StarCraft II Official! (Pictures)

[Thalraxal]

I kinda like the idea (one of my old campaigns actually used evil Zerg shapeshifters as a plotpoint.  Then again, I also consider that campaign to be a steaming pile of garbage these days...), but I don't see the Changling staying in the game for very long either.

[Aekenon]

It's a neat idea, but the whole, "IT'S GOTTA GO NEAR A BARRACKS TO BECOME A MARINE" thing is kinda odd.  Seems like the kind of gimmick born from an old StarCraft UMS.

If they want to trigger a transformation by proximity to something, why not simply the unit itself?  And by that I mean, go near a MARINE to become a MARINE.

[Taeradun]

actually from the description it seems that's what it does

move it near ANY terran unit/building it becomes a marine
near ANY protoss unit/building it becomes a zealot
for zerg... zergling?

but yeah then that ends up as this weird thing like in Red Alert 1 where minigunners were suspicious but you knew your other infantry were safe

[WB]

Except that in RA1 spies actually were useful, and they were dangerous (knock out power, sabotage radar).

Changlings are like spies that wait around to be shot, except that even if you dont discover them, they kill themselves anyway.

Are you worried that there are changlings in your army?! Some simple steps.

1. Wait
2.
3. No more changlings.

[Meta]

It sounds more like a Protoss hallucination thing than a Zerg one.

[Legion]

Except that in RA1 spies actually were useful, and they were dangerous (knock out power, sabotage radar).

Changlings are like spies that wait around to be shot, except that even if you dont discover them, they kill themselves anyway.

Are you worried that there are changlings in your army?! Some simple steps.

1. Wait
2.
3. No more changlings.

Lol, exactly. But hey, I'd sure like to see it.

[Marco]

This game is going to have so many features for custom map makers - especially if they leave in the map editor all of the stuff they remove from the gameplay.  I remember when the WC3 beta was being pirated I denied myself out of ethics and respect for Blizzard.  But as a map maker you were able to learn so much in those months leading up to the official release.  I just don't think I'll be able to resist again when the pirates release it this time.  Gotta open up that gooey mpq and feast on all the goodness within.

[RazorclawX]

I remember when the WC3 beta was being pirated I denied myself out of ethics and respect for Blizzard.  But as a map maker you were able to learn so much in those months leading up to the official release.  I just don't think I'll be able to resist again when the pirates release it this time.  Gotta open up that gooey mpq and feast on all the goodness within.

Yeah, whole lot of good it did for Rise of Krill.

[wibod]

Except that in RA1 spies actually were useful, and they were dangerous (knock out power, sabotage radar).

Changlings are like spies that wait around to be shot, except that even if you dont discover them, they kill themselves anyway.

Are you worried that there are changlings in your army?! Some simple steps.

1. Wait
2.
3. No more changlings.

RA1 spies were the only spy units that were ever done well in the history of RTS.

[WB]

RA2's spies were a definite improvement though! 

[Taeradun]

Except that in RA1 spies actually were useful, and they were dangerous (knock out power, sabotage radar).

Changlings are like spies that wait around to be shot, except that even if you dont discover them, they kill themselves anyway.

Well they don't have the other abilities that RA1 spies had, but the point of changelings is they can scout out the insides of an enemy base that you couldn't otherwise get units inside (like a protoss observer but without detection). Then you could find weak points to send in a nydus worm or something (except they're not in the latest build or something???).

The extra RA1 spy abilities did stuff like giving you their radar coverage (can get some extra coverage by scouting with your spy/changeling anyway) and showing you what units they were building (you can't do that with a changeling but you can see what forces they've already amassed).

As for them dying after a certain time, well they're created by overseers using energy so depending on how much energy it costs and how many overseers it's typical to build you might have a decent stream of production for them anyway. Keeps a decent turnover happening, with one more thing to keep the APMfags busy.

[wibod]

Parasite did the exact same thing really.

[WB]

I guess we will all just have to wait and see.

But I still think it would rock if they could blow up/enter enemy units and make them esplode.

[Maglok]

This is an interesting tidbit of info. Don't have the site handy at home here, but basically lead designer was asked if the editor would ship early. He said it might, they had not decided. Here it comes though: He was also asked what the editor could do and if you could make models, he said they would probably ship with their art tools right away, though you'd still need a 3d model program to actually make them. I find that to be better then with WC3.

[RazorclawX]

I couldn't even use the art tools, much less model something decently. I'm almost certainly going to be unable to use these, too.