Starcraft 2 Korean Server

If you're looking to play on the Korean Starcraft 2 ladder, you can purchase a TW account from RTSDealer.com - the cheapest English website selling Korean Starcraft 2 Keys and Accounts.

We've personally gotten our Korean / Taiwanese SC2 keys from the website and we've been enjoying it a lot.

They also give away discounts if you're a Grand Master Starcraft 2 player.

So if you're looking to buy a Korean Starcraft 2 account, just go to their website and talk with RTSDealer. He entertains each and every client personally to make purchasing a Korean Starcraft 2 ladder account experience a pleasant one.

Don't forget to tell him that you got referred by the guys here at SC2Portal.

Enjoy playing on the Korean ladder!

Useful Tutorials from RTS Dealer:
1. How To Install the Korean Starcraft 2 Client
2. How To Get Ping in the Korean SC2 servers

Starcraft 2 1.4.2 Patch Notes

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty - Patch 1.4.2

This is a patch to rebalance Protoss and Terran. With a buff to Protoss and a nerf to Terran.

General Changes

* “Alert Fade” under Sound Options has been renamed to Game Volume During Alerts. Its tooltips have also been changed for clarification.
* The fade-in for game sound during alerts changed from .5 seconds to 2 seconds.
* Play-Time Schedule under Parental Controls now applies World of Warcraft settings to StarCraft II

Bug Fixes

* Fixed a truncation on specific resolution if the current and maximum supplies are 3 digits.
* Fixed an issue which prevented footprints from being edited in the Footprint Editor.
* Fixed an issue that caused the game to have missing icons and images on low end graphics cards.

Balance
* PROTOSS
Forge
+ The cost of Upgrade Shields Level 1 has been decreased to 150/150, down from 200/200
+ The cost of Upgrade Shields Level 2 has been decreased to 225/225, down from 300/300
+ The cost of Upgrade Shields Level 3 has been decreased to 300/300, down from 400/400
+ The cost of Upgrade Ground Weapons Level 2 has been decreased to 150/150, down from 175/175
+ The cost of Upgrade Ground Weapons Level 3 has been decreased to 200/200, down from 250/250
+ The cost of Upgrade Ground Armor Level 2 has been decreased to 150/150, down from 175/175
+ The cost of Upgrade Ground Armor Level 3 has been decreased to 200/200, down from 250/250

* TERRAN
Ghost
+ EMP radius has been decreased from 2 to 1.5

Starcraft 2 Giveaways:
Neutral Creeps is giving away Starcraft 2 Cards. Go get them!

Super 15 Starcraft 2 Film

An epic Starcraft 2 video by xtrmandcoyote.

Title: SUPER 15 - Starcraft 2 Film

Super 15 Starcraft 2 Video

You may now pre-purchase Heart of the Swarm.

Blizzard DOTA Reveal at Blizzcon 2011

Blizzard Entertainment has released more information about the upcoming Official Blizzard Dota genre mod called Blizzard DOTA.

Blizzard DOTA Trailer

Source:
Blizzard DOTA

Starcraft 2 1.4.0 Patch Notes

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty - Patch 1.4.0

General Starcraft 2 Changes

A new Career page displaying placement in past seasons has been added to the League & Ladders section of the Profile.
A new "View Ladder" button has been added to the league display at the bottom of the Quick Match screen. Clicking this button will take you directly to your ladder page.
The post-game score screen for ranked ladder games will now show icons next to each player's name indicating his or her league.
The upload timeout period for publishing custom maps has been increased significantly.
SLI performance has been improved.
When file corruption is detected in un-repairable files (replays, saved games, or downloaded maps), a prompt to run the Repair Tool will no longer occur.


Game Options
Added three privacy settings to the Options menu under the Battle.net section.
Only allow friends to send me invites.
Only allow friends to send me chat messages.
Set status to Busy when playing a game.
Added the FPS Toggle hotkey to the hotkey dialog.
Added Display Game Tooltips setting to the Options under Gameplay that can be turned off to prevent tooltips from appearing when playing a game.
Added a new setting to the Options under Controls which allows a player to enable or disable the ability to adjust in-game mouse sensitivity.


UI and Display
A Launch PTR button will now appear on the login screen when the PTR is available. Clicking this button will close the retail client and launch the PTR client.
Improved error messages when a unit is required but none is targeted to provide required target information.
UI Frame used in .SC2Layout files has more anchoring flexibility.
Loading an old saved game will now give an option to restart the mission in the new version of StarCraft II instead of loading it in the old version without access to achievements.
Player names in the Name Panel in observer or replay mode will now be based off the player's locations on the minimap. For example the player closer to the left side of the minimap will appear on the left side of the name panel.
When a building is canceled or salvaged the minerals returned will be displayed at the building location for the owner, for enemy players a floating text will be displayed.
Toggle Team Colors in 1v1 and Free-for-All when observing and during a replay will not change player colors.


Sound
An error notification sound is now played if a placement location cannot be found when unit training completes.
Most existing alert sounds are now reduced in volume when a new alert sound plays.
Transmissions without a valid sound file will now display a subtitle during cinematics even if the player has turned off subtitles.
Added a new Alert Fade option to control how much existing alert sounds fade when new alert sounds are played.

Balance


General
Unit vision up ramps has been reduced by 1.


PROTOSS
Immortal
Attack range increased from 5 to 6.
Mothership
Acceleration increased from 0.3 to 1.375.
The Mothership's Cloaking Field no longer cloaks all units instantaneously, but rather adds units to the cloak field over time (maximum of 25 per second). This should alleviate "Mothership Lag" issue when a Mothership comes online.
Stalker
Blink research time increased from 110 to 140.
Warp Prism
Shields increased from 40 to 100.


TERRAN
Barracks
Build time increased from 60 to 65.
Hellion
Infernal Pre-Igniter damage upgrade decreased from 10 to 5.
Raven
Seeker missile movement speed increased from 2.5 to 2.953.


ZERG
Infestor
Fungal Growth damage changed from 36 (+30% armored) to 30 (40 vs Armored).
Neural Parasite range decreased from 9 to 7.
Overseer
Morph cost decreased from 50/100 to 50/50.
Contaminate energy cost increased from 75 to 125.
Ultralisk
Build time decreased from 70 to 55.

StarCraft II Editor Improvements


General
Custom maps with dependencies containing trigger libraries will now load significantly faster in the editor.
Map Status and Publish dialogs indicate if the lighting map is out of date or not.
Syntax highlighting for galaxy script and XML data can now be disabled.
Actor cheats are now available to map creators when testing their map from the editor.
Actor dump messages are now available to map creators. Includes AliasDump, AnimDumpDB, AttachDump, HostedPropDump, HostedPropDumpAll, RefDump, RefTableDump, TextureDumpDB, TextureDump.
Portrait Frames now have their own desc to use in .SC2Layout files. Currently supported fields are: BackgroundImage, BorderImage, MovieFrame, ModelLink, UseTransition.
Creating Cycles in UI frame anchoring will no longer crash the game, instead it will output an error message.
Added alignment option when using the IMG tag in text. Values are top, bottom, middle, absolute middle.
Added Disable Observers map option, which prevents players from becoming observers in the game lobby.
Added two fields to MovieFrame Descs : Loop, LockAspectRatio.


Data Editor
Data Editor UI has been reorganized for a better workflow.
Complex fields in the Data Editor can now be expanded by double clicking on the plus sign.
Increased maximum number of unit command card buttons per card from 32 to 64.
If a teleport effect's range is greater than 500, it will now ignore placement.
Revive orders can now automatically choose the hero to revive based on the command selected and the order they were created.
Map creators can now set time scale on bracket anims.
An attack can now be specified to cause no shield flash at all via the 'None' Shield Flash Type value on CActorAction.
Actor now makes a distinction between actors that are created via the ActorCopy message and through all the other creation mechanisms.
Actors that are copied now get an ActorCopy message upon construction rather than an ActorCreation message, so that client data can distinguish between the two scenarios.
Added raw XML editing mode to Data Editor.
Added default parents for new objects in the Data Editor.
Added a "Transient" flag to the Arm Magazine, Learn, Research, Revive, Specialize, and Train abilities to indicate that the orders should not be added to either the unit's main order queue or to a queue ability. These orders will complete immediately.
Added a "Use Unit Order Queue" flag to the Arm Magazine, Learn, Research, Revive, Specialize, and Train abilities to indicate that the unit's main order queue rather than a queue ability should be used for those orders.
Added support for Unit Weapon Validators to check any weapon on the unit if no weapon is specified.
Added a flag to units called "Built On Optional" to indicate units can now be built on the terrain if they are not placed on another unit.
Added a "Turn Button Highlight On/Off" trigger to highlight buttons by button link. This will support highlighting buttons regardless of how the button is used (i.e. Select Larva, Select Worker, and Submenus).
Added support for items with abilities to display AoE cursors, show progress, and use the minimap for targeting.
Added support for the Revive ability to issue targeted commands.
Added support for persistent effects to attach revealers to units.
Added AnimSetTimeScaleAbsolute message for forcing animation time scale to a particular value, regardless of prior scales.
Added boosted cliff level support for units and doodads. Placed objects can specify the boosted cliff level amount. Units and doodads will then boost the cliff level of any cells in their footprints that are marked to 'Boost Cliff'.


