Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty

[AaronSofaer]

Managed to land a nuke on a Marine/tank ball. The ghost, for the next fifteen seconds of its short life, had 84 kills on him.

Very nice!

[PeterGinsberg]

My favorite losses are the ones that start off with egregious hotkey fumbles. The best one was when I timed my Spire just right to get out five Mutalisks, only to accidentally hit the hotkey to build five Overlords instead, and to not realize it until five big, fat, slow-ass, useless balloons popped out of their cocoons. Noooooo!

Another great hotkey fumble is finally getting my Lair finished with enough minerals and vespene to start my Spire, and then hotkeying B, then S, then placing the building, only to realize when the building finished that I’ve instead built a second Spawning Pool. It’s hotkey V, then S, you dummy!
-Tom

I love the grid hot keys and would totally recommend them to anyone who doesn’t already have sc1 muscle memory… but it’s way easy to do this kind of hot key silliness. Like the time my muta rush became a corrupter rush… which I have to tell you is really not nearly as effective; although more effective than your overlord rush!

[Equis]

My favorite is when I fumble rallying my initial workers to the crystals. I’m wondering why my resources are coming in so slow and notice 4 workers just chilling by my base.

My favourite is when I fumble rally my workers to gas. Oh hey, why am I low on minerals when I have enough gas. You can’t even tell this is happening at a glance until you click and see all of then spread out from the refinery/extractor.

[rossm]

My mouse sucks and often double clicks when I only click once (and often lets go when I’m dragging something). So it’s not uncommon for me to send all my workers away somewhere when I mean to send just one. It gets old :(

[Reldan]

My favorite losses are the ones that start off with egregious hotkey fumbles. The best one was when I timed my Spire just right to get out five Mutalisks, only to accidentally hit the hotkey to build five Overlords instead, and to not realize it until five big, fat, slow-ass, useless balloons popped out of their cocoons. Noooooo!

Another great hotkey fumble is finally getting my Lair finished with enough minerals and vespene to start my Spire, and then hotkeying B, then S, then placing the building, only to realize when the building finished that I’ve instead built a second Spawning Pool. It’s hotkey V, then S, you dummy!

I suck at Starcraft II.

 -Tom

Earlier my partner and I pulled double Zerg on War Zone. It’s a stupidly designed map and per our usual tactic for this particular race combo and map we both 7-pooled. I say it’s a stupid map because the two bases are wide apart, there’s no ramp, and the only “choke” is about 4 barracks wide making walling off early impossible.

I of course finish my pool and immediately build 2 drones. Doh!

We still won, but damn that was stupid.

[AaronSofaer]

Yeah, maps where you can’t actually wall off effectively are really frustrating vs Zerg. Any ramp that you can’t block with one supply depot, one Barracks(with tech lab), and one Bunker may as well not be a chokepoint at all.

[Staff_Sergeant]

4-gate + robo as toss is just too good. Using it almost makes me sad, but I’m not good enough to be able to screw around with funky build orders and still have good macro yet.

[Adam_Sensoy]

I finally got a chance to play with my boy Ike the other day-my first experience with another person and absolutely loved it. SC2 is so much deeper than I initially understood and so much fun! I hope to play with more of you guys soon-and maybe even try the campaign!

[AaronSofaer]

4-gate + robo as toss is just too good. Using it almost makes me sad, but I’m not good enough to be able to screw around with funky build orders and still have good macro yet.

You know what beats 4gate + robo?

Mass marines. And when I say mass Marines, I mean mass Marines.

:D

Admittedly, if they hit me before I have Concussive Shells, it’s over. There’s that gap for the timing attack where a Protoss player has the guys to overwhelm my mass Marines but before I have Conc Shells to kite with…

[Angrycoder]

4-gate + robo as toss is just too good. Using it almost makes me sad, but I’m not good enough to be able to screw around with funky build orders and still have good macro yet.

You know whats even better than 4-gate robo? 3 gate robo + fast expand.

[Angrycoder]

You know what beats 4gate + robo?

Mass marines. And when I say mass Marines, I mean mass Marines.

my High Templar say hi!

[McKnight]

You know what beats 4gate + robo?

Mass marines. And when I say mass Marines, I mean mass Marines.

:D

Admittedly, if they hit me before I have Concussive Shells, it’s over. There’s that gap for the timing attack where a Protoss player has the guys to overwhelm my mass Marines but before I have Conc Shells to kite with…

You know what beats 4-gate robo?

