I wouldn't worry yet, the PTR is used to experiment with crazier or more extreme balance changes. Almost none of the more radical tweaks made to the 1.2 PTR made it to the final 1.2 patch. We'll see if anything from 1.3 PTR sticks.
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Starcraft II
- Thread starter maxius
- Start date
I wouldn't worry yet, the PTR is used to experiment with crazier or more extreme balance changes. Almost none of the more radical tweaks made to the 1.2 PTR made it to the final 1.2 patch. We'll see if anything from 1.3 PTR sticks.
By the way, the PTR has new observer options for casting games. I just did a quick game and replay against very hard AI, here are some screenshots of the new interface. I'm only posting links because posting 2560x1440 images directly to the page is obnoxious. 
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/558649716545710101/578E9497975BEFDF2D3778006D6D6088B2E37B11/
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/558649716545705903/CBC4DBAB3707E1C6D4C2A0EC0602270B9934454B/
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/558649716545730582/E549EC499868BBAC21C09C103B2EBD148A8BC945/
Sorry I didn't take more shots, but launch the PTR and you can see for yourself. You can pull up larger graphics for mineral/gas income, army value, APM (as shown in the screenshots), etc etc, and of course there is the pro looking player card up on top. The smaller info tab on the upper left is still there.
The big graphics below the name titles isn't something you'd want to keep on screen all the time, but it's something that would be good to flash off and on for people watching live streams. There are animations to bring them in and out, which is nice. I believe there is also a way to clear the interface at the bottom of the screen, but I haven't found the hotkey for that yet.
Honestly, all I think they need now is to add is a way for casters to draw on the screen John Madden style, and also for them to pull up a larger version of the minimap which they can also draw on. That would be super useful for casters and audiences, showing attack routes, what the players options are, etc etc. Either way, it's really cool that Blizzard is adding these casting tools.
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/558649716545710101/578E9497975BEFDF2D3778006D6D6088B2E37B11/
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/558649716545705903/CBC4DBAB3707E1C6D4C2A0EC0602270B9934454B/
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/558649716545730582/E549EC499868BBAC21C09C103B2EBD148A8BC945/
Sorry I didn't take more shots, but launch the PTR and you can see for yourself. You can pull up larger graphics for mineral/gas income, army value, APM (as shown in the screenshots), etc etc, and of course there is the pro looking player card up on top.
The smaller info tab on the upper left is still there.The big graphics below the name titles isn't something you'd want to keep on screen all the time, but it's something that would be good to flash off and on for people watching live streams. There are animations to bring them in and out, which is nice. I believe there is also a way to clear the interface at the bottom of the screen, but I haven't found the hotkey for that yet.
Honestly, all I think they need now is to add is a way for casters to draw on the screen John Madden style, and also for them to pull up a larger version of the minimap which they can also draw on. That would be super useful for casters and audiences, showing attack routes, what the players options are, etc etc. Either way, it's really cool that Blizzard is adding these casting tools.
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No joke, he made a lot of new fans today.
I don't think anyone would have predicted the outcomes from that bracket of death. Boxer and Nestea are off to up & down matches, MVP too!?
udneekgnim
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2010
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- 256
you can always move on to custom map games. SC2 is easier than BW, but it's still plenty hard to play well.
in terms of custom games, Starjeweled seems pretty propular nowadays
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKedeLKK8h4
I've never been good at RTS games but am absolutely loving SC2. You oughta give it a whirl, if all else fails you can play co-op online against AI, which is a good bit of fun.
Even SP is a quantum leap beyond any other RTS game I've played.
northrop
grumman
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- Sep 27, 2005
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- 10,803
Yeah... there's no way this will make it through the PTR.
Hahahahaha, I honestly don't know what Blizzard is thinking, these proposed changes are borderline embarrassing, I think they need to higher some help for David Kim.
It is super fun! The single player is good and the online ladder does a good job of matching you up with opponents of a comparable skill level.
It is $50 on Amazon right now: http://www.amazon.com/Starcraft-II-...A0J6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298770349&sr=8-1
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
50 dollars for 1/3 a game. I'm never buying a Blizzard game again after I bought this and saw what they were doing. How sad they were once my favorite developer. Now they're as bad as Activision... Oh, wait... Please don't buy this game. It's flashy and you'll probably have fun with it, but the sheer amount of greed that went in to the development of this game just makes me sick. I'll bet the programmers and artists were getting paid minimum wage with no benefits the whole time they were slaving over this monster success too.
Have you seen Blizzard HQ? Slaving with minimum wage, ahahaha
AFAIK, they haven't given a price for the "expansions".
Falcon Punch
n00b
- Joined
- May 8, 2009
- Messages
- 51
Considering I bought the game in July and still play it feverishly I'd gladly pay more than $50 for everything. It shines with polish and I have no negative things to say about it.
