Blizzard’s Korean community representative commented on the topic and summarized Blizzard’s intentions in the following response:

(Credit for translation goes to our friends at IncGamers)

We know that all of you are very curious about the development of the Beta with the release of many Starcraft 2 Beta Testing related news across various news portals.

Unfortunately, the specifics of beta testing have not been finalized yet and I cannot give you a definite answer through this thread.

But we are trying our best to make the necessary preparations ready and introduce Starcraft 2 as fast as we can. I can definitely say that the Beta test will not just involve industry experts and other VIPs but rather will involve all fans of the franchise.

We understand how long and excruciating the wait was, and we also understand what you want the most right now as well.

We will tell you about any specifics that become finalized as soon as we can.

In the meantime, Blizzard has made some standard updates in the form of new features on the official site and new bits of information from the blues, Blizzard’s official RTS community managers.

The StarCraft 2 website has been updated with new fan art, all very inspiring StarCraft works.

Zhydaris took the time to post about the updated Zerg Baneling mechanics on the Battle.net forums in response to a 5-question inquiry by a fan.

1 - The Banelings cannot detonate while burrowed, they have to unburrow first and then explode. I know what you’re thinking. “Hey, probably exploding while burrowed would be a better warfare tactic”. You must understand that exploding in the name of the Zerg is indeed a great satisfaction for a Baneling, thus they prefer to unburrow in order to showcase their enthusiasm for their role by exploding with a smirk on their face. If you zoom close enough you will see a little smile on their little glowing face of theirs. Ah, gotta love the Banelings.

2 – They’ll wait for your command. If you don’t tell them to explode, they’ll just wait while staying burrowed. That’s nice for setting up ambushes.

3 - They always wait for your command.

4 – They’ll not behave like Infested Terrans. The attack-move command is not going to be interpreted as “Go and explode at this location”, but rather as “Move to this location and attack any enemy unit. If you can’t spot an enemy unit, just sit there”.

5 – It’s comparable to a D8 Charge, yes, the explosion covers pretty much the same area.

The above answers clear the air (if not to most Zerg players’ satisfaction) about the Baneling’s most dangerous, coolest and problematic property – the ability to act as a powerful underground mine. Some players will undoubtedly be disappointed that Blizzard took the safer (balance-wise) path of forcing the suicidal Zerg unit to unborrow prior to exploding. Of course, this won’t prevent them from still being very dangerous in this role.

Zerg units were not alone in getting blue attention, as both Terran Reapers and Protoss Nullifiers were mentioned by Blizzard’s community teams. Most importantly, the Nullifier, the superstar of the freakishly awesome 3rd battle report, has been renamed to Sentry and has received an updated unit model.

Kapeselus took the time to clarify how the Reapers’ D-8 charges act once deployed. The D8s have a 2 second delay before exploding, providing some panic dodging time, and are indestructible, at least in the current build.

In the current build you cannot destroy D-8 Charges. By that I mean that you can select them, but they are indestructible (they don’t have HP like other units do, just like units caught by Arbiter’s Stasis Field in SC:BW for example). If you are playing against Reapers though, you can still dodge the charges, as it takes them around 2 seconds to blow up.

He also answers some follow-up questions about the dangerous use of the charges against buildings:

D-8 charges don’t stick to buildings. You can only throw them directly to the ground and if you target a building they will just appear next to it. They also only damage ground units, so they won’t do any damage to your buildings if you manage to lift them off before the charges blow up.
You cannot damage burrowed zerg units if they are not affected by any means of detection. For example if you raid your opponent’s mineral line and he burrows his drones you won’t be able to damage them without a detector, like for example a Scanner Sweep.

D-8 Reaper raids are going to be a major issue for enemies of the Terran to take into account when constructing their bases. Clumped up Supply Depot farms, undefended worker lines, or expensive, high-tier buildings – all will be easy pickings for quick and painful Reaper raids.

Last but not least, Matt Horner – one of StarCraft 2′s key Terran characters – has been awarded with his very own lore page on the official StarCraft 2 website, being added to the respectable list of heroes: Jim Raynor, Zeratul and Tychus Findlay. Read it here.

“…he was young, smart, idealistic, and bored.”

1. Does the Zergling vs. Zealot ratio remain at 4:1 or has it changed in the latest builds?

One zealot can usually take out two, and sometimes three zerglings. However, the ratio is mainly based on positioning and micro-controlling. As the number of zealots grows, it will take more zerglings to win the fight since the zealots can clump up and reduce the attacking surface area. Smart use of terrain, such as a choke or backing up against a wall, will also help a protoss player reduce this attack area. Zerglings have to secure a good surround around the zealots to keep the ratio close.

It’s worth noting that there never was a 4:1 Zergling:Zealot ratio to begin with, as positioning was the name of the game in StarCraft 1 as well.

2. In World of Warcraft pvp they found an issue over time that it was “very unsatisfying” to the player when they lost control of their character as it limited their ability to do their job or role. There is a noticeable increase in stuns and immobilization in Starcraft 2, which was barely present in Starcraft 1. From your experience in testing, do you feel abilities, which limit unit control, provide more dynamic game play so far or are you noticing more concern?


First of all, there were actually some abilities in the original StarCraft that could cause players to lose control of units. These abilities include the ghost’s lockdown, the corsair’s disruption web, and the dark archon’s mind control. It may be premature to suggest at this point that there’s a “noticeable increase” in stuns and immobilization in StarCraft II.
To address the comparison anyway, in World of Warcraft, you control a single character, unlike RTS games where you manage multiple units and bases. The difference in the World of Warcraft is when you lose control of your character you simply have to wait it out, assuming you don’t have any control breaks. However in StarCraft, when units in your army are being controlled, you can still issue orders to the rest of your army, manage your base, build new units, etc. There are a lot of options and we happy with the diversity it brings to gameplay at this point.

Stunned and disabled units are simply a non issue, and it’s correct of Blizzard to brush the concern off. Unlike WarCraft 3, and even more so, unlike WoW, StarCraft is a macro oriented RTS, with no distinct heroes, main characters or units that are absolutely required to proceed with normal multiplayer gameplay.

3. What is the current status of the Mothership? What niche does it fill at this time, and if the unit were removed, would there be a reason to fill that niche with a different unit or would protoss still be fine?

Currently the mothership has a passive cloaking field for nearby units and buildings, wormhole transit, temporal rift, and vortex as its abilities. We are happy with the state of the mothership at this time, and would like to hear feedback from the players once beta starts.

A year ago, we’ve run a long and much debated poll about the Mothership’s role on the StarCraft 2 battlefields. Many have felt that the unit has huge potential and can bring additional  depth to the Protoss’ late game tactical arsenal without being an uber-unit.

Sadly, its current role appears to be virtually similar to StarCraft’s original Protoss Arbiter.

4. What is your overall goal for the Infestor? The units have had and removed so many abilities, are you trying to focus into a support role, or disruption and harassment, or just to have a wide variety of spells so it can be a quick response unit?

It is intended to play more of the disruption/harassment role. They are meant to burrow and move up ahead of the swarm to soften up their opponent’s forces.

5. Is EMP dodgeable, or there’s some sort of indication that it’s going to be launched? And does this cause a problem with Immortals?

It’s possible to dodge EMP, but it is difficult to do. Your options include anticipating your opponent will be casting an EMP by seeing the ghost or its shimmer and predicting it; being near the edge of the EMP range and moving out quickly; or using the stalker’s blink ability.

