Game: Starcraft 2

[LaZie]

Starcraft 2 has been officially announced (http://www.gamespot.com/news/6171170.html)

Trailer only shows the intro

Trailer *Beware! It's really slow right now. (http://tvpot.daum.net/theme/ThemeView.do?themeid=122&lu=m_mono_1)

Youtube Link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUXoekeDIW8)

Some gameplay footage (http://flvs.daum.net/flvPlayer.swf?vid=LF3HB0Gdoxw$)

Screenshots of In-Game footage (http://media.pc.ign.com/media/850/850126/imgs_1.html)

Summary of trailer

- The video was 26 minutes long
- Video opened with a human prisoner being transformed into a Terran Marine
- Minerals and vespine gas are confirmed
- Zealots still have shields and psi blades. New charge attack to let them rush at enemies
- Still have Siege Tanks. They still Siege. Not much else to say
- New unit: Protoss Immortals - have special shield that only activates upon being powerfully attacked - siege tanks could barely do any damage to them.
- Terran reapers - can hop across unever terrain with jump packs - two types of small pistols that don't activate immortals
- Protoss now have the ability to create shields whereever they want. Protoss can now warp in units from manufacturing facilities anything within pylon range
-New protoss unit - stalker - can teleport - quadripedal thing - can keep blinking forward - seems to be a shot cooldown on the ability.
- Zerg have giant worms that dispense Zergling armies
-Protoss can use phase fields and teleporting abilities to create an army anywhere on the battlefield
-Protoss colossus - huge unit that can blast out dual lasers and use long legs to traverse differences in terrain height - in the demo two of them obliterate about fifty or so zerglings. Weak against air
Zerglings can mutate into suicidal bomb things thar roll across the ground - very powerful explosions
- Protoss Pheonix - can overcharge guns for multiple projectile blast - but after blast the ship is rendered inert for a short period.
- Pross Warprey - flying unit that does increased damage the longer it hits a target with it's continuous blue laser. Useful against structures as well. Weak against small fire. Marines were shown to take them out.
- Protoss mother ship. Can only have 1 at a time. Cost a ton. special abilities include timebomb that slows all enemy missiles inside - shows terran missle launcher shooting in projectiles that stop in the field before they reach the ship - when field ends missiles drop the ground - planet cracker attack - giant lasers stream from ship to ground - ship can be moved around while planet cracker laser is active - the ship looks like a metallic, triangular sand dollar - mothership can create a black hole anywhere it wannts to - creates distortion that actually sucks ships in and destroys them - in the demo the black hole destroyed four terran battle cruisers in about ten seconds.
- Physics engine allows for debris to roll down slopes.
- Video ends with 100+ Zerglings swarming on screen with no slowdown. They spell out "GG" and are nuked by 3 Terran nukes.
- A Things to Come clip is shown with new landscapes including Terran ruins and Zerg landscapes.

[joker-kun]

OMG!! Yes i've been waiting for the 19th to hear this!!! Call me a fanboy as much as you want you bastards! I will so be buying this game:p:eek::eek:


The only thing I dislike is how "cartoonish" everything looks.

[BioAlien]

www.starcraft2.com

The website has finally been put up.
(And you can see the trailers/cinematic in better quality)

[Kensee]

HOLY Fing CRAP MONKEYS YES! My Life for Aiur!!!

I think a lot of people have been waiting for this, and knowing Blizzard, this game will rock. They will not release a game unless it meets high standards.

I can't wait. It's time to rock!

[mage]

The only thing I dislike is how "cartoonish" everything looks.
Doesn't look any more cartoony than the original. Looks amazing and I can't wait.

[animus]

Nice, I knew it was gonna be an RTS. Never thought for a second that it would be a new World of Starcraft or some such.

[Ryllharu]

I'm going to agree with Q-Bert about the appearance. It's not nearly as cartoony as WC3 is. It seems more like they tried to match the in game graphics to the CG we've all loved (which looks better than ever). It may not have the really gritty look of the original, but it's not finalized yet. Looks amazing. I hope my computer can play it smoothly. Blizzard has always been light on the requirements, and if I can play Tiberium Wars, it looks like I can play SC2.

One of the biggest things hinted at is terrain differences. The description on the Protoss Stalker unit mentions that it can be used to quickly get up higher terrain for better vantage points. I'm hoping this hints at being able to use terrain the way Warhammer does, where sitting in one spot may have a tactical advantage to a spot a few inches away on the screen. Maybe it's just as simple as being able to see much farther, but even that changes things a lot.

Looks like I'm going to have to learn how to play Protoss all over again...

[Sandldan]

Really looking forward to this game now, hopefully it wont take too long until it's released. I'd guess it'll be released sometime around 2008 since the first one came 1998.

Here's 2 gameplay demonstration vids i found
part 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJDFw4TGWmo)
part 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TR7nGISEfc)

[Raven]

This looks pretty amazing - that Zerg rush in the gameplay video was incredible.

I have to say it's a little predictable, though. I was kind of hoping for Diablo 3 "now in 3D!" but actually that would be just as predictable if not more so than SC2.

It might have been nice to have an entirely new Blizzard franchise. But, they've got 3 insanely popular ones, I doubt there's any real reason to start another right now.

[eat_toast]

Wow. Simply wow. This is going to be either the most overhyped game ever, or the best sequel ever made. Either way I can't wait to play it. Just the vid of the marine being constructed gave me chills.

I actually kind of like the newer look, as the old one seemed to flat, this one seems much more vibrant and deep. Also, anyone notice how they've remade the dragoons? Slight dissappointment in that they won't be the staple of combat they used to be, but I'm sure they'll make up for it.

Oh, and in before WH40K comparisons.

[animus]

I wonder if the Dark Templar unit is gonna be in this game. I remember loving that unit when I was a kid, because they were fast, had stealth, hit hard and they looked badass.

[eat_toast]

I do believe one of their concept arts, and my current background is Zeratul, one of the dark templar.

[joker-kun]

Doesn't look any more cartoony than the original. Looks amazing and I can't wait.

The siege tank is a giant blob... Protoss and zerg like fine. Terran looks retarded.

[darkmetal505]

I remember reading from www.sc2.org a while back that there would be an addition of units to each race along with the addition of the 'Kerrigan' race.

This should be exiciting. Can't wait to the see Korean pro matches if they decide to use it for MSL/OSL.

[mage]

The siege tank is a giant blob... Protoss and zerg like fine. Terran looks retarded.
The common units to the original look practically the same, just in 3D. It was hard to tell what features the units had in 2D. The in-game units of SC always looked way different from the concept art.

[Deadfire]

A long way from what is shown here (http://www.sclegacy.com/features/evolution.php) however I'm hyped about this it looks awesome so far

[BioAlien]

Even though i am Happy to see Starcraft 2 finally becoming reality.
I miss Nova.. :(
http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/5522/starcraftnovayy1.jpg
(Starcraft: Ghost)

[Assertn]

A long way from what is shown here (http://www.sclegacy.com/features/evolution.php) however I'm hyped about this it looks awesome so far
It's a good thing every single thumbnail on that page doesn't work.

[LaZie]

Gameplay Details (http://www.gamespot.com/news/6171178.html)

I want this game now! :p

[Stoopider]

I can't wait for more Zerg stuff though. I used to be a zerg fanatic. :P

[darkshadow]

22 minute developer walkthrough in HD:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=19827&type=mov

[itadakimasu]

Darkshadow : thanks !!!!

I just watched 10 minutes or so of that through earlier posted links that were on youtube, really poor quality video of course. i have to wait until later to watch these. But even the really bad quality youtube stuff has me really excited about the layout of the game and the units...

this has to be the most anticipated game of the decade. people have been wanting a sequal for years and its finally about to come. gotwoot, why yes... very much woot

Sandldan, really surprised me... im glad they had the unit demonstration because i first only saw the little trailer that did not show any game play so i was still wondering what it would look like. I remember that for a long time people were saying that starcraft : ghost i think for the xbox was an actual sequal... even though i thin it was a 3rd person action / stealthy type game.

current though : will blizzard be charging a fee for online play?

edit: i cant wait to play this... its really so exciting. i lived on starcraft for a solid year and a half day and night sleeping so little and when i was i was thinking of starcraft... spare time? probably watching replays and planning future builds.... *drools*

[Sandldan]

Have to say that im a bit amazed over Blizzards ability to have kept this a secret for so long. They seem to have worked on it for quite some time already. If i remember it right i think someone said that they're currently in the pre-alpha phase

Edit: This might be the reason http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2007/20070523.jpg

[darkmetal505]

New protoss units:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x53Rz0Aio8

[6Zabuza9]

soul hunters remind me of the silver surfer lol. the other three units are basically renames of photon cannon, carrier, and archon

[Assertn]

Yeah..although did it look like the phase cannons had the ability to relocate themselves, or was I just looking at it wrong?

[Sandldan]

Yeah..although did it look like the phase cannons had the ability to relocate themselves, or was I just looking at it wrong?

Yeah saw the same video but with comments, they're able to relocate themselves on the map

[Ryllharu]

Combine that with the mobile-pylon abilities of the new Phase Prisms, and Protoss Turtling becomes a completely different play style. Maybe even offensive turtling... Time to think up some crazy strategies for it.

They noted that the squads will be more capable at independence, and things like this will create some really varied ways in fighting a battle. They also said they're trying to get away with the rock-paper-scissors style of comparing units, (and thankfully no WC3 micromanagement) so strategy really will be a huge factor in every match.

[Assertn]

Dumb. I hated dealing with photon cannons even when they couldn't move.

[Ryllharu]

I bet they cost 3 times as much, which strains the already tight budget when playing Protoss.

[darkmetal505]

The video makes it hard to tell, but the phase cannon looks like it fires at a slower rate than the photon cannon.

Like Ryllharu said, this is going to make a whole new meaning of proxying for protoss. With mobile cannons, the 2 gate proxy zealot rush becomes a lot safer. Then again, they haven't shown much of the Terran advancements and almost nada of the Zerg.

[Kensee]

BIG UPDATE TIME!

Single Player campaign Preview (http://www.gamespot.com/video/939643/6176222/starcraft-ii-single-player-campaign-blizzcon-preview) (Dude, Blizzard is brilliant)

Terran Units Overview (http://www.gamespot.com/video/939643/6176216/starcraft-ii-terran-faction-blizzcon-preview) (Holy CRAP, thats all I have to say)


Blizzard Starcraft folklorde panel (http://www.gamespot.com/video/939643/6176406/starcraft-panel-discussion-lore-) (Where/When does SC2 take place)

:: the gamer inside of me is crying waterfalls of joy! ::

If this is terran, mannnnn Zerg is going to be so awesome!

