Starcraft Junkie

This past week, our co-admin Rylin here at SCZ had the opportunity to go to a "secret" SC2 press event over at the Blizzard headquarters in Irvine, CA. Attendees were given the opportunity to play SC2 extensively throughout the day, as well as interact with the game developers and management.

Rylin has wrote up a nice article for us to give insignt into his lucky day! Check it out.

If you were unlucky enough to land a ticket to the upcoming BlizzCon event and don't have access to DirecTV, then your in luck. Blizzard is now...

Our neighborhood fansites, SCLegacy and Teamliquid, recently picked up a few interviews by David Kim, reknowned Starcraft 2 Player. Mr. Kim is a Blizzard employee who has debuted his Starcraft 2 skills in the first 3 battle reports. The interviews were translated from Korean into plain English for the rest of us and have revealed some insights into Blizzard's ideals and strengths.

Click here to read the entire interview.

The 3rd, and best yet, StarCraft 2 Battle Report has been officially released. An epic clash between the Protoss and Zerg on Scrap Yard – a brand new StarCraft 2 map with very distinctive design and terrain features. The game is fast-paced, with the first conflict taking place just two minutes into the game.

David Kim, associate game balance designer, has shown that he can handle the Protoss race just as well after winning the last Battle Report game as the Terran. He shines with the Protoss, handling their forces in an intelligent manner and beautifully micromanages his few units to inflict maximum damage on the Zerg enemy. It’s so good, in fact, that in some points it’s hard to believe the game wasn’t orchestrated in advance.

Consistent with previous Battle Reports, this game also includes the unveiling of a new terrain feature, which was likely introduced due to the fact that Brush wouldn’t fit well on the metallic platforms where the battle at hand takes place.

This brings the list of StarCraft 2 terrain features to:

• Destroyable barriers
• High yield minerals
• Xel’ Naga Watch Towers
• Brush
• Smoke
  

*Green – Smoke . *Yellow Squares = Starting Spots. *Red = High Yield

The map’s topography puts the opponents very close to each other, separated by a gap of space and a bridge with a destructible rock barrier. Scrapyard’s smoke placement is somewhat similar to the brush placement in Blistering Sands of Battle Report 2, providing enemy forces with a retreat/regroup/ambush option at the very entrance of the main bases’ ramps. The ramps are wider than “normal”, which makes sealing them early on more expensive and complicated.

Battle Highlights:

• Expansion harassment takes its toll on the Zerg player, preventing an early expansion and forcing the Zerg to expand 2 minutes later than planned.
• The Nullifier, recently renamed “Disruptor“, is showcased as a potent defense and trapping tool, easily dealing with Zergling harassment at 6:05, and demonstrating beautiful divide & conquer tactics at 7:25-8:10 to cut the Zerg forces into manageable batches time after time. This unit has been used extensively and skillfully throughout the game, defensively and offensively, and looks to be a great addition to the Protoss arsenal of powerful units which benefit greatly from smart, precise use.

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• A Dark Pylon is seen in “action” near the Protoss main mineral line, enhancing the Probes’ harvest rate. This is a remnant from earlier build, before the Dark Pylon was replaced with the Obelisk.
• Stalkers and Roaches clash around 9:00, with the Protoss micromanaging the Zerg forces into oblivion while continually warping in more and more forces to aid his outnumbered army, eventually chasing the Zerg forces down by blinking into range. The Roaches have also been used well, burrowing in and out of battle to avoid the death blow and quickly regenerate their health.

• David proceeds with some Overlord hunting using his single Phoenix, but the Phoenix’ true value is shown when its Graviton beam renders the Zerg Queen helpless while a Void Ray quickly melts it down at 11:00.

