Why does protoss lose two units and get no real replacement for them and zerg loses one and gets a replacement that's actually better? We get no interceptor like air unit. We get no cloak field unit. Then zerg gets a unit that can make any unit a detector. That screws over protoss completely. Not to mention the swarm host, infestor, and brood lord all being units producing more units. It's like they hate protoss. Banelings burrow movement, this is so messed up. Blizzard is screwing up the esport game.
Not sure if this is new or not, posting it anways. HotS changes.
Quote:
Nexus mass recall for 75 energy.
Thors are 600 minerals now and require a fusion core. Theyve got the aoe ability from single player.You can only have 1 thor at a time now,.a la mothership
Burrow charge ability for Ultralisk.
Corrupters now have a channeled ability against building that gives one mineral a second and does 1dps.
Burrowed banelings can MOVE. Possibly an upgrade!
Carriers Are Gone!
Oracle can warp buildings away to stop attacks on your own structures, or stop research for enemy structures
Oracle can see research or production of enemy structures
Warhound is good at killing siege tanks, but has a short range
Replicant can transform into non massive units
Recalled units are unable to move for a few seconds
Warhound is good at killing siege tanks, but has a short range
Thor attack and health increased
Instead of air attack, Thor gets a massive bombardment skill
Bombardment requires a skill similar to siege mode, this requires a fusioncore and an armory
Battle Hellion has higher health and shorter range
Ghost cloak changed and now spends a specific amount of energy, lasting for a certain period of time
Ghost cloak is no longer an on/off skill
Battlecruiser gets a cooldown skill called "limit reactor"(?) that boosts movement speed
Reaper loses d8 charge attack
Reaper gains a HP recovery skill
Viper inserts parasite into friendly units to make them detectors
No more Overseer.
Hydra speed increased.
New infestation pit unit like a lurker, but spawns two high-dps units every 15 seconds or so while burrowed.
Viper will permanently grant detection for energy. Lair tech. Grant detection is the cheapest spell.
Swarm lord spits out broodling-looking things that have 16 attack damage and .87 attack speed.
Here's my second by second analysis of the new HotS trailer. Enjoy, hope people get something out of it.
0:10 - 0:20 Recap of Wings of Liberty
- Kerrigan was deinfested to some extent
- Jimmy captures her
0:20 - 0:23
- Kerrigan - "The girl you remember... is dead."
0:23 - 0:26
- Deinfested Kerrigan is shown captive in Ghost armor
- Note her hair is still Zerg-like
- Jimmy is seen briefly
0:26 - 0:31
- Kerrigan - "I'm going to find Mengsk and make him pay."
- Mengsk is shown observing possibly Augustgrad, which looks to be in bad shape
0:31 - 0:33
- Battlecruisers are shown jumping into space above what looks to be a desert themed planet
0:33 - 0:35
- A clash ensues in space from the viewpoint of some sort of turret
- Battlecruiser's look to be fleeing in the distance
- A guy is thrown off balance when his transportation (a Battlecruiser?) is hit
0:35 - 0:38
- Teaser trailer footage for Heart of the Swarm is shown
- Nova - "This is Nova. Find Kerrigan."
- Specters & Marines chase down a hallway firing their weapons
0:38 - 0:39
- "...The story continues"
0:39 - 0:41
- In-game footage shows drop pods landing in a space platform Kerrigan is on
0:41 - 0:43
- Kerrigan is shown in flight on a Terran transport presumably in space killing a Spectre/Ghost
- The Spectre/Ghost may have been dropped off by a Medivac hovering above
- Green healing pad on the platform?
- Vikings are firing at Kerrigan from behind
0:43 - 0:44
- Ultralisks unburrow as Zerglings stream in to fight some sort of creep with a spiny back
- Kerrigan uses some type of electric attack on the creep near the end of this short clip
- Note the new tileset & models/doodads shown here
0:44 - 0:46
- Ice is shown cracking on the new snow tileset named Nifl'heim
- Snow weather effect is seen on the bottom left corner
- A Zerg drop pod is shown crashing into the ground
0:46 - 0:47
- A Protoss base is shown
- Buildings are encased in ice during the clip
0:47 - 0:49
- Kerrigan and some Roaches + Hydralisks attack a creep camp right beside a Protoss base
- Something glowing near the top left corner is seen, maybe a collectible item?
0:49 - 0:50
- Kerrigan is shown standing up close on Nifl'heim
0:50 - 0:51
- Abathur is shown
0:51 - 0:52
- Zergling growls
0:52 - 0:53
- Zerglings, Banelings, and Kerrigan attack a Brutalisk in a Zerg base
- Might take place on Char
0:53 - 0:55
- Eggs and Zerglings shown
- Might be on Char
0:55 - 0:57
- Broodmother and Hydralisks attacking something
- Broodmother casts something on it
0:57 - 0:58
- Banelings & Kerrigan lead an attack on an infested Terran base
0:58 - 1:01
- Roach up close
- Izsha up close
- Upgraded baneling up close
1:01 - 1:02
- Many banelings hatch out of huge eggs
1:02 - 1:04
- Zerglings & Banelings attack a Queen
1:04 - 1:06
- Zerg drop pods land, new building? is ejected?
