https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/article/24276667/starcraft-ii-5-0-16-ptr-patch-notes>We've tried to make this PTR focus on extending the early and mid-game experience, allowing players to remain competitive on one to three bases for longer periods. We’ve introduced changes to make non-warped Gateway play a more viable path, while also increasing overall strategic diversity across all three races.>In addition, a range of quality-of-life improvements has been implemented to enhance the overall player experience.
i love terran nerfs!the worker change needed to happen years ago lol. sc2 esports will never come back
Mules, inject, and chronoboost should all be removedGiving casters autoattacks was a mistakeI like the changes to starting workers and warpgate though.
>Arc slop increased to 180.Wat?
>>2416469I'm worried about how tje new meta will be. Someone who waits to reach 12 drones before expanding will die so fucking basly to a 8 pooler still. Will I have to start scouting as zerg now?
>>2416536supposed to say Slopeas I understand it the value means that the mutalisk can fire in a 180 degree arc from it's forward facing position, which should make it more manoeuvrable >>2416539yes, you do not get to greed for free anymore
>>2416544Cheese is bad for the game. It's fine to punish greed, but cheese is shit
>>2416555Cheese is part of the genre. You have to decide whether you want to risk a greedy build, be safe, or be aggressive.In a week there will be guides explaining how to defend against any new cheese and good players will handle it while you sit here and cry about it.
they still patch this game?
>>2416527>Giving casters autoattacks was a mistakeWhy? Do elaborate!
>>2416469There's no way most of these changes will make it through because muh pro balance council won't agree to them
>>2416638the balance council got fired like a year ago
My zerg build order with 8 workers:>11 overlord>12 pool>14 hatch>13 6 lings>14 extractor>16 queenBut I've already found that terran gets a reaper faster than I get 6 lings across on a 12 pool. So this build might be cooked. I guess I'll try out a 14 pool instead...but waiting for the ovie to pop is rough. Fucking shit, the lack of any guides is cooking me
>Economy>Starting workers reduced from 12 to 8.nice try but the correct amount is 9t. has been saying this for over a fucking decade
>>2416555aggressive builds are when sc2 is at its best, 200 pop mineouts are complete fucking garbage
wardii is whining like a bitch so you know it's a good idea, or possibly a just weekday
11 overlord12 hatch14 pool16 gas(?)Getting gas delays queen though...
>>2416851who cares what you say
>>2416911people who want to avoid big fucking i told you so's
this much change seems like it needs to be combined with different maps, you can't just slap this on modern maps for the last 10 years
>>2416969They need to bring back 3/4 player maps as wellFuck the "pros" crying about how it's so le heckin hard to scout more than one base :'(
>>2416976there actually have a 3 player map this yearhttps://liquipedia.net/starcraft2/Mothership_LE
>>2416636F1 brain atrophy compared to cerebral BW unit groups
>>2417017F2
Can't for the life of me figure out the ideal extractor timing for Zerg. By the time my spawning pool finishes, if I pull drones to gather gas, hell, to even make the extractor itself, I won't be able to get two queens. I can barely squeeze out one queen. Let alone the lings. So I think extractor comes AFTER queens AND are started, which makes reapers a bit more deadly, but I'm sure terrans can't rush mass reapers anymore either. Have yet to see a reaper proxy yet
>>2417017>rallies ANOTHER devourer through the tank line
*defiler
>>2417057devourers fly...
they should put all the stupid shit back in the game at the same time while doing this big of a changeup >medicavs picking up sieged siege tanks>mothership core with all its abilities>infestors with infested terran
>>2416469I have been enlightened by reading Zero-k balance process and my first thoughts are: what is actually a balance change and what is actually a redesign change?Ghost: It seems they have no idea what they actually want this unit to be. A pure spellcaster, a spellcaster with some auto-attack, a glass canon with strong auto-attacks and spells, or an upgraded marines for lategame? The new proposal is all at once so they nerf it with a +50% pop cost and only slightly nerf his previous ridiculous tankyness.Warpgate: After years, it is suddenly an unbrearable problem that must be redesigned (not rebalanced) after just one patch of Protoss forcing Terran to adapt (they are still massively favored in late game)? Why? It would be like redesigning Zerg instant-remax after 16 years.
