Arbiter to Zergling

Blizzard has announced the 3rd annual BlizzCon event, which will take place at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California on October 10 and 11. I am too lazy so…… here is a quick review.

BlizzCon is a celebration of the global player communities surrounding Blizzard Entertainment®’s Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo® franchises. In response to the demand to accommodate more attendees, this year’s event has expanded from two convention halls to three.

What does Blizzard have in store for visitors in the two day event?

• Hands-on play time with upcoming Blizzard Entertainment releases
• Discussion panels with Blizzard Entertainment developers
• Competitive and casual tournaments for players to showcase their talents
• Areas and activities devoted to licensed products such as the World of Warcraft® Trading Card Game
• Costume, machinima, and character sound-alike contests with great prizes
• Commemorative merchandise based on the Blizzard Entertainment franchises
• A silent auction
• More exciting activities to be announced

Tickets to the event will go on sale in the next few weeks for 100$ each.

To help you decide whether the event is worth attending, check out this BlizzCon ‘07 Highlights video. Also worth a look is our coverage of last year’s BlizzCon - the event in which the public got the chance to play StarCraft 2 for the first time, and the Terran race was revealed.

A highlight of last time’s Blizzcon

Watch the BlizzCon 2007 Highlights Trailer At http://www.worldofwarcraft.com Relive the revelry of BlizzCon 2007, or experience it for the first time, with our new video trailer of the event. This video captures the sensory impressions and experiences of being at BlizzCon as well as the atmosphere of fun and camaraderie that was the true lifeblood of the show.   The trailer is available to view now in streaming Flash format, as well as in a downloadable, high-definition DivX version.

Karune has finally posted the qars in battle.net. This one features a Chat with Devs and the 6 standard questions - including one of our own.

Chat with Devs: One of the latest changes the Devs are trying for the Nomad is replacing their previous stationary Mine Drone with Spider Mines. The Spider Mines behave the same as Spider Mines from the original StarCraft. It now also does 50 damage plus 50 additional damage towards armored units. Instead of only having 3 Spider Mines, the Nomad will be able to plant Spider Mines with the cost of 15 energy. These Mines will definitely prove quite formidable against mass Tier 1 units such as Zerglings and charging Zealots.

The Mine Drone ability has been replaced with the more standard Spider Mines, a relic from the StarCraft 1 Vulture. At the low cost of 15 energy, a few dedicated Nomads could easily mine entire sections of the map. As flying units, the Nomads will be able to plant mines where no Vulture has gone before - helping assaulting Siege Tanks survive incoming melee units, defending the economy against surprise drops, and preventing enemy players from expanding too quickly

1. Can the Ghost snipe casting (energy based) units in the fog of war using its passive sensing ability? (Battle.net) crazy_dave

 

 While the Ghost will not be able to snipe casters in the fog of war, their current range to detect casters(units with energy) is 30, giving you plenty of time to prepare for incoming threats.

2. Could you tell us more details about the Reapers’ mines mechanics? Are they visible for the enemy? Can they be defused, or should simply be destroyed? Do they deal damage to friendly units and to each other? If so, does the explosion of one mine cause the detonation of its neighbors, or they just die, without dealing damage? (Battle.net) Elsoron

  

Yes, the Reapers mines will be visible, though depending on the placement, they can be covered by enemy units moving over them. The mines have very few hit points and can be killed easily. Nonetheless, it is important to note that they are very small, making it more difficult to micromanage those attacks when there are several mines.

Mines damage both enemy and friendly units/buildings, so making sure you dont blow up your own Reapers is quite important Mines will not detonate other mines, have a 30 second cooldown, and they currently do 30 damage plus 30 additional damage to armored units (including buildings). Furthermore, the mine is now an upgradeable ability of the Reaper.

The Reapers’ explosives, not unlike the Reapers themselves, are great for surprise attacks - but aren’t suited for coming under fire. At 60 damage per mine, a relatively small group of Reapers could deal great damage to an enemy - if not by taking down key structures or a group of workers, then by forcing him to divert his attention back to his base every 30 seconds.

Karune answers a couple of more questions about mines:

Yes, Spider Mines will do splash damage.

Mines for the Reapers will only be limited by their cooldown timer.

