Starcraft 2 Legacy of the Void

SC2 LOTV is the 3rd installment of Starcraft 2.

Get the closed beta for FREE by preordering LOTV:




Buy Starcraft 2 Legacy of the Void

SC2 HOTS Opening Cinematic

SC2 HOTS Cinematic Opening

Starcraft 2 HOTS Opening Movie


Credits: Starcraft 2 Heart of The Swarm Movie (Neutral Creeps)

Starcraft 2 Heart of The Swarm UI

As Blizzard struggles with dwindling player numbers because of Valve's Dota 2, Starcraft 2's expansion has done an overhaul of the much criticized user interface.

Here is the ravamped SC2 UI for HOTS:

Starcraft 2 HOTS will also feature the much awaited BLIZZARD DOTA mod.

Starcraft 2 Heart of The Swarm Battle Report 2

SC2 HOTS Battle Report 2

Match: Terran vs Zerg


Sean "Day 9" Plott returns once again with the SC2 Battle Report 2. This is a Zerg vs Terran match-up which displays the new units in the upcoming Heart of The Swarm expansion.

Starcraft 2 Heart of The Swarm Battle Report 1

SC2 HOTS Battle Report 1

Match: Protoss vs Zerg


Zerg vs Protoss match-up introducing the new units in the upcoming Heart of The Swarm expansion. The Zerg have a Viper who has a skill like Dota 2's Pudge.

Why you should play Starcraft 2

This video by Scarybunny88 gives an overview of the massively popular RTS, Starcraft 2.

So what are you waiting for?

If you still don't have the game:
Buy Starcraft 2 now!

- Buy Starcraft 2 NA (North and South America)
- Buy Starcraft 2 SEA (Southeast Asia, New Zealand and Australia)
- Buy Starcraft 2 KR (Korea / Taiwan)
- Buy Starcraft 2 EU (Europe)

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.