6. Map/mod to site communication – Will there be support for map/mod makers to bridge a connection between their map/mod to their site? For example, if a person wanted their map/mod to submit scores/results to the site, and vice-versa the map/mod could pull the highest scores from the site and display it in the game.


It is possible for players to make their own custom score screens but there are no specific plans to bridge map data to web sites via Battle.net.

It is unclear whether the above answer means that no game and player data API will be provided to developers when Battle.net 2.0 is launched. In the current day and age when virtually all modern social platforms provide developers with great API tools to enhance and expand their products and user base, Blizzard should seriously consider giving developers (especially ones eyeing the premium content marketplace) tools to extract specific game map and player data.

7. Launcher support – Will maps/mods be able to have their own “launcher” (ala WoW’s launcher), as in shortcut or start icon from the computer outside of StarCraft, and have their own screens, after a Battle.net authenticating screen (ala Twitter’s, or Facebook’s, application authentication).

There are no plans to allow maps and mods to have their own launcher. However, making a loading screen or launch screen is still possible.

In other news, StarCraft has now been proven once and for all to be a dangerous activity and a threat to society as well as to moral human conduct in modern culture.

An 18 year old Starcraft player has been reported as attacking a 15 year old girl. The gamer became angry when his internet connection wouldn’t work and picked up a kitchen knife and headed into the street…

Here’s the Q&A session recently released via a Polish StarCraft 2 Fansite:

1. Dustin said on BlizzCast #8 that the Banshee is a very powerful air-ground unit vs. ground defenses. What are the chances of Banshees against ground units? For example is it equal 5 Banshees against 5 Stalkers or the Banshees have to run if they notice Stalkers.

Yes, the Banshee can be a very strong anti-ground air unit but it is definitely not unstoppable. For example, Marines and Thors can be great ground counter units for Terran and Hydralisks for Zerg are also good. And just like the example in the question, Stalkers with blink ability and High Templars with psionic storm can be counter Banshees as well.

2.Zerg can move and regenerate faster on creep. Terrans have medivac, the mechanical units can be fixed by SCV. Do you think that is a good idea for Protoss to regenerate shields faster when they are near pylons?

Protoss currently has the Shield Battery ability on the Obelisk, which recharges the shield of the target friendly unit or area. This is an active ability that drains energy from the obelisk, but is a similar concept to the one suggested.

StarCraft’s approach of providing all three races with similar capabilities based on profoundly different mechanics is live and kicking in its sequel.

• Zerg’s healing bonus is absolutely passive, always on and inherent into the very design of the Zerg.
• Terran’s repair ability is the fastest, most focused way of handling retreat n’ regroup situations, but at the cost of resources.
• Protoss “repair” is based on energy and depends on the amount of resources invested in the infrastructure beforehand.

3. Do you have any plans for Infested Protoss? If yes, what sort/kind of unit will it be?

Based on the lore, the Protoss do not become infested. The combination of the two result in a hybrid race.

This reverses the previous decision to allow the creation of Infested Protoss in the same way Infested Terran are created. In earlier builds, the Infestor could infest Protoss Gateways for this purpose.

4. Question is about replays. Do you plan to create a feature to see what that player saw during the battle? It’s like if I was behind him while he was playing and I was watching his screen.

There are more advanced functions and options implemented in the current replay system. If you select a certain player in the replay, you can opt to see that player’s camera while he or she is controlling units, buildings, and spending resources. Additionally, you can select the options for all players’ Units, Army, Spending, Production, and APM status to view all statuses simultaneously in a replay.

Seeing the game through your opponents’ eyes can greatly improve your game when playing against your buddies, but seeing the game through the eyes of the game’s greats will do wonders for players trying to improve their game.

5. What will happen when we double push a hotkey of a group of buildings? (4 lairs for example at one hotkey) Our screen will move to the first lair in a group? Or to set point of all or maybe to the point where everything crosses? (Point of gravity)

When you designate multiple units or structures as a group and the units or structures are spread out in different places, selecting the group by double pressing the hotkey, your screen will go directly to the place that you have the largest amount of consolidated units or structures first. If you have the same amount of units or structures on different positions of the map, your screen will go to the closest one to your current location.

6. What is the status of a nuke? Range, cast time, power etc. And sub-question: will the air be contaminated for some time (10-20 seconds) and affects the units after the blast?

You can arm a silo with a Nuke at the Ghost Academy and it will take 60 seconds. Upon completion, a Ghost can call down a nuclear strike at a target location dealing up to 300 (+200 structures) damage to enemies in a large radius. There will be a period between the casting of the Nuke until the Nuke actually hits its target, in which the Ghost must stay alive. There will be no contamination for the ground or the air after the blast.

StarCraft 2 Nuke remains a single-hit, massive AoE attack, and it’s somewhat disappointing that Blizzard has not implemented an additional twist to this underused and powerful ability, such as:

• Area contamination.
• Permanent mutation bonus for biological Nuke survivors.
• EMP effect that “stuns” mechanical units.

A creative tactical twist may push the Nuke out of  the “I pwned you” niche of abilities and create a more viable weapon for the Terran.

7. Several SCVs can repair buildings together. So why can’t they work together to build a new one? Sub-question: Does SCV have an ability (or is it planned) “Patrol and repair?”

In order to keep the game balanced, SCVs aren’t able to build structures together. SCVs can repair the damaged structure or mechanical units together, while also costing more resources. However, the SCV does have an auto-casting repair ability, so when you give a command to a SCV to patrol while auto repairing is activated, the assigned SCV will repair the structures or mechanical units around it automatically and will continue their patrol.

8. Question about Protoss drop. We can see that Protoss players often do reaver drops. Now when we don’t have this unit, we can drop Dark Templars, because Colossus are too weak for killing drones/SCVs/Probes (it’s a conclusion after watching many battle videos.) Is there any alternative tactic of drops by Protoss, or this element of a Protoss game was excluded.

Colossus is as great of a worker killer as the Reaver in the original StarCraft. The Colossus has 2 attacks with 23 damage each and gives splash damage, so it can kill drones and probes with a single shot and SCVs with two shots. If the Protoss player is trying to harass the enemy’s economy by killing workers, dropping Colossi from the Warp Prism right next to their base is a possible option, while Dark Templars can also be very devastating as well.

Having Colossi warped in on your worker line is bound to become an unpleasant yet common experience for enemies of the Protoss if Colossi keep their single-pass killing capability. Considering the fact that Colossi neither cheap nor easy to bring down in a toe-to-toe fight, backdooring Colossi are more than just suicidal worker drops, and have a lot of potential of wreaking even decently defended expansions and worker lines.

Blizzard has also unveiled June 2009 Comic Contest winners, 3 lucky and creative fans, each receiving a prize package consisting of a StarCraft II Hat, a StarCraft-themed T-shirt, and one StarCraft II Poster, with the winner also getting two StarCraft 2 Beta Keys.

Starting with a long post about EMP and the ghost, Karune had this to say:

Yup, EMP is currently on the Ghost and does 100 shield damage to all units and drains all energy in that area of effect. Having a Ghost presence in any TvP match up is crucial, especially if there are casters in the opponent’s army. In the original StarCraft, the EMP used to kill all shield hit points, but since in StarCraft II the ability has been added to the Ghost, which is more easily attainable unit than in the original StarCraft, we have reduced it’s potency a bit.

