In last few days I was helping my friend with his starcraft 2 figure. My friend and his colleagues spent three months on it, and finally it is done. Tell me what you think of it:D.
Size:46.355cm *36.83cm×50.8cm
Category: Starcraft 2 News
The starcraft 2 from is now online, you can check on www.sc2rocks.com/forum. Do not forget you bring your friends:D.
The first balance patch for Starcraft 2 is now live, it features adjustments to protoss, terran, and zerg balance, notable StarCraft II Editor improvements, and several bug fixes.
Be sure to check the notes, it definitely affects your game play.
General:
• The Standard (US) and Standard for Lefties (US) hotkey configurations are now available in all regions.
• A new game clock has been added. Players can now instantly see how long they’ve been in their current mission or match. This feature can be turned on or off in the Gameplay Options menu.
• A new Quick Save option is now available for the single-player campaign. Players can now quickly save their mission progress by pressing Ctrl + Q.
• A new System Panel has been added. Players can now view their local time and FPS while in game by mousing over the Menu (F10) button in the upper-left hand corner of the game screen. Laptop users can also view Wi-Fi signal strength and battery levels.
• Sight granted by death reveal no longer lifts Fog of War. Units revealed in this manner are not targetable.
• (Mac only) Moved StarCraft II data files and settings from the Documents folder into the Application Support folder.
• Support for NVIDIA 3D Vision has been added. To experience StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty in 3D on your desktop or notebook, you will need 3D Vision. For more information, visit www.nvidia.com/Starcraft3D
Balance Changes:
• PROTOSS
• Zealot
• Build time increased from 33 to 38.
• Warp Gate cooldown increased from 23 to 28.
• TERRAN
• Battlecruiser
• Ground damage decreased from 10 to 8.
• Bunker
• Build time increased from 30 to 35.
• Reaper
• Build time increased from 40 to 45.
• Siege Tank
• Siege mode damage changed from 50 to 35 (+15 armored).
• Upgrade damage changed from +5 to +3 (+2 armored).
• ZERG
• Ultralisk
• Ram ability removed. Ultralisk will now use normal attack against buildings.
• Damage decreased from 15 (+25 armored) to 15 (+20 armored).
• Maps
• Desert Oasis
• Destructible Rocks have been added to make natural expansions easier to protect.
• Center Xel’Naga Tower area has been narrowed.
StarCraft II Editor Improvements:
• Added new requirement types: Odd, Divide, Mod, Multiply.
• Added a chance field to effect data.
• Added support for the Slider dialog control type.
• Added a trigger to deal damage from a unit.
• Added a trigger event response to provide the amount a player or unit property changes.
• Added a trigger event when an effect executes.
• New Trigger Editor functions:
• Save Data Conversation State Value (Action).
• Load Data Conversation State Value (Action).
• Players On Team (returns Player Group associated with teams in game lobby).
• Unit Owner Changes (Event).
• Old Unit Owner (returns player ID in response to Unit Owner Changes).
• New Unit Owner (returns player ID in response to Unit Owner Changes).
• XP, Level, and Bounty unit properties can now be modified by triggers.
• Banks now save/restore XP, learned abilities, and items.
• Message Window now includes a time stamp for each message.
• An actor event is now dispatched when a missile cannot hit its target.
• When loading documents with Battle.net-only dependencies, you will now be prompted to log in and download the dependency data, rather than failing to load.
• Game variants now automatically use the default melee variants for new maps, without requiring manual generation. This will not take effect for maps created prior to this patch.
• The Custom game variant is no longer automatically included when other non-default variants are defined.
• Increased the maximum recharge vital rate for heal effects.
Bug Fixes:
• Battle.net
• Chat windows no longer vanish when exiting a multiplayer map or campaign mission.
• Fixed an issue where players would still receive toasts when their status was set to busy.
• Custom Games
• Default race in a game lobby is now properly set to Random.
• Players can now configure the lobby for 1v5 matches.
• The search functionality for map searches has been improved.
• Lobby hosts will now receive a toast when an invited player declines an invitation.
• Custom game lobbies will now remember the game mode chosen under a category.
• Fixed an issue where changing the category to “Custom” would default the teams to 5v3.
• Fixed an issue where custom maps could not be reported from the map preview screen.
• Gameplay
• General
• If a unit loads into a transport, missiles targeting it will no longer target similar units in the area.