Terrain Editor
Added view setting for displaying terrain object names.


Trigger Editor
Timer Expires events can now match Any Timer.
Trigger Dialogs can now be attached to a unit.
Attempting to create or hookup a trigger dialog of the wrong type will now result in an error message.
Dialog Items of type Image can now have their image property set as an entry into the Assets.txt file in addition to a raw file name.
Added De-saturated and Desaturation Color properties to Dialog Items.
Added Mouse Enter and Mouse Exit Event Types for the Dialog Item is Used event.
Added Handle of Player trigger to query a player's Battle.net handle.
Added "Unit Learn Progress" and "Unit Revive Progress" triggers to get the progress of Learn and Revive abilities.
Added a "Lock Unit Status Bar Display" and 'Unlock Unit Status Bar Display' triggers. These are intended to replace the "Set Unit Status Bar State" trigger.
Added a "Show/Hide Alert Type" trigger to turn on/off specific alerts for a player group.
Added a "Enable/Disable Command Type" trigger to allow/disallow submenus, select larva, and select worker commands.
Added a "Pause Sound" trigger to pause/unpause a sound.
Added an "XP Gain Disabled" option usable with the "Player Melee Option" and "Enable/Disable Melee Option For Player" triggers. This option defaults to on.

Bug Fixes


Gameplay
Hitting Escape when using the Options menu while playing a game will now properly revert any changes made.
Loading a saved game with a game speed different than the minimum game speed now works correctly.
Failing to load a saved game from a previous build will now show the proper error message.
Reduced Violence no longer prevents custom death models from working.
Repeated control group and selection commands will no longer count as unique actions for APM calculation purposes.
In the Load Game Panel it is no longer possible to delete a saved game while playing it.
In the Load Game Panel, choosing to keep\save an unsaved file in the Recent Tab now properly saves the file.
Switching between a control group hotkey and selecting a unit no longer registers as a double-click.
The Base Camera and Jump to Location hotkeys can no longer be used while the game is paused.
Escape and F12 can no longer be used for custom grid hotkey profiles.
Default key display will not show up when Custom Observer hotkey has been set.
The range for structures hitting other structures is now consistent with non-structure units.
Units with movement suppressed can now issue an order to board a transport instead of just follow it.
A full refund will now be issued for any training requests that cannot complete because unit placement fails.
Commands that have no charges left will display a 0 instead of just hiding the number.
Resources spent repairing are now reported as resources lost when the repaired unit dies.
Fixed an issue with the Camera Follow mode not turning off when scrolling away from a unit being followed.
Fixed an issue with cycling chat recipients while in a party and watching a replay.
Fixed an issue in the Load Game Panel that sometimes caused the wrong map preview image to display.
Fixed an issue where the Hotkey dialog sometimes displayed inaccurate unit commands.
Fixed an issue where units would seem to pop when travelling along cliffs.
Fixed an issue where flyers may not decelerate in some cases.
Fixed issues displaying some hotkeys for non-US keyboard layouts.
Fixed issues with cursors when using NVidia 3DVision.
Fixed issues where an ally unit's command card was visible without shared control enabled.
Fixed some issues with DVORAK keyboards not working correctly with Grid hotkey profiles.
Fixed several issues with the Units Lost tab not tracking resources correctly.
Fixed erroneous hotkey conflict detections with some observer commands.
Fixed an issue where voice chat audio may have repeatedly played if voice chat was disabled while someone was chatting with you.


Protoss
Sentry Guardian Shield now correctly reduces damage from Hellion, Void ray, and Colossus attacks as well as the Siege Tank's sieged attack.
Fixed an issue where Colossus thermal lance beams would track a unit much further than the range of the weapon.
Fixed an issue where workers would not path around Force Field while harvesting.


Terran
The Command Center Load SCV command will now only ask to load as many SCVs as it can contain.
SCVs will now always face the building when resuming construction.
SCVs can no longer repair themselves while inside a Bunker or Medivac.
Fixed an issue where the Reaper could get stuck in some cases.


Zerg
Overseer & Brood Lord cocoons can now display waypoint lines when issuing queued patrol orders.
Baneling's Attack Structure ability is now a toggle to Enable/Disable Attack Structure. The toggle will determine whether structures are valid targets for auto-attack. This change fixes an issue which caused Banelings to prioritize buildings over hostile units.
Burrowed units are no longer cloaked by the Mothership, as this is redundant.
Attack upgrades are now retained by units controlled by Neural Parasite.
If a unit provides power, that power is temporarily transferred to a player using Neural Parasite.
Canceling more than one of the same structure at the same time as Zerg will add all Drones to the selection.
Improved Larva placement when the bottom edge of a hatchery is on a cliff edge to prevent Larva from getting killed.
Spore Crawlers and Spine Crawlers now disable their Stop button when rooting.
Fixed an issue where Drone attacks could be more easily dodged than SCV or Probes.
Fixed an issue where Broodlords on the high ground were not revealed when attacking enemy units on the low ground.


Custom Map
Alliance tests for the status bars and the info panel now use the passive and defeat alliance states to determine allies rather than vision and control.
Force effects now preserve existing unit velocity.
Units with an interact ability now clear the interacting state when killed.
Items that cannot be dropped can now be moved in the inventory.
Banks are now marked as verified when saved.
The Unit Attachment Point trigger now reports the correct height.
If more than one unit is selected with the Select Unit Group trigger after units have been deselected by means besides the Clear Unit Selection trigger, the newly selected units will now show up in the info panel.
Range indicators are now updated when an upgrade is applied.
Alerts will now use the Text field for a name if no Name is defined.
Newly created units that gain a weapon via an upgrade will now have that weapon enabled when created.
A unit's height will now be changed immediately via triggers if the duration requested is 0.
Quitting out of a map will now cause the player leave trigger event to be dispatched before the player actually exits which will give triggers a chance to change the victory/defeat state.
The Enable/Disable Command Type trigger now disables minimap clicks properly.
Actors shown or hidden via triggers should now show immediately instead of being delayed by a game loop.
The Unit Selection trigger no longer resets the selected submenu if the selection isn't actually changed.
Alerts with the "Self" flag cleared will no longer show the alert to the issuing player.
If a unit has a custom revive type configured, it will now use that when reviving via triggers.
The maximum value for the real version of the effect amount trigger now reports values correctly.
Persistent effects with a period of 0 can now execute at most once per game loop.
Revive abilities that only have a per-level cost will now work correctly.
The Gain Level trigger event will now dispatch multiple times if the amount of XP gained results in multiple levels being awarded.
Filters now work properly for range actors.
Issue order effects can now accept a point as a valid target.
The requirement validator now also checks shown requirements.
The Unit Has Behavior Flag trigger function now allows checking all flags properly.
Yaw can now be get/set properly via Camera trigger functions.
The Player Effect Used Unit Owner trigger function can now use all expected parameters properly.
Abstract data types cannot be used for non-default data.
The used number of charges is now clamped properly when modified via triggers.
Charges with a fractional used amount are now handled properly.
Changing the Kill XP unit property now results in a unit granting a custom amount of XP when killed.
Missiles now impact properly when the target filters of the ability or weapon that launched them are upgraded.
Behaviors granted by an ability are now replaced when that ability is leveled up.
Items with carry or equip behaviors now manage behavior stack counts properly.
Item abilities configured as transient will no longer interrupt existing orders.
Learn abilities can no longer learn themselves.
Behaviors which disable turning no longer disable movement.
Units with negative life armor no longer take damage if shields or behaviors absorb damage.
Objectives will no longer play sounds for players who cannot see them.
If a unit is killed while morphing, it will revert the morph before reviving.
Units may be created as "Under Construction" as long as an ability is configured to create it. Previously a unit needed to be able to produce it.
Creating and destroying objectives should no longer cause a crash.
Added a flag to Warp Train abilities to disable warp-in on ramps.
Added checks to prevent circular effect, loot, tactical, and validator data.
Fixed an issue where a targeted ability configured to use a teleport effect would fail to enter targeting mode.
Fixed an issue using the Set Unit Progress action on Zerg units.
Fixed an issue with clicking on an inventory slot while in targeting mode while using an item.
Fixed an issue where a force effect location would use a parent effect location instead of its own.
Fixed an issue with reviving a unit multiple times.
Fixed some issues with life change trigger events being dispatched from behaviors that modify life.
Fixed damage display on the hero info panel when the Collapse Buffed option is set.
Fixed some lockups during loading due to complicated custom data relationships.

