StarCraft II Official! (Pictures)

[CDLVII]

From what I've been hearing from friends and from what I saw the AI was raping most people. Games only lasted like 20 min, since they had a timer on all the games to get the line moving, and it was all 1v1.

Maybe the AI was developed to keep people from hogging the computer for too long?

[IskatuMesk]

Not likely. The computers were already limited to 20 minute games.

[Negi]

too many units don't really work well for their purposes

Units they should bring back equivalences of:
Scout
Wraith
Reaver
Goliath
Vulture
Defiler

Units they should scrap
Immortals
Reapers
Colossus

Units they should re-power
Carrier!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Highest tier air should not be that damn weak
Hydralisk went from the most useful unit in the game to a hard anti-air counter.  Seriously, what the hell.

Units that need name-changes:
EVERY NEW PROTOSS UNIT
EVERY NEW TERRAN UNIT
EVERY NEW ZERG UNIT

Seriously, the names they picked are fucking terrible
Nearly every starcraft unit obeyed a racial naming scheme or subscheme

Protoss

Zealot
Templar
Dragoon
Archon
- Names reminiscent of middle-age military units with a distinct catholic-roman feel

Scout
Carrier
Shuttle
Observer
Probe
-Simple names basically describing what the unit does
Corsair
Arbiter
Reaver
- Only names that didn't really fit the naming scheme but all sounded cool

Terran

Marine
Firebat
Ghost
Medic
- Simple names that really convey the units' roles

Siege Tank
Dropship
Battlecruiser
Science Vessel
SCV
- Obvious descriptive names for units -- pretty much what they are

Valkyrie
Goliath
Vulture
- Again, don't necessarily fit, but still sound cool

Zerg

Zergling
Broodling
Hydralisk
Ultralisk
Mutalisk
-Fairly obvious how these all relate.  They are all alien sounding names ending with li-- indicating either diminutive or mature unit type

Queen
Overlord
Drone
Guardian
- All describe organisms in an insect-type hive

Lurker
Devourer
Defiler
-Names describing function -- Lurker lurks, devourer devours (air units), and defiler defiles stuff

Scourge
- Pretty much only zerg unit not following one of the above naming schemes

Now look at SC2
We have for Terran

SCV
Marine
Ghost
Siege Tank
Battle Cruiser
Reaper - It reaps?  I don't get it
Marauder - It marauds? I don't get it
Hellion - WTF does that even mean or relate to?
Thor - ?
Medivac - Name makes sense but is just shitty
Nighthawk - Come on, what does this mean?
Banshee - Having played StarCraft I, this would make sense if it was a natural evolution of the Wraith.  But no, it has two gigantic-ass fans.  Plus it's ATS only which makes it a stupid fucking horrible copy of the guardian.  It is not like the wraith at all, so why name it like that?
Viking - Come on, really?

So we went arguably from 3 non-descriptive non-conforming names to 8.  There is no logic to these names at all.

Consider the new Protoss

Probe
Zealot
High Templar
Dark Templar
(Twilight) Archon
Observer
Carrier
Stalker - Name is misleading, suggests it is a cloaked unit or something. 
Immortal - Doesn't really work with the other names for protoss units.  Never are protoss units named just by adjectives; it just sounds wrong
Nullifier - Name might work, but there are a number of better names that could be come up with
Colossus - Looks like a tripod from War of the Worlds, useless, shitty, and sounds like it would be a Terran unit.  Name sucks, try again.
Warp-Prism - We go from a simple easy name like shuttle to Warp-Prism.  The thing is, Warp-Prism does not sound anything like a protoss unit.  It's just bad.
Phoenix - That's right, the protoss are apparently familiar enough with human mythology to pull this one off.  Doesn't make sense, doesn't work, doesn't sound anything like a protoss air unit.  It does not describe function at all.  Sounds more like a terran unit.
Void Ray - like warp-prism in its shittiness.  Don't describe what it's shaped like..  Describe what it does in some way.  Call it a destroyer, call it anything but void ray.  Void ray in english would just be a ray that shot nothing?
Mothership - WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WAHT WHAT WHAT?!  Could they really be serious withi this?  We can see that the protoss are aliens.  Unfortunately, the problem is as follows.  Carriers are the protoss capital ships.  Battles are commanded from them.  Ships dock within them.  Mothership doesn't sound protoss.  It doesn't follow any other naming scheme.  It doesn't look protoss.  The devs are a little too preoccupied with war of the worlds or something, because protoss DO NOT USE MOTHERSHIPS!  They warp nearly everything in, or they fly their fleets in when warping in is not an option.  So yeah, fuck "Mothership"

So far, from what we've seen of the Zerg, I don't have much hope either
Creep tumor - shitty name
Zerg Roach - LOLOLOL
Just... yeah, shitty names for the zerg thusfar.