- Roaches, Hydralisks and Mutalisks are visible
1:06 - 1:08
- Queen is seen moving through a Protoss installation breaking stasis tubes?
1:08 - 1:09
- Hyperion/Battlecruiser and Wraiths attack something that looks like a Satellite?
1:09 - 1:11
- Battlecruisers fighting other battlecruisers(maybe Hyperion) in space
1:11 - 1:12
- Unknown marine appears
1:12 - 1:13
- Matt Horner - "Stand down!"
- Scene probably takes place in Hyperion due to Horner's presence
1:13 - 1:14
- Unknown marine is lifted using telekinesis by Kerrigan
1:17 - 1:19
- Some type of ship is shown moving towards a seemingly desert planet
- General Warfield - "How many innocents have you killed? How many more have to die?!"
1:19 - 1:22
- Warfield is shown briefly in armor
- Zergling's face, growls
1:22 - 1:24
- Kerrigan loads Ghost rifle, and cocks it
1:24 - 1:27
- Kerrigan - "The killing will never stop. Until Mengsk is dead."
1:27 - 1:29
- Kerrigan tries to telekinetically choke Valerian to death
1:29 - 1:31
- Marine - "There's too many Zerg! We're not going to make it!"
- Zerg drop pods crash near some Marines in an epic CG sequence
- A city can be seen in the background - possible Augustgrad invasion?
1:31 - 1:34
- More marines are shown fighting off Zerg as they get mauled, still in glorious CG
1:34 - 1:35
- "New units and tactics"
1:35 - 1:39
- New Protoss unit: Tempest is shown
- Has area of effect AA attack
- Replaces carrier as the capital ship of the Protoss
1:39 - 1:42
- New Protoss unit: Replicator
- Can clone itself into any other non-massive unit
- Very expensive
- Not a final unit
1:42 - 1:46
- New Terran transformation: Battle Hellion
- A firebat-esque version of the hellion
- Stronger than hellion, but slower
- Attack is shorter and more of a cone than a line
1:46 - 1:49
- New Terran unit: Warhound
- Smaller version of the Thor
- Good anti-mech ground weapon
- Splash damage anti-air attack
1:49 - 1:52
- New Zerg unit: Swarm Host
- Must burrow to attack
- Spawns small units endlessly
- Zerg siege unit
1:52 - 1:56
- New Zerg unit: Viper
- Caster unit
- Replaces Overseer
- Has an ability that pulls an ally or enemy unit towards the Viper
- Has detection
1:56 - 1:58
- New Zerg Ability: Burrow Strike (for Ultralisks)
- The Ultralisk can now burrow and then quickly dive out of the ground a short distance in front of it
1:58 - 1:59
- New Protoss Unit: Oracle
- Caster/harassment unit, replaces Mothership
- Can prevent mining and disable structures with abilities
1:59 - 2:00
- Reverse destructible rocks now exist, you break them to block off paths rather then unlock them
2:00 - 2:01
- Battlecruisers fighting Mutalisks over a city in-game
2:01 - 2:04
- Drop pods? fall from the sky to a city in CG
2:04 - 2:05
- Teaser footage
2:05 - 2:07
- Kerrigan - "I AM the Swarm..."
2:07 - 2:08
- Zergling face again
2:08 - 2:10
- Kerrigan throws Marine bodyguards? across room
2:10 - 2:14
- Kerrigan - "Vegeance... shall be mine."
- Kerrigan eye color is green in this scene
2:14 - 2:15
- Swarm is shown attacking something
- You can hear the beginning of what sounds like Infested Kerrigan's death sound in BW in the background
Thoughts: How can a unit be good at killing siege tanks having a short-ranged weapon? Nevermind, they look like furious SCVs so they can't be anything good.
Ghost Cloak changed? Why? EMP is the problem, and its synergy with Cloak. They nerfed the ability that gives the unit its name, they could have increased the energy cost to keep it on... Jeez Blizzard.
Reapers recover life? Thought Medivacs got their ability to heal just because of Reapers, since Medics couldn't follow them. Another sign of bad decisions in the past. And how they will explain that only one infantry unit can heal itself?
Whoa, Muscular Augments is back! Don't feel bad Blizzard, bringing things back is not bad, in fact it should happen more often.
Why does protoss lose two units and get no real replacement for them and zerg loses one and gets a replacement that's actually better? We get no interceptor like air unit. We get no cloak field unit. Then zerg gets a unit that can make any unit a detector. That screws over protoss completely. Not to mention the swarm host, infestor, and brood lord all being units producing more units. It's like they hate protoss. Banelings burrow movement, this is so messed up. Blizzard is screwing up the esport game.
Erm... Carriers and motherships are pure shit. Purely gameplaywise of course, as a broodwar veteran I will miss carriers a lot (well, not much changes, as I can't build them in WoL as well). Let the terrans deal with a completely useless unit targeted at casual gamers from now on. I dislike most of the new units, but protoss really doesn't have much to complain, and I say that as a protoss player. The tempest will probably be a very potent addition to the already hated protoss deathball.
The replicant seems like a pretty abusable unit, not sure if you would see it in competetive play at all, but out of all the units shown today this one is imo the most likely to not make it into the final game.
The warhound is so ugly btw. :/ Why not just introduce the Goliath MK2 with those anti-mech weapons instead of a machine gun?
