I have returned: StarCraft II

[Kaisha]

So I'm a little late to the beta party here, and due to that, I want to ask (since Search isn't bringing up anything relevant): Is there a crack to play the Mac release of SC2 offline?

[Mathematics]

the cevo tournament is underway, scheduled match dates have been changed to finish the whole tournament before the beta is over.

and my opponent wont confirm a match date...

[Misterjingles]

Late to the party but finally got a legit beta key. Only did two placement matches but I feel that I'm slow as hell.

rabblerabble.sandwiches if you want to poke and laugh at a noob.

[Rivero]

Late to the party but finally got a legit beta key. Only did two placement matches but I feel that I'm slow as hell.

rabblerabble.sandwiches if you want to poke and laugh at a noob.

Must suck since you only got 11 days to try it out.

[Misterjingles]

A little, it would REALLY suck if I had paid and only had 11 days left.

[Misuicide]

haha oh man, me and my buddy are just having fun now, lol. Strat, only zerg, only units allowed, Drones Infestors, queens, sunkens and spores. hahaha This is way too much fun, first to kill there enemy is the winner! Its hard to do against golds and plats, but its possible, lol

Edit: Finally got gold 1v1, shit, beat 2 plats in a row then it finally moved me up!

[Kaylia]

Did anyone ever figure how you get bumped up to the next league? Winning most matches in your current league is obviously a requirement, but why does it bump you up after a defeat at time?

[Chrian]

where's the galaxy editor or am I just missing something here?

[Ferien]

Prog Files x86 (or whatever you have it in)\StarCraft II Beta\Starcraft II Editor.exe

[GRT]

Did anyone ever figure how you get bumped up to the next league? Winning most matches in your current league is obviously a requirement, but why does it bump you up after a defeat at time?

Maybe because the loss puts you past a threshold of total number of games played.

[Deftscythe]

So, patch 13 notes are out and a lot of this seems completely nonsensical to me.

StarCraft II Beta -- Patch 13 (version 0.15.0.15449)

General


* Map Publishing is now enabled: Using the map editor, you can upload your custom maps to share with the Battle.net community.
* Facebook feature is integrated: Here’s a quick way to expand your social network by seeing who among your existing Facebook friends also has a Battle.net account.
* 3v3 and 4v4 formats are now enabled.
* Numerous updates have been made to the Leagues & Ladders system:

o Removed Copper League and added Diamond League above Platinum League.
o Player ratings start at 0, rather than 1000.
o No longer displays loading screen odds in placement or practice league matches.
o Matchmaking system logic updated.

* UDP is enabled to help improve game performance.
* Numerous performance and stability improvements.


Balance Changes


* PROTOSS

o Sentry

+ Force Fields can now be destroyed by Massive ground units walking over them.

o Void Ray

+ Range decreased from 7 to 6.

o Warp Gate

+ Subgroup selection priority changed from 2 to 3 so that it takes priority over Gateways when selected.

* TERRAN

o Marine

+ Stimpack research cost decreased from 150/150 to 100/100.
+ Combat Shield research cost decreased from 150/150 to 100/100.

* ZERG

o Infestor

+ Infested Terran spell removed.
+ Frenzy spell added:

# Costs 25 energy.
# Targets a single biological unit which deals 25% more damage and is immune to snare, stuns, and mind control for 30 seconds.

o Overseer

+ Contaminate spell added:

# Costs 75 energy.
# Targets a single enemy structure which cannot train units or research upgrades for 30 seconds.

+ Infested Terran spell added:

# Costs 125 energy.
# Infested Terrans have the same stats as those previously created by the Infestor and are placed directly under the Overseer when spawned.

o Ultralisk

+ Life decreased from 600 to 450.
+ Damage changed from 25 to 15 (+25 Armored).
+ Damage versus structures increased from 60 to 75.


Hotkey Changes (English Only):


* Zerg Set Worker Rally Point changed from R to G.
* Zerg Spore Crawler changed from W to A to avoid conflict with the Select All Warp Gates hotkey.


Battle.net Interface


* Revamped summary pages for player Profiles and Leagues & Ladders.
* Added a Help system with tech trees and other tips and tricks.
* Removed identifier from the character naming process and added the ability to refer friends for invitation into your party or lobby.
* Updated the Battle.net user interface to consistently use a nested menu system.
* Added in-game blocking and player muting.

[Maguspk]

3v3 and 4v4 + Facebook integration, all right!

Now when do we actually get it all!?

[Kaylia]

Ultralisk nerf? I've never seen any lol.