>>2417017>have one (1) defiler>control the shit out of it>stop the entire 200/200 terran armyvs>have 8 infestors>try to control the shit out of them>they all die 0,00001s into the 5 second fightSC2chuds need all the help
>>2417135the ghost is simply too powerful against Z and P and should be nerfed or reworked.
Literally no one is talking about the patch itself and instead just circlejerking Broodwars for some reason
i think everyone should start with no workers and just 50 minerals
>>2416976>>2416969I think there's lot left to explore on the map side of things, especially for viewer enjoyment. The trouble is that pros categorically prefer consistency and thus they veto the most interesting maps. 4 players maps are hated by the pros for the same reason, the fact that you could play perfectly and yet scout wrong twice gives too much ground to the guy who blindly all ins against nominally stronger opponents. Disregarding the whole worker start thing, one thing I would have liked to see is just lot wilder maps since if everyone is going to go fast expand anyways may as well mix it up. Low ground main high ground natural, double back expands but no easy 4th base, close by mains where both sides expand away from the opponent, rush paths that start open but then close up when rocks time out, additional entrances to the main with rocks, 4 player maps that aren't squares (and non square maps in general) so the rush distance could be really short or really long, those wings of liberty close air rush long ground rush maps etc. However I do not think maps and major balance should be mixed up. I think the gateway change in particular is too much to mix with the economy changes since the economy changes will inevitably tear up all builds and balance which may hide any issues with the gateways for instance. If you throw in bunch of experimental maps you can't really pinpoint the issue like is the 8 pool too good or do the maps just favor it type of thing. I think in principle the 8 worker change is great and will definitely liven up the early game a lot, prefer that over the wild maps desu but I had kinda resigned myself into the idea that blizzard will never do major shakeups anymore and thus everything had to be shaken up trough the maps specifically.
>>2417161one peon no townhall start or bust
>been enjoying the campaign and coop of sc2 again recently>see this balance change>feel like trying pvp again>queue up 1 match>most miserable experience ever>go back to the actually fun game modes insteadsc2 ladder is mostly just an autism apm check instead of actual strategy, it's a real shame because all the other modes are amazing in comparison, no shit the game (and the rts genre in general) died because companies only gave a shit about esports dogshit that the vast majority of players don't actually want to play even if they enjoy watching it
>>2417267>APM autismoIgnore all the 60APM to master challenges kekaroo
>>2417139they are literally nerfing it
>>2417329My entire point is that most of sc2 ladder is having adhd and autism for the build orders and macro and having the gamesense to not get cheesed. Anything beyond that is just apm.Practicing build orders so much they became automatic and rewiring your brain to have a fucking unit production queue timer constantly tickling your balls isn't fucking strategy.
is it a good time to jump into SC2? i want to learn an RTS but i can't decide between this and AoE2
>>2417398Yes
>>2417398If this patch actually gets released then yeah
>>2417398I've been playing the new patch in the PTR and everyone is in full panic mode and build orders are all over the place. Had some cuck toss build pillons in my main for a warp gate rush zealot all in. Would have worked too if I hadn't sneaked a secret hatchery in his main and counter rushed him. But now I have to worry between if its a cannon rush (pull half of workers) or just a pillon for warp ins (ignore till lings are out) so fuck my life
>ghosts take up 3 supplyhow much do they eat goddamn
>>2417465They just don't want you to run full ghost armies late game which I think is fair.
Starting to get the hang of the early game.
>>2416895why not just 15 hatch?
