WARNING NOTE - This is set as much as a preview article, though you'll find personal opinions of mine in this article. Some data here may even be erroneous, and I'm ready to expect a warning/negative feedback as a response. Still, in no way is any of this meant to represent a personal attack or grudge on individuals, on any Blizzard games or StarCraft or Blizzard as a whole.
Second Note - This was written much before the release of Patch 3.0. As it was released, it was slightly adapted.
[PREVIEW] Legacy of the Void - Personal Impressions
So, we're at last in October 10th. Another day in the month, the day the monthly paycheck comes down and I and my family get to spend it again and about set the very 30 days until the very last expansion and the final chapter in the Raynor/Kerrigan/Zeratul saga is launched worldwide. Sorry, Artanis, I mean... And given the amount of stuff Blizzard is showing us, how will it come out, in the end? Will it be good? Will it be bad? Am I just taking advantage of it?
...'Maybe' is the answer for the final question, but still, expectations are high, and I think it good to put an article speaking about it, today. Talking about what we were shown in Blizzcon, the Prologue released in the Beta, the new UI, the additions to the editor and much more, here's about my very first preview article about something obviously StarCraft, but about how we're so anxious to put our hands on it. To the point of us wanting to grab our guns and battleaxes and storm Blizzard's HQ, coercing them to already give it to us. Just joking, of course.
But where better to begin this preview? With the Cinematic released in September, this year? Chronologically, with the reveal in BlizzCon 2014? With the recent 3.0 patch, which even applied to HotS/WoL versions? I could naturally start talking about the multiplayer, since it was radically altered compared to the last versions, but let's start exactly from there. No, not the multiplayer, but with the recap of what preceded Legacy of the Void,Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm. And there's a fitting title for it, which I call...
The Rocky Road Behind Us...
The reveal back in 2007 that the highest-grossing and RTS phenomenon of 1998 was getting a sequel literally rocked the world. On that day, there was nothing else to discuss but what StarCraft II (Which wasn't planned as a separated three-part game, at the time) would finally offer to those whom long awaited answers and improvements. Answers to questions like - Where the story would go, after the strong conclusion of Brood War? Was it all getting set up for a huge, final battle, one to envy Armageddon? Was Kerrigan really going to die? Was Raynor finally getting payback for everything that went wrong for him? How would the Hybrids be and if the Xel'Naga, through Duran, were plotting their comeback? The questions just kept piling on up. And, finally, there was discussion about how much improvement there'd be to StarCraft II, given development immediately started after 'The Frozen Throne' was released in 2003. It seemed like, as the mods and campaigns for Brood War only came out bigger, better and filled with features, the map and mod makers would finally be able to go godlike with what the engine had to offer - There'd be FPS segments, cinematic experiences, ability to introduce new models, races and units without needing to replace new ones, new UIs and mechanics, it seemed like it was all set for the Golden Age of StarCraft Modding to kick in.
Outside the Blizzard circle, there seemed to be also a downfall amongst other RTS franchises since Bullfrog fell, THQ was oblivious to it's future bankruptcy and Westwood was absorbed by EA. True, Tiberium Wars and Kane's Wrath made out a strong performance, at least in my opinion, but Red Alert 3 and Uprising signalled something was very wrong. There wasn't much RTS coming from other companies, only a subtle surprise from the Westwood leftovers called Universe at War: Earth Assault, and it seemed the RTS genre was starting to die. The signs were made more relevant with the release of C&C 4, StormRise, SunAge and other god-awful products. Suddenly, all eyes seemed to turn to Blizzard, as if StarCraft II was literally the very last hope of RTS. In an instant, it was no longer a matter of leaving an impression, continuing a story, maintaining the eSports standards it founded or expanding the content for modders and mappers to play with. It was all about saving strategy games as a whole, and like people whom relied on Superman to save the world, Blizzard had to not let people down.
And then, when Wings of Liberty was released, the question remained - did it save or did it ruin RTS?
Wings of Liberty was made a monster hit, true. It was critically acclaimed and sold more than a million copies on release day. The story wasn't that much, but offered interesting ideas and at best showcased us of what the editor could do and what we could explore. In the multiplayer, new plays started to be formulated and gave room to the coming of undiscovered people like Khelazur, Idra, WhiteRa, Snute, Bomber, Hydra and Lilbow, to name a few. But it was everything but perfect - It faced technical difficulties with overheating video cards, the editor and engine only received optimization in a later date, and many issues like freezing and crashing and corrupted files would take a while until they were all fixed. In reality, SCII, the game, was everything but definitely finished.
Also, the harsh truth, the multiplayer was unbalanced and, while retaining some of the old StarCraft gameplay, it instead took the C&C route, building up hard-counters which you needed specific units or massive numbers to counter other ones. So much so that the once popular Reaper was forced into a severe nerf later, in Heart of the Swarm. The Colossus didn't worm it's way into people hearts as much as the Reaver could, and many saw the Zerg were the most underpowered and weakest of races. The story and singleplayer also suffered, with over-dependence on cliches and tropes we've already seen in WCIII and WoW. There was an inexistant AI, instead the campaign being filled of gimmick-filled missions to compensate for lack of proper AI development, and the free choice selection of missions everyone believed was going to be a highlight of the campaign ultimately became the greatest issue. You could end up with whatever tech you wanted and often units from another missions (i.e. Reapers in 'Outbreak') were much more powerful in another mission than in the mission which they'd shine.
But the greatest blow would come from all hopes from modding and mapping crumbling. Because of the editor needing polishing, the issues with porting assets as well as a ridiculous 80MB limit for mods and maps to be uploaded literally drove everyone away, as if they felt they were lied to and betrayed. There were few brave attempts at modding and mapping, but in the end they all fell into a separate group of arcade minigames, where Tower Defense maps and tug-of-wars like Desert Strike shined, if only for a while. Even planned campaign projects like a revival and final episode of Legacy of the Confederation have faded away, having grown in disillusion. So much that the very first true attempts actually came from here, in SC2Mapster, thanks to people like EivindL,christdaugherty,Terhonator and, of course, the 'Mass Recall' project which aimed to recreate Brood War in Starcraft II.
This became a huge warning sign to Blizzard, as they suddenly realized that it was the player support whom kept the game in it's feet and quickly mobilized to try and help pull back the support they had in the past, to the point of even making a tutorial section for newcomers into how to make their first map, from Terraining to using the Data and Trigger modules. Still, Blizzard knew the 'Arcade' section needed an amplification, as well as the multiplayer balance, which then set the driving force to prioritize it in Heart of the Swarm.
To the literal point of delivering what I consider to be *the* worst story telling Blizzard ever delivered, one that managed to overcome the at-least-tried attempt for Diablo III. And not just the overall story for Heart of the Swarm was bad, the gameplay felt nothing but a re-skin of what we've already played in Wings of Liberty. It was either too difficult without Kerrigan or too cheesy with her, and even her choice powers could not save the character, which wasn't even anything close to what we were offered in Brood War. The other characters, apart from being well-designed, weren't interesting, awkward situations in the campaign were shoehorned in and the introduction and execution of the Zerus arc and afterwards felt unnecessary, forced, badly planned and awfully executed.