Thanks for making you're account, I hope you're banned as swiftly as you came in. This is the same troll nonsense that the internet seems to spew from it's most filth ridden gutters, just stop with it already we're all tired of this garbage. The game has been out since July; so again, I can't stress enough how important it is to end this nonsense.
Sorry, but it's just what I believe in and I'm going to stand up for it. I don't understand what I did that constitutes as a bannable offense. I apologize for offending you and I'm sure this has been brought up before, probably in this thread even, but it's over 100 pages long so sorry for not catching it. I stated that it's a good game, I simply disapprove of their business practices and decisions with regards to this game, and I'm not alone on this. Disagree with me that's fine, I understand they're simply a business but I merely wanted to voice my opinion not troll.
" I'll bet the programmers and artists were getting paid minimum wage with no benefits the whole time they were slaving over this monster success too"
Is not stating an opinion.
Starcraft 2 has more single player content than Starcraft or Warcraft 3. It isn't a full single player game split into thirds, it is a full single player game with two expansion packs instead of just one. Oh, and with a full multiplayer mode in the box that will be played for years.
How is this bad?
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northrop
grumman
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- Sep 27, 2005
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- 10,803
i just had a briliant idea! in a spirit of fungal being a projectile, what if Tos' storm got a little nerf/buff. first we need a new unit. call it a Low Templar. now, a LT's ability is casting a 'low front' and HT's a 'high front' and when the two fronts collide, you get a huge diabollic storm!
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Yeah, I laughed at that too. I have friends at Blizzard and have toured the campus twice. The people that work there are very well taken care of and all seem very happy.
Intel_Hydralisk
Supreme [H]ardness
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- Feb 6, 2005
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- 4,743
Hey Xelfire you can boycott the game all you want for releasing '1/3 of a game' (yet it has more content than SC1 or WC3), but I can think of a plethora of other more important reasons to hate on the game (no lan, constant bnet connection even when you host your own solo game, terrible offline mode, restrictive custom map system, bnet 2.0 in general, etc.).
That said, I sure as hell got my money's worth out of SC2 and I bought the collector's edition.
Back to SC2... I've stopped playing regularly recently since the ladder's become unappealing. I generally log in to do some custom games so I can flesh out my custom game achievements. I log in today after not playing for a while to do my CSL matches... My school's out of the playoff matches and our last 4 games are against the top 4 teams. We decide to just all go random and try to have fun during these tough matchups.
I end up facing off against a 3000 rated masters protoss... and I random terran. I laugh a little inside and almost GG out right then and there. I almost screw up the opening build order since I had something else in mind but did the wrong build. I end up pulling some stuff out of my ass and win the game in the end. I bet he was pissed... It feels great to take a game from such a high ranked team.
That said, I sure as hell got my money's worth out of SC2 and I bought the collector's edition.
Back to SC2... I've stopped playing regularly recently since the ladder's become unappealing. I generally log in to do some custom games so I can flesh out my custom game achievements. I log in today after not playing for a while to do my CSL matches... My school's out of the playoff matches and our last 4 games are against the top 4 teams. We decide to just all go random and try to have fun during these tough matchups.
I end up facing off against a 3000 rated masters protoss... and I random terran. I laugh a little inside and almost GG out right then and there. I almost screw up the opening build order since I had something else in mind but did the wrong build. I end up pulling some stuff out of my ass and win the game in the end. I bet he was pissed... It feels great to take a game from such a high ranked team.
So you beat a protoss rated 3k masters in a 1v1 with terran -- a race I'm assuming you don't know how to play? I really wonder how some people get rated so high. When I used to ladder regularly I was beating diamond/ masters (When i came back for a week or two) and they were definitely not masters level, maybe mid diamond at best. Must be all that bonus pool silliness.
Actually I didnt quit the game because of anything having to do with the single player campaign feeling incomplete. If fact, I didnt even play all of the campaign, it wasn't very good and that wasn't why I bought the game. I quit because of the reasons you said and additionally I felt like they intentionally removed some content from the multiplayer experience to be added in with the expansions to insure sales. I know I might insite some rage but it felt very clear to me that terran was overpowered because they were simply much more polished and had more of everything than the other 2 races. I felt like this was because protoss wasn't going to become buff until they got their removed units, and same with zerg. Let's see... First protoss expansion will come out and add to zerg and toss which both have less diversity and units than terran, then finally zerg expansion will add the rest of the zerg units, which was clearly the least complete of the 3 races. This is simply my opinion don't rage too hard.I know it can be hard when someone disses a game you're into, but objectively they really disappointed me with this game. You can still have fun with it since the developers did a good job, the producers were the ones that killed it for me. And I'm really tired of people comparing this game to the original starcraft game because development costs and standards have risen greatly since then, the original starcraft didn't cost 60 dollars, and I expect more from a AAA game.
