General

New game categories have been added to filter Tower Defense and Tug of War custom maps.

Balance

Thor
This unit will now prioritize attacking ground combat units over Medivacs.

Bug Fixes

Fixed a desync that could occur when trying to watch replays that had a dependency on bank files.

General

• Players will no longer receive achievement toasts while their status is set to “Busy.”
• The messaging when attempting to load a saved game or replay from a previous version has been clarified
• Adjusted the amount of points earned and lost by random team participants to properly reflect the strength of a player’s teammates.

PROTOSS

Buildings

Nexus life and shields increased from 750/750 to 1000/1000.

Void Ray

• Damage level 1 increased from 5 to 6 (+4 armored).
• Damage level 2 decreased from 10 (+15 armored) to 8 (+8 armored).
• Flux Vanes speed upgrade bonus decreased from 1.125 to 0.703.

The Protoss Nexus’ hitpoint increase is quite likely a means to nerf the dreaded Marauder drop indirectly. Marauders, with their incredible anti-armor bonus damage and Stim ability, make for awesome commando teams: load up a Medivac or two with Marauders, drop them behind the mineral line, Stim up and watch the Nexus go down in blue flames in a few seconds. This mission will now take Terran players 33% more seconds to accomplish.

The Void Ray change is an interesting one. It continues the trend of Void Ray nerfs throughout the beta, further making the charged-up Void less and less of a flying doomsday weapon of laser death – and almost completely nullifying its use in fast “cheese” strategies. On the other hand, it makes the non-charged Void Ray less ineffective, perhaps transforming this unique unit into a more casual weapon. Interestingly enough, against armored targets and without being charged-up, the Void Ray will only begin being less effective than its pre-patch state after 12.6 seconds. Of course, up to this point, Void Rays were rarely sent into battle in their non-charged state, as players would first charge them up on remote buildings, destructible debris, or even their own units.

It will be interesting to see whether the Void Ray finds its niche on the Battlefield, now that its high price doesn’t mean terrible damage but the unit remains so fragile.

TERRAN

Buildings

Barracks requirement changed from Command Center to Supply Depot.
Supply Depot life increased from 350 to 400.

Medivac

Acceleration reduced from 2.315 to 2.25.
Speed reduced from 2.75 to 2.5.

Reaper

Nitro Packs speed upgrade now has a Factory Requirement.

Thor

Energy bar removed.
250mm Strike Cannons is now cooldown-based on a 50-second cooldown. Ability starts with cooldown available (useable immediately after upgrade is researched)

The Medivac, a staple of Terran play and a part of the dreaded M&M&M ball, is getting a small reduction in speed. This change is likely meant to keep the Terran slightly less mobile, as other races often have to utilize their mobility to hit the Terran when their forces aren’t around; it’s hard to go toe-to-toe with the Bioball.

The following video includes a great example of a dying, desperate and broken Terran fighting back with his last immortal Bioball against an almost maxed-out Zerg enemy. And winning.

As previously revealed, the Reaper is getting two nerfs in the form of a delayed Barracks and an even more delayed speed upgrade. Here’s what we wrote about the issue when it was first discussed:

Despite being completely ignored by players in the mid and late game, the Reaper is slated to be hit with more early-game nerfs. While on paper, Reapers have the potential to be great economy harassers and tech-deniers, their extreme fragility makes even the puniest defensive measure a prohibitive obstacle – and these can be found anywhere beyond the first few minutes of a game. It’s unclear what Blizzard has in store for the Reaper, but for now, it will definitely see a lot less play.

ZERG

Buildings

• Hatchery life increased from 1250 to 1500.
• Lair life increased from 1800 to 2000.
• Spawning Pool life increased from 750 to 1000.
• Spire life increased from 600 to 850.
• Ultralisk Cavern life increased from 600 to 850.

Corruptor


Energy bar removed.
Corruption is now cooldown-based on a 45-second cooldown. Ability starts with cooldown expired (must wait for full 45-second cycle before usable).

Infestor

Fungal Growth now prevents Blink.

Roach

Range increased from 3 to 4.

As promised, the Zerg are getting the better end of the deal with this new patch. Their buildings will now be more resilient, the fragile tech buildings less deniable by other races.

Fungal Growth will now prevent Stalkers from Blinking, as well as Siege Tanks from Sieging, Vikings from transforming, and units from Burrowing. The added Roach range adds a new dimension of play to these units, which can now compete with other ranged units much more efficiently, be used in masses without loss of firepower in the back lines, and break down chokes with added ease. After all the Roach nerfs throughout development, these hardened Zerg bugs are finally catching a break.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where players could not cast the Feedback spell on Point Defense Drones.
• Fixed an issue where the Phoenix would continue to channel Graviton Beam after the target died.
• Fixed an issue that would cause Larvae to spawn and be hidden behind Zerg eggs.
• Fixed an issue where players were unable to navigate to the Single Player page or watch replays after canceling map downloads from the queue.
• Fixed a desync that could occur on user-created maps with custom mod dependencies.

Another interesting change today is to the Corruptor and Thor, both having their mana pool stripped and their abilities put on cooldown instead. Since both units have only one ability, which – especially for the Thor – are not easily cast, it makes sense to remove their mana pool altogether. This change mainly affects the Protoss High Templar, since its Feedback ability can no longer one-shot Corruptors or halve the lives of Thors who don’t even have their ability researched.

Overall, it appears that this patch furthers Blizzard’s agenda to make the game more “carebear-friendly”, removing more early game “cheese” strategies and making sure low-level players aren’t abused by them – even if they were never much of a problem in high-level and professional play.

For the Zerg race, the present looks grim (but the future seems bright!) – Blizzard’s numbers show that less than a quarter of all players play as Zerg.

Protoss are played 38.5% of the time.
Terran are played 38.0% of the time.
Zerg are played 23.5% of the time.

These cross-league statistics leave no doubt as to which race drew the shortest popularity stick. Indeed, the Zerg have become increasingly harder to play as the meta-game settled in with both Terran and Protoss openings being “simpler” than the Zerg’s fragile early game.

In reality, however, players that willingly pick Zerg are not the underdogs comapred to their Terran and Protoss opponents. The Diamond numbers are actually quite reassuring, displaying a fairly balanced 3-way relationship, while Platinum is currently favoring Zerg in terms of win percentage.

Win % in Diamond (accounting for player skill)

49.6% win rate for Protoss when fighting Terran.
52.8% win rate for Protoss when fighting Zerg.
49.6% win rate for Terran when fighting Zerg.