[LaZie]

I like how the new ghosts can just call up those forces of marines. That was cool in the video :p

[Kensee]

I like how the new ghosts can just call up those forces of marines. That was cool in the video :p

Yeah, I wonder how they going to balance that or what the restrictions are on it.

I was more impressed by the Battlecruiser's new ability .... no more zergling outnumbering me ... I'ma Plasma rocket them straight into the ground ^_^

[Idealistic]

HOLY MOTHER FUCKING SHIT!

Kensee, those videos own. I can't wait to see how the Protoss and Zerg mission briefings are going to look!!

OMFG!@@!@@#!$!@$@!!

[?igma]

I'm impressed yet again by Blizzards eye for perfection. Regardless of WoW starting to become a flop due to lack of prior experience with MMO's, all their other games have always met their expectations at any level and this one doesn't seem to be an exception.

Brilliant and I'm anticipating this game vigourously. I never played Starcraft pro, but me and a mate were damn good at it at some point. I think we had like 551 wins versus ~80 losses on two new accounts we created back then. Maybe some of you think that's alot of losses, but the first 100(like 70% or so) matches were almost all losses :P untill we managed to get a solid strategy.

Give teh SC!

[Assertn]

I'm impressed yet again by Blizzards eye for perfection. Regardless of WoW starting to become a flop due to lack of prior experience with MMO's, all their other games have always met their expectations at any level and this one doesn't seem to be an exception.
If by flop you mean, one of the current biggest MMO's currently out there....then yeah.

[?igma]

If by flop you mean, one of the current biggest MMO's currently out there....then yeah.

Let's face it, pure gameplay is crap. And don't say I don't know, I have several lvl 70's, played high-end raiding both pretBC and after and it's all the same old same old.

They balanced the game to death too.

For some, Macdonalds is a big success, others prefer things that are actually healthy.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHH!!

[Assertn]

So by success, you're talking about the completely subjective, appealing only to yourself as if a company would measure their success by your personal perspective kind of success.

I was talking about the number of copies sold, number of members currently subscribed, and number of new members constantly subscribing kind of success. :o

(and you wonder why you made both lists ;))

[Mut]

(and you wonder why you made both lists ;))
http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/9181/emotmastersd9.gif
User has been warned for this post.

[Kensee]

HOLY MOTHER FUCKING SHIT!

Kensee, those videos own. I can't wait to see how the Protoss and Zerg mission briefings are going to look!!

OMFG!@@!@@#!$!@$@!!

According to the last video, the Zerg have kept quiet, "too quiet," for four years. You KNOW they are going to have some badass evolutions comming out.

My ideas: Ultralisk Evolve to counter some of the new ground terran and protoss units. Hydralisk upgrades to counter all the lil air units.

I knew Blizzard was going to make some Guardian like unit for the terran, but i was soo impressed by the reactor cores that double the production of units ... mannn I can finally counter zerg rush! (kinda).

The first player mode is so awesome and interactive. I'm going to play through first player asap!

The command center upgrade really made me smile. A command center with a defensive turrent. BEAUTIFUL.


So by success, you're talking about the completely subjective, appealing only to yourself as if a company would measure their success by your personal perspective kind of success.

I was talking about the number of copies sold, number of members currently subscribed, and number of new members constantly subscribing kind of success. :o



Ooo about WoW... Blizzard is also developing their expansion for that game (Wrath of the Lich king) which increases their level cap to 80, adds Death Knight Hero unit ... blah blah blah ..

So this sucessfull MMORPG is about to get a lot bigger and more sucessful.

Blizzard is on a roll.

[Ryllharu]

That brings up a good point. Remember what new ability the Ghosts have:

"Turning the canister rifle into a one-shot kill on any biological unit."

All Zerg are biological. That's one hell of a disadvantage. You can just see a Ghost playing pop goes the weasel with an Ultralisk's head. That's one scary ability if you're big into the Zerg. A half-dozen Ghosts annihilating a swarm of hydralisks or Lurkers is one thing, but if you've got a dozen Ultralisks all getting sniped from nowhere, that sucks.

I wonder if the Zerg will have an armor upgrade to prevent that ability from penetrating and making the kill.

The new Terran units are given a backstory of being produced to cover the shortcomings of the previous units. The air/land transition of the Vulcans, etc. The Protoss ones are coming from the Dark and Light Protoss reuniting, and in the case of the Colossus, the Protoss digging up the past weapons of war that were "sealed."

I wonder if the Zerg upgrades will have to do with Kerrigan's past. She was a very powerful psychic as Ghosts go, which was related in one of her early missions. Protoss cloak, Terrans cloak, Zerg had burrow, but I wouldn't be totally surprised if a few Zerg units cloak too.

One thing we have seen are the Nydus Worms. In that early demo, Zerg could come out of anywhere now, no creep required. Run a zergling up, burrow. Build a huge force and suddenly 4 Nydus Worms burst out in the middle of the enemy base. That's pretty disconcerting.

I'm not going to make any specific guesses, aside from the armor upgrade preventing instant death, but I could see the zerg have a few general upgrades.

- Aforementioned armor upgrade (higher level)
- Incorporating the new terrain height ignoring units, the Zerg could have several units doing it. Something like "Spiny limbs".
- Many new air units. Offensive Zerg Air has always been a little weak. Guardians too slow, Scourge good for defense, but not against anything on the ground, etc. Maybe Scourge can turn into bombs for ground units only. It seems to be a trend.
- A lot of building upgrades. The Protoss have mobile photon-cannons, and phase prisms, the Terrans have the planetary turret and retractable supply depots, the Zerg could have something equally revolutionary, like a very cheap larvae-producer (for faster swarm build-ups) or something equally huge.

[Assertn]

That brings up a good point. Remember what new ability the Ghosts have:

"Turning the canister rifle into a one-shot kill on any biological unit."

All Zerg are biological. That's one hell of a disadvantage. You can just see a Ghost playing pop goes the weasel with an Ultralisk's head. That's one scary ability if you're big into the Zerg. A half-dozen Ghosts annihilating a swarm of hydralisks or Lurkers is one thing, but if you've got a dozen Ultralisks all getting sniped from nowhere, that sucks.

Well....that wouldn't be any more devastating than the queen's spawn broodling ability.
I always had like, at least 6 queens around in case my roommate ever attacked me with ultralisks/defilers like he often enjoys doing in regular SC

[darkmetal505]

New vids from Blizzcon:

Moon and Savior play Sc2 (http://www.meetyourmakers.com/en/coverage/342/27.html)

Nukes at midgame? Nice. Or the opponent sucked and didn't have any detectors because he was going against a progamer.

Moon (Terran) vs Computer (Protoss) pt 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J160JBPtgJk&eurl=)
Moon (Terran) vs Computer (Protoss) pt 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX1zc4wetCA&eurl=)

And for fun: Game 1 of StarCraft Blizzcon Finals:

Savior (Zerg) vs Nal_rA (Protoss) pt 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2nIrzO1YtU)
Savior (Zerg) vs Nal_rA (Protoss) pt 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWPaQfhXqIw)
Savior (Zerg) vs Nal_rA (Protoss) pt 3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GAi7q2zJns)

[Ryllharu]

Well....that wouldn't be any more devastating than the queen's spawn broodling ability.
I always had like, at least 6 queens around in case my roommate ever attacked me with ultralisks/defilers like he often enjoys doing in regular SC
True, but that's Zerg on Zerg. As you well know, the strongest (in terms of hp) Protoss biological unit susceptible to the broodlings was the Dragoon, or Dark Templar if you view them as more of a threat. For Terrans, Siege Tanks, or possibly Goliaths.

Not exactly the heavy hitter unit for the two species.
(Only because Siege Tanks can't move so fast, but I do consider them a heavy hitter).

Queens can't cloak either. They are fairly easy to shoot down with the proper defenses.

Strategy is going to have a much larger role in Starcraft 2.

[masamuneehs]

i promised myself I wouldn't get into Starcraft 2. I lost lots of hours of my life, irreversibly, to the first game, but... well...

THIS GAME LOOKS SO FREAKIN AWESOME!!!

[ody]

Wow, fails to address the topic at hand and, yeah, all in all a nice contentless post.
Warned.
masa


Doesn't look any more cartoony than the original. Looks amazing and I can't wait.
Too bad you're a newb and I own you.

[itadakimasu]

those videos are crazy... i cant imagine being that good at sc.

[darkmetal505]

Protoss Mothership:

http://www.starcraft2.com/features/protoss/mothership.xml

and a bunch of other ones

[itadakimasu]

I was a little curious this morning so I did some googling and found SC2 being sold as pre-release to ship on october 1st from Gamestop.com for $49.99. I think i will buy it ^^ i was mostly wondering if it would be set up on bnet and their site says it will.

[mage]

I was a little curious this morning so I did some googling and found SC2 being sold as pre-release to ship on october 1st from Gamestop.com for $49.99. I think i will buy it ^^ i was mostly wondering if it would be set up on bnet and their site says it will.
there has been no official release date announced. gamestop and other game stores can only guess at release dates.

[itadakimasu]

*cough* jesus christ......

it actually says 10/01/08 ! hahaha insanity. i probably will make it my next game purchase, half life 2 being my last purchase.

[Sandldan]

Here's the first released footage of the zerg

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0dsuiYcOQ0c

[Kensee]

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/187040.html

9 minutes of zerg unit footage ....

BURROWING ULTRALISKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ryllharu]

I think infesting the Battlecruisers and other air units impressed me more. It didn't look like you could do anything with them, but they sure weren't attacking anymore.

That, or the infesting units that can burrow through the ground to infest barracks.

I can't decide which was better.

[Zachiru-Hirosaki]

this game will be awesome dude
:eek:

[darkmetal505]

Here's some more zerg video:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5708796425320990608&hl=en-CA

and



Now onto the units!

Corrupter - New Unit
- An air-to-air combat unit.
- Rather than destroying it's opponents, it infests them an turns them into a stationary turret-like unit/building, making them fight their own allies.

Infester - New Unit
- As a battle support unit, does not have any attacks.
- Can move while burrowed.
- Can cast Dark Swarm: Seems to be the same.
- Can cast Disease: Creates and aura that damages the unit.
- Can cast Infestation: Can infest any building and create infested marines from them. The marines are slow, but fires similar to regular marines.