3. In StarCraft II there are destructible obstacles like rocks. Apart from simply killing them the Protoss Nullifier can lift them with his Anti-Gravity spell. Do the other races have any similar options to remove or pass the rocks with spells? (broodwar.de)

 

Actually, the ability to lift destructible doodads has been classified as a bug and has been fixed in the latest builds. Nullifiers have already proved to be quite strong when used in groups, being able to lift up Siege Tanks and Ultralisks, effectively taking them out of combat until the rest of their reinforcements are dead.

4. Do Anti-Gravitated Banelings keep their suicidal abilities and act as Scourge? (sc2blog.com)

 

Yes, when Banelings die while being lifted by Anti-Gravity, their explosion will hit air units in its area of effect. This could undoubtedly open up some unique and unexpected strategies in team games.

An alliance between Zerg and Protoss players gives them an ability to launch makeshift anti-air AoE attacks - ones that are especially potent against air units, which tend to clump up and occupy the same space.

5. Blizzard made 2 e-sport oriented games after StarCraft: Warcraft 3 and WoW. What are the biggest lessons that you’ve learned from those 2 games and how will you apply them to StarCraft II? - VIB (teamliquid.net)

 

 One of the main goals for StarCraft II is to keep the game very visually intuitive and readable. As Dustin has mentioned in our recent chat, visually When a unit teleports, it teleports. When it shoots, it looks like it is shooting. It should be easy to follow on a screen and players should be able to quickly understand what is happening in the battles. Futhermore, Blizzards games has followed the premise of easy to learn and hard to master. StarCraft II will follow this philosophy.

World of WarCraft… an E-Sport?

6. How does the Marauders slow ability work against the Zealots charge ability. According to present knowledge the concussion grenade shot of a Marauder forces its target to stop moving for a short time; afterwards the targeted unit can go straight forward. So does it stop a charging Zealot and does the speed bonus remain?(starcraft2.4players.de)

 

When the Marauders concussion grenade hits an enemy target, it will reduce that units speed immediately by a set percentage. The cooldown of the concussion grenade shot is subject to balance. Nonetheless, a charging Zealot slowed by a concussion grenade is still pretty fast. Before the Protoss player upgrades their Zealots with charge, a Marauder can kite a Zealot with relatively little micromanagement.

We have previously gotten the impression that the Marauder’s Concussive Grenade attack completely stops an enemy’s advance for a short duration, and that a few Marauders focusing fire on the same unit will prevent it from advancing completely.

It now appears that the Grenade will only reduce the movement speed of the affected unit by a set amount. In regards to Zealots, this creates a balance of power between the Protoss and Terran, in which the Zealots will first wreck havoc on the Terran infantry, followed by the Terran’s comeback utilizing the Marauder’s Grenades, and then finally a more balanced interaction with charging Zealots which will still be able to close the distance and slice up the Terran infantry.

Karune also clears up another point about the Marauder’s attack. It wasn’t clear whether the Concussion Grenade creates a splash effect or only stops a single target, but now we know:

The Marauder’s attack effects a single target and is not an area of effect attack.

Karune made another post in the Q&A thread, discussing base defenses:

While the Dev Team has been trying out some ‘new’ types of base defense, nothing has proved to stay any longer than a few builds, and the Phase Cannon currently operates the same as the original Photon Cannon with no new abilities.

It would be interesting to hear about the recent experiments with base defenses, especially after Blizzard has reverted the Phase Cannons to their previous, more static form.

In other news, Gamevideos has conducted an interview with Chris Sigaty, StarCraft 2’s lead game designer. Chris doesn’t reveal any new information, but reiterates a few interesting points and voices his opinion. Here are a couple of highlights:

* The AI no longer “cheats”. In StarCraft 1 and WarCraft games, the AI always had the entire map and all units visible to it. This is no longer the case in StarCraft 2, and AIs have been spotted using peons to scout their opponents.

* Chris is happy that the Medic is gone and has been replaced with the later-game Medivac Dropship.

“papírového modelu kanónu terranského Mariňáka” is the topic of today’s post.

Extremely dedicated fans from the Czech Republic have created a true to form paper-based model of the Terran Marine’s 8mm C-14 Impaler Gauss Rifle.

The rifle is presented from every possible angle in the picture gallery of this Czech StarCraft 2 site, but for those of you who are even more into paper violence, instructions for creating a piece of your own are also available.

[Instructions - Model Parts - Alternate Addon]

Aliens Papercraft, the group behind this project, will begin selling the replica on October 4th, later this year. In the mean time, enjoy this video, which showcases the rifle from every imaginable direction (and then some).

As you can see, my hits are going down. :[ Make sure you visit my blog everyday!!!!

