Blizzcon 2011 News Thread

[Vengeancekael]

Oh god I almost had a heart-attack after watching the new cutscene and UI editors, also the debugger AND Blizzard DOTA AND the Arcade (aka Marketplace) AND the new physics and animations, etc.
HotS is gonna rock X_X

 

[Edhel-dur]

Oh god I almost had a heart-attack after watching the new cutscene and UI editors, also the debugger AND Blizzard DOTA AND the Arcade (aka Marketplace) AND the new physics and animations, etc.
HotS is gonna rock X_X

As much as I agree that SC HOTS is a great technological piece.... I'm afraid that the campaign will end up with the same flow... fantasy/sci-fi... poor story... poor characters... poor voice acting... leading to a poor atmosphere. But great gameplay.

 

[D a w n]

I liked WoL campaign besides the fact that I don't manage to beat the last level

 

[L2love]

I actually enjoyed WoL campaign but it did lack atmosphere, didn't really feel like I was pulled into the story of the game.

 

[MGCǂSpectre]

^ I didn't have that feeling in WoL, at least the last 3 missions were quite interesting to me, and not only. But the cinematics before could have been something better. Basically I talk aboout gameplay wise, what the missions were like and your objectives, not about how cliched or expected the story was.

A small update about Diablo3:

concept art of the other Archangels(besides Thyrael): http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/pastebin.php?id=95pf11

Dark Lords concept art: http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/pastebin.php?id=k6qpkg

Edit: Blizzdota will be sooooooooo awesome <3

Did Blizzard RIP their WoW models because they look cartoony and lower poly except for rendered with the SC2 textures.

Creep spreading to buildings

I always imagined creep spreading to structures like that. It's a pity they didn't keep that effect.

Awesome effect! Glad it is added.

And dont bother, THW is a Warcraft III place, Art tools or no art tools go to better place for it. When will a Magos-like tool be made for SC2, so you can convert to M3, add attachments and set the textures and or particles without having to use 3ds max.

Also Blizzcon 2011 has a winner and it is none other than the one I bow before, my idol

Here is a gameplay of all these new units posted by SC2Mapster

New Units Gameplay

Also posted by SC2Mapster, looks like the history of SC2 development throughout the years before release, just like there was one video showing the development of Warcraft 3:

 

[Asomath]

I swear that match was LEGENDARY. One of THE most EPIC games I have ever seen. The energy of the crowd was so AMAZING. I loved it. Whoever was going to come out of that, DESERVED to come out as the winner.

~Asomath

 

[Bugz]

I am so agaisnt the pandas..

 

[MGCǂSpectre]

Look, the Pandaren's attack sound is 'For Pandariaaa' so they had to add it. Obviously it was suggested in War3 as an existing land, if it were a WoW makeup I wouldnt accept it either. Blizzard are still doing a fine job in connecting sequels, some companies mess up pretty bad when they add later something/someone supposed to be defeated etc. - Actually something like that is going on with Diablo-III

Music from 2:00 min on that WoW trailer <3

Replicant, what an imba unit lol, this should be in campaign only, Terran has 1 tank, Protoss has 10 Replicants, i.e 10 tanks. Should've returned Mind Control of Dark Archon instead, at least you have to possess 10 tanks not make 10 out of 1 =<

 

[Edhel-dur]

Look, the Pandaren's attack sound is 'For Pandariaaa' so they had to add it. Obviously it was suggested in War3 as an existing land, if it were a WoW makeup I wouldnt accept it either. Blizzard are still doing a fine job in connecting sequels, some companies mess up pretty bad when they add later something/someone supposed to be defeated etc. - Actually something like that is going on with Diablo-III

Music from 2:00 min on that WoW trailer <3

Replicant, what an imba unit lol, this should be in campaign only, Terran has 1 tank, Protoss has 10 Replicants, i.e 10 tanks. Should've returned Mind Control of Dark Archon instead, at least you have to possess 10 tanks not make 10 out of 1 =<

Usually I do not like retcons either.

But the retcon in D3 I think it is not necessary but understandable. The fact that the Dark Wanderer is the Warrior from D1 and the son of Leoric... it's like Metzen said it... over the years... as a presentation it's just better. At least the retcon is related to the story and not to the characters and atmosphere (SC2 WOL).