Plus a one-click ability that reduces an opposing army to half health near instantly isn’t something that we want to promote.

EMP, formerly a Science Vessel ability, has been made weaker due to its higher availability as a Ghost ability. However, at 100 shield damage, it still has the potential to wipe out the shields of entire Protoss armies, as there are few units with more than 100 shield points. Of course, there’s always the option of bringing multiple ghosts into a battle and making them focus their EMP efforts on one group. Karune does not particularly like this tactic, though:

True, though that would be much more costly in terms of minerals/gas as well as time needed to have enough energy for EMPs. Furthermore, it would take slightly more micromanagement as well.

Convinced?

It will remain to be seen how effective Ghosts are in Terran versus Protoss games and whether or not multiple EMP attacks on single targets will be cost effective. There is no doubt that Terran players will make use of several EMPing ghosts when engaging large packs of heavily shielded units – like Carriers - especially with lockdown no longer being a part of the game, as Karune reconfirmed:

No lockdown in multiplayer.

Another interesting topic raised is the Protoss increased shield regeneration rate, which fits perfectly with the increased pace of the game. Not only do shields regenerate twice as fast out of combat, but Shield Batteries, reincarnated as the much more useful Obelisks, will certainly be more prominent in games now. “Obelisk” is the new name for the slightly less new Protoss building – the Dark Pylon, tuned down in power so that it no longer functions as a one stop shop for all Protoss needs.

The Dark Pylon is now known as the Obelisk – primarily because it no longer cloaks units and no longer provides pylon power/supply. This change was mostly due to balance, since it is relatively easy to spam Dark Pylons everywhere and instantly have a Psi Storm recharge point to decimate incoming forces.

The Obelisk is the new name for the Dark Pylon, and the Dark Shrine is the new name for the Dark Obelisk. The Obelisk still has the probe buff, but now also acts as a shield generator, and still has Argus link to transfer energy as well. The cloak ability has been removed from the Obelisk. The Dark Shrine remains the same in function, allowing the production of Dark Templars.

When put in a difficult situation, retreating with Protoss is a strategy that often times has to be used to recharge shields and regroup after attacks. Preserving Protoss units is particularly important because they are generally more expensive than the other races, have more hit points, and have that increased shield regeneration to help them fight another day.

Obelisks will undoubtedly be more abundant than Shield Batteries in StarCraft 2, as they provide both shield and energy points along with the Protoss’ economy buff. Even though Obelisks do not count as proper Pylons anymore and cannot serve as Proxy Pylons, used to deploy troops from Warpgates or Phase Prisms in remote locations, they are still likely to see off-base use.

Karune was kind enough to assuage the fears of Protoss players, now dreading the Terran Infantry more than ever:

The Colossus would be the unit you are looking for. One Colossi will be able to kill a group of Marines (before shield upgrade) with one sweep of its lasers. Multiple Colossi, with upgraded laser range, will surely mess up the day of any Terran player who does mass infantry.

If Protoss players do tech towards the Colossus, they will also have access to observers very early, giving them early warning to when the Ghost is in play and where it may be shooting its EMP from.

Moving on, some more news about everyone’s favorite lightning-powered caster, the High Templar:

Time Bomb is now known as the Temporal Rift and is cast by the High Templar.

Plasma Surge is no longer in the multiplayer version of the game, but will still be in the editor.

Time Bomb, previously a Mothership ability – demonstrated way back in the original StarCraft 2 introduction video, is gone from the game, replaced with the more mundane “Temporal Rift”. What does it do, Cydra?

Temporal Rift creates a distortion field at the target location. Ground units caught inside of this field have their movement speed, attack speed, and ability cast times slowed by half. And it lasts 30 seconds.

No longer will missiles slow to a crawl when meeting the huge time distortion field created by the dreaded Mothership. Instead, the High Templar has been granted a glorified, area of effect, slow spell. Coupled with Psi Storm, this ability can be devastating to the affected troops which will have a hard time moving away from underneath the surging lightning bolts or the Colossus’ earth-scorching beam.

***

Today, Blizzard has also released the 52nd installment of the Q&A series. This batch belongs to the Map Maker series and spans 8 map creation and custom script programming related questions.

1. Does it still use the JASS language, or perhaps an upgraded version of JASS?

StarCraft II uses an entirely new scripting language, which we’ve called Galaxy. This language is very similar to C, and anyone familiar with programming in C will have no trouble picking it up.

2. Is the language event-driven or object-oriented?

The language itself is not object-oriented, although most of the native functionality is based around operating on game objects.

Blizzard has finally named the puppy publically: the Galaxy scripting language. A fitting name for a tool so often described as able to alter any property and behavior in the StarCraft 2 Universe.

3. In comparison to the Warcraft III Editor, how much more, if any, can the GUI of the game be edited (it was extremely limited in Warcraft III)?

The in-game UI layout is externalized in data files to a large extent, however there is no editor support for working with these files. So it will be possible to customize the game UI, it just won’t be a user-friendly process.

StarCraft 2 is unlikely to gather a massive UI modding community like WoW has, but since the possibility of UI modding exists, we will , no doubt, see detailed manuals pop-up after a few brave and clever souls document the process.

4. Are there new noteworthy functionalities in the Starcraft II Editor, or will the new editor just have general improvements?

I can’t think of a single editor feature from WarCraft III, large or small, which has not been improved in at least some way for StarCraft II.

5. Will the ability to communicate among triggers, for instance via actions or conditions, be improved in the new language?

One significant new feature of the Trigger Editor is support for custom function definitions, including actions and conditions. This means you can create your own actions that are built up from other actions (or custom script code), then use those in triggers just as you would any other action.

6. How does “Hero” support differ from the Warcraft III Editor? Or is it practically identical?

We’ve been working hard to create a hero system that is even more flexible than WarCraft III’s. For example, map makers will have the ability to define any number of custom attributes that modify a hero based on its level.

The inevitability, and Blizzard’s own encouragement, of a StarCraft 2 DoTA mod is clear to anyone following the trail of Q&As since the announcement of Scumedit. DoTA has become an important and integral part of the professional (and mainstream) WarCraft 3 scene, and the creation of a similar mod will definitely contribute a lot to the StarCraft 2 gaming community.

7. Will there be a public API for the programming language?

As with WarCraft III, there is a large set of “native” functions representing game functionality that can be accessed through scripts. If this is what you mean by “public API”, then yes.

8. Will there be improvements on the “Garbage Collector” for the new language? For example, in JASS all local variables need to be set to null at the end of their use, and certain data-types need to be removed from the game (such as Locations) at the end of their use to avoid memory leaks.

Galaxy features a robust garbage collection system for all native types, which is a huge improvement over WarCraft III (which technically did not have a garbage collection system at all). The script memory leak issues from WarCraft III will be a thing of the past.

Everything about Scumedit and Galaxy is bigger, better and more robust; it is the eventuality of 10 years of modding and map creation coupled with Blizzard’s own ideas for improving these aspects of StarCraft. It will be interesting to see just how far modders take this new tool and whether or not they are able to one-up the legendary DoTA.

Chat with Devs: Between adding new unit models and sliming up the zerg buildings, the StarCraft II art team has also spent some time on some little details that make the game come alive, such as new unit death animations. Featured below, we have a protoss carrier being blown out of the sky by a squad of terran marines, as well as several zerg units falling to their fates.
http://www.starcraft2.com/features/misc/deathanimations.xml

The artistic effort behind these death animations was first mentioned in June 2008, when Karune stated that

“currently, we are looking to have different types of death animations available for multiplayer than will be present for the single player campaign.”