• Structures damaged during construction will no longer count towards structures lost.
• Fixed an issue where builders waiting for an area to clear could block units trying to leave the area.
• Fixed an issue with inventory drop range checks.
• Fixed an issue that, in certain cases, allowed a command to be issued that did not appear on the command card.
• Interface
• Queue tooltips now display information about what is in progress.
• Fixed an issue where the back button would not always return players to the score screen properly.
• Terran
• Marines trained at multiple Barracks will now prefer a Barracks with a Reactor over one with a Tech Lab or no attachment.
• SCVs will now load into the closest Command Center if multiple are within range.
• Zerg
• Creep now recedes properly when an AI-controlled Hatchery, Lair, or Hive is destroyed.
• StarCraft II Editor
• The Player Leaves Game event now fires when a player leaves or they are defeated/victorious.
• Loading screen progress bar option now works when using Melee loading screen type.
• Test Document now works properly on maps with Battle.net-only dependencies.
• Publishing a new file using Major revision will now properly set the document version to 1.0.
• Publish dialog now properly remembers the Show Real Name setting from previous publish.
• File preview panel now displays author’s real name if that option was set during publishing.
• The Import module will now allow importing an override Assets.txt file.
• Undoing a terrain object modification will now also undo associated terrain changes.
• Editor will display document text from another locale if no text for the active locale exists.
• Copying points with custom models will display the model properly on the pasted point.
• It is no longer possible to have multiple default variants in the Game Variants dialog.
• Removed icon support for attribute and variant definitions, as Battle.net does not display these.
• Fixed issues with invalid map bounds when creating 32×32 maps.
• Fixed issues with poor performance in the Terrain Editor when scroll bars are visible.
• Fixed issues with drag-and-drop in Trigger Editor when tracking is not enabled.
• Fixed an issue that would cause a crash if multiple unit forms had too many abilities.
• Fixed an issue with temporary publish names in the Publish dialog still verifying the original name.
• Fixed an issue with the Unit Manipulates Item trigger.
• Fixed excessive delays on some systems when saving files using the Smaller Files option, and also when publishing Locked files.
• Fixed preview panel display in Terrain Editor palettes.
• Fixed performance issues in Terrain Editor when modifying terrain with many road tiles on the map.
• Fixed initial display of variables in the Trigger Debugging Window.
• Fixed generated script for built-in attribute values, which caused them to not be accessed properly.
• Fixed action list when modifying a Custom Script action without sub-views enabled.
• Fixed loading map dependency data.
• Fixed an issue where loading complex bank files would cause the client to disconnect from Battle.net.
• Technical Issues
• Fixed an issue where unplugging headphones could cause the game to freeze.
• Fixed an issue where XP systems running with Unicode characters enabled could prevent a player from starting a multiplayer game.
The Starcraft 2 balance patch will be available on Tuesday, September 21. The maintenance period will begin at 5:00 a.m. and last until approximately 11:00 a.m. PDT. Let’s see what is changed.
Quote:
Balance Changes
We have several balance changes in store. One general change we’re making is that friendly units will no longer provide vision after being killed. Enemy units previously revealed will no longer be targetable. Now let’s break down the additional balance changes we’re implementing.
Maps
We’re going to be adding destructible rocks to the Desert Oasis map to make natural expansions easier to protect. In addition, the center map watchtower area is being narrowed.
Protoss
We have two key changes in mind for the zealot: the build time is being increased from 33 to 38 seconds, and the warpgate cooldown is being increased from 23 to 28 seconds. Zealot rushes are currently too powerful at various skill levels, particularly those that rely on rapidly assaulting an enemy base from nearby “proxy” gateways. We feel the window players have to scout for and fend off this rush is too small. We also want to address the problem of protoss being able to dump minerals a bit too quickly with the combination of warpgates and Chrono Boost.
Terran
There are several changes in the works for terrans. Reapers against zerg are stronger than expected. Due to the zealot build time increase, reapers would be a bit problematic in combination with proxy barracks, bunkers, and/or marauders against protoss. Therefore, we have decided to increase the build time of reapers as well from 40 to 45 seconds. Fast reaper + bunker, or fast marine + bunker rushes are problematic against zerg. Although this rush would never outright destroy the zerg player, we feel zerg suffers too much of a disadvantage from either having to cancel the fast expansion, or getting trapped inside the main base for too long, so we are also increasing the bunker build time from 30 to 35 seconds.