The changes to WoW are really good and reasonable. It's interesting, as the new-up-and-coming MMORPGs are more action oriented (Vindictus, GW2) they release a class named Monk which basically plays out like a character from Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter.

I think Blizzard seems to be doing a good job all in all with keeping-up pace with the new popular gameplay styles.

 

[LordDz]

Look, the Pandaren's attack sound is 'For Pandariaaa' so they had to add it. Obviously it was suggested in War3 as an existing land, if it were a WoW makeup I wouldnt accept it either. Blizzard are still doing a fine job in connecting sequels, some companies mess up pretty bad when they add later something/someone supposed to be defeated etc. - Actually something like that is going on with Diablo-III

Music from 2:00 min on that WoW trailer <3

Replicant, what an imba unit lol, this should be in campaign only, Terran has 1 tank, Protoss has 10 Replicants, i.e 10 tanks. Should've returned Mind Control of Dark Archon instead, at least you have to possess 10 tanks not make 10 out of 1 =<

But they said it would be quite expensive.
and also, if the Protoss have 10 units and the Terran only have 1, then the Terran fails quite hard in macro.

 

[Rui]

I think it is the Replicant that I heard was going to cost 200/200, and probably they won't even be able to reverse the transformation. That's so expensive that I doubt Protoss players will even bother getting them, but the cost could be lowered before the final release.

Does anyone have intel on when they're planning to beta test the game?

P.S. -- Terran has the add-on versatility, Zerg can adapt quicker than any other race by just differentiating a structure and spawning a mass of the units that that building unlocks, but Protoss pretty much have to opt for what tech they're going to follow, then plan and micro as best as they can with what they've got because, half of the time, it's too expensive to change tech, and you can end up draining all your resources on tech-switching alone; very protoss'ish if you ask me, sticking to their beliefs and all. The Replicant seems designed to force the Protoss ways on other races: if you're switching to tanks, careful, because with a few replicants I can clone your siege tanks and have double the number you've got.
Still, I doubt that this new unit is going to see any use until its cost is tweaked by at least 25 gas or an option is made to reverse the fusion, even if the player needs to wait a while after cloning.

Oh, and I'm also surprised that the Zerg are keeping their Nydus Worm considering no one ever uses it; Zerg are the fastest race and Hydralisks are getting a speed upgrade too, I'm surprised they even decided to keep the nydus canal concept for StarCraft II.

 

[MGCǂSpectre]

Ghost also was costing 200 gas, no one cared about minerals since minerals you can get quickly, so yeah you can do many replicants... should be 400 mins 300 gas like Thor. Cause there isn't even channeling, it does it almost instantly, so yeah we Terrans need to snipe them with cloaked ghosts. Funny cause you have feedback templars, so who to snipe first templars or these? Nah that's going to be OP for real, it's early to say but pretty much..

Someone's got to do a map with these new units to see how it goes,

http://www.sc2mapster.com/announcements/blizz-con-2011/

I cant link all the videos that are there, there's Blizz Dota videos and more

ART tools video below, just too many videso to link

 

[HINDYhat]

I can't wait for proxy nexus recall.

 

[Vengeancekael]

The Blizzard Dota Baron/Kongor helping players is a bit overwhelming, but sounds kinda fun actually Would make battles more intense.

 

[Edhel-dur]

I just watched the video related to the new units for SC2

Is it just me or do many of the answers presented for SC2 expansion are taken from Broodwar??

Terran:
I mean, the Warhound just seems to be a Goliath (which is better vs mech).
The Helion Transform seems like a Firebat.
The Shredder similar to Vulture mines. (very similar...)

Zerg:
Hydra Speed (no shit)
Swarm Host... a Lurker which spits Broodlings. (I thought they said the containment part was solved by the Baneling so that's why they took the Lurker out).
Viper Blinding Cloud seems awufully similar to that spell from the Defiler in BW (Dark Swarm I think it was called)... again.. any unit under the cloud cannot use ranged attacks. In this case the range is just lowered to 1 but still, incredibly similar, one would say a copy.

Protoss:
The Replicant... a unit which can replicate any enemy unit. Seems awufully familiar to the Mind Control ability from the Dark Archon (as someone else from this thread already pointed).
The Oracle... makes enemy units unable to use range attacks... wow... similar to the ability from the Corsair in SC:BW. I mean like... really?... Really !? But there might be a difference... in SC2 it actually fully stuns (as in incapacitates!?) the target... and not just it's ranged attack. Fun Fact: The second ability it's just like using Force Field on Mineral Deposits.
The Tempest... looks like a Corsair, acts like a Corsair (at least versus air), though larger and can hit ground targets.

