SC2Mapster

Hi, everyone. This is the feedback thread for my extension mod, Versus Evolved. I actually released it earlier this year, but it hasn't gotten a lot of attention so far. I'm hoping to get some feedback on it so I can continue to release updates, improvements, balance-changes, and bug fixes.

• If you encounter any bugs, report them here or on the thread on the SCII forums. I will do my best to address them.
• I am hoping to get all sorts of suggestions on balance changes, because right now there are some Augments (or combinations of Augments) that are extremely overpowered.
• Any ideas or suggestions for future content are welcome. 

Currently the mod is only uploaded to the Americas region. When I get around to creating a character for the Europe region, I will upload it there too.

I hope you all enjoy it, and I am interested in hearing what you have to say.

From the official SCII forums thread:

"This mod introduces dozens of units, options, and upgrades from the Campaign and Co-op Missions into Versus mode. You can select up to 5 points worth of Augments from the starting menu. Everything has its price though– you must always give something up in exchange, and even the strongest of additions may introduce drawbacks. These Augments range from individual units, to gameplay-modifying mechanics, to powerful factions like the Black Ops Terrans, Tal’darim, and Purifiers. You can even call upon powerful heroes such as Kerrigan and Alarak, command the might of the Spear of Adun, or collect biomass as Zerg to evolve your most lowly units into towering monstrosities.

Everything has been altered to better suit Versus mode, in the aim of providing a balanced gameplay experience, so that all players are evenly matched no matter what options they pick.

Currently, this mod is by no means balanced at all. While I doubt Blizzard-level balance will ever be achieved, I am hoping to get it to a place where the gameplay is as fair as possible, and there are no options that are overly game-breaking or unfun to play against.

The lobby host can also enable Mutators, allowing each player to choose one Mutator that will affect gameplay. Unlike in Co-op, Mutators in Versus Evolved affect all players equally. An alternate mode is “Chaos Studios Mode”, which randomly cycles Mutators with 3 active at a time. Not all Mutators from Co-op are available, due to gameplay conflicts, but many of the classic Mutators have been implemented. It is possibly to play with Mutators without Augments, or both at the same time.

Another option available in the lobby is 'Big Game Hunters Mode', which implements the classic Blizzard extension mod, increasing the resource quantity of mineral fields and vespene geysers."

Balance:

• I have received feedback in mod reviews that the Terran Augments are weak compared to those of the other races, or that they lack powerful Augments. This suggests to me the Terrans actually ended up more balanced than the other races, but I am interested in hearing if this is the common consensus.
• I have also heard that Splitterlings might be too powerful, and I am also interested in collecting feedback in this regard.
• Another thing I have heard is that the combination of the Reconstruction Beam with the Purifier Faction may be too powerful.
• Currently, Purifier Instigators have no ability. This is only a temporary state, but I can't think of what they might do. I am hoping to receive feedback on what sort of ability might compliment and synergize with the faction without having to design a whole new AI Champion. Perhaps some sort of map-wide teleport on a global cooldown that allows a few at a time to teleport to the locations of AI Champions? If the ability had three global charges, it would be in keeping with the spirit of their original ability, Hyperblink.
• I am also trying to implement a levelling mechanic for Kerrigan similar to that from the Heart of the Swarm campaign. However, I can't think of how she'd actually gain levels, as in the campaign she gained levels by completing missions and securing bonus objectives. 

Known Issues:

• There is a slight stutter during the camera zoom at the beginning of the match with certain factions, which is a side-effect of another fix. Currently not high-priority.
• Some unit models in the glossary appear ridiculously enlarged, to the point where only a part of the model is visible. Although they didn’t used to, the glossary camera values are now specified in a locked (unmodifiable) UI file – as I can add no data for those models, there is nothing I can do.
• The battle.net images have somehow been bugged – the color values for red and blue have been completely reversed, which makes the images look very strange. This is odd, as they look perfectly fine in the editor.

Resolved Issues:

• Purifier Stargate and Carrier skins were not displaying correctly.
• Kerrigan's Queen of Blades model is not displaying properly, and is replaced by a placeholder sphere. I will fix this issue with the next release.
• Certain factions are not displaying the correct console UI colors.