StarCraft II Editor Bug Fixes


Data Editor
Duplicating a unit with a missile attack now properly duplicates the related actor data.


Terrain Editor
Terrain paste operations will now fail with a warning if pasted textures do not exist in the map texture set.
Assimilators, Extractors and Refineries now properly handle resource amounts defined in the properties dialog.
Editor minimap now correctly updates after placing water.
Invalid preplaced objects no longer prevent object groups from being initialized and using their patrol data.
Terrain objects are now properly snapped to cliff cells during placement and movement.
Fixed an issue with copying cameras that have custom colors applied.
Fixed an issue with previewing world relative sounds in the editor while the Terrain Editor is open.
Fixed an issue where closing the editor while the previewer is recording would crash the Editor.


Trigger Editor
The source column will correctly display Local for local elements within libraries.
Triggering Player/Unit Property Change event responses now returns the total amount of change if multiple changes occurred.
Fixed a potential crash issue that could occur when repeatedly clicking the Array checkbox for variables.
Fixed script editor slowdowns related to syntax highlighting.


Publishing
Fixed an issue that could cause team settings to be reset in the Game Variants in some cases.
Fixed a crash when attempting to publish a map with no neutral players defined.
Fixed a crash when attempting to publish a map with over 500 custom units or upgrades.

One year of Starcraft 2

Starcraft 2 1st Year Anniversary Montage
July 2010 - July 2011

Starcraft II was officially released in July 27, 2010.
Sc2portal has been here since 2008 when the first Q&As were first released.

Happy Birthday Starcraft 2!

To celebrate the 1st year anniversary of the biggest eSport in the world, LaxxSC has released a montage of year number one of Starcraft 2.

Share this to both your SC2 playing peers and non - SC2 playing friends.

Starcraft 2 1.3.5 Patch Notes

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty – Patch 1.3.5

General Starcraft 2 Changes
* A special sneak peek at new ladder maps is now available!

* Several performance and memory improvements have been made.

* "Player Left" messages will once again appear in replays.

* The Hellion's Infernal Pre-Igniter upgrade icon has been updated (now with more blue flames!).


StarCraft II Editor Improvements
* UI errors will now go into a newly-created Error Display Message window.

* Cooldowns shorter than 1/4 of a second no longer display on the command card.

Starcraft 2 Server Regions Merging

Starcraft 2 Region Linking for Season 3

For the longest time, only SEA players could play in another region (NA).
Season 3 of Starcraft 2 ladder introduces regional interconnection for some regions.

What is region linking?

Region linking is the process of connecting multiple Battle.net (Starcraft 2) regions to each other for multiplayer matchmaking.

This will be the list of the merging:

North America and Latin America - NALA
Europe and Russia - EURA
Korea and Taiwan - KRTW

In effect, the players within the linked regions will be put together into a single group instead of two separate ones.

Why is Blizzard doing this? What are the benefits of region linking?

Starcraft 2 has seen a dwindling number of players. A larger pool of players means the automated matchmaker for ladder games will be faster and more effective at finding opponents near your skill level. This means faster queue times for Starcraft 2 games.

When will this happen?

Region linking happen during the start of StarCraft II Season 3 - July 18, 2011.

Will region linking affect which game-client languages I have access to or the payment methods I use?

No. The client languages and game-access methods available to you in your region will not change when regions are linked. You will get the chance to play and connect with an even larger group of Starcraft 2 players.

Will playing with players from the linked region impact my in-game latency?

All players in the linked regions will be connecting and playing through the same data centers that they were using prior to region linking, which is the main reason why linking these regions together is fairly straightforward. There should be no impact on game performance.

How does region linking affect the Grandmaster league?

There will only be a single Grandmaster league between the linked regions.

Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm Screenshots

Starcraft 2 HotS Screenshots

These are some official screenshots released for the Starcraft 2 expansion: Heart of the Swarm.

Click on the images / Heart of the Swarm pictures to zoom in.

Protoss base in the snow terrain world of Kaldir


Liberate the Zerg Homeworld, Char


Upgrade Kerrigan with her Battle Focus (Corruption or Spec Ops)


Evolve Zerglings to Swarmling using the Mutagen.


So many Banelings!

Get the latest Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm Updates via Twitter:
http://twitter.com/sc2portal

Related Heart of the Swarm Content:
Read the Heart of the Swarm Question and Answer Press Release

Starcraft 2 Q & A on Heart of the Swarm

Starcraft 2 HotS Q & A

This is the official Blizzard Heart of the Swarm Q&A released on May 31, 2011.

Blizzard Entertainment answers 8 questions related to the Zerg based sequel, Heart of the Swarm.

1. What is StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm?

A: Heart of the Swarm is the first expansion set to Blizzard Entertainment's sci-fi real time strategy game, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. Heart of the Swarm continues the epic story from Wings of Liberty with an all-new campaign that focuses on Kerrigan, the erstwhile Queen of Blades. New multiplayer content will also be included in the expansion, as well as new features and upgrades to the Battle.net online platform.

2. What features can we expect from the single-player campaign of Heart of the Swarm?

A: Heart of the Swarm's campaign will include approximately 20 new missions. Players will be able to evolve their swarms with unique, campaign-only units and abilities, and this evolution will happen in an organic manner befitting of the expansion's Zerg theme. As an example, zerglings can be induced to evolve the ability to split into broodlings upon death. Further evolution can yield specialized sub-species of zerglings such as the swarmling, a variant that spawns three swarmlings per larvae instead of the standard two zerglings. The fearsome raptor is another evolutionary offshoot of the zergling that has more health, and the ability to leap short distances to quickly close the gap on an enemy.

Another aspect of Heart of the Swarm that makes it unique from Wings of Liberty is that Kerrigan will play a major role in each of the battles as a powerful hero. Over the course of the campaign she gains in strength as well as new capabilities. Players will choose what abilities to enhance and powers to use from mission to mission.

Heart of the Swarm will also include a wider variety of sets for players to explore between missions -- these sets change dynamically as players complete missions, giving a sense of a changing world as Kerrigan makes her presence felt throughout the galaxy. Fully-voiced cut-scenes will round out the cinematic gaming experience in Heart of the Swarm's campaign, while a new array of achievements will unlock in-game rewards such as portraits and decals.

3. Will there be any technical upgrades to the graphics engine?

A: We'll be making some improvements to the graphics, including upgrades to the look and behavior of zerg creep, as well as some changes that allow our artists to better showcase the new types of planets that Kerrigan will explore in Heart of the Swarm. We still plan to keep the minimum hardware requirements the same for this expansion set as they were in Wings of Liberty.

What are some of the changes made to multiplayer Heart of the Swarm?

A: While we're not quite ready to go into detail about the new multiplayer content in Heart of the Swarm, we can say that this expansion set will include new units and new maps. We'll have more details about multiplayer Heart of the Swarm content at BlizzCon.

4. What changes will come to Battle.net with Heart of the Swarm?

A: As far as Battle.net improvements, one primary focus will be on getting the StarCraft Marketplace up and running at some point around the launch of Heart of the Swarm. The maps and mods community in StarCraft II has published tens of thousands of custom maps using the StarCraft II editor. Our goal with the new Marketplace design will be in upgrading the custom map UI to better showcase the wide variety of great new maps and mods to players who are looking for fun new gaming experiences. We want players to be able to more easily find, rate, and sort through all the great custom maps that have been created.

The Marketplace will also eventually include a commerce element that will allow mapmakers to charge a fee for their work. While there will always be a wealth of free content, we believe that allowing content creators to profit from their work will foster an environment for more complex and higher-quality custom maps. Our ultimate hope is that the StarCraft Marketplace will function and thrive in a similar manner as mobile "app-stores" -- tons of free and premium content for players, and a limitless source of entertainment through StarCraft II and Battle.net.

We do have other Battle.net feature upgrades and improvements planned as well, and we'll have more details on those at a later date.

5. Will Heart of the Swarm require ownership of Wings of Liberty?

A: For the regions that have a standard box business model such as North America and Europe, yes, Wings of Liberty will be required in order to play Heart of the Swarm. For other regions that have alternative access models, we’ll provide details at a later date.

6. How much will Heart of the Swarm cost?

A: We typically don't provide details about pricing until the game is closer to release. We do view Heart of the Swarm as an expansion set, so for the regions that have a standard box business model such as North America and Europe, we will price accordingly. For other regions that have alternative business models, we’ll provide details at a later date.

7. Will there be a console version of Heart of the Swarm?

A: StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm is being developed for Windows and Mac. We have no current plans to bring StarCraft II to any console platform.