And again in January this year, when the  Chat with Devs section included the following graphic descriptions:

The art team has been adding several new death animations for units including the Drone’s disintegration into ashes when torched by Hellions, or the explosion of the Overlord sacs by Marine Gauss Rifle fire, and even Marauders being sliced into various pieces by Dark Templars.

So be sure to check out the neat, short video that Blizzard’s Devs put up to demonstrate the art team’s recent efforts.

1. Add an option in the menu to disable the windows key, and same thing goes for ALT-TAB?
And add an EASY way to squelch your opponent. When their name “IllIIlIIlIIlIIlllI” (L & i), it’s a little difficult.

While we are not considering disabling the windows key and Alt+Tab, we are looking into the naming policy to prevent problems like the one you described.

A naming policy (except for profanity, racism, etc… ) for a futuristic RTS title would definitely be a first. Blizzard has implemented a rather strict naming policy in World of Warcraft due to its RPGish nature, but we highly doubt that it’ll find its way into the StarCraft world…. unless… use your imagination.

2. StarCraft 2′s terrain properties such as Xel’Naga towers, destroyable barriers and Brush have a significant effect on gameplay and appear to create specific points of interest/advantage on the map. Are there plans to introduce additional terrain buffs/effect to the battlefield?

The current terrain features are not finalized. We still have these three map features in the game and we plan to keep them during the beta, but it is always possible to add more features if we find something that’s balanced and encourages exciting game play.

3. Since there are/were plans to integrate voice communications into multiplayer, will StarCraft 2 replays be able to include Audio, as well as chat?

Replay files do not include audio. However you will be able to see all text chats while you are watching replay.

If Blizzard actually deploys a proprietary StarCraft 2 audio communication solution, there is no real technical reason not to allow an audio recording to be attached to the replay file that players get at the end of the match, so it’s quite a shame that it is not being presently considered. If Blizzard does not provide its own tool for recording the audio during battles, it’s likely players will keep using external tools for either recording voice or even for communicating, forgoing the use of Blizzard’s system completely.

4. You have talked a bit about replay functions lately and since patches will come up definitely former replays won’t work if the system sticks with SC1 or W3. Do you plan on making changes here so that players can view older replays ever after patches occur?

Yes, even as the game gets patched, you will be able to watch replays of matches played on older versions.

5. The interface we see in Battle Reports – is this interface available for Observers during a live game (in real time), or only while viewing replays, or both?

The interface you’ve seen in Battle Reports will be available in observer mode as well as in replays during beta.

6. StarCraft II is a package consisting of single player/campaign, multiplayer (+replay viewer), map editor and Battle.net. All four are complex and without a doubt require testing and patching. Has it been decided which of the above components are planned to be included in public beta testing?

You can have multiplayer game access through Battle.net during the beta and you can watch the replays as well. There will also be access to the Map Editor during the beta process but not necessarily from the start. Single player campaign will not be included in the beta.

Blizzard has officially confirmed that the beta will include:

• Multiplayer via Battle.net 2.0
• Replay viewer
• Map Editor
• No Campaign
• Player versus AI

Blizzard has also released the 5th installation of the Fansite Q&A series, answering questions mailed in by the SC2Armory community.

1) Blizzard, how attached are you guys to the proton charge/mule extra macro-for-money system? I know nothing is set in stone at this point, but will these mechanics in all likelihood make it into the final game?

This is a mechanic that we would like to keep if possible. Because the game is not yet in beta phase, there may still be tweaks and changes to these mechanics, but we are looking forward to players trying it out themselves in beta. We will continue testing the macro mechanics internally and we really want to see how the players will adopt these mechanics into their gameplay.

StarCraft 2′s new macro mechanics are expected to be tweaked and balanced heavily during the beta, but are very unlikely to be removed. Blizzard has every reason to get “attached” to these tools, since they provide an elegant solution to the over-automation that many gamers have complained about prior to the mechanics’ introduction in February this year.

2) With missile barrage and Yamato cannon, Battlecruisers’ can deal with most threats. My question is, how effectively can a Battlecruiser be countered? How well do Hydralisks, Void Rays, and Vikings work vs Missile barrage?

Hydralisks are easily the Zerg’s most important ground unit against air, including Battlecruisers. Void rays can be a good Protoss counter for battlecruiser, with focused fire and increasing damage over time on its attack. In fighter mode, the Terran viking does +10 damage against massive units like the battlecruiser.

3) Brood War Mutalisk micromanagement is an important aspect of the Terran vs. Zerg match up. Blizzard has been reported to be trying to implement some form of the Mutalisk stacking bug. My question is, how well do Terrans deal with stacked Mutalisks now that Irradiate is no longer in the game, Medics are higher tier, and a single control group can consist of much more then the eleven Mutalisks currently in StarCraft: Brood War?

The ghost’s snipe shot, which deals 60 damage (and ignores armor) to biological units like the mutalisk, can be a good defensive ability. The Thor’s anti-air attack also has +2 damage against Mutalisk’s Light armor. Additionally, the nighthawk’s hunter seeker missile gives splash damage, making it a great counter against mutalisk stacking, considering it does 150 damage. One missile can effectively 1-shot a whole stack of mutalisks if the zerg player does not try to dodge the missile. Even though players can group up many more than 12 mutalisks in a stack now, with abilities like the Hunter Seeker missile on the field, they may still want to think twice about it.

Well, that’s straightforward. Yes, we will allow Zerg players to stack a LOT of Mutalisks and use that to their advantage, just like in SC: BW. Yes, the Terrans get an instakill AoE banhammer to deal with the aforementioned menace.

4) When the Corrupters attack turns enemy flyers into “turrets” does the unit turned effect damage? In other words would a corrupted mutalisk do any less damage than a corrupted Battlecruiser or Mothership?

Once they are corrupted, all corrupted units will do the same damage.

5) If the Zerg Infestor uses neural parasite on a unit, will that unit still have all upgrades / abilities if the player researched them?

Yes, the parasited unit will have all upgrades / abilities.

Neural Parasite, the Zerg’s short-term late-game mind control ability, is not likely to see much play in intense 1v1 skirmish games, and there’s little, if any, reason to present limitations or nerfs on the controlled units. Prime targets would undoubtedly be casters; wasting the enemy unit’s energy and getting it killed in the process could become a viable late-game strategy for dealing with Protoss Templars and Terran Ravens.

6) Goliath could benefit from the Charon Boosters in SC:BW, However the Goliath is now replaced by the Viking (air mode) as AtA unit. Is there still any range increase going to happen for the Viking, to extend it’s missile range like the Goliath, or is it presumed unnecessary because Vikings can truly fly (and thus not limited in mobility)?

There is currently no range upgrade for the viking. However, vikings can still move in and out combat by shifting modes. In regards to the unit’s mobility, vikings will be much better than the original StarCraft’s goliath due to its new transformation abilities.

7) When we were told EMP was removed from the Ghost, it wasn’t mentioned what, if any, spell/ability would replace it. Can you comment on the current spells and abilities of the Ghost? And is EMP still a possibility for the game, whether on the Ghost or any other unit?

The ghost has regained the EMP ability again and EMP now does 100 damage to shields and drains all energy from player’s own and enemy units in the targeted area.

