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STARCRAFT II 10TH ANNIVERSARY GAME UPDATES

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Starcraft II 10th Anniversary Game Updates

Blizzard said: blizzarrow.gif

July 27, 2020

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  Ten years of base races, marine splits, cannon rushes, and baneling busts. Ten years of galaxy-stretching adventures with Kerrigan, Zeratul, Jim Raynor, and Artanis. Ten years of player-created tower defense maps, MOBAs, campaigns, and competitive ladder maps. For the past 10 years, we’ve seen StarCraft II evolve, both as a game and a community, and now it’s time to celebrate.

  To commemorate this decade of comradery in the Koprulu Sector, we’re introducing some player-requested features to the game, along with a few extras we hope you’ll enjoy:



A DECADE OF PLAYER CREATIONS

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  Since StarCraft II entered beta in 2010, you’ve pushed the boundaries of what could be done in the Galaxy Engine, published unbelievably creative and complex maps and mods, and shared them with the world. Now, let’s keep it going. With the anniversary update, we’re adding a suite of editor improvements and tools to put more power in your hands. But before we dig into what’s new, let’s take a moment to appreciate some of the incredible endeavors our community has undertaken over the past 10 years of modding:

  • Direct Strike: Since its inaugural appearance as the “Desert Strike HotS” mod, Direct Strike has remained as one of the most popular maps in the StarCraft II Arcade. Community developer Tya’s mod tests your strategic unit choices, careful positioning, and economy management in a competitive tug-of-war battle.
  • Squadron Tower Defense: This hugely popular tower defense mod is a perfect example of what makes this chaotic and strategic genre compelling. Create structures, manage resources, and have fun with friends while protecting your security system.
  • StarCrafts: The YouTube animation channel Carbot created a graphics update mod where you can step into the high-contrast world seen in their videos. Battle with tongue-lolling zerglings, over-excited ultralisks, and enemy-zapping packs of plucky probes.
  • Odyssey: A custom campaign from creator Luis Rocha, StarCraft Odyssey takes you to the distant Kardyan Quadrant where you’ll learn what it takes to lead a band of Terran Marines known as the Hell’s Rejects on a multi-act journey of survival and story-driven discovery.
  • Player-Created Ladder Maps: Some of the most iconic StarCraft II maps weren’t created at the desks of our designers, but rather by you, the community. Cloud Kingdom LE, Daybreak, and Overgrowth (just to name a few) will go down in history alongside countless others as the arenas where esports history and our own ladder triumphs were made.


EDITOR IMPROVEMENTS AND NEW FEATURES


  Your feedback has been loud and clear: the editor should be easier to use. As part of our anniversary update, we’re absorbing a host of ease-of-use and customization elements from the Warcraft III editor into the StarCraft II editor. Our largest editor patch to date, these changes will not only relieve some of the frustrations common when creating maps and mods, but will also unlock a ton of new functionality and features. Check out the details over on the PTR patch notes blog, but be sure to warm up your scrolling finger beforehand —there’s a LOT of new stuff.





CUSTOM CAMPAIGNS

  We’ve seen your unmatched creativity in the custom campaigns made with the StarCraft II editor, not just from a storytelling and gameplay perspective, but also in how you’ve manipulated the editor to build your worlds. To make your lives easier, and to open up the editor for more stories and creative campaigns, we’ve added a new Arcade map genre: Campaign.


  With this addition, custom campaigns will now support map-to-map loading. This means that many previously offline-only campaigns will be accessible through the StarCraft II Arcade. This also means that players will be able to introduce co-op custom campaigns in addition to their single-player experiences.




NEW CAMPAIGN ACHIEVEMENTS


  While only four years had passed in the Koprulu Sector, the StarCraft II story campaign was our return to the ever-familiar war between three space-faring races after a nearly 11-year hiatus. Stepping out of Mar Sara and back into the Hyperion, we united under the banner of Raynor’s Raiders in the first of three campaigns, Wings of Liberty. Next, in Heart of the Swarm, we led Kerrigan’s newly recovered Zerg Swarm to battle against the brutal Dominion forces and the encroaching evil of the Void. Finally, with Artanis at the helm of the Golden Armada, Legacy of the Void wrapped up the StarCraft II trilogy with a battle to oppose the oncoming darkness before it consumed the galaxy.


  Now. . . it’s time to go back. The 10th anniversary update will add brand-new achievements for every mission in the StarCraft II campaigns, including the Nova Covert Ops mission pack. Relive the story, discover new ways to play, and earn the Stone Announcer for completing every new achievement.


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PRESTIGE TALENTS FOR CO-OP COMMANDERS

  Adding mastery talents to Co-op commanders was our effort to reward those of you who really dug into this game mode and wanted ways to customize and experiment while playing. There’s room for more, though. Now, you can replay the level 1–15 progression for each maxed-out commander up to three times, and earn a new Prestige Talent each time you complete it. These Prestige Talents can completely change the way your commanders play, opening tons of new gameplay options and strategic decisions. Here are a few examples:



GAMEPLAY IMPROVEMENTS

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  We’ve shown you the big stuff, but let’s talk micro. In the sparse (but impactful) words of Abathur “Make faster, stronger… Evolution never over.” Ten years in, we still believe that StarCraft II is an ever-evolving game, with features and improvements we can add to upgrade the quality of life for players in every mode. Here are just a couple additions coming with this patch, but you can expect to see more in the future:

  • Countdown to Start Timer
    • This feature adds a short countdown to the start of a StarCraft II matchmade game. Now, players aren’t immediately dropped into gameplay after the loading screen.
  • Choose Game Server in Custom Lobbies
    • When creating a new custom lobby, you can now select the game server where the lobby is hosted. This is particularly valuable for online tournaments and for players connecting from across the world.

