First StarCraft 2 Patch Detailed, Hitting September
By - Source: Tom's Hardware US
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62 comments
Blizzard has announced that the first update for StarCraft II will be hitting in a few weeks and detailed just what we can expect when the patch rolls out in September.
StarCraft II publisher Blizzard has released details of what fans can expect from Patch 1.1 when it hits in the middle of September. Patch 1.1 will contain a number of improvements including additional mod features, Editor improvements and bug fixes, some custom game improvements, and support for Nvidia's 3D Vision, along with some tweaks to gameplay that were outlined as follows:
- Friendly units will no longer provide vision after they're killed. That's right, post-Patch 1.1 we won't have the benefit of those few seconds of field vision that allowed us to jump to the attack location to try and get things under control.
- The addition of destructible rocks to the Desert Oasis map to make natural expansions easier to protect. The center map watchtower area is being narrowed, too.
- The zealot build time is being increased from 33 to 38 seconds, and the warpgate cooldown is being increased from 23 to 28 seconds. Blizzard says this is because Zealot rushes are too powerful the window players have to scout for and fend off this rush is too small.
- On the Terran side of things, Blizzard is going to increase the build time of reapers as well from 40 to 45 seconds. They'll also be increasing the bunker build time from 30 to 35 seconds. Blizzard also says siege tanks are performing too well in all matchups. To combat this problem, Siege Mode damage of the siege tank is going from 50 to 35, +15 vs. armoured. To correspond with this, damage upgrades will be changed from +5 to +3, +2 vs. armoured. The posting goes on to say that overall, they feel that battlecruisers are too strong for their cost, and so they're lowering their damage against ground units from 10 to 8.
- Also deemed too powerful for the cost are ultralisks. As such, ultralisk damage is seeing a reduction comparable to the changes being made to siege tanks and battlecruisers. Ultralisk damage will be decreased from 15, +25 vs. armored to 15, +20 vs. armored. The ultralisk building attack (Ram) is being removed because the damage rate is too similar to its normal attack, which will be used against buildings instead.
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SC1 at its present form is a culmination of "nerfs". Balancing the game is a continuous process.
If there's one thing I'd like to see nerfed in SC2, it would be those friggin void rays.
they're in the map editor but i don't see them making a return until maybe the expansions
Blizz... round robin nerfing is not a solution to game balance. Ever notice how 90% of balance changes in all patches (beta and now) are nerfs?
They nerf a unit, then they have to nerf another, cause it became too powerful following the original nerf, etc, etc. *sigh* at least there is still SC1 to come back to
SC1 at its present form is a culmination of "nerfs". Balancing the game is a continuous process.
If there's one thing I'd like to see nerfed in SC2, it would be those friggin void rays.
Necessity is only to activate, just like most Microsoft products (unless you phone them in). As far as custom games go, they are played Peer to Peer, so if you understand basic routing and port forwarding, the furthest you are from another player is two hops on a LAN.
Have you actually been playing SC2? Seige tanks really are a lot more powerful than in SC1, it's a different game. And if you don't understand that, I don't think you should be making comments about how to balance.
The zealot build time needed nerfing. My protoss friends could pump out an amazing amount of zealots very early on. Chrono boost is pretty amazing too, but with the zealot changes it doesn't matter to me.
I disagree with the changes to battlecruiser damage. I mean... nerf BCs (which cost 400/300 each and require a Core, not to mention additional upgrades to be effective), increase build time on Reapers and Zealots... but ignore Void Rays? Even my Protoss buddies all lament the fact that Carriers are half dead now. They're just not usually worth it anymore, you can dump out VRs fast and relatively cheap.
me that blizzard is taking
a nerf bat to the
really cheese builds
this time around.
All races seem to be
needing the nerf bat just
doesn't seem right to me.
Wonder if blizzard
is going
to make it so
that all
you can do is mid to late game builds?
Zealot change really hurts toss vs zerg as it will be tough to get that unit out before the zerglings arrive. Let alone a second one.
Battle cruisers and siege tanks never had a issue with.
No, not my precious Void Rays!
If there is one thing I would love for them to add is auto login on my PC. I can't stand all these companies having to cover their asses by removing useful features for everyone so that a few don't screw themselves over!
Oh, and how about letting me play the single player without having to be logged in. I couldn't play the other because I couldn't connect to Battle.net (turns out, SC2 wouldn't let me connect as long as I had bittorrent turned on).
Okay, zealot rushes can be a problem, but they aren't the worst rushes. However, this will make it even more difficult for the protoss to fend off a 6 pool from zerg. Protoss were already really weak against 6 pools, now it will be impossible without cannons. This will also make PvP even more of a stalker spam fest.
Also, the siege tank nerf will go against the protoss too. Its really easy and effective to ambush a Terran ball and get their own siege tanks to soften it up for free. The zerg have the infestors to do the same very effectively. That is why I like the really powerful STs, it makes them a double edged sword.
The problem is zerg. I could reaper rush their base, losing them equivalent of 500 minerals within 10 minutes, yet they'll have enough to continuously pump our lings, and eventually enough roaches to kill my army regardless of what I make, or how fast. Don't get on my about strategy unless you're a diamond rank.