And yes, baneling burrow movement is indeed quite ridiculous.
Erm... Carriers and motherships are pure shit. Purely gameplaywise of course, as a broodwar veteran I will miss carriers a lot (well, not much changes, as I can't build them in WoL as well). Let the terrans deal with a completely useless unit targeted at casual gamers from now on. I dislike most of the new units, but protoss really doesn't have much to complain, and I say that as a protoss player. The tempest will probably be a very potent addition to the already hated protoss deathball.
The replicant seems like a pretty abusable unit, not sure if you would see it in competetive play at all, but out of all the units shown today this one is imo the most likely to not make it into the final game.
The warhound is so ugly btw. :/ Why not just introduce the Goliath MK2 with those anti-mech weapons instead of a machine gun?
And yes, baneling burrow movement is indeed quite ridiculous.
Some things to take into account:
All the casters in SC1 we're overpowered. This meant the game was more focused on map control than one big army. That was complimented by things like Lurkers, Nukes, Dark Swarm, Disruption Web, Plague, Ensnare, Parasite. It got so damn tactical cause of it. And I think that's what Blizzard is trying to do with SC2. To make the game interesting and tactical, they're going to try and make casters overpowered while still maintaining balance.
People bitch about Infestors being overpowered, and they don't realize it's actually a good thing they are like that. Blizzard said they are contemplating nerfing EMP cause people think there is a problem with it, but that goes against the philosophy of having overpowered casters.
I and Zeldarules just finished with our Blizzcon Day 1 Mapcraft Episode, and we talked about the new units as well, not so much about the lore (Didnt get to see the panel), but somehow we managed to take our time.
We hit 40 viewers at one point =D
You can find the recording on www.livestream.com/sc2streamster sometime soon after this post, and I'm sure Zelda has put the link to it somewhere :)
We'll be discussing the panels of Day Two tommorow at 3:00 PM PDT, which is 00:00 CEST, 23:00 / 11:00 PM BST, and on sunday we're going to have our regular Mapcraft at noon PDT / 21:00 CEST / 20:00 BST, with Kafoso as the guest, we'll also be talking about Blizzcon and hopefully we can get Sixen on as well for that.
Thanks again to Progammer for the videos, notes and screenshots he provided. You iz baller.
As he just said, we finished up the blizzcon special #1. The recording can be found here . Keys won the giveaway. Who could be our 2nd (or maybe 3rd) winner? You'll have to show up tomorrow (check maity's post for the times)!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Feel free to Send me a PM if you have any questions/concerns!
"Lots of Custom Game Systems changes coming with HotS that will be touched more on at tomorrow's panel. Reviewing, Rating, filtering, better searching, and much more. "
I'm really anxious to see this. I hope it is more than how they upgraded it last time (which was great but ultimately we realized it was still popularity wins all)... the rotating lobby list or some form of it would be nice.
Omg this is so awesome...
And the best part is that some of the disappointments from the changes can be fixed since most of the changes might not be the same when the game's officially released, so heh there could be more(:
First, it isn't vjeux's... It's eckolnovkol and brax making/publishing it (did vjeux publish for ecko at first? or was he the original creator or something?). And yes, it's not all that balanced, but why is it that when anyone mentions ANY first-page map, it's only to say how much it sucks? :P I suspect it's because most of y'all never managed to get a map there? Not that I like the popularity system, but it's a little like hating Apple because they "have junk products and are only supported by the fanboiz". At least maverck had the courtesy to say:
Here's my second by second analysis of the new HotS trailer. Enjoy, hope people get something out of it.
0:10 - 0:20 Recap of Wings of Liberty
- Kerrigan was deinfested to some extent
- Jimmy captures her
0:20 - 0:23
- Kerrigan - "The girl you remember... is dead."
0:23 - 0:26
- Deinfested Kerrigan is shown captive in Ghost armor
- Note her hair is still Zerg-like
- Jimmy is seen briefly
0:26 - 0:31
- Kerrigan - "I'm going to find Mengsk and make him pay."
- Mengsk is shown observing possibly Augustgrad, which looks to be in bad shape
0:31 - 0:33
- Battlecruisers are shown jumping into space above what looks to be a desert themed planet
0:33 - 0:35
- A clash ensues in space from the viewpoint of some sort of turret
- Battlecruiser's look to be fleeing in the distance
- A guy is thrown off balance when his transportation (a Battlecruiser?) is hit
0:35 - 0:38
- Teaser trailer footage for Heart of the Swarm is shown
- Nova - "This is Nova. Find Kerrigan."
- Specters Marines chase down a hallway firing their weapons
0:38 - 0:39
- "...The story continues"
0:39 - 0:41
- In-game footage shows drop pods landing in a space platform Kerrigan is on
0:41 - 0:43
- Kerrigan is shown in flight on a Terran transport presumably in space killing a Spectre/Ghost
- The Spectre/Ghost may have been dropped off by a Medivac hovering above
- Green healing pad on the platform?
