Starcraft 2 Battle Report (Specs Not Released)

[Ramor]

screw photon cannons, all about 'sair rushin your noob zerg friends then sitting back and lolling the rest of the game by having one DT run around and take forever to wipe their workers out

templars(dark/regular) were just ridiculously awesome, DT is easily my favorite unit plus i loved the fact that toss had a very roman feel to it, and that their entire 'culture' was fight->die->fight more

[Vile]

Old Rivals Trailer
StarCraft II Video Game, BlizzCon 09: Old Rivals Cinematic Trailer | Game Trailers & Videos | GameTrailers.com

Single-Player gameplay
StarCraft II Video Game, BlizzCon 09: Single-Player Gameplay | Game Trailers & Videos | GameTrailers.com

Don't think the trailer is new, but Zeratul still looks awesome.

[Meian]

Pretty cool vids there. The lava environment was a neat feature for single player and I wonder if they'll do it for multiplayer as well in certain maps. Least medics seem confirmed (after I noticed their icon in an old terran video) so that makes me happy XD

[Misuicide]

damn, looks so good, i can't wait! if anyone plays on uswest i play from time to time as suicidesecurity i play all maps!

[Rulke]

I am so pumped for Blizzcon. Its going to be a great event. I hope Blizzard has more goodies for SC2 and D3 in store for us all!

[geno]

Pretty cool vids there. The lava environment was a neat feature for single player and I wonder if they'll do it for multiplayer as well in certain maps. Least medics seem confirmed (after I noticed their icon in an old terran video) so that makes me happy XD

Medics will be for single player only, quite a few other old and new units will be the same.

[Correction]

Oh wow you have to log in to battle.net to start playing SC2.

http://i30.tinypic.com/25piwrn.jpg

Nervous applause at the 'premium maps' announcement.

http://i31.tinypic.com/vzc1hz.jpg

[Insanecyclone]

LOL@Premnium maps

[Correction]

Rewind in replay and fast-access to pro replays is going to be sick. Can't wait to channel Korean announcers with their 'GEEGEE! GEEGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!'

[Maguspk]

BlizzCon 2009

Live gameplay at Blizzcon, dunno how long the link will be showing stuff, check it out now!

[Meian]

BlizzCon 2009

Live gameplay at Blizzcon, dunno how long the link will be showing stuff, check it out now!

Connection not working. Anything relevant for SC 2?

[geno]

They had the first SC2 2v2 exhibition match at Blizzcon. Was pretty awesome, I think they streamed it as well so there are probably going to be videos soon (if there aren't already). When I get more sleep I could post some more info, but I think there is some in the Blizzcon thread.

edit: nvm just checked it and its almost all WoW stuff. I'll leave my impressions and whatnot later.

[geno]

Actually, if you're desperate for some more SC2 footage, here's the youtubes of the exhibition matches I mentioned. Included is a 1v1 match as well.

YouTube - BlizzCon 2009 SC2 2v2 match 1
YouTube - BlizzCon 2009 SC2 2v2 match 2 part a
YouTube - BlizzCon 2009 SC2 2v2 match 2 part b
YouTube - BlizzCon 2009 SC2 1v1

Not the best quality, but not terrible either.

[LAGUNA]

Just got back from blizzcon and got to play about 6 hours straight of SC2 1v1 with my friend. Shit is good, and from what people at blizzard are telling me SC2 is done. Battle.net 2.0 is what they are waiting for before they launch SC2 and that will not be anytime soon

[geno]

Rumor is 2009, but not til late... like Nov or Dec. Don't put too much stock in that though, they've delayed their tentative targets plenty of times before already.

[Meian]

Rumor is 2009, but not til late... like Nov or Dec. Don't put too much stock in that though, they've delayed their tentative targets plenty of times before already.

Aaaaaand confirmed: StarCraft II Development Update | Starcraft 2 | WoW Blue Tracker | World of Raids

At least we can trust blizzard to keep releasing battle reports/teasers/content up until launch date, especially with Blizzcon around the corner.

?

[geno]

Beta, not release.

[Meian]

Curious, though, Beta won't use Battlenet 2.0? What did they use at Blizzcon, a pseudo-lan?

Be nice if they can give a basic Battlenet 2.0 and add patches to it over time if that is the real cause of the delay >_<

[geno]

And in regard to the premium maps thing:

I was pretty disappointed hearing that at first as well. I'm not AS against it now though after seeing this video: YouTube - BlizzCon 2009 - StarCraft II Custom Map Preview

Clearly, the SC2 map editor is some kind of god tool that can do just about anything. With this tool in thousands of talented modders hands and with the thought of some profit in their minds, we could actually see a lot of enthusiasm for creating some absolutely insane maps.

Still though, I'm hoping that the more reserved and traditional UMS maps don't follow this route. If it ends up anything like the Appstore for apple, I can imagine a lot of LITE maps for all the good creations being the bulk of the free UMS maps which will be really annoying. I'm sure some great maps will be free, but with the incentive out there, why would anyone make a DotA like map and not make it a premium map? Premium maps will be great for creativity and will almost certainly produce some amazing maps, but it may also take a lot of the oomph out of free UMS map fun in SC2 which is a depressing thought.

As far as regular maps, I don't think we have as much to worry about. The official maps will of course be free and widespread which will, at least initially, make them about the only choice for most people. Unlike in SC1, the majority of them should end up making sense in terms of balance as well, which means there will be little incentive to make switchovers to new maps until people get bored of the old ones. I think there will still be a thriving community of mapmakers to produce some interesting new ones and they will have to make them free to stand a chance at drawing people away from the official maps that everyone will be playing.

[geno]

Curious, though, Beta won't use Battlenet 2.0? What did they use at Blizzcon, a pseudo-lan?

Be nice if they can give a basic Battlenet 2.0 and add patches to it over time if that is the real cause of the delay >_<

Right now, the game is basically ready for beta (hell, I even noticed the title of the game on the mainscreen when they played the exhibition matches is Starcraft II Beta). The only thing holding them up is Battle.net 2.0. As soon as Battle.net is ready, beta will start and 4-6 months later, voila, the game is released. So battle.net is the reason the game was pushed back to 2010, but not necessarily because it will take them until 2010 to finish it (or at least to polish it enough for beta use).

An important point to note, and one that is increasingly more noticeable in recent Q&As and panels, is that Battle.net is not going to be done even at SC2s launch. They have a ton of features planned that they already know they don't have time for. More and more they respond to questions with "That's a great idea and we have something in the works for that, but it will probably not make launch." Its the more core features that are still not completed holding back the game from entering beta, where people will get their first hands-on impressions of the service, ready or not.

As for how it was setup at Blizzcon, much like D3, it was automated to expediate the process and get you into the game. When you sat down, you looked at a nice SC2 background screen with only 2 options to pick: Select race and select either multiplayer or single player. Once you hit multiplayer, you were thrown into a wait screen (not even a lobby) with the computer across from you, and once you were both ready and loaded, the game would start. D3 worked similarly, and even auto-partied the players who joined multiplayer (2 computers networked together for SC2, 4 for D3).