Even the intro cinematic was the lowest of Blizzard's cinematic experiences, in my opinion. While EivindL may enjoy it for how much action packed and big it was, I felt it was too exaggerated, too overblown and too full of itself, especially with it's line delivery, like if Tricia Helfer hoped every single one-liner she spouted there would be memorized. And I don't have much against Helfer, either, it's just that wasn't the right script - While she was playfully exaggerated in Wings of Liberty and facing her was often worthwhile, in Heart of the Swarm I felt like if she was trying to pose as a 50's TV show villain. I was honestly expecting the Power Rangers to come out any second and I'd get in a mini-game fight! :P
Still, while how awful the campaign was, I won't lie and say there wasn't *any* good stuff for Heart of the Swarm, at all. There were improvements, there. The multiplayer balancing was improved, with the few new units and altered old units offering new alternatives and play styles to all three races, the UI, improved from WoL, felt much more easier to explore and had a mature look, and the Arcade section improved considerably, on which many Arcade games still continue to be uploaded and played today. On the editor, while it didn't offer much newer stuff for data and triggers, gave us a nice enough quantity of assets, tilesets and models to actually vary a bit. Actually, you could see the lengths Blizzard took to bring multiplayer and UMS maps back to solid ground level. But, if you included the single-player campaign and if you weren't needy of the assets, the new units or the newer maps that required the expansion, I'd say Heart of the Swarm would be an unfortunate skip.
Now, with the past summarized as best as I could (!), let's finally get to the Preview itself, starting with the most major of alterations, the multiplayer itself.
A Change of Game
Despite the addition of new units and mechanics and the replacement of old favourites, both Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm virtually maintained the same gameplay style. Legacy of the Void, however, will be the first to perform radical changes to it's macro, in the form of both reduced minerals at the beginning as well as a higher starting worker count, often requiring a battle plan in mind as well as a more aggressive, expanding style of gameplay. In contrast, new units are added which often require a high level of micro to be effective, particularly both the Protoss Adept and the Disruptor. Like Heart of the Swarm, old units also suffered changes - Where the Swarm Host was somewhat of a Lurker replacement, it's now a mobile spawning unit to make room for the old returning Lurker, as the Battlecruiser now gains a warp ability to compensate for mobility. The Immortal's Hardened Shields, which was the bulwark against Marauders and other armored units, is gone to make way for an active 'Barrier' ability, that immediately is turned on as the units shields are down. Even the race macro mechanics, but Terran (!), were changed in reaction to the changes in gameplay, with the Protoss Chrono Boost being constant though only a building can be focused at a time, while the Zerg Larvae spawn is now only 3 instead of 4. The MULE and Extra Supplies' ability virtually remain the same from Heart of the Swarm and Wings of Liberty.
I virtually made a mistake, in the past, by not commenting on the radical changes on the macro when they were announced along with the new units in BlizzCon 2014. People are divided on this matter, but I'm personally sticking to the group that doesn't like those changes a single bit, for a number of reasons - For starters, being aggressive or turtling should be a player's choice, and not be forced into doing it just so the player can 'survive' for another 10 gameplay minutes. Then, there's the 'slow' time of the first few minutes literally cut with more workers in the start, like if Blizzard's afraid the game will lose hype or energy if these slow moments are there, and that's not a good thing on my book. People need those starting moments, it teaches them patience and control, pros often use them to plan what they'll do and even casters take a chance to comment stuff a bit before being ready to get into action. People may want to display high APM, but they don't want to strain their hand muscles all the time hitting on the keyboard afraid they'll lose if they aren't at perfect 400s. Finally, the third reason I think this is bad is because this gameplay style will virtually validate what nay-sayers are talking, that StarCraft II is a *clickfest*, when even footage from WCS' championships for HotS confirm it's not - There's room for strategy, room for reaction, room for creative ways of overcoming your opponent or getting out of a tight spot. And just altering a gameplay system when it was already more than fine in HotS will just make the situation worse.
With that personal comment on macro changes aside, Legacy of the Void also introduces new units with divided opinions for each - The HERC from BlizzCon, which rivaled with the Hellbat in terms of melee combat, was cut off and replaced with the Liberator, a hybrid of a Valkyrie and Siege Tank which also requires aiming at a target area to be effective. There's also the Cyclone, which's virtually, in my book, just a Diamondback from WoL which requires locking into a target to be able to fire. The Zerg, on their part, attain the Ravager, a Roach evolution which allows them to fire an artillery shot that can break Force Fields, as well as the mentioned return of the Lurker, which also gains a range upgrade in LotV. Finally, the Protoss have the Adept, an extremely useful scouting unit and harassment, given it's speed and ability to transition, thus replacing the Zealot in early game, and the Disruptor whose blast can decimate whole unit groups and requires often speed or splits in order to escape, and is more deadly as it's worked in tandem with the Warp Prism, whose alterations allow it to pick units from a distance, but not unload it from a distance as well. Even though it's only 30 days until release, there's still a lot of divided opinions on all the units introduced and the gameplay styles, some praising the untis, others saying they're virtually new cheeses, others saying some units practically should be left aside. I have my own opinions, having said them before, so you can check them out here.
But, apart from the ingame changes, LotV also introduces new modes of multiplayer matches, like Automated Tournaments as well as a new gameplay mode called 'Archon Mode', which is literally two players handling a single 'player', that is the same race two people will handle as if they were one player alone. This often calls for teamwork and communication, as one player can handle micro, scouting and harassment while the other focuses on expanding, building up and teching, virtually cutting short APM and getting busy, in a way, while also doubling effectiveness.
Finally, a third addition is done, though often an UMS map-like one, known as the Allied Commanders, which you can choose a hero of a certain type and engage in sorts of missions with specific objectives - Raiding trains like in Wings of Liberty, killing Hybrids, and others. At first I believed it'd actually be in a cooperative style on the way Red Alert 3 tried, but now I can notice it's just so Blizzard can ride on the MOBA train even they're taking on with their Heroes of the Storm. I'm personally a tad disappointed on this matter because I believed it'd play like Red Alert 3 did with Co-Commanders, except you, in my point-of-view, would do more than just having the AI attack an area, or a single unit or guard a position - You could have it expand, or build a certain amount of a specific unit, or have it cast a specific spell, or research a specific upgrade earlier or later than it's supposed to, the possibilities would be limitless. Unfortunately it turns out it's just a side MOBA addition, it's just 'more of the same' like with arcade minigames.
But these aren't the only changes, for Legacy of the Void. From days ago, but with a lot to comment, comes the new UI for you to familiarize.
The New Looks
From each StarCraft II game, the most major modification is the main menu and user interface itself. Previously, in Wings of Liberty, it all seemed like an arcade console, more focused on graphics, but also severely lacking in functionality. There was no chat option available at the time and very little for arcade, as mentioned before.
Heart of the Swarm completely forsaken the graphic aspect, but the change was for the best. While more like an usual game menu, it was more functional, more varied and virtually easy to run through. It also included a new background splash screen and more gameplay, audio, video, social and network options. Though it required a little bit of visiting the options menu - the default is that you're not allowed to select enemies to check their upgrades and stats, as well as a 'Simplified Command Card' you'd need to deactivate if just to turn on the advanced commands, like in Age of Empires.
Legacy of the Void, on it's part, takes the 'AirMech' menu route, meaning a full top menu with submenus and a whole altered interface, the most notable of which being the Campaign selection screen, which makes an homage to Brood War, selecting either Raynor, Kerrigan or Artanis for their campaigns. The 'Whispers of Oblivion' prologue should also be available to play, along with the other features, such as Co-op and not just one, but two new backgrounds, one of which is the pre-loading/login menu 'Space Clouds'.