Intel_Hydralisk
Supreme [H]ardness
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I really don't feel that they 'polished' terran more. My only complaint about the MP terran is the reaper unit which they have nerfed ridiculously. SP (campaign) terran obviously has all sorts of units for a reason. This "terran is OP" bandwagon is pretty ridiculous. Sure terran is versatile but I doubt 99.9% of the players out there can really utilize it to its full potential. You might see pro players pull some ridiculous shit as terran but they're pro for a reason.
Yes I was also disappointed about the things I mentioned earlier, but they did them for a reason. Fact of the matter is that the world itself is very different than when SC1 or even WC3 came out. While I don't like some of the changes, I'll live with it since the game itself is mad good. They are improving the custom game system as well as bnet 2.0 in general from user feedback. While I feel they're doing it slowly, I'm patient since I feel that I want SC2 to last as long as SC1 / WC3 did for me.
Something interesting that I've noticed is that Blizzard's push for anti-piracy (no lan etc.) has demonstrated just what the landscape of piracy is like. It wasn't a huge deal for places like NA, parts of Europe, and KR... but you can clearly see from the low pop SEA and LA servers that those are the regions that predominantly either pirated SC1/WC3 or simply paid for 1 disc and passed it around (lan cafes, passed it around amongst friends then used hamachi etc.). When SC2 released with its price tag, they simply passed on it.
I've played a total of 0 ladder games as terran and a total of maybe 5 against crappy friends. My terran has been all team games where I mad abused reaper rush (back in the day) and coop games where I did all sorts of random shit. My original plan was a marine / scv all in. I didn't realize I messed up until I had gas and an orbital (neither of which you should get if you do the all in). I then made a reactor with the gas and tried to do my best delayed version of the all in. Luckily for me, since it was delayed my opponent expanded and I caught him at just the right time. I couldn't really finish him since he kept forcefielding his ramp, so I simply camped outside and expanded myself. The game got drawn out but I eventually won.
I'm only about 1200 diamond as Zerg with like 120 total games played, but before I stopped laddering all of my opponents were high diamond or masters (about 50/50). I played about 15 games after the masters update and didn't get promoted so I just stopped and moved on. I felt that I didn't need the ladder to tell me what I was capable of. What really ticked me off was when I posted a thread on TL asking people how many games it took for them to hit masters to see if I should bother or not... and not only did I get massively flamed by people who were like "if it takes more than 1 game, L2P"... but a mod actually closed my thread because he said it was pointless and that I should basically pro up. I was like jesus... I don't think I want to be a masters player at this point. It's much more fun being diamond and beating masters players.
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I agree, most of the time people on TL are elitists. I don't usually care for what they say, most of the players there are usually baddies who post. The good players rarely post on that site, and when they do.. you have a billion noobs quoting them asking them questions.
Terran is not overpowered. They're just by far the best thought out race in the game right now. There's more variety in their units and abilities. Much more versatility. They simply have more options than everybody else and it makes playing against them more difficult.
But overpowered? No. That whole argument is just incredibly tired at this point.
Where's that "beating a dead horse" gif when a guy needs it.
I have two complaints as a Zerg player. One: In the ZvT matchup I have exactly one solid option for early game. Ling/Baneling/Muta. That's it. If you do anything else you risk auto-losing to about fifty different builds from the Terran. Zerg needs to be changed somehow, but I lay no claim to knowing what that change should be. I just hope Blizzard figures it out.
Second: Ultralisks are the worst third tier unit in the game. They almost never justify their cost and are easily countered by so incredibly many different units and unit mixes that it's hard to even count. They look scary and it seems like they should massively improve the power of your army... but they almost never do. You can throw them in with Ling/Muta, Roach/Hydra, or whatever other combination of units you want, and you will almost always regret bothering to even build the Ultralisk Cavern, much less actually spawning any of the damn things.
They don't accomplish anything, and they don't force the other guy into building anything he wasn't building already anyway.
Incredibly useless. I think that shows pretty well in how many times from the beta till now they tried to tweak Ultras and never managed to do anything but make them either broken, or even more useless.
As far as Team Liquid, I pretty much agree. I visit the site to keep an eye on their event calendar and follow all the high quality tournament updates they do, but I avoid the actual forums like they're laced with black plague that will somehow leap out of my mouse should I read an actual post.
But overpowered? No. That whole argument is just incredibly tired at this point.
Where's that "beating a dead horse" gif when a guy needs it.
I have two complaints as a Zerg player. One: In the ZvT matchup I have exactly one solid option for early game. Ling/Baneling/Muta. That's it. If you do anything else you risk auto-losing to about fifty different builds from the Terran. Zerg needs to be changed somehow, but I lay no claim to knowing what that change should be. I just hope Blizzard figures it out.