Nearly everything, if you play defensive enough. Honestly 4-gate robo makes it so hard to get an expansion up that if you can hold off the initial attack then there is incredibly little the Protoss player can do that prevents you from auto-winning the game. Of course the whole point of this build is to make it nearly impossible to defend against… But the point still stands.

[PeterGinsberg]

Today’s patch notes.
http://us.starcraft2.com/launcher/patch-notes.htm

As expected, the ones floating around the internet over the last week or two were not real.

General

* The Standard (US) and Standard for Lefties (US) hotkey configurations are now available in all regions.
* A new game clock has been added. Players can now instantly see how long they've been in their current mission or match. This feature can be turned on or off in the Gameplay Options menu.
* A new Quick Save option is now available for the single-player campaign. Players can now quickly save their mission progress by pressing Ctrl + Q.
* A new System Panel has been added. Players can now view their local time and FPS while in game by mousing over the Menu (F10) button in the upper-left hand corner of the game screen. Laptop users can also view Wi-Fi signal strength and battery levels.
* Sight granted by death reveal no longer lifts Fog of War. Units revealed in this manner are not targetable.
* (Mac only) Moved StarCraft II data files and settings from the Documents folder into the Application Support folder.
* Support for NVIDIA 3D Vision has been added. To experience StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty in 3D on your desktop or notebook, you will need 3D Vision. For more information, visit www.nvidia.com/Starcraft3D

Balance Changes

* PROTOSS
      o Zealot
            + Build time increased from 33 to 38.
            + Warp Gate cooldown increased from 23 to 28.

* TERRAN
      o Battlecruiser
            + Ground damage decreased from 10 to 8.
      o Bunker
            + Build time increased from 30 to 35.
      o Reaper
            + Build time increased from 40 to 45.
      o Siege Tank
            + Siege mode damage changed from 50 to 35 (+15 armored).
            + Upgrade damage changed from +5 to +3 (+2 armored).

* ZERG
      o Ultralisk
            + Ram ability removed. Ultralisk will now use normal attack against buildings.
            + Damage decreased from 15 (+25 armored) to 15 (+20 armored).

* Maps
      o Desert Oasis
            + Destructible Rocks have been added to make natural expansions easier to protect.
            + Center Xel'Naga Tower area has been narrowed.

StarCraft II Editor Improvements

* Added new requirement types: Odd, Divide, Mod, Multiply.
* Added a chance field to effect data.
* Added support for the Slider dialog control type.
* Added a trigger to deal damage from a unit.
* Added a trigger event response to provide the amount a player or unit property changes.
* Added a trigger event when an effect executes.
* New Trigger Editor functions:
      o Save Data Conversation State Value (Action).
      o Load Data Conversation State Value (Action).
      o Players On Team (returns Player Group associated with teams in game lobby).
      o Unit Owner Changes (Event).
      o Old Unit Owner (returns player ID in response to Unit Owner Changes).
      o New Unit Owner (returns player ID in response to Unit Owner Changes).
* XP, Level, and Bounty unit properties can now be modified by triggers.
* Banks now save/restore XP, learned abilities, and items.
* Message Window now includes a time stamp for each message.
* An actor event is now dispatched when a missile cannot hit its target.
* When loading documents with Battle.net-only dependencies, you will now be prompted to log in and download the dependency data, rather than failing to load.
* Game variants now automatically use the default melee variants for new maps, without requiring manual generation. This will not take effect for maps created prior to this patch.
* The Custom game variant is no longer automatically included when other non-default variants are defined.
* Increased the maximum recharge vital rate for heal effects.

Bug Fixes

* Battle.net
      o Chat windows no longer vanish when exiting a multiplayer map or campaign mission.
      o Fixed an issue where players would still receive toasts when their status was set to busy.

* Custom Games
      o Default race in a game lobby is now properly set to Random.
      o Players can now configure the lobby for 1v5 matches.
      o The search functionality for map searches has been improved.
      o Lobby hosts will now receive a toast when an invited player declines an invitation.
      o Custom game lobbies will now remember the game mode chosen under a category.
      o Fixed an issue where changing the category to "Custom" would default the teams to 5v3.
      o Fixed an issue where custom maps could not be reported from the map preview screen.