Void ray/sentry nerf, marine boost? I'm not sure I like. Void ray is fine, but sentry is ugh...

[MrSamuels]

Ultraliks is quite clearly a buff lol not a nerf 50 damage (spalsh) to armored units, Ultralisk would be fucking OP if it still had 600 health lol kinda disappointed they didnt implement them being able to walk over units though. Happy void ray got a slight nerf though i doubt it is going to stop people spamming them and still being over powered for the cost.

[geno]

Yeah they did a hardcore buff on Ultras, then scaled it back on their HP when they realized how broken it'd be (or how broken it WAS in internal testing). Void Ray change is good, Terran did have some early game problems with them because of how difficult it was to react to well-micro'd VRs, this is going to make Vikings and even marines/bunkers a ton better against them. Shouldn't really affect the other matchups as much, the counters for those will still counter them, but well timed or micro'd Void Rays should still be a threat.

Some of the zerg spell casting stuff is a little weird (is it just me or do they have some kind of bizarre attachment to infested terrans and they just can't convince themselves to get rid of it?). I'm not sure I like the spells they've been adding recently, the new corrupter one and now frenzy, neither seem that interesting to me, just straight % changes that feel like kind of an easy-way-out implementation. In any case, interested in seeing how the new spellcasters work out. Kind of weird to see Overseer as the spellcaster it has become as well now, the flying detector + spellcaster thing was a pretty big Terran thing in both SC1 and SC2 up til now, we'll see how Zerg utilize it.

Sentry change doesn't seem like a big deal to me. Only really affects late game vs Zerg imo anyways. Sentries were never the problem with a Thor/mech strat vs Protoss and Colossus could always go around them anyways. I guess it may bring some interesting strats that involve breaking them with a massive and rushing in light, but I'm all for that if it does happen.

Only change I have trouble understanding is the infantry research stuff. Their explanation for it was that Terran was spending too much early and thus having a hard time against protoss, but from my experience and most competitive players I've heard, Terran were never really that disadvantaged against protoss in the early game. In fact, they had so many different openings, that early game seemed like Terrans best hope for a win vProtoss. It was late game that they had trouble keeping up with the cost effectiveness of a robo bay army. I dunno, maybe I'm missing a more significant timing window they've spotted that hasn't been exploited properly yet.

[Gryffes]

What's stupid is to get ultras and the upgrades they need ( armour+speed ) you have to spend so many resources that if the other player just makes shit and attacks you lose.

I don't see how any ultra change fixes the problem with how you get effective ultras out right now. Even if they are rape units they only reinforce the advantage you already had if you were able to get them and you could have just spent that money on your army anyway.

What I really like are the overseer changes, holy crap does it break a lot of toss/terran timings if you run in, snipe corrupt robo/starport/stargate/whatever.

It also let's you drop an infested terran to snipe an observer - but 125 energy?

[Flarega]

Ultra buff is needed, just not sure how viable they are on somethling like marauders still because marauders still have stim, range, and + armor. Also, I kind of wish the frenzy spell cost more and was an aoe effect you could use on your units because right now it seems specifically aimed to be used on ultras, which is kind of stupid.

[Maguspk]

It's just another micro intensive move for the zergs, you'll probably frenzy about 10+ hydras depending on how many infestors you have. Doubt we'll see Ultras in play even with their hard-counter buff to armored units. Mostly because positioning them sucks.

[euph]

are the b.net servers down? I cant tell by reading the sc2 beta forums... Im afraid i didnt patch 13 correctly lol.

but yeah, can anyone play right now?

[geno]

Yeah, servers are down right now.

What's stupid is to get ultras and the upgrades they need ( armour+speed ) you have to spend so many resources that if the other player just makes shit and attacks you lose.

I don't see how any ultra change fixes the problem with how you get effective ultras out right now. Even if they are rape units they only reinforce the advantage you already had if you were able to get them and you could have just spent that money on your army anyway.

Well, this is a problem shared by all the endgame units. Its the same reason people rushing Brood Lords or rushing Carriers/Battlecruisers don't really work, leaves you way too vulnerable. The idea is that you play every game expecting to go into the midgame to win it, and then if its still a close match and they are matching you expansion for expansion, you start mixing in your hive tech units. Seems like Ultras should be even better in that regard than Terran or Protoss because they benefit from upgrades you've been getting all game long and once the tech is up, if you have the money to support it, you can instantly build an army of them (as opposed to slowly phasing them in out of a handful of starports/gates)