Second: Ultralisks are the worst third tier unit in the game. They almost never justify their cost and are easily countered by so incredibly many different units and unit mixes that it's hard to even count. They look scary and it seems like they should massively improve the power of your army... but they almost never do. You can throw them in with Ling/Muta, Roach/Hydra, or whatever other combination of units you want, and you will almost always regret bothering to even build the Ultralisk Cavern, much less actually spawning any of the damn things.
They don't accomplish anything, and they don't force the other guy into building anything he wasn't building already anyway.
Incredibly useless. I think that shows pretty well in how many times from the beta till now they tried to tweak Ultras and never managed to do anything but make them either broken, or even more useless.
As far as Team Liquid, I pretty much agree. I visit the site to keep an eye on their event calendar and follow all the high quality tournament updates they do, but I avoid the actual forums like they're laced with black plague that will somehow leap out of my mouse should I read an actual post.
Yeah TL forums are basically tantamount to Blizzard forums, just a giant shit pile. The tournament pages are worth while, and I used to look at the replays thread until sites like sc2rep.com came along. Speaking of which, I'd love to see some more replay packs. They were so prominent in the Beta, but now no one really seems to bother.
Did you seriously join just to post that? It's not "1/3" of a game, as mentioned above it's a full game with two X-pac's. And I must say I thought the SP campaign was lightyears beyond any other RTS campaign I've played and I'm loving the multiplayer.
Once again, did you joined just to "voice your beliefs?"
+1
Exactly, as much as alot of the restrictions suck can you blame them? They just want to be paid for their work, games nowadays are pirated like crazy, you might as well do all you can to keep it reigned in.
Yeah, I've never really seen anyone use Ultras to any great effect. They certainly look tough but have no real bite.
As for TL, as with most dedicated fan-based forums there's alot of crap on there that isn't worth looking at but there is definitely some good info as well, you just need to know how to sift through the junk.
Why would you want a used account? Even if you buy a Master league account you will be moved to where you actually play quite quickly.
Can I ask what's the real purpose of Ultralisk?
Slow, huge, costly, very high up the tech ladder, and deals less damage than 3 zealots. For the same amount of money, I could easily go 4 roaches, or a mix of hydra/roaches/lings which will undoubtedly be more effective in terms of damage dealt.
I mean... T1 units can counter it, for gods sake.
Slow, huge, costly, very high up the tech ladder, and deals less damage than 3 zealots. For the same amount of money, I could easily go 4 roaches, or a mix of hydra/roaches/lings which will undoubtedly be more effective in terms of damage dealt.
I mean... T1 units can counter it, for gods sake.
you're looking just at the numbers instead of how battles actually play out- I've used ultras plenty of times where they're super effective. For instance, attacking into a siege tank line- having a row of ultras in front is great, because even if they take damage, if they don't die you've essentially lost nothing while units with less HP would have died.
They're not a bread & butter unit (as tier 3 units aren't supposed to be) but they definitely have their use in the game.
My name is Decko and I approve this message. Also excellent with ling surround
If you have any replays of you using ultras to great effects, I wouldn't mind seeing it.
I'm just saying, like how terran uses thors and BC as the heavy duty fire power (bunch of marines and mauraders in front, thors behind as heavy firepower) or toss and their zealot/stalker/immortal and/or collosi combo -- I just have difficulty in wrapping my mind around this concept.
If you have any replays of you using ultras to great effects, I wouldn't mind seeing it.
I'm just saying, like how terran uses thors and BC as the heavy duty fire power (bunch of marines and mauraders in front, thors behind as heavy firepower) or toss and their zealot/stalker/immortal and/or collosi combo -- I just have difficulty in wrapping my mind around this concept.
I'd love to, but I gave up video games altogether about two months ago.There are some other great players here- Decko and Refraxion are super super good. I'd ask them if you're looking for replays ( or http://www.sc2-replays.net/en/replays/ )
jeremyshaw
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2009
- Messages
- 12,511
If you have any replays of you using ultras to great effects, I wouldn't mind seeing it.
I'm just saying, like how terran uses thors and BC as the heavy duty fire power (bunch of marines and mauraders in front, thors behind as heavy firepower) or toss and their zealot/stalker/immortal and/or collosi combo -- I just have difficulty in wrapping my mind around this concept.
Dunno, every time I get ultras, it's because I already have insane momentum against the opponent already... They are good for breaking PT, however, I'd rather get brood lords unless if the terran is massing vikings.
Yeah, our 2v2 the other day you did seem to get 'em out a little too late to join the party
They do have lots of armor and if you can get them up against a group of units the splash damage is nice, but I'm with you, I'm not sure the cost is justified.
I've never seen them used effectively, then again I don't have many games under my belt (and no one on my noob-level uses Zerg...)
Different region/smurf account. I already am masters. I am looking to get one that is any league which someone will not use anymore.