|
|
by Namo on July 01, 2009, 03:28:29 PM  Does the Medivac still do a landing animation in the latest build? Doesn't that make it more vulnerable to anti-air while trying to drop units? Do the units popup one by one or all at once? What about the Protoss and Zerg transports? There is an animation for the drop, but it is visual, and should not affect gameplay, though all transports are still considered more vulnerable while dropping, as it will not automatically move away while attacked.----- Someone said on another forum that the queen can heal. Is this true? How does call-down supplies work currently? What buildings can be salvaged? Is the Banshee's portrait female? Why was the depleted gas mechanic removed? 1) In the current build, for 100 energy, the Queen can heal a biological unit or building by 200 hit points.
2) For 50 energy, the Terran Orbital Command can increase a supply depot's supply provided by +8 permanently.
3) Terran Add-Ons, Bunkers, Sensor Towers, and Missile Turrets can be salvaged for 100% of its cost. Salvage currently takes 5 seconds to complete.
4) Yes, the Banshee portrait is of a female pilot.
5) Vespene gas can still become depleted from geysers. Most geysers have 2500 gas each. So what energy abilities does the overseer have now? In addition to having detection and increased speed from the Overlord they can use these abilities:
Spore Cloud (50 energy)- Release a cloud of fog, covering an area and blocks line of sight for a period of time (subject to balance). Units that are above the fog can see into and over the fog.
This ability is great at blocking the line of sight of spotter units on cliffs, block line of sight of Marines while your Zerglings run up close to attack range, or even to hide your ranged units like Hydralisks from the enemy while having your own spotter for the Hydras.
Changeling (100 energy)- Changes into an enemy unit (Zealot, Zergling, or Marine) depending on the enemy race. This unit acts as an excellent scout. Bunkers salvage for 100% of cost? Dustin did also mention that he felt this could possibly be too strong, but we will probably wait until beta for evidence before making any changes. 35 Views | 3 Replies
|
|
|
by Namo on June 29, 2009, 05:55:03 AM Last week, me and pbob had an opportunity few Blizz fanboys get: as TWC's representatives, we went to Irvine for a visit to one of the greatest video game Mecca, Blizzard's HQ.  Originally, it was for a press event but Blizzard wasn't ready to showcase what we were supposed to see. But we were still able to spend the day there. Blizzard's campus is massive. There's 3-4 buildings on the campus, enough room for the 1000+ employees working there. I don't have a picture of the gates, but they look a lot like the ones at Pixar StudiosBut I do have a picture of one b****in' Wolf Rider:  Now that's really epic. The details on it are incredible. But there's awesome stuff inside as well: Next to the reception desk is this statue of Nova:  Frostmourne  and a dwarf hunter, I guess  Here's a couple more pics from inside: Now this was awesome, at least *I* thought it was awesome (I guess not all our colleagues from the other fansites agreed, but whatever :) ). We saw plenty of those little screens while we were visiting the buildings: these screens show the locations of all the WoW players currently playing in the world. It's awesome.  There's also a bunch of Starcraft posters in the corridors:   There's also the WoW maintenance clock:  And for emo/goth Diablo kids:  :) There's a lot of cool stuff I didn't take picture of, but you get the idea. ----- Now of course, we weren't there only for a visit. It was a StarCraft 2 Fansite event. So we got to see some live SC2 games. I didn't take any notes, because I suck at it, but pbob did, so here's the highlights (thx a lot :) ): Observer/Replay Functionality:New drop down menu during game for observers and replay - Check constantly updated statistics during game - Resource harvesting with harvester recount - Spending/economy - Army size, unit type and counts with unit pictures for quick recognition - APM with both average and current Post game review- Has build order, excellent for understanding the strategy involved and a great learning tool for the less experienced players in understanding how the pros order their build - Combat efficiency, with colored graphs to show progress of all players in game - Graph for each of the categories included in the drop down menu during the game Replay