Roach - New Unit
- Ground unit that can regenerate HP at an incredibly fast rate.
- Requires powerful and concentrated fire to destroy.
- Has 90HP. (*From Stork's interview. See This Thread)

Overseer - New Evolutionary Unit
- Evolves from: Overlord
- Larger vision range than the Overlord, can detect invisible/burrowed units.

Overlord - Upgraded
- Can no longer detect invisible/burrowed units.
- New ability: Can neutralize resources or neutral posts.
- Can create small creeps.

Baneling - New Evolutionary Unit
- Evolves from: Zerglings
- Explodes on contact with enemy units or buildings

Swarm Guradian - New Evolutionary Unit
- Evolves from: Mutalisk
- Has an even longer range, and powerful against ground units.
- Can create broodlings that attack for a period of time.

Nydus Worm - New Unit
- Unit version of the Nydus Canal.
- Can create canals anywhere on the map.

Queen - Upgraded
- Created directly from the Hatchery
- Can only have 1 Queen at a time.
- Has many powerful abilities that are good for zerg and directs the defensive line.
- Can expand creeps or act as a defensive structure.
- [Ability] Deep Tunnel: Can move to any hatchery on the map.
- Can evolve and learn more abilities.

Ultralisk - Upgraded
- Can now burrow.
- Can now attack multiple units.

Old Units - Same
- Zergling
- Hydralisk
- Lurker
- Mutalisk

[High Wind]

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/187040.html

9 minutes of zerg unit footage ....

BURROWING ULTRALISKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The attention to detail in this game is absolutely amazing. It one of the scenes in that video, if you pay close enough attention, you can actually see the Ultralisks splitting the Marines in half.

This game will utterly demolish my computer when it comes out. Seriously, it'll tear my system apart like wet tissue paper.

[Zachiru-Hirosaki]

http://media.pc.ign.com/media/850/850126/vids_1.html

[Kensee]

http://media.pc.ign.com/media/850/850126/vids_1.html

Woot HD vids!

Man theres gotta be some balance issue ... a group of corrupters defeat 2 bc and a group of Valkyries .....

[Ryllharu]

So here is a new development in Starcraft II, direct from Blizzcon 2008.

Starcraft II single player will be three separate games.
http://kotaku.com/5061980/starcraft-ii-single-player-is-a-trilogy
http://kotaku.com/5062018/starcraft-ii-lead-producer-on-the-split-single-player-campaign

Instead of delaying the game until it is complete, they will just dump out the Terran campaign on us with full multiplayer. Then, much like expansion packs (and it had better be priced appropriately), we buy the next two thirds of the story. The campains have been lengthened to 30 missions each, equivalent to the entire first game.

The story in actuality, is not three different campaigns. Nope, they are the same campaign from three different perspectives, and the ending is the same for all three of them. Each will play uniquely from each other. As we've seen before, the Terrans for instance, must buy each of their unit types in the story mode to use them during the missions themselves. The Zerg and Protoss campaigns will each have their own, similar differences, they hint at the Zerg using diplomacy as their game mechanic.


I know a lot of people don't really care about the story in an RTS game (I didn't for C&C 3) but Starcraft was the one series where I actually enjoyed the story in the single player more than I enjoyed the multiplayer itself.

[darkmetal505]

Zeratul/Kerrigan cut scene:

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=80145

This is all at Blizzcon by the way. If you want to watch the Blizzcon Starcraft Finals, you can catch it at 4pm central here:

http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon/video/stream-rts.xml?rhtml=y

6 Koreans, 2 Foreigners. Savior vs Nada finals (These two guys have to have one of the biggest rivalries in SC History, and they're meeting again. A must see for anyone in the pro scene.)

Bracket can be found here:

http://www.mymym.com/en/coverage/529/3.html

[KrayZ33]

So here is a new development in Starcraft II, direct from Blizzcon 2008.

Starcraft II single player will be three separate games.
http://kotaku.com/5061980/starcraft-ii-single-player-is-a-trilogy
http://kotaku.com/5062018/starcraft-ii-lead-producer-on-the-split-single-player-campaign

Instead of delaying the game until it is complete, they will just dump out the Terran campaign on us with full multiplayer. Then, much like expansion packs (and it had better be priced appropriately), we buy the next two thirds of the story. The campains have been lengthened to 30 missions each, equivalent to the entire first game.

The story in actuality, is not three different campaigns. Nope, they are the same campaign from three different perspectives, and the ending is the same for all three of them. Each will play uniquely from each other. As we've seen before, the Terrans for instance, must buy each of their unit types in the story mode to use them during the missions themselves. The Zerg and Protoss campaigns will each have their own, similar differences, they hint at the Zerg using diplomacy as their game mechanic.


I know a lot of people don't really care about the story in an RTS game (I didn't for C&C 3) but Starcraft was the one series where I actually enjoyed the story in the single player more than I enjoyed the multiplayer itself.

I like that they are 30 missions for each campaign, but it's pretty useless if you play the same mission only with a different race. What I mean is that I don't want to rescue "10 marine officers" in the third mission of the Terran campaign and then later "10 special-zerkers" in the third mission of the Protoss campaign on the same map just with Terrans as enemies instead of Zergs

I guess the 3 races have now a *very* similiar goal... if not, then I could not explain why the 3 stories would end up the same way...
Maybe the Zerg, Protoss and Terrans will ally themselves to defeat some new Overmind or something. Pretty much like they did in Brood war for a while.
I know that Blizzard won't fail in doing everything just fine, but news like that always scare me a bit ^^

and I have to agree with you, I'm wating for SC2 myself because I want to resume the story and want to know what happens next.

The SC universe was always one of my favorites, the same goes for the WC universe.

[animus]

I'm guessing the 2nd campaign will be Protoss, and 3rd Zerg.

The races you had to play first during the campaigns usually got the short end of the stick, and the last ones had the last laugh.

Starcraft:
Terran
Zerg
Protoss <-Winners

Broodwar:
Protoss
Terran
Zerg <-Winners

[KrayZ33]

well It's mentionied in the article which one will be the first/second and third campaign ^^

[Ryllharu]

Nope. It's listed in the links I posted, direct from the developer's mouths.

Terran -> Zerg -> Protoss

EDIT: KrayZ33 beat me to it, but I had more detail in my post!

[animus]

Oh, ok. Didn't bother reading the actual article since I read forum posts about the campaign spacing on gametrailers.

Wondering if they're gonna have an expansion, and if so I'm guessing Terrans are gonna have to be last. They've never had an end campaign setting, but who knows.

[KrayZ33]

you can consider the other 2 games as expansions... the first one will probably released 1 year later (or half a year who knows).

So I think it will more likely become SC3 then

[Assertn]

Well, Ryllharu said the three campaigns are parallel to each other, with the same ending for each one. This means that just because the protoss campaign is last doesn't mean that the zerg and terran lose.

My guess is that all three of them become victorious over a 4th group: Duran, the beings from before time, and the zerg/protoss hybrids.

[KrayZ33]

edit: ok I just read in an interview that the " all have the same ending" stuff is wrong... I don't know if Ryull meant it like that and I just misinterpreted it when he said
The story in actuality, is not three different campaigns but:

the story continues like it did in the normal SC1 (you had to play terran first then Zerg and then Protoss if I'm not mistaken)
the titles are ""Terrans: Wings of Liberty", "Zerg: Heart of the Swarm" und "Protoss: Legacy of the Void""

however it was also mentioned that the "hybirds" (protoss-zerg-thingy I think) are a new threat to all 3 races.

in the Terran missions you will also play a "mini-protoss-campaign" with Zeratul.

so actually nothing changes..
just Sc2 with 2 addons ~2 years later

mission 1-30 = terran, 31-60 = zerg, 61-90 = protoss

Jim Raynor tries to build up a big force for his rebellion, he does dirty jobs to get money to buy troops and technologies on the black market
Kerrigan is hoping to make a new Zerg breed... Evolution and stuff
Zeratul tries to unit the remaining Protoss forces... this will involve diplomatic thinking.
He/You have to decide which tribes you support and which not, some tribes might be too weak to help rebuilding the Protoss Empire

Every campaign ends in it's own way

They even thought about making a co-op campaign like Dawn of War 2 or C&C-RA3 will have but didn't do so ^^ damn

[animus]

Looking forward to SC2 and Dawn of War 2 very much. Both have pretty good universes, though the Dawn of War 2 only has one race campaign. It's also a bit unique in that I believe the campaign doesn't have any resource gathering, base building. It's just capture points and control 4-5 squads.

[KrayZ33]

well, It's Company of Heroes in the warhammer universe..

you can buy units which get dropped down on the map from your mothership, at least in the multiplayer

So it's even less base building than in CoH
but ya there will be less units..

It's a bit tactical this time and not just pressing units. I like that.. there seems to be a bit of an RPG too... you can find weapons and armor and give it to your squad or commander, each squad has a squad leader which can level up and specialize on different things etc

but I wonder how the co-op mode will work out there, looking forward to it too, but I don't think it will come out soon.

I wouldn't be too sure about a 1 race campaign either yet

But I want Sc2 to be released very soon... I can't wait much longer :/
Well, ok wotlk is comming out soon, so I guess i can actually wait a bit :P

[animus]

Warhammer 40k came before CoH btw. And I was talking about the campaign. I know how the fundamentals of 40k and CoH work. I guess you haven't played Dawn of War: Dark Crusade or Soulstorm then? They have wargear for commanders in them.

I read somewhere on GameFAQs on the Dawn of War 2 board, that there was only the Space Marine campaign. Which at this point seems true, since all single player footage is of the Space Marines, and the game's dated to release in probably 5 or so months.

[KrayZ33]

ya but thats a bit different... in DoW2 you've got an inventory and the guys drop items..
In Dark Crusade (didn't play Soulstorm) you simply "upgraded" your commander.

now every squad has it's own little commander.

And yes I know that DoW came out before CoH, but I was referring to the "search for cover automatically" and "man that building" feature which is only in CoH so far (at least it is the only game who was able to realize it in a good way)


I read somewhere on GameFAQs on the Dawn of War 2 board, that there was only the Space Marine campaign. Which at this point seems true, since all single player footage is of the Space Marines, and the game's dated to release in probably 5 or so months.

:( disappointing

[Dark Dragon]

Here is the interview (http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/10/qa-starcraft-ii.html) Wired recently had with Dustin Browder.

Here is another interview from edge (http://www.edge-online.com/features/blizzard-were-not-milking-starcraft).

What i gather from reading the interviews is that Blizzard had decided since the beginning that they wanted to do 2 expansion pack for Starcraft II.