- Vikings are firing at Kerrigan from behind
0:43 - 0:44
- Ultralisks unburrow as Zerglings stream in to fight some sort of creep with a spiny back
- Kerrigan uses some type of electric attack on the creep near the end of this short clip
- Note the new tileset models/doodads shown here
0:44 - 0:46
- Ice is shown cracking on the new snow tileset named Nifl'heim
- Snow weather effect is seen on the bottom left corner
- A Zerg drop pod is shown crashing into the ground
0:46 - 0:47
- A Protoss base is shown
- Buildings are encased in ice during the clip
0:47 - 0:49
- Kerrigan and some Roaches + Hydralisks attack a creep camp right beside a Protoss base
- Something glowing near the top left corner is seen, maybe a collectible item?
0:49 - 0:50
- Kerrigan is shown standing up close on Nifl'heim
0:50 - 0:51
- Abathur is shown
0:51 - 0:52
- Zergling growls
0:52 - 0:53
- Zerglings, Banelings, and Kerrigan attack a Brutalisk in a Zerg base
- Might take place on Char
0:53 - 0:55
- Eggs and Zerglings shown
- Might be on Char
0:55 - 0:57
- Broodmother and Hydralisks attacking something
- Broodmother casts something on it
0:57 - 0:58
- Banelings Kerrigan lead an attack on an infested Terran base
0:58 - 1:01
- Roach up close
- Izsha up close
- Upgraded baneling up close
1:01 - 1:02
- Many banelings hatch out of huge eggs
1:02 - 1:04
- Zerglings Banelings attack a Queen
1:04 - 1:06
- Zerg drop pods land, new building? is ejected?
- Roaches, Hydralisks and Mutalisks are visible
1:06 - 1:08
- Queen is seen moving through a Protoss installation breaking stasis tubes?
1:08 - 1:09
- Hyperion/Battlecruiser and Wraiths attack something that looks like a Satellite?
1:09 - 1:11
- Battlecruisers fighting other battlecruisers(maybe Hyperion) in space
1:11 - 1:12
- Unknown marine appears
1:12 - 1:13
- Matt Horner - "Stand down!"
- Scene probably takes place in Hyperion due to Horner's presence
1:13 - 1:14
- Unknown marine is lifted using telekinesis by Kerrigan
1:17 - 1:19
- Some type of ship is shown moving towards a seemingly desert planet
- General Warfield - "How many innocents have you killed? How many more have to die?!"
1:19 - 1:22
- Warfield is shown briefly in armor
- Zergling's face, growls
1:22 - 1:24
- Kerrigan loads Ghost rifle, and cocks it
1:24 - 1:27
- Kerrigan - "The killing will never stop. Until Mengsk is dead."
1:27 - 1:29
- Kerrigan tries to telekinetically choke Valerian to death
1:29 - 1:31
- Marine - "There's too many Zerg! We're not going to make it!"
- Zerg drop pods crash near some Marines in an epic CG sequence
- A city can be seen in the background - possible Augustgrad invasion?
1:31 - 1:34
- More marines are shown fighting off Zerg as they get mauled, still in glorious CG
1:34 - 1:35
- "New units and tactics"
1:35 - 1:39
- New Protoss unit: Tempest is shown
- Has area of effect AA attack
- Replaces carrier as the capital ship of the Protoss
1:39 - 1:42
- New Protoss unit: Replicator
- Can clone itself into any other non-massive unit
- Very expensive
- Not a final unit
1:42 - 1:46
- New Terran transformation: Battle Hellion
- A firebat-esque version of the hellion
- Stronger than hellion, but slower
- Attack is shorter and more of a cone than a line
1:46 - 1:49
- New Terran unit: Warhound
- Smaller version of the Thor
- Good anti-mech ground weapon
- Splash damage anti-air attack
1:49 - 1:52
- New Zerg unit: Swarm Host
- Must burrow to attack
- Spawns small units endlessly
- Zerg siege unit
1:52 - 1:56
- New Zerg unit: Viper
- Caster unit
- Replaces Overseer
- Has an ability that pulls an ally or enemy unit towards the Viper
- Has detection
1:56 - 1:58
- New Zerg Ability: Burrow Strike (for Ultralisks)
- The Ultralisk can now burrow and then quickly dive out of the ground a short distance in front of it
1:58 - 1:59
- New Protoss Unit: Oracle
- Caster/harassment unit, replaces Mothership
- Can prevent mining and disable structures with abilities
1:59 - 2:00
- Reverse destructible rocks now exist, you break them to block off paths rather then unlock them
2:00 - 2:01
- Battlecruisers fighting Mutalisks over a city in-game
2:01 - 2:04
- Drop pods? fall from the sky to a city in CG
2:04 - 2:05
- Teaser footage
2:05 - 2:07
- Kerrigan - "I AM the Swarm..."
2:07 - 2:08
- Zergling face again
2:08 - 2:10
- Kerrigan throws Marine bodyguards? across room
2:10 - 2:14
- Kerrigan - "Vegeance... shall be mine."
- Kerrigan eye color is green in this scene
2:14 - 2:15
- Swarm is shown attacking something
- You can hear the beginning of what sounds like Infested Kerrigan's death sound in BW in the background
That satellite thing is the satellite space station from the SC1 menu (which is also in a SC1 cinematic as a space station that gets destroyed by some Terran Wraiths). The Dominion appears to be defending this satellite with the old Predators air units from SC1 alpha, which seem to fire missiles at other air units.
