StarCraft II Situation Report: Patch 13

[UntamedLoli]

There have been many new additions to Patch 13 including the map publishing feature, but as with previous Situation Reports, we wanted to take some time to go into some of the balance changes in particular and explain a bit more about them.

In this patch we are looking to address several balance issues that the community has discovered over the last few weeks. We are also addressing some of the zerg units and abilities that don’t see a lot of use in competitive games. These changes are big enough that we think it’s likely there will be further balance changes to these units as we learn more about how they are playing in the game.

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

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.

Ultralisk - Life decreased from 600 to 450. Damage changed from 25 to 15 (+25 Armored). Damage versus structures increased from 60 to 75.

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 slow or 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.

Infestor - Infested Terrans 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.

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.

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.

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.

Void Rays - Range decreased from 7 to 6.

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.

Terran Upgrades - Marine - Stimpack research cost decreased from 150/150 to 100/100. Combat Shield research cost decreased from 150/150 to 100/100.

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.

As always, we are continuing to watch the data as we make these changes as well as are continuing to watch for constructive feedback on these changes and more.

http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=25026452511



StarCraft II Beta -- Patch 13 (version 0.15.0.15449)

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:
          o Removed Copper League and added Diamond League above Platinum League.
          o Player ratings start at 0, rather than 1000.
          o No longer displays loading screen odds in placement or practice league matches.
          o Matchmaking system logic updated.

    * UDP is enabled to help improve game performance.
    * Numerous performance and stability improvements.

Balance Changes


    * PROTOSS

          o Sentry

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


          o Void Ray

                + Range decreased from 7 to 6.


          o Warp Gate

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




    * TERRAN

          o Marine

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




    * ZERG


          o 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.


          o 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.


          o Ultralisk

                + Life decreased from 600 to 450.
                + Damage changed from 25 to 15 (+25 Armored).
                + Damage versus structures increased from 60 to 75.



Hotkey Changes (English Only):



    * Zerg Set Worker Rally Point changed from R to G.
    * Zerg Spore Crawler changed from W to A to avoid conflict with the Select All Warp Gates hotkey.



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.

http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=23094049316#16

[IskatuMesk]

They really want to keep Infested Terrans in the game. Really want to keep it.

I wasn't expecting map publishing to make it in beta, especially with such huge balance changes being swung around, but they must be really confident about the changes to introduce that.

3v3 and 4v4... might have to play a few more times. If I can get my upload fixed (storm fucked up my internet).

Removed identifier from the character naming process

was a stupid idea to begin with, glad they removed it

[Mr.]

Uh... so I'm on battle net now.  Where is this patch, exactly?

[Theia_Loki]

Couldn't they just revamp Terran Infestation to what it was back when Zerg were revealed?

And now they're making a secondary caster out of the Overseer. Doesn't sound too bad. Then again, it's annoying that they're dropping infested terrans now. They might as well just have a spell that causes it to crap out killer pin leeches and call it a day.

[Aegis]

Uh... so I'm on battle net now.  Where is this patch, exactly?

Last I checked, they didn't upload the patch, only the notes. >>

As for the changes to Zerg, I'm still absorbing those changes.

[Falchion]

So, Infested Terrans are faded to bother Overseers, now...  I've used them once and it was fail, more because I'm pretty stupid as Zerg.  Actually, I can't see where this will be useful, Infesteds were never considered in Duality.  To me, sounds like Blizzard is trying to make all units battlefield-useful.

As I can't see where this new ability will balance a fucked-up game!  If Blizzard wants to make this "Frenzy" useful, then make this ability increase armor resistance too, and then will be Ultras useful!  Also, this Ultra life nerf?  Fail.

This Force Field stomp is something I definitely disagree.  THIS IS NOT RED ALERT 3, FOR BLUE BALLS' SAKE!  Stop letting Browder pick his nose where he isn't called.  Force Field must continue to block even the heartiest of units, for the sake of longer battles!