On the other hand, the Arcade section is now divided in two segments - games available to join, and those to browse and thus create (I think). Chat channels had their max number increased to 200 from 100, and are made easier to join through the '/join' command, as well as the player's friends. All along with a new search category named 'Single-player', which I believe is where campaign missions or one-shot scenarios will be stored. Co-op play is also included, as is the ability to create multiple chat windows for multiple chats. Any new additions to options may also be included as the game launches.
But, before we get to the thick of it, let's take a look at one more subject before we get to the real thing.
The End of the Road
If you take the title above to face value, you know this is exactly what's to be talked about - the story. The end of the path started nearly two decades ago, with both highs as well as lows. As well as the end of the story we're used with, with Raynor, Kerrigan, Zeratul, both the Hyperion and the Leviathan's crews, as well as Artanis and the upcoming Protoss cast. We've seen it all, it's all set for an apparent big battle, so naturally comes the question and fear - How's it going to end, and, most important, will it be good? Because we've seen the most awful of endings which disgracefully buried a franchise (C&C 4), as well as the most confusing and less satisfactory one (Mass Effect 3). But this virtually is what many consider to be an epic story of their time and a cornerstone of RTS, and the fear is justified not only based on the previous fiascos from before, but also because it's a thin line - A happy ending will be seen poorly because it's too cliche as well as a realistic one would seem like a copying or following the trend of popular TV shows out there.
But, of course, this is just the very ending, there's still the rest of the road to go and the missions that'll comprise them. So what to expect of them? The best way to create an opinion is simply to look what we know so far and what was offered to us, so much from the mission samples from BlizzCon as from the prologue itself. Judging from what we've seen last year, the campaign will visit places like a falling Terran platform, a space station which you must move around because of the few resources, a sacrifice world where you must evidently stop the sacrifices, familiar places to destroy enemies and help friends out, and a machine world where you must activate what some like myself considered, at the time, to be the 'Primal Zerg' of the Protoss, the Purifiers of Cybros. I actually doubt Blizzard wouldn't use the opportunity to put more focus on the sub-faction Protoss than anything else, but I'll be surprised if they're just a feature and not the focus, like, it'll be this which will win the war for the Protoss instead of the Protoss united themselves. Besides, at least they warned us there'd be the Primal Zerg of the Protoss and gave us the time and opportunity to prepare our hearts and minds for the worst.
Playing through the Prologue campaign as I've pre-ordered and dowloaded the Beta, I could sum up together some facts and affirmations, thus establishing expectations, as well. Obviously the dialogue is cheesy, that *is* to be expected from Blizzard, but the manner it was delivered made it much less painful than Heart of the Swarm. Yes, it also makes mentioning of an artifact of salvation obviously ripped off from Diablo lore, but we're about so desensitized from the previous Zerg campaign it apparently doesn't hurt this much. On the gameplay, yes, it's still remniscent from Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm, but it seems effort was put into it - For the first time, I was forced into being patient and building up as well as having to rush before the Zerg destroyed the reactor, watching out for the waves they sent in the middle of the way. For the first time, I was forced into considering how I'd spend my gas and what I needed to build because I just couldn't mine the gas, and I also had to expand because my minerals didn't last forever on one base! The only weaker part was in the third mission, true, but the assets, as I looked through them, made it worth the experience. But I'll discuss this one much below, because in here, we're still handling single-player campaign and story.
And thus, heading to the main story, what we know there'll be? There'll be side missions and small story arcs, there'll be support powers from Artanis' 'Spear of Adun', as well as there'll be a mix between the semi-linear style of Heart of the Swarm and the free choices of Wings of Liberty, for the missions. There'll be the selection of varied types of units, including nostalgic returns like the Dragoon and the Reaver, as well as some apparent lore from the Preserver character herself. There'll be an exploding planet. And, hopefully, there could be more to know about the characters other than just comments post-mission.
Judging by the way things are going, I expect the campaign will start AND finish on Aiur, on a straight up fight between the Hybrids and three races or the Hybrids and Zerg versus Terrans and Protoss. But something to consider on this is that virtually, as you're playing as Protoss, the love story between Raynor and Kerrigan, as well as the prophecy will mostly be left aside, and this is a good thing. Because for the first time, there'll be a room to explore the characters we'll come across, the very lore of the Protoss and their themes of unity, friendship and the burden of leadership responsibility, as well as the relations between Artanis, the crew and others. Because the love triangle and the prophecy took literally all the story, both WoL and HotS' campaigns suffered for it, but LotV seems to be treating these like a side feature, and this opens room for more interesting themes, meaning the story, even if it's not good or it's too predictable, has the potential to be interesting.
There's also a lot of talking that one of the main characters is going to die in the middle/ending of the campaign. Most bet on Kerrigan, though surprises like Raynor, Valerian, Zeratul or anyone but the protagonist are surely not ignored. Kerrigan is mostly sure, in many people's minds because she's virtually a safe cut, her story run practically over, as well as her death can be profitable - Meaning, though Za'gara can be named the 'heir', so to say, to the Swarm's leadership, the other Brood Mothers apparently are programmed to submit only to the Queen of Blades, meaning they wouldn't need to automatically bow to an equal, even if it's official and the standing order, which means a civil war can brew and drag along Terrans and Protoss as well. Raynor's death is also a possibility, as he also virtually concluded his story, as did most Terran characters. Zeratul can be the martyr, as well, to not mention other Protoss characters like Selendis can face the end of the guillotine. One thing certain is that Blizzard maintains the tradition of axing major characters, which was kept in WCIII with Grom Hellscream, as well as Diablo III with Deckard Cain. They wouldn't go without one of the cores getting axed off and taking advantage of the 'sad' moment, as is the golden rule...
Though one serious problem that can happen, in the story, is the very stereotypes of the characters, based not only on their set story, but also judging by the way Blizzard leads it's stories. Note that this is just MY personal view of how the characters will end up, I'm making a pre-judging on this, but I think the roles will play out in the most cliched way possible - Artanis will be blithering, narrow idiot leader, just believing what happens and acting when it's virtually too late, Vorazun will be the always angry daughter, desperate for getting revenge for her mother's death, Zeratul will be the one people won't listen, despite the *whole* universe crashing around them, Karax will just be an engineer and Rohanna will just be a side character that'll happen to be possessed or something else. This can virtually destroy the story because of how obvious it is and how easy it is to just follow along with it. If something happens different than what I'm expecting, I'll honestly be surprised.
But this means there may be a shred of hope for this, and it's all based on the introduction cinematic alone. Even if I don't like the story, the intro is what I need, this makes entering the story worthwhile, for a good number of reasons - It's not as *big* a battle as HotS was, but it showed the purpose of the Protoss, of what few, together, can do against a throng of enemies. The lines are straight and good, they do their job of mentioning what happened to the Protoss and what they're gonna do, as well as the Khala connection, and are not as overblown and snobby as the one-liners Kerrigan spouted. And though some nitpicking could've been done, like the Ultralisk should've been larger and the Archon should've been fiery and god-like, it provided good action, it exploited Protoss traits like brotherhood and sacrifice and prepared and flamed up the player for what's to come.
