StarCraft II Beta

[Merusk]

So are they still going forward with the whole "You have to buy this 3 times to get the whole game" shtick?   If so, what's the "Sons of Liberty" edition?

[Ingmar]

I believe its the single player campaigns that are per-game - Sons of Liberty is the Terran one. You get all the multiplayer regardless.

[Margalis]

There is 99.99999% chance that the expansions will introduce multiplayer changes that you can only see and/or use if you buy the expansions.

That is a very sturdy limb I'm going out on.

[Ingmar]

There is 99.99999% chance that the expansions will introduce multiplayer changes that you can only see and/or use if you buy the expansions.

That is a very sturdy limb I'm going out on.

That would seem to run counter to their e-sport aspirations, but I guess you never know.

[Trippy]

They did this for Brood War and Frozen Throne.

[Ingmar]

Gotcha. What I more meant was, you don't have to buy all 3 boxes to play all 3 sides in multiplayer, or whatever. I wasn't thinking of them as expansions but I guess that's what they are, really; stand-alone expansions.

[bhodi]

There is 99.99999% chance that the expansions will introduce multiplayer changes that you can only see and/or use if you buy the expansions.

That is a very sturdy limb I'm going out on.

The have confirmed that there will be new units for every race for each "expansion pack" / game / whatever they want to call it.

[Draegan]

Pre-Ordering from almost anywhere nets you a beta code - Amazon, Gamestop, EBgames, etc.

PreOrder time.  I assume it's only online preordering?  I can't go to Gamestop near work and do this right? (Was going there anyway.)

[KallDrexx]

Single player info

[Malakili]

Single player info

I'm torn on that info.  On the one side, it'll probably make the single player a better single player game, but its going to divorce it even further from the multiplayer game. 

[Typhon]

I'm delighted.  The multiplayer is good for awhile, but all the mods that came out for Warcraft 3 held my attention for much longer.  I have high hopes for someone doing something interesting in terms of a hero-based coop.  It's almost a done-deal that there will be some sort of tower defense.

[Malakili]

I'm delighted.  The multiplayer is good for awhile, but all the mods that came out for Warcraft 3 held my attention for much longer.  I have high hopes for someone doing something interesting in terms of a hero-based coop.  It's almost a done-deal that there will be some sort of tower defense.

I've never been able to get into the gimmicky games that come out of RTS modding to be honest.   I've never been real good at the "real" games either, but I enjoy at least trying most of the time, though I often get frustrated and quit for a month before trying my hand at it again.    The editor for SC2 looks like a lot more than we've ever seen in an RTS editor though, so there is a good possibility of some great stuff coming out of it.

In an article I read about the single player they basically did just straight up say "We had lots of fun ideas that we could never put in multiplayer because they aren't balancable, but we can make the player have pretty much anything in single player and it doesn't matter."   It almost acknowledges that they know the multiplayer isn't fun for most people, but they have to do it to appease the esporters. 

In any event, I guess I'd rather see missions that have me, for instance, doing a thor-dropship harass or something that is both fun and rewarding AND teaches me a good skill for multiplayer than get to use medics and goliaths (units that aren't even in multiplayer) to protect SCVs that are doing something they'd never do in multiplayer

[Typhon]

My understanding is that they are trying to provide tutorial missions for the multiplayer game - which would amount to you playing against the computer with the multiplayer setup.  If the computer does a decent job of simulating some sort of human player, I think that is a much better choice then limiting themselves to a "vanilla" setup in single player.

It seems like their philosophies ran parallel to yours (single player is training for multiplayer) for all the previous releases of the game, but they ended up leaving a lot of interesting ideas on the floor because they didn't fit into multiplayer.  I like the philosophy of this better - an "as balanced as we can make it" multiplayer and a single player game that has interesting/special units and a lot of surprises.

[Malakili]

My understanding is that they are trying to provide tutorial missions for the multiplayer game - which would amount to you playing against the computer with the multiplayer setup.  If the computer does a decent job of simulating some sort of human player, I think that is a much better choice then limiting themselves to a "vanilla" setup in single player.

It seems like their philosophies ran parallel to yours (single player is training for multiplayer) for all the previous releases of the game, but they ended up leaving a lot of interesting ideas on the floor because they didn't fit into multiplayer.  I like the philosophy of this better - an "as balanced as we can make it" multiplayer and a single player game that has interesting/special units and a lot of surprises.

It'll probably end up being a better single player game because of it, I just think that in the end they are going to end up alienating people from multiplayer when they come to find out it isn't really the same game they just played through.  Granted, its entirely possible that they think they are basically two entirely different audiences, which they  might be.  The people casual enough to not know what multiplayer is going to be like probably don't care that much if they don't like it, is what I mean to say.