>>2416469>huge patch>x reduced to x-1>y increase to y+1
>>2417512>reworking the core mechanic of one of the three races and changing how the entire economy works isn't huge
>GSL season 1 ended on may 17>GSL season 2 started on may 20why are they back to back
>>2417345Nerfed when 200 pop.Massively buffed before 200 pop.
Nailed down my own personal opening finally, this seems to match perfectly and feels good>11 overlord>13 hatch>14 pool>18 overlord>18 two queens and 4 lings>18 extractorAnd then just drone on from there. Now to figure out the new roach warren timing and upgrade timings. Lair timings... all I can say though is that it seems protoss is scouting way more often and leading to more blocked hatcheries. You can avoid this by doing a 12 hatch but it's a bit weaker and the timing doesn't match the pool finishing anymore. Adepts are extremely powerful right now since they finish quicker, at least I've been getting wrecked by adepts a lot.
>>2417519low funding
>>2417345snipe and EMP are way too powerful
>>2417182based
>>2417357i think you're old enough for us to tell you the truth - rts games are not strategy games. they are action games.
>>2417575how would you change snipe and emp?
Inject larva/chronoboost are super stupid mechanics and aren't removed because Starcrap is badly designed from the ground up and eliminating these chores would expose that this game is actually very shallow and it's just about bloating your attention to disguise this factSC2 is about openings, cheese and spam all ins
>Picture this>Zerg have suicide units that are costly as fuck>And when you build them, they can only attack once and at melee range>So you lose money when they don't hit a target AND when they do because they don't always kill>And they only hit grounded units>And do friendly fire>And the only way to produce them is a two step process where you build then sacrifice your defining unit to it>And you have to inject larvas like a spastic for awhile to get enough of them>And they require zergling instead of larva>And you need to land at least two of them to kill a single worker
>>2417642sounds absolutely busted, like they will define fundamental combat interactions for the entire history of the game
Serral PTR build order against Byun (Terran)>12 overlord>12 extractor trick>15 hatch>17 pool>17 extractor>18 overlord>18 double queen and skip lings>30 ling speed (2:55)>30 third hatch (3:00)>29 overlord>32 overlord>lair (4:45)>fourth hatch (5:20)>spores (5:25)>bane nest/roach warren (5:30)>double evo (5:45)Of course ling accordingly to agression. I know for a fact a glaves adept all in can happen by 5:30 so if against toss you might want roaches or banes a bit earlier
>>2417598Nexon will save starcraft with their new game
>>2417670Koreans can't save shit.
>>2417583Then get the fuck out of /vst/.
>>2417676>including both turn-based and real-time strategy, turn-based and real-time tactics, single-player and multi-player (including MOBAs)action game board, dwi
>>2417645It is, the ability to turn extra resources into extra power even beyond the supply cap is fantastic. The fact that they can cost effectively annihilate all of the basic units of all races is just extra on top. Banes would still be good if they were for Terran or Protos but they are extra good for Zerg specifically because they are the quickest to remax meaning you are incentivized to suicide your entire army and if yours kills the opponents you come out massively on top when you remax in 30 seconds
I really like the warpgate change at least conceptually not sure if the balance is right. Before you got like 1-3 units out of your gateways unless you were cheesing but now you can use them pretty legitimately until mid game with some real strategic choice on when to if ever you change them over to warpgates. You definitely want warpgates eventually but with the resource cost and the fact that you can make units faster from gateways makes it an interesting tradeoff on when you go for the warps.
>>2417345>they are literally nerfing it>literally nerfing-Attack range increased from 6 to 7-Snipe no longer cancels upon taking damageThe most asinine thing about them made even worse.Lock on expensive gas units? -10k in units lost. Good bye. GGWP.
>>2419172The damage increase on non-light units is just as big, ghosts destroy banelings now.
>>2417683>The fact that they can cost effectively annihilate all of the basic units of all races*if they are conveniently lumped together, alone without other units around and your opponent is watching some video on a second screen instead of playingNot to be dramatic, but I'm retiring from playing Sc2 and instead I'll just occasionally watch Serral play instead. All the builds and strats I grinded over the years - pissed away. Total casual death... I hate this patch with passion.