Even the side video 'Reclamation', released in the end of September, seems to be investing it's time into a story, exploring Artanis' doubts about the sacrifices he's made and is about to make and if reclaiming Aiur is actually worth it, more because of the Protoss' violent, prejudicial past, rather than just the fact that it's their home. This is the stuff we actually like to see, not exploring the lore, but the characters as well. Character-driven tales are much more effective than the usual stuff we get because it's the characters, in my opinion, which'll ultimately make a story work or not. As well as a bit of a laugh, as the Carbot retrospective flicks have demonstrated me. xD
All this leads to the conclusion that it possibly can't reach the lowest Heart of the Swarm reached, but if it can surpass what Wings of Liberty once offered, even if it's just lore instead of gameplay or vice-versa, this will be a highlight along what the real thing has to offer...
The Toolbox
C'mon you really thought the story was the real thing, in this place? You really thought it? xD
Of course, as the previous expansion offered additions in assets, tilesets, data and trigger to the editor, so the same would be done for Legacy of the Void, with a relevant difference - It's much more, it's more detailed and it's more variations to many sorts of terrain, not just cities, platforms, Xel'Naga interiors or jungles and wastelands. As I played through the prologue, I took notice of the assets and, despite a few re-skined assets from Heart of the Swarm, I felt like I was playing in a whole new terrain. The metal roads, the test tubes, an imprisoned hybrid of sorts, the brambles, the shrines, the terrain carvings, the spires inside the Erris Temple, the Vespene spouts, it's totally incredible. Combined with the more detailed terrain tiles, this has enough content, just saying, to keep WTE running for months. And all this, couple with the 'Pitch & Roll' introduced much after HotS was launched, delivers unlimited possibilities.
Then Patch 3.0 came out, and so did the new UI, the graphic changes, the prologue addition and, as well, a fifth of the assets promised to us. I never had such fun in a single day, feeling, as I said in another thread, as if I touched the Sistine Chapel. The kitbashing it can make, the twistings, the new multiple texture set support, vision brush, it's just insane. Even the splat doodads allow great creativity, combined further with what we have.
Which is why it's a bit sad this literal blessing also came with a whole new load of issues, as to be expected from Blizzard. For mine, the name tags were removed and all replaced with (Unnamed), with just their IDs to ID them, as well as all Prefix and Suffix for units and Terrain were removed. On the game, the FPS count is always showing zero, a few lag spikes here and there... Other people have just lost their maps to the new update, as the patch replaces the Map/Mod folders brand new, there are issues with importing, with the new Data handling, the list of issues to hopefully be addressed in the future 3.1 just keeps growing.
But hey, that's forgiveable - this future is bright and at least it doesn't crash straight or is riddled with bugs like a certain game for PC which should've released in July, then came the issues the consoles didn't get and then it delayed to the end of September, then to the end this month...
But not everything is just graphics or functionality. While I'm still to hear something related to Data in release, besides the ability to add Materials like the shady Amon units in the prologue used, new additions to the Trigger module are coming up, with support for arcade games and the ability to finally kick a player, as well as you can pick a unit by it's name, instantly stop a cooldown of a weapon, and many more. Let me just list a few which I find interesting. If you're interested in the remainder, you can consult them here.
PlayerSetRace - New - Sets the race of the specified player.
UnitGetName - New - Returns the name of a specific unit. This function should be preferred if you wish to account for behavior-based name overrides rather than displaying the name of the unit type.
UnitWeaponSetPeriodRemaining - New - Set the remaining cooldown to 0 to let the weapon fire as soon as possible.
AISetBullyRebuildDelay - New - Sets the delay time before the AI starts trying to replace missing bullies for a player.
Whether we're to find them in Events, Conditions or Actions, the truth is the Trigger Editor is not allowing more power to a mapper, but also more flexibility. If you had issues in changing UI to 'change' races like Dawn of War: Winter Assault did, now it'll be possible, though I wished you could change Decals as well. Unless that's to be included as a sub-function in a later stage, which, then, it's all okay...
Given the new units, not just multiplayer, but campaign as well, we can also expect to see a lot of abilities, effects and even validators exclusive to the situations the scenarios and campaign missions will present us. But what's shown here has already demonstrated that, to make a complex and even an advanced map with relative ease and that can explore new features, this expansion is more of a necessity than a preference, although it's not in any way forcing people, but rather seducing them. Pretty effective tactic, IMO.
My only hope is there are more options and alternatives for AI on release, as well as that Blizzard tries and abuses it, and if it tries using allied AI (Except, I think, in the final battle, where I think they'll rather re-create 'Eye of the Storm', allowing the player to control 2/3 sides at once), I only hope it fares up better than what we were offered, just sending out attack waves and nothing more. But I could just be wanting too much, so I'll restrain myself and moderate my expectations even if they're not fully met.
So, that's it about recalling the past, the multiplayer, the UI changes, the story and the editor. So, to the ultimate, million-dollar question.
And the Final Verdict?
Even despite the apparent concerns, the suspicions and the past expansion, at least, in my view, my opinion is set, and I believe it matches those of other people - That even if the story turns out a disappointment and the new multiplayer turns out less desireable than HotS, even if the campaign gameplay turns out as repetitive and there's not as much improvement to the AI work compared to the previous ones, the editor additions, the UI changes, the intro cinematic and especially the newer assets will make the investiment more than worthwhile. You feel that, this time, in comparison to the previous expansion, there was actual effort and thought put into their intentions, and this puts proof that it's not just resources and skill the company has, but also the need for the will to make something better that pays off, and Legacy of the Void is the best way to describe it.
And, reinforcing what I said earlier, I'm sure that it can't reach the abysmal result HotS offered for it's single-player, but I hold no illusions either. At best of thought, it'll return StarCraft to the levels Wings of Liberty established earlier, but if, IF it accomplishes to surpass it through some above-the-usual story-telling, character development beyond mere talk and an interesting gameplay, Legacy of the Void can perhaps restore people's faith for a better RTS tomorrow. But even if that's not accomplished, there are still many reasons to buy it, beyond the usual "needing it because everyone will use the expansion from the launch day forwards". Even if it all turns out for nothing, story-wise, even if it's all to set up a StarCraft MMO (And I hope I'm brutally wrong on this), LotV will still feel, for all it's other features, like a positive gain.
But this is just expectation, all until the game's actually released and the final verdict is set 30+ days later. Until then, while we wait, take your time and enjoy Dudki's most extensive work, yet, as well as the final and prologue missions of Narudek's and, hopefully in time, the last of EivindL's Perfect Soldiers' campaigns.
I agree on most of what you say, though I'm also less critical at certain points. I can certainly not complain about the name-dropping! :D
I wish you didn't mention the rumored spoiler, though, even if it's obviously very vague. I hadn't heard about this, and now I'm going to enter the game knowing it might happen, which is a letdown.
Well, even if you didn't heard, it's almost a certainty a core Blizzard character will die in LotV. As I exemplified by Diablo III, WCIII and even Brood War, it's their MO.
I will not read the LotV part of this post until i will complete LotV... Too sp00ky spoilers
BTW i am super sure that Zeratul will die, maybe killed by Artanis, is no spoiler, is my theory... He kill zeratul, he steal his void blde and he got bitches.
PS: I expect and pretend important characters to die, at least one or two, Kerrigan deserve to die, that zerg hair fried her brain, Zeratul will die as a prophet (super lame ending, i hope it won't happen).
Is Amon, the Archimonde 2.0 on steroids, i expect it to do a lot of damage and needs a lot of deaths in order to be killed.