8. When is Heart of the Swarm coming out?

A: It's too early to talk about a specific release date at this point in time. As with all Blizzard games, our ultimate goal is to provide the best possible experience for our players, and we will take as much time as is needed to ensure that Heart of the Swarm meets the expectations of our players, as well as our own high standards.

Starcraft 2 1.3.4 Patch Notes

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty – Patch 1.3.4

Starcraft 2 1.3.4 Patch Notes
Bug Fixes

Fixed a bug that would cause some Leagues & Ladder pages not to show correctly.

Starcraft 2 1.3.3 Patch Notes

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty – Patch 1.3.3

General

The default hotkey to toggle in-game music on/off has been reverted to its hotkey prior to Patch 1.3.0. The hotkey to display APM in the observer stat panel has been changed as a result.
Balance

PROTOSS


Archon
Now a Massive unit.
Range increased from 2 to 3.
Cybernetics Core
Research Warp Gate research time increased from 140 to 160.
Gateway
Sentry train time decreased from 42 to 37.
Warp Gate unit train times remain unchanged.
Pylon power radius has been decreased from 7.5 to 6.5.

TERRAN


Bunker
Salvage resource return reduced from 100% to 75%.
Ghost
Cost changed from 150/150 to 200/100.
Thor
Thor now has 200 max energy, and starts with 50 energy.
250mm Strike Cannons now cost 150 energy to use (cooldown removed).

ZERG


Infestor
Speed decreased from 2.5 to 2.25.
Spore Crawler
Root time decreased from 12 to 6.

Bug Fixes


Fixed an issue where Ghosts could not quickly EMP the same location.
Fixed an issue that allowed players to stack air units when issuing a queued stop command before the units reached the end of their patrol point.
Fixed an issue where unplugging your USB headset while another player was talking to you could cause a crash.
Fixed an issue where the APM statistic could be artificially increased.
Fixed an issue where 3D unit portraits were not animating smoothly at slow game speeds.
Fixed an issue where, when viewing a replay, no text message was displayed when a player left a game.
The Taiwanese hotkey to display/hide the game UI while in Observer mode now works correctly.

Starcraft 2 Patch Notes 1.3.2

Starcraft 2 Patch Notes 1.3.2

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty - Patch 1.3.2

Bug Fixes

General
Fixed an issue where maps would not appear in the Single Player vs. AI screen (China only).
Fixed an issue where the Leagues & Ladders Friends page would stop displaying information if a player had more than 100 ranked friends.
Fixed a crash that would sometimes occur when players received an alert in-game while 3D portraits were turned on.


StarCraft II Editor
Fixed a crash that could occur on Editor startup if players had improperly configured variables.
Fixed an issue where the Editor would display incorrect cliff height on ramps facing directly N, S, E or W; this issue prevented proper unit vision in game.
Fixed an issue where the pathing visualizer in the Terrain Editor would sometimes display incorrect pathing.

Starcraft 2 1.3.1 Patch Notes

StarCraft 2 Wings of Liberty – Patch Notes 1.3.1

Bug Fixes

-Fixed an issue where, in some situations, players would not be notified they received an achievement.

-Fixed an issue where the Leagues & Ladders showcase boxes were not updated correctly.

-Fixed an issue where, under certain circumstances, the "Return to Game" button in the main menu would not function properly.

-Fixed an issue where the new observer UI features would not function correctly on custom maps.

BoxeR's Wings Episode 2 Video Documentary

BoxeR's Wings Episode 2 - Emperor Continues with a Second Legend

2nd Episode of the Korean documentary on Terran legend, Lim Yo-Hwan documenting his journey into Starcraft 2.

Video Details
Credits to tabbeh of TeamLiquid

Translator : laughingsdk
Sub timings : sepp0 and Nopileus
Additional credits: Trowabarton756

To view the Boxer's Wings 2 English Subs, press CC on the YouTube player.

Other Episodes:
View Part 1 of Boxer's Wings

Starcraft 2 Patch 1.3 Situational Report

Starcraft 2 Situation Report: Patch 1.3 (Wings of Liberty)

Receiving transmission...

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Patch 1.3 is out and we felt that it was a good time to explain our design philosophy.

***********

Balance Changes

* Players can no longer hide units by setting them in a close proximity patrol (ex: Viking flower).

There was a core problem with the Viking flower strategy in that there was no way to know how many Vikings were patrolling a specific area. In StarCraft II, scouting armies is already a difficult and important aspect of play, and it was definitely not our intention to make it possible for air units to use this patrol method to disguise their numbers. We consider this case more of a bug fix than a balance change.

Protoss


* Units leaving the Mothership's Vortex are now un-targetable and immune to damage for 1.5 seconds.


This was another case that we viewed as more of a bug fix than a balance change. The original concept of Vortex was that it was more than just a stasis or a lockdown. In addition to having the protoss player lock down a part of his or her opponent’s army, the spell was supposed to also be about creating situations for enemy interaction with the Vortex.

For example: If I'm playing zerg and half of my army was Vortexed, I may decide to put the remaining half into the Vortex. Conversely, I could choose to simply sacrifice half of my units instead and run with the rest if greatly outnumbered by the protoss opponent. However, there was a bug in which splash units instantly killed everything coming out of a Vortex, preventing the different types of interactions we originally intended.

* Khaydarin Amulet upgrade (+25 starting energy) has been removed.

This is perhaps the 1.3 patch change that was most discussed by the community and we wanted to take some to time to explain the rationale behind it. Ultimately, there were two reasons we wanted to remove this item:

1. We felt this upgrade reduced strategic choice. When combined with stalker or charge zealot warp-ins, this upgrade made it nearly impossible to do any sort of harassment attack anywhere there was a pylon. We didn’t like the reduction in strategic options, as the opponent could only fight major battles with protoss in the late game.

2. We felt late game protoss splash damage was slightly overpowered. This applies both to high templars and colossi. We felt that if we were to nerf both of these units protoss may end up too weak in the late game. Therefore, we decided to adjust high templars first and see how the game plays out. As we’ve mentioned many times before, we feel it’s safer to take small steps in making balance changes than making drastic changes to an entire race.

* Charging Zealots will now hit fleeing targets at least once.

Even after researching Charge, there are times when zealots aren’t able to hit the opponent even once and just end up getting kited to death. Although this change will not suddenly flip the relationship in those cases, we wanted to improve it a bit. We want Charge zealots to perform better than normal zealots in as many scenarios as possible.

Terran

* Battlecruiser movement speed increased from 1.406 to 1.875.

Although we don’t want to see battlecruisers used in every terran late game, we noticed they’re hardly ever used at all. To encourage their use in more games, we decided to buff their biggest weakness, movement speed.

* Bunker build time increased from 35 to 40 seconds.

The focus of this change was strictly on reducing the effectiveness of offensive bunkering. With the build time increased, we noticed that there wasn’t as much of a change to defensive bunkers, whereas offensive bunkering is a lot more difficult to pull off.

* EMP now drains up to 100 energy instead of all available energy. The effect on protoss shields remains unchanged.

We had three main reasons for implementing this change:

1. We wanted ghost EMP to be less effective vs. infestors in the ZvT matchup. Infestors are fairly slow moving and have high costs. We felt that one EMP shutting down multiple Infestors was too much.

2. After the high templar change, we noticed the ghost vs. high templar relationship was a bit too much in the ghost’s favor.

3. Early/mid game sentries are almost a requirement vs. terran. However, there were scenarios at different skill levels where one EMP would manage to luck out and hit every single sentry, making it so that protoss had no chance to stop the mass Stimpack terran army.

* Stimpack upgrade research time increased from 140 to 170 seconds.

It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve heard that there were concerns from players about the use of Stimpacks and there’s a reason why; Stimpack timing pushes by terran players can be extremely difficult for opponents to stop without employing effective scouting. We wanted these types of pushes to come slightly later in order to provide more time for opponents to prepare for these attacks and to potentially get scouting units together to effectively scout for these types of pushes.

Zerg

* Fungal Growth stun duration decreased from 8 to 4 seconds.

* Fungal Growth damage increased by +30% vs. armored units.

Both of the Fungal Growth changes were mainly made to address a ZvZ issue with mutalisk vs. infestor, and to make infestors more useful vs. protoss. For mutalisks, we found they were just not useful enough in ZvZ due to the Fungal Growth stun duration being too long. So, the duration was reduced to make them a bit more viable in the ZvZ matchup. This reduction in stun duration means the damage goes in faster. However, we realized that mutalisks suffer mostly due to stuns combined with hydralisks shooting from below. As for infestors themselves, we found they weren’t that useful vs. protoss. We wanted to solve both of these issues while keeping infestors as powerful as they are vs. terran. Fungal Growth’s damage itself wasn’t as big of a problem as the stun, so we decided to go with this change so that the stun duration reduction is somewhat countered by the damage buff.