>>2419369quitting because your one trick got nerfed is the epitome of being a casual bitch THOUGH
SC2 has always been a hot topic for me because i genuinely know it is a badly designed game and stopped playing a long time agoI'm curious about it though because I had fun with it -sometimes- but mules and injecting larva and a bunch of obfuscating shit is just there to prevent people from realizing they're not fighting the other player but the game itself, because the interface and orders are awful. But i want to try this patch to see if there's something i like now.I wish they just removed inject larva and mules and chronoboost and stopped pretending the game is nothing more than spam and deathballs. C&C games are that but they embrace it. There's still some fun to be had with simple games. Maybe they can add some actual depth instead of pretending to be deep.
>>2416469>Steady Targeting:>No longer cancels upon taking damage.Pure insanity. I can't even imagine the mental state of someone proposing this. This madness, plus the +10 attack, likely means that a Ghost can attack a Broodlord straightforwardly and win.
>>2419719With the supply increase that's a fight you should win as zerg so long as you commit with an infestor or something into the fight. Though if you dance around then you will lose.
>>2419725Do you... Even play this game?
>>2419725>4 pop broodlord + 2 pop infestor should win against 3 pop ghostThank for the insight, terran apologist.
>>2419737You need 2 snipes to kill a broodlord but with 3 supply ghosts zerg can come to the fight with a broodlord and a roach or 4 lings or something for every 2 ghosts you bring. I believe if the Zerg comes in with 10 broodlords an infestor and 9 roaches and just A moves into 20 ghosts that snipe all of the broods the fungal, the roach damage and the boordlord/broodlings damage will leave the zerg standing in that engagement. Same should still work out if you come in with a flank of 40 zerglings or some banelings etc. That's ignoring the fact that the ghost player has to do something that's arguably more difficult in that scenario which is accurately layer the snipes on the broods while the zerg just really has to A move + land a fungal on the ghosts that are sitting still channeling their own spell.>>2419741You need 2 ghosts to snipe the broodlords so it's broodlord and 2 supply of support units vs 2 ghosts.
>>2419745What a weird way to reaffirm that you don't play this game.
>>2419747I just don't think the matchup is as one sided as you paint it to be, Ghost is supposed to counter the broodlord and with good play that should remain the case even with the supply advantage but it's not some kind of brainless silver bullet. In a real engagement you can't just stand there sniping broods when the zerg has much larger conventional army and is rolling in with banelings that just demolish ghosts requiring one less hit now than pre patch too.
>>2419745Broodlords are more expensive than ghosts, take far longer to make than ghosts, require way more tech than ghosts, and are more vulnerable than ghosts. The ghost is meant to be a counter to broodlords, and the infestor was a counter to ghosts. But no longer.
broodlords use their children to fight for them and can't actually do anything themselves, ghosts are cool and therefore they should be better
8 pool destroys zerg8-9-10 pool gets obliterated by terran (both depos already up and reaper 5 seconds away from being done)Haven't tested it against toss because toss always early scouts and it pisses me the fuck off
>>2420558You have to scout early otherwise you die to the 8 pool. I don't think it's all that difficult to defend though if you do scout and the map isn't super small.
>>2420679Zerg should never scout, they are the punching bag anyway. Toss should always scout and Terran only scouts if they wish to greed a CC first
>>2420702I meant that toss has to scout the zerg otherwise they die to the 8 pool so they never die to the 8 pool because they always scout it
I'm getting my ass eaten EVERY SINGLE TIME I try to transition into mutas, holy fuck. At least two base muta seems to be just dead in the water.
Why does Blizzard have such a hardon for fucking over Zerg in SC2? Is it because it was the best race in WoL? This race is absolutely no fun in LotV where you’re just a punching bag for 5-6 minutes trying to lose as few drones as possible so you can then start finally playing the game