DarkBlizz

Definitely anxious to see all these changes!

I know you mentioned tons of changes and modifications and it would be a lot of work to list every single fix and change (if you could even remember all them). The one I am curious about is the AI defending from a high ground attack. I guess examples would be... early Reaper rush, Tank dropoff (a la Battle Report 4 I believe), or Stalker blink.

Sorry if this has already been asked, I didn't see it in the last few pages.

I love the new launcher and being able to pick races/locations/colors. Before your updated version was officially released, I was using another for a short period of time and I noticed they had a lot more color options. I was wondering if you had planned to add those other colors too. I don't care about having 3 shades of a color but having White as an option is pretty neat, especially as Terran (brings back good SC1 memories).

The other question is why is Team disabled? I have seen it on other launchers, and usable (though I never used it myself to see if it actually worked in game). Is this dealing with maps or a not completely implemented feature?

I know for map replays you have to pick the right AI otherwise it won't sync properly and you said there's no way to detect it currently. I had an idea on possibly avoiding this issue and 'detecting' it. I'm going on the assumption that the replays are created by SC2 and their names are set by it, so that part itself is out of your control. However, the names are definitely timestamped as you have noticed (I haven't paid attention to whether it's the start or end time of the match). The idea is that you would monitor the replays folder for newly created files. If the file is around the start/end time of the match (in order to check its an actual game replay and not extracted into the folder), append the AI name to the file name for easy identification. I'm sure you see what I'm getting at.

The other issue is how random opponent race works. I'm actually almost sure this isn't the loader's fault but I was just curious. When you pick Random for your race, you'll get one of the three each time you restart using F10. Just like how it used to be the way to get the race you wanted. However, the computer will be one of the three the first time and always be that race each  time you restart. For example, I will start on Random as will the computer player. I get Zerg, they get Protoss. I restart via F10. I will get something else, perhaps Zerg again but not guaranteed. The computer player will get Protoss every time until I close SC2 completely and launch another game, even though they too are 'Random'. Like I said, I know it's probably not your fault but why is this?

I've been using a pretty mean Reaper rush tactic against the AI and it's pretty solid. Both Zerg and Protoss AI get destroyed by it on Medium. I haven't tried Hard yet because cheating imo is not a real "good" way to test a strategy. Sure it might work, but the resource advantage is just unreal. I'll probably try it later just to test.



For the Zerg, I scout and wait for their first rush and wall in to destroy it. Once that's over with, the 3-4 Reapers I have can go out on a strike force and play. Roaches can be annoying but usually I can kite them. Against Protoss, I just go straight to their base and pester their Zealots from the high ground.



Anyhow, the only part that is a bit disappointing is that the AI gets dumb sometimes. For example, on Kulas Ravine I will micro the Reapers to jump down shoot and lure, jump back up and hold position while they shoot from the high ground. This is pretty easy, especially with the speed boost. The problem is sometimes the AI just sits down there running in place (sort of) with Zerglings/Zealots. They will literally lose 5, 10, or even 15+ units this way.


I'm not sure what solution there would be, because I would still chase and harass them if they pulled back as I have the speed advantage by far. Only one time did the Zerg retaliate enough to build Mutalisks and make the game go on longer than a few minutes.


Just putting this one out there for the AI devs.

I was hyped about the game ever since rumors were floating around about there being a SC2. Once I saw the dev videos and actual game play, I was even more anxious to play it. After hearing beta was out, I was even more anxious. Now that I've played the beta (unofficially of course), I can say it's even surpassed my expectations which I don't even know how it's possible.


In my opinion, anyone who was pretty good at SC1 is happy with how SC2 is turning out. Simply put, the game is a nice revamp of the first one, mostly making it pretty. The gameplay was already there, only a few tweaks were necessary for balancing out an already pretty balanced game.


After you play it a few times and get used to the races, you realize that the SC1 metagame is built right into SC2. I'm primarily a Terran player, so when I saw supply depots could lower like gates, I was ecstatic to say the least. Medic+Dropship combo? Yes, please. I was a bit disappointed at the air change-up with Wraiths being split into Vikings/Banshees but I guess it was necessary to promote balance overall.


I think most people who never played the first one will see this game in a totally different light than SC1 players. Not because of the nostalgia value, but also for the understanding of why SC2 is the way it is compared to the first one.