The only thing that they changed is that instead of getting 10 or so mission for each race per game, you're getting all 30 mission for one race at a time.

Both the protoss and zerg expansion will include new units and other goodies that usually come with expansion.

so essentially this is not Starcraft II split into 3 games but Starcraft II + 2 expansion packs with the single player campaign missions restructured.

[itadakimasu]

$60 pre-order @ bestbuy.com, showing 2-28-09 as a release date.

of course, this could change at any time. Back in august/september they were showing a december release date.

[Nadouku]

so essentially this is not Starcraft II split into 3 games but Starcraft II + 2 expansion packs with the single player campaign missions restructured.

So, do we have to pay three times the amount to get all that good stuff in one go?

[itadakimasu]

@$60 i'm not sure how long they're going to wait to release an xpansion

[itadakimasu]

Somebody posted a while ago about the beta being available to anybody w\ battle.net w\ any blizzard game. I registered yesterday w\ my WOW account but it doesn't give a specific date. The application to be part of the beta is a download that gets your system information, which i'm not really sure how they pick who is going to be a part of the beta based on this information.

Anybody have an idea of when they're starting? or has it already started?

[Penner]

Nah, beta have not started yet, and Blizzard have not given a release/start date for it either :/

[Ryllharu]

So Blizzard revealed some details on BattleNet 2.0
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/08/25/blizzcon-2009-the-new-battle-net/

The short version:

The Good:
- Works like steam, Friend lists showing what they're playing
- Works like steam, All of your files (maps, avatars, icons) go wherever you do.
- Enhanced replay functionality

The not-so-Good:
- According to Joystiq, they are implementing a "Real ID" system where you are identified with your own name. (I highly doubt this will stick around for the final version)
- Microtransactions! Anyone who develops a map can charge premium for it, and potentially earns a cut of the income. This is really cool for people who might crank out hugely elaborate custom campaigns or even an over-the-shoulder Starcraft: Ghost clone using the reportedly immensely powerful map editor (http://www.joystiq.com/2009/08/22/blizzcon-2009-starcraft-ghost-lives-on-in-spirit/) that ships with the game, we might see some real production value in some custom work. On the other hand...we could see every map cost 99 cents.

The, I'm not sure why should I care:
- Unlockable icons and avatars much like Street Fighter IV. Beat a particularly hard level or opponent? The option to use a unlocked avatar/icon.
- An achievement system on a new platform...again.

----------------------

To me, it sounds like they are copying some good parts of steam, but it also looks like they are trying to build up a competitor to steam, as in yet another digital download service that splinters a potential unified service. Microtransactions really piss me off, especially considering all the crap that they've already done to SC2 to milk out as much money as possible.

3 games instead of one, all functional as stand-alone titles, which probably means they are all full price. Delays for BattleNet and lack of LAN, and now microtransactions for maps?!

Achievements are a waste of time for me on the PC, and unlockable avatars are just as pointless. It does sound like they are improving matchmaking a great deal, so people who are not that great at Starcraft online matches like me can play someone on an equal level.


It sucks, but the more we hear about Starcraft 2 the more I think I can pass on it and just wait for Diablo III (with the random map generator that is built into the game).

[Kagemane_no_Jutsu]

all this matters so little in comparison to how amazing the gameplay looks to me right now. Im a fanboy and my hatahblockas are on full steam... no pun intended.

[itadakimasu]

I got excited about some of the recent news and picked up the battlechest on friday. I've been playing alot since friday... some of it's coming back. I haven't played in a couple years but i've had some good matches so far.

Which do you think will come first? SC2 or Diablo 3 ?

[Nadouku]

I think Starcraft II will come out first, then Diablo III. The number of classes in Diablo III seem a little too short at the moment. I'm really excited for 2010~!

[KrayZ33]

starcraft will be realeased early 2010

diablo III 2011, most likely

[Assertn]

Last I heard SC2 is coming out in October

[darkmetal505]

Beta isn't even out, I think it'll come out late 2010. Blizzcon was completed, here is a good article about Zerg:

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=101195

[KrayZ33]

late 2010? more like early 2010

[TheBladeChild]

Damn, I'm probably gonna have to get a new pc for this game...
My POS emachine will probably die from just rendering a zergling. So much nostalgia comes to me when I hear about this game. Back in high school all I did was 2v2 with my friend, and we did pretty well. I was a old school Toss player, I might just dust off my old SC disc and reinstall her just for old times sake.

[darkmetal505]

If anyone is up for it I'm always ready to play! At least when I get back to school.

[TheBladeChild]

If anyone is up for it I'm always ready to play! At least when I get back to school.

wait what? dont you mean..


If anyone is up for it I'm always ready to play! At least when I get from school.

I'm also up to playing it again, actually I think I still have it installed, its not that big a game. Now I gotta pry my friend away from CoD and DOTA.

[Nadouku]

Well, I guess when you are ready, just send over the PMs.

Rumor has it that November is when beta opens up while others say December or January. What do you guys think?

[TheBladeChild]

Gotta get back in the groove, need my partner back up par as well. Practice them lot/ling rushes and arbiter drops :P

I'll give ya guys a pm once I get a few practice matches under my belt. Need to get used to all the hot-keys again.

[darkmetal505]

haha, I actually have a lot more free time when I'm at the University, plus a stronger internet connection. I'm heading back mid september so I'll be free then.

[Assertn]

I'll be down to play once I get more free time...

[itadakimasu]

I hadn't played for around 2 years or so....

So far my record is i think 27 / 44 (yeah i suck ! )

[itadakimasu]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_0MYFcwpWg

I found this and thought it was pretty funny. I really can't wait for SC2... I've watched some game play videos this morning and it looks awesome.

[darkmetal505]

I think there are 3 battle reports out, which are pretty cool. It's pretty much terrible terrible damage each time.

I'm back at university so I'm up for playing broodwar anytime.

[Kagemane_no_Jutsu]

As long as the Beta comes out before the end of the year I wont have a meltdown. Blizz needs to stop sucking on their WoW cashcock and start to appease to us loyal starcraft fans that have been playing since the stone age.

Im always up for some battlenet action.

[Nadouku]

I'm always ready, too. Send those PMs away!

[itadakimasu]

The beta is actually listed on battlenet now and lets you do a system scan.. Last time I visited battle net a month or 2 ago it only had the opt-in options and not the sc2 icon.

I really can't wait. I saw a gameplay video of "scrap yard?" and it looked pretty sweet. It was a space setting w\ islands of land. It would be so awesome to work for blizzard on the sc2 dev team. (aside from the death threats from rabid fans who expected the game to be out 2-3 years ago ! )

[KrayZ33]

the system scan was avaible 3 or 4 months ago Oo

[Kagemane_no_Jutsu]

yerrrp and im sure I failed. Might haveta buy a new setup for this.


ill be playing for a little while if anyone wants to do some evo or fastest; 'siccpro'

[itadakimasu]

New battle report (i think )
battle report 1/2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDwMPSFmHZs
battle report 2/2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWsO4iq1e_A
+
It's Terran vs Protoss.... I'm loving it. I like the nukes : )

I'm curious how many people have pre-ordered starcraft 2 over the past 2-3 years.

[itadakimasu]

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/blizzard-starcraft-warcraft-zugzug,9029.html#BOM_comments

Starcraft 2 Beta pushed to 2010... weak sauce. This sucks... I was thinking the beta would be out later this month, and then full release around february/march :(

[itadakimasu]

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/blizzard-starcraft-warcraft-diablo,9515.html

new rumor that the beta may be launching soon.

[Dark Dragon]

Beta launched today.

Any lucky gotwooter managed to get an invite?

[Penner]

Shit, didn't get an invite (yet anyway) :(

[itadakimasu]

HOLY SHIT!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y15BK1q2sqw

If I don't get an invite.... hopefully somebody has this cracked very soon. OMFG! OMFG!

[KrayZ33]

got an invite.
muhahaha

downloading the game right now
but I wish i could play the singleplayer too :(

because I really sucked in SC1...

[itadakimasu]

OMFG!!!!

/outrageous jealousy


just out of curiousity, i just went to ebay.... 18 people have beta keys listed @ upwards of $350!

i looked last week or the week before and there was just 1.

[KrayZ33]

bad thing is that you have to sell your battlenet. account

I've got all my games attached to it and my WoW account too ^^

[Dark Dragon]

I bet some people who got the beta key at blizzcon also opt in for the beta. Those that got the invite to the beta can now just sell the key they got from blizzcon for profit.

[itadakimasu]

i have 2 battle.net accounts, no invite though :(

How long do beta's usually run before actual game release? I'm taking it as a sign that we should see SC2 released by the end of the year...

I mean, they've had the game working for almost 2 years or more, as they've showed at blizzcon and what not. I'd think that they would have already worked out most kinks, and this beta should help them iron out battle.net under load.

[KrayZ33]

depends

~3 months maybe?
or 4?

[Dark Dragon]

Wow beta ran for around a year if i remember correctly.

SCII beta shouldn't be too long. Most of the patching done will be to fix balance issue and certain bugs.

[KrayZ33]

Bad Company 2 beta is 3 month long.
I doubt SC2 beta will take as long as an MMO game-beta (which is thousand times larger and bigger)

edit: played my first game against computer
it seems like there is only the "very easy" one avaible...

to sum it up:
if you got 3 zerkers....you won *cough* (he got like ~5 units and 5 workers after 10-15 minutes)
but his AI is really good (theoretically).

he blocks entrances with units or buildings (and uses them to trap u in his base too)
and he built a radar at the blocked "stone-path" (u probably saw that in a video... u have to destroy a few rocks before u can attack him from that side) and seems to move his units there if u try to attack from that side...

he retreats if u face him on open field and if he got a big disadvantage

and the best thing is
the comp says "gg" when he lost the game :P

I believe a comp on Hard or Very Hard(?) can be *really* powerful.
at least I hope so. they seem to use every trick in the book.
very nice!

[itadakimasu]

Not that this is a confirmed date.... but bestbuy.com has it listed @ June 1st 2010.

StarCraft II
SKU: 8719899
Platform: Windows
Rating: RP=Rating Pending
Release Date: 6/1/2010
4.8 of 5 4.8 of 5 (22 reviews)
Check Shipping & Availability
Close
Shipping and Availability
Release Date: 6/1/2010
Estimate Arrival Time

Store Pickup: Check Stores

[itadakimasu]

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/blizzard-starcraft-2-beta-release,9755.html

Blizzard guy quoted saying that they think the beta will last 3-5 months, likely 3 months. July or before for the release date.

