortunately it still appears that Blizzard has refrained from taking action against cheaters at this time (a number of known cheaters are still playing games) and is continuing to wait for a retroactive ban-hammer session. It might be too late three months in to ban thousands!
Source: Blizzard
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Someone put up an awesome article on the Battle.net forums laying out the effectiveness of upgrades in various matchups: ZvT, TvT, PvT, PvP, PvZ, PvP
Some of the results are astonishing. There are definitely some upgrades you can’t live without, and conversely some upgrades you can simply overlook. For instance, it’s always more effective to go with Terran Infantry Armor upgrades first rather than Weapons. It’s also essential to get Vehicle Weapons Upgrades for Terran in TvT matchups.
Check out the article for the full listing of upgrades and benefits.
Source: Activillain (Battle.net Forums)
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On the off chance that you somehow haven’t purchased this game already (seriously, are you insane?), K-Mart is having a sale on StarCraft 2 copies. And yes, there is a small catch. In order to buy it you’re going to have to do it in store (or take the listing to Best Buy so they can price match).
But still, it’s StarCraft 2 for $39.99. Can’t beat that, right? Enjoy! (U.S. only deal as far as I’m aware!)
Source: K-Mart
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There was a time in StarCraft: Brood War when it was the tanks that provided all the support. When you could spread your unsupported tanks into a deadly crossfire of death and move freely within that area much to your opponent’s dismay. That has largely come to an end in StarCraft 2. Things have changed and the Siege Tank has certainly evolved. That’s not to say you can’t still have that “MWA HA HA HA HA” moment that was prevalent in Terran games of old. Quite the contrary, you should have that awesome feeling more often. But one of the main problems with the methodology of new players in StarCraft 2(and even players who understand the game quite well) is that they lack foresight.
Just like with children, once you’ve built your Siege Tanks and researched Siege Mode (as you definitely should, tanks are worthless without them), your responsibility doesn’t just end there. You have to commit to learning how to place, monitor, protect, and deliver your tanks on the battlefield. This article will cover all of these angles to show you just how important Siege Tanks can be to your Terran arsenal and how to maximize their effectiveness.
Let’s build a Siege Tank
The first part of using Terran Siege Tanks correctly is learning how to build them, when to build them, and why to build them.
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As part of an ongoing coverage of Battle.net’s top StarCraft 2 players, Blizzard released another list of the “StarCraft II Top 200” today. The list isn’t all that exclusive and is based on a series of what appear to be subjective considerations. But honestly, what the list is and who is on it really isn’t the concern.
What is of some note is the fact that one of the names appears to be missing. According to some of the comments, a user named Vnrock was removed from the list because of hacking. I took a look-see into his profile, and sure enough, Vnrock is listed as #4 rank in a Diamond league. Just below user Qwerty, who ranked #131 on this list.
So naturally I’d expect Vnrock to be somewhere on this top 200 list. But he’s not. Why? Because he’s a hacker.
So Blizzard has removed him from the list, right? No big deal? Think again. Only a month from release and it appears that hacks are in play in StarCraft 2, on Battle.net, in ladder games. From what we can tell the user was removed from the Top 200 list, but it doesn’t appear his account has been banned, and Blizzard sure hasn’t made a move to publicize him as a cheater, or to publicly ban his account as a warning.
What’s important here is how Blizzard reacts. Are they going to enforce measures they put in place to prevent hacking? At the moment it doesn’t appear so, but let’s hope they take an interest, especially without a LAN version of the game. I, for one, will be very leery about playing any tournaments from here on out.
All of this also calls into question the validity of the Top 200 List. Who on there could be hackers that don’t have as much proof against them as Vnrock? Hard to tell!
