Starcraft 2 Updates Patch 1

StarCraft II Beta - Patch 1 (version 0.3.14048)

The 1st Starcraft 2 beta patch has been released.


Balance Changes


* Terran

-Viking

+ The armor value for this unit in Fighter Mode has decreased from 1 to 0.
+ The damage done by this unit in Fighter Mode has changed from 6 (+8 armored) to 10 (+4 armored).

-Reaper

+ The damage done from D-8 Charges has decreased from 40 to 30.
+ The delay between attacks for D-8 Charges has decreased from 2.5 to 1.8.

-Orbital Command

+ The build time for this upgrade has decreased from 50 to 35.

* Protoss

-Observer

+ Gravitic Boosters: The cost of this research has decreased from 150 Minerals and 150 Vespene Gas to 100 Minerals and 100 Vespene Gas.

-High Templar

+ Phase Shift: This ability has been removed from the game.
+ Feedback: New Ability. Drains all energy from the target unit and causes damage equal to the amount of energy drained.

-Colossus

+ The building pathing radius for this unit has decreased from .75 to .5625.

-Mothership

+ Vortex: The energy cost of this ability has increased from 75 to 100.
+ Vortex: The target radius of this ability has decreased from 3.0 to 2.5.
+ Temporal Rift: This ability has been removed from the game.
+ Wormhole Transit: This ability has been removed from the game.
+ Mass Recall: New Ability. Teleports all of the player's units in the target area to the Mothership.

-Gateway

+ The build time of this building has increased from 50 to 65.

* Zerg

-Infestor

+ Fungal Growth: The damage done by this ability has decreased from 48 to 36.
+ Fungal Growth: This ability now prevents affected units from burrowing.
+ Neural Parasite: Functionality changed. The Infestor now channels this spell, which lasts 10 seconds or until the Infestor is destroyed. You can now target all units with this ability.
+ Terran Infestation: The ability's energy cost has reduced from 50 to 25 and Infested Terrans now spawn 1 at a time.


Bug Fixes


* Addressed an issue causing people to receive an "Internal Battle.net Error" message with their game client.
* Muting your microphone will no longer cause your microphone to be turned off in the operating system once the program has exited.

Please note that the voice chat functionality has only partially been implemented. There are many known issues with voice chat that we expect to address in a future patch.

* The "Medium" graphical settings were reconfigured to work better on appropriate machines. The video settings "auto-detect" functionality has been reset as a result.
* Added a frame rate limiter to the game menus to prevent some graphics cards from running at higher frame rates than necessary.
* Added GRB rating tags to the login menu for the Korean version of the Beta client.

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Starcraft 2 Beta has arrived!

Carrier has arrived!
Starcraft 2 is now in BETA! :)


The StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Beta Test Has Begun

Blizzard Entertainment is pleased to welcome all of our beta testers to the first phase of the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty beta test. You will have an early opportunity to play, test, and experience the online multiplayer aspect of StarCraft II, as well as get a first look at the newly revamped Battle.net.

The new StarCraft II beta forums will be your main source for official news and announcements over the course of the beta test. We encourage you to check the forums regularly and to use them to provide us with feedback and to engage in general discussions about the game with your fellow players. If you ever need help or technical assistance, the Blizzard support website now includes a StarCraft II beta-test section.

We are looking forward to receiving your comments, feedback, and suggestions on StarCraft II and the new Battle.net; let us know what you think via the "Feedback" forums.

Thank you for helping us test StarCraft II. Your participation and feedback is important to us, and will help us make StarCraft II one of the most epic entertainment experiences...ever.

StarCraft II Source Exclusive Q & A

This is an exclusive Starcraft 2 Source (fansite) Q&A
Blizzard will now take your questions:

1. Are you still developing new units or are you satisfied with the amount of units for each race and, therefore, more concerned about the fine tuning and balancing?
Our philosophy has always been to keep the amount of units for each race to a certain number to keep the gameplay tight, and we are satisfied with what we have right now in terms of that number. Once we head into beta we definitely evaluate the role of each unit and will potentially add or drop units as needed based on feedback.

2. Can you explain the movements of big melee units like the Ultralisk in detail? While running through idle units smaller units tend to move away so the Ultralisk can walk in a straight line. Will that happen only in battles or while moving your whole army as well?
The way movement collision works right now is that a unit has to be idle for it to be pushed to a new location by another unit like an Ultralisk. Generally if you are controlling your forces and they are active, you will not see this behavior.

3. In the campaign of StarCraft II, there are many optional objectives to do so that the player can choose how to play through the campaign. But there are players who want to see every cinematic and play every mission. Are there missions where you have to decide, which way you go (e.g. the Terran campaign in StarCraft I, where you decide to choose nuclear weapons or Battlecruisers), or will the player be able to play the whole campaign in a linear progression? Will there be a menu were you can replay already completed missions? If so, can you also unlock new missions in that menu?
As you play through the campaign, there will be a few cases where you must make a distinct choice that could change the outcome of a certain side plot or the fate of a specific character. These choices will be made very obvious to players, and for those who want to see all the possibilities, you’ll have the ability to go back and choose the other path. We will also have a way for you to replay completed missions or cinematic cut scenes via the story mode interface as well.

4. In the single player campaign of Warcraft III, even races like the Naga are playable temporarily. Is something like that planned for StarCraft II too?
The single player campaign for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will focus on the Terran campaign, but there will also be a short series of missions where players take the role of Zeratul and other Protoss forces.

5. Is the range of the stalker’s blink ability limited to the distance between him and the target area or are cliffs and trees considered; so a stalker could blink farther when he’s blinking down a cliff than if he’s blinking up the cliff?
The distance you blink is the same regardless of blinking up or down a cliff.

6. Will players be able to send resources to their allies? If so, will there be a limit to the amount of resources they are able to send?
Yes, players can send and request resources among teammates but only after a few minutes into the game. The reason for this is to minimize imbalances that could be created by one player getting a massive early economic boost from his or her partner dumping resources at the outset of the game. There currently is no limit to how many resources you can share.

7. Some replays were not compatible with new patches in StarCraft I. Are you working on making replays compatible with new patches for StarCraft II?
Yes, we’re working on allowing replays from previous versions of StarCraft II be compatible with new patches as they are released.