[KrayZ33]

there is a cracked beta out somewhere, with some new AI (self created).
just 4 info

[itadakimasu]

oOoOoOoOoOooOo going to google now.

I downloaded it last night but it was so late that I had to goto bed. I'll post results later on if I get it to work.

[itadakimasu]

I got the cracked beta insalled yesterday and it works!!!

The download included a map pack, the beta client downloader, and a launcher program. Just have to install the beta client, and then put the launcher in it's directory. The launcher asks you for a map to open and it opens it, taking you directly into a game on that map.

I'm not sure if it give you a random race or not, as I only played one game.

There's something included to mod the difficulty of the AI. The computer I played against was .... on super easy I guess. It sent a single hydralisk early on to attack my base. Then when I went to attack they only had a few units.

Still.... pretty cool. it's alot different w\ the updated graphics from the original. Probably would get used to it after playing several games.

[KrayZ33]

got my second key today, check ur e-mail, maybe someone is lucky and they sent out new invitations, my mail was a "Invite your Friend"-mail though.

[Dark Dragon]

The key is meant for people who is already in the beta to invite a friend.

Anyone happen to have an extra?

[Rekeco]

I got the cracked beta insalled yesterday and it works!!!

The download included a map pack, the beta client downloader, and a launcher program. Just have to install the beta client, and then put the launcher in it's directory. The launcher asks you for a map to open and it opens it, taking you directly into a game on that map.

I'm not sure if it give you a random race or not, as I only played one game.

There's something included to mod the difficulty of the AI. The computer I played against was .... on super easy I guess. It sent a single hydralisk early on to attack my base. Then when I went to attack they only had a few units.

Still.... pretty cool. it's alot different w\ the updated graphics from the original. Probably would get used to it after playing several games.

Are there any issues with the cracked beta? Or everything works just fine like the normal beta?

[Dark Dragon]

Gamestop is giving out free beta keys to those who preorder the game right now. Call your local Gamestop!

[itadakimasu]

Gamestop is giving out free beta keys to those who preorder the game right now. Call your local Gamestop!

I just pre-ordered it from their website! I can't wait to play tonight !

[itadakimasu]

Are there any issues with the cracked beta? Or everything works just fine like the normal beta?

The cracked beta just lets you play single player and the AI isn't really smart so it wasn't a whole lot of fun. It's cool to build all the buildings though, and test the new units out.

* So...apparently the latest sc2 beta patch causes an infinite loop of the update program. So after waiting for so long, I can't play :( Bnet is down apparently too :(

[Kagemane_no_Jutsu]

got my beta key last night finally... gives me something to do while i sit at home recovering from my surgery. even though I only have this POS computer instead of mine for the moment its still quite a lot of fun even with the handicap of a slow comp.

anyone wanna play lemme knowww its Kage.sicpro

[Penner]

Starcraft 2's Official Release date is set: July 27, 2010

Link to the news over at Gametrailers (http://www.gametrailers.com/news/starcraft-ii-dated/2025)

Updated Blizzard's Starcraft 2 Official Site (http://eu.starcraft2.com/splash-launch7_en.xml)

[LordGardenGnome]

I've been playing beta for 3 months now (legit, I was selected) and I love it, the changes and what not. It's really fun.

[Assertn]

Got the beta from my preorder on gamestop.com. Initial thoughts...

This game is amazing. I was concerned by the introduction of immortals and reapers that the feel of the original might get lost by exaggerated paper/rock/scissor-ness of the new units, but it didn't really play like that at all. I can see potential for specialized strategies, although I definitely have to get more comfortable with the new units. Just like the original, though, this game is all about mass units.

My favorite part is how improved the micro-management is from the original. There were a lot of things I felt should have been in the original that weren't there, and my natural inclination when starting with this new version was to try them out. Amazingly, most of the tricks I felt should be there WERE there. Here's a few:

Rally to shortcut tasks:
It always felt like right-clicking rally points should behave the same way as right-clicking behavior for the units that are produced by those structures. For example, if you right click a marine to a bunker, the marine goes into the bunker. Now, you can automate this by setting the rally point of a barracks straight to the bunker. Even more significantly, however, is that you can set rally points of your home bases to resources, causing your drones to auto-harvest. This is crucial for multi-tasking your base's economy.

Structure grouping:
This is something I did a lot in the original, although to a more limited extent. Especially for zerg, I found it handy to assign number keys to my hatcheries, so I can quickly select them and spawn backup units for me while I'm busy with my army. However, previously, I could only assign one structure at a time, so if I had 4 hatcheries, I'd use 7, 8, 9, and 0 keys for each one. In this new version, you can assign multiple structures to a single number, so I could have all 4 of my hatcheries to just the 0 key. The beauty here, is that, like the way grouping worked with units in the original version, if you group similar structures, you can perform actions on all of them simultaneously. by clicking the select larvae button, I select the larvae from all 4 hatcheries, allowing me to easily micro-build my new armies. The protoss and terran benefit similarly, except with their queue structure, clicking on a new unit will add that unit to structure with the shortest queue. For example, if you select 4 gateways and click 'Z' 4 times, then each gateway will have produce a zealot. Massing units is super easy with this technique.

Grouped casting:
Along the same vein, smart-casting is now used by groups of units. In the original, if you had 6 high templar in a group, and casted psionic storm, all 6 would cast at the same place, which is a waste. Now casting only happens once per unit, so you can select your 6, and just click around without having to worry about overkilling. This is also handy for structures that cast. For example, the Nexus has an ability that speeds up production rates of structures. If you group all your Nexuses together, you can easily cast-click on all your active structures as long as a Nexus still has energy.

[TwisT]

Well since i don't have the beta i don't follow this thread much, so have no idea if this has been posted. Tried to look back a few pages but saw nothing.

It's a series of videos called "I suck at Starcraft 2" made by TotalBuiscit who made a few funny WoW movies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92Rv-s-7rNk <-- first one. Right now there is about 10.

Very informative to see and actually learn a little yourself. Specially if you are not that good yourself with RTS multiplayer where people rush you. I myself is a slow builder when i play RTS-games and play mostly against computers and when i play people only times i do good of any kind is when the others are slow builders too that love to hoard the mighty armies ^^

But since i actually plan to play SC2 on multiplayer it's time to learn how to rush things up a bit. And i find this very informative and entertaining too since he jokes around with himself and how he used to suck in the videos.

Oh and don't forget it comes in 720p def so use it ^^

[itadakimasu]

Got the beta from my preorder on gamestop.com. Initial thoughts...



Rally to shortcut tasks:
Even more significantly, however, is that you can set rally points of your home bases to resources, causing your drones to auto-harvest. This is crucial for multi-tasking your base's economy.


That's awesome. I hadn't thought to try that.

They're going to close the beta pretty soon and perform some updates. Then they're going to open it back up shortly prior to the release of SC2.

[Assertn]

Ok, here's some more stuff. This time about team management.

Resource sharing:
Perhaps one of the most frustrating limitations of team play in the original was that players couldn't give resources to each other. Well, now they can. There's a small icon in the top right corner that lets you give or request X quantities of minerals or gas, which is very useful if anyone is struggling or finds themselves with a large surplus.

Shared unit control:
Another small icon near the top will display a list of the players in the game. In this window, there's a checkbox next to each ally called "Control." Basically what this does is allows that ally to share control with all of your units and structures, sort of the same way Team Melee worked in the original. This is particularly useful if want certain allies to micro a mixed army of yours and his units, while you perhaps control a separate army or focus on your own base.

Last ally standing:
This is important to remember: In team battle, you're no longer out until your team is out, so don't just suicide your units if your base is overrun. Hide your drones in your ally's base. He can give you the resources you need to rebuild later. If you still have an army, keep them around and use them effectively. You still win if your team wins, so might as well stick it through.

Dropped teammates:
Teammates who drop early won't screw you over (at least not quite as badly) as they may have in the past. A dropped player will automatically grant control to all allies, so their base and army can still be managed just the same as if the player was still there. Of course, it's much harder to micro two bases than one, so it still sucks when this happens.

[UChessmaster]

I`m still waiting on a beta invite :(

[KrayZ33]

you had(!) plenty of time to preorder the game on amazon, recieve a beta key
and cancel the order later...

however from what i've heard the beta is over @ the end of the month
and amazon was giving aways keys till 16th May.

[UChessmaster]

Dominican Republic, i can`t pre-order cause i live in Dominican Republic

[Assertn]

Unit command queuing:
To be honest I never did anything too advanced except scouting in the original SC with this, but I do know its been expanded upon in this new game. Like normal, holding shift and performing actions lets you queue up commands for each unit. However, now there are more complex command that can be queued. A great example is with Terran tanks. If you're turtling your tanks towards an enemy base, you typically want to move your tanks individually so they can protect each other, however this can take up a lot of micro time. Now you can queue the whole sequence easily for each tank. If your tanks are already sieged, just do this: Press D, hold shift, click to the new position, press E, and release the shift key. D will unsiege, move the tank, and E will siege again. The beauty here is you can do this and focus your attention on the next tank or your marines right away without having to go back to the first one.

Another nice queue feature are for structure building for Terran. While an SCV is constructing a building, you can give it orders to build something else, and it will begin it as soon as its done with its current project. You'll already see the placeholder for the new building, making it easier to batch structures side by side.

[mage]

Blinking large groups of stalkers up a ledge can be much easier using shift clicks as well. Select group of stalkers, hold shift, right click (move) right below a ledge, then click to blink up the ledge while holding shift still. The stalkers won't blink until they are right below the ledge.

[KrayZ33]

watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ant4Wfc4b0

the cool thing is that units can wield 3 different (or more?) weapons now

so a rifle for long range, machine gun for burst, flamethrowr for close range

and now imagine
8 players, everyone chooses a different character
they barricade themselves somewhere

you hear one marine scream

"Zerg incoming, defend yourselves!!!"

everyone starts shooting and tries to stop the swarm as they manage to cross the barricade

"Fall back!" while retreating, the technican class runs up to the consoles and activates a few towers to cover their retreat and the heavy gunner jumps into the Goliath mechs and wreaks havoc over the zerglings

oh pls, someone create such a map ^^
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4w1Xfdk5ZA basically just like this, only better and bigger

or maybe rebuild omaha beach and add a few comp-marines who also help defend against invading forces.

[Assertn]

Zerg Rally Tricks:
As always, the key to the zerg is mass mass mass. Its important to not stop production even during a heated battle, and you'll likely want your backup to head straight to the front lines. Then again, maybe you'd rather keep them back in case the enemy tries to sneak attack while your army is out? Well in any case, rallying is the way to go. Here's a few things you can do with rallies for zerg.