Win % in Platinum (accounting for player skill)

56.3% win rate for Protoss when fighting Terran.
47.3% win rate for Protoss when fighting Zerg.
44.5% win for Terran when fighting Zerg.

Win % in Gold (accounting for player skill)

61.0% win rate for Protoss when fighting Terran.
61.1% win rate for Protoss when fighting Zerg.
49.5% win rate for Terran when fighting Zerg.


Win % in Silver (accounting for player skill)

63.6% win rate for Protoss when fighting Terran.
50.7% win rate for Protoss when fighting Zerg.
51.6% win rate for Terran when fighting Zerg.


Win % in Bronze (accounting for player skill)

59.0% win rate for Protoss when fighting Terran.
55.1% win rate for Protoss when fighting Zerg.
45.4% win rate for Terran when fighting Zerg.

Interestingly, while the Zerg are not as popular – likely due to being slightly less comfortable to play with, as Chris Sigaty himself had said recently - it is the Protoss vs Terran match-up that appears to be in need of balancing, especially across the lower leagues. We’ve highlighted those numbers in green. Curiously, Diamond-level Terrans enjoy a slight advantage over the Protoss – probably because of much better use of EMP, abundant M&M drops, and efficient Reaper micro at these higher levels.

Dustin also took the time to preview some of the balance changes planned to be included in the next patch:

•    We’re increasing roach range. This will allow roaches to be more effective in large groups, giving the zerg more options in the mid to end game.

The Roach has received many nerfs throughout its life in StarCraft 2, and this change will definitely help settle the score in its favor. By giving extra range to the Roach, large groups of these units become much more viable. Not only can more of them shoot over their brethren on the field, but they’ll also offer nice support when Ultralisks join the battle and clog-up the front lines with their massive size. Busting up walled ramp-chokes will surely become an easier task as well with more Roaches firing.

•    Fungal Growth will now prevent Blink, which will give zerg a way to stop endlessly Blinking stalkers which can be very challenging to deal with in large numbers.

•    The Barracks are going to require a Supply Depot, which will impact a lot of early terran reaper pushes.

•    The reaper speed upgrade will require the Factory, which is meant to weaken a lot of the early terran reaper attacks that dominate so many matches, especially in team games.

Despite being completely ignored by players in the mid and late game, the Reaper is slated to be hit with more early-game nerfs. While on paper, Reapers have the potential to be great economy harassers and tech-deniers, their extreme fragility makes even the puniest defensive measure a prohibitive obstacle – and these can be found anywhere beyond the first few minutes of a game. It’s unclear what Blizzard has in store for the Reaper, but for now, it will definitely see a lot less play.

•    We’re making a number of increases to the health of zerg buildings, which will make the very vulnerable zerg technology structures more resistant to raids.  We don’t expect these hit point changes to have a super significant impact on the game, but the current numbers felt way too low.

All in all, this patch will definitely make the Zerg’s life easier. However, since it doesn’t address any of the complications in Zerg play that we mentioned in our post on the subject, it’s not clear that it will actually increase the amount of Zerg players. That will remain to be seen.

Is StarCraft 2 balanced? While only little time has passed since the game’s release, many already argue that the game is not as balanced as StarCraft 1, especially when it comes to the Zerg race. The Zerg have indeed been on the receiving end of quite a few nerfs during the beta. Particularly of note is the Roach, originally geared to be a fast, cheap, regenerating tank unit – which, during the beta, has had its armor rating reduced from 2 to 1, its supply cost increased from 1 to 2, its burrowed move speed reduced by 30%, and its regeneration changed and nerfed again and again to the point where it now regenerates more slowly and only while burrowed – a research that is only available at Tier 2, unlike in the original game, where Burrow is Tier 1.

Indeed, many players complain about the Zerg’s lack of viable options in the early-mid game: the limited ability to tech and macro at the same time (making a Queen prevents the Hatchery from being upgraded to a Lair); the extreme need to be reactive against Protoss and Terran early game attacks, which are themselves more diverse than what the Zerg can field during that period of the game; the much more demanding macro mechanic, requiring constant attention that one is severely punished for lacking; the lack of mobility before creep tumors can spread, and the competition between those and energy reserved for injecting Larva. All of these issues and more are even making some pro-gamers rant about the state of the game, a few going as far as as “threatening” to switch to a different race and to stop playing Zerg altogether.

IdrA, one of the most famous American Zerg players, has published his thoughts on the recent patch here.

The balance problems in early game ZvT come down to the fact that terran is simply stronger and much more diverse early on, zerg has to rely on hard counters to have any chance to survive, but cant scout in time to implement them.

Interestingly, in a recent interview, Chris Sigaty, StarCraft 2′s lead producer, said that he himself finds Zerg difficult to play and that he tends to avoid the experience:

I avoid playing Zerg as much as possible because I find them to be just more complex in general. Zerg, or rather larvae management is harder for me to deal with, so I don’t enjoy playing them as much.

On the topic of 1v1 balance problems, Chris does not seem convinced that any exist:

You can go up and read on the forums at any one time and there are a bunch of different theories about balance and imbalance. We’re being very cautious about making large swinging changes right now because at the highest level things are actually very strong. The things that we’ll probably be addressing are the 2v2 and larger scale games. Ultimately, the 1 to 1 is what we want to keep as sacred as possible, but as a result right now there are some things that we need to address in the 2v2 at the higher level. We’ll be looking at ways to do that without affecting the 1v1 balance.

Discussing the next patch, Chris slates it to be released by the end of this year, calling it “the e-sports patch”. Finally, and after months of being in demand, chat channels will be introduced:

largely our e-sport patch. A couple of big things that will be in there are support for the season rolling, so players can look at the history of how they did in past seasons. There will be bugfixes, balance changes and tweaks, too. Chat is the other major thing we want to get in there next patch. We’ll also add more significant features to the editor.”

Lastly, Chris makes a comment regarding balance and the time it took to achieve it in StarCraft 1:

[Balance] is an ongoing process that, honestly, will take a year of longer to do. Even after Brood War was released we still patched and continued to drive towards a really solid final balance.

Will patches be enough to balance the game, or will an expansion, introducing new units, be necessary for that purpose? Is the game balanced right now? Is the Zerg race “broken”? If you have an opinion on the subject, now’s the time to voice it! We are putting up a new poll on the sidebar to the right to investigate what you think about this important issue.

***

Chris Sigaty also took the time to talk to PCGamer about the upcoming BlizzCon 2010 event and, most importantly, Blizzard’s decision to not show any aspect of StarCraft 2: Heart of  The Swarm at the convention.