The Ultralisk near the end of the video is actually getting hit by a Siege Tank, and if you stop it and look at the background, just before the Siege Tank shot hits the Ultra, the structures in the background look Asian/Russian - Looks like very old architecture for 2505, which wouldn't fit in StarCraft, especially not in the Koprulu Sector.
The Queen that is in the Protoss installation (FINALLY we have a Protoss installation tileset!) is actually destroying Critters. There's a Karak and two Lyotes in stasis. She kills the first Lyote. Why are the Protoss housing these animals in stasis pods? Why is the Zerg Queen killing them?
Another thing to note is that the structure that comes out of the Zerg drop pod is actually the Virophage/Spore Cannon from the WoL campaign, and Kerrigan is clearly PURPLE with PURPLE ZERG, unlike the early screenshots showing her forces to be ORANGE. Also note the cool crater doodads. Nice!
As for that Brutalisk, it's actually a Hero Queen, a Brood Mother, named Za'gara. And yes, it's on Char. It's the Char mission that was demoed back in May. You also see that the acid pools holding the Baneling and Zergling eggs actually have bubble animations! Pretty neat, huh?
(Note how the Brood Mother gets attacked at one point by RED Zerglings, yet Kerrigan's forces are ORANGE, and the Za'gara's Zerg are PURPLE. I suppose RED Zerg signifies they are either hero units or feral Zerg. I recall something about feral Zerg in the HotS preview back in May. This could be an interesting mission mechanic.)
EDIT: I think that the Spectre in the teaser was actually meant to be a placeholder for a Ghost, because the mission that seems to follow that (When drop pods land in an installation and Kerrigan kills the marines coming out, you can notice the surgery table and window from the cinematics) seems to have several normal Ghosts attacking her, but no Spectres.
Kaldir is the new name for the ice tileset. Niflheim was the old name for it, from the WoL beta, before the tileset was completely removed from the game.
Finally, I like how Nova says "This is Nova, find Kerrigan", rather than "FIND KERRIGAN.", like in the original teaser, which makes her sound less "evil" and snide. Instead, Kerrigan sounds like a psychopathic killer now. It's how things should be, if you ask me. Makes me think Raynor is trying to convince Kerrigan not to kill anyone anymore, but she doesn't seem to back down, as she threatens Warfield, Nova, Matt, Mengsk, tries to kill Valerian, WHO BY THE WAY, HELPED SAVE HER, and tells Raynor that, "The girl you knew is DEAD". Ouch. It would seem that Raynor, Warfield, Nova, Matt and Valerian all took the high road, and are generally good characters even at the beginning of HotS, while Kerrigan seems to be bent on murder and revenge at that time. Talk about dark & bleak!
That satellite thing is the satellite space station from the SC1 menu (which is also in a SC1 cinematic as a space station that gets destroyed by the Terran Wraiths). And the Dominion is defending the satellite with the old Predators air units from SC1 alpha.
The Ultralisk near the end of the video is actually getting hit by a Siege Tank, and if you stop it and look at the background, just before the Siege Tank shot hits the Ultra, the structures in the background look Asian/Russian - Looks like very old architecture for 2505, which wouldn't fit in StarCraft, especially not in the Koprulu Sector.
The Queen that is in the Protoss installation (FINALLY we have a Protoss installation tileset!) is actually destroying Critters. There's a Karak and two Lyotes in stasis. She kills the first Lyote. Why are the Protoss housing these animals in stasis pods? Why is the Zerg Queen killing them?
Another thing to note is that the structure that comes out of the Zerg drop pod is actually the Virophage/Spore Cannon from the WoL campaign, and Kerrigan is clearly PURPLE with PURPLE ZERG, unlike the early screenshots showing her forces to be ORANGE. Also note the cool crater doodads. Nice!
As for that Brutalisk, it's actually a Hero Queen, a Brood Mother, named Za'gara. And yes, it's on Char. It's the Char mission that was demoed back in May. You also see that the acid pools holding the Baneling and Zergling eggs actually have bubble animations! Pretty neat, huh?
(Note how the Brood Mother gets attacked at one point by RED Zerglings, yet Kerrigan's forces are ORANGE, and the Za'gara's Zerg are PURPLE. I suppose RED Zerg signifies they are either hero units or feral Zerg. I recall something about feral Zerg in the HotS preview back in May. This could be an interesting mission mechanic.)
EDIT: I think that the Spectre in the teaser was actually meant to be a placeholder for a Ghost, because the mission that seems to follow that (When drop pods land in an installation and Kerrigan kills the marines coming out, you can notice the surgery table and window from the cinematics) seems to have several normal Ghosts attacking Kerrigan, but no Spectres.
Kaldir is the new name for the ice tileset. Niflheim was the old name, from the WoL beta, before the tileset was completely removed from the game.
Finally, I like how Nova says "This is Nova, find Kerrigan", rather than "FIND KERRIGAN.", like in the original teaser, which makes her sound less "evil" and snide. Instead, Kerrigan sounds like a psychopathic killer now. It's how things should be, if you ask me. Makes me think Raynor is trying to convince Kerrigan not to kill anyone anymore, and she doesn't want to, she threatens Warfield, Nova, Matt, Mengsk, tries to kill Valerian, WHO BY THE WAY, HELPED SAVE HER, and tells Raynor that, "The girl you knew is DEAD". Aouch. It would seem that Raynor, Warfield, Nova, Matt and Valerian all took the high road, and are generally good characters even at the beginning of HotS, while Kerrigan seems to be bent on murder and revenge at that time. Talk about dark bleak!