Dumbass Blizzard, they spoilered me the name of the Epilogue campaign (i hope prologue and epilogue are not cut missions from the main campaign)
WARNING NOTE - This is set as much as a preview article, though you'll find personal opinions of mine in this article. Some data here may even be erroneous, and I'm ready to expect a warning/negative feedback as a response. Still, in no way is any of this meant to represent a personal attack or grudge on individuals, on any Blizzard games or StarCraft or Blizzard as a whole.
Second Note - This was written much before the release of Patch 3.0. As it was released, it was slightly adapted.
[PREVIEW] Legacy of the Void - Personal Impressions
So, we're at last in October 10th. Another day in the month, the day the monthly paycheck comes down and I and my family get to spend it again and about set the very 30 days until the very last expansion and the final chapter in the Raynor/Kerrigan/Zeratul saga is launched worldwide. Sorry, Artanis, I mean... And given the amount of stuff Blizzard is showing us, how will it come out, in the end? Will it be good? Will it be bad? Am I just taking advantage of it?
...'Maybe' is the answer for the final question, but still, expectations are high, and I think it good to put an article speaking about it, today. Talking about what we were shown in Blizzcon, the Prologue released in the Beta, the new UI, the additions to the editor and much more, here's about my very first preview article about something obviously StarCraft, but about how we're so anxious to put our hands on it. To the point of us wanting to grab our guns and battleaxes and storm Blizzard's HQ, coercing them to already give it to us. Just joking, of course.
But where better to begin this preview? With the Cinematic released in September, this year? Chronologically, with the reveal in BlizzCon 2014? With the recent 3.0 patch, which even applied to HotS/WoL versions? I could naturally start talking about the multiplayer, since it was radically altered compared to the last versions, but let's start exactly from there. No, not the multiplayer, but with the recap of what preceded Legacy of the Void, Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm. And there's a fitting title for it, which I call...
The Rocky Road Behind Us...
The reveal back in 2007 that the highest-grossing and RTS phenomenon of 1998 was getting a sequel literally rocked the world. On that day, there was nothing else to discuss but what StarCraft II (Which wasn't planned as a separated three-part game, at the time) would finally offer to those whom long awaited answers and improvements. Answers to questions like - Where the story would go, after the strong conclusion of Brood War? Was it all getting set up for a huge, final battle, one to envy Armageddon? Was Kerrigan really going to die? Was Raynor finally getting payback for everything that went wrong for him? How would the Hybrids be and if the Xel'Naga, through Duran, were plotting their comeback? The questions just kept piling on up. And, finally, there was discussion about how much improvement there'd be to StarCraft II, given development immediately started after 'The Frozen Throne' was released in 2003. It seemed like, as the mods and campaigns for Brood War only came out bigger, better and filled with features, the map and mod makers would finally be able to go godlike with what the engine had to offer - There'd be FPS segments, cinematic experiences, ability to introduce new models, races and units without needing to replace new ones, new UIs and mechanics, it seemed like it was all set for the Golden Age of StarCraft Modding to kick in.
Outside the Blizzard circle, there seemed to be also a downfall amongst other RTS franchises since Bullfrog fell, THQ was oblivious to it's future bankruptcy and Westwood was absorbed by EA. True, Tiberium Wars and Kane's Wrath made out a strong performance, at least in my opinion, but Red Alert 3 and Uprising signalled something was very wrong. There wasn't much RTS coming from other companies, only a subtle surprise from the Westwood leftovers called Universe at War: Earth Assault, and it seemed the RTS genre was starting to die. The signs were made more relevant with the release of C&C 4, StormRise, SunAge and other god-awful products. Suddenly, all eyes seemed to turn to Blizzard, as if StarCraft II was literally the very last hope of RTS. In an instant, it was no longer a matter of leaving an impression, continuing a story, maintaining the eSports standards it founded or expanding the content for modders and mappers to play with. It was all about saving strategy games as a whole, and like people whom relied on Superman to save the world, Blizzard had to not let people down.
And then, when Wings of Liberty was released, the question remained - did it save or did it ruin RTS?
Wings of Liberty was made a monster hit, true. It was critically acclaimed and sold more than a million copies on release day. The story wasn't that much, but offered interesting ideas and at best showcased us of what the editor could do and what we could explore. In the multiplayer, new plays started to be formulated and gave room to the coming of undiscovered people like Khelazur, Idra, WhiteRa, Snute, Bomber, Hydra and Lilbow, to name a few. But it was everything but perfect - It faced technical difficulties with overheating video cards, the editor and engine only received optimization in a later date, and many issues like freezing and crashing and corrupted files would take a while until they were all fixed. In reality, SCII, the game, was everything but definitely finished.
Also, the harsh truth, the multiplayer was unbalanced and, while retaining some of the old StarCraft gameplay, it instead took the C&C route, building up hard-counters which you needed specific units or massive numbers to counter other ones. So much so that the once popular Reaper was forced into a severe nerf later, in Heart of the Swarm. The Colossus didn't worm it's way into people hearts as much as the Reaver could, and many saw the Zerg were the most underpowered and weakest of races. The story and singleplayer also suffered, with over-dependence on cliches and tropes we've already seen in WCIII and WoW. There was an inexistant AI, instead the campaign being filled of gimmick-filled missions to compensate for lack of proper AI development, and the free choice selection of missions everyone believed was going to be a highlight of the campaign ultimately became the greatest issue. You could end up with whatever tech you wanted and often units from another missions (i.e. Reapers in 'Outbreak') were much more powerful in another mission than in the mission which they'd shine.
But the greatest blow would come from all hopes from modding and mapping crumbling. Because of the editor needing polishing, the issues with porting assets as well as a ridiculous 80MB limit for mods and maps to be uploaded literally drove everyone away, as if they felt they were lied to and betrayed. There were few brave attempts at modding and mapping, but in the end they all fell into a separate group of arcade minigames, where Tower Defense maps and tug-of-wars like Desert Strike shined, if only for a while. Even planned campaign projects like a revival and final episode of Legacy of the Confederation have faded away, having grown in disillusion. So much that the very first true attempts actually came from here, in SC2Mapster, thanks to people like EivindL, christdaugherty, Terhonator and, of course, the 'Mass Recall' project which aimed to recreate Brood War in Starcraft II.
This became a huge warning sign to Blizzard, as they suddenly realized that it was the player support whom kept the game in it's feet and quickly mobilized to try and help pull back the support they had in the past, to the point of even making a tutorial section for newcomers into how to make their first map, from Terraining to using the Data and Trigger modules. Still, Blizzard knew the 'Arcade' section needed an amplification, as well as the multiplayer balance, which then set the driving force to prioritize it in Heart of the Swarm.
To the literal point of delivering what I consider to be *the* worst story telling Blizzard ever delivered, one that managed to overcome the at-least-tried attempt for Diablo III. And not just the overall story for Heart of the Swarm was bad, the gameplay felt nothing but a re-skin of what we've already played in Wings of Liberty. It was either too difficult without Kerrigan or too cheesy with her, and even her choice powers could not save the character, which wasn't even anything close to what we were offered in Brood War. The other characters, apart from being well-designed, weren't interesting, awkward situations in the campaign were shoehorned in and the introduction and execution of the Zerus arc and afterwards felt unnecessary, forced, badly planned and awfully executed.