functionality- Rewind now available - Progress bar to show time in game with the ability to jump ahead to a certain moment similar to watching a video on youtube Roundtable Discussion (interesting highlights):- Immortals take too little effort to tech to, and too good for their cost. Possibly moving to robotics (unable to be warped in). - Plague -> Infestor not much liked by in house team - Disruptor (Protoss) needs a direction. Intended as a spammable caster, but too many things going on at once. Also needs a lore background. After that we went to the PR room to play some Starcraft. Let me say it's amazing. I played 2 games during last year's Blizzcon, but during those 2 games, I didn't get a chance to really try everything I wanted. But I did during the afternoon last Monday, and it was great. The game looks very solid and I'd say the game is likely pretty close to beta. I don't see why it wouldn't be. And a word on the Blizzard people. They were all very cool with us, answering our questions and dealing with our lame jokes :) I really liked the part were Cavez sat with us and answered questions on the fly. I saw a man passionate by what he does and I respect that a lot. But all the people were amazing with us. I really appreciate what Blizzard did for us. Not all gaming companies are willing to invite their fans to their office. All in all, it was a great day, and it was worth the red eye-flight  ----- And now new screenshots! The latest tech-trees! Protoss Terran ZergAnd gameplay screenshots:           I also have some b-roll footage that I might post later if I can find a way to easily compress it, so stay tuned. 251 Views | 21 Replies
|
|
|
by Namo on June 23, 2009, 06:21:50 PM Battle Report #3 was released yesterday. This time, it's Protoss vs Zerg. Welcome to the latest installment of Blizzard Entertainment's official shoutcast for StarCraft II, currently in the alpha phase of development. This match features David Kim, one of the StarCraft II team's associate game balance designers, and Blizzard's Yeon-Ho Lee.You can find it here 87 Views | 6 Replies
|
|
|
by Namo on June 13, 2009, 08:19:44 AM 1. Does it still use the JASS language, or perhaps an upgraded version of JASS?
StarCraft II uses an entirely new scripting language, which we’ve called Galaxy. This language is very similar to C, and anyone familiar with programming in C will have no trouble picking it up.
2. Is the language event-driven or object-oriented?
The language itself is not object-oriented, although most of the native functionality is based around operating on game objects.
3. In comparison to the Warcraft III Editor, how much more, if any, can the GUI of the game be edited (it was extremely limited in Warcraft III)?
The in-game UI layout is externalized in data files to a large extent, however there is no editor support for working with these files. So it will be possible to customize the game UI, it just won't be a user-friendly process.
4. Are there new noteworthy functionalities in the Starcraft II Editor, or will the new editor just have general improvements?
I can’t think of a single editor feature from WarCraft III, large or small, which has not been improved in at least some way for StarCraft II.
5. Will the ability to communicate among triggers, for instance via actions or conditions, be improved in the new language?
One significant new feature of the Trigger Editor is support for custom function definitions, including actions and conditions. This means you can create your own actions that are built up from other actions (or custom script code), then use those in triggers just as you would any other action.
6. How does "Hero" support differ from the Warcraft III Editor? Or is it practically identical?
We’ve been working hard to create a hero system that is even more flexible than WarCraft III’s. For example, map makers will have the ability to define any number of custom attributes that modify a hero based on its level.
7. Will there be a public API for the programming language?
As with WarCraft III, there is a large set of “native” functions representing game functionality that can be accessed through scripts. If this is what you mean by “public API”, then yes.
8. Will there be improvements on the "Garbage Collector" for the new language? For example, in JASS all local variables need to be set to null at the end of their use, and certain data-types need to be removed from the game (such as Locations) at the end of their use to avoid memory leaks.