The +30% armored damage change was more strictly targeted towards stalker-based protoss armies, as well as marauder-based terran armies. We wanted infestors to be more of a core unit in the ZvP matchup while keeping them just as useful vs. terran. The stun duration reduction change by itself didn’t allow these two things, so we had to make this damage change as well in order to arrive at the right place for the infestor.

***********

David Kim says:
We've made every effort to weigh these types of changes very carefully and will continue to do so in the future. We understand the impact they have on gameplay and want to make sure that when we make a change, it’s for the betterment of the game as a whole. The metagame is always changing, and that can make balancing the game a challenge, but we are dedicated to constantly evolving StarCraft II and committed to providing the kind of epic gameplay experience the community expects.

* David Kim is the ONLY Game Balance Designer for StarCraft II.
If you think the game is imbalanced, blame him.

Starcraft 2 1.3 Patch Interface Changes for Custom Games

Starcraft 2 Custom Maps Changes (Starcraft 2 Patch 1.3.0 Changes)

We’ve heard a lot of feedback since the launch of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty about the Join Custom Game interface navigation. We’ve definitely shared your concern about the current functionality and have integrated several substantial improvements.

Starcraft 2 Custom Map Interface

Firstly, to clean up the interface, we’ve moved the Details panel into tooltips for describing each Custom Game. Just mouse over the games you want to know more about and you’ll find all the details you need. In addition, you can now bookmark your favorite Custom Games. This will allow you to find your favorite games easily, and the details tooltip will display the number of times a game has been bookmarked -- useful information, no?


Games are now organized into several pages to make finding your desired game type more intuitive and user-friendly.

* You’ll find a Most Popular section which includes all game types. The most played games will be placed at the top for you.

* The Featured section will be a collection of new games we think are fun. Our latest picks will be shown here.

* If you want to browse through Custom Games based on a specific category you find the most entertaining, select the By Category criteria.

* If you fancy searching for potentially fun game types that haven't yet attained Most Popular status, check out the Up & Coming section. The results you’ll find here consist of games your peers are starting to recommend frequently.

* You can also have a go at recommending Custom Games to others by trying Fun or Not. Players who choose this option will automatically be matched together for a specific Custom Game which meets some minimum requirements. Once finished, you’ll be asked whether or not you want to recommend the game you just played. Your recommendations using the Fun or Not system will directly influence the Up & Coming section. This is a great way to play and help promote fun custom maps that may have otherwise flown under the radar.

* At any time while using these various categories for finding Custom Games, you can bookmark your favorite games to easily find and play them again later. Just select the Bookmark page to find all of the games you’ve stored.

* Finally, if you know the title of the specific Custom Game you’re looking for, a search option has been added to the Join Custom Game interface.

We’re excited to introduce these improvements to help you find what you want, when you want, and with greater ease. Your feedback about the Join Custom Game interface updates is greatly appreciated, as we’re always looking for ways we can further improve Battle.net functionality, and the ability to navigate through all of the fantastic Custom Games being regularly added into circulation.

Learn more about the Starcraft 2 1.3 Patch.

Starcraft 2 1.3.0 Patch Notes

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty - Patch 1.3.0

The StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty - Patch 1.3.0 has been released.

General

Leagues & Ladders

A new Grandmaster League has been added for 1v1 ladders. This league represents the Top 200 players in each region.

Players are automatically drafted into the Grandmaster League shortly after a new season starts, and will remain in the Grandmaster League until the end of the season. If a Grandmaster player’s available bonus points get too high due to inactivity, they will be automatically removed from the league and a replacement player will be drafted in.

The Grandmaster League can be viewed by all players through the new Leagues & Ladders > Grandmaster page.

The bonus pool has been reduced for arranged teams.

Leagues will now be locked during the final weeks of the season. As a result players will not accumulate additional bonus points and will not be promoted or demoted out of their current division during this period.

This will allow players to focus on moving up in their current league without being promoted during the final weeks of a season, and having to fight their way up from the bottom ranks of their new higher league.

Players can still utilize any bonus points they previously accumulated.

Ladder data from the prior season can be viewed through the new Leagues & Ladders > Last Season page.

New league icons have been introduced to indicate division rank. These will indicate the Top 8, 25 and 50 players in each division.

Loss counts are no longer displayed in Profile and Ladder pages for players below Master League.


Join Custom Game

Several improvements have been made to the Join Custom Game section:
The Details panel has been removed from this page. Map details are now shown inside a tooltip for each game.

Players can now bookmark their favorite custom games! The number of times a game has been bookmarked will be shown in that game's tooltip.

Games are now organized into several pages to make finding your desired game type easier:
Featured: Our team is always on the lookout for new games that are lots of fun. Our latest favorites are shown on this page.

Most Popular: Shows all game types, with the most played games sorted to the top.
By Category: This page allows you to browse through Custom Games based on Category.
Up & Coming: This page highlights games that other players are recommending, but haven't yet become popular.

Fun or Not: From this page you can automatically join a random new Custom Game. After the game, players using Fun or Not are asked to recommend the map (or not). Recommending maps helps get them onto the Up & Coming page.

Recently Played: The last several games you’ve played are shown here. Use this to quickly get back into games you play often, or to easily bookmark a game you enjoyed playing.
Bookmarks: Use this page to view your Bookmarked maps.

A search option has been added to the Join Custom Game interface.


Observer and Replay UI

New panels are now available when observing or viewing a replay of 1v1 games. These panels can be toggled via hotkeys which are shown under the Leader Panel drop-down.
Player Name Panel: Displays the players' name, team color, race, and supply count.
Stat Comparison Panels: Shows a head-to-head comparison of players' resources, army supply, units killed, or APM.

In 1v1 observed games, both players’ resource rows are shown in the upper right at the same time.

The main game UI can now be hidden/shown via hotkey.

You can now toggle between player unit colors and team unit colors when watching a replay or observing.


Game Options

A new Control page is available from the Options menu. You'll find Mouse, Keyboard and Scrolling options within this new page.

A new menu option is available in the Gameplay page to change the behavior of Control Group Buttons. These can now be set to ignore mouse clicks or be hidden completely.

The existing menu option under the Gameplay page for Menu Bar Buttons now also supports hiding the Menu Bar.


Balance

GENERAL
Players can no longer hide units by setting them in a close proximity patrol (ex: Viking flower).


PROTOSS

Mothership
Units leaving the Mothership's Vortex are now un-targetable and immune to damage for 1.5 seconds.

High Templar

Khaydarin Amulet upgrade (+25 starting energy) has been removed.

Zealot

Charging Zealots will now hit fleeing targets at least once.


TERRAN

Battlecruiser

Movement speed increased from 1.406 to 1.875.

Bunker

Build time increased from 35 to 40 seconds.

Ghost

EMP now drains up to 100 energy instead of all available energy. The effect on Protoss shields remains unchanged.

Tech Lab

Stimpack upgrade research time increased from 140 to 170 seconds.


ZERG

Infestor

Fungal Growth

Stun duration decreased from 8 to 4 seconds.
Damage increased by +30% vs. armored units.


StarCraft II Editor Improvements

Reworked Game Variants dialog to be more user-friendly:

General tab has been removed. This text did not appear anywhere in game.

Attributes tab has been split into Game Attributes and Player Attributes.

Attribute UI now more closely reflects the game lobby.

Default values are now enforced as necessary based on Player Properties.

In some cases, variants defined in previous versions will no longer be compatible and may cause problems during publishing or within the game lobby. If you are planning to republish a map that uses custom game variants, it is highly recommended that you use the new Game Variants dialog to delete and recreate them.

Improved loading times for some custom maps with complex tech restrictions.

The compiled script memory has been split into a separate block from the global/local stack block. Additional improvements will be made to provide more memory space in the future.

Command card editor and actor event editor will now be less vulnerable to data errors from changes made in future patches.

The game cursor now remains visible while loading maps.

Debug outputs are now displayed in the editor and in-game when using Test Document.
New trigger actions have been added:
Set Camera Data: Changes the active camera data settings, as defined in the Data module.

Show/Hide Resource: Shows or hides the specified resource in the UI.

Lock/Unlock Status Bar: Forces or resets all status bars for a player to a specified state.

Set Random Seed: Sets the random game seed to the requested value.

Enable/Disable Selection Type: A new UI Editor action to disable the various ways that players can change their selected unit.

New trigger functions have been added:
Convert Game Hotkey: Looks up hotkey as text.

Convert Game Asset: Looks up asset path as text.

Add On Child: Returns the child unit attached to the specified parent.

Add On Parent: Returns the parent unit attached to the specified child.

