So... Starcraft 2?

[Malacite]

Re: So... Starcraft 2?

I like my gateway units.

No kidding, pretty hard to say no to near-instant reinforcements. Psi Storm alone isn't enough to deal with MMM though, especially if the Terran player starts bringing in Ghosts. A couple of Colossi + well-placed storms should get the job done just fine.

As far as Terran being imba goes, I'd like to see Blizzard undo the Factory requirement on Nitro packs and just increase the gas cost another 25~50. It still slows it down a bit that way but without being a huge drain on the Terran player. Reapers really don't need any nerfing far as I'm concerned except for their building damage. What the helll do they ever drop buildings hella fast, and that's the real problem with them. You don't usually see units in RTS with that kind of mobility & damage and for good reason (Hi2u C&C2 Prism Tanks, holy crap talk about an imba unit)


Other than that, really the only nerfing Terran should be hit with is Marauder HP. 125 is a little insane.

[DakAttack]

Re: So... Starcraft 2?

Yea, the Reaper nerf was a little overdone. They weren't impossible to defend against, you just needed to build a few heavy units to keep in your mineral line.

[Malacite]

Re: So... Starcraft 2?

The biggest, most annoying issue I believe was when someone did a Reaper + SCV rush and built a bunker near your mineral line. Since reapers are so fast and deal ridiculous building damage for a freaking light infantry unit, it was a little imba. But I still say increasing the gas cost would have been more sensible since it slows the rush down while not destroying the strategy altogether.

I mean if you're gonna waste the money on a factory you may as well just transition into 3 M, Mech or 1 1 1 since the 200 minerals and 100 gas you just blew on the stupid factory could have gone towards more Barracks or reapers. Really all they are good for is early mineral line harassment but not even that now since the factory requirement pretty much means that a protoss player will have time to get out Stalkers or Zerg will have metabolic boost negating whatever advantage the nitro packs may have given.

Besides that's what scouting is for. It's your own fault if you don't keep tabs on what your opponent is doing. Terran even gets that ridiculous freaking sensor tower which no one ever seems to build and I don't get why lol. It doesn't tell you what is coming your way exactly but it's sure as hell nice to know in advance that something is in fact coming to stir the pot.

[DakAttack]

Re: So... Starcraft 2?

stir the pot

In YOUR endo.

Anyways, an increase in cost is all I want to see for Reactor attachments. Increasing mineral cost to 100 and gas cost to 75 would do enough without going completely overboard. I like that it sort of balances things out a bit, as in Tech lab has a low cost for high cost units and Reactor would have a high cost for low cost units. It's long build time makes it a slight gamble, but it's not that difficult to make a few marines while you raise the gas to pay for the Reactor, which will sit behind a wall while it completes and defend pretty effectively.

Sensor towers used to be a great tool in dealing with Void Rays, since you'd get some advance notice on any air movement before they could move in and charge on a building. Now, it's not that important, but it's still nice to have. With the proper placement, you can monitor nearby expansions, as well.

Zerg could still use some anti-air in their tier one units. And it would be neat if there were more of a benefit to burrow than just being undetectable. Even if it's something extremely small it would go a long way to making Zerg feel more Zerg-like. Perhaps a small leap from their hiding spots to help bridge a the gap a little more quickly, or a small boost to attack speed for their next two attacks.

[Ufgt]

Re: So... Starcraft 2?

As a protoss player, I never had a problem with reapers. Getting that zealot/sentry/stalker mix at the beginning of the game was enough to hold off whatever early push terran could do.

Reapers are now over nerfed and almost no one uses them.

[Malacite]

Re: So... Starcraft 2?

Zerg could still use some anti-air in their tier one units. And it would be neat if there were more of a benefit to burrow than just being undetectable

And that's what I'd like to see done with Hydralisks. Give them a new evolution that turns them into a dedicated AA unit. They're tier 2 now I think, but they still strike me as the best candidate for this, barring some new strain altogether (unless they come up with an AA Roach evolution? That'd be cool too)

But heart of the swarm isn't coming for at least 18 months ; . ;

---------- Post added at 12:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:26 PM ----------

Reapers are now over nerfed and almost no one uses them.

Pretty much... they were never that big a deal for Protoss anyway since you can typically have a stalker or two out by the time reapers come along. It's more difficult for Zerg to mount a counter and that's where it was imba since by the time you'll have even 1 roach reapers can be inside your mineral line wrecking havoc. IMO though, the range increase is enough to deter this, along with maybe a slight increase to the cost of Nitro packs.

Blizzard has a pretty good track record though so I'm sure they'll correct their overreach pretty soon. That's another reason I like them better than SE these days, they can admit when they've fucked up. SE always has to try and save face somehow, but I guess that's just part of the Japanese culture.

[DakAttack]

Re: So... Starcraft 2?

Anybody still play this game?