Even the intro cinematic was the lowest of Blizzard's cinematic experiences, in my opinion. While EivindL may enjoy it for how much action packed and big it was, I felt it was too exaggerated, too overblown and too full of itself, especially with it's line delivery, like if Tricia Helfer hoped every single one-liner she spouted there would be memorized. And I don't have much against Helfer, either, it's just that wasn't the right script - While she was playfully exaggerated in Wings of Liberty and facing her was often worthwhile, in Heart of the Swarm I felt like if she was trying to pose as a 50's TV show villain. I was honestly expecting the Power Rangers to come out any second and I'd get in a mini-game fight! :P
Still, while how awful the campaign was, I won't lie and say there wasn't *any* good stuff for Heart of the Swarm, at all. There were improvements, there. The multiplayer balancing was improved, with the few new units and altered old units offering new alternatives and play styles to all three races, the UI, improved from WoL, felt much more easier to explore and had a mature look, and the Arcade section improved considerably, on which many Arcade games still continue to be uploaded and played today. On the editor, while it didn't offer much newer stuff for data and triggers, gave us a nice enough quantity of assets, tilesets and models to actually vary a bit. Actually, you could see the lengths Blizzard took to bring multiplayer and UMS maps back to solid ground level. But, if you included the single-player campaign and if you weren't needy of the assets, the new units or the newer maps that required the expansion, I'd say Heart of the Swarm would be an unfortunate skip.
Now, with the past summarized as best as I could (!), let's finally get to the Preview itself, starting with the most major of alterations, the multiplayer itself.
A Change of Game
Despite the addition of new units and mechanics and the replacement of old favourites, both Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm virtually maintained the same gameplay style. Legacy of the Void, however, will be the first to perform radical changes to it's macro, in the form of both reduced minerals at the beginning as well as a higher starting worker count, often requiring a battle plan in mind as well as a more aggressive, expanding style of gameplay. In contrast, new units are added which often require a high level of micro to be effective, particularly both the Protoss Adept and the Disruptor. Like Heart of the Swarm, old units also suffered changes - Where the Swarm Host was somewhat of a Lurker replacement, it's now a mobile spawning unit to make room for the old returning Lurker, as the Battlecruiser now gains a warp ability to compensate for mobility. The Immortal's Hardened Shields, which was the bulwark against Marauders and other armored units, is gone to make way for an active 'Barrier' ability, that immediately is turned on as the units shields are down. Even the race macro mechanics, but Terran (!), were changed in reaction to the changes in gameplay, with the Protoss Chrono Boost being constant though only a building can be focused at a time, while the Zerg Larvae spawn is now only 3 instead of 4. The MULE and Extra Supplies' ability virtually remain the same from Heart of the Swarm and Wings of Liberty.
I virtually made a mistake, in the past, by not commenting on the radical changes on the macro when they were announced along with the new units in BlizzCon 2014. People are divided on this matter, but I'm personally sticking to the group that doesn't like those changes a single bit, for a number of reasons - For starters, being aggressive or turtling should be a player's choice, and not be forced into doing it just so the player can 'survive' for another 10 gameplay minutes. Then, there's the 'slow' time of the first few minutes literally cut with more workers in the start, like if Blizzard's afraid the game will lose hype or energy if these slow moments are there, and that's not a good thing on my book. People need those starting moments, it teaches them patience and control, pros often use them to plan what they'll do and even casters take a chance to comment stuff a bit before being ready to get into action. People may want to display high APM, but they don't want to strain their hand muscles all the time hitting on the keyboard afraid they'll lose if they aren't at perfect 400s. Finally, the third reason I think this is bad is because this gameplay style will virtually validate what nay-sayers are talking, that StarCraft II is a *clickfest*, when even footage from WCS' championships for HotS confirm it's not - There's room for strategy, room for reaction, room for creative ways of overcoming your opponent or getting out of a tight spot. And just altering a gameplay system when it was already more than fine in HotS will just make the situation worse.
With that personal comment on macro changes aside, Legacy of the Void also introduces new units with divided opinions for each - The HERC from BlizzCon, which rivaled with the Hellbat in terms of melee combat, was cut off and replaced with the Liberator, a hybrid of a Valkyrie and Siege Tank which also requires aiming at a target area to be effective. There's also the Cyclone, which's virtually, in my book, just a Diamondback from WoL which requires locking into a target to be able to fire. The Zerg, on their part, attain the Ravager, a Roach evolution which allows them to fire an artillery shot that can break Force Fields, as well as the mentioned return of the Lurker, which also gains a range upgrade in LotV. Finally, the Protoss have the Adept, an extremely useful scouting unit and harassment, given it's speed and ability to transition, thus replacing the Zealot in early game, and the Disruptor whose blast can decimate whole unit groups and requires often speed or splits in order to escape, and is more deadly as it's worked in tandem with the Warp Prism, whose alterations allow it to pick units from a distance, but not unload it from a distance as well. Even though it's only 30 days until release, there's still a lot of divided opinions on all the units introduced and the gameplay styles, some praising the untis, others saying they're virtually new cheeses, others saying some units practically should be left aside. I have my own opinions, having said them before, so you can check them out here.
But, apart from the ingame changes, LotV also introduces new modes of multiplayer matches, like Automated Tournaments as well as a new gameplay mode called 'Archon Mode', which is literally two players handling a single 'player', that is the same race two people will handle as if they were one player alone. This often calls for teamwork and communication, as one player can handle micro, scouting and harassment while the other focuses on expanding, building up and teching, virtually cutting short APM and getting busy, in a way, while also doubling effectiveness.
Finally, a third addition is done, though often an UMS map-like one, known as the Allied Commanders, which you can choose a hero of a certain type and engage in sorts of missions with specific objectives - Raiding trains like in Wings of Liberty, killing Hybrids, and others. At first I believed it'd actually be in a cooperative style on the way Red Alert 3 tried, but now I can notice it's just so Blizzard can ride on the MOBA train even they're taking on with their Heroes of the Storm. I'm personally a tad disappointed on this matter because I believed it'd play like Red Alert 3 did with Co-Commanders, except you, in my point-of-view, would do more than just having the AI attack an area, or a single unit or guard a position - You could have it expand, or build a certain amount of a specific unit, or have it cast a specific spell, or research a specific upgrade earlier or later than it's supposed to, the possibilities would be limitless. Unfortunately it turns out it's just a side MOBA addition, it's just 'more of the same' like with arcade minigames.
But these aren't the only changes, for Legacy of the Void. From days ago, but with a lot to comment, comes the new UI for you to familiarize.
The New Looks
From each StarCraft II game, the most major modification is the main menu and user interface itself. Previously, in Wings of Liberty, it all seemed like an arcade console, more focused on graphics, but also severely lacking in functionality. There was no chat option available at the time and very little for arcade, as mentioned before.
Heart of the Swarm completely forsaken the graphic aspect, but the change was for the best. While more like an usual game menu, it was more functional, more varied and virtually easy to run through. It also included a new background splash screen and more gameplay, audio, video, social and network options. Though it required a little bit of visiting the options menu - the default is that you're not allowed to select enemies to check their upgrades and stats, as well as a 'Simplified Command Card' you'd need to deactivate if just to turn on the advanced commands, like in Age of Empires.
Legacy of the Void, on it's part, takes the 'AirMech' menu route, meaning a full top menu with submenus and a whole altered interface, the most notable of which being the Campaign selection screen, which makes an homage to Brood War, selecting either Raynor, Kerrigan or Artanis for their campaigns. The 'Whispers of Oblivion' prologue should also be available to play, along with the other features, such as Co-op and not just one, but two new backgrounds, one of which is the pre-loading/login menu 'Space Clouds'.
