OFFICIAL OO STARCRAFT II RELEASE THREAD OMG

[Lordnine]

I only care about Single Player since I think SC2 multiplayer is dreadful.

A small preview in PCGamer talked about the evolution concept for units. If i understood it correctly it sounded like a lot of evolution options were based around Kerigan herself. When going into a mission you would choose mutations for her which would filter down to her troops. It sounded like you would be able to switch things on and off on a by mission basis.

Preview also talked about an ice world environment where you had to work to avoid having units freeze solid throughout the course of the mission.

[El Guapo]

Yeah, I pretty much only care about the SP aspect. I have to say that I was impressed with how they handled the SP game in "Wings of Liberty" - pretty creative, and the misssions were generally pretty cool (as opposed to the "hey, there's the enemy, go get them" missions of earlier games).

[stessier]

A small preview in PCGamer talked about the evolution concept for units. If i understood it correctly it sounded like a lot of evolution options were based around Kerigan herself. When going into a mission you would choose mutations for her which would filter down to her troops. It sounded like you would be able to switch things on and off on a by mission basis.

Yep, I read something along those lines on Blizzard's site as well. They are calling it "Battle Focus" and it lets you pick her role for that mission. It doesn't really say how that will be integrated, if at all, with the other mutation concepts.

Here is the link to Blizzards game play preview.

[stessier]

You know, perusing the Gamespot pictures of this, I had forgotten/never realized how much I am missing because I have to run it on low resolution to make it playable. Some of their screen shots are really pretty.

[stessier]

Don't know if anyone else is still playing, but Blizzcon is this weekend and they have announced the new units and some abilities. I think this is the best source:

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmes ... _id=277762

I was considering skipping the expansions, but I'm intrigued enough to give this one a shot.

[Little Raven]

I still play almost every night. I can't believe this game.

[Daehawk]

Heart of the Swarm video

[stessier]

I missed most of Season 2 but have played everyday of Season 3. Sadly, I only have time from 4-5am. Still, 3-ish games a day is better than nothing.

[WarPanda]

Raven your still playing? Awesome!!! I have been attending family and my new born son, and I will back man to stomp some folks with my mighty Protoss ball of doom and your never ending bag of Zergy'ness.

Once I can actually play a game knowing I will not be interupted, I will hop back on and say Hello!

[stessier]

Season 4:

1v1 - Silver
2v2 - Gold
3v3 - Plat
4v4 - Plat

I love how easy it is to get in the higher leagues now - not through increasing skill but simply by continuing playing while all the better players get bored and move on to greener pastures.

[Little Raven]

Once I can actually play a game knowing I will not be interupted, I will hop back on and say Hello!

That would be fantastic! We've missed you, man. Come back anytime...but be aware that the TS IP changed....it's now 50.23.212.54:4231.

[stessier]

Can anyone give me an update on the current status of the game?

I logged in this weekend for the first time in months and saw I had to do all my placement matches again. I only did two before having to leave. Is this a way to keep people from being Diamond/Master/GM forever? Anything else I should know about? I played one of the new maps and it was interesting - not sure how I liked it.

[Little Raven]

Can anyone give me an update on the current status of the game?

It hasn't changed that much. There's been a few minor balance tweaks and such, but at the level we play at, nothing has really changed.

Generally, you don't have to do ALL your placement matches again. Blizzard has implemented a 'Season' system, where a season is 4-6 weeks long. We're currently on season 6. At the beginning of each season, you have to play ONE placement match, then you'll be placed and life continues on. Blizzard actually remembers your MMR between seasons, so the quality of opponent you'll face during your placement match is no different from any other ladder match, but since the quality of the leagues themselves has been shifting, you may find yourself in a different league than you were in before. I'm guessing that you have to redo all of yours because you were gone for multiple seasons...but I'm not really sure.

Blizzard does this to weed out inactive players. They want Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond to each reflect about 20% of the player base at any given time, and for that to happen, inactive players need to get dropped out of the league system.

Don't be surprised or dismayed if you find you drop a league....as inactive players are screened out, the quality of the remaining players tends to rise. A person who was once considered a solid Gold player may find themselves a Silver these days, just because the leagues are getting more competitive.

And yes, we still play most every night, and yes, it's still lots of fun. Come join us!

[stessier]

Thanks for the info. I'll try to get on a few nights over the next week or so. I was burned out there for a while, but those two placement games were actually kind of fun (even though I smoked someone in one and got smoked in the other). I was almost up to Gold in 1v1 when I stopped. Now I'm very much Bronze again - 20 apm is nothing to write home about.