I know how to win 100% of my games, but the difficulty lies in the execution, because it's not fun doing it myself and it's difficult/not fun coercing my teammates into doing it as well. This, of course, is the early push. It's much easier to coordinate an attack than a defense, because a defense requires knowing where the opponent will strike. Putting a few units together is easy, quick, and, between a few teammates, they add up to an unstoppable force. Relatively small, but unstoppable.

The only issue with this is taking too long visiting each opponent to destroy them. Any hitch may give one or two opponents enough to time to start producing counters, which rarely turns out well. Hitting economies, or key buildings, such as Cyber Cores, Spawning Pools, or Barracks, is usually enough to handicap them until you return, preventing them from further teching.

I actually played a match where an ally had two zealots, a stalker, and five stargates. The opponent had scanned him about ten times, so I'm assuming they began producing anti-air, but it didn't matter because he hadn't produced a damn thing. I sat there for a good minute, boggling at the sheer lack of something, while the opponents stormed our base with ground-form Vikings.

[Ufgt]

Re: So... Starcraft 2?

I know how to win 100% of my games,

Uhhh... okay? I kinda doubt this, but sure.

Knowing the theory doesn't matter if you don't have the APM to do it.

[DakAttack]

Re: So... Starcraft 2?

Uhhh... okay? I kinda doubt this, but sure.

Knowing the theory doesn't matter if you don't have the APM to do it.

APM is not as important as people make it out to be.

Tell an SCV to go to the same mineral patch 100 times isn't skill.

Besides, building a few Barracks and producing a handful of Marines and Marauders is not action intensive. Niether is A-moving them into an enemy's base.

[Ufgt]

Re: So... Starcraft 2?

APM is an excellent indicator of how effective you can manage your troops in the mid and late game. Yes, it is less important in the early game when you only have a handful of units, but once the game goes into the 15+ minute range, APM becomes very important.

I average 70 APM and I am only a platinum player. I'm sure if I can push my APM to the triple digits, it will give me enough control to get to diamond. Or I can just 4 gate all day, but that's boring.

[DakAttack]

Re: So... Starcraft 2?

APM is an excellent indicator of how effective you can manage your troops in the mid and late game. Yes, it is less important in the early game when you only have a handful of units, but once the game goes into the 15+ minute range, APM becomes very important.

I average 70 APM and I am only a platinum player. I'm sure if I can push my APM to the triple digits, it will give me enough control to get to diamond. Or I can just 4 gate all day, but that's boring.

It's indicative only of how many orders you issue, not how well you can manage your troops. It can be artificially inflated easily, thus it's useless as a statistic. Watch the pros, most of them issue redundant or pointless orders. The excuse is that it's to "warm up", but that's bullshit, plain and simple.

If you really believe the key to breaking into higher leagues is by playing better, than you don't understand how the system works.

[Ufgt]

Re: So... Starcraft 2?

If you don't believe APM is an important stat, than more power to you.

I will continue to issue commands as I see fit in order to break that 100 APM mark. Being able to command a warp prism drop while similtaneously pushing their choke while managing upgrades and building units will increase my APM, and will help me win more games.

League distinction isn't nearly as important to me as becoming a better player, and APM will help. The goal ultimately is to get better, right?

[Malacite]

Re: So... Starcraft 2?

I know how to win 100% of my games, but the difficulty lies in the execution, because it's not fun doing it myself and it's difficult/not fun coercing my teammates into doing it as well.

This is pretty much my biggest problem too. I have no real issues grasping the strategy aspect, with regards to countering and when to expand. But I just can't keep my APM high enough to really stay highly competitive, even though they added a lot of things to make it easier (like worker rallies).

Err, Dak what are you smoking? APM translates directly into both Micro & Macro. According to HD, 40 APM is about the average for gold league, with 100+ being the requirement for Diamond. In one of his latest casts with Merz vs Dimaga, Merz was up to an ungodly 350+ APM and it showed - the dude was all over the freaking map issuing commands and managing his base.

That kind of APM just terrifies me though, and I don't see how the hell the game is even any fun when you're taking it that seriously. Funny thing is though my APM is pretty low in SC2 but in Halo Wars it was hella high. I don't know if that's because of the controller or if simply because so much of the Macro is automated in that game.

[DakAttack]

Re: So... Starcraft 2?

Again, a statistic means nothing if it can be artificially inflated. This is high-school math.

So, the guy knows how to command his troops? Does that automatically mean he isn't issuing redundant commands to inflate his APM? No. There's more to the game than how many orders you can issue in a minute. If that weren't the case, I could tell the same SCV to mine the same patch of minerals and auto-win.

[Ufgt]

Re: So... Starcraft 2?

Obviously there is more to the game than APM. But it's a good way to analyze your own gameplay, as well as a decent indication of a players mechanical skills. Someone that tops out at 40 APM will not be able to macro/micro as well as someone with 100+ APM.

And if someone can issue 100 APM using nothing but redundant commands, it's still pretty impressive.