We’re still working on the details [of the expansion],” explains Chris, “and the last thing I want to do is to talk about theoretical things instead of talking about what’s real.

However, Blizzard will hold a story panel with a Q&A with the fans, tying some loose ends from Wings of Liberty. Some Heart of The Swarm bits of information can be expected despite the promises to the contrary.

You can find the full original patch documentation (which includes many minor tweaks) here. In this post, we’ll go over the more meaningful parts of this update.

General Changes

•    A new game clock has been added. Players can now instantly see how long they’ve been in their current mission or match. This feature can be turned on or off in the Gameplay Options menu.

This small addition has a great potential. Many players learning and perfecting certain builds already use timers to know exactly when they should push out or what to expect from the enemy at any moment given intelligence gathered before. Integrating a timer into the game allows everyone to incorporate this extra piece of information into their game instead of relying on intuition.

The following balance changes are identical to those mentioned in the situation report released last month. Our analysis of the changes can be found here.

Protoss Balance Changes

• Zealot • Build time increased from 33 to 38. • Warp Gate cooldown increased from 23 to 28.

As Blizzard mention in their report:

Zealot rushes are currently too powerful at various skill levels, particularly those that rely on rapidly assaulting an enemy base from nearby “proxy” gateways. We feel the window players have to scout for and fend off this rush is too small. We also want to address the problem of protoss being able to dump minerals a bit too quickly with the combination of warpgates and Chrono Boost.

Terran Balance Changes

• Battlecruiser Ground damage decreased from 10 to 8. • Bunker Build time increased from 30 to 35. • Reaper Build time increased from 40 to 45.

….we have decided to increase the build time of reapers as well from 40 to 45 seconds. Fast reaper + bunker, or fast marine + bunker rushes are problematic against zerg.

Siege Tank • Siege mode damage changed from 50 to 35 (+15 armored). • Upgrade damage changed from +5 to +3 (+2 armored).

Zerg Balance Changes

Ultralisk •Ram ability removed. Ultralisk will now use normal attack against buildings. • Damage decreased from 15 (+25 armored) to 15 (+20 armored).

The adjustment to Ultralisk’s attack is a bigger boost than it may seem at first glance. Check out the following video to fully appreciate the implications of applying an AoE effect to a building attack.

This newly introduced “mechanic”  has already been acknowledged as a bug, however, and will be fixed soon.

Bug Fixes

Battle.net

• Chat windows no longer vanish when exiting a multiplayer map or campaign mission. • Fixed an issue where players would still receive toasts when their status was set to busy.

Custom Games

• Default race in a game lobby is now properly set to Random. • Lobby hosts will now receive a toast when an invited player declines an invitation.

Gameplay

• If a unit loads into a transport, missiles targeting it will no longer target similar units in the area.

• Fixed an issue where builders waiting for an area to clear could block units trying to leave the area.

Interface

• Queue tooltips now display information about what is in progress.

• Marines trained at multiple Barracks will now prefer a Barracks with a Reactor over one with a Tech Lab or no attachment.

• SCVs will now load into the closest Command Center if multiple are within range.

Check out the rest of the changes, dealing with the editor and detailing many small fixes, here. Along the detailed changes, we’ve noticed some other modifications to the game, in the form of many updates to existing icons for abilities and upgrades:

First of all, Bashiok quickly dispels this myth:

Our intent is not to have a game with broken balance in an attempt to sell an expansion. That should go without saying. It makes me sad it isn’t.

Next, he clarifies Blizzard’s approach to patching:

Our intent is also to not apply knee jerk fixes based on the first few weeks as understanding of the game and strategies are still in flux. The game is young, and we don’t feel that it would have been helpful to progressing peoples understanding by throwing in tons of fixes based on flavor-of-the-week (or day, or hour) strats.

We see a lot of variation between the regions. Making a change for how NA players play may be completely ridiculous for how KR players play, and actually mess up a balance there. For instance 10 of their top 20 players are zerg. So that’s one place where we have to be mindful and careful and attack balance issues with great prejudice.

Unlike during the beta, Blizzard can’t afford to patch the game every few days or radically alter components of the game for a test run. “Real” patches are indeed coming, but they will be heavily scrutinized first to make sure the introduced balance changes are worthy:

That said. There are balance changes coming. What everyone was seeing in beta with tons of quick balance changes are because it was in beta and we feel we can get away with throwing out a lot of ‘we think this may help’ type fixes. With a live environment we’re not going to throw stuff out there unless we’re pretty sure. We’ve played. We’ve looked at data. We’ve looked at each region. And then we act. Which isn’t to say we may not be wrong from time to time, but it’s a more measured approach than beta players may be used to or expecting.

There you have it! Balance changes are coming, and they’ll be thought out and tested before we’re exposed to them. Indeed, in mid-September, Blizzard is planning on releasing the first real patch, and they’ve already released a situation report detailing some of the planned changes:

Patch 1.1 will contain a number of improvements including additional mod features, Editor improvements and bug fixes, some custom game improvements, support for NVIDIA’s 3D Vision, and more. We’d also like to share some specific plans for this patch with you.

Balance Changes

We have several balance changes in store. One general change we’re making is that friendly units will no longer provide vision after being killed. Enemy units previously revealed will no longer be targetable. Now let’s break down the additional balance changes we’re implementing.

This changes the way vision works so that units that are killed immediately lose the vision they provided on the field. Previously, killed units would still supply intelligence for a few short seconds, allowing players to jump to the location of the “under attack!” ping and see exactly what had happened.

Maps

We’re going to be adding destructible rocks to the Desert Oasis map to make natural expansions easier to protect. In addition, the center map watchtower area is being narrowed.

Protoss

We have two key changes in mind for the zealot: the build time is being increased from 33 to 38 seconds, and the warpgate cooldown is being increased from 23 to 28 seconds. Zealot rushes are currently too powerful at various skill levels, particularly those that rely on rapidly assaulting an enemy base from nearby “proxy” gateways. We feel the window players have to scout for and fend off this rush is too small. We also want to address the problem of protoss being able to dump minerals a bit too quickly with the combination of warpgates and Chrono Boost.

While this gives victims of proxy gateway rushes a little more breathing room, it also puts Protoss players in danger of getting Zerglings going past their choke point just slightly before the first bouncer Zealot comes out.