• Banelings deliver a massive blow to the Protoss economy at 12:00, evaporating around a dozen Probes in a second.
• The Protoss, on the counter-attack, decide to cut through the destructible rocks and make a shorter land path to the Zerg base… only to run into more cleverly burrowed Banelings, which quickly obliterate an entire company of bunched up Zealots.
• The Zerg employs its mind-controlling Infestor for the first time at 14:12 to take control of the Protoss Immortal - a portent of things to come.
• Total pwnage ensues at 15:55 when two Neural Parasite controlled Colossi “team up” with a hoard of Zerglings to eradicate a large self-trapped Protoss force.

It’s at that very point of the Zerg’s triumph that the true nature of StarCraft becomes apparent. StarCraft 2 is first of all a macromanagement RTS, and virtually no amount of micromanaging will save a player lagging behind from defeat. The Protoss player has maintained an economic advantage throughout the game and is able to sustain heavy losses for the purpose of distracting his opponent while pressing the offensive on two other fronts, completely obliterating the Zerg’s economy just seconds after losing the major battle by warping forces right into the Zerg’s nearly-defenseless expansions. The Zerg quickly yields with a “gg” as this excellent match comes to an end.

This Battle Report represents StarCraft 2 a lot better than the previous two instances. Both players keep the pressure on each other throughout the match with every available resource, from the first Probe blocking the Zerg’s expansion to the Phoenix/Void Ray combo picking off key Zerg units. It’s very apparent that the Blizzard players have had a while to work on their game and have reached the point where they’re proficient with both the tactical and strategic aspects of it. No unit goes to waste and every ability is used to maximum utility, from the Stalkers’ Blink to the Disruptors’ well-placed Force Fields.

Disruptors are definitely the surprise of this game, being built and magnificently used by the Protoss player before any other unit, replacing the Zealot in its traditional role as the Protoss’ first offensive unit. However, this does not mean that Disruptors are now required to play an effective Protoss game – both Zealots and Stalkers could easily be used alone or together in their stead to produce a viable early-game strategy.

With all signs pointing to the beta starting in the very near future, this Battle Report is great for exhibiting how far StarCraft 2 has already come. It shows that the game features all the strengths that made StarCraft 1 a masterpiece – and then adds some more into the mix.

Watch:

Battle Report 3 on StarCraft2.com

Download for Windows

Download for Mac

Blizzard Entertainment just released the third installment of its great Battle Reports video featurette, showing off the features and tactics of...

Our neighborhood fansite Starcraft 2 Forums recently recieved word from their inside sources that the third Starcraft 2 Battle Report may be hitting Starcraft2.com as soon as tomorrow. However, for those too eager to watch it in full HD glory, the video has been somehow recorded and distributed online already. The fight showcases a Zerg versus Protoss match, between David Kim and Yeon-Ho Lee.

Click here to watch the video!

[Update 1] Battle Report 3 has been officially announced on Blizzard's Starcraft 2 homepage. Click here to view it.

Our neighborhood fansite Starcraft 2 Forums recently recieved word from their inside sources that the third Starcraft 2 Battle Report may be hitting Starcraft2.com as soon as tomorrow. However, for those too eager to watch it in full HD glory, the video has been somehow recorded and distributed online already. The fight showcases a Zerg versus Protoss match, between David Kim and Yeon-Ho Lee.

Click here to watch the video!

Revealed in the StarCraft 2 Battle.net Q&ampA Session 52, paired with the new mapmaking application to be bundled with StarCraft 2 is a brand new...

Publishing both Q&A batches at the same time, Blizzard recently released Q&A Batch 51 and 52. Batch 51 included an interesting video of Starcraft 2 unit's death animations - some cool ones too - while 52 talked about the mapmaking tools Blizzard is including in the Starcraft 2 mapmaker.

Click here for: Batch 51 / Batch 52

 

Sorry for the late news, but Fansite Q&A 5 was released on May 28, 2009 for Starcraft 2 Armory.  In it were small interesting tidbits about the gameplay in the current internal build within Blizzard.

Click here to read the entire Q&A.