Galaxy features a robust garbage collection system for all native types, which is a huge improvement over WarCraft III (which technically did not have a garbage collection system at all). The script memory leak issues from WarCraft III will be a thing of the past. 229 Views | 21 Replies
|
|
|
by DigiMajik on June 12, 2009, 10:19:14 PMSupposedly several other fansites are beginning to get StarCraft II beta keys to give away via competition. Being an official 'Platinum' fansite as we are, I wonder if this is legit since we have not received this same promotion. Does anyone know if this is legit or not? I've just sent an email to all of the Blizzard reps we have contact with to find out. link282 Views | 16 Replies
|
|
|
by Namo on June 11, 2009, 11:04:40 AM  How much fury does each skill cost? As an example. They require fury in amounts of full fury globes. So the most one can cost is 3.Does each ability cost a full globe? Yes, currently abilities that do cost fury cost one or more full fury "globes". Don't get the term 'fury globe' too stuck in your brain though, there's going to be an official name for them and it may not be globe.Do abilities cost a portion of each globe? There aren't and probably won't be abilities that cost a portion of a fury ... ball. I'm going to call them fury balls. Wait ... no ... that's a terrible idea.Are the globes valued numerically, similar to rage, and the abilities cost a "number" of Fury? Right now they actually are, but that's because it's sort of mid-transition from an old fury system. They'll simply be shown and referred to in ability cost as full globes. At least that's the current thought.
As I said it's still a system and game in development, and any of this can change entirely. This is just a peek into the current workings.Does fury deteriorate over time? Yes.Is fury cost affected by skill growth (adding more points to a skill). I don't know of any abilities that do right now but it's always a possibility for balance later.When you use a fury skill, does the damage dealt serve to recharge your fury (meaning that you could theoretically have a net zero fury cost when attacking crowds)?
It does, but of course it's subject to change. How many dots of fury (dots, yes) does the ground stomp cost? If three, I can see people holding it for when they need it, and not using any other skills to conserve fury. It doesn't cost any fury, but it does have a cooldown.On that note, is 3 the absolute maximum? Or can you go a little over 3, like 3.9 or something, so you'll get a full bubble soon after? If 3 is the hard max, then you'd have to use a 3 dot skill immediately before it decays to 2.999 or something. Fury decay doesn't happen that quickly. There's a grace period in there before it starts ticking down. [...]if my deductive skills are working properly one could assume that there will be skills that dont use the fury system, such as ground stomp. Could you give us an idea of one that would use fury? how powerful will these skills be? Ground stomp is an exception mainly because of the nature of its use. A cooldown allows it to be used as an "oh crap I'm overwhelmed" ability without also requiring you to have fury built up. Most if not all straight attack abilities like cleave, leap attack, whirlwind, etc. have fury costs, in addition to most 'buff' abilities.So it looks like each fury ball has 5 ticks to charge up. So cleave, which seems to be the most basic attack will take 5 normal hits to charge up before it can be used assuming it takes one fury ball. And if Whirlwind required 3 fury balls, then there would potentially be 15 normal attacks in between each use? Ouch! Spamming normal attacks and using a special attack about 10% of the time doesn't seem very epic to me. It would also suck for PvP, because it will be hard enough to land a special attack in most situations let alone 15 normal attacks just to get to use a special attack. Fury is also built from incoming attacks. If you're in a moderate sized scuffle you can unleash abilities pretty regularly. The animation that was shown in BlizzCast was made in a test environment, using a single weapon and attacking stationary (and non-attacking) zombies. So it built up fairly slowly, but nice and consistent for the video, which was the point. In a normal game, and as the barbarian especially, you're quite often surrounded and the balance of normal attacks/fury gen/special ability use feels quite nice. 185 Views | 11 Replies
|
|
|
by Namo on June 09, 2009, 06:48:46 AM EMP is currently on the Ghost and does 100 shield damage to all units and drains all energy in that area of effect. Having a Ghost presence in any TvP match up is crucial, especially if there are casters in the opponent's army. In the original StarCraft, the EMP used to kill all shield hit points, but since in StarCraft II the ability has been added to the Ghost, which is more easily attainable unit than in the original StarCraft, we have reduced it's potency a bit.
Plus a one-click ability that reduces an opposing army to half health near instantly isn't something that we want to promote.