8 ) Can Blizzard give a well detailed explanation on how the new mechanic of the ability hallucination work. It was said that it can spawn 8 fake probes, how many then to other units? Zealots, stalkers, immortals, air units? Can it be used on allies (Zerg and Terrans)?

By using 100 energy, you can spawn one of these sets: 2 zealots, 2 stalkers, 1 immortal, 2 high templars, 1 archon, 1 void ray, 1 phoenix, 1 warp prism, or 1 colossus. You can only spawn Protoss units

It’s not entirely clear why this semi-nerfed version was put in place of the more powerful version originally suggested for StarCraft 2. Hallucination was a rarely used spell due to its direct competition with the dreaded Psi Storm and it’s highly unlikely to see anyone using it to create a single paper Immortal.

Some of Dustin Browder’s answers contain new information and also provide some insight about Blizzard’s plans for the immediate future.

Q: What happens during the beta test?

A: We take a look at which strategies are most popular. By that we realize, which elements work out already. Then we adapt the game into this direction, to make it even more fun. The players’ opinion has always been important to us, Starcraft and Brood War have made fundamental changes during beta and even after release. The final version of Sc2 could be vastly different from what you have played so far.

Blizzard’s utter (and justified) disregard towards official release dates puts a big fat “When It’s Done” stamp on StarCraft 2. The Beta period is unlikely to have a specific time frame, and it’s reassuring to see that the developers are willing to tweak and change the game as much as needed for it to become a masterpiece.

Q: By the way. Why did you change Zerg’s Nydus Channel? When we played the aliens the first time, we have a giant worm dig behind the enemy lines to spew out troops there. Now we can only build a building that look like a worm. The original one was way cooler!

n

A: Right, but it caused technical issues. We had difficulties with its looks and its control. It would have been lots of efforts to get it right. Also, the worm didn’t work out well in terms of balance. Therefore he won’t make it in, at least not into the first episode of Sc II, Wings of Liberty. After that we will consider what we can do with him in future. We still talk alot about him.

The burrowing Nydus Worm was one of the coolest, most ambitious and problematic mechanisms to be introduced into StarCraft 2. Showcased during the initial Zerg Introduction in March 2008, and confirmed to be removed during the BlizzCon event of the same year, the worm has received a lot of attention from both fans and the developers before it stopped being a unit and turned into a structure.

Q: Right, in the first part, you could only cross cliffs with flying units, plateau bases were therefore better protected. Since we just touched this topic: How do units benefit from being placed on high ground?

A: You cannot see them from low ground. At least as long as you do not use spotters, flyers or special talents, like the Terran scan. This can be a huge advantage, especially for Terran with their mighty Siege Tanks: As long as the enemy does not reveal them, they can blow him into pieces without resistance. Zerg profit the least from height advantage, since their ground range units do not fire very far. But with the Overlord and the Overseer they field two very good spotters. Apart from this, height differences have no effect. In SCI, there was a chance that units on the lowground would miss enemies on high ground. We removed this percentage since we do not like chance elements. The players ought to know exactly what advantage they have. And how to counter it.

Q: Apropos huge armies. In comparison to its predecessor, you are allowed to select many more units in Sc2. And that’s great. But still, some game concepts seem antiquated, for example the 3D camera that does not zoom out very far. Or the production queue that can only hold five units. Why did you change unit selection but kept the other elements the same?

A: There is a quite obvious reason for the camera position. I am not a big fan of zooming out very far from battles. In other games, this might work out, but not in Starcraft. There is so much Micro that the battles would look confusing if you could zoom out further. Also the atmosphere would get lost – the units would transform into tiny symbols and you couldn’t recognise anymore, how diligently they are designed. The feeling of fighting for a distinctive faction would get lost – and just in Starcraft, with its three characteristic races! Zoomed out very far, those battles would degenerate to a feud of ants. This might be appropriate for games like Supreme Commander, which are fully geared towards the zoom function, that have huge maps on which the units traverse very long distances. But Starcraft works differently: It happens faster, matches often last only half an hour. A zoom function simply wouldn’t fit in.

Another great call by Blizzard, which, nevertheless, is nothing short of a forced limitation. StarCraft 2, being a live 3D game, has no technical difficulty providing players with a full, zoomed-out view of the battle map – a feat that could come extremely handy if a player wanted to see his production buildings and worker line while skirmishing on the ramp leading to his base.

But StarCraft is neither Supreme Commander nor SimCity, and a full-map view, despite having obvious uses, would simply ruin the game. However, Blizzard should definitely consider the Zoom-out option of in-game Observers and in the Replay viewer.

Q: Since Blizzcon, you have changed many other things. Aren’t you frustrated about designing new game-content that gets scrapped again after a few months?

n

A: Hell, no! We have been doing this since years! It was always Blizzard’s philosophy to try things. In Sc2 we just started early with announcing units and abilities. Wc3 went through just the same process. Admittedly, maybe it’s a bit more serious with SC2. But that’s how it works: We develop a game, then we change it. And then we change it again. And again. That’s how we give the game the fine tuning. Of course many pieces of content accumulate that we cannot use at the moment, since they work reasonably well, but simply not great. I love that we are this flexible. We owe this to our technicians who have constructed such an outstanding engine. To rework a unit completely takes 2-3 hours at max.

n

Q: In Paris we noticed that the AI opponents play extremely strong at the highest difficulty setting. Are they cheating?

n

A: Yes, on the highest setting “insane”, the AI profits from additional resources. On all other settings, the opponents do not cheat. On the 2nd highest level “hard” they act as smart as on the highest, simply without the added resources. This is a notable improvement compared to the first game. As in many other RTS titles, the AI in SC1 would see the entire map and would know exactly where the player’s units and buildings were. In part 2, this does not hold anymore. The AI opponents have to send out scouts to find the players. Only when they find out, what the opponents are building, they adapt their tactics. If you hide units from the AI – on hills or behind bushes – you gain an advantage.

A fair AI will make StarCraft 2′s single player experience, as well as custom game allies and rivals significantly more valuable and interesting, granting advantage to players willing to “surprise” the enemy with unconventional attacks.

Q: But the day-night cycle and the weather effects wouldn’t have any gameplay effects?

n

A: We talked about it, and even tested it, but the answer’s: No. We do not want maps with differing rules. Just imagine a snowy area in which ground troops move more slowly. That would completely revert the balance. The Zerg would suffer a lot, since they are highly dependant on their speed. Or imagine rainy maps, on which the sight-range of flying units is reduced. The balance would be shaky and we would have to rebalance the races just because of the stupid rain. That might be an interesting idea for the future, but at the moment we don’t want it.

Also of note are several build updates, most notably to the Terran Nighthawk, formerly known as the Vulcan, formerly know as the Nomad, now called The Artist “Raven”. A new ability has been introduced as well:

Defensive Drone: With this drone you are able to intercept enemy projectiles, e.g. rockets of the terran missile turrets. Therefore this special weapon is especially well suited for attacks on bases. Against small bore (like the spines of the Hydralisk), however, it is powerless.

Considering the very specific use implied in the ability’s description, it’s likely adjustments to the Defensive Drone will be made somewhere down the road.

The recently mentioned Brood Lord has been finally revealed, and it is not entirely dissimilar to the Zerg Guardian and Swarm Guardian predecessors in neither look nor purpose.