[Daehawk]

I just started my 2nd replay. I forgot just how much i wanted to kill Donnie the tv news anchor. the little shit. I didn't get to as I recall. I have two more games to get my chance. Blizzard better let me after all the crap I hear from his mouth.

[Daehawk]

This time through Im trying to play the exact opposite of my first time through. Things I can think of off hand are....burning the colonists instead of saving them, choosing to research armor instead of weps, choosing Nova over Tosh, firebats instead of marauders.....its backwards game I guess.

[naednek]

Can anyone remember how much the first campaign of Starcraft 2 retailed for? I could have sworn it was $60. Amazon is selling the next one for $39, and I jumped on it thinking it was a steal.

[stessier]

55-59, I believe. Check Blizzard - I'm sure they still have it at the launch price.

[Daehawk]

Cost me $150. Guess the next two will also...ugh.

[hepcat]

Cost me $150. Guess the next two will also...ugh.

You only need one copy, you know.

[Daehawk]

Collector's.

[Daehawk]

Not sure if you guys have seen the preview video yet. Preview Video

Looks great. Hope Sarah and Jim can come to terms and be together. She looks damn good even with the dread/worm like hair. I think red was best though.

Preview page

[Daehawk]

I'm keeping it simple this time. My mobile army is basically infantry and medivacs...that's it. Fully upgraded and an armory for research. Sometimes if the missing provides them or i need a special unit Ill toss that in too. Base deffense consists of turrets and bunkers.. That flame turret is nasty.

[Daehawk]

Time to go back to Char. As it draws closer I just wish there was some way to save Tychus . He's the face of Starcraft 2. Maybe it will turn out Raynor only wounded him. Im hoping that is the way it turns out. But the way that video feels it feels more like he blew his brains all over the back of that suit.

[Little Raven]

Tycus is most certainly dead. Of course, he was dead no matter what went down, and he knew it. That's why he let Jim shoot him. If you're gonna go, best to go quick.

[Daehawk]

I just noticed something. Took me two play throughs cause i just finished my 2nd time through ....Raynor's pistol changes sizes. Ok that sounds wrong but there it is. You'll notice it in his normal human hands a lot on board ships and such with him using it. But then toy see it in his space marine armored suit hands also and those are much larger. it should appear either tiny and un usable in his suit hands or too large and unwieldy in his normal human hands. LOL. Why I think of this stuff I dont know. Maybe he just has 2 pistols But it seems a custom one.

[stessier]

I recently started playing on the ladder again and wanted to brag a bit. I started a 4x4 match and it took about 6 minutes to actually go from the loading screen to game start. When it started, the rest of my team had dropped, so it was really 4 on 1. I was Z and my team was P, P, & T. It took me a few seconds to realize I was on my own and to start up their bases as well. I then realized I was going to be getting a ton of minerals, so I dropped two extra hives to get the larva count up. It was crazy trying to run three different races with only 10 hotkeys - just trying to remember to make probes and scvs on top of getting out units was quite a challenge. Luckily my opponents were even greener than I am. Their best player was a Protoss who set up a cannon field at the natural in the back of our bases. Didn't find that for a while because I was already on 4 bases - who needs more than that in the first 10 minutes? Since I knew I was up against P, T, & Z, I made a bunch of roaches, banelings, and zerlings and waited for their attack. When it came, my banes made gloriously short work of the entire terran force leaving my roaches to clean up the remaining protoss units. I had a bunch of upgrades, so I used my surviving force to attack his base. While that was doing it's thing, I remaxed with roaches and hydras and pushed when I hit 200 supply. The good Protoss pushed at the same time so it was somewhat of a race to see who could wipe the other out first. My big advantage, though, was that I had some probes left and started a few extra protoss bases so that when he had finished off everything in our starting area, he had no idea I had re-established on a Gold with air and a bunch of warp gates. It was so cool when I found his last base and finished him off.

TL;DR? I won a 4x4 match even though I was the only player on my team after the rest of them dropped. Granted, we were all bronze, but still - woo-hoo!

[stessier]

This morning I got the badge for 250 Random team wins (most in 2x2). Woo-hoo!

The players these days are much kinder than the old days. It is extremely rare (maybe once or twice every 25 games) to get yelled/swore at and only once in the last 6 weeks did someone keep messaging until I blocked them. It's pretty fun.