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Saturday, August 28, 2010

Pre-Patch 1.1 Situation Report

Recieving Transmission...

Greetings, citizens of the Koprulu sector!

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is celebrating its monthsary and we’re extremely excited to witness the amazing community that’s come together around the game. To that end, we want you to know we are hard at work on the first feature and balance patch, and expect to have it completed and available by the middle of September. Patch 1.1 will contain a number of improvements including additional mod features, Editor improvements and bug fixes, some custom game improvements, support for NVIDIA’s 3D Vision, and more. We'd also like to share some specific plans for this patch with you.


To begin, we've heard a lot of feedback from our global community about standardized hotkey options. We're happy to announce that in patch 1.1 we are going to make the Standard (US) and Standard for Lefties (US) hotkey options available in all regions.

Balance Changes

We have several balance changes in store. One general change we're making is that friendly units will no longer provide vision after being killed. Enemy units previously revealed will no longer be targetable. Now let's break down the additional balance changes we're implementing.

Maps

We're going to be adding destructible rocks to the Desert Oasis map to make natural expansions easier to protect. In addition, the center map watchtower area is being narrowed.

Protoss

We have two key changes in mind for the zealot: the build time is being increased from 33 to 38 seconds, and the warpgate cooldown is being increased from 23 to 28 seconds. Zealot rushes are currently too powerful at various skill levels, particularly those that rely on rapidly assaulting an enemy base from nearby "proxy" gateways. We feel the window players have to scout for and fend off this rush is too small. We also want to address the problem of protoss being able to dump minerals a bit too quickly with the combination of warpgates and Chrono Boost.

Terran

There are several changes in the works for terrans. Reapers against zerg are stronger than expected. Due to the zealot build time increase, reapers would be a bit problematic in combination with proxy barracks, bunkers, and/or marauders against protoss. Therefore, we have decided to increase the build time of reapers as well from 40 to 45 seconds. Fast reaper + bunker, or fast marine + bunker rushes are problematic against zerg. Although this rush would never outright destroy the zerg player, we feel zerg suffers too much of a disadvantage from either having to cancel the fast expansion, or getting trapped inside the main base for too long, so we are also increasing the bunker build time from 30 to 35 seconds.

Siege tanks in large numbers are performing too well in all matchups. In the mid- to late-game, siege tanks are too dominant against all ground units. We want a small set of light and unarmored ground units to perform better against siege tanks. With this in mind, we're changing the Siege Mode damage of the siege tank from 50 to 35, +15 vs. armored; to correspond with this, damage upgrades will be changed from +5 to +3, +2 vs. armored. This change reduces the base damage of the siege tank against light and unarmored units, as well as the splash damage.

Battlecruisers currently lack good counters from the ground and still perform very well against a wide array of unit types. We're aware that it is not easy to get battlecruisers out for the cost, but at the same time, it is possible in both 1v1s and team games to create stalemate situations to bring them out. Overall, we feel that battlecruisers are too strong for their cost, and the terran-forced stalemate situations are causing less interesting gameplay. We will be lowering their damage against ground units from 10 to 8.

Zerg

Ultralisk damage is being decreased from 15, +25 vs. armored to 15, +20 vs. armored. This reduction is comparable to the changes being made to the battlecruiser and siege tank. Like the battlecruiser, ultralisks are simply too powerful for the cost, even though they are difficult to muster. Also, in combination with other units, ultralisks are difficult to counter from the ground. The ultralisk building attack (Ram) is being removed because the damage rate is too similar to its normal attack, which will be used against buildings instead. When ultralisks target tightly packed smaller buildings such as supply depots, the Ram attack is actually outputting considerably less overall damage than its normal attack, as Ram only hits a single target.

In the Future

We are reading your posts on the forums and creating lists of features and bugs to address in future patches. We have mid- to long-term plans to further evolve the Custom Game experience, and soon, enhance our social features with the addition of chat channels. We will be sharing more specific information in the coming weeks. As with all of our previous games, we will support StarCraft II for many years to come. Your feedback and participation is critical in making this not only the best game it can be, but also the most engaged gaming community in the world. We look forward to the implementation of patch 1.1, as well as sharing our plans for our future gameplay and Battle.net features.

End of transmission...

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Starcraft 2 WoL Release Patch 1.0.3

Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty Release Patch 1.0.3



Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue preventing some players from accessing offline play from the login screen.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Starcraft II Custom Map Contest

Starcraft 2 UMS (Custom Maps) Contest

In our first-ever StarCraft II Custom Map Contest, we're challenging you to craft the most fun, creative, and polished custom map that the galaxy’s ever seen.

If you think you've got the skills, fire up the StarCraft II Editor that came with your copy of the game and get started. The Editor is a powerful, robust, and complete development tool, and it's everything you'll need to build your creation. Keep in mind that we’re looking for originality, innovation, and fun, so whether you want to make the next DotA, create the next Fufu Ninjas, craft a mini-RPG, or concoct a third-person shooter, let your imagination run wild.

"DotA - Wc3 mod that now has a genre named after it."

Even if you've got some experience creating custom maps, you'll want to kick your efforts into overdrive for this one, because the stakes are high. We’ll be choosing three winners to represent the best of what the mapmaking community has to offer. If your custom map is one of those selected, you'll win a trip to BlizzCon 2010 (including airfare and accommodations), and BlizzCon attendees from all over the world will have a chance to play your creation in the StarCraft II demo area at the convention. Of course, it can't hurt to have some spending cash while you're in town, so we'll also throw in $5,000 prize money for each winner.

Map makers will have until September 11 to submit their entries.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Starcraft 2 WoL Release Patch 1.0.2

Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty Release Patch 1.0.2

Just a few simple bug fixes.



Bug Fixes

* Fixed an issue where campaign mission victories would not always trigger properly.
* Fixed an issue where some players were unable to access single player features.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Starcraft 2 WoL Release Patch 1.0.1

Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty Release Patch 1.0.1

Here is the first post-release patch for Starcraft II:Wings of Liberty by Blizzard.

Bug Fixes

* Campaign saves have been optimized.
* Fixed an issue with sound not playing on some 7.1 systems.