What I am tired of is these stupid videos desperately trying to knock SC2, especially in the name of "well we have to do it to make Blizzard understand and keep SC the game it used to be!" Give me a break. If you seriously think SC2 is losing it's microgame because "workers now auto-mine better", go watch the early Alpha/Beta Battle Report videos with David Kim and such. Tell me that SC2 has lost its micro then, psh. Yes, some of the units have changed, big deal. Is it really that improbable that the Protoss have a huge walker? No, not at all. I thought the War of the Worlds reference was fitting here. While I prefer Goliaths myself, Thor is a beast and the Arnold pilot cracks me up.


Reminds me of the kids that complained when Smash Brothers Brawl fixed some issues (namely wave dashing and etc) that were in Melee and some cried "you're making the game less competitive and easier". Yeah... right.


Anyhow, needless to say, I'm very content with SC2. I feel it lives up to the SC1 standard and I can't wait to play on B-net 2.0. You can say whatever you want to about Blizzard, try to call them out for 'milking' a game, recycling content, whatever you want... the fact is at the end of the day they make good damn games. You can't deny that.

Yeah, my TV's "native" resolution is that. I've been using that and it works just fine from what I can tell. I just am confused because both most other games and WoW itself give me the option for 720. Just kind of strange that SC2 doesn't.


Thanks though!

Me and my brother both use a Vizio 32" LCD HDTV rated at 720p. My PC is just running on nVidia Ion with the Atom N330 with 4GB RAM. My brother has the much more capable rig with C2Q and ATi HD 4770 with 4GB RAM as well. We both are using Win7 Ultimate with the latest graphics drivers for our GPUs and both are running 1280x720 on the desktop.


SC2 is the only modern game in which I cannot pick 1280x720 resolution. I have a bunch of other choices like 1280x768, 1366x768, 1920x1080, etc. My brother is playing it on 1080i (meh) with Ultra settings just fine, though you can see the interlaced effect times.


Anyhow, I am just really surprised that SC2 does not support the 720p standard. However, I could have sworn I've seen other people playing at that resolution. I don't get it!


Anyone else having this issue or have solved it perhaps?

Thanks all! I've been watching a good bit of TvP videos to learn more.


I take back that Terran doesn't have good air, I see that micro'ing units its more important as certain units have innate benefits over others and range is definitely more varied among units. I didn't even notice the Viking vs Carrier range, which can be a huge benefit.


I was just dicking around and playing with the tech tree to test BCs and stuff.. I can definitely see the power in them with the cannon.


Does the Raven's defense turret provide a good bit of defense from the interceptors? I have yet to try since I rarely tech there.


All I can say is the best (or at least one of the best) fixes in SC2 is the ability to micro abilities on units. Finally!

I mostly play Terran and my typical strategy is Marines + Medics along with tank support and harass with Reapers. This has worked fairly well for me and typically running around with 90+ marines all drugged up is a slaughter house.


The only problem I typically face is a Carrier armada. I know the short answer to this may be "well, if they're able to amass that many Carriers you're probably taking too long." This might be true, but I'm wondering what's a good counter attack.


I've noticed the Carriers take out the Marines faster than the half-dozen medics can heal, and of course the tanks are useless against them.


Typically, thinking back to SC1, I'd have a good platoon or two of Wraiths to back it up cloaked. However, it seems that Terran's air strategy has changed a good bit in SC2, though for the worse in my opinion. Vikings have versatility in becoming decent anti-ground against bio units, but cannot cloak. Banshees can cloak but are only air-to-ground. I tried a dozen or more of Vikings but they seemed to get destroyed in no time against the Carriers.


A common problem I found was that the units seemed to be "confused" in targeting the interceptors rather than the Carriers. I'm sure if I had micro'd them all to attack the proper targets the outcome would have been better but it seems like it's still slightly difficult for Terran to tackle a Carrier armada coming in.


I haven't had time to fully test other choices since it's not too common they go the Carrier strategy.


I was never a fan of BCs in SC1 but I have noticed that their attack speed is greatly increased now. Also, the Raven's abilities seem interesting though I have yet to really try them out. I wonder if they have some AA utility. Another thing I noticed is that it seems Ghosts' EMP is particularly helpful against Protoss, but I just really dislike them in general.


Anyhow, this post is getting too long so I'm sure you get the point by now. Any suggestions on this?