The late-game effect that slightly hinders the Protoss’ ability to mass up Zealots quickly is also no doubt a reaction to the following Siege Tank change:

Terran

There are several changes in the works for terrans. Reapers against zerg are stronger than expected. Due to the zealot build time increase, reapers would be a bit problematic in combination with proxy barracks, bunkers, and/or marauders against protoss. Therefore, we have decided to increase the build time of reapers as well from 40 to 45 seconds. Fast reaper + bunker, or fast marine + bunker rushes are problematic against zerg. Although this rush would never outright destroy the zerg player, we feel zerg suffers too much of a disadvantage from either having to cancel the fast expansion, or getting trapped inside the main base for too long, so we are also increasing the bunker build time from 30 to 35 seconds.

Siege tanks in large numbers are performing too well in all matchups. In the mid- to late-game, siege tanks are too dominant against all ground units. We want a small set of light and unarmored ground units to perform better against siege tanks. With this in mind, we’re changing the Siege Mode damage of the siege tank from 50 to 35, +15 vs. armored; to correspond with this, damage upgrades will be changed from +5 to +3, +2 vs. armored. This change reduces the base damage of the siege tank against light and unarmored units, as well as the splash damage.

Siege Tanks will now perform more like their StarCraft 1 Predecessors, dealing less damage to light-armored units like the Zealot, Marine, Zergling, and Hydralisk. A huge change for this unit that the Terran race has come to rely on, Tanks in siege mode will now be significantly less deadly to these units. Hydralisks will need 3 shots instead of 2 to be killed; carapace-upgraded Zerlings will survive the first shot, non-stimmed Marines will as well. Zealots, already capable of taking some tank fire while charging in to the battle, will be able to take one extra hit as well and survive 5 direct shots. This is not the first nerf to the Siege Tank, which has already had its damage lowered from 60 to 50 during the beta.

Siege Tanks will now benefit greatly from the +1 damage upgrade, allowing them to one shot Zerglings regardless of upgrades. A +2 attack Siege Tank will two-shot Hydralisks again, even if the Hydralisk is +2 carapace upgraded itself.

Battlecruisers currently lack good counters from the ground and still perform very well against a wide array of unit types. We’re aware that it is not easy to get battlecruisers out for the cost, but at the same time, it is possible in both 1v1s and team games to create stalemate situations to bring them out. Overall, we feel that battlecruisers are too strong for their cost, and the terran-forced stalemate situations are causing less interesting gameplay. We will be lowering their damage against ground units from 10 to 8.

Zerg

Ultralisk damage is being decreased from 15, +25 vs. armored to 15, +20 vs. armored. This reduction is comparable to the changes being made to the battlecruiser and siege tank. Like the battlecruiser, ultralisks are simply too powerful for the cost, even though they are difficult to muster. Also, in combination with other units, ultralisks are difficult to counter from the ground. The ultralisk building attack (Ram) is being removed because the damage rate is too similar to its normal attack, which will be used against buildings instead. When ultralisks target tightly packed smaller buildings such as supply depots, the Ram attack is actually outputting considerably less overall damage than its normal attack, as Ram only hits a single target.

The Ultralisk, which was highly underused during the beta, has finally been seeing use since the release of the game thanks to the final patches of the beta that have improved the unit’s damage, speed, and have given it a permanent “frenzy” effect along with the ability to break down Sentry Force-Fields. This is has made it quite devastating in some situation, so the current damage reduction definitely makes sense. On the other hand, Ultralisks will now be better than ever for breaking down tight chokes, as their AoE melee attack will be used against buildings as well.

Interesting changes all around, and these are only some of the promised ones to come in the next patch!

In a hilarious and predictable turn of events, that will perhaps prevent Blizzard from releasing these situation reports prematurely in the future, players who had read the report and have noted that Zealot proxy rushes and Siege Tanks are overpowered are abusing those to the max while they still can. Be warned!

The patch focuses mainly on Zerg upgrades and abilities, converting some optional upgrades into default unit features. As with all recent updates, Blizzard has released a Situation Report to clarify the reasoning behind these changes, and we will integrate the explanations into the patch notes along with further commentary to flesh them out.

PROTOSS

Archon
Build time decreased from 17 to 12.

As Blizzard mentioned in a recent situation report, the Archon’s main purpose is to serve as a way to recycle mana-depleted High Templars, a common situation that renders these expensive and fragile units helpless in the midst of battle. With this change, the Protoss have a significantly faster way to turn the fragile casters into massive AoE tanks.

Archons can now merge a little faster so “mid battle merges” will be a little bit more practical.

TERRAN

Viking
Ground damage decreased from 14 to 12.

Situation Report:

The Viking’s damage has been reduced to make them a little less effective on the ground. Massed Vikings were a little too powerful in a few late game scenarios. Vikings have also become very dominant in terran vs. terran matches and we are testing to see if a small damage reduction will make some other units more viable.

In Terran vs. Terran matches, Vikings are mainly used to control the skies – they’d likely remain almost as prevalent even if their ground mode was removed completely. In these matches, when the skies are clear, Tanks are free to dominate the ground.

ZERG

Corruptor
Corruption energy cost decreased from 100 to 75.

Infestor
Burrowed move speed increased from 1 to 2.
Peristalsis upgrade removed.
Roach
Organic Carapace upgrade removed.
Tunneling Claws now also increases burrowed regeneration rate from 5 to 10.

Situation Report:

There are many different upgrades on the zerg, the Roach and the Infestor both had three upgrades. We are reducing and combining these upgrades so the units get a little bit more powerful or so that you have to buy fewer upgrades to complete your units. We have also reduced the cost of several energy abilities on the Zerg that didn’t see a lot of use. We will continue to monitor these abilities moving forward.

Having been vigorously hit with the nerfhammer over the course of the recent patches, the Roach finally receives some mid-game love. Bringing the regeneration rate upgrade down from Hive level (tier 3) to Lair (tier 2) and bundling it with the Tunneling upgrade is bound to provide a solid edge for players willing to upgrade and micro their Roach swarms.

Ultralisk
Anabolic Synthesis upgrade removed.
Health increased from 450 to 500.
Speed increased from 2.25 to 2.9531.

Situation Report
Ultralisks have been buffed to include their speed upgrade as by default and to give them a little more endurance in big fights. This may or may not be enough to get the Ultralisk ultimately where we want him to be. We will continue testing going forward.

Unlike the Roach, the Ultralisk has been getting buff after buff. The current one will make it move 31% faster out of the box, meaning it is now as fast as a non-upgraded Zergling. Will this be enough to make the Ultralisk a solid option in late game matches?

The patch also included a few fixes and UI adjustments:

Map Publishing: the default Battle.net host now points to the correct server.
Time Expiration notices that were added for testing of the Guest Pass functionality have been removed.
Fixed a crash when trying to open an old replay by double-clicking it in Explorer.

