StarCraft II Beta

[Wolf]

I don't mind sending out a few to help out the community, but please don't ask if it's not for you personally. These are still tied to actual copies, we just wouldn't be able to use them all due to some ridiculous restrictions by Activision. They're about as cool to retailers as they are to end clients :)

In any case, if we got them in the third world back water EU, there should be pre-order give away keys just about anywhere at this point.

[Segoris]

I don't mind sending out a few to help out the community, but please don't ask if it's not for you personally. .

Aren't they allowing beta participants to invite a friend, or am I incorrect in that? I'm just asking since if people are asking for two, then the problem solves itself.

Also, if you have that many, I'd love one and I think the people who get an extra mark in the win stat from beating my ass will thank you  

[Soulflame]

I would like a key, if you don't mind.

[naum]

I'd love a key too!

[Ceryse]

Got it running; patching was a pain since I kept getting an error that would vanish before I could see it.

Anyone who feels like kicking my ass, feel free; Blaise.lucinius on the US side of things.

Praise be to Wolf.

[Vaiti]

Got it installed now. vaiti.vaiti

[Hoax]

I'd take one of many keys, pretty sure I'll install and check it out.

[Salamok]

I would love a key.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Sign me up for a key? I'd really like a chance to see how harsh the multiplayer is before deciding to buy or not. I have serious doubts but maybe i can sink my teeth into it.

[Vaiti]

Played my first game. Did horribly as expected 

I ended up with WAY too much minterals, not enough gas. Got run over by Roaches in the end. Welp. Just getting used to the GUI for now anyhow. And learning what does what. Feels like it might take a couple games to get ahold of the tech trees to insure I don't end a game with 3000 minerals like that first one. Oie.

[NowhereMan]

Got the key but have discovered that my network doesn't like the Blizz downloader or at least I assume that's what's happening. I keep getting "Received an error code from the tracker: 0" and the download doesn't start. Looking up the forums didn't seem to have any solutions beyond mirror sites (for WoW patches) or getting a copy from someone else.

[Mosesandstick]

I think someone (Lamaros?) might have mentioned on the previous page that you can set it to direct download somehow.

[Ceryse]

Played my first real game after a series of matches against the AI. Novice maps are fun, and probably a big reason why I won, though my opponent seemed even worse than I was.

I know a lot of the "this is what you should do" stuff, but with an average APM of around 30 (I spike to 70-80!) its kinda sad watching the replay. I get so very lost once stuff starts happening; I suck so very much at micro, especially since a lot of the keybinds are something I'm not good at using. Still, things should be good until I finish the Practice round stuff; at which point I should start getting slaughtered.

[NowhereMan]

I think someone (Lamaros?) might have mentioned on the previous page that you can set it to direct download somehow.

Yeah sadly it seems to be having an issue with the tracker itself so I can't even download from Blizzard.

[Ironwood]

Why does the AI matches never work for me ?  Am I doing something wrong ?  I just assumed they weren't enabled.

[Phry]

Make a custom game and add an AI player.  You can only set it at very easy though :(

[Tannhauser]

I'd like a key if you have any left!

[Polysorbate80]

I could also use a key if there are still any available. 

(I probably shouldn't have just replayied the original, though...it sounds as though that will only hinder me in any of my efforts to play this one)

[Musashi]

Make a custom game and add an AI player.  You can only set it at very easy though :(

And very easy is even more easy than it sounds.

[lamaros]

If anyone sees my online and wants to play a game do say hi. Random 2v2 can be very frustrating...

[Wolf]

ok everyone that asked should've recieved thus far. Kinda misjudged the situation and have run out of the little quota I set for myself :P I should have plenty more to give, but need a couple of days. Just keep signing up (in the thread, not on pms pls).

One small request - these are EU keys, should only work on the EU battle.net; In the unlikely occasion keys work on both instances - please register EU accounts, it really shouldn't make a difference, especially with like 20 keys, but I might run into some issues with that.

also TLO FIGHTING :(

[Thrawn]

I've been able to win most of my 1v1 against Protoss lately by just assuming two things and building accordingly, 1 - Expect an early hard zealot/stalker push, 2 - If you scout and don't see multiple gateways they are rushing Void Rays. 

People really need to get more creative.

[Ironwood]

Hard to be creative with Protoss.

Seriously.

[Ironwood]

On that note.  LOL.

[K9]

Played my first few games, was 3-1 against some slightly perplexing opponents. Most of them don't seem to understand that you can destroy rocks. I had one guy who massed about a hundred hellions off his main+natural and just sat there until I (follishly) busted open the rocks with my zerglings. Somehow managed to hold him off by just pushing out roaches as fast as I could. On an unrelated note ultralisks are great against hellions.

