Ah, that's probably closer to what I meant. I could never play 1v1 in the old SC/BW games. It seems like it took a lot of skill to be halfway decent at those games. Just little things like rallying workers to a mineral line, and being able to select more than 12 units have dramatically reduced the barrier to entry if you want to try mp. I finally started playing 1v1 about a month ago, and after 100 games give or take, I ended up rank 11 in silver league. I know that's not great, but it felt satisfying, especially since my apm is around 80.
I believe this review and its correlating number was way to harsh. I can understand your questions and indictment of blizzards storytelling, I don't understand how you can basically say you are unqualified to review the multiplayer, then offer your opinion on it, and have the review show up on metacritic. Ask them to take it down, or change your review to only review the campaign.
Where did I say I was unqualified to review the multiplayer? I actually play a lot of multiplayer Starcraft and feel I'm absolutely qualified to review it.
Kerrigan doesn't always look that bad!
To be perfectly honest, it never occurs to me that people will get mad until I see them getting mad! I guess I'm mostly accustomed to the civil discussions I have with my friends and on the forum.
I actually do enjoy watching pro matches! I just haven't seen any with the new units yet, which I'm sure will make a world of difference for those players.
I actually like the aggregates, and I'm proud to be a part of them. But they're only as good as the information fed into them, and I'd much rather be a part of that information.
There's that word "objective" again. When did this cult of objectivity start and who do I have to stab to get it to fuck right off?
I disagree strongly. There's a lot more to Starcraft than "high-level multiplayer". Otherwise, it wouldn't be as popular as it is.
Yeah, I can imagine that Heart of the Swarm must be a huge deal for people who follow Starcraft as an e-sport. It seems like even if you don't personally care for the new stuff in the game, you can't deny that it'll work wonders to breathe new life into the high-level competitive matches.
Why are hydras more useful? Because you can use Vipers to set up traps or shut down enemy fire in ranged encounters? Do tell!
Ooh, now I want to try what you said with the oracle...
Luke, you call the campaign missions "strategy puzzles", but I mostly don't see it. It seems to me almost all of the campaign missions can just be brute forced. Unless there's some sort of meaningful resource or time limitation, the missions mostly feel like busywork to me, where the only incentive to actually play well is that the mission will be over sooner.
Great post, Smuckers! Thanks for your comments.
I wonder if I would have appreciated Heart of the Swarm more if, ironically, I wasn't primarily a zerg player. :)
Mr. Eadie, I give your review of my review a review of 3 stars, because you're relatively polite, even if you did draw some unsupported conclusions.
Does a reviewer need to fully comprehend the balance of a game? Personally, I don't think that's something any one person can do for a complex game like Starcraft without playing, literally, hundreds of matches. Or at least digging through mountains of data.
Yet I constantly see reviews -- and casual commenters -- making declarative statements about game balance. I try to avoid that myself.
Horrible review, yet another troll review from Quartertothree.
This review literally just gave me cancer.
Hydras get the speed upgrade, so they move as fast as upgraded roaches off creep. They are awesome now. Combine that with the normal range upgrade and you have a unit that does dps equal to a marine but less impacted by armor, with longer range and more hp.
After typing that sentence I realized what a dork I am.
Ah, right, that speed upgrade! This is new, isn't it? I guess I don't appreciate the impact of it because I tend to rely on zerglings and mutalisks if I know a fight is going to take place offcreep. But that offcreep speed upgrade means I should get out and about with my hydralisks more often.
Thanks, Ryan.
We laddered a bit when the first SC2 came out, happy to do some more if you're around. I'm Jerkstore on your friend's list, I just never see you online. Some good 2v2 action might help you get more enjoyment out; winning is more fun than losing.