Thanks for clearing some stuff up with me, and others. :D
Quite nice write up there. I'm glad its going into the more sinister road. Just hoping that the ending wont be the same cinematic that was leaked. Or at least modified
Why does protoss lose two units and get no real replacement for them and zerg loses one and gets a replacement that's actually better? We get no interceptor like air unit. We get no cloak field unit. Then zerg gets a unit that can make any unit a detector. That screws over protoss completely. Not to mention the swarm host, infestor, and brood lord all being units producing more units. It's like they hate protoss. Banelings burrow movement, this is so messed up. Blizzard is screwing up the esport game.
Not sure if this is new or not, posting it anways. HotS changes.
Here's my second by second analysis of the new HotS trailer. Enjoy, hope people get something out of it.
0:10 - 0:20 Recap of Wings of Liberty
- Kerrigan was deinfested to some extent
- Jimmy captures her
0:20 - 0:23
- Kerrigan - "The girl you remember... is dead."
0:23 - 0:26
- Deinfested Kerrigan is shown captive in Ghost armor
- Note her hair is still Zerg-like
- Jimmy is seen briefly
0:26 - 0:31
- Kerrigan - "I'm going to find Mengsk and make him pay."
- Mengsk is shown observing possibly Augustgrad, which looks to be in bad shape
0:31 - 0:33
- Battlecruisers are shown jumping into space above what looks to be a desert themed planet
0:33 - 0:35
- A clash ensues in space from the viewpoint of some sort of turret
- Battlecruiser's look to be fleeing in the distance
- A guy is thrown off balance when his transportation (a Battlecruiser?) is hit
0:35 - 0:38
- Teaser trailer footage for Heart of the Swarm is shown
- Nova - "This is Nova. Find Kerrigan."
- Specters & Marines chase down a hallway firing their weapons
0:38 - 0:39
- "...The story continues"
0:39 - 0:41
- In-game footage shows drop pods landing in a space platform Kerrigan is on
0:41 - 0:43
- Kerrigan is shown in flight on a Terran transport presumably in space killing a Spectre/Ghost
- The Spectre/Ghost may have been dropped off by a Medivac hovering above
- Green healing pad on the platform?
- Vikings are firing at Kerrigan from behind
0:43 - 0:44
- Ultralisks unburrow as Zerglings stream in to fight some sort of creep with a spiny back
- Kerrigan uses some type of electric attack on the creep near the end of this short clip
- Note the new tileset & models/doodads shown here
0:44 - 0:46
- Ice is shown cracking on the new snow tileset named Nifl'heim
- Snow weather effect is seen on the bottom left corner
- A Zerg drop pod is shown crashing into the ground
0:46 - 0:47
- A Protoss base is shown
- Buildings are encased in ice during the clip
0:47 - 0:49
- Kerrigan and some Roaches + Hydralisks attack a creep camp right beside a Protoss base
- Something glowing near the top left corner is seen, maybe a collectible item?
0:49 - 0:50
- Kerrigan is shown standing up close on Nifl'heim
0:50 - 0:51
- Abathur is shown
0:51 - 0:52
- Zergling growls
0:52 - 0:53
- Zerglings, Banelings, and Kerrigan attack a Brutalisk in a Zerg base
- Might take place on Char
0:53 - 0:55
- Eggs and Zerglings shown
- Might be on Char
0:55 - 0:57
- Broodmother and Hydralisks attacking something
- Broodmother casts something on it
0:57 - 0:58
- Banelings & Kerrigan lead an attack on an infested Terran base
0:58 - 1:01
- Roach up close
- Izsha up close
- Upgraded baneling up close
1:01 - 1:02
- Many banelings hatch out of huge eggs
1:02 - 1:04
- Zerglings & Banelings attack a Queen
1:04 - 1:06
- Zerg drop pods land, new building? is ejected?
- Roaches, Hydralisks and Mutalisks are visible
1:06 - 1:08
- Queen is seen moving through a Protoss installation breaking stasis tubes?
1:08 - 1:09
- Hyperion/Battlecruiser and Wraiths attack something that looks like a Satellite?
1:09 - 1:11
- Battlecruisers fighting other battlecruisers(maybe Hyperion) in space
1:11 - 1:12
- Unknown marine appears
1:12 - 1:13
- Matt Horner - "Stand down!"
- Scene probably takes place in Hyperion due to Horner's presence
1:13 - 1:14
- Unknown marine is lifted using telekinesis by Kerrigan
1:15 - 1:17
- Unknown marine is Raynor?
- Raynor - "Sarah..."
1:17 - 1:19
- Some type of ship is shown moving towards a seemingly desert planet
- General Warfield - "How many innocents have you killed? How many more have to die?!"
1:19 - 1:22
- Warfield is shown briefly in armor
- Zergling's face, growls
1:22 - 1:24
- Kerrigan loads Ghost rifle, and cocks it
1:24 - 1:27
- Kerrigan - "The killing will never stop. Until Mengsk is dead."
1:27 - 1:29
- Kerrigan tries to telekinetically choke Valerian to death
1:29 - 1:31
- Marine - "There's too many Zerg! We're not going to make it!"