So yeah, those are some problems I have with SC2.  Most important things though, are bringing back standard tier 1 air units for all races back into the game,  Scout and Wraith.  Then next is to re-power the carrier and hydralisk.  More important for the hydralisk, but the carrier would be nice.  After all of those things are done, then they can change the names, but I hope they get better than they are now.

[WB]

QQ.

[IskatuMesk]

I'd be more worried about the ass-backwards hard counter based balancing than the names right now.

[Taeradun]

RARGH BRING BACK SCOUTS

[Thalraxal]

Terrans tend to use alot of standard or mythological names for units.  So I don't mind the Thor (only so long as they give it Mjolnir Missiles!), or the Banshee.  Marauder's a fine name.  Reapers just wanna be badass, so while I suspect their offical name in the Dominion Military is something like "Crazy Suicide Jetpack Soldiers", they call themselves Reapers becaus they think it's cool.  Viking makes sense if it's primarily designed for raiding, but I think it's moved more into Primary-Air Defence territory now.

Also, I'd be willing to be that one of the annoyed responses for the Viking will be "What?  No, I'm not lost!" or something close to that.  There will also be a mission in the Terran Campaign where you'll have to rescue three Vikings.

Protoss robotic units tend to be pretty descriptive of what they do (Shuttles transport, Observers observer, Reavers reave (takin' your minerals fields by force!)).  So... Colossus doesn't quite fit, it'd fit better in the Terran Unit Names.  But, it's tolerable, and it's important to consider that lore-wise the Colossus is one of the few robots that the Protoss built strictly for war, so having a name that doesn't quite fit with the rest of them kinda makes sense.  Maybe the Protoss have legendary giants in their mythology too.  Immortals work, considering what they are (on top of being ressurected Protoss Warriors, they've also got that whole Hardened Shields thing going for them to, which also works well with the name).  Really, Pheonix is the only name that annoys me for the Protoss, because it's from Human mythology and also because that was almost the name of the Wraith in SC1.

For the Zerg, Creep Tumor works, as it does actually kinda describe what it does (it's a tumor, in Creep).  Maybe part of me just likes the comparison of the Zerg to a cancer.  The name's on par with "Creep Colony" and "Sunken Colony" anyway.  Roach is the only name that kinda annoys me for the Zerg, simply because it's so... Starship Troopers.

I'd be more worried about the ass-backwards hard counter based balancing than the names right now.

Yeah, but the ass-backwards hard counters have a better chance of going away than the poorly chosen names do.

[Hercanic]

Dear Negi:
Your logic isn't consistent, and comes across more as nostalgia rejecting change.

Valkyrie - Norse mythology, female warrior-angels of the battlefield.

Viking - Norse warriors. New evolution of a Valkyrie/Goliath hybrid, so it keeps consistent. The Vikings were also unique in that their boats could navigate up rivers, giving them far greater reach. This fits with the ground/air mode change giving the unit greater reach.

Thor - God of Thunder in Norse mythology. If the Viking is a mech, a gigantic mech named after a god in the same mythology makes sense.

I could go on, but I have things I need to do and thus don't have the time.

[Marco]

too many units don't really work well for their purposes

Units they should bring back equivalences of:
Scout
Wraith
Reaver
Goliath
Vulture
Defiler

Units they should scrap
Immortals
Reapers
Colossus

Units they should re-power
Carrier!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Highest tier air should not be that damn weak
Hydralisk went from the most useful unit in the game to a hard anti-air counter.  Seriously, what the hell.

Units that need name-changes:
EVERY NEW PROTOSS UNIT
EVERY NEW TERRAN UNIT
EVERY NEW ZERG UNIT

Seriously, the names they picked are fucking terrible
Nearly every starcraft unit obeyed a racial naming scheme or subscheme

Protoss

Zealot
Templar
Dragoon
Archon
- Names reminiscent of middle-age military units with a distinct catholic-roman feel

Scout
Carrier
Shuttle
Observer
Probe
-Simple names basically describing what the unit does
Corsair
Arbiter
Reaver
- Only names that didn't really fit the naming scheme but all sounded cool

Terran

Marine
Firebat
Ghost
Medic
- Simple names that really convey the units' roles

Siege Tank
Dropship
Battlecruiser
Science Vessel
SCV
- Obvious descriptive names for units -- pretty much what they are

Valkyrie
Goliath
Vulture
- Again, don't necessarily fit, but still sound cool

Zerg

Zergling
Broodling
Hydralisk
Ultralisk
Mutalisk
-Fairly obvious how these all relate.  They are all alien sounding names ending with li-- indicating either diminutive or mature unit type