Wow. I got a pink eye infection. GOD! I won’t be on starcraft that much srry!

Qar batch is here. there is also a screenshot about the baeling.

ScreenCraft: This batch’s screenshot is to show the significant size increase of the Baneling since the original Protoss announcement gameplay trailer. The size increase is to allow the possibility of focus firing on incoming Banelings with additional micromanagement.

1) The tier 1 Overlord is very slow and does not have detection, though still essential for scouting throughout the game.

2) In generating creep, the Overlord essentially unloads a bunch of creep straight to the ground below it, which expands. Corrupting minerals takes some time to fully cast, but it creates a non-attacking creature that takes over that resource, and needs to be killed before those minerals are able to be gathered. Furthermore, you can corrupt resources that are already being mined, introducing potential Overseer raids to slow the enemy’s production.

3) Neither abilities require energy. Creep generation does not have a cooldown whereas corrupt minerals has a small cooldown timer.

4. Is it worth it to build a Terran Reactor Add-on since the benefit of doubling your queue list is not that useful, as it is often a bad idea to have your queue full?

Yes! The Terran Reactor doesn’t just double the size of your queue list. For a mere 50 minerals and 50 gas cost for the Reactor, that Barracks, Factory, or Starport will have the ability to create two units simultaneously (assuming that unit doesn’t require a tech lab add-on). Most of the time, building the Reactor will be worth it, rather than building a second Barracks, Factory, or Starport. Not only will you be able to build from a single building the production of two normal buildings, you will be able to salvage that Reactor if needed to get 100% of the cost back. Being able to salvage allows for quick tech shifts or evacuations.

 The Art Team is constantly polishing the units, animations, buildings, maps, and textures.

Even after they’ve added the ‘gritty’ nature to the Terran buildings, they still have not finished. Since then, they’ve added additional animations to them, as well as Terran faction ‘emblems’ to them, and completely new Bunker art too.

As much as the gameplay is always being revised, so is the art. The Zerg of all 3 races probably still have the most art additions waiting to be made on it.

With the settings set to ‘High or Ultra,’ there will be some amazing textures, with the Zerg creep being exceptionally notable.

On to the Q&A:

1. Do Protoss Immortals get killed when a Nuke explodes next to them(seeing as the Hardened Shield blocks all high profile attacks and that a Nuke is definitely a high profile attack)?

In term of units, the only units that will be able to survive a Nuke will be the Protoss Mothership and Immortals upgraded with Hardened Shields. An upgraded Immortal will take 10 damage from a Nuke. To all other units, the Nuke will do 800 damage, thus making it much more powerful than the Nuke in the original StarCraft.

The Nuke is now 60% more devastating, and we’re not sure it’ll be the only improvement made to it.

2. How powerful is the Roach’s regeneration ability? How much time is needed to regenerate from 1 to full hp?

the Roach currently regenerates 15 hit points per second, allowing it to regenerate to full health in 6 seconds. In countering Roaches, a player must either micromanage the battle to make sure they are focus firing on each Roach one at a time, or they have to bring in high damage units such as Siege Tanks or Archons.

Looks like roaches regenerate REALLY REALLY FAST!other people add that the StarCraft 2 Roaches are going to be a nightmare for players who are not micromanage-oriented, inflicting major losses on their armies in the lower-tier portions of the game. This is the unit you’ve been waiting to buy a new gaming mouse for.

If you had a single Roach vs another Roach, the game would not end If you have groups of them, focus firing them will still do the trick.

The Roach at 90 hit points and 15 hp/sec regeneration excels at small number skirmishes, but at large encounters, they are not extremely hard to fight.

1vs1 a Roach will beat a Stalker. 5vs5 a Stalker group which focus fires and a little micromanagement can beat the Roaches with little to no losses.

Roaches are the best at countering units that attack a bit slower and do not do huge amounts of damage with a single attack, such as the Zealot.

3. Are Overseers any tougher than Overlords?

When an Overlord evolves into an Overseer, it will gain a speed bonus, passive detection, the ability to generate creep below it, and the ability to corrupt’ resources to make it more difficult for opponents to gain access to them. Furthermore, when Overseers sit in the same spot, over time its visual range will increase (but not its detection range).

5. Will there be different building textures resembling the actual terrain? (in Warcraft 2 the buildings were snowy on the winter maps)

This is something the art team would like to do, though it will ultimately come down to time. There’s a lot of art work still left to do, such as their current task, which is putting the finishing touches on the Terran Marauder amongst several other units. On the Marauder, players will be able to see many intricate animations for both the weapons and their power suits.6. Did the High Templar’s Hallucination ability undergo any changes due to the introduction of new tough units, such as Thor or Colossus?