That’s all for this patch. With 5 more days left for this phase of the beta, these changes will not be rigorously tested. This is the time to fulfill your duty as a beta tester and play till your eyes melt to provide some fine feedback to Blizzard while still possible! Get out there and fight, soldier!

To start off, we’ll focus on the common rush-type openings, before moving on to the more general gameplay strategies.

Reaper Rush

The Reaper, The Terran’s jetpack-equipped infantry unit, has been hotly discussed from day one. This super fast, ranged, cliff-jumping, light-damage dealing, tier 1.1 unit takes down workers in three rapid shots and can infiltrate an enemy mineral line before he’s able to produce a single unit. The fastest variation calls for building a Barracks and Refinery before the first supply depot, attaching a tech-lab to it and getting a Reaper out as soon as possible.

Since this is an economy-crippling build, the goal in this rush is to inflict more economy damage to the opponent than the Terran player has sacrificed for it. In low-mid levels of play, groups of 2-3 Reapers will be gathered first before an attack. However, in higher level play, players can smell a Reaper rush a mile away, and so, the Terran player will send his first Reaper to attack as soon as it emerges from the Barracks.

Reapers are basically invulnerable to tier 1 melee units and can kite those forever while taking shots at them if proper micromanagement is applied. The only exceptions are Zerglings on creep and Speedlings, which can catch up with the Reapers and quickly surround them. Still, with the Reapers’ ability to jump up and down cliffs, their survivability and harassment potential are greatly increased.

Some are calling it the “Terran 6pool” because of the somewhat obnoxious feeling one gets from being attacked before any defensive capabilities are available. However, just like early Zergling rushes, Reaper rushes can be defended against as well if one scouts ahead and prepares accordingly.

Counters:

• A single Stalker or Marauder in the mineral line, Roaches
• ~2 Marines per Reaper
• A Spine Colony or Photon Cannon + whatever units are at hand to chase the Reapers

Fast Banshees

Banshees, the Terran’s rotor-spaceships, are somewhat slow and can’t take a lot of hits, but dish out damage at an incredible rate. Despite being relatively high on the tech tree, the Terran’s walling-off abilities make this strategy both relatively safe and hard to scout. Getting these out to the field quickly gives the Terran player a good chance to find his opponent lacking any meaningful anti-air capabilities. With more than a couple at hand, the Banshees are very capable at hit and run attacks against anti-air defenses and units, wearing down the opponent until the mineral line is exposed and the workers are good for the picking. However, even single Banshees can take out their immediate counters in one on one battles – Both Queens and Stalkers lose to a Banshee in a head-on fight, and groups of Marines are not guaranteed to repel it as well. When the defenses go down, two Banshee volleys are enough to kill one worker! If that wasn’t enough, delaying the Banshee attack a little longer can allow the Terran player to research Cloak for it, making its harassment (and game ending-potential) even more effective.

Counters:

• Missile Turrets with Marines, quick Vikings with Ravens
• Spore Colonies, quick Hydralisks with Overseers
• Photon Cannons, Stalkers with Observers added later on

Marine Rush

As simple as it gets. Get a bunch of trusty Marines and send them to the enemy base, mowing down everything on the way. This build was very uncommon in the early days of the beta – the simplest things are sometimes hardest to see – but it’s been gaining traction as of late, despite the nerf to the Marine build time in patch #6. After getting a first Barracks and an Orbital Command, three more Barracks are quickly added (before the second Supply Depot, for brave players) and Marines start being produced in masses. The gang heads out to the enemy base, trying to take advantage of their long weapon range and concentrated DPS to quickly and painlessly take down any target of opportunity. With some micro inserted into the mix, the Marines will run back a bit after each firing cycle: this makes them take less hits from melee units and prevent them from getting surrounded as well as makes it harder for shorter ranged units to engage with their full attack potential. When the Terran player finally pushes his Marine force into the enemy base – usually supplemented by more and more waves of rallied reinforcements – the opportunity to deal a knock-out blow to the enemy economy is great, and the game is often decided right at that point.

Counters:

• Bunkers, especially with Reapers OR very quick Siege Tanks
• Banelings, Roaches and/or Spine Crawlers in sufficient numbers
• Quick Colossus, dancing Stalkers, Cannons + Force Field in chokes, Charging Zealots

Hellion Opening

Hellions, the StarCraft 2 Firebat/Vulture hybrid, have been seeing more and more use throughout all stages of the game. Still, one of their most effective uses is early in the game, where few offensive units are available. Their linear splash damage effect makes them particularly suitable for killing workers – especially if these try to run away – and makes the Hellion one of the units most benefiting from good micromanagement. The Terran player will get a fast Factory right after the first Barracks, on which a Reactor addon is pre-built, and then move the Factory over it to quickly start pumping out Hellions for a devastating drive-by on the enemy economy. With their bonus damage against light targets, the Hellions remain very handy later on, if Zerglings, Banelings, Hydralisks, Zealots, and Dark Templars come into play. While the Hellions can’t survive many hits, their relatively long range allows them to stay safely behind the rest of the Terran army, scorching enemy units without inflicting friendly fire damage in the process.

Counters

• Blocked ramps and choke points (units on Hold Position work well!)
• Static defense in the mineral line

Standard M3 Ball

Ahh, the dreaded M&M&M army. Much has been said about this unit composition – comprising Marines, Marauders and Medivacs – and not surprisingly so, as it can be seen in the vast majority of Terran games, in all match-ups. The reason, of course, is the incredible robustness and all-roundedness of this build – and some would say: ease of use. The M3 ball, composed of easy to mass units, capable in both defense and offense, mobile to the extreme yet beefy enough for a stand-up fight, is clearly the “correct” go-to strategy in many situations. With Marauders dishing out heavy anti-armor damage, Marines – the highest DPS/cost ranged unit in the game, who have a great anti-air weapon – and Medivacs, the mobility and healing granting fliers, the M3 ball can be where it needs quickly, counter almost any unit composition, and stay alive long enough to get the job done. With the three upgrades added – Combat Shields, Concussive Shells and Stim Packs – the ball can serve many Terran players for the entire match.

When building up for an M3 ball, one would best be served by quickly setting up two extra Barracks after upgrading to an Orbital Command. One Barracks should have the Reactor addon while the other two get a Tech-Lab. From then on, pumping out units is an easy affair, and the ball is quickly formed by continually building two Marauders and two Marines at a time. This build allows the production of a relatively heavy army while still teching up and/or getting unit upgrades – a must for a dedicated M3 ball. When a small complement of M&Ms is gathered, a Starport is built to supplement them with Medivacs.