To combat EMP, Protoss players have huge new additions to their arsenal that can help them attack, defend, and buy time for tactical retreats (to allow shields to recharge since they recharge 2x as fast as the original StarCraft). These new additions would include but are not limited to: Force Field (Disruptor), Temporal Rift (previously known as Time Bomb) (High Templar), Colossus AoE lasers (with upgradable range), Phase Shift (Disruptor), Shield Regeneration (added to Obelisk [known previously as the Dark Pylon] replacing 'cloak'). You can always make multiple ghosts and do multi-EMP. True, though that would be much more costly in terms of minerals/gas as well as time needed to have enough energy for EMPs. Furthermore, it would take slightly more micromanagement as well.
When put in a difficult situation, retreating with Protoss is a strategy that often times has to be used to recharge shields and regroup after attacks. Preserving Protoss units is particularly important because they are generally more expensive than the other races, have more hit points, and have that increased shield regeneration to help them fight another day.
[...]
Time Bomb is now known as the Temporal Rift and is cast by the High Templar.
Plasma Surge is no longer in the multiplayer version of the game, but will still be in the editor.
The Dark Pylon is now known as the Obelisk - primarily because it no longer cloaks units and no longer provides pylon power/supply. This change was mostly due to balance, since it is relatively easy to spam Dark Pylons everywhere and instantly have a Psi Storm recharge point to decimate incoming forces.I wonder if the Devs have considered a Protoss unit that derives is protection from heavy armor rather than shields (giving it protection from the ghost, but with the obvious drawback that it wouldn't heal at all) The Colossus would be the unit you are looking for. One Colossi will be able to kill a group of Marines (before shield upgrade) with one sweep of its lasers. Multiple Colossi, with upgraded laser range, will surely mess up the day of any Terran player who does mass infantry.
If Protoss players do tech towards the Colossus, they will also have access to observers very early, giving them early warning to when the Ghost is in play and where it may be shooting its EMP from. Colossi could be locked down though No lockdown in multiplayer. 169 Views | 9 Replies
|
|
|
by Namo on May 28, 2009, 03:06:34 PM From Starcraft 2 Armory1 - Blizzard, how attached are you guys to the proton charge/mule extra macro-for-money system? I know nothing is set in stone at this point, but will these mechanics in all likelihood make it into the final game?
This is a mechanic that we would like to keep if possible. Because the game is not yet in beta phase, there may still be tweaks and changes to these mechanics, but we are looking forward to players trying it out themselves in beta. We will continue testing the macro mechanics internally and we really want to see how the players will adopt these mechanics into their gameplay.
2 - With missile barrage and Yamato cannon, Battlecruisers' can deal with most threats. My question is, how effectively can a Battlecruiser be countered? How well do Hydralisks, Void Rays, and Vikings work vs Missile barrage?
Hydralisks are easily the Zerg's most important ground unit against air, including Battlecruisers. Void rays can be a good Protoss counter for battlecruiser, with focused fire and increasing damage over time on its attack. In fighter mode, the Terran viking does +10 damage against massive units like the battlecruiser.
3 - Brood War Mutalisk micromanagement is an important aspect of the Terran vs. Zerg match up. Blizzard has been reported to be trying to implement some form of the Mutalisk stacking bug. My question is, how well do Terrans deal with stacked Mutalisks now that Irradiate is no longer in the game, Medics are higher tier, and a single control group can consist of much more then the eleven Mutalisks currently in StarCraft: Brood War?
The ghost's snipe shot, which deals 60 damage (and ignores armor) to biological units like the mutalisk, can be a good defensive ability. The Thor's anti-air attack also has +2 damage against Mutalisk's Light armor. Additionally, the nighthawk's hunter seeker missile gives splash damage, making it a great counter against mutalisk stacking, considering it does 150 damage. One missile can effectively 1-shot a whole stack of mutalisks if the zerg player does not try to dodge the missile. Even though players can group up many more than 12 mutalisks in a stack now, with abilities like the Hunter Seeker missile on the field, they may still want to think twice about it.
4 - When the Corrupters attack turns enemy flyers into "turrets" does the unit turned effect damage? In other words would a corrupted mutalisk do any less damage than a corrupted Battlecruiser or Mothership?
Once they are corrupted, all corrupted units will do the same damage.