1) Hatcheries have 2 rally points. I don't recall if I mentioned this already, but they do. One is for the drones, the other is for everything else. Just click on a hatchery, right click on a resource, and you'll automatically set the drone rally point. Click on a hatchery and right click anywhere else to set the rally point for your other units. If you group all your hatcheries, you can easily control their collective rally points the same way.

2) You can shift+click multiple points for your rally. Use this if you prefer your units to flank a destination from the side, rather than a b-line straight across. Especially handy for fliers.

3) You can override rally points for each unit. Just select an egg and right click on the map, a resource, an enemy, etc, and the unit will rush to execute its command. If you are massing units that you want to back up your army with, but don't want to mess up your hatchery rally points, just click a rally point after evolving the larvae before you select off them. Only that batch of units will arrive at the new destination.

Note: Another useful fact about rallying for all 3 races - units now rally via the attack command instead of the move command. This means you no longer have to worry about them ignoring enemies right out of the gate like they used to in the original.

[depthcharge]

The digital pre-download(prior to sales of digital keys on the 27th jul 2010) is available now for bnet account holders.

Just go thru the link from blizzard.com

Get yours today!

[Sandldan]

New trailer released!

HOLY SHIT (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_E83GfWM-A&feature=player_embedded#!)

27th July cant come fast enough :(

[Penner]

Oh, July 27.. i thought it was July 22, damn :P

[Kagemane_no_Jutsu]

Gotwoot clan anyone?

[Assertn]

My roommate and I have been practicing the beta pretty hardcore. I can get into the 1v1 gold league fairly consistently now. 2v2 is a bit harder for zerg, though. They tend to get ganged up on. :[

[Xelbair]

I've just preordered SC2. Playing beta was fun(even getting owned by my platinium league friend...) - i'm gonna stick to zerg once again.

[Dark Dragon]

Terran seems to be my best race. I was able to get into gold twice playing exclusively as Terran. I wonder if the hydralisk change from t1 to t2 building is affecting my gameplay. I couldn't get pass the bronze league playing as zerg and i used to be pretty good with them in sc1.

[itadakimasu]

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/category.aspx?k=starcraft&_nks=true&c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&p=1&x=0&y=0&ref=dynamitedata.com

$47.80 after tax @ dell.com ($45 and free 7day shipping)

Gamestop cancelled my pre-order because I got a new debit card and i'd ordered w\ my old card number... saved about $17.

[Assertn]

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/category.aspx?k=starcraft&_nks=true&c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&p=1&x=0&y=0&ref=dynamitedata.com

$47.80 after tax @ dell.com ($45 and free 7day shipping)

Gamestop cancelled my pre-order because I got a new debit card and i'd ordered w\ my old card number... saved about $17.

I see $59.99

[Animeniax]

I see $59.99

I saw the lower price earlier today, now I see $60. I guess the sale is over or they realized they made a mistake.

[itadakimasu]

sorry... i guess it was a limited time thing :(

[Dark Dragon]

Collector Edition for 80$ (http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?sduid=0&t=2148350)

For people who still want to get it and don't mind waiting a few days.

[Xelbair]

I'm playing though campaign right now, got the game for 140pln(approx 43,75 USD).

[Sandldan]

Had the game pre ordered at a local store for 54€. But skimmed through some paper commercial before i left from work this morning and saw a big ad for SC2 29€ at a place 500 meters from where i work :D

[itadakimasu]

Hoping to have my copy in the mail tomorrow :)

[Kagemane_no_Jutsu]

Gonna have it a few long hours. Till then I'm doing all I can to get this POS computer ready. Any suggestions how I could get it to run with less framerate lag? Already have the graphics driver upgraded and had all the settings turned down on the beta.

[Assertn]

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs097.ash2/38170_595211235065_31400331_34587355_5006779_n.jpg

oh shi...

[Xelbair]

I hate you... I wanted to get one too but they are damn expansive here, way more than in the us/rest of eu...

[Kagemane_no_Jutsu]

ahhh so good. If only I had a real computer and not this giant applebox from the early 2000's.

who wants to play?

fliprowley89@gmail.com

[Assertn]

The flash drive dog-tag is so badass. It's actually made of metal, and the orange part lights up when you plug it in.

I'm down to game: assertnfailure@gmail.com

[Kagemane_no_Jutsu]

Was gonna retire until I got back to my computer up north but I'll give it a go for some customs I guess.

[Assertn]

Played the campaign a bit yesterday, thoughts so far...

Still as fun as expected. The missions serve well to stay fresh and unique, instead of the typical "turtle in, mass an army, destroy everything" routine. I wish there was more active involvement of hero units, though.

The in-between-missions mode feels a bit gimmicky to me. Most of the useful aspects to it (buying upgrades, choosing missions, etc) could have just as easily been accomplished with a simple menu screen. The extra dialogue doesn't seem to add too much to the story yet. You can choose your missions, which also affects what types of tech/upgrades you will have for future missions, but so far this seems to mostly dilute from the main storyline. I was perfectly content with the straightforward linear path of the older campaigns. The main storyline isn't quite as apparent, as you simultaneously focus on missions that seem to bear relatively small impact to its overall progression.

Interestingly enough, though, the game feels completely different than the beta. This is probably because half the units I've seen so far aren't even IN the multiplayer game. Its fun to play with some of the older units, and it serves to justify the transitional period of Raynor's raiders, since they are supposed to be "behind the times," afterall. Also, lots of pretty stuff to look at in-game as you explore the campaign mode. Easy to pick-up and play.

[mage]

If anyone wants to play some 1v1s, add me dreamfield@gmail.com. Not playing tonight but will be on the rest of the week.

[Assertn]

i'm game

[Xelbair]

If anyone wants to play add: luxi.darkblade@gmail.com (I have this email since elementary school and its for registration purposes only)

[Dark Dragon]

Anyone who is interested in playing me add: xzeroravenx@yahoo.com

[Xelbair]

I've just played the game against silver league guy(I'm doing placements) and that guy just basically walled himself in his base with cannons, tried to proxy gateway/pylon but did not attack using this, and basically he let me control the whole map. That low-skill guys are in silver? wtf?!
after walling himself in he tried to use void rays, but its bad idea to use 5 voids against 50 hydras(air was obvious after walling)

Oh, and i finished campaign. ending is interesting... :>

[Kagemane_no_Jutsu]

Man that was terrible. I can sort of play 1v1's but when me and Assertn tried to 2v2 the computer my computer completely froze and had to restart. This is torture having the game but not being able to really play. Seemed better during beta.... sorry for the bad games tonight steve :x


somehow I've won 16 in 1v1 tho hahahh

[Dark Dragon]

I've just played the game against silver league guy(I'm doing placements) and that guy just basically walled himself in his base with cannons, tried to proxy gateway/pylon but did not attack using this, and basically he let me control the whole map. That low-skill guys are in silver? wtf?!
after walling himself in he tried to use void rays, but its bad idea to use 5 voids against 50 hydras(air was obvious after walling)

Oh, and i finished campaign. ending is interesting... :>

I don't know how i feel about the match making system. I'm not especially good and i've gotten to platinum several times. Maybe the brackets within a league itself needs to be better define? I feel like enough lucky match up vs bad people and you can get pretty far up.

[Assertn]

My roommate is in platinum league and he got matched up with a bronze player...
and then lost...

Granted the guy 1-base 4-gated (aka insta-pro), but still.

[KrayZ33]

what do you except so shortly after realease

[Assertn]

I would expect that the system wouldn't be pitting platinum and bronze players against each other, for one thing.

[Dark Dragon]

I would expect that the system wouldn't be pitting platinum and bronze players against each other, for one thing.

Another thing is, how did such a good player ended up in bronze?

[Nadouku]

I've always wondered how the Zerg "base" room will work. It'll be interesting to see!

[Kagemane_no_Jutsu]

Another thing is, how did such a good player ended up in bronze?

He flopped his placements for easier wins.

[Rekeco]

I just beat the campaign yesterday, thought some people on some sites bashed the story, I throughly enjoyed it. How about you guys (for those who beat it already)?

I'm curious how HoS will play out.

[KrayZ33]

after beating the challenges and gaining that fine piece of a spectre-portrait I got confident enough to do my placement matches

ended up in platium league with 5-0 stats

I'd like to stomp some comps with you guys, add KrayZee (Character code: 837)

edit: I didn't like the story *that* much
it was ok though.. basically only ~8 out of 29 missions (or 26) had to do with the plot.
the rest were merely sidequests.

the ending was weird as it could get, i still don't have a clue what this artefact exactly does (and even more WHY it does what it does), where it comes from and why everyone knew about it and why the protoss didn't use it before.

[Sentenal]

Sentenal.295 if anyone wants to add me. Currently Platinum in 1v1 and 2v2, hopefully will make Diamond if I keep playing.

I liked the Campaign, except Kerrigan was a bitch, one-shooting my Siege Tanks, and using that Darkswarm/Plague thing to kill all my Marines. She forced many restarts.

[Kagemane_no_Jutsu]

Yeaaah man, silver league in 1v1. Started to think it would never happen. I think I would be in platinum or at least gold if I had a computer with at least minimum spec's. Every time I click it takes .5 seconds to react to it. Soooo I figure I'm moving about half the speed of everyone else -____-

[Assertn]

I wish I didn't have a full-time job and real obligations to be able to get to diamond league.

[Dark Dragon]

I wish I didn't have a full-time job and real obligations to be able to get to diamond league.

I got into gold again as with my initial placement in the beta. I played two gotwooter so far and got owned pretty badly so i guess gotwoot level is pretty high.

[KrayZ33]

Sentenal.295 if anyone wants to add me. Currently Platinum in 1v1 and 2v2, hopefully will make Diamond if I keep playing.

I liked the Campaign, except Kerrigan was a bitch, one-shooting my Siege Tanks, and using that Darkswarm/Plague thing to kill all my Marines. She forced many restarts.

you play on US servers? can't add you :/

[Sentenal]

Oh yeah, US Server.

If you are US Server as well, Sentenal is the character name, and 295 is the character code or w/e.

In general, how good are the people here that play, and what races to you guys play? I play mainly Protoss.

[Assertn]

Just got placed platinum in 1v1, and my roommate and I upgraded to platinum in 2v2.

Bam.

[Xollence]

Great game, just finished the single player mode.