On the other hand, the Arcade section is now divided in two segments - games available to join, and those to browse and thus create (I think). Chat channels had their max number increased to 200 from 100, and are made easier to join through the '/join' command, as well as the player's friends. All along with a new search category named 'Single-player', which I believe is where campaign missions or one-shot scenarios will be stored. Co-op play is also included, as is the ability to create multiple chat windows for multiple chats. Any new additions to options may also be included as the game launches.
But, before we get to the thick of it, let's take a look at one more subject before we get to the real thing.
The End of the Road
If you take the title above to face value, you know this is exactly what's to be talked about - the story. The end of the path started nearly two decades ago, with both highs as well as lows. As well as the end of the story we're used with, with Raynor, Kerrigan, Zeratul, both the Hyperion and the Leviathan's crews, as well as Artanis and the upcoming Protoss cast. We've seen it all, it's all set for an apparent big battle, so naturally comes the question and fear - How's it going to end, and, most important, will it be good? Because we've seen the most awful of endings which disgracefully buried a franchise (C&C 4), as well as the most confusing and less satisfactory one (Mass Effect 3). But this virtually is what many consider to be an epic story of their time and a cornerstone of RTS, and the fear is justified not only based on the previous fiascos from before, but also because it's a thin line - A happy ending will be seen poorly because it's too cliche as well as a realistic one would seem like a copying or following the trend of popular TV shows out there.
But, of course, this is just the very ending, there's still the rest of the road to go and the missions that'll comprise them. So what to expect of them? The best way to create an opinion is simply to look what we know so far and what was offered to us, so much from the mission samples from BlizzCon as from the prologue itself. Judging from what we've seen last year, the campaign will visit places like a falling Terran platform, a space station which you must move around because of the few resources, a sacrifice world where you must evidently stop the sacrifices, familiar places to destroy enemies and help friends out, and a machine world where you must activate what some like myself considered, at the time, to be the 'Primal Zerg' of the Protoss, the Purifiers of Cybros. I actually doubt Blizzard wouldn't use the opportunity to put more focus on the sub-faction Protoss than anything else, but I'll be surprised if they're just a feature and not the focus, like, it'll be this which will win the war for the Protoss instead of the Protoss united themselves. Besides, at least they warned us there'd be the Primal Zerg of the Protoss and gave us the time and opportunity to prepare our hearts and minds for the worst.
Playing through the Prologue campaign as I've pre-ordered and dowloaded the Beta, I could sum up together some facts and affirmations, thus establishing expectations, as well. Obviously the dialogue is cheesy, that *is* to be expected from Blizzard, but the manner it was delivered made it much less painful than Heart of the Swarm. Yes, it also makes mentioning of an artifact of salvation obviously ripped off from Diablo lore, but we're about so desensitized from the previous Zerg campaign it apparently doesn't hurt this much. On the gameplay, yes, it's still remniscent from Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm, but it seems effort was put into it - For the first time, I was forced into being patient and building up as well as having to rush before the Zerg destroyed the reactor, watching out for the waves they sent in the middle of the way. For the first time, I was forced into considering how I'd spend my gas and what I needed to build because I just couldn't mine the gas, and I also had to expand because my minerals didn't last forever on one base! The only weaker part was in the third mission, true, but the assets, as I looked through them, made it worth the experience. But I'll discuss this one much below, because in here, we're still handling single-player campaign and story.
And thus, heading to the main story, what we know there'll be? There'll be side missions and small story arcs, there'll be support powers from Artanis' 'Spear of Adun', as well as there'll be a mix between the semi-linear style of Heart of the Swarm and the free choices of Wings of Liberty, for the missions. There'll be the selection of varied types of units, including nostalgic returns like the Dragoon and the Reaver, as well as some apparent lore from the Preserver character herself. There'll be an exploding planet. And, hopefully, there could be more to know about the characters other than just comments post-mission.
Judging by the way things are going, I expect the campaign will start AND finish on Aiur, on a straight up fight between the Hybrids and three races or the Hybrids and Zerg versus Terrans and Protoss. But something to consider on this is that virtually, as you're playing as Protoss, the love story between Raynor and Kerrigan, as well as the prophecy will mostly be left aside, and this is a good thing. Because for the first time, there'll be a room to explore the characters we'll come across, the very lore of the Protoss and their themes of unity, friendship and the burden of leadership responsibility, as well as the relations between Artanis, the crew and others. Because the love triangle and the prophecy took literally all the story, both WoL and HotS' campaigns suffered for it, but LotV seems to be treating these like a side feature, and this opens room for more interesting themes, meaning the story, even if it's not good or it's too predictable, has the potential to be interesting.
There's also a lot of talking that one of the main characters is going to die in the middle/ending of the campaign. Most bet on Kerrigan, though surprises like Raynor, Valerian, Zeratul or anyone but the protagonist are surely not ignored. Kerrigan is mostly sure, in many people's minds because she's virtually a safe cut, her story run practically over, as well as her death can be profitable - Meaning, though Za'gara can be named the 'heir', so to say, to the Swarm's leadership, the other Brood Mothers apparently are programmed to submit only to the Queen of Blades, meaning they wouldn't need to automatically bow to an equal, even if it's official and the standing order, which means a civil war can brew and drag along Terrans and Protoss as well. Raynor's death is also a possibility, as he also virtually concluded his story, as did most Terran characters. Zeratul can be the martyr, as well, to not mention other Protoss characters like Selendis can face the end of the guillotine. One thing certain is that Blizzard maintains the tradition of axing major characters, which was kept in WCIII with Grom Hellscream, as well as Diablo III with Deckard Cain. They wouldn't go without one of the cores getting axed off and taking advantage of the 'sad' moment, as is the golden rule...
Though one serious problem that can happen, in the story, is the very stereotypes of the characters, based not only on their set story, but also judging by the way Blizzard leads it's stories. Note that this is just MY personal view of how the characters will end up, I'm making a pre-judging on this, but I think the roles will play out in the most cliched way possible - Artanis will be blithering, narrow idiot leader, just believing what happens and acting when it's virtually too late, Vorazun will be the always angry daughter, desperate for getting revenge for her mother's death, Zeratul will be the one people won't listen, despite the *whole* universe crashing around them, Karax will just be an engineer and Rohanna will just be a side character that'll happen to be possessed or something else. This can virtually destroy the story because of how obvious it is and how easy it is to just follow along with it. If something happens different than what I'm expecting, I'll honestly be surprised.
But this means there may be a shred of hope for this, and it's all based on the introduction cinematic alone. Even if I don't like the story, the intro is what I need, this makes entering the story worthwhile, for a good number of reasons - It's not as *big* a battle as HotS was, but it showed the purpose of the Protoss, of what few, together, can do against a throng of enemies. The lines are straight and good, they do their job of mentioning what happened to the Protoss and what they're gonna do, as well as the Khala connection, and are not as overblown and snobby as the one-liners Kerrigan spouted. And though some nitpicking could've been done, like the Ultralisk should've been larger and the Archon should've been fiery and god-like, it provided good action, it exploited Protoss traits like brotherhood and sacrifice and prepared and flamed up the player for what's to come.