- Zerg drop pods crash near some Marines in an epic CG sequence
- A city can be seen in the background - possible Augustgrad invasion?
1:31 - 1:34
- More marines are shown fighting off Zerg as they get mauled, still in glorious CG
1:34 - 1:35
- "New units and tactics"
1:35 - 1:39
- New Protoss unit: Tempest is shown
- Has area of effect AA attack
- Replaces carrier as the capital ship of the Protoss
1:39 - 1:42
- New Protoss unit: Replicator
- Can clone itself into any other non-massive unit
- Very expensive
- Not a final unit
1:42 - 1:46
- New Terran transformation: Battle Hellion
- A firebat-esque version of the hellion
- Stronger than hellion, but slower
- Attack is shorter and more of a cone than a line
1:46 - 1:49
- New Terran unit: Warhound
- Smaller version of the Thor
- Good anti-mech ground weapon
- Splash damage anti-air attack
1:49 - 1:52
- New Zerg unit: Swarm Host
- Must burrow to attack
- Spawns small units endlessly
- Zerg siege unit
1:52 - 1:56
- New Zerg unit: Viper
- Caster unit
- Replaces Overseer
- Has an ability that pulls an ally or enemy unit towards the Viper
- Has detection
1:56 - 1:58
- New Zerg Ability: Burrow Strike (for Ultralisks)
- The Ultralisk can now burrow and then quickly dive out of the ground a short distance in front of it
1:58 - 1:59
- New Protoss Unit: Oracle
- Caster/harassment unit, replaces Mothership
- Can prevent mining and disable structures with abilities
1:59 - 2:00
- Reverse destructible rocks now exist, you break them to block off paths rather then unlock them
2:00 - 2:01
- Battlecruisers fighting Mutalisks over a city in-game
2:01 - 2:04
- Drop pods? fall from the sky to a city in CG
2:04 - 2:05
- Teaser footage
2:05 - 2:07
- Kerrigan - "I AM the Swarm..."
2:07 - 2:08
- Zergling face again
2:08 - 2:10
- Kerrigan throws Marine bodyguards? across room
2:10 - 2:14
- Kerrigan - "Vegeance... shall be mine."
- Kerrigan eye color is green in this scene
2:14 - 2:15
- Swarm is shown attacking something
- You can hear the beginning of what sounds like Infested Kerrigan's death sound in BW in the background
2:15 - 2:27
- Logo for HotS
Thoughts: How can a unit be good at killing siege tanks having a short-ranged weapon? Nevermind, they look like furious SCVs so they can't be anything good.
Ghost Cloak changed? Why? EMP is the problem, and its synergy with Cloak. They nerfed the ability that gives the unit its name, they could have increased the energy cost to keep it on... Jeez Blizzard.
Reapers recover life? Thought Medivacs got their ability to heal just because of Reapers, since Medics couldn't follow them. Another sign of bad decisions in the past. And how they will explain that only one infantry unit can heal itself?
Whoa, Muscular Augments is back! Don't feel bad Blizzard, bringing things back is not bad, in fact it should happen more often.
Erm... Carriers and motherships are pure shit. Purely gameplaywise of course, as a broodwar veteran I will miss carriers a lot (well, not much changes, as I can't build them in WoL as well). Let the terrans deal with a completely useless unit targeted at casual gamers from now on. I dislike most of the new units, but protoss really doesn't have much to complain, and I say that as a protoss player. The tempest will probably be a very potent addition to the already hated protoss deathball.
The replicant seems like a pretty abusable unit, not sure if you would see it in competetive play at all, but out of all the units shown today this one is imo the most likely to not make it into the final game.
The warhound is so ugly btw. :/ Why not just introduce the Goliath MK2 with those anti-mech weapons instead of a machine gun?
And yes, baneling burrow movement is indeed quite ridiculous.
Some things to take into account:
All the casters in SC1 we're overpowered. This meant the game was more focused on map control than one big army. That was complimented by things like Lurkers, Nukes, Dark Swarm, Disruption Web, Plague, Ensnare, Parasite. It got so damn tactical cause of it. And I think that's what Blizzard is trying to do with SC2. To make the game interesting and tactical, they're going to try and make casters overpowered while still maintaining balance.
People bitch about Infestors being overpowered, and they don't realize it's actually a good thing they are like that. Blizzard said they are contemplating nerfing EMP cause people think there is a problem with it, but that goes against the philosophy of having overpowered casters.
IDK that's just what I think.
Shredder Hellion Swarm Host Oracle Tempest Replicant Ultralisk Viper
Here is some Game play material
I and Zeldarules just finished with our Blizzcon Day 1 Mapcraft Episode, and we talked about the new units as well, not so much about the lore (Didnt get to see the panel), but somehow we managed to take our time.
We hit 40 viewers at one point =D
You can find the recording on www.livestream.com/sc2streamster sometime soon after this post, and I'm sure Zelda has put the link to it somewhere :)
We'll be discussing the panels of Day Two tommorow at 3:00 PM PDT, which is 00:00 CEST, 23:00 / 11:00 PM BST, and on sunday we're going to have our regular Mapcraft at noon PDT / 21:00 CEST / 20:00 BST, with Kafoso as the guest, we'll also be talking about Blizzcon and hopefully we can get Sixen on as well for that.