Sources: Battle.net, User Profiles
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Blizzard has announced intentions to release Patch 1.1 for StarCraft 2 in the coming week. Unofficially we’re expecting the release to be around September 1st. Among the redacted list of changes are:
Reaper build time increase from 40 to 45 seconds Bunker build time increase from 30 to 35 seconds Siege Tank damage in Siege mode reduced to 35 (+15 vs. Armored; upgrade +3, ++2 vs Armored) Battlecruisers ATG damage decreased from 10 to 8 Ultralisk damage reduced to 15 (+20 vs. Armored) Zealot build time increased from 33 to 38 seconds Warp Gate cooldown time increased from 23 to 28 seconds
To be honest our concerns with these changes lie mostly in the fact that it’s a bit late to be messing with unit and build timings. Players are already adapting to these and messing with the time rather than the cost and damage numbers is unnecessarily chaotic. Stay away from changing the build times, and focus more on nerfing damage itself. Secondarily you won’t be reducing the number of units on the field which leads to more interesting games.
Conversely, we do feel that the Warp Gate cooldown is a good move. It is far too easy for Protoss to replenish their forces instantly when nearing the food cap in late game.
Read the full Situation Report
Source: Battle.net
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Blizzard announced earlier today that BlizzCon “virtual tickets” are on sale on the BlizzCon website. Priced at $39.95, the pass gives you access to DirecTV’s coverage of the convention, as well as exclusive in-game “Deathy” the Murloc pet, and a special StarCraft II avatar.
There still has been no information released regarding the musical act invited this year or the feature merchandise in the store (which the virtual ticket also claims you’ll be able to order) for attendees.
In other news, a new blogger has appeared on the scene. A friend of mine from California she’s a very experienced gamer and partakes in StarCraft 2 as well as World of WarCraft and other titles. She’s launched her new blog, PwnageInPink. If you have some interest you should take a look. She has some very cool insights.
Also, StarCraft2Forum.org is currently upgrading to vBulletin 4 so you can expect some major changes around here. We apologize for the lack of updates, but that is partly due to this upgrade.
Source: Blizzard.com
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Comm-Link Online, Blizzard’s newest series of StarCraft 2 related news, is coming of age and is beginning to produce quality information for the community. #4 was released yesterday, August 21st, and contains some important updates for Battle.net players. Among which is the announcement that StarCraft 2 will soon see a “free” name change service for players, but they haven’t said when.
Apparently some users registered under names they’re not exactly happy with. Now, we’re not quite sure why Blizzard is calling the changes “free” which would imply that they normally wouldn’t be… But we’ll deal with that as it comes.
There are also a series of interesting discussion pages that link to the hot topics of week including a couple of multiplayer discussions regarding heavy macro vs. micro and a community spotlight tips discussion.
We’ve also been sniffing around for Battle.net patch updates that might include some balance changes, but so far we’ve come up with nil. Keep checking back with us as we’re expecting some changes here at StarCraft2Forum.org and we should be serving up more news than you can even handle!
Source: Battle.net
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In celebration of StarCraft 2′s release StarCraft.org and the Amateur Hour team are putting on a launch party next Saturday, August 14th. The tournament is meant to be part of the fun, but still the grand prize is an Nvidia GTX460 768MB dedicated memory video card, which should be enough to turn some heads. You have to visit their forums to sign up so make sure to check out their news post for more details!
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Good news! The tournament finals videos between Layzee and Naive are now live! Here’s some links to watch those on YouTube:
The first Starcraft2forum.org tournament has finally come to a close! Congratulations to our first place winner, Layzee, and our runner up Naive! They played a great 3 games with Layzee edging out Naive in the final 2. Layzee will be taking home our grand prize $1,500 custom PC. While Naive and our other two semi-finalists Wannabkilled and Yossarian will be sent a Razer Imperator mouse. If you’re interested in building your own PC be sure to check out our tutorial.
Also, a final thanks to all our sponsors who helped make this tournament possible with their support, and also to Starcraft.org’s Amateur Hour team for shoutcasting and streaming our finals for us, great work guys!
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According to a Blizzard press release on Tuesday, StarCraft 2 has become the fastest-selling RTS game ever made, and has easily become 2010′s biggest PC launch of the year. With 1.5 million copies sold in just the first 48 hours, it’s clear that StarCraft 2 is a runaway success.
Gamestop also released statements indicating that StarCraft 2 has been by and large their best-selling PC game of all time. Industry experts have adjusted their estimates of StarCraft 2 sales in 2010 to 6.5 million. That’s just craziness! And even better, these estimates do not include sales in Korea or other areas outside North America.
Sources: Blizzard.com, Gamasutra