Blizzard’s game designers have finally given StarCraft 2′s Protoss a Shield Battery, in the form a High Templar ability – making the Templar Energy- for-Shields quite an intriguing trade-off, considering the high value most Protoss players place on the Templar’s energy reserves. Of course, this will strongly depend on the exact exchange ratio determined by careful balance.

High Templar
*new Ability*
Plasma Surge: This ability is similar to the shield battery in sc1 as it allows the ht to recharge the damaged shields of all friendly protoss units in a selected area

As the game nears its beta, the changes we see become more and more important – they  have a very good chance of sticking until the game’s release. However, Dustin has made abudantly clear that the developers will not shy away from making  signifcant adjustments to StarCraft 2′s units and mechanics based on the feedback gamers will provide over the course of the beta period.

Within hours of releasing the Q&A, Cydra and Karune, Blizzard’s RTS community managers, have provided more than 30 follow-up clarification posts to complete the puzzle. The following coverage makes use of these clarifications within the context of the original Q&A for your reading pleasure.

Chat with Devs:

Art Updates
The StarCraft art team have been making massive updates to the Zerg faction, adding various new animations and improving even further on the textures of Zerg units and buildings. A picture is a thousand words so check out the updates for yourself!

Zerg Drone (Before/After)
http://www.battle.net/images/misc/09-02/UpdatedDrone.jpg

Zerg Overlord (Before/After)
http://www.battle.net/images/misc/09-02/UpdatedOverlord.jpg

Zerg Hydralisk (Before/After)
http://www.battle.net/images/misc/09-02/UpdatedHydralisk.jpg

Zerg Overseer (Before/After)
http://www.battle.net/images/misc/09-02/UpdatedOverseer.jpg

Zerg Baneling (Before/After)
http://www.battle.net/images/misc/09-02/UpdatedBaneling.jpg

Throughout the development process, the team is constantly reiterating and improving on the game in every way. As mentioned before, the Infestor too is getting a makeover, becoming much creepier and intimidating – you definitely don’t want to end up helpless at the will of this thing!

Zerg Infestor Concept Art

The StarCraft 2 team has made a number of changes in each of the races as the game gets closer to Beta. These are some of the new weapons and abilities that are currently being tested on the battlefield.

If the above concept art reminds you of a certain Protoss unit, you are not the only one. The Zerg Infestor looks just like the biological counterpart of the mechanical Protoss Reaver. The Reaver is well remembered for being an extremely slow unit that depends on Shuttles for mobility – and as Karune confirmed, Infestors will indeed be relatively slow units.

The Infestor will still be relatively slow, though they have been sped up a bit from when you guys last saw it.

Overall, Zerg model improvements focused on giving the units a slicker, more polished Xenomorph-like look and have also greatly enhanced their detail. Obvious improvements include “translating” some of the model textures into actual 3D.

Protoss Dark Pylon
Long used only by the Dark Templar of Shakuras, the Dark Pylon is now used by all as the Protoss war for survival becomes more desperate. In addition to providing supply and giving power to nearby Protoss structures, the Dark Pylon has several unique abilities that require energy to use.

Proton Charge:an area-of-effect ability that gives all targeted Probes additional charge for their Proton-Cutters. Probes that have an additional charge gather additional minerals per trip when collecting resources. The Proton Charge lasts only a short time before dissipating.

Null Shield: a single-target ability that causes a Protoss Shield to shimmer and warp, cloaking the targeted Protoss unit. The Null Shield lasts only a short time.

Argus Link: a single-target ability that transfers energy from the Dark Pylon to any energy-using Protoss unit.

Screenshot: Proton Charge in Action
http://www.battle.net/images/misc/09-02/PROTOSS_DroneTarget.jpg
http://www.battle.net/images/misc/09-02/PROTOSS_DroneHarvest.jpg

The Protoss Dark Pylon is a brand new Protoss building with two unit support abilities and one macro complication.

The Dark Pylon currently costs 150 minerals (50 more than normal Pylon) and has the Gateway as the prerequisite building. This of course is all subject to change while more balance testing is occuring.

As stated in its introduction, it provides the Protoss with all the benefits of a Pylon (power, supply) but its abilities give the Dark Pylon a significant advantage when used defensively at expansions or as a proxy Pylon, as well as a home-base gathering-accelerator. Its AoE Proton Charge ability benefits the player proportionally to the number of probes affected, making its construction a great investment for a well-populated mining line.

Terran Orbital Command:
The Terrans rely not only on the troops they can train on the battlefield but also on troops called from deep space. The Orbital Command allows the Terrans to make use of their orbital assets to support their fight on the ground. As an upgrade to the Command Center the Orbital Command can create SCVs and serves as a drop location for collected resources. In addition it has several abilities that require energy.


Calldown Mule: sends a single automated mining robot by drop-pod that assists SCVs in collecting resources by working around current SCV mining operations. Unfortunately the Mule is still in the prototype phase and has a limited battery supply (timed life).




Calldown Extra Supplies: sends additional supplies to a targeted Supply Depot. Generally used by Terran commanders only in an emergency to allow them to support additional troops.

Scanner Sweep: using a satellite in high-orbit, the Terrans reveal a large area anywhere on the map and detect all cloaked units within the target area.

The Terran Orbital Command upgrade replaces the “Surveillance Center” which has been unveiled during the introduction of the Terran’s new upgradeable Command Center. Players which have upgraded their Command Center to a Planetary Fortress can not upgrade to Orbital Command and vice versa.

The Calldown Mule ability is not the innocent Macro twist it first appears to be:

Cydra:
Dark Pylon’s abilities has a cast range.
Orbital Command’s abilities technically don’t have a cast range, since mules can be dropped any place on the map and Extra Supplies only can be dropped on the Supply Depot. And as you know, Scanner Sweep can be used on the any map location.

Karune has later confirmed that theoretically, Mules can be called down “offensively“. Land a Mule on top of a bunched up group of enemy Marines, and a nearby Siege Tank will share his love with them in an attempt to kill it. Fortunately, the Mule Drop Pod animation lasts 5-10 seconds, providing enough time for splash-heavy units to prepare for its impact and adjust their targeting.  The current state of the Mule is:

• Has the repair ability.
• Able to mine more Minerals per trip than an SCV.
• Costs no supply and has no quantity limit. The Orbital Command’s Energy is the only limiting factor.
• Has unlimited range – can be dropped anywhere on the map.
• Has SCV-equivalent attack strength.
• Has a time limit and disappears when its battery runs out.

The ability granting extra supplies, on the other hand, is a permanent Supply Depot buff, which even makes the building look differently.

Cydra:
1. Calldown Extra Supplies costs 50 energy.
2. Extra Supplies increases the supply output by 2.
3. You can still lower/raise your Supply Depot after calldown Extra Supplies on it.
4. It is permanent and looks different from the Supply Depot, which means you’d better take out this Depot first when you attacking the enemy Terran base.

While  the Terran’s macro-complication agent is the Command Center and the Protoss receive the Dark Pylon twist, it is the Zerg’s Queen that lands the mother of all macro buffs.

Zerg Queen
The Zerg Queen has continued to evolve over the last few months. She is a fierce defender of the Zerg Hatcheries and can often be found in small groups defending the larger Zerg infestations. In addition to defending her Hatchery from ground and air threats, the Queen has several special abilities that require energy to use.



Build Creep Tumor: with a mighty push from her bowels, the Queen creates a cluster of organic tumors that generate additional creep. In recent months the Zerg have mutated to move more quickly on creep, making this an important function for the Queen.