Even the side video 'Reclamation', released in the end of September, seems to be investing it's time into a story, exploring Artanis' doubts about the sacrifices he's made and is about to make and if reclaiming Aiur is actually worth it, more because of the Protoss' violent, prejudicial past, rather than just the fact that it's their home. This is the stuff we actually like to see, not exploring the lore, but the characters as well. Character-driven tales are much more effective than the usual stuff we get because it's the characters, in my opinion, which'll ultimately make a story work or not. As well as a bit of a laugh, as the Carbot retrospective flicks have demonstrated me. xD
All this leads to the conclusion that it possibly can't reach the lowest Heart of the Swarm reached, but if it can surpass what Wings of Liberty once offered, even if it's just lore instead of gameplay or vice-versa, this will be a highlight along what the real thing has to offer...
The Toolbox
C'mon you really thought the story was the real thing, in this place? You really thought it? xD
Of course, as the previous expansion offered additions in assets, tilesets, data and trigger to the editor, so the same would be done for Legacy of the Void, with a relevant difference - It's much more, it's more detailed and it's more variations to many sorts of terrain, not just cities, platforms, Xel'Naga interiors or jungles and wastelands. As I played through the prologue, I took notice of the assets and, despite a few re-skined assets from Heart of the Swarm, I felt like I was playing in a whole new terrain. The metal roads, the test tubes, an imprisoned hybrid of sorts, the brambles, the shrines, the terrain carvings, the spires inside the Erris Temple, the Vespene spouts, it's totally incredible. Combined with the more detailed terrain tiles, this has enough content, just saying, to keep WTE running for months. And all this, couple with the 'Pitch & Roll' introduced much after HotS was launched, delivers unlimited possibilities.
Then Patch 3.0 came out, and so did the new UI, the graphic changes, the prologue addition and, as well, a fifth of the assets promised to us. I never had such fun in a single day, feeling, as I said in another thread, as if I touched the Sistine Chapel. The kitbashing it can make, the twistings, the new multiple texture set support, vision brush, it's just insane. Even the splat doodads allow great creativity, combined further with what we have.
Which is why it's a bit sad this literal blessing also came with a whole new load of issues, as to be expected from Blizzard. For mine, the name tags were removed and all replaced with (Unnamed), with just their IDs to ID them, as well as all Prefix and Suffix for units and Terrain were removed. On the game, the FPS count is always showing zero, a few lag spikes here and there... Other people have just lost their maps to the new update, as the patch replaces the Map/Mod folders brand new, there are issues with importing, with the new Data handling, the list of issues to hopefully be addressed in the future 3.1 just keeps growing.
But hey, that's forgiveable - this future is bright and at least it doesn't crash straight or is riddled with bugs like a certain game for PC which should've released in July, then came the issues the consoles didn't get and then it delayed to the end of September, then to the end this month...
But not everything is just graphics or functionality. While I'm still to hear something related to Data in release, besides the ability to add Materials like the shady Amon units in the prologue used, new additions to the Trigger module are coming up, with support for arcade games and the ability to finally kick a player, as well as you can pick a unit by it's name, instantly stop a cooldown of a weapon, and many more. Let me just list a few which I find interesting. If you're interested in the remainder, you can consult them here.
PlayerSetRace - New - Sets the race of the specified player.
UnitGetName - New - Returns the name of a specific unit. This function should be preferred if you wish to account for behavior-based name overrides rather than displaying the name of the unit type.
UnitWeaponSetPeriodRemaining - New - Set the remaining cooldown to 0 to let the weapon fire as soon as possible.
AISetBullyRebuildDelay - New - Sets the delay time before the AI starts trying to replace missing bullies for a player.
Whether we're to find them in Events, Conditions or Actions, the truth is the Trigger Editor is not allowing more power to a mapper, but also more flexibility. If you had issues in changing UI to 'change' races like Dawn of War: Winter Assault did, now it'll be possible, though I wished you could change Decals as well. Unless that's to be included as a sub-function in a later stage, which, then, it's all okay...
Given the new units, not just multiplayer, but campaign as well, we can also expect to see a lot of abilities, effects and even validators exclusive to the situations the scenarios and campaign missions will present us. But what's shown here has already demonstrated that, to make a complex and even an advanced map with relative ease and that can explore new features, this expansion is more of a necessity than a preference, although it's not in any way forcing people, but rather seducing them. Pretty effective tactic, IMO.
My only hope is there are more options and alternatives for AI on release, as well as that Blizzard tries and abuses it, and if it tries using allied AI (Except, I think, in the final battle, where I think they'll rather re-create 'Eye of the Storm', allowing the player to control 2/3 sides at once), I only hope it fares up better than what we were offered, just sending out attack waves and nothing more. But I could just be wanting too much, so I'll restrain myself and moderate my expectations even if they're not fully met.
So, that's it about recalling the past, the multiplayer, the UI changes, the story and the editor. So, to the ultimate, million-dollar question.
And the Final Verdict?
Even despite the apparent concerns, the suspicions and the past expansion, at least, in my view, my opinion is set, and I believe it matches those of other people - That even if the story turns out a disappointment and the new multiplayer turns out less desireable than HotS, even if the campaign gameplay turns out as repetitive and there's not as much improvement to the AI work compared to the previous ones, the editor additions, the UI changes, the intro cinematic and especially the newer assets will make the investiment more than worthwhile. You feel that, this time, in comparison to the previous expansion, there was actual effort and thought put into their intentions, and this puts proof that it's not just resources and skill the company has, but also the need for the will to make something better that pays off, and Legacy of the Void is the best way to describe it.
And, reinforcing what I said earlier, I'm sure that it can't reach the abysmal result HotS offered for it's single-player, but I hold no illusions either. At best of thought, it'll return StarCraft to the levels Wings of Liberty established earlier, but if, IF it accomplishes to surpass it through some above-the-usual story-telling, character development beyond mere talk and an interesting gameplay, Legacy of the Void can perhaps restore people's faith for a better RTS tomorrow. But even if that's not accomplished, there are still many reasons to buy it, beyond the usual "needing it because everyone will use the expansion from the launch day forwards". Even if it all turns out for nothing, story-wise, even if it's all to set up a StarCraft MMO (And I hope I'm brutally wrong on this), LotV will still feel, for all it's other features, like a positive gain.
But this is just expectation, all until the game's actually released and the final verdict is set 30+ days later. Until then, while we wait, take your time and enjoy Dudki's most extensive work, yet, as well as the final and prologue missions of Narudek's and, hopefully in time, the last of EivindL's Perfect Soldiers' campaigns.
I agree on most of what you say, though I'm also less critical at certain points. I can certainly not complain about the name-dropping! :D
I wish you didn't mention the rumored spoiler, though, even if it's obviously very vague. I hadn't heard about this, and now I'm going to enter the game knowing it might happen, which is a letdown.
@EivindL: Go
Well, even if you didn't heard, it's almost a certainty a core Blizzard character will die in LotV. As I exemplified by Diablo III, WCIII and even Brood War, it's their MO.
I will not read the LotV part of this post until i will complete LotV... Too sp00ky spoilers
@DEFILERRULEZ: Go
Yeah, he'll then do a Jedi Locomia. PLAY ME OFF, PAUL!
PS: I expect and pretend important characters to die, at least one or two, Kerrigan deserve to die, that zerg hair fried her brain, Zeratul will die as a prophet (super lame ending, i hope it won't happen).
Silly video from youtube that's completely relevant.
@Monkalizer: Go
Loled at that voice :)). I think it even more relevant than Imposter's vid. XD
xD I suppose so.
/edit Made some corrections I didn't find on the first check.