Well, I was browsing the Battle.net forums and cam across a post by Warlord225. He did an awesome job telling us what we should expect from StarCraft2. Here is the post:
So I went to Blizzcon. It was nice. Very nice. After a total of 15 20-minute 2v2 games of Starcraft 2, I’d like to offer as much feedback as possible. Hooray!
GENERAL:
-Buildings are a lot larger on the grid now, and are all square - though varying in size. Also, there is a more clearly visible placement grid, which is nice.
-While the game was in an unfinished state (A lot of units had the placeholder Adjutant/Executor portrait), it’s friggin’ amazing to handle and just plain nice to look at. Pure sex.
-Yellow minerals are just fine; the destructible walls and neutral obervatories and line-of-sight blockers were also a nice subtle strategic touch. They take a while to whittle down without a larger army.
-Pathfinding for units was almost entirely smooth, with a few exceptions. The IK system for Colossus and Reapers is quite nice, and it forces you to observe the terrain a lot more closely.
-Air units do not “stack”. This is just fine by me.
TERRAN:
-Adjusting to the two-addon system is a little tough, but it works.
The Reactor does not offer any sort of discount for training two units simultaneously; If you have one attached, and you train two Marines, it will train them both at the same time rather than one after the other. You also can’t make high-tech units (i.e. siege tanks, BC’s, medics) that require an attached Tech Lab, so it balances out.
-The new siege tank is motherf***ing sexy. I want to adopt one.
-The Cobra (shoot-while-moving railgun-hovertank) was one of the few units that didn’t feel very solid to use. It was relatively weak, and its slow movement speed made its vaunted micro-intensive ability - shooting while moving - less effective. This same problem is worsened by the often-confined spaces it is stuck in, especially in groups. Reducing its size might be a good idea.
-Viking is solid as all hell. Don’t change a thing.
-The Starport can upgrade to a Spaceport, which can train any air unit (I.E. those that would require a Techlab) WHILE flying. It also has an ability to recharge units’ energy, at the cost of its own. This is fine since a LOT more Terran units (Banshee, Ghost, BC, Thor, Nomad, Medic) use energy than Protoss.
-The Predator is the apparent replacement for the Wraith, sans cloaking - its purpose is an air-to-air fighter with an alternate mode that allows it to, purportedly, shoot down incoming fire. However, I never got a chance to effectively use this ability, or the Predator at all. The Viking seemed to be much more effective as it was just as good at anti-air, and also useful as ground attack.
-The Banshee is a nice, solid unit that earns its place as the Wraith’s ariel-cloak-assault replacement. Bombs > lasers.
-The Nomad, the replacement for the science vessel, is… odd in its design. Almost too utilitarian, lacking in the intriguing spherical stylishness of the old Science Vessel. Its initial repair ability sounds good in practice but I never managed to get to use it. The EMP and Defense Matrix are still researchable, at least in the build I played. Nobody really used it as far as I saw.
-Battlecruisers are operational. Instead of researching the Yamato gun, each battlecruiser can be specialized - for a little bit of time and money - for the classic Yamato or the new anti-ground Plasma Torpedoes barrage. This new ability is good against large ground groups, like Marines or future Zerg swarms. One interesting thing is that the BC’s model changes slightly when it specializes, allowing you to see at a glance which route the enemy has taken. And since it’s individual, you can have both in your force if you have multiple cruisers!
-Reapers rock. In the Blizzcon build, the Reapers trained quickly and cheaply from a “Merc Haven” building - the one with the BAR sign and the dancing hologram. A max of four were available for purchase at any given time, with a decent restock time. Building multiple Havens, however, allowed me to quickly conjure an army with very little effort… so this might be changed somehow. The IK is great and the mines are wonderful when you use them right. Just don’t get to close, and don’t get the idea that Reapers can stand up to other units. They die very quickly.