The next guy didn't do much except mass mutas and harrass me with packs of 6 or so. He had map control yet didn't take either high yeild, nor did he destroy the rocks in front of his base.

My other win was a 5-reaper harass that just felt cheesy. I haven't tried protoss out yet, and I'm finding zerg more fun than I thought.

Thanks to wolf for the key.

[Ironwood]

More Euro names ?

[bhodi]

On that note.  LOL.

Oh, that's a funny replay. (You can use http://www.sc2rc.com/ to host replays)

A few "sneaky" things to try as protoss...

Dark templar are fun. Against terran, space them out along the advancement lines to force terran to turrtle and/or waste scans. DT drops into terran bases are always popular, and they also work well against a protoss that has no robo bay (obviously). spread them out on a terran's base so he can't get them all with a scan, send them in one by one to his CC to force him to waste it. Another thing to note is that dark templar are cloaked while warping in.

Drive-by stalkering is always fun, you can use a hallucinated phoenix to see above ground. Use the right click to bottom of cliff, B, shift click on top, shift right click to have them all waypoint themselves up there, kill a bunch of probes/units, and then retreat. Stalkers are fast little buggers.

In fact, halucinate games are quite funny. You can hallucinate any unit even if you haven't researched it or have the tech. Hallucinate a few colossi and inch them in sight range as if you're going for a harass but pull them back. Watch as they freak out and build units that you can easily counter! Hallucinate a few carriers for laughs.


4 gate zealots with +1 attack RAPE any zerg going air or FE.

The always popular 'build shit in their base' technique - try it! I'm not even talking about cannon rushes or sneaky proxy 2gates. Send a worker probe out and go a normal 2gate build, only do it in their base, right in the open. Don't even try to hide it. It's HILARIOUS. People will generally lose because they panic and pull probes off the line to try and kill your buildings and they can't even get through the shields. Plus, cronoboosted zealots are really deadly early. Make sure to build your pylons/buildings right in the mineral line up against their CC/Nexus. It's especially funny against terran who were planning to wall off and get extremely flustered when you're all up in his shit.

[Ironwood]

Cheers.  I shall use that from now on.

[Thrawn]

Also with DT, don't try to wait until you have a large mass of them to lay waste.  Once you have a couple send them in!  The longer you wait the more time your opponent has to scout you and build counters.  I've won/lost a few games becuase of the timing of sending in the dark templars.

[Rasix]

I just watched a replay of mine where I accidentally rally pointed a starting SCV instead of the mineral patch.  I didn't notice it until after my first supply depot.

The rest of the replay was just as funny.

[Malakili]

Also with DT, don't try to wait until you have a large mass of them to lay waste.  Once you have a couple send them in!  The longer you wait the more time your opponent has to scout you and build counters.  I've won/lost a few games becuase of the timing of sending in the dark templars.

This can actually be applied to almost any tech.  The timing of attacks is just as important as what you are attacking with.  If you are JUST finishing a vital upgrade thats when you should attack.  Don't wait, take advantage of the fact that you have an upgrade the opponent isn't expecting/doesn't have himself yet.  The biggest mistake I see with new players (and I do it too), is getting too caught up in massing up, upgrading, teching, etc.  When I've watched my own replays I've though "Boy, if I had just attacked as soon as (whatever), I would have taken him"  but instead, I get caught up in everything and don't take advantage of my opportunities.  With something like DTs is even more important, but something as simple as attacking an opponent when you have charge on your zealots and he doesn't, or just when Blink finishes, can win  you the game as well.

[Polysorbate80]

ok everyone that asked should've recieved thus far. Kinda misjudged the situation and have run out of the little quota I set for myself :P I should have plenty more to give, but need a couple of days. Just keep signing up (in the thread, not on pms pls).

One small request - these are EU keys, should only work on the EU battle.net; In the unlikely occasion keys work on both instances - please register EU accounts, it really shouldn't make a difference, especially with like 20 keys, but I might run into some issues with that.

also TLO FIGHTING :(

Oops, I already registered on us.battlenet before reading this...not sure what happens if I try to change it.

on the bright side, it's all downloaded/installed.  Now I just need to get off work so I can start losing horribly

[K9]

I'm nerfed.nerfed on EU.

[K9]

Is Battle.net down? I keep getting a "Battle.net is down for maintenance / Invalid Login" error, but I can't see anything on the forums about downtime.

[Ironwood]

Yeah

Filthy euros are getting an update.


EDIT :  Whoops, and a patch.