Queen
Overlord
Drone
Guardian
- All describe organisms in an insect-type hive

Lurker
Devourer
Defiler
-Names describing function -- Lurker lurks, devourer devours (air units), and defiler defiles stuff

Scourge
- Pretty much only zerg unit not following one of the above naming schemes

Now look at SC2
We have for Terran

SCV
Marine
Ghost
Siege Tank
Battle Cruiser
Reaper - It reaps?  I don't get it
Marauder - It marauds? I don't get it
Hellion - WTF does that even mean or relate to?
Thor - ?
Medivac - Name makes sense but is just shitty
Nighthawk - Come on, what does this mean?
Banshee - Having played StarCraft I, this would make sense if it was a natural evolution of the Wraith.  But no, it has two gigantic-ass fans.  Plus it's ATS only which makes it a stupid fucking horrible copy of the guardian.  It is not like the wraith at all, so why name it like that?
Viking - Come on, really?

So we went arguably from 3 non-descriptive non-conforming names to 8.  There is no logic to these names at all.

Consider the new Protoss

Probe
Zealot
High Templar
Dark Templar
(Twilight) Archon
Observer
Carrier
Stalker - Name is misleading, suggests it is a cloaked unit or something. 
Immortal - Doesn't really work with the other names for protoss units.  Never are protoss units named just by adjectives; it just sounds wrong
Nullifier - Name might work, but there are a number of better names that could be come up with
Colossus - Looks like a tripod from War of the Worlds, useless, shitty, and sounds like it would be a Terran unit.  Name sucks, try again.
Warp-Prism - We go from a simple easy name like shuttle to Warp-Prism.  The thing is, Warp-Prism does not sound anything like a protoss unit.  It's just bad.
Phoenix - That's right, the protoss are apparently familiar enough with human mythology to pull this one off.  Doesn't make sense, doesn't work, doesn't sound anything like a protoss air unit.  It does not describe function at all.  Sounds more like a terran unit.
Void Ray - like warp-prism in its shittiness.  Don't describe what it's shaped like..  Describe what it does in some way.  Call it a destroyer, call it anything but void ray.  Void ray in english would just be a ray that shot nothing?
Mothership - WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WAHT WHAT WHAT?!  Could they really be serious withi this?  We can see that the protoss are aliens.  Unfortunately, the problem is as follows.  Carriers are the protoss capital ships.  Battles are commanded from them.  Ships dock within them.  Mothership doesn't sound protoss.  It doesn't follow any other naming scheme.  It doesn't look protoss.  The devs are a little too preoccupied with war of the worlds or something, because protoss DO NOT USE MOTHERSHIPS!  They warp nearly everything in, or they fly their fleets in when warping in is not an option.  So yeah, fuck "Mothership"

So far, from what we've seen of the Zerg, I don't have much hope either
Creep tumor - shitty name
Zerg Roach - LOLOLOL
Just... yeah, shitty names for the zerg thusfar.

So yeah, those are some problems I have with SC2.  Most important things though, are bringing back standard tier 1 air units for all races back into the game,   Scout and Wraith.  Then next is to re-power the carrier and hydralisk.  More important for the hydralisk, but the carrier would be nice.  After all of those things are done, then they can change the names, but I hope they get better than they are now.

If you don't like the names you can always make a 'name change' mod.  I'm sure that'll get a few downloads for you. 

[Aekenon]

As long as they have nice unit response sounds, it's all good.  Speaking of, did the BlizzCon build have more new soundsets implemented?  I haven't looked.

[Lavarinth]

Honestly, I hate the names as well. Roach? Might as well call them Beetles.

[mAc Chaos]

I agree with Negi's post.  Also, the Corsair kind of fits; it's supposed to be a fast ship used back in the day for piracy.  Corsairs in the game are supposed to be quick hit and run type units and are piloted by Dark Templar, "pirates" in the Protoss world if there ever was one.

[Mucky]

The one thing I agree with on unit naming is the Mothership. They were first named that because they were a sort of superunit, an idea that was quickly scrapped. Now the name is just outdated.

What I'm worried about more is what they're doing to the Hydralisk. It's not as if it was this god of omnipotence in SC1; it was just their bread-and-butter unit and their only ground unit that could attack air, so they could be used in FFAs and whatnot. Now they're only effective on air? This is starting to be like WC3 where counters are decided not by the role of units, but by arbitrary numbers and armor types. I know I'm isolating one scenario in asking this, but... are these developers stupid?

[wibod]

So they made Hydra's only useful against air now? What the fuck?

[Lavarinth]

It attacks ground.. But massing them for ground attacks is useless.