[Xrlderek]

lol I am so awful at this game. must be a myth that poker players are good at rts. I've won 4 so far, lost 10. I guess I'll have to watch a ton of replays to be able to grasp this game.

[Animeniax]

lol I am so awful at this game. must be a myth that poker players are good at rts. I've won 4 so far, lost 10. I guess I'll have to watch a ton of replays to be able to grasp this game.

You should go online and read strategy plans for the game. I think it takes some of the fun out of it, but if you're playing online, it's not really for fun, it's life and death.

[Kagemane_no_Jutsu]

No way, learn your own strategies as you go. If you cant handle the losses that comes with getting better you shouldn't play. Its more rewarding that you hone your strats each game and make it that much more efficient.

Make a lot of miners
Build units early; not too many
Get a decent army quickly; while also expanding for heavier units.

If you don't know what units are strong against others you should play the single player challenges. They have stuff that teaches you how to not suck in there.

[KrayZ33]

or just press the "help" button
which shows every unit's strengths and weaknesses

and a decent buildorder solves most problems.

i personally believe protoss is the most easiest race to play, because a 2 gate opening and gate-push is strong against every matchup
except for a good terran when he's going for a marauder push (strongest t1 unit by far)

[Animeniax]

No way, learn your own strategies as you go. If you cant handle the losses that comes with getting better you shouldn't play. Its more rewarding that you hone your strats each game and make it that much more efficient.

Make a lot of miners
Build units early; not too many
Get a decent army quickly; while also expanding for heavier units.

If you don't know what units are strong against others you should play the single player challenges. They have stuff that teaches you how to not suck in there.

You're just reinventing the wheel at that point. Starcraft strategies are a science developed over years by professionals. It will take you 2 years to learn your own strategies that will allow you to survive long enough to learn anything anyway.

[Assertn]

or just press the "help" button
which shows every unit's strengths and weaknesses

and a decent buildorder solves most problems.

i personally believe protoss is the most easiest race to play, because a 2 gate opening and gate-push is strong against every matchup
except for a good terran when he's going for a marauder push (strongest t1 unit by far)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_J9eo5RPUI

[Animeniax]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_J9eo5RPUI

Kagemane_no_Jutsu: Watch some of these videos and you'll see how much this game has been dissected and examined, even with SC2. Trying to learn the game by trial and error and developing new strategies on your own is a huge waste of time.

[Sentenal]

Starcraft 2 doesn't have the crazy learning curve that Brood War had, but it still takes alot to get good at it. The most important thing you can possibly try to improve on, is your mechanics. That is, your scouting, your micro, and your macro. If you can effectively do those, you can simply adapt your strategy to whatever is going on in the game. And if you need specific strategic advise and don't mind people mocking you, TeamLiquid.net has a really big strategy forum, and lots of good players.

[Xelbair]

Also remember about day9 netcast - While his commentary is not so good as Husky's but he makes really great analysis of what's going on, where to expand, etc etc.
http://day9tv.blip.tv/

[Animeniax]

I talked to a platinum member and from what he says, you really need to know what all of the buildings are, what all of the units are and what they are best for. You need to scout a lot and see what your opponents are building so you can tailor your builds to beat them. He mentioned how some of the pros will even build decoy structures to make you think they're going one direction but it's a ploy. He also said you have to see what their SCVs are doing, ie. if they are collecting a lot of vespene gas right off the bat then they are planning a certain strategy and you need to be able to counter it.

[Assertn]

Yep, also a lack of tech in their base could suggest hidden tech, or in the early game proxy structures or cannon rush.

[Xelbair]

Don't think in categories "unit X counters unit Y" - you can counter terran mek by striking from many places at once, by avoiding the army and going for base, etc - its slow as hell, same goes for protoss stalker+immortal+colossi.
Its good to know which unit is strong against which, right, but there are other weaknesses you can exploit that are not shown in counters section of help menu.
Al least that's what i got from day9 dailies and from my friend (diamond league player)

[Animeniax]

Definitely don't want to rely solely on any one source for strategies and unit information. I just think the likelihood that you will learn something like an undiscovered strategy or unit strength/weakness just from playing the game is not very high. Most if not all of this information is already available. I think you'd use your time more wisely learning something beyond the basics and what works best for your playing style.

[Kagemane_no_Jutsu]

Yeah I watched a few videos its definitely helpful and not a waste of time. I guess what I meant was if you watch a certain build and memorize it then try to recreate it step by step it takes a lot of soul out of the game. The pro's I just finished watching, The little one and braddock I think it was, Day9 guy was surprised by some of their tactics. Especially thelittleone's early on moves clearly wasn't something you see a zerg do all the time.

[animus]

TheLittleOne does some weird shit all the time. He always pulls something really unconventional, which sometimes leads to a win, and sometimes backfires. Not to mention he always picks random for race.

[Sentenal]

TLO used to go random, but I think hes settled into Terran.

All the creativity, or style you want to develop is worthless without mechanics, which is why I suggest making that your priority. No matter how good your strategy, if you can't execute it properly, it won't get you anywhere. Strategy can simply be taught. Mechanics takes practice, training, and repetition. Once you have your mechanics down, you can work on different strategies.

[depthcharge]

btw, you may be able to learn all the strategy, but the problem always lies in the implementation.

I will try to summarize it.(probably lots of pro around here so pardon my insolence)

1. Scouting early and keeping tabs on the behavior of your opponent and the resources available.
2.Note various terrain features like ledges,slopes, natural bottleneck. - it could make a difference in the tightest battle.
3.Micro-management via hotkeys.
4.Learn what is the high value target, at various time this target may change.
5.Positioning and consistent retreat and re-engage.
(you would be surprise that with certain micro-managed unit, they were capable of inflicting greater damage/hp/vespene gas)

6. Have a built order but morph it as the situation becomes obvious what your opponent is doing.
7.Master Starcraft math, have a great sense of time management and basically be a compulsively fast operator.(people basically use a timer to time the speed of their screen movement, orders being inputted ect ect-much like the touch-typist that can type 200words per minute.)

[Animeniax]

much like the touch-typist that can type 200words per minute.)

The touch-typist will actually have real world skill that can get them a job (albeit probably as a typist or secretary). I'm considering the worth of improving my skill at Starcraft. Is it really worth it, or would I rather spend my time getting my body fat percentage down and my bench press up? I also like to work on my lawn and car.

[Sentenal]

The touch-typist will actually have real world skill that can get them a job (albeit probably as a typist or secretary). I'm considering the worth of improving my skill at Starcraft. Is it really worth it, or would I rather spend my time getting my body fat percentage down and my bench press up? I also like to work on my lawn and car.
Depends, lol. I mean, if you want to go to Korea and play it professionally, then you are going to have to play like 12 or more hours a day lol

Top "Foreigners" (foreigners=non-Koreans in the Starcraft scene) normally play like 8 hours a day (this is a guess, but I'm pretty sure its close to accurate). But it varies from person to person, depending on their experience. Like I'm Diamond in both 1v1 and 2v2, and I only play maybe 2 hours a day. I'm no where close to the top Foreigners, but its enough for me. I also have lots of experience with Brood War (I played it competitively up until SC2 release), so that helps alot.

[Animeniax]

Depends, lol. I mean, if you want to go to Korea and play it professionally, then you are going to have to play like 12 or more hours a day lol

Top "Foreigners" (foreigners=non-Koreans in the Starcraft scene) normally play like 8 hours a day (this is a guess, but I'm pretty sure its close to accurate). But it varies from person to person, depending on their experience. Like I'm Diamond in both 1v1 and 2v2, and I only play maybe 2 hours a day. I'm no where close to the top Foreigners, but its enough for me. I also have lots of experience with Brood War (I played it competitively up until SC2 release), so that helps alot.

There's a joke that goes "what's the best race in Starcraft? ...Korean." If you don't get it, pm me and I'll explain.

I don't think I'll be able to devote 2 hours a day on any past-time, much less a video game. I'd like to make platinum in 1v1 or 2v2 and call it a successful endeavor, but I doubt I'll be able to spend the time to get to that level. At this point I'd just like to beat the SC2 campaign on hard level, which has proven difficult for some of the missions.

[Assertn]

I always told my roommate that I don't want to be in diamond league, because that would just imply I have no life.

Although apparently its possible without devoting 40 hours a week now that noobs have flooded the servers.

[Sentenal]

Well, if you like the game, and just stick with it, you will eventually make it to Platinum, or even higher. I think if you just play alot with your friends, watch videoes of all the best players, and try to learn what they do, eventually it will start to rub off on you. It just takes practice and experience.

[Xrlderek]

A friend of mine is in diamond league with 110 games played, not sure if that is the usual, but 110 games since release doesn't look like no life to me. Depends how long they took obviously.

[Dark Dragon]

A friend of mine is in diamond league with 110 games played, not sure if that is the usual, but 110 games since release doesn't look like no life to me. Depends how long they took obviously.

It really depends on the person. Someone who is already great at Starcraft will have no problem breezing through the ranks. A person who is not as good might need to devote a lot more time

Also, 110 games translate to 55 hours if each game takes 30 minutes. If you're good and win each game fast then it could be as low as 10 min per game or as high as 50 min per game if you get into a stalemate. The game has been out for about 15 days so 55 hours is around 3.7 hours per day. It's different for every person, but it's no doubt that someone new to starcraft or is at an average level will need to dedicate quite a bit of time in order to get to diamond.

[Animeniax]

It really depends on the person. Someone who is already great at Starcraft will have no problem breezing through the ranks. A person who is not as good might need to devote a lot more time

Also, 110 games translate to 55 hours if each game takes 30 minutes. If you're good and win each game fast then it could be as low as 10 min per game or as high as 50 min per game if you get into a stalemate. The game has been out for about 15 days so 55 hours is around 3.7 hours per day. It's different for every person, but it's no doubt that someone new to starcraft or is at an average level will need to dedicate quite a bit of time in order to get to diamond.
Good points. 110 games to get to diamond league means he spent a lot more time playing the original SC (and probably other RTS games). Not that that alone proves he has no life, but it suggests it.

[depthcharge]

http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/9/2010/08/-1.jpg

I have not played Sims before... is it good?

[Assertn]

A friend of mine is in diamond league with 110 games played, not sure if that is the usual, but 110 games since release doesn't look like no life to me. Depends how long they took obviously.

I'm fairly certain those weren't the first 110 games he's ever played.

[mage]

I was promoted to diamond after about 25 games. It's not like you have to devote your life to it.

[Animeniax]

I was promoted to diamond after about 25 games. It's not like you have to devote your life to it.

I imagine being female had a LOT to do with it.

