StarCraft II Beta Patch 9 Released

[Lavarinth]

As expected, Blizzard has just upgraded StarCraft II to the next level towards being finalized with Patch 9, it's content release patch. Featuring Achievements, Decals, additional Portraits, an incredible list of new features, and of course the StarCraft II Editor!

   * The StarCraft II Editor is now available!
         o Players will now be able to begin creating trigger maps in preparation for map publishing which will be made available in an upcoming beta patch.
   * Achievements & Decals are now live!
         o Players will now be able to earn achievements, browse the list of available achievements, and view achievements earned by friends.
         o Players will be able to highlight favorite achievements in their Showcase.
         o Earning certain achievements will unlock portrait and decal rewards.
   * The updated Homepage now includes a Recent Broadcasts panel and a News & Community panel.
   * A new Match History page is now available which will allow players to browse and filter their last 1,000 games played.
   * A new Community page is now available which features an in-game version of RSS news feeds.
   * A new Friends-of-Friends feature has been added, which allows players to easily find and connect with more real life friends on Battle.net through existing friends.
   * Additional friends' presence details are now available from the Friends' list.
   * Improvements have been made on the Voice Chat system in game.
         o Please use the new voice chat and provide feedback via the StarCraft II beta forums.
   * The score screen now features a new graph tab.
   * The art for many parts of the user interface has been updated.
   * Hotkey templates have been added.
   * In the gameplay options menu select from standard name based hotkeys for right and left-handed players, grid based hotkeys for right, and left-handed players, and classic StarCraft keys.
   * Several hotkeys have been changed to avoid conflicts with the "Select All Warpgates" UI button:
         o The Set Worker Rally Point has been changed from W to R.
         o Build Sensor Tower has been changed from W to N.
         o Terran Infantry Weapons have been changed from W to E.
         o Terran Vehicle Weapons have been changed from W to E.
         o Weapon Refit has been changed from W to R.
         o Burrow has been changed from W to R.
         o Spawn Larva has been changed from R to V.
         o Neural Parasite has been changed from R to E.

Balance Changes

   * TERRAN
         o Marauder
               + Concussive Shells research cost decreased from 100/100 80 seconds to 50/50 60 seconds.

   * PROTOSS
         o Immortal
               + Build time increased from 40 to 55.

   * ZERG
         o Infested Terran
               + Damage increased from 5 to 8.
               + Speed decreased from 1.5 to 0.9375.
         o Queen
               + Speed off creep decreased from 1.5 to 0.938. (Speed on creep unchanged.)
         o Spine Crawler
               + Attack period decreased from 1.6 to 1.85.
         o Infestor
               + Neural Parasite range increased from 7 to 9.
               + Fungal Growth projectile removed; Units in the target area are now instantly hit.

Maps

   * We've made a change to the (2)ScrapStation map to make the natural expansion easier to defend.
   * New maps have been added to the ladder rotation while others have been removed as follows:
         o 1v1
               + Added (2)IncinerationZone
         o 2v2
               + Removed (4)LostTemple
               + Removed (4)Metalopolis
               + Added (4)AridWastes
               + Added (4)Coalition
               + Added (4)Decena
               + Added (4)ScorchedHaven
         o 1v1 (Novice)
               + Removed (4)NoviceKulasRavine
         o 2v2 (Novice)
               + Removed (4)NoviceKulasRavine
               + Removed (4)NoviceShakurasPlateau
               + Added (4)NoviceDecena
               + Added (4)NoviceScorchedHaven
               + Added (4)NoviceTwilightFortress

[Mucky]

Balance Changes

   * TERRAN
         o Marauder
               + Concussive Shells research cost decreased from 100/100 80 seconds to 50/50 60 seconds.

You know, when people were groaning about a Marauder buff, I thought it would be something like increased damage or health. This hardly changes anything. So here is where things stand:

Marauder
Starts with concussive shell ---------------> Researches for 100/100/80 ----------------> Researches for 50/50/60

They're still nerfed if you look at it from the originating point, and even with the first nerf their power hadn't really gone down. In conclusion, Browder is retarded.

[UntamedLoli]

They completely killed off the social tab now, gg ever seeing chat channels.

[IskatuMesk]

New protoss track has a bunch of WoW lick king melodies in it. Some of it just sounds like copy pasta completely. Kind of amusing.

[Mr.]

I updated to patch 9, and now Starcraft II crashes immediately any time I try to run it.

Awesome.

[GreatGodSajuuk]

They killed metalopolis tho.

[Mucky]

They killed metalopolis tho.

[imgwh 477x355]http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/7079 ... 871533.jpg[/imgwh]

[Lavarinth]

Some people have had to reinstall from scratch. I just keep trying to login and eventually it gets in.

[Mr.]

Some people have had to reinstall from scratch.

I already did that.  GUESS I'LL DO IT AGAIN LOL

EDIT:  Oh hey, that's weird.  I went to add/remove programs, and uninstalled SC2.  But it took, like, 0.3 seconds, so I was a but suspicious.  I checked the folder I had it installed to, and it was still there.  So I ran the exe.  It started the patching thing, and installed the patch instantly, and started right up.  Weird.

[IskatuMesk]

They killed metalopolis tho.

Only in 2v2.

I've had a notable number of difficulties in joining games with this and patch 10, including outright crashing and getting notifications that everyone has disconnected before the loading screen even popped up.

[Falchion]

They killed metalopolis tho.

Only in 2v2.

I've had a notable number of difficulties in joining games with this and patch 10, including outright crashing and getting notifications that everyone has disconnected before the loading screen even popped up.

And that's WHY I'M PATIENT AND DON'T GET ANY BETAS EVAR!!!