The M3 ball is made! This well-rounded army can then push out, look for weaknesses in enemy positions, drop on unsuspecting mineral lines, or serve as cannon fodder for Siege Tanks.

Counters

• Siege Tanks, Cloaked Banshees
• Fungal Growth, Banelings + Swarm, Brood Lords in the late game
• Colossi or Psi-Storm with Charging Zealots

Mid-game transitions: Siege Tanks, Thors

Once the Terran player has opened with one of the above and successfully transitioned into the mid-game, the time comes to choose a unit composition that will best serve the next transition – into a victory, or at least into the late-game. The Terran race has a variety of options and answers for all situations, but some counters are very hard and serve almost no purpose against anything but their intended targets.

Siege Tanks

The Siege Tank, one of the Terran’s most symbolic units, returns to serve the same role in StarCraft 2 – ground-control and crowd-control. With the huge damage and splash effect, Siege Tanks are effective in all numbers, whether by softening up enemy units for an M&M blob or by completely denying an area of the battlefield from ground units when large enough numbers are used. Often, the Terran player will quickly get a couple of Siege Tanks after settling into the game and march straight towards the enemy base, slowly wearing him down with the help of the incredible long range of the sieged-up tank artillery cannon. From then, the Terran player is a Siege-Tank push away from victory – slowly leap-frogging the Siege Tanks closer and closer to where it hurts while keeping the enemy contained inside his base.

Counters

• Siege Tanks, Banshees
• Swarming the tanks when they unsiege, Brood Lords
• Immortals, Phoenix Gravity Beam, Dark Templars, carefully managed Charging Zealots

Thors

The Terran Thor, still a menacing unit despite the recent size cut, has slowly managed to find a niche on the battlefield, thanks to some patched-in changes to its attributes and a greater understanding of its role in the game a couple of months into the beta. Despite its cost, the Thor has many advantages and is very useful in many army compositions – and sometimes, even just by itself.

Since the Thor is able to take down many units – including workers – in one volley of its cannons, Thor drops can actually be very effective if done right. A Terran producing a Thor quickly and dropping it on an enemy mineral line will rack up a few worker kills easily and will also be able to deal with many offensive units unless they swarm him all together – in which case, it’s back to the Medivac.

Thors are also a great addition to an M&M ball when deciding to push out with one. Its great anti-air attack, which deals area-of-effect damage in a small radius, is a perfect complement to Marines against flying threats such as the Mutalisk and Banshee. The Thor’s special Strike Cannon ability is great when dealing with other Massive targets, since, despite not dealing much more DPS than its normal attack, the bombardment stuns the unit in place until it dies. Also, since abilities ignore the Immortal’s hardened shield, the Strike Cannons destroy a fully-shielded Immortal in one use.

What is the Standard

When Terran players wish to play it safe and solid, they’ll often wall-up inside their base while gathering the standard M&M force. Constantly scouting the enemy, additional units will supplement this basic army to counter upcoming threats to the Terran infantry: Hellions for masses of light units, mainly Zerglings, Banelings and Zealots; Vikings for heavy air units, such as Brood Lords, Void Rays, Carriers and Battlecruisers, as well for decapitating Colossi; Siege Tanks to deal with masses of tier 1-2 units; Thors to deal with light-air swarms; and eventually, Battlecrusiers to put the hurt on everything or break down turtles. Some pressure can be applied using Reapers, Banshees or Hellions, as described above, until the Terran player is ready to seal the deal with a well-timed push.

Addendum: Terran as the Real Infestation

While fighting the Zerg often feels like dealing with bugs that keep harassing you all over and are impossible to get rid of, the Terran race can actually play the infestation game just as well, “infesting” the battlefield and never releasing their hold on it. The Terrans have always been the turtle-friendly choice, but in StarCraft 2, thanks to some new tools and additional mobility, the turtle can now more easily spread around and hold more and more of the battlefield. Almost every Terran unit can be treated like a mobile turret with various properties designed to keep enemies away from the Terran mining operations. Their units have the longest range, their buildings are bulky and durable, and their static defenses – Bunkers, Missile Turrets and Planetary Fortresses, provide the most robust defense.

The Thor often makes more sense when seen as a walking turret, patrolling the base and guarding it from Mutalisk invasions; Vikings, one of the slower flying units, have an incredible range of 9, and are more than suitable for taking down Void Rays trying to penetrate the Terran base before they even think of charging up. With Siege Tanks, the building armor upgrade, the Raven’s Point Defense Drone and Auto-Turret, and the amazing staying power of infantry backed by healing Medivacs, a well-built Terran fortress is indeed the hardest to break.

A Terran player playing the infestation game will periodically take over an expansion, sending many SCVs to quickly put down defenses and buildings as well as Siege Tanks and the other necessary walking/flying turrets to secure the area. The purpose, of course, is to create a stronghold that the enemy will have to spend many more resources to remove than it took to secure. Slowly taking over the map while occasionally harassing the enemy, this strategy is often hard to deal with even if it’s seen coming.

General

• Map Publishing is now enabled: Using the map editor, you can upload your custom maps to share with the Battle.net community.
• Facebook feature is integrated: Here’s a quick way to expand your social network by seeing who among your existing Facebook friends also has a Battle.net account.
• 3v3 and 4v4 formats are now enabled.

Numerous updates have been made to the Leagues & Ladders system:

• Removed Copper League and added Diamond League above Platinum League.
• Player ratings start at 0, rather than 1000.
• No longer displays loading screen odds in placement or practice league matches.
• Matchmaking system logic updated.
• UDP is enabled to help improve game performance.
• Numerous performance and stability improvements.

A week before the end of this phase of the beta, Blizzard is delivering the long-awaited 3v3 and 4v4 game modes – with new maps for these to be played on, quite likely. It will remain to be seen how the other improvements affect matchmaking and the game.

When asked about the league naming change, the official response by Zarhym was:

Honestly, we feel copper and bronze are a bit too similar and this should clear up some of the confusion.

Moving on, this patch brings about some interesting balance changes:

PROTOSS

Sentry

Force Fields can now be destroyed by Massive ground units walking over them.

Situation Report

We are seeing a lot of great games that rely on Force Field as a key part of protoss strategy. The ability is fun, but we do want to create some more options for enemy players to deal with Force Fields to create some additional gameplay choices in a fight against the protoss. Now Massive units (Thor, Colossus, Ultralisk) will smash a Force Field if they are told to move through them. Ultralisks can use this ability to lead a Zerg charge onto a protoss position while protoss players can use their Colossus in an emergency to allow their army to attack or retreat.