5 - If the Zerg Infestor uses neural parasite on a unit, will that unit still have all upgrades / abilities if the player researched them?
Yes, the parasited unit will have all upgrades / abilities.
6 - Goliath could benefit from the Charon Boosters in SC:BW, However the Goliath is now replaced by the Viking (air mode) as AtA unit. Is there still any range increase going to happen for the Viking, to extend it's missile range like the Goliath, or is it presumed unnecessary because Vikings can truly fly (and thus not limited in mobility)?
There is currently no range upgrade for the viking. However, vikings can still move in and out combat by shifting modes. In regards to the unit's mobility, vikings will be much better than the original StarCraft's goliath due to its new transformation abilities.
7 - When we were told EMP was removed from the Ghost, it wasn't mentioned what, if any, spell/ability would replace it. Can you comment on the current spells and abilities of the Ghost? And is EMP still a possibility for the game, whether on the Ghost or any other unit?
The ghost has regained the EMP ability again and EMP now does 100 damage to shields and drains all energy from player's own and enemy units in the targeted area.
8 - Can Blizzard give a well detailed explanation on how the new mechanic of the ability hallucination work. It was said that it can spawn 8 fake probes, how many then to other units? Zealots, stalkers, immortals, air units? Can it be used on allies (Zerg and Terrans)?
By using 100 energy, you can spawn one of these sets: 2 zealots, 2 stalkers, 1 immortal, 2 high templars, 1 archon, 1 void ray, 1 phoenix, 1 warp prism, or 1 colossus. You can only spawn Protoss units.link 149 Views | 4 Replies
|
|
|
by Namo on May 27, 2009, 02:25:18 PM 1. Add an option in the menu to disable the windows key, and same thing goes for ALT-TAB?
And add an EASY way to squelch your opponent. When their name “IllIIlIIlIIlIIlllI” (L & i), it's a little difficult.
While we are not considering disabling the windows key and Alt+Tab, we are looking into the naming policy to prevent problems like the one you described.
2. StarCraft 2's terrain properties such as Xel'Naga towers, destroyable barriers and Brush have a significant effect on gameplay and appear to create specific points of interest/advantage on the map. Are there plans to introduce additional terrain buffs/effect to the battlefield?
The current terrain features are not finalized. We still have these three map features in the game and we plan to keep them during the beta, but it is always possible to add more features if we find something that’s balanced and encourages exciting game play.
3. Since there are/were plans to integrate voice communications into multiplayer, will StarCraft 2 replays be able to include Audio, as well as chat?
Replay files do not include audio. However you will be able to see all text chats while you are watching replay.
4. You have talked a bit about replay functions lately and since patches will come up definitely former replays won’t work if the system sticks with SC1 or W3. Do you plan on making changes here so that players can view older replays ever after patches occur?
Yes, even as the game gets patched, you will be able to watch replays of matches played on older versions.
5. The interface we see in Battle Reports – is this interface available for Observers during a live game (in real time), or only while viewing replays, or both?
The interface you’ve seen in Battle Reports will be available in observer mode as well as in replays during beta.
6. StarCraft II is a package consisting of single player/campaign, multiplayer (+replay viewer), map editor and Battle.net. All four are complex and without a doubt require testing and patching. Has it been decided which of the above components are planned to be included in public beta testing?
You can have multiplayer game access through Battle.net during the beta and you can watch the replays as well. There will also be access to the Map Editor during the beta process but not necessarily from the start. Single player campaign will not be included in the beta. 180 Views | 6 Replies
|
|
|
by Namo on May 27, 2009, 11:15:57 AM Between adding new unit models and sliming up the zerg buildings, the StarCraft II art team has also spent some time on some little details that make the game come alive, such as new unit death animations. Featured below, we have a protoss carrier being blown out of the sky by a squad of terran marines, as well as several zerg units falling to their fates.Go see it. It's pretty cool. linkQ&A 51 later today 98 Views | 0 Replies
|
|
|
|
|
|
Members
Total Members: 25427
Stats
Users Online