Spawn Larva: by injecting Queen ichor into a Hatchery, Lair or Hive the Queen can cause the Zerg structure to undergo a startling metamorphosis. The Hatchery starts to throb and green sacks swell up on the structure. Eventually four additional larva burst out of the Hatchery and land next to whatever larva are already wriggling around nearby. While a Hatchery hosts more than 3 larva, the Hatchery will not spawn additional larva, until that number drops below 3.

As Karune has reconfirmed in response to a question, Queens are not unique units. This creates the possibility of coordinated multi-Hatchery, multi-Queen production bursts, which can effectively more than double the amount of units produced at a given time. The Zerg have been given an extremely flexible, purely macro oriented tool that pushes the player to make meaningful production, offensive, defensive and resource gathering-related decisions.

Karune:
Being able to spawn additional larva can potentially help Zerg production quite a bit actually. Prior, when a Zerg player hatched offensive units, they were always sacrificing the creation of more drones. This ability allows more bandwidth to create even more offensive units for a big push, build more balanced with more drones and additional units, or double up on the teching effort with all drones. There are a lot of options to play with that will surely inspire many new strategies.

The Queen has also been given the perfect AoE attack, which has been confirmed to damage both ground and air, and not damage friendly units.

Razor Plague: with a great breath the queen exhales a cloud of tiny Zerg creatures that create a vast swarm nearby. These creatures attack all enemy creatures within their swarm, doing additional damage to biological targets. What makes it worse is the Zerg player can control the swarm, moving it around to attack whatever enemies he wishes until the swarm becomes exhausted and dissipates.

That wraps up the Chat with the Devs part. Enter Community Q&A section:

1) I am very curious… previously, SCVs, Drones, Probes, Vultures, Archons, and Dark Archons hovered above the ground so they were not hit by mines. My question is simple: Are there any hovering units in Starcraft 2? If there are, can they hover over shallow water?


If Spider Mines stay in the game, then there will be hovering units. Shallow waters are currently just a visual effect and will not ‘play’ differently.


2) How does the Mutalisk attack work in StarCraft II, what defines its bouncing pattern? Is it random or not? If not, what is the criteria that defines how it bounces?


Regardless of the position of the Mutalisk, when its attack hits a target, it will then acquire the next target based on proximity to the first target. The attack will always bounce to the next closest target.


3) Is it possible to toggle off Multiple Building Selection (MBS)?
No.

Blizzard is sticking to its stance on MBS, establishing it as a basic game mechanism.

4) Balancing of 2v2 team play: Roaches + Medivac are too over powered for 2v2 team play unit combinations?

The regeneration rate of the Roaches and the healing of the Medivac will not stack upon each other.


5) What is a good counter for Zerg against Marines, which are upgraded from the original StarCraft?

Zerg actually have a few options that are quite effective. Zerglings can catch Marines out in the open and surround them relatively easily. Secondly, Banelings with the burrow ability are also very effective. There is nothing more gratifying than watching a group of Marines walk over a burrowed Baneling. When it unburrows – BOOM! Another counter that can be used are Roaches with burrow. A player can burrow a Roach at low health for it to regenerate back to full health in seconds, at which point it can unburrow and begin attacking the Marines again.

In late game, Infestor’s with their fungal scourge ability, which causes a biological unit to take damage over time until the unit explodes and does an area of effect damage, decimating groups of Marines easily if the opponent is not fast to react. Additionally, Ultralisks with their new cleave attack as well as 200 more hit points from the original StarCraft also make them an excellent counter to massed Marines.

The Roach has been confirmed to regenerate fast enough to survive Psi Storms, so Blizzard’s decision to deny this biological unit the additional healing source was made due to obvious killability issues. Karune’s description of the burrowed Roach’s regeneration capabilities promises that we will be seeing a lot of Zerg Roach micro, perhaps even forcing opponents to bring detectors to every fight so they can finish off Roaches trying to escape the heat by burrowing.

6) How do you keep the Baneling from exploding on targets that you don’t want them to hit?

The Baneling now has an ‘attack building’ ability now which allows players to have more control over what the Baneling attacks. Players no longer need to worry about Banelings accidentally exploding on a building when they actually wanted it to hit a unit.

And so ends another massive update, which has included significant changes to game mechanics, the introduction of new buildings and abilities, new upgrades to existing units, and perhaps the final graphical touch ups for the Zerg race.

Chat with Devs:


The new year is well on its way and with it, the devs have been making much progress in both the artistic polish of the game, as well as continued development of multiplayer game mechanics. The art team has been adding several new death animations for units including the Drone’s disintegration into ashes when torched by Hellions, or the explosion of the Overlord sacs by Marine Gauss Rifle fire, and even Marauders being sliced into various pieces by Dark Templars. All of it is quite a sight to see and it is the hope of the art team that these additional animations will really give players a grand experience of immersion into an epic StarCraft battle. On the multiplayer side, the designers are testing out various macro-management encouraging mechanics that will be implemented to each race, but still be played out differently per race. These macro elements will be aimed to allow players with greater macro-management skills to compete with the advantage of gathering more resources than a player who does not emphasize as much on resourcing. More details about the mechanics that are being implemented will be covered in the next Q&A batch and is also planned to be showcased in the next StarCraft II Battle Report.

The StarCraft Universe’s weaponry varies wildly; from the Colossus’ massive lasers and Thor’s Flak cannons to the Zerglings’ claws and Hellion’s flamers – it is only fitting to have at least several key weapon-type dependent deaths per unit. The unit’s death animation is unlikely to be tied to an attack by a specific unit, however. Instead, it will probably be the result of a certain type of attack, perhaps divided into categories such as projectiles, beams, fire and slashing or the like. This design would allow a unit to behave (ahem, die..) correctly when facing user-created enemies in custom maps – which, as Blizzard has mentioned before, are the maps that will include the fancy death animations.

As mentioned just a few days ago, Blizzard is clearly looking to complicate the macromanagement aspect of StarCraft 2. With its multiple automation mechanisms, StarCraft 2 differs greatly from StarCraft 1′s Spartan approach to base and economy management. With the demanding Gas Babysitting mechanism not being met with open arms even by seasoned professionals, it is only natural for Blizzard to try and introduce additional concepts that will allow the much needed professional macro-skill edge to be expressed in StarCraft 2.

On to the Q&A:

1. The recently released screenshot (http://www.sc2blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/ss104-hires.jpg) shows a combat in rainy night appearance. Will night or different weather be limited to campaign mode? And will it be possible to select it on the map editor?

Night and rain effects will be possible in campaign mode but are not likely occur in multiplayer. Additionally, these effects will be available to map editors to use for custom maps.

It has yet to be seen whether this decision truly benefits the professional competition or just constitutes a missed opportunity for introducing an additional, relevant concept of StarCraft 2 gameplay. Of course, the decision to not use the existing Day/Night/Weather cycle mechanism in competitive multiplayer matches might be caused by graphics requirements or other gameplay/balance issues that have been discovered during internal testing.

2. Does blizzard plan any interface options for people with physical issues (such as color blindness, deafness)? – Kain175 (USEast)

This is a good suggestion and we would like to give all players opportunities to enjoy our games. While we may not be able to create accommodations for everyone, there have definitely been strides made to accommodate more players than the previous StarCraft. For example, you can find more alerts on the screen, such as attack, build complete, and more in StarCraft II and this system will be helpful for players who have difficulty hearing the game sound.