Blizzard has said before that the Force Field ability will be looked at and reevaluated. With the previous patch lowering the Sentry’s damage by 25% to discourage bringing too many of them to a fight, this next change wasn’t anticipated. With this move, Force Field becomes counterable in the mid-late game rather than functioning as completely immovable forces that the Protoss can spawn at will.

Void Ray

Range decreased from 7 to 6.

Situation Report

Void Rays are being used aggressively against terrans now, using their range and speed to trap a terran player in their base. This is pretty fun for the protoss player but at a variety of skill levels it is too difficult for the terran player to stop, even if the player sees it coming with good scouting. We think a slight range reduction will help with this match-up without doing too much damage to other matchups.

Warp Gate

Subgroup selection priority changed from 2 to 3 so that it takes priority over Gateways when selected.

TERRAN

Marine

Stimpack research cost decreased from 150/150 to 100/100.

Combat Shield research cost decreased from 150/150 to 100/100.

Situation Report

We still believe that the terrans are spending too much on infrastructure and are struggling to compete at certain times in the game against the protoss. Reducing the cost of essential infantry upgrades should make the terrans a little bit more dangerous when going with an infantry heavy force.

ZERG

Infestor

Infested Terran spell removed.

Frenzy spell added:

Costs 25 energy.

Targets a single biological unit which deals 25% more damage and is immune to snare, stuns, and mind control for 30 seconds.

Situation Report

We are cutting Infested Terrans since the ability rarely saw use. We have buffed this ability in internal testing and were unable to find a place in which we were happy with it on the Infestor. We are introducing a new ability called “Frenzy” that is especially useful for the short range zerg to get close up to the enemy to do some real damage. Frenzy should be especially helpful on Ultralisks who are trying to get past Thor Strike Cannons, Fungal Growth, or Neural Parasite.

As promised, the Infested Terran ability has been removed in favor of a more interesting choice for the Infestor. With the Frenzy ability, the Ultralisk will be able to take down a Marauder, one of its hardest counters, in three hits rather than four. Of course, this is already an improvement over the previous patch, thanks to the accompanying Ultralisk damage buff against armored units:

Ultralisk

Life decreased from 600 to 450.

Damage changed from 25 to 15 (+25 Armored).

Damage versus structures increased from 60 to 75.

Situation Report

We have put in a large number of buffs to the Ultralisk to allow him to close the gap on his enemies. The Ultralisk can now ignore Force Fields and with the Infestor’s Frenzy ability he can ignore all of the ways that the enemy could disable him. With all of these buffs the Ultralisk needed to be rebalanced. We are focusing him more as an anti-armored unit since zerg players already have a few ways to deal with mass light units (Banelings and Fungal Growth). This Ultralisk should be able to deal with both mass Marauders and mass Roaches which are a common threat to zerg players in some end game scenarios.

Overseer

Contaminate spell added:

Costs 75 energy.

Targets a single enemy structure which cannot train units or research upgrades for 30 seconds.

Infested Terran spell added:

Costs 125 energy.

Infested Terrans have the same stats as those previously created by the Infestor and are placed directly under the Overseer when spawned.

Situation Report

The Overseer is designed as a harassment caster. We don’t want to see hundreds of Overseers flying around, but we do like the ability for the zerg to annoy and harass the enemy with spells like Changeling. We added two abilities on the Overseer that were recently removed from other more “combat oriented” units. We expect that player’s will still build 1-2 Overseers to watch the enemy base and provide detection support for your force, but now you can also use the Overseer’s energy to disrupt enemy production and research, or to make small drops that force the enemy to spread their forces.

Up until today, the Overseer has mostly been used as a mobile detector for the Zerg. With these new abilities, more options open up; as promised, the Zerg race just got more interesting. Will the Overseer be crowned “most annoying unit in the game”?

Battle.net Interface

Revamped summary pages for player Profiles and Leagues & Ladders.

Added a Help system with tech trees and other tips and tricks.

Removed identifier from the character naming process and added the ability to refer friends for invitation into your party or lobby.

Updated the Battle.net user interface to consistently use a nested menu system.

Added in-game blocking and player muting.

A few more updates that we will soon get to experience. A noteworthy change is to the identifier system, which has apparently been removed from Battle.net. With the system gone, unique names will once again be sought after, since no two characters will be able to share a similar alias.

We’ll combine the patch notes with relevant info from the situation report in order to present the full picture.

Balance Changes

TERRAN

Battlecruiser

The build time has been decreased from 110 to 90.

Situation Report:

We are trying to make this ship a little more useful. In reality this unit is easily countered by Corruptor, Void Ray, or Viking which may already be in play by the time it arrives, but we think it might see a little more play if it’s just easier to build.

Fusion Core

The build time has been decreased from 80 to 65.

Hellion

The range has been increased from 5 to 6.

Situation Report:

This is not an actual change to the area effect of the weapon. The weapon was always range 6, but it would only acquire targets at range 5 so it would get a little bit of splash that would hit enemies behind its initial target. By making the weapon range 6 it is easier to shoot and run from enemy units. It does make the splash a little less useful if you are just using the “attack move” command.

The Hellion’s range adjustment is in line with Blizzard’s recent statements about its plans to increase the responsiveness and micro-oriented benefits for certain StarCraft 2 units, Hellions being mentioned specifically.

Planetary Fortress

The splash damage now originates from the center of the target, rather than the impact location near the unit in order to maintain more reliable splash damage.

Situation Report:

Splash

We have changed how splash works for several units across the game to make it always hit the dead center of the target unit. Previously splash was centered on the front of the target unit. This makes splash generally more effective, though against certain large targets (buildings, Thors, Ultralisks) you will now not get any splash damage since the splash radius will be contained entirely within the radius of the large target.

Raven

Seeker Missile range has been decreased from 9 to 6.

Seeker Missile splash radius has been decreased from 2.4 to 2.

Seeker Missile upgrade no longer requires Fusion Core.

Situation Report:

We are hoping to see some more Seeker missiles without unbalancing the unit. At the same time we want to reduce the effectiveness of Seeker missile in 2v2 games where mass Ravens have (on occasion) been a problem.

Siege Tank

Life increased from 150 to 160.

Siege Mode splash damage now originates from the center of the target, rather than the impact location near the unit in order to maintain more reliable splash damage.

Situation Report:

Siege Tanks are seeing good use in several match-ups but we still think they could be a little tougher so they can maybe get in one more shot during big fights.