The Hallucination ability did not undergo changes because of those new units, but it did get significant buffs since the original StarCraft. First off, hallucinated units still have the same hit points as the original unit, but take double damage. Furthermore, the duration the unit lasts for will be around 2-3 minutes, which will be significantly longer than the original StarCraft. On top of that, to hallucinate a unit only costs 40 energy, which is much cheaper than the original StarCraft’s cost of 100 energy.

1) Selection and Automation: Unlimited Selection and Multiple building selection

One of StarCraft’s key troop management considerations was the 12 unit per group limit. Just like any other Blizzard RTS game, and unlike almost any Westwood RTS game, players had to divide units into controllable groups not just based on priority and comfort, but the ease of unified control. Having 15 marines and 7 Vultures usually meant that the player will have to control 3 groups(12+3+7), an artificially imposed handicap which had no real meaning.

StarCraft 2 changes all that. Players will be able to group units by control comfort, map location and unit roles - a drastic change which will affect the diversity and amount of engaged units.

2) Defenses: Terran Supply Depots, Protoss mobile Phase Cannons and the creeping Zerg base defenses

Every race in StarCraft 2 has received significant and original improvements to their defensive structures. The Terran have effectively acquired the first and only StarCraft equivalent of a gate. Despite always having the ability to block and unblock vital ground by lifting buildings off the ground and repositioning them, the size and nature of the new Supply Depots provide an unparalleled static defense flexibility for the Terran players.

The Protoss mobile Phase Cannons are a great way to ensure that every part of one’s base is covered by defenses - if they’re not there at present, they’ll be moved where they’re needed within a few seconds - but perhaps more importantly, they create a great economic advantage for the Protoss. While every other race possesses its own advantages in terms of “offensive towering”, the Protoss have become the only race to be able to recycle its defenses. Static defenses often become obsolete, especially when placed in expansions or offensive outposts, and this feature allows them to be used and reused throughout the game.

Also, I wanted to show you something about yellow minerals. First, lets see if yellow minerals are harvestable.

1)Are the yellow minerals shown in the trailers harvestable?

 

Yes, they will be a harvestable high yield resource, meaning each harvest rotation will result in greater mineral quantities than the standard blue minerals. This gives players more strategic choices when trying to evaluate where they wish to expand. Expand to the high yield but risk easier discovery? Or expand to a safer area but earn fewer resources?

3) Terrain: High-yield minerals, Terrain destructibility, High-Low Ground

One of the first things to be noticed during StarCraft 2’s initial unveiling were the Yellow Crystals. These were later confirmed to be high-yield minerals - a strategy changing concept, which has served Westwood well in its C&C RTS series of games.

The tactical implications of having super-valuable expansions in a macro-oriented RTS game, such as StarCraft, are vast. In 2vs2 battles, an economic advantage is very often all players need to gain a significant advantage over the other team.

Destructible terrain, despite adding an additional tactical twist to any battlefield, will likely become little more than an early game consideration. Blocked choke-points, well isolated expansions and unreachable cliffs will alter players’ priorties, often benefiting the player who correctly times the destruction of these obstacles.

4) StarCraft 2 Production twists - Reactor Add-on and the Warp Gate

One of the most overlooked features at this point is the Terran’s Reactor add-on. As described in a recent Q&A, the Reactor allows a building to build two units at once, effectively doubling its production rate. This is a radical change in production, a crushing advantage for a race that has quite an arsenal of specialized units - as long as the player forfeits the Terran heavy-hitters.

The Reactor add-on can be attached to the production buildings that needs the doubled rate, and detached from production facilities which need to produce Tech-Lab dependant units.

The Protoss Warp Gate, on the other hand, grants the player the ability to summon units directly into expansions and allied bases. A team of Protoss players can provide each other with reinforcements in real time, an especially significant advantage on Island maps and siege situations.

Bear in mind that we have ignored the major implications of introducing such gameplay-changing units as the Zerg Queen and the new Terran Ghost on purpose, to put on emphasis on global aspects that affect production, control, base layout and economy. These concepts are far more likely to survive the many StarCraft 2 builds which have radically altered unit abilities time after time.

Also there seems to be a city of Atlantis or something going up inside the mothership.

Source was sc2blog.