Catalog Entry Is Default: Returns if the specified entry is a default.

Catalog Field Value Get As Integer: Converts the requested field data into an integer, if possible.

Test Document preferences can now configure an explicit random seed value.

Automatic backup feature (Preferences > Documents) now includes a User Folder location option, which corresponds to a folder named EditorBackup within your StarCraft II documents folder.

Units can now specify a revive cost that will override an ability specific cost. Revive cooldowns & charges located on the unit will now be attached to the unit being revived.

Instant larva-style training will now charge resources properly.

Upgrades modifying units produced by Arm Magazine, Build, Merge, Morph, Train, and Warp Train abilities are now fully supported.

The Chance field in effects is now upgradeable.

Support for browsing Battle.net "Featured" and "Up And Coming" maps in the Open Document window has been added.

The Player Property and Modify Player Property triggers can now disable the cost for each resource type.

Added a text preview pane to the text editing controls.

Added additional states to behaviors, Set Unit State, and Unit Classification Check triggers to determine if a unit is detectable or shown by a radar.

Added armor to the Unit Property and Unit Type Property triggers.

Added Weapon Damage and Weapon Speed Multiplier triggers.

Added support to refresh all buffs of the same type when adding a new instance by using the new "Refresh Stack" flag.

Added a "Wait to Spend" flag, which is enabled by default, to effect abilities so configure whether orders wait until a cooldown or charge becomes available before they create their effect.

Added an "Offset Area by Angle" flag to search effects to adjust the angle of the search based on the locations involved.

Added an Idle Command to unit data to configure what order the unit performs when idle.

Added an actor message to allow models to change their hit-testable status.

Additional options can now be configured using the command card editor.

Additional data is now saved out by the data editor to overrides made in arrays of structures to try to prevent unintended changes made to the original data from breaking it.

Additional cheats are now available in-game when using Test Document.

Ally - Changes all alliance states between the selected players. By default, if you just type Ally, then all players share all alliance states with you.

AllianceDefeat - Changes the Defeat alliance state between the selected players. By default, if you just type AllianceDefeat, all players will share defeat with you.

AllianceControl - Changes the Control alliance state between the selected players. By default, if you just type AllianceControl, then all players share control with you.

AllianceGiveHelp - Changes the GiveHelp alliance state between the selected players. By default, if you just type AllianceGiveHelp, all players will respond to calls for help from your units.

AlliancePassive - Changes the Passive alliance state between the selected players. Players that you are not passive with will be considered hostile for attacking purposes.

AlliancePushable - Changes the Pushable alliance state between the selected players. This controls whether a player’s units will move through another player’s units, pushing them out of the way.

AllianceSeekHelp - Changes the SeekHelp alliance state between the selected players. Controls whether a player’s units call for help to the specified target player. The target player can choose to respond or not, depending on its GiveHelp alliance setting.

AllianceSpend - Changes the Spend alliance state between the selected players. Players that you are sharing resources with are allowed to spend your money to purchase things.

AllianceTrade - Changes the Trade alliance state between the selected players. Players that you are trading with can be sent resources.

AllianceVision - Changes the Vision alliance state between the selected players.

BehaviorAdd - Adds the requested behavior to the selected units.

BehaviorDuration - Sets the duration of the requested behavior.

BehaviorRemove - Removes the requested behavior from the selected units.

Charges - Toggles spell charge validation.

Cooldown - Toggles spell cooldown validation.

Creep - Adds creep at the cursor position given the requested radius.

DamageDealt - Multiplies the amount of damage dealt by a player's units by the specified value.

By default, this will multiply the damage dealt by 10 for the cheating player.

DamageTaken - Multiplies the amount of damage taken by a player's units by the specified value. By default, this will reduce all damage taken to 0 for the cheating player.

DeathAll – Kills all units on the map.

DeathExcept - Kills all units on the map except the selected units.

DeathSide - Kills all units owned by the selected player.

DeathUnit - Kills the selected units. The type of death can be specified as a parameter.

Defeat - Ends the game in defeat for the selected player.

DestroyPersistent - Destroys all persistent effects within the specified radius of the cursor.

Effect - Executes the requested effect from the selected units.

FastBuild - Toggles fast building, research, and training times.

FastHeal - Toggles fast healing times.

Fidget - Forces selected units to perform the specified fidget type.

Food - Toggles food usage validation.

Free - Toggles resource cost validation and expenditure.

God - Turns on god mode for the selected player. Units owned by players that are in god mode
will deal amplified damage, and take no damage.

Loot - Drops a type of loot for the specified player.

MakeUnit - Creates N units for the specified player. Units will be created around the cursor
position, or in the center of the map if the cursor position is invalid.

Minerals - Adds the specified amount of minerals to the selected player.

Move - Moves the selected units to the cursor position.

NoDefeat - Disables defeat conditions.

NoVictory - Disables victory conditions.

Order - Orders the selected units to use an ability.

Owner - Changes ownership for the selected units to the selected player.

ResourceCustom - Adds the specified amount of a custom resource to the selected player.

SetAll - Sets the life, shields, and energy of the selected units to the specified value. By default, this will set these values to the maximum amount.

SetLife – Sets the life of the selected units to the specified value.

SetEnergy - Sets the energy of the selected units to the specified value.
SetLife - Sets the life of the selected units to the specified value.

SetShields - Sets the shields of the selected units to the specified value.

SetResource - Sets the harvestable resources contained by the selected units to the specified
value.

ShowMap - Toggles fog of war display and validation.

TechTree - Toggles tech tree dependency validation.

Terrazine - Adds the specified amount of terrazine to the specified player.

Tie - Marks all undecided players with the tie result.

TimeOfDay - Sets the time of day to the specified time.

TimeOfDayRate – Sets the rate that the time of day changes to the specified value.

TrigDebug - Opens the trigger debug window.

TrigRun - Runs the specified trigger.

Uncreep - Removes creep at the cursor position given the requested radius.

Undecided - Marks the selected player's result as undecided.

Upgrade - Applies the selected upgrade to the selected player.

Vespene - Adds the specified amount of vespene gas to the specified player.

Victory - Ends the game in defeat for all players that don't share the defeat alliance state with
the selected player.

XP - Adds a relative amount of XP to the selected units. This can be used to change veterancy levels.

Bug Fixes

Achievements
Fixed a bug where players were not receiving "Wings Of Liberty: Hard" and "Wings Of Liberty: Brutal" achievements after completing the appropriate number of missions.


Battle.net
Fixed a bug where some Bronze players weren't gaining enough points for wins and were losing too many points for losses.


Gameplay
StarCraft II will continue running if corrupt textures/models/sounds are encountered.

Conversation skipping and trigger skipping now share the same hotkey.

The notification that a player left the game during a paused game is no longer delayed until the game is unpaused.

Cheat codes now only accept official names.

Unit response sounds are now updated immediately when the selection changes.

Unit death will no longer show units on the other side of line of sight blockers that weren’t already visible.

Units ordered to load into a transport now follow the transport if the transport fills up and
they have no other orders.

Units inside a Bunker no longer disappear if the bunker is destroyed and surrounded by Force
Fields.

Units can now be revived multiple times.

Hero buttons are now displayed while a hero is dead if they are revivable. Clicking on the
button while a hero is dead will either select the building reviving it or cycle between buildings
that can.

Revivable abilities now show revivable units all the time. If they cannot currently be revived,
the buttons are shown disabled.

The revive ability now works with multiple dead units.

Revived units now properly dispatch a trigger event when killed again.

Added additional information to unit tooltips in the tech trees.

An alert has been added when MULEs expire.

An alert has been added when the Chrono Boost buff expires.

An alert has been added when the Spawn Larvae buff expires.

Fixed an issue with not being able to land where you just lifted off if there was a nearby unit.

Fixed an issue where you could push Hold Position units by Move/Hold Position spamming.

Fixed an issue to prevent Force Fields from pushing units during construction.

Fixed an issue with creep destroying more foliage than it should, and made foliage destruction
by creep faster.

Fixed an issue with custom global hotkeys in grid profiles overlapping with unit command buttons.

Fixed an issue placing Terran add-on buildings when multiple buildings were selected.

The stalemate timer will now reset when any player gathers resources, researches an upgrade, produces a unit, constructs a building, or destroys an enemy building.

Additional stalemate warnings are no longer displayed when the game ends in a stalemate.

Flying cloaked units are no longer revealed as detected when shown through the fog of war.

Vespene Geysers that are taken by your opponent and are under the fog of war no longer
randomly flash on and off on the mini-map.

Enemy buildings completed while being revealed due to friendly unit death will now properly
create snapshots in the fog of war.

Casting Neural Parasite on a Zerg Cocoon will not cancel the spell until after the cocoon
completes its transformation.