Mhm... well they say great artists are also great thieves. It's like witnessing that quote from World of Warcraft Dev Team applied to SC2... "All the generic quests within WoW... now in Cataclysm... are the same as in Vanilla-TBC-WotLK... except now they have a small twist".

Woah...

I mean sure they look cool (ofc they look cool... their taken from Broodwar, LOL) but like, that just shows how uncreative the SC2 Devs are. However there is still one more expansion, and maybe that one will bring new things to the multiplayer table. (I can see it now, SC II: Legacy of the Void.... new Terran Unit... the Science Vessel ).

--------------------

Incredible that people really needed the confirmation in the Q&A if Narud is Duran. I mean at Blizzcon 2011, Blizzard hinted at it, and than someone asked 'today' what happened to Duran and Blizzard said "you've met/seen him already" and like 10 questions later, some guy comes in and asks "is Dr.Narud actually Duran!?" I mean lol, how air-borne can you be?

After watching the WoW Art & Style Panel, looking at the Pandaren in WoW... and thinking of the Night Elf female... yeah.... those old models really need updates. Good thing HQ textures from the gear covers up the NE model... though still they need an animation update.

I liked the Skillidan pun. Incredible though how that person was playing WoW (or at least I'm assuming since he wants Illidan alive again) that he didn't knew.... that Illidan actually makes an appearence in 4.3

--------------------

Possible plothole in HOTS.


Okay so in BW, Kerrigan decides to leave Mengsk alive. It's her decision, she decides this... it cannot be emphasized enough that it was not a random result... she wanted to leave Mengsk alive.
But now, she wants revenge? Revenge for what? Mengsk was at her mercy and she left him alive. Didn't she want vengeance back than? I mean really... now she wants vengeance!?
When did she decide upon this? How... Why!?

I hope the expansion answers these questions otherwise it's just another retcon farted out their asses.

 

[MGCǂSpectre]

^ @TerranL yes people wanted more SC1 lol at that, cause this is SC2 afterall. Others also said it is SC3 cause 'too many new units', lol@ that cause BW and War3 TFT have had two new units and an upgrade or change of another per race. Blizz keeps that number except for Protoss which is why im sure one of the 3 units will not be used... better be Replicant.

@Zerg also like the Warhound, blizz said they are making it like Goliath and yes the Viper is also said to be like Defiler, obviously they had a goal bringing some things back.

@Toss if they had kept Mind Control would ve been fine, this .. imba. Well they are stealing frm their old game this isnt stealing ^^, The Raven for example is like protoss Arbiter, I wouldn't say there is a problem with looking similar, as they are not that similar.

 

[Deolrin]

The Oracle... makes enemy units unable to use range attacks... wow... similar to the ability from the Corsair in SC:BW. I mean like... really?... Really !? But there might be a difference... in SC2 it actually fully stuns (as in incapacitates!?) the target... and not just it's ranged attack. Fun Fact: The second ability it's just like using Force Field on Mineral Deposits.

Wrong. He disables buildings(turrets, production buildings, research buildings, and unit buildings for Zerg). I guess you're right on the "mineral-force-field" thing except it's a flyer and has an AoE for the minerals.

 

[Rui]

I still agree with pretty much everything in the long post up there, I had noticed this as well and I was hoping Blizzard would come up with something a little more original. Still, I'm eager to use those long-tongue vipers.

By the way, the Ghost costed 150 gas before patch 1.4 and 100 gas after that, he never costed 200. Also, there won't be any High Templars. By the time the Protoss has sufficient gas income to get both replicants and HTs in mass, replicants will pretty much be worthless because it'll be mid-game; like someone wrote here, who the hell would replicate a Ghost? Maybe an Infestor for rooting (and storming), but other than that, I can't think of any unit that would be worth it (and still, Infestors will not rarely come with Roaches, and if you've already spent your gas on HTs and Replicants, you most likely don't have a lot left for Stalkers or Immortals).

Does anyone know a possible date for HotS beta-testing?

 

[Bugz]

Does anyone know a possible date for HotS beta-testing?

As far as i know, this have not been released.