  Thank you for being a part of our community during the incredible decade we’ve spent together on the ladder, in the editor, and throughout the Koprulu Sector. Now, on to 10 more— GLHF!
 
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PRESTIGE TALENTS FOR CO-OP COMMANDERS

  Adding mastery talents to Co-op commanders was our effort to reward those of you who really dug into this game mode and wanted ways to customize and experiment while playing. There’s room for more, though. Now, you can replay the level 1–15 progression for each maxed-out commander up to three times, and earn a new Prestige Talent each time you complete it. These Prestige Talents can completely change the way your commanders play, opening tons of new gameplay options and strategic decisions. Here are a few examples:


So wait, we have to start back from square one in the Co-op missions? I am currently at level 87 and very close of level 88, and in order to play these Prestige Talents I have to throw it that effort away and start it all over again?
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
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So wait, we have to start back from square one in the Co-op missions? I am currently at level 87 and very close of level 88, and in order to play these Prestige Talents I have to throw it that effort away and start it all over again?
You do not lose mastery, only the 15 levels of the character you reset.
 

Rui

Rui

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So wait, we have to start back from square one in the Co-op missions? I am currently at level 87 and very close of level 88, and in order to play these Prestige Talents I have to throw it that effort away and start it all over again?
Like Shar said, you do not. You first select a commander, then choose to unlock the next prestige class for him/her (prestiges classes are unlocked in sequence). Once you confirm (which the game makes absolutely sure you want to), then that commander returns to lvl 1. You work all your way up to lvl 15 again. Once you reach it, he/she will be lvl 88. The difference is you can pick between the ordinary version of the commander or the prestige class from thereon.

Got to say, though, most prestige classes are a bit meh. Raynor's trade of mules for +100% biological unit health is nice. I saw one that may be interesting for Karax (chrono wave boosting tower attack speed). Other than that, they don't seem so useful.
 
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With this addition, custom campaigns will now support map-to-map loading. This means that many previously offline-only campaigns will be accessible through the StarCraft II Arcade. This also means that players will be able to introduce co-op custom campaigns in addition to their single-player experiences.

It took a long time for this, well, at least after a long time we have something (5 years, cof, cof). For when Reforged ???
 
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I don't mod SC2, but I'm not sure if Custom Campaigns being hosted online is really such a good thing since it's subject to the same standards as Arcade.
 
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I wonder if this is leading to Reforged 2.0, or SC:Reforged. I mean, this is how Blizzard began with Warcraft 3 - started releasing some new updates, seemingly out of nowhere, only to then botch everything in one hell of a "remaster"... Watch out, SC fans, for Blizzard murdered Warcraft 3 and now they might be after SC too
 

Bribe

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I wonder if this is leading to Reforged 2.0, or SC:Reforged. I mean, this is how Blizzard began with Warcraft 3 - started releasing some new updates, seemingly out of nowhere, only to then botch everything in one hell of a "remaster"... Watch out, SC fans, for Blizzard murdered Warcraft 3 and now they might be after SC too

There's not nearly as much motivation to remaster StarCraft 2. Maybe tune up the engine and make things run more optimally? Take better advantage of multiple cores & GPU performance and offload more stuff from the CPU? Lots of under-the-hood design changes that should be made. The graphics are fine.
 
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There's not nearly as much motivation to remaster StarCraft 2. Maybe tune up the engine and make things run more optimally? Take better advantage of multiple cores & GPU performance and offload more stuff from the CPU? Lots of under-the-hood design changes that should be made. The graphics are fine.
They actually are fine!

I sometimes think it would have been better to have Wc3 Re-imagined as part SC2 and just... I don't know, play a different game.

Alright I am rambling, let me try and explain this better...

I figured it would be better to keep the RTS Online community together, especially for Arcane maps. What they could have done is make wc3 units look just as good or maybe a little better than SC2 ones. Next being able to play any custom made (Arcade?) map, but when wanting to play 1v1 you could choose between SC2 or WC3. So basically split the melee pro scene, but keep the Custom Maps community together. Then it would be even easier to make cool new maps, you would have sci-fi and medieval fantasy models to work with! Of course you would loose the ability to play wc3 tft with other people as they would be on the SC2 platform, but I figure that would have been a great thing for the Online Custom Map community and both SC2 and WC3 communities. No reason to split them apart as they are the same genre want offer the same things... an RTS and custom made maps.
 
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I don't mod SC2, but I'm not sure if Custom Campaigns being hosted online is really such a good thing since it's subject to the same standards as Arcade.
The fact that they are online is extremely disturbing. CCs were always a refuge for people with bad internet access. If people want the option for coop players, they can just make each map separate, instead of forcing all of them to be online.

I personally do not actually understand how CCs can even exist without heroes. In Wc3 ones, there will always be multiple dead-end paths people can follow in maps, since there will option be special items or tomes or bosses in the routes that do not lead to the end of the mission. Without something like a hero, in my mind there is no reason to follow any alternate paths. The goal would be just to rush to the end of the mission and ignore anything else you find, since the extra things you could find would not be able to transfer over to future missions without something like a hero unit.
 

deepstrasz

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I personally do not actually understand how CCs can even exist without heroes. In Wc3 ones, there will always be multiple dead-end paths people can follow in maps, since there will option be special items or tomes or bosses in the routes that do not lead to the end of the mission. Without something like a hero, in my mind there is no reason to follow any alternate paths. The goal would be just to rush to the end of the mission and ignore anything else you find, since the extra things you could find would not be able to transfer over to future missions without something like a hero unit.
Well, if you have played Heart of the Swarm or Nova Covert Ops, you'd get the picture of those campaigns being more like those of Warcraft III with heroes.
 
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