SC2Mapster

StarCraft II Beta - Patch 6 (version 0.8.0.14593)

The latest patch notes can always be found at http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=23094049316&sid=5000

General

• You can now report misconduct or block communication with a player after completion of a game by right-clicking on the offending player's name in the score screen and choosing Report Abuse or Block Communication.
• You can now view any player's profile after completion of a game by right-clicking on their name in the score screen and choosing View Profile.
• Updated unit and ability tooltips to be accurate in all regions.
• Improved the visibility of units on zerg creep.
• Improved the visibility of team colors for protoss units using warp-in to help distinguish between multiple protoss players.
• Improved the system that handles promotion and relegation between Leagues.
• Improved the Favored functionality to more accurately portray Even matches and display properly in the score screen.
• Improved 2v2 arranged team matchmaking so games are found more quickly.
• Improved replay functionality so missing maps will be downloaded from Battle.net when you view a replay.
• Korea: Improved the logic for the age gate functionality.

Balance Changes

GENERAL

• Pathing has been improved so units can now properly block ramps and choke points.
• Made a change to how zerg creep affects doodads, such as trees, to prevent players from seeing the starting location of zerg players through the fog of war.

TERRAN

Viking

• Cost changed from 125 Minerals and 100 Vespene Gas to 150 Minerals and 75 Vespene Gas.

Ghost

• Cost changed from 100 Minerals and 200 Vespene Gas to 150 Minerals and 150 Vespene Gas.
• EMP Round radius decreased from 3 to 2.

Factory

• Cost decreased from 200 Minerals and 100 Vespene Gas to 150 Minerals and 100 Vespene Gas.

Tech Lab

• Cost decreased from 50 Minerals and 50 Vespene Gas to 50 Minerals and 25 Vespene Gas.

Reactor

• Build time increased from 25 seconds to 50 seconds.

SCV

• Life decreased from 60 to 45.

Bunker

• Build time decreased from 40 seconds to 30 seconds.

Marine

• Build time increased from 20 seconds to 25 seconds.

PROTOSS

Colossus

• Thermal Lances damage decreased from 23 to 20.

Observer

• Cost increased from 25 Minerals and 75 Vespene Gas to 50 Minerals and 100 Vespene Gas.
• Build time increased from 33 seconds to 40 seconds.

Stalker

• Particle Disruptors damage increased from 8 (+6 Armored) to 10 (+4 Armored).
• Weapon upgrade damage decreased from +1 (+1 Armored) to +1 (+0 Armored).

Dark Templar

• Armor type changed from Biological-Psionic to Biological-Psionic-Light.

High Templar

• Armor type changed from Biological-Psionic to Biological-Psionic-Light.

Dark Shrine

• Build time increased from 80 seconds to 100 seconds.
• Cost increased from 100 Minerals and 200 Vespene Gas to 100 Minerals and 250 Vespene Gas.

ZERG

Baneling

• Volatile Burst damage increased from 15 (+20 Light) to 20 (+15 Light).

Roach

• Burrowed regeneration rate decreased from 10 to 5.
• Upgraded burrowed regeneration bonus decreased from +20 to +10.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue affecting the incorrect assignment of arranged teams to certain Leagues.
• Fixed an issue affecting random teams that caused no points being awarded on wins and too many points being removed on losses in certain situations.
• Fixed an issue involving the Bonus Pool display on the Quick Match and Leagues & Ladders pages.
• Korean client: Fixed an issue affecting the ability for Korean players to properly view profiles. They can now see their League ranking on their profile page.
• Fixed an intermittent UI crash on game shutdown.
• Polish client: Fixed a crash which would happen any time a "Player is no longer being revealed!" message was displayed.

At the moment, customizing maps is really hard and not user friendly at all with the Galaxy Editor. However, some people like Iggyhopper and UntamedLoli have been working hard and recorded their findings! You can have a preview of their work in the following Playlist.

Terrain modifications, Unit scaling ...

SCV Sending Nukes

This is the first news about map making, we've got more coming. Stay tuned.

Not too long ago, Blizzard did a Q&A based off questions asked on their official Twitter. Some of the Map related questions can be seen below.

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Are you guys still working on the Map Editor; and if so, what features are you planning to incorporate into the final piece?