 

[Deolrin]

Mass-replicant sounds like it could be an interesting and scary idea.
Just replicate your enemy's most powerful unit non-massive unit(Siege Tank, Infestor, Mutalisk, Banshee, Immortal, whatever) and overcome his lesser units by steamrolling him with extremely powerful guys.
It's a good thing you can't clone Collosi, Battlecruisers, etc.

 

[Edhel-dur]

Wrong. He disables buildings(turrets, production buildings, research buildings, and unit buildings for Zerg). I guess you're right on the "mineral-force-field" thing except it's a flyer and has an AoE for the minerals.

Well actually, thinking about it even further. If the contaminate spell (which is currently at the overseer) is basically moved to the protoss, that gives better synergy, because...

Currently Protoss their biggest advantage lies in their upgrades. If your going a protoss ground army, it's enough to upgrade only damage and armor, shields are not as necesarry. So you just need to research 2 upgrades.
While as Terran, if they are going ground, they need to research the BIO upgrades, and the Mech upgrades. That's 4 upgrades.
Now if Zerg goes ground, they need to research 3 upgrades (meele, ranged and carapace).
Even if most Toss units life is 1/3 shields, a 3/3 army is still very powerful. There is also a build for Toss revolving aroung charge zealots with massive upgrades. If you go that build against a Terran, considering you have chronoboost, and that most Terrans don't emphasize on upgrades as much, the Protoss will have 2/2 while the Terran will have maybe 1/1 Bio and 1/0 in Mech, if Terran isn't lazy and doesn't forget about upgrades. Especially since most Terrans don't upgrade their Mech in TvP because they might need to switch to Vikings instead of Siege Tanks, so upgrading the Mech dmg for Tanks a lot of times can feel a waste, so Terrans just don't do it.
With the adition of the Oracle with his stun, that upgrde advantage for Protoss might end up like 3/3 Toss vs 2/1 Terran which is incredibly bad for Terran.

 

[MGCǂSpectre]

By the way, the Ghost costed 150 gas before patch 1.4 and 100 gas after that, he never costed 200. Also, there won't be any High Templars. By the time the Protoss has sufficient gas income to get both replicants and HTs in mass, replicants will pretty much be worthless because it'll be mid-game; like someone wrote here, who the hell would replicate a Ghost? Maybe an Infestor for rooting (and storming), but other than that, I can't think of any unit that would be worth it (and still, Infestors will not rarely come with Roaches, and if you've already spent your gas on HTs and Replicants, you most likely don't have a lot left for Stalkers or Immortals).

Some terrans like Goody or especially Naama go mech vs toss, unless it is 1/1/1 I never liked doing mech vs P, like most players who do bio. If a Terran goes mech, Toss goes Replicants and it may be gg Terran. This only shows TvP will continue to be MMM ghost which is fun, which in turn means toss will go HTs instead of replicants cause useless to possess in bio army, so I see this new unit is made to counter T mech.

The hellion upgrade, sounds like returning Preigniters power but in more effective way.

Having Warhound may return an old tactic of Broodwar involving mass Goliaths with tanks. So to some extent SC2 goes back to SC1 in unit combination. Maybe TvT will be Warhounds, Shredders, tanks because mass vulture and goliaths pure mech, I saw this BW build when I played BW before SC2 was released as I didnt play that game since year 2000.

Still, protoss has 3 units, one of them may not make it in melee, this is not final decision about what will stay.

 

[Edhel-dur]

Still, protoss has 3 units, one of them may not make it in melee, this is not final decision about what will stay.

You forgot that they are taking out two units from protoss too.

 

[Crayons]

no more villains? AT LAST.

But what about these Mogu people? Seems fascinating.

Link something please.

 

[rcshaggy]

no more villains? AT LAST.

But what about these Mogu people? Seems fascinating.

Link something please.

There will be villains of those groups, but no main bad guy in which to face at the end, in which its like Vanilla.

 

[Crayons]

There will be villains of those groups, but no main bad guy in which to face at the end, in which its like Vanilla.

Oh wow, nice. You corrected me back there. That was TOTALLY necessary.

 

[MGCǂSpectre]

*shudders*
Replays are now av-v-v-vailable, ✯ MVP ✯ , never g-g-et his replays but Nnnow! Must... feed...

http://us.battle.net/blizzcon/en/tournaments/matches/sc2/video-archive