* Gameplay
      o General
            + If a unit loads into a transport, missiles targeting it will no longer target similar units in the area.
            + Structures damaged during construction will no longer count towards structures lost.
            + Fixed an issue where builders waiting for an area to clear could block units trying to leave the area.
            + Fixed an issue with inventory drop range checks.
            + Fixed an issue that, in certain cases, allowed a command to be issued that did not appear on the command card
      o Interface
            + Queue tooltips now display information about what is in progress.
            + Fixed an issue where the back button would not always return players to the score screen properly.
      o Terran
            + Marines trained at multiple Barracks will now prefer a Barracks with a Reactor over one with a Tech Lab or no attachment.
            + SCVs will now load into the closest Command Center if multiple are within range.
      o Zerg
            + Creep now recedes properly when an AI-controlled Hatchery, Lair, or Hive is destroyed.

* StarCraft II Editor
      o The Player Leaves Game event now fires when a player leaves or they are defeated/victorious.
      o Loading screen progress bar option now works when using Melee loading screen type.
      o Test Document now works properly on maps with Battle.net-only dependencies.
      o Publishing a new file using Major revision will now properly set the document version to 1.0.
      o Publish dialog now properly remembers the Show Real Name setting from previous publish.
      o File preview panel now displays author's real name if that option was set during publishing.
      o The Import module will now allow importing an override Assets.txt file.
      o Undoing a terrain object modification will now also undo associated terrain changes.
      o Editor will display document text from another locale if no text for the active locale exists.
      o Copying points with custom models will display the model properly on the pasted point.
      o It is no longer possible to have multiple default variants in the Game Variants dialog.
      o Removed icon support for attribute and variant definitions, as Battle.net does not display these.
      o Fixed issues with invalid map bounds when creating 32x32 maps.
      o Fixed issues with poor performance in the Terrain Editor when scroll bars are visible.
      o Fixed issues with drag-and-drop in Trigger Editor when tracking is not enabled.
      o Fixed an issue that would cause a crash if multiple unit forms had too many abilities.
      o Fixed an issue with temporary publish names in the Publish dialog still verifying the original name.
      o Fixed an issue with the Unit Manipulates Item trigger.
      o Fixed excessive delays on some systems when saving files using the Smaller Files option, and also when publishing Locked files.
      o Fixed preview panel display in Terrain Editor palettes.
      o Fixed performance issues in Terrain Editor when modifying terrain with many road tiles on the map.
      o Fixed initial display of variables in the Trigger Debugging Window.
      o Fixed generated script for built-in attribute values, which caused them to not be accessed properly.
      o Fixed action list when modifying a Custom Script action without sub-views enabled.
      o Fixed loading map dependency data.
      o Fixed an issue where loading complex bank files would cause the client to disconnect from Battle.net.

* Technical Issues
      o Fixed an issue where unplugging headphones could cause the game to freeze.
      o Fixed an issue where XP systems running with Unicode characters enabled could prevent a player from starting a multiplayer game.

[Jab]

That siege tank change I think is going to be huge with TvZ, at least zerglings and hydras have a chance to get up to the tanks before melting away.

[MichaelD]

It’s weird that since they took the authentication servers offline for the patch, offline play can’t be initiated. So much for a quick campaign match…

[PeterGinsberg]

What seems to be upsetting the hardcore SC2 players with this patch is… the addition of the clock to the game. They don’t like it being easier for people to learn timings, I guess.

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=154779

[TimJames]

Yeah I was wondering about that today. It’s not like there’s a quad damage you have to pick up every 60 seconds or anything, but it probably still helps. I wonder if a lot of people had their own clocks and stuff running as separate applications, at least to practice.

[AaronSofaer]

I’m still waiting for the nerf to Marine damage vs Armored. As it stands, Marauders are less DPS even vs Armored than Marines are, which is … kinda strange. And dumb.

[AaronSofaer]

Awesome bug! My friend can’t flag himself as Ready when we try to play 3v3s. Hurray for new patch bugs. It’s apparently something to do with the Mac client.

[Staff_Sergeant]

I’m still waiting for the nerf to Marine damage vs Armored. As it stands, Marauders are less DPS even vs Armored than Marines are, which is … kinda strange. And dumb.

Pretty sure that’s intentional. Marines are the core damage unit for terran (bio, I guess tanks and vikings are the core damage units for mech), marauders are for their utility rather than raw damage.

Plus cost vs. cost marauders are only 25 gas more than 2 marines, which you can say is accounted for by the fact that they have armor and almost 3 times the hitpoints, so I’d say they are pretty well balanced.