First StarCraft 2 Patch Detailed, Hitting September
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.
Read more about Patch 1.1 on the StarCraft II Blog.
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
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TheDuke miss those lurkers tooReply
they're in the map editor but i don't see them making a return until maybe the expansions -
vbdotnetrulz The ultralisk change is hardly a nerf. They are losing 5 damage against armored, but their cleave ability now applies to buildings as well which is very useful. That being said, I can't wait for the patch.Reply -
rmse17 LoL. They say tanks are doing too well.. but in SC tank siege damage is 70. And it works just fine.Reply
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 -
> at least there is still SC1 to come back toReply
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. -
Godfail plancheroStill waiting for them to get rid of the necessity for internet to playReply
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. -
Godfail rmse17LoL. They say tanks are doing too well.. but in SC tank siege damage is 70. And it works just fine. 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 toReply
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.