[KallDrexx]

It'll probably end up being a better single player game because of it, I just think that in the end they are going to end up alienating people from multiplayer when they come to find out it isn't really the same game they just played through.  Granted, its entirely possible that they think they are basically two entirely different audiences, which they  might be.  The people casual enough to not know what multiplayer is going to be like probably don't care that much if they don't like it, is what I mean to say.

Yeah but it sounds like they are preparing challenge missions as well, which are meant to ease the player to get ready for multiplayer. 

[NowhereMan]

I'm thrilled at them saying they won't be axing ideas, levels or characters because they won't fit with multiplayer style balance. I'd hope that a fair bit of single player acts as training for multiplayer in terms of general gameplay and maybe throws in a few levels that are close to multiplayer v. computer but frankly a series of vanilla starcraft II matches with cutscenes would be shitty, shitty shitty for singleplayer considering the amount of time they've had to develop the game. People playing the two things, at least with RTSes are looking for two different experiences. I don't expect two radically different games but it's nice that they recognise that balance isn't really a crucial feature of single player.

[Draegan]

I stopped by Gamestop and used an old preorder credit and got a key! 

Downloading now.  I'm so terrible at RTS's but this should be interesting.

[trias_e]

I am trias.funkychicken.

I've watched a ton of games on youtube prior to getting my key, so I'm totally leet.  (not really)

[K9]

That single-player stuff sounds fantastic.

[Thrawn]

I stopped by Gamestop and used an old preorder credit and got a key! 

Downloading now.  I'm so terrible at RTS's but this should be interesting.

Haven't gotten my key from pre-ordering online 2 days ago yet, but it says it may take up to 5 so I guess I can't complain really yet. 

[Draegan]

Ok I'm pretty dumb.  I acknowledge that.  But I can't seem to build an Armory or Factory.  Not sure why.  I've got command centers, barracks, engineering labs and all the upgrades but the option for Factory isn't opening up.  Why am I dumb?

Oh nevermind.  There is an "advanced building" tab.  Fuck me.

[Margalis]

'V'

[trias_e]

I'm having so much fun playing this game.  squeeee!

[Ironwood]

'V'

Go tell your friends.

[trias_e]

First long but very fun game I've had.  I screw up so badly at getting my units into control groups/forgetting about them, but luckily for me 2/2 upgraded roaches + mutas are really good.

http://www.sc2rc.com/index.php/replay/show/2334

[K9]

Nerf Ultralisks? 

[Malakili]

Nerf Ultralisks? 

Except that they'll almost certainly die getting in range of anything but zerglings or Zealots, or get so beat up that you won't get your money's worth.  They aren't bad, but they are largely useless most of the time.

[Margalis]

Ultras are pretty much the worst unit in the game right now. The fact that they have armor is negated by the number of popular units that do + damage to armor, and the fact that they do splash damage is negated by the them being too fat to get more than a couple attacking at the same time.

[Kageru]

"multiple levels of AI and co-op versus the computer"

yay. Didn't apply for beta because I'm not interested in PvP but I loved this aspect of SC1. 4 friends and an AI that could put up a decent fight led to some epic sessions. And that's also where you can play around with multiplayer and learn the ropes. Separating the single player off so it can be a real game in its own right is a great call.

[Kitsune]

Quick note, online ordering with Gamestop has a coupon code 25OFF to cut 25% off an order of $100 or more.  Since the collector SC2 is 99, you need to stick something else in to make the code work, but it's a pretty good deal.  They shipped me a beta code not too long after I ordered, my user name's kitsune.ichiban.

[Wolf]

Does anyone else have performance issues since patch 9/10? Initially the game had detected me at high, and I had no problems at 2v2 full control vs full control. Since the patch it stutters when 6 zerglings come out of their eggs at the same time. I had to bump it down to medium and it looks awful :(


re-ultras: I read a nice suggestion on TL, that they should make them step over units like colossus. Bump up price and/or build time for balance - voila. They're unusable as it is :(

While we're on the subject, turn off banelings collision detection for allied units when they're off to explode!!!

[Margalis]

I had bad perf issues with patch 9, haven't played since then. Just selecting my drones at the start of the game for initial mining was laggy and awful. Other people have reported the same, looks like they screwed something up.

[Malakili]

I reinstalled the beta just to try out the editor (which i like, but am not great with yet), and decided to play some ladder placement matches and somehow ended up in Gold league.  This is going to be ugly.

[Wolf]

I lost a placement match and got placed in gold, was pretty comfortable for a bit before getting bumped to platinum :( lose fest comenced shortly after :( I wsih I could force it so it would just match me at the upper gold low plat, that seems to be the spot I'm most comfortable. I'll just get super frustrated before I lose enough games to get matched within my braket.

[Draegan]

So I tried once to rush to Thors and I won against protoss and it was awesome.  Then I tried it again and I don't know how the guy did it, but he had a ton more guys than I did. 

I'm slightly better than terrible at this game.