Changes made to autocast abilities while a unit is under the effects of Neural Parasite are now
reset to their default state when Neural Parasite ends.

Queuing multiple targets with 250mm Strike Cannons will no longer result in the Thor being
stuck until the cooldown ends.

Workers gathering minerals can no longer continue to harvest minerals if they are pushed away
by a Force Field.

Orders issued to unload units from a Medivac onto itself can now be canceled if the Medivac is
scanning for units to heal.

The Harvester count in the income leader panel now updates correctly.

Bi-directional transformations (i.e. those used by Vikings, Siege Tanks, and burrowing units)
are no longer shown in the production leader panel.

The resources from salvaged Bunkers are no longer counted towards the resources lost in the
units lost leader panel.


The Mute OS Microphone button has been removed from the Options' Voice page.

Tech trees now show icons for units that are produced by a building and display the names for
units that are unlocked by a building.

Using Edit Box Trigger Dialogs should no longer generate trigger errors.

Media keys can no longer be bound to a custom hotkey.

Hotkeys configured in a mod are now loaded properly without having to open the Hotkeys page.

Mouse-based hotkeys are now handled properly when the cursor is over the mini-map.

Mouse-based hotkeys bound with modifiers are now displayed correctly in the Hotkeys page.

The hotkey for the Cancel button is now displayed when targeting with an ability if the

Command Hotkey Text option is enabled.


StarCraft II Editor
Fixed an issue where editor control files could not be loaded in all languages.

Fixed an issue with pasting text values in the editor.

Fixed an issue where certain data fields would not list all possible values.

Fixed an issue where the editor would crash after pasting a placed unit.

Fixed a crash using the Unit Weapon Firing validator.

Player Properties will no longer allow all 16 players to be User/Computer, which is not
supported.

Animations in the previewer will now display using localized text.

Game and player versions of the cooldown & charge triggers now interpret time values correctly.

Sounds played simultaneously for multiple players via the Play Sound trigger can now be heard
properly.

Increasing the maximum number of charges with an upgrade no longer increases the current
number of charges.

Setting a unit’s training progress to 100% will no longer cancel the training.

Starcraft 2 1.2.1 Patch Notes

Starcraft 2 Patch Notes 1.2.1
The StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty - Patch 1.2.1 has been released.

General
* Matchmaking has been updated to better match players queuing with pre-made teams in 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4 brackets.

Bug Fixes
* General

- Fixed an issue where the title of a conversation window was scaling rather than truncating.

- Fixed an issue where the Match History score screen was displaying "Null" for the map info for all games played before Patch 1.2.

- Fixed an issue that would sometimes cause players to be improperly disconnected from a game.

- (Mac) Fixed an issue that would cause the Control key to become stuck when holding Control and minimizing the game window, then going back to the game window and attempting to use Control+1 to create a control group.

* Maps
- Fixed an issue with foliage that would die and become visible through the fog of war when a player spawned as zerg.

* StarCraft II Editor
- Fixed an issue where copied-and-pasted units were not set to the correct height in-game.

- Fixed an issue where the table view scroll-bar position was reset when switching objects.

- Fixed an issue where secondary sort priorities were not working properly. Model name is now the secondary sort so that models are listed in alphabetical order after being sorted by the mod they are contained in.

StarCraft II Editor Answers - February 09 2011

Starcraft 2 Galaxy Editor Question and Answer (02-09-2011)

1) Do you plan to integrate add event functions for the gui? At the moment you have to use ugly custom script code in a gui trigger to make dynamic events for triggers - that's something you could improve for the galaxy gui. Are there any plans that you will add features to make variable array lengths dependent on constant integer variables?

Blizzard: We would like to support adding dynamic events through the GUI as well as array sizes based on constant variables.

2) Is it possible that in the future you will add a trigger, which will able to tell what time did the map started (year month day hour). It will enable map makers to make "real real time" maps. It would enable to make a whole new type of maps, kind of like those browser based mmorpgs, which are really popular now days.

Blizzard: We will look into exposing real time to map makers if it's a simple change that could allow many new types of gameplay.


3) Question about timer windows: Will Blizzard add the option to set the point where you put the Timer window. like we have with dialogues. atm we can change the position of the dialogue window relative to the centre, top left, top right, etc. but we don't have this option for timer windows. atm we can only change the location relative to the top left of the screen. this creates problems with different screen resolutions and makes the timer window kinda unstable to use.

Blizzard: We are aware of the limitations of the current Timer and Leaderboard windows and would like to improve this in the future.


4) Do you guys recognize the lobby teams not matching in-game as a problem? And if so, is there any time frame for a fix? For instance, if I have four teams of two in the lobby, and the host shuffles players around, then the game will assign player numbers according to the order they joined instead of what shows in the lobby.

Blizzard: In a future patch we will be adding a map option that causes the player slot to match the lobby slot, similar to how it worked in Warcraft 3.


5) Are actors required to be named after the unit which they are attached to, or is it merely convention?

Blizzard: Unit actors are generally associated with a unit through the Unit Name token, but we do follow a naming convention that simplifies this relationship. We may be able to expose new triggers that will help determine which actors could be created for a unit since the game already caches this information.


6) Are there any plans to improve the debugger's output for errors?

Blizzard: We are adding many new features to the trigger debugger in the long term. In the short term we will be exposing additional debugging tools that we use internally.

BoxeR's Wings Episode 1 Video Documentary

BoxeR's Wings Episode 1 - Return of the Emperor

An English subbed Korean documentary on Starcraft legend, Lim Yo-Hwan as he transitions from Starcraft: Brood War to Starcraft 2 in the GSL.

Video Details
Credits to nevake of TeamLiquid
Translator : dinki0825
Timer : lokiM
Encoder : izolight

Aiur Chef, StarJeweled, and Left 2 Die Goes Beta

Starcraft 2 Blizzard Made Custom Maps Beta Testing

Blizzard created Starcraft 2 maps, Aiur Chef, StarJeweled, and Left 2 Die are now in beta.

Aiur Chef
Category: Collection/Cooking
Mode: Free For All
Max Players: 8

In Aiur Chef, a round features a theme ingredient and three delicious recipes that play upon its unique flavor. Collect the ingredients from all over the map and get as much points as possible versus other chef who want to be the ultimate Aiur Chef!

My food for Aiur!

Star Jeweled
Category: Puzzle
Mode: Solo vs. A.I., Co-op vs. A.I., Player vs. Player
Max Players: 4

Match groups of jewels according to color and strategically select StarCraft 2 units to overcome an opponent's forces and destroy their base.

Left 2 Die
Category: Survival and Siege
Mode: Co-op, Endless Night
Max Players: 2

Left 2 Die is a cooperative take on the StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty campaign mission called Outbreak. Survive the hordes of scary monsters out to get you.

Coming soon: Blizzard DOTA Beta Test

Starcraft 2 1.2.0 Patch Notes

Starcraft 2 Patch Notes 1.2.0
The StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty – Patch 1.2.0 has been released.

Starcraft 2 1.2.0 Changelog:

General

* Battle.net Chat Channels have been added! Players can now join others in both public and private channels.
- Added in-game chat bar command to whisper to other players. Using the "/w" command will open up a list of available friends, party members, chat channels, and other players within your current game.
- Added Battle.net option to auto-join previous private channels.
- Added Battle.net option to prevent chat channel text from appearing in in-game chat display.

* A new Master League has been added! This league now represents the highest tier of players.

* Customizable Hotkey Support has been added.

* Stalemate Detection has been added. This will end the game in a tie for all remaining players if no players have income, production, or destroyed structures for three consecutive minutes. A countdown timer will now appear when the game detects this scenario.

* An Extreme graphics option is now available. Players can now configure screen space ambient occlusion.



Additional Improvements and Changes

* Several help dialogue and tech tree improvements have been made:
- In-game help is now available in Battle.net.
- The help dialog’s tech tree has been improved.
- Unit information in the help dialog now displays abilities and upgrades.

* Several Save/Replay File dialogue improvements have been made:
- Added ability to sort replays and saved games by name and date.
- Added ability to right-click and rename a replay or saved game from within the game interface.
- Added a new tab for auto-saved games and unsaved replays.
- Added an option to permanently save all replays. Checking this option will mark all unsaved replays as being saved.
- Added visibility for where replays and saved games are being saved to.
- Added a "Show in Folder" button which will open the location where a replay or saved game is stored on your computer.

* Camera following behavior for observers and replays has been improved.

* The System Alert panel has been moved to the top of the screen and the duration of most system alerts has been reduced.

* Mouse buttons can now be bound to the Push-To-Talk hotkey.

* A hotkey indicator option has been added to show the primary hotkey on top of command buttons.

* When selecting a Vespene geyser, the number of current harvesters will be displayed in the info panel.