Thanks again to Progammer for the videos, notes and screenshots he provided. You iz baller.
@TheAlmaity:
As he just said, we finished up the blizzcon special #1. The recording can be found here . Keys won the giveaway. Who could be our 2nd (or maybe 3rd) winner? You'll have to show up tomorrow (check maity's post for the times)!
Would be nice if someone were to record the mapping panel tomorrow and upload the whole thing to youtube under a throwaway account.
Not that I'm suggesting anyone here do such a despicable act, oh no.
@Tolkfan: Go
Various videos will be uploaded to youtube for your viewing pleasure.
I'm quitting Starcraft to be a PokeWoWmaster. Gotta catch em all!
Blizz DOTA ofiical site as well as FAQ
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/game/maps-and-mods/mods/dota
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/game/maps-and-mods/faq/dota
Will update later since sixen is updating
"Lots of Custom Game Systems changes coming with HotS that will be touched more on at tomorrow's panel. Reviewing, Rating, filtering, better searching, and much more. "
I'm really anxious to see this. I hope it is more than how they upgraded it last time (which was great but ultimately we realized it was still popularity wins all)... the rotating lobby list or some form of it would be nice.
Other than that... exciting day!
Omg this is so awesome... And the best part is that some of the disappointments from the changes can be fixed since most of the changes might not be the same when the game's officially released, so heh there could be more(:
@Eimtr: Go
First, it isn't vjeux's... It's eckolnovkol and brax making/publishing it (did vjeux publish for ecko at first? or was he the original creator or something?). And yes, it's not all that balanced, but why is it that when anyone mentions ANY first-page map, it's only to say how much it sucks? :P I suspect it's because most of y'all never managed to get a map there? Not that I like the popularity system, but it's a little like hating Apple because they "have junk products and are only supported by the fanboiz". At least maverck had the courtesy to say:
instead of more pointless flames...
OT: Very excited for HotS, mainly for the new content it will bring for the custom map community :)
@ST4RKiLL3R: Go
That satellite thing is the satellite space station from the SC1 menu (which is also in a SC1 cinematic as a space station that gets destroyed by some Terran Wraiths). The Dominion appears to be defending this satellite with the old Predators air units from SC1 alpha, which seem to fire missiles at other air units.
The Ultralisk near the end of the video is actually getting hit by a Siege Tank, and if you stop it and look at the background, just before the Siege Tank shot hits the Ultra, the structures in the background look Asian/Russian - Looks like very old architecture for 2505, which wouldn't fit in StarCraft, especially not in the Koprulu Sector.
The Queen that is in the Protoss installation (FINALLY we have a Protoss installation tileset!) is actually destroying Critters. There's a Karak and two Lyotes in stasis. She kills the first Lyote. Why are the Protoss housing these animals in stasis pods? Why is the Zerg Queen killing them?
Another thing to note is that the structure that comes out of the Zerg drop pod is actually the Virophage/Spore Cannon from the WoL campaign, and Kerrigan is clearly PURPLE with PURPLE ZERG, unlike the early screenshots showing her forces to be ORANGE. Also note the cool crater doodads. Nice!
As for that Brutalisk, it's actually a Hero Queen, a Brood Mother, named Za'gara. And yes, it's on Char. It's the Char mission that was demoed back in May. You also see that the acid pools holding the Baneling and Zergling eggs actually have bubble animations! Pretty neat, huh?
(Note how the Brood Mother gets attacked at one point by RED Zerglings, yet Kerrigan's forces are ORANGE, and the Za'gara's Zerg are PURPLE. I suppose RED Zerg signifies they are either hero units or feral Zerg. I recall something about feral Zerg in the HotS preview back in May. This could be an interesting mission mechanic.)
EDIT: I think that the Spectre in the teaser was actually meant to be a placeholder for a Ghost, because the mission that seems to follow that (When drop pods land in an installation and Kerrigan kills the marines coming out, you can notice the surgery table and window from the cinematics) seems to have several normal Ghosts attacking her, but no Spectres.
Kaldir is the new name for the ice tileset. Niflheim was the old name for it, from the WoL beta, before the tileset was completely removed from the game.
Finally, I like how Nova says "This is Nova, find Kerrigan", rather than "FIND KERRIGAN.", like in the original teaser, which makes her sound less "evil" and snide. Instead, Kerrigan sounds like a psychopathic killer now. It's how things should be, if you ask me. Makes me think Raynor is trying to convince Kerrigan not to kill anyone anymore, but she doesn't seem to back down, as she threatens Warfield, Nova, Matt, Mengsk, tries to kill Valerian, WHO BY THE WAY, HELPED SAVE HER, and tells Raynor that, "The girl you knew is DEAD". Ouch. It would seem that Raynor, Warfield, Nova, Matt and Valerian all took the high road, and are generally good characters even at the beginning of HotS, while Kerrigan seems to be bent on murder and revenge at that time. Talk about dark & bleak!
Thanks for clearing some stuff up with me, and others. :D
@AlexO6: Go
@ST4RKiLL3R: Go
Quite nice write up there. I'm glad its going into the more sinister road. Just hoping that the ending wont be the same cinematic that was leaked. Or at least modified
@progammer: Go
You guys are making me want to actually play the campaign.