Yes. We're still working on the Map Editor and currently working on the publishing system. We intend to release an early version of the editor during the beta so the map-making community can get a head start creating their own maps. This is going to be a stretch for us to pull off, but our hope is to get it out before the end of April.

Is there support to build symmetrical maps in the editor, if so, does it include rotational symmetry and odd player numbers?

You can build whatever types of maps you want in the editor but there are no methods of auto-mirroring parts of the map.

Can we expect to have new maps or the map editor in the beta soon?

Yes. We will be adding a few new maps as we continue to release patches including a few 3v3 and 4v4 maps. Additionally, we are hoping to release the map editor to the community sometime in April.

Will it be technically possible to recreate a Defense of the Ancients custom map complete with ladder and matchmaking?

You will be able to recreate the map and we are looking at different ways for community maps to become part of the ladder and matchmaking.

Does map publishing also store any extra resources (sounds, graphics, etc.) specific to the map, or is this a limitation?

Yes. If you add art or sound to a map, it's stored in the map and is therefore downloaded with the map once it's published. Long-term we will be adding support for custom mods where other maps can depend on a single mod pack. For example, if the community wanted to build a "Classic StarCraft" mod, they could do that and share it online and then many maps could be built that depend on that mod.

Can we expect to have new maps and/or the map editor in the beta soon?

We are going to release some new maps for 2v2 specifically pretty soon. We are seeing problems with terran+terran teams on some of our maps and we are interested in testing a fix that involves changing the map pool. We will release the editor during the beta if we get it ready in time.

Source

StarCraft II Beta - Patch 4 (version 0.6.0.B14259B)

General

• Korea
  • Added support to display the game rating information on the F10 in-game menu within the beta.

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EDIT: Tonight UloseTheGame and CrazyPro (in place of Rodrigo) will be casting the SmashCraft tournament.

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EDIT: They're back up! This time they're playing Bunker Wars.

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EDIT: They just played Unit Arena for about 5 hours, :O. Check out the replay if you'd like, here.

Rodrigo and the gang were back at it. Watch 'em live next time, in this post!

 

 

Not too long ago, Neil Kaplan from Simon and Schuster released an Audio Book of William C. Deitz' new Starcraft book, Heaven's Devils. The first chapter begins with a report from Max Spear, a UNN News Caster, overviewing recent Kel-Morian attacks in the Koprulu Sector. Because of said attacks, increases in Military resources hinder Agricultural support, causing independent farmers to suffer financially. From here, we follow an 18 year old Jim Raynor, on the planet Shilo, where learn about rashioning and tax increases for protection against the Kel-Morian Combine. This chapter offers a decent amount of dialog as opposed to general back story. Fortunately, Kaplan does a nice job at differentiating between characters when dialog is going on and goes reads the book very clearly.

You can download and listen to the first chapter of the book at your own leisure here.

First chapter catch your ear? Interested in getting your own copy? Starting right now, we are running a contest and five physical copies of the Audio Book will be given out.<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span>

If you aren't lucky enough to win your own copy, you can still purchases it from Simon and Schuster. You may also get it from iTunes and Audible.

 

<span style="text-decoration: underline;">How to Enter:</span>

In order to be added to the drawing for these CD's all you need to do is make a constructive comment on this announcement. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The deadline on this giveaway is May 31st.</span>

I'd like to share with everyone the awesome newsletter that Curse sends around on a monthly basis. Want to keep up to date on the various websites of the Curse Network? Whether you post and take part in one or several of the communities, or you only lurk for news, this is a great way to keep informed of all the big news in the gaming world. It's also super easy to opt-in now that you all have Curse Accounts, so I highly recommend you take advantage of this feature. For a peek at the March Edition, see here.

[quote]The Curse Newsletter will be going out again shortly (Around the middle of each month) and we wanted to take this opportunity to remind you to opt-in for the next installment! The newsletter now reaches over 1 million gamers per month, and there are several benefits to opting in.

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Here's a look at some of the benefits of getting the Curse Newsletter:

• Stay MMO Savvy: Get the most important updates from each of our #1 fansites for every MMO we cover delivered directly to your inbox.
  
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• Sweepstakes and Contests: Get a monthly reminder on new contests running at Curse.
  
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The Newsletter goes out one time per month and is your best bet for staying updated with all the happenings here and on each of our MMO fansites! Opt-In to the Curse Newsletter to make sure you're in on the next batch!

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