I also disagree with Void Ray nerf:  Not enough to stop the masses.  I'm telling to make it more expensive and supply-user, so players won't have such headaches and value Phoenixes a little bit.

Contaminate isn't enough for me:  Make it one minute and the ability to shut down Pylons.  Just diminishing Marine upgrades won't be enough, I told you, we need SERIOUS Marine buffs, either in firepower or DPS.

/edit AND NO, THAT AIN'T ABOUT STIMPACKS!!!!

[Mr.]

Infested Terrans?  Who cares, really.  I never used changeling, now I'll never use another Overseer ability.  Maybe Contaminate would be slightly useful.

Most of the other stuff I'm pretty indifferent about, too.  Actually, I just said I was indifferent about Infested Overseers, too, so I guess I'm indifferent about everything.

Also, I don't really think that marines need buffs.  I played a game with Ricky last night, a 2v2, where I did nothing but build marines, and then after a while I built some medivacs.  And I was basically able to just steamroll into the other team's area, destroy both of their armies at once, completely obliterate one of their bases, while Ricky poked away at the other base.  I then followed him and cleaned up everything in that base instantly. 

They could have killed them all, if they had more than one colossus, or maybe some infestors, or something.  But I REALLY don't think that they need a buff.

also:

I told you, we need SERIOUS Marine buffs, either in firepower or DPS.

/edit AND NO, THAT AIN'T ABOUT STIMPACKS!!!!

Stimpacks increase dps, fyi.

[wibod]

Marines got their buff with the changes to stim and combat shield cost. Before those could be prohibitively expensive in early game, now it's not so much of a problem.

[UntamedLoli]

It looks like Patch 13 is actually the "release" client.

Old Login:
[imgwh 640x400]http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/475/ ... 171345.jpg[/imgwh]

New Login:
[imgwh 640x400]http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/8172/s ... 210760.jpg[/imgwh]

[imgwh 640x400]http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/5444/offlinex.jpg[/imgwh]

The editor got a bit of an overhaul but theres still little use of horizontal space.

[imgwh 640x493]http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/4637/tabsl.jpg[/imgwh]

[IskatuMesk]

Name and Unit Description are still worlds apart (and in entirely different tabs in the gui editor). The tabs are the only real improvement, it still needs actual organization and such. But at least they're doing something.

Too bad they're killing modding.

[Mr.]

Awesome.  So.  Battle net is up now, it seems.  And I went online, and I was going to try to add people to my friends list again, to see who was on.  But as it turns out, you can't add anyone anymore just by typing in their name, as far as I can tell.  You can only do it by right clicking on their name SOMEWHERE ELSE, and adding them from there.  Meaning, I can't add anyone, until they come online, and I talk to them.  Wait, but how do you even talk to them?  I can't create a party except by inviting someone from my friend list!  Same for inviting someone to a game. 

Can I not add someone unless I add their email address?

I could add someone if I could talk to them, but I can't talk to someone until I add them. 

What?

[IskatuMesk]

wow after having to make a custom game and play musical chairs just to add ricky to my friends list, realizing you still need to scroll down to see every player in the lobby, the chat box is still laggy as fuck AND the interface is still ugly as fuck I seriously have to wonder what these idiots are doing with all this time they've had to fix this awful inane excuse of a online client

Oh, and names are STILL not unique.

/e

Oh, and you can't locally host maps.

Without mpqdraft there is no modding. Period. This is game over.

[Xenon]

I can see it now: "New feature: new friends can only be added through Facebook!"

[IskatuMesk]

They really fucked their netcode, the game is totally unplayable from lag atm

[archon_wing]

wow after having to make a custom game and play musical chairs just to add ricky to my friends list, realizing you still need to scroll down to see every player in the lobby, the chat box is still laggy as fuck AND the interface is still ugly as fuck I seriously have to wonder what these idiots are doing with all this time they've had to fix this awful inane excuse of a online client

Oh, and names are STILL not unique.

/e

Oh, and you can't locally host maps.

Without mpqdraft there is no modding. Period. This is game over.

Holy shit, what a fucking joke. Did they even test their shit.