[Dark Dragon]

I imagine being female had a LOT to do with it.

She's just really good.

[Animeniax]

She's just really good.

Do you know her personally or are you trying to get brownie points with her?

[Sentenal]

I made Diamond in roughly 25 games too. Mainly due to experience in Brood War and the Beta. So like I said, it just takes experience.

[Dark Dragon]

Do you know her personally or are you trying to get brownie points with her?

I've played her and got completely destroyed. I also have her on my friendlist and can see her record. So yes, she's very good.

It's also kinda pointless for me to try and get "brownie points" with someone i barely know on an internet forum.

[Animeniax]

I've played her and got completely destroyed. I also have her on my friendlist and can see her record. So yes, she's very good.
It just stands that she didn't make diamond in 25 games of SC2 total. She probably forgot to mention all of the time spent on SC and BW and other RTS games.


It's also kinda pointless for me to try and get "brownie points" with someone i barely know on an internet forum.

If she's on your friends list on SC, that's 2 points of contact. Then all it would take is a little initiative on your part and things could get hot and heavy between you two.

[Assertn]

I made Diamond in roughly 25 games too. Mainly due to experience in Brood War and the Beta. So like I said, it just takes experience.

That's basically my whole point.

[mage]

Nah, I haven't played any RTS games since Warcraft 2. I mainly play FPS games. I only played about 100-150 games in SC2 beta as well. I just have some good practice partners to play with every day and read/post on teamliquid.net a lot.

It's funny, though, I have a friend stuck in platinum. He's 31-11 and has 250 points higher than 2nd place in his platinum division, but it still won't promote him. Some people are glitched like that.

[Animeniax]

I guess some people are just gifted that way. Hopefully you can use those gifts to cure cancer and not just play video games well.

[Sentenal]

The easiest way to make it into Diamond League, is to play Terran, make any combination of units you want, and then attack move your enemy at around 8-10 minutes into the game. Works every time.

[Assertn]

The easiest way to make it into Diamond League, is to play Terran, make any combination of units you want, and then attack move your enemy at around 8-10 minutes into the game. Works every time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMdDmbpmIRw

[Dark Dragon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMdDmbpmIRw

That's pretty funny. I was recently putting insane comps vs each other and i started noticing that Terran always win. I made like 10 test games of Terran vs Zerg and Terran won every game.

[Kagemane_no_Jutsu]

Anyone else watch the ESL tourney with almost all the top names competing? Really exciting matches love watching PvT and the first matches I've seen have been all that. Definitely helping me a lot watching all this, along with being surprisingly entertaining.


Gold league~~~!!! and Im ranked 11th soon as I walked in the door.
also 100 toss wins i kiss my colossus avatar each time I win.

[KrayZ33]

Heart of the Swarm Teaser (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRsFxfOEZa0)

[Dark Dragon]

Kotaku written impression of Hots demo. (http://ca.kotaku.com/5806131/hands-on-with-starcraft-ii-heart-of-the-swarm-now-with-more-rpg-and-space-yetis)

[twofacedkitsune]

That looks really cool actually. I wonder when they're gonna release the xpac.

[Assertn]

So who all still plays?

[KrayZ33]

I am... mostly playing tug of war and vs comps/mates though

[Assertn]

so my terran then.....vs your toss... yea??? I'm not completely useless with the other 2 races anymore but Im still far from playing random. lookin forward to that new matchmaking update. Of course they won't give it to us now as amazingly fucking easy as it is for them to... we need to pay 50bucks or 60? however much that faggot expansion is. Blizzard and EA are scum.

I've only been playing my weakest race this past 2 seasons.
Expansions have been around for the longest time. This is nothing new. Plus, don't you think you got your money's worth out of WOL?

[KrayZ33]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ETGRY_3583c#!

most of you have probably seen this already....i hope.

blizzard confirmed for cinematic master race. (relic comes second)
they really should make a movie for the animators to work on, their cinematic quality is above absolutely *everything* on the market...no exaggeration! So much...."wasted"... potential.

[Animeniax]

Was kind of surprised to hear an expansion was coming out, then read it was part of the original plan to release 3 sequels each focusing on a different race.

I wonder, since it's an expansion, will you need the original game installed in order to play it? I still have my SC2 CDs, but I'm sure some will struggle to find their install CDs.

[KrayZ33]

edit: nvm

its not a standalone addon, you need sc2 to play it
but battle.net client downloader solves.

btw: afaik there won't be 3 sequels

just liberty + HotS + Protoss Addon

[Animeniax]

Oh right, not sequels, but 3 parts of SCII, one each for each race.

[Animeniax]

Playing SC2:HotS now. Somehow SC is still fun even though RTS's time has passed. Problem with HotS is that normal is too easy and hard is too difficult. They need a difficulty level in between.

[Assertn]

Playing SC2:HotS now. Somehow SC is still fun even though RTS's time has passed. Problem with HotS is that normal is too easy and hard is too difficult. They need a difficulty level in between.

The problem with HotS is that brutal is too easy. Seriously, WoL was way harder.

[KrayZ33]

not at all, for me it was the other way around, at least until certain units and Kerrigan get seriously OP

and the missions are alot more stressfull because of a freaking timelimit in every single one of them that wasn't a bad MOBA
its so annoying, I can't convince myself to play though it a second time, because I hate to play under artificial pressure.

its like having to escort someone who is unarmed, underwater, with limited breath, who swims more slowly than you, but yet so fast that you have to keep swimming while fighting the bad guys.

another thing I couldn't get to like is that I basically played the whole game with 2 unit types because I saw no reason to build anything other than roach/hydra except for probably mass mutas

[Assertn]

not at all, for me it was the other way around, at least until certain units and Kerrigan get seriously OP

and the missions are alot more stressfull because of a freaking timelimit in every single one of them that wasn't a bad MOBA
its so annoying, I can't convince myself to play though it a second time, because I hate to play under artificial pressure.

its like having to escort someone who is unarmed, underwater, with limited breath, who swims more slowly than you, but yet so fast that you have to keep swimming while fighting the bad guys.

another thing I couldn't get to like is that I basically played the whole game with 2 unit types because I saw no reason to build anything other than roach/hydra except for probably mass mutas

Sometimes there's a time limit, sometimes there's just an implied limit. But seriously, all you have to do is...
1) Give Kerrigan wild mutation (twin drones and automated extractors are a plus).
2) Build a macro hatch.
3) Fully saturate your base/expo.
4) Get vile roaches, hydras, and/or mutas.
5) 1A to victory.

[Animeniax]

Finally beat the "waking the ancients" mission on hard difficulty after several tries. Turns out using the unit introduced for this mission (the swarm hosts) was the key to victory, d'oh. No way to complete the secondary mission (killing a super-powered beast) when your base is constantly attacked by huge primal armies.

[Assertn]

Finally beat the "waking the ancients" mission on hard difficulty after several tries. Turns out using the unit introduced for this mission (the swarm hosts) was the key to victory, d'oh. No way to complete the secondary mission (killing a super-powered beast) when your base is constantly attacked by huge primal armies.

The trick is just set up all your defense on the left side, then uproot and move them to the right side, then I think left side again. By that point you should have at least a macro hatch and full harvest saturation, and can build enough to defend both sides pretty solidly. Don't even start building offensive units until you're saturated. About 5-6 swarm hosts, 2-3 spine crawlers, and 2-3 queens on each side will keep the entrances on lock down, then just mass mutas to help wherever its needed. You can also try to grab the expo fast; The enemies ignore it most of the time, and the few units that stray over there can be picked off with your mutas or a few extra spines/spores.

Once you're impenetrable, you can fly your flock of mutas down to kill the tyrannosaur(?).

[Animeniax]

The trick is just set up all your defense on the left side, then uproot and move them to the right side, then I think left side again. By that point you should have at least a macro hatch and full harvest saturation, and can build enough to defend both sides pretty solidly. Don't even start building offensive units until you're saturated. About 5-6 swarm hosts, 2-3 spine crawlers, and 2-3 queens on each side will keep the entrances on lock down, then just mass mutas to help wherever its needed. You can also try to grab the expo fast; The enemies ignore it most of the time, and the few units that stray over there can be picked off with your mutas or a few extra spines/spores.

Once you're impenetrable, you can fly your flock of mutas down to kill the tyrannosaur(?).

I tried to make a mobile defense but the units moved too slowly from side to side that I ended up having to mass swarm hosts on both sides to handle the initial 2-3 attacks. I had to set up 5-6 swarm hosts and 7-8 spine crawlers on all 3 sides and even then I wouldn't say I was impregnable, so I never had the chance to go after the tyrannosaur. Looking back, a swarm of mutas could have served for that purpose.

I've never considered making a secondary hatchery just for units. It sounds like a good strategy. I need to check some SC2 sites to find some of these hints but I'm not that serious a player.

[Assertn]

I tried to make a mobile defense but the units moved too slowly from side to side that I ended up having to mass swarm hosts on both sides to handle the initial 2-3 attacks. I had to set up 5-6 swarm hosts and 7-8 spine crawlers on all 3 sides and even then I wouldn't say I was impregnable, so I never had the chance to go after the tyrannosaur. Looking back, a swarm of mutas could have served for that purpose.

I've never considered making a secondary hatchery just for units. It sounds like a good strategy. I need to check some SC2 sites to find some of these hints but I'm not that serious a player.

Normally you wouldn't need a second in-base (aka macro) hatch, but since the inject larva mechanic is removed for the storyline, it's just impossible to have enough larva to spend your resources.

As far as basic strategy goes, it really comes down to 3 macro rules:
1) Saturate your base as early as possible (The numbers above the hatches and extractors should be a 1/1 ratio. Don't forget to replenish when you morph drones.)

2) Minimize your time spent supply-blocked. Ideally you should have new overlords popping out just before you ever hit your supply cap, but in order to do it effectively, you need to look at your supply constantly. This is one of those things that can be a killer if you don't practice it, though.

3) Keep your banked resources as low as possible. This means using up your larva, getting upgrades/tech, dropping an extra hatch, etc. If you have 1000 minerals floating in the bank, that could have been 40 zerglings instead. In fact, the best time to start your second hatch is as soon as you run out of larva and have 300 extra minerals lying around.

[Animeniax]

That's my problem, I'm not that good at micro-management. I find that after every successful base defense or offensive assault, I tend to sit back and take a breather instead of pumping out more units. I do tend to have high banked resources, which I will remedy. Also I was using improved overlords so I wouldn't have pop caps, but there are much better upgrades for Kerrigan.