* Added an option to disable any error sounds. The Response Sounds checkbox now controls whether unit-specific audio is used for error sounds instead of a generic buzz.

* Added Game UI layout per-map overrides. Map makers can now use custom UI layout files to create new UI or override existing game UI.

* Added a toggle button to the in-game replay panel to Show or Hide the timeline/duration information.

* Added hotkey to Pause/Resume game for both single player and multiplayer (Pause/Break key).

Balance

* GENERAL
Players can no longer block off ramps with two 2x2 buildings.

* PROTOSS
Hallucination research time decreased from 110 to 80.

Observer
+Cost decreased from 50/100 to 25/75.

Phoenix
+ Build time decreased from 45 to 35.

Void Ray
+ Now deals 20% more damage to massive targets.
+ Flux Vanes speed upgrade removed.

* TERRAN
SCV
+ Repairing SCVs now assume the same threat priority as the unit they’re repairing.
+ SCV construction movement has been made more consistent.

StarCraft II Editor Improvements

* Map locale management has been added.
* Further editor tips and hints have been added.
* New trigger functions, actions, and events have been added:

New trigger functions:
+ Verify Bank - used to verify that a bank’s signature is intact.

New trigger actions:
+ Bank Option - used to change options for banks including adding a signature.
+ Remove Inventory Item - used to instantly remove a requested item from an inventory.
+ Set Visibility Type Of Text Tag - used to control whether fog or black mask hides the tag.

New trigger events:
+ Mouse Moved - sent in response to the mouse being moved in the game world.

* New unit properties have been added:
- Carried Minerals, Carried Vespene, Carried Terrazine, and Carried Custom Resource.
- Bounty (XP) - used to grant experience when a unit is killed.
* New Effect Used event property has been added: Life, Shields, and Energy changed.
* Copy/paste support has been added to the upgrade editor.
* Behaviors can now be replaced by either the shortest duration (the original method) or by farthest distance.
* Behavior abilities can now properly charge the player using the ability instead of always charging the owner.
* Right clicking an item in an inventory will now have the icon appear immediately next to the cursor.
* Font Style Files can now be added to Mods and Maps using the FontStyleFileArray field in GameUIData. Existing styles can have their individual attributes overridden or entirely new styles can be added.
* UI Layout files can now be added to Mods and Maps using the CustomLayoutFileArray filed in GameUIData. Most existing frames can be modified or overridden and entirely new templates can be added which can be created from the Dialog system within the Editor.
* Attributes and values can now be hidden in the game lobby and can be configured through Game Variants.
* The mouse wheel now scrolls the control under the cursor.
* Copied doodads now retain their height offset.
* Attribute and Veterancy behaviors now normalize vitals when new levels are applied.
* Mouse clicks & highlights are now allowed while in relative camera mode.
* Edit boxes are now available for trigger dialogs.
* The game will now properly find custom imported files within mods.
* Maps can now depend on even more mods.
* Dialog Items can now be hooked up from already existing frames within a created Panel.
* Change Focus commands are now available in the Trigger module View menu for switching input focus directly to different areas.
* The water editor layout has been improved.
* Effect offsets can now optionally contain a Z component.
* Added a new type of Dialog Item called Panel. Panels are containers for other dialog items to help with grouping and hierarchy.
* Added new UI to insert text tags for data references, unit info, and hotkeys.
* Added an effect range to the effect ability to restrict how far away the effect can be placed. This will allow effects to behave like the Stalker Blink effect.
* Added a behavior flag to suppress fidgeting.
* Added a new stalemate melee option to determine whether the stalemate detection checking is enforced.
* Added a new “Creator” player to effects. It will be set to the player issuing an order if available.
* Added a new type of item that can use an effect ability.
* Added a validator that checks to see if a unit can path to a point.
* Added a validator that checks if there is a cliff between two points.
* Added MinimapRenderPriority to CActorUnit and MinimapRenderPriorityList to CActorGlobalConfig. This allows custom map makers to define the render priorities of units on the minimap.
* Added a Locale sub-menu in the Mod menu for changing the active text locale for the current document.
* Added a Mod Info dialog in the Mod menu for more easily changing mod name and description text.
* Added a Modify Locales dialog (also in Locale sub-menu) for adding or removing text locales.
* Added an Editor Tips dialog in the Help menu (and optionally on start up) with tips for using the editor effectively.

Bug Fixes

* Gameplay
General
+ All diagonal ramps are now the same with regards to unbuildable locations at the bottom of the ramps.
+ Critter health bars are now hidden unless highlighted or selected (if status bars are set to show when units are selected).
+ Orders can no longer be canceled by clicking on the info panel in challenges before the challenge begins.
+ Text tags are now paused when the game is paused.
+ Autocast state for abilities will now reset to the default state when unit ownership is permanently changed.
+ Autocast repair will now charge the player requesting autocast functionality.
+ Repair will now clear its autocast state if the owning player leaves the game.
+ Harvest orders no longer end if an order is queued while waiting to return cargo.
+ Harvesting units no longer avoid enemy units.
+ Hold position units no longer automatically move out of the way when placing a building.
+ Enemy units no longer show passive buttons in the command card.
+ Missiles are no longer affected by Vortex.
+ Actors with a large number of create events no longer crash the map.
+ Fixed an issue where cliff jumping units were able to traverse unpathable terrain.
+ Fixed an issue with units trying to get out of the way so buildings can be constructed.
+ Fixed an issue with harvesting units bypassing force fields.
+ Fixed an issue where melee units were unable to attack a colossus when it was on a cliff.
+ Fixed an issue where larva would not wander around.
+ Fixed an issues where loading a saved Challenge could improperly overwrite the best score.
+ Fixed an issue with animation stutters when flying units are separating.
+ Fixed an issue where units could push opposing units when they shouldn't have been able to.
+ Added "Detector" text to the info panel for units which can detect cloaked or burrowed units.
+ Added combat reveal tinting to help show that combat reveal units cannot be hit.

Protoss
+ Protoss structures can no longer be powered without a power source if constructed while powered by a Warp Prism under the effects of Neural Parasite.
+ Mass Recall can no longer target larva or eggs.
+ Fixed an issue where units that were picked up by a Graviton Beam would still block pathing on the ground.
+ Fixed an issue where a Zealot could burn its Charge cooldown without actually moving.

Terran
+ Changed the position of the Select Builder button on Terran buildings, and changed the hotkey to Q.
+ SCVs can no longer continue construction on a building from inside an adjacent bunker.
+ Fixed nuke dot not being visible all the time.
+ Fixed an issue where you could see an enemy MULE drop pod in some cases where you didn’t have vision of the target location.
+ Fixed an issue where a Medivac would be able to continue healing a unit that was stuck in a Graviton Beam if the Medivac had started healing the unit before it was picked up by the Graviton Beam.
+ Fixed an issue where a Thor would continue to channel 250mm Strike Cannons on an uplifted Terran building if it lifted off at just the right time.
+ Fixed an issue where a Thor could get stuck channeling if a player queued up multiple targets for 250mm Strike Cannons.
+ Fixed an issue where SCVs could continue repairing at a short range even though the structure they were repairing was blocked by Force Fields.

Zerg
+ Creep will now spread evenly in all directions.
+ The Burrow and Cancel Neural Parasite buttons have been moved on the command card.
+ Fixed an issue with Ultralisk unable to attack a row of sensor towers.

* StarCraft II Editor
-The “For Each Real” and “For Each Integer” actions will now correctly execute once when the starting and ending bounds are equal while the increment is also zero.
-Items dropped from an inventory will now use their default height when dropped.
-The View Script command will now view library scripts if the library list has focus.
-Carried and equipped item behaviors and weapons are now restored properly when a unit is revived.
-Publish dialog now updates storage information after removing a published file in the Managed Published window.
-Dropdowns now correctly select items as you type using partial matching.
-Standard dependencies can no longer be modified in the Dependencies dialog (only added or removed).
-Camera following can no longer be disabled via hotkeys if it was requested via triggers.
-Fixed an issue with editing stylized text values when using system locales other than English.
-Fixed an issue with Veterancy experience share filters.
-Fixed an issue when editing mover data where values were not being saved correctly.
-Fixed an issue that prevented certain changes to angle values.
-Fixed an issue where selection circles would drop when a flying unit was over a cliff.
-Fixed an issue where the scroll bar for tree views could disappear.
-Fixed an issue where triggers setting the mouse relative could result in the mouse being stuck in relative move mode.
-Fixed an issue where setting the color of a dialog item of type label wasn’t working.
-Fixed a crash that could occur while editing upgrade values.
-Fixed text truncation with Set Text actor message.
-Fixed display of ability command links in the Overview Manager.
-Fixed many areas where English text was displayed instead of localized text.
-Fixed a crash when destroying a persistent effect.