Mesk HoTS First Impressions Video

Post Reply
User avatar
IskatuMesk
Xel'naga World Shaper
Xel'naga World Shaper
Posts: 8328
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 1:40 pm
Location: M͈̙̞͍͞ͅE̹H̨͇̰͈͕͇̫Ì̩̳CO̼̩̤͖͘ జ్ఞ‌ా

Mesk HoTS First Impressions Video

Post by IskatuMesk »

I took my one and only spelunk into hots recently. With the game nearing release, where has Blizzard focused their efforts on? I focused on Battle.net 2.0's updates and the computer AI, since I literally don't care about multiplayer or their official campaign (the latter of which I can't test anyways). An honest, to the point first impressions video.

1:32 hour runtime, 1.3gb, 1920x1200 x264/aac.

I forgot to re-enable my cursor for recording a portion of this (I had it disabled for Retribution recordings), but hopefully my ui rant is not too hard to follow.

http://www.gameproc.com/meskstuff/LP/HM ... eSwarm.mkv

If you're lazy, here's a condensed text of my thoughts.
Spoiler
- The battle.net interface hasn't improved since WoL was first revealed. Its performance is appalling. They re-organized some things but basic features are still missing.
- Very large attempts to cater to some kind of subhuman casuals with their experience system and a ton of really over the top casual-oriented default settings.
- Massive performance problems left and right ingame. Large maps with AI are unplayable on my i7 920/12gb ram/6870. HKS has a significantly more powerful system and still has performance troubles. Widespread complaints on TL. You can recall the massive W&M games gave me a slowdown with sc2's single-threaded glory, but here we're talking 1 frame every 10-20 sec with virtually nothing going on in comparison.
- Uninteresting new units. Flabbergasted that the Hellbat still exists. Expecting game to remain stale as the main problems behind sc2's unit designs remain.
- AI command sort of system. With good AI scripts this could be kind of neat. I liked it, but it feels extremely unfinished. Was pushed out to WoL I think.
- Ragdolls, though I didn't really notice them a lot during gameplay.
- Skin unlock system means more assets for custom content producers.
- The goofiest looking terran splash screen ever made.

AI-specific observations

I doubt these are unique to WoL, but may as well note them.

- AI can't build its main base on alternating cliff levels, a massive bug not new to Blizzard games.
- However, the AI can shift its "main base" fairly easily once it expands somewhere. Wc3 was similar, but not quite as effective.
- AI pathfinding is far less effective than default pathfinding. For campaigns this is moot - use waypoints for trouble spots.
- For the first time in sc2 history the zerg didn't spam roaches to fight my void rays. Maybe coincidence.

Extra

- The art tools are much bigger news than hots. Hots, other than its assets, offers nothing to custom content producers. Getting those assets is trivial business.
- Expressed desire to potentially rebuild Apex post-Retribution, but only because of the art tools.
User avatar
Pr0nogo
Protoss Zealot Practice Dummy
Protoss Zealot Practice Dummy
Posts: 874
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 3:59 pm
Contact:

Re: Mesk HoTS First Impressions Video

Post by Pr0nogo »

FYI: Widow Mines can be built two at a time via Reactor.

Good video. Really enjoyed it.
User avatar
Falchion
Zerg Hydralisk Nail Stylist
Zerg Hydralisk Nail Stylist
Posts: 593
Joined: Tue Sep 19, 2006 4:32 pm
Location: Bragança Paulista, Brazil (Da most borin' place in the world)
Contact:

Re: Mesk HoTS First Impressions Video

Post by Falchion »

Pr0nogo wrote:FYI: Widow Mines can be built two at a time via Reactor.
The fact two Widow Mines, with that absurd damage output, can be massed rather quickly, is what it makes an OP. It's also a hell of a hard counter, because, if one is massed and pressing the mines, the player has no choice but to either send expendable MULEs, make hallucinations or go Mustaches because they'll buttfuck a ground/air army if they're not careful. Literally.

So far the ONLY unit that I consider the most balanced and that fills a function in HotS perfectly so far is the Oracle. People might not like me for it, but I say it was past the time Protoss needed a harassment unit that's not later-game, but also not early-game too.

/edit On additional note, Mesk, I never thought the SC II AI was this trainwreck I saw. AIs that don't do shit or do much shit? Someone needs to talk to Blizzard...
How I became a troll in a single post (And you can too!!! :D ): link

Image
Post Reply