3. Will there be any multi monitor support? – SC2Pod

StarCraft II will support widescreen but not multi-monitor. Widescreen is definitely becoming more of an industry standard, but multi-monitor support for StarCraft II may be too great of a tactical advantage over other players without more than one monitor.

As awesome and practical multi-monitor support may be for the RTS and RTT genre, no game that is aimed at the mainstream and professional audience simultaneously can afford implementing this feature. It has appeared at the very bottom of our StarCraft 2 Wishlist 18 months ago, a fitting place for a great feature that has no place in the real world.

4. SC1 “caster” units did not have a regular attack; some of WC3 “caster” units did have a regular attack; will SC2 “caster” units remain attack-less? – TheWarCenter

Some of the caster units in StarCraft II like the High Templar and Infestor lack a default attack, but there still are some caster units which also have a normal attack ability such as the Mothership and the Ghost.


5. When two opposing forces come to a Xel’naga tower who gets control? Is it the person with the largest army or is it on a first-come/first-serve basis? – TheWarCenter

When two opposing forces are near a Xel’Naga Watch Tower, they both lose control of the Watch Tower, regardless of the size of the army or the order of who arrives first. For example, when you have a ground unit next to the Xel’Naga Watch Tower, you will get vision of the area surrounding the Xel’Naga Watch Tower. When the opponent’s unit approaches close enough to control the Watch Tower, the Xel’Naga Watch Tower will shut down and both you and your opponent will lose the increased visual range given by the tower.

The first (and only, as of today) StarCraft 2 Battle Report demonstrated the importance of Xel’Naga Watch Tower control as well as the fact that a significant portion of battles are waged in their proximity.

6. Is the charge ability only limited to the distance between the zealot and its target or is it also limited to the time that is needed to reach the target? Presumed you have a zealot on a cliff and you want him to charge an enemy unit below the cliff, will it charge all the way over the ramp or will it stop charging after some time? – StarCraft 2 Source DE

Zealot’s Charge ability is based on the ground range, regardless of the height. So a Zealot on the cliff will not start charging a unit below the cliff, even if they look like they are visually right next to each other. The Zealot must be within a set pathing distance from the target for it to activate it’s charge ability, meaning the path in which the Zealot takes to get to the target is a set amount. Additionally, Zealots will not be able to charge through cliffs. They must go around.


7. Are you going to add some of the best custom maps to the regular ladder pool? – StarCraft 2 Source DE

In the future, there will be opportunities for map makers to get their maps added to ladder pools. These maps will of course, be selected based on quality, in terms of competitiveness for multiplayer games.

It is not entirely clear if Karune’s answer covers the case of “custom gameplay experience” that can be found in popular custom maps like DoTA or just user-created maps of exceptional quality, built for normal StarCraft 2 gameplay.

All in all, both the art and game design teams seem to have their hands full. The upcoming Battle Reports, Q&A sessions and community feedback requests are likely to focus on the few key issues which have not been resolved internally so far, but have no place in a public beta.

Different clans take great pains to distinguish themselves through variations in weapons, armor, markings, and dress. For example, the famed hunters of the Zer’atai dress in the bones of slain zerg; the Boros are known for their blank-faced helms and heavy armor; and the Lenassa wear distinctive cloth wrappings and bear wickedly curved warp blades.

The first option represents the Lenassa tribe of dark templar, which made its debut in the original StarCraft. This unit carries a single warp blade, and a cloth shroud covers its face.

n

The second option represents the Zer’atai tribe of dark templar, who wield dual scythes and wear an ensemble of heavy armor and the bones of slain zerg.

n

The third and final option is to have both tribes represented: When you build a dark templar, either the Lenassa or Zer’atai dark templar would spawn randomly.

The dilemma is not complex; it is one which most companies solve behind the corporate curtains, often ending up picking the wrong model due to simply not having the tradition of crowdsourcing certain design decisions. That’s not the case with Blizzard, who often seeks direct feedback from their fans. This is another one of these occasions, so get out there and make your voice heard.

* Click for big

The SC2Blog, devout proponents of democracy, will also be hosting a poll on the subject.

Ironically, while both Diablo 3 and StarCraft 2 appear in 1Up’s  “25 of the Most Anticipated Video Games of 2009“, Thierry Nguyen (1Up’s writer) seems to have a very realistic view on Blizzard’s schedule, reminding everyone of its famous “when it’s done” mantra.

1UP: First off, some of us were wondering: Do you ever feel limited in the ability to be creative design-wise because of the StarCraft legacy? Do you find yourself caving in to pressures to appease your older fans at the cost of innovating the game?

Dustin Browder: No, not at all.

RIGHT. StarCraft fans are not only loyal and passionate, they are also quite loud. While Blizzard has the amazing knack for delivering masterpieces in consecutive fashion, Blizzard’s fan base deserves credit for providing the constant stream of feedback most companies can only dream of.
A significant portion of said base has been familiar with StarCraft’s look and feel for a decade, and while gamers do not want to end up with StarCraft 3D, it’s safe to assume that the change will not be as drastic as it was with WarCraft 3.

game sold more than 9.5 million copies worldwide, so even though StarCraft today has a reputation as a super hardcore RTS game, it truly did have mainstream appeal.

StarCraft is perhaps the closest thing to becoming the modern equivalent of chess. While many gamers are familiar with the game’s basics and have played some multiplayer StarCraft games, there also exists a large group of professional players, which has taken the game to a depth level matched only by games which have existed for centuries.

So once we ship the core game of StarCraft 2 and start delving into the expansions, we’ll have a great deal of that infrastructure under our belts and be able to concentrate primarily on content creation for the two expansion sets.

Remember that technically, StarCraft 2′s multiplayer experience won’t be finished either. As mentioned earlier, every expansion will contain new units (or mechanics) which will add to each races’ arsenal. The expansions are projected to be released year after year in consecutive fashion, which means it’ll take StarCraft 2 a minimum of two years to reach the point where the multiplayer game is finalized with all available units. This is when the game can begin the long process of balancing, hopefully maturing slowly into a masterpiece worthy of its legacy.

It doesn’t make sense for Kerrigan to be flying around in a battlecruiser and picking out mercenary missions for cash, which is what you’ll be doing with Raynor in the core game’s campaign. So we’ll be doing something different with Kerrigan to get her to evolve and grow her Zerg army. Meanwhile, Zeratul’s Protoss campaign may require you to engage in diplomacy with the different Protoss tribes in order to gain access to…

This is quite different from StarCraft 1 and just about every other RTS game to ever hit the market. Blizzard’s investment in the not-part-of-actual-RTS details of the Single Player Campaign is quite staggering.

We’ve put by far, the most amount of work into the Terrans — the other two campaigns are still in planning and concepting

…Being able to focus on one race for 26 to 30 missions gives us the breathing room to give players meaningful choices…

Three months ago, on October 13, the status did not appear be much different...

according to Chris Sigaty, lead producer, they are now finishing “Wings of Liberty“, the Terran campaign.

Dustin Browder: You’re certainly going to see other major characters like Kerrigan and Zeratul make significant appearances and impact in the first campaign…

It looks like Blizzard is working in full force to finish the first part of the single player campaign while finalizing the multiplayer game in order to launch StarCraft 2 within the next few months. Will we see a beta soon?