-Ghosts are great; the new Snipe ability really shines against heavier infantry targets like Zealots. It’ll probably do nicely against the Zerg as well. It costs no energy, but has a decent cooldown. The Drop Pods are cost-effective, only adding 200 gas to the price of the marines, and takes a LOT less time to launch than the Nuke. I used this in conjunction with an M&M’s force to great effect, allowing me to restock my Marine corps on the battlefield with two silos running. Nukes are very nice when you have an AOE target circle to show which buildings will get toasted, and the area is visibly larger now as well. Just don’t get caught.
-Turrets no longer have innate detection; Instead, they gain it when you build a Sensor Array near them, which are also detectors. The upgraded version, the Radar, is very useful but reveals its position to enemies.
-The Command Center upgrades are alright. The Planetary Fortress is good for anti-rush, or expansions, while the comsat version is better if you have a well-protected base. It takes a more conscious effort to upgrade them, however, but this is most likely me getting used to the game.
-Thor is great. They can attack air, surprisingly, and are able to take out a Battlecruiser mano-a-mano. Their barrage ability requires a LOT of energy.
PROTOSS:
-There was a large agreement that Protoss were slightly overpowered in the Blizzcon build. This might’ve been largely due to unfamiliarity with the slew of new Terran units, but the Protoss were generally stronger in most regards.
-Probes got a slight makeover, and I approve. <3
-A new Gateway- built unit called the Stasis Orb made its introduction; its attack reduces the speed and attack-speed of a single target. At first I thought these little hovering buggers were useless, until I had to get some quick defense against air. These guys get the job done for dirt cheap, but they die quickly. Still, they’re more effective than Stalkers when you’re in a real panic.
-Warp In is alright… the jury’s still out.
-Immortals are stronger and heavier than Stalkers as far as attack goes, but they can’t attack air and Stalkers have the ol’ Blink trumpcard. It’s a good deal.
-The only detectors for Protoss, at present, are the Photon cannon and the Observer. The latter is just as it was in the original, save that cloaking looks cooler now.
-DT’s look a lot better when cloaked, and with capes. High Templar look fantastic.
-Psionic Storm had an unusually small AoE which made it difficult to use properly. The new Force Field ability is very nice, however, and needs no research - and it lets you place the force-field “bricks” along the building grid!
-Archons are #@%$!-ass awesome. The shadow could use removing but beyond that it’s great.
-The team-color motifs (psi blades, pylons, even archons) for glow effects are actually rather satisfying.
-Warp Rays were solid - if not potentially juuuuust a smidge overpowered, especially en masse - and were changed to a DT “steel” color motif.
-Tempests were re-skinned to the oldschool Carrier, but they lacked punch. However, there was an autocast option for building Interceptors - the interface for that lacked clarity, however. I wouldn’t expect the Carrier to go unchanged by the next time we see the game in action.
-Multiple motherships, WTF? The Mothership seemed to be re-delegated as a Thor-sized air caster. The Black Hole was removed (IMBA, LULZ) and replaced with a no-cost cloaking field; it requires the Mothership to stand still, and it doesn’t affect air, but it cloaks buildings - a nice tradeoff, imagine cloaked cannons! Time Bomb was in, with a much smaller radius, and the Planet Cracker also had a much smaller AoE. Having multiple motherships did little more than clutter the screen. Also, they could only attack ground units.
-No Reavers, sadly. But the Colossus is loads of fun. I had begun to think they might be slightly overpowered, up until I had to face some Vikings. They popped to air mode and pounded me with missles - anti-AIR missles. The Colossus rock against ground, but they don’t stand a chance against ground that can fly. Their build speed seemed accelerated for the demo, apparently, which allowed them to be built very quickly and in groups of five or six - in retail or the next demo, they’ll probably take longer. IDK.
-The Phoenix were used sparingly, especially with their ability - seeing as how it requires the Phoenix to stand still, AND one has to individually pick the area to use the overload in, it made it hard to pull off a triple-threat laser storm like in the demo. As far as basic attack goes, however, the performed solidly.
-Phase Prisms work just fine as shuttles, and I never really had cause to use them for pylon backup. With Warp-In’s limitations (one Warp Gate per unit cooldown) it’s hard to warp in an ENTIRE ARMY without really building for it, but if you get three or four you can field re-enforcements as you like.
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