The Tank’s hit point increase comes to address the simple and obvious truth – for a tank, the Terran Siege Tank is a mighty fragile unit. Ironically, tanks can’t tank at all, and more often than not, a Terran Bio-ball is used for tanking damage while the tanks deliver their AoE blows.

Thor

Ground damage decreased from 45 to 30.

Ground rate of fire improved from 1.93 to 1.28.

Air damage changed from 8 (+4 Light) to 6 (+6 Light).

250mm Strike Cannons are now an upgrade at the Factory Tech Lab.

250mm Strike Cannons research now costs 150/150 and 110 seconds.

250mm Strike Cannons energy cost increased from 100 to 150.

Anti-Air splash damage now originates from the center of the target, rather than the impact location near the unit in order to maintain more reliable splash damage.

Situation Report:

The damage change reduces the Thor’s opening burst, which will mean that some units will be able to shoot a little longer before being destroyed. The increase in rate of fire means the damage-per-second remains the same, but it does change a few relationships. Thors are no longer as effective against Roaches (for example) without fire support from Marauders.

The Thor Strike Cannons have become an upgrade to try to help out the Ultralisk, who is countered so hard by this attack that we see very few Ultralisks in Terran vs. Zerg. This is (of course) not enough to really change that relationship, but we have some more plans for the Ultralisk in the next patch.
The anti-air changes make Thors a little more clear in their role as an anti-light AA weapon which gives more value to Vikings and Marines.

All three Massive ground units – the Terran Thor, Protoss Colossus and Zerg Ultralisk have received significant adjustments to their damage output. The Thor, being a mega-hard counter to the Ultralisk due to the stun and focused heavy damage effect of its Strike Cannons ability, has gone the way of the Marauder, and now requires a research to match its pre-patch state. It’s worthwhile to note that with this change, the Thor will no longer one-shot Hydralisks.

PROTOSS

Archon

The splash radius has been increased from 0.8 to 1.

Splash damage now originates from the center of the target, rather than the impact location near the unit in order to maintain more reliable splash damage.

Situation Report:

This minor buff to the Archon makes it a little bit more useful but doesn’t really change a lot of its core relationships. We still view the Archon as a recycle for a High Templar who is out of mana and not a core unit that you will build unless you are facing very specific opposition (like mass Mutalisks for example).

Colossus

The damage has been decreased from 20 to 15.

The rate of fire has been improved from 2.2 to 1.65.

Situation Report:

The changes to the Colossus damage and rate of fire are similar to the changes to the Thor. They reduce the burst damage from the Colossus so fewer units will die in the initial blast and get to shoot a little bit longer before they are hit by more blasts. The damage is lower, but the damage per second is DPS is the same.

Phoenix

Can now attack while moving.

Situation Report:

This is a huge change that allows a Phoenix to dance around Mutalisks and other air units and attack them while moving. Phoenix always did hard-counter Mutalisks, but now even a very small number of Phoenix can challenge a very large number of Mutalisks so long as they are willing to attack and move away. Use your Phoenix to keep out of the Mutalisk attack range while firing yourself and you can do a lot of damage to a pack of Mutalisks.

Sentry

The damage has been decreased from 8 to 6.

Situation Report:

We are seeing a lot of Force Fields which we really, really like. We don’t want to see fewer Force Fields, but we do want to see a higher cost for those Force Fields. By reducing Sentry damage we believe that Protoss players will have to be more careful about the number of Sentry they make.

The Sentry damage reduction is reminiscent of the Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos caster nerf several years ago. Before the nerf, it was common to mass casters because of the relatively high damage output coupled with bonus ability spam such builds enabled. With a 25% damage nerf, the Sentry’s damage per cost is significantly reduced, forcing Protoss players to not rely on them as much as they did before. While the Sentry was previously an important anti-Mutalisk unit for the Protoss, the Phoenix buff will certainly help balance this change.

ZERG

Brood Lord

Life has been decreased from 275 to 225.

Armor has been decreased from 2 to 1.

Situation Report:

Broodlords are awesome. They needed to be a little weaker. They should still be pretty scary.

Corruptor

Corruptor damage changed from 12 (+10 Massive) to 14 (+6 Massive).

Corruptor speed increased from 2.75 to 2.9531

Corruption ability redesigned:

Single target.

Increases damage taken by 20%.

Lasts 30 seconds.

Costs 100 energy.

Range 6.

Cannot target structures.

Situation Report:

All of these changes are a buff to the Corruptor. You will pay less gas for a similar level of Corruptor fire power. The Corruptor is faster and more able to keep up with your Mutalisks. In addition its special ability has changed. You no longer use Corruptors just to stun important enemy buildings but you can weaken important enemy units on the battlefield to make them more vulnerable to attack by both your air and ground units.

Infestor

Neural Parasite is now an upgrade at the Infestation Pit.

Neural Parasite research costs 150/150 and 110 seconds.

Neural Parasite can now target Air units.

Neural Parasite energy cost increased from 50 to 100.

Situation Report:

The changes to Neural Parasite are there to try to protect the Ultralisk from being mind controlled too easily. It is also consistent with what we think the power level of the ability is against Thor and other units. We have also buffed the ability to allow it to target air units so you can use it as a defense against Void Rays.

Spine Crawler

The root time has been increased from 6 to 12.

Situation Report:

At some levels of play we are seeing spine crawlers used to protect a Zerg player until he can advance to some dangerous technology (like Mutalisks). In these cases players are using Spine Crawlers almost exclusively to defend themselves and the ability to move the Crawler as a way to protect not only their base but their expansion as well. We want there to be a higher cost to this strategy and more risk associated with choosing to go “Only Spine Crawler.”

Spore Crawler

The root time has been increased from 6 to 12.

Ultralisk

Damage has been increased from 18 to 25.

Situation Report:

We are buffing the Ultralisk, but we don’t think this buff is sufficient. Expect more changes to the Ultralisk in the next patch.

As a concept, the Ultralisk is awesome. It warms our heart to see Ultralisks used in high-level gameplay. Few effects can match a giant, 600 HP-strong, über-armored biological monster dishing melee splash damage. However, the Ultralisk’s cost and its front-line battle position (unlike the Terran Thor and Protoss Colossus) make it a prime target for strong single-target effects like Neural Parasite and the stunning/damaging Strike Cannons – both being nerfed in the recent patch.

The patch also brings numerous minor bug fixes, hotkey swaps and leftie key layout changes – all found here.

All in all, this patch feels like an attempt to refine the game, pushing players from all races to diversify their builds and incorporate different units into their army. It will be interesting to see whether Blizzard succeeds in doing this and what other changes are in store, especially for the Ultralisk!