Siege tanks in large numbers are performing too well in all matchups. In the mid- to late-game, siege tanks are too dominant against all ground units. We want a small set of light and unarmored ground units to perform better against siege tanks. With this in mind, we’re changing the Siege Mode damage of the siege tank from 50 to 35, +15 vs. armored; to correspond with this, damage upgrades will be changed from +5 to +3, +2 vs. armored. This change reduces the base damage of the siege tank against light and unarmored units, as well as the splash damage.
Battlecruisers currently lack good counters from the ground and still perform very well against a wide array of unit types. We’re aware that it is not easy to get battlecruisers out for the cost, but at the same time, it is possible in both 1v1s and team games to create stalemate situations to bring them out. Overall, we feel that battlecruisers are too strong for their cost, and the terran-forced stalemate situations are causing less interesting gameplay. We will be lowering their damage against ground units from 10 to 8.
Zerg
Ultralisk damage is being decreased from 15, +25 vs. armored to 15, +20 vs. armored. This reduction is comparable to the changes being made to the battlecruiser and siege tank. Like the battlecruiser, ultralisks are simply too powerful for the cost, even though they are difficult to muster. Also, in combination with other units, ultralisks are difficult to counter from the ground. The ultralisk building attack (Ram) is being removed because the damage rate is too similar to its normal attack, which will be used against buildings instead. When ultralisks target tightly packed smaller buildings such as supply depots, the Ram attack is actually outputting considerably less overall damage than its normal attack, as Ram only hits a single target.
Source: Battle.net
Here are the top 200 players in North America, congratulations to these players.
Rank Character Wins Losses
1 SeleCT 366 152
2 Fenix 210 94
3 HuK 254 90
4 qxc 205 76
5 Blendio 491 308
6 MurDeR 188 80
7 PainUser 188 81
8 Silver 233 118
9 TTOne 359 186
A crowd stands outside the safe house on Anselm, the people shifting and jostling and craning their necks for a chance to see blood. Pandora pushes past the onlookers and through the battered safe house door, which had been blasted open by a concussive grenade half an hour ago. Slabs of flesh cling to a wall above an almost unrecognizable corpse. The ex-Dominion weapons engineer. The deserter. The man she had promised to keep safe. His wife and daughter huddle nearby, bloody and trembling. Both of them are alive. Not by accident. The daughter’s arms are gone below the elbows, the raw stumps carefully dressed by the same men who crippled her. The wife’s face has been slashed and disfigured to leave scars that only the most expensive nanite surgery will heal.
It’s a message written in blood for Anselm’s populace. This is the price of deserting the Dominion. But to Pandora it’s a stinging taunt from her adversaries. We succeeded: you failed.
Although she’d had a chance to pull the deserter and his family out, she’d hesitated. Pandora had let fear take control, and now she sees the grisly result.
The wife lifts her head, dried blood caked around her face. “You promised us we’d be safe. When he warned you the Dominion was coming, you did nothing,” she says in a low trembling voice.
Pandora doesn’t sense rage in the woman; she senses the overwhelming cold nothingness that comes when you’ve lost everything that matters. She quickly erects a mental barrier to block out the wife’s chilling despair.
“You’re no better than they are. You’re a coward,” the wife says, her voice suddenly shrill and crazed. She jerks her arm up, a needle-gun clenched in her quivering hand.
Two shots. Two painful reminders of failure and its consequences. The first tears through Pandora’s right hand and takes her thumb off. She’s down on her knees, gritting her teeth, when the next needle grazes her shoulder.
The wife adjusts her aim but doesn’t fire again. She just sobs. As Pandora struggles to her feet, all she can think about is how she would have come home to Umoja a hero if the deserter were still alive, if she hadn’t been so afraid to take a risk….
A bump in the road knocks Pandora out of her daydream. She shakes off the memories of Anselm and wonders why now, of all times, she is remembering. Fear dictated her life then, but she is different now. She is fearless.
View full article »
Some notable issues have been fixed to ensure fair matches and an enjoyable ladder system. Here goes the details.
Improved Matchmaking for Teams
While the matchmaking system as a whole is looking very strong, one area we identified for improvement was matchmaking for arranged teams that were still in placement matches. We found these first few matches for arranged teams were giving them an unfair advantage against their opponents. Since so many new arranged teams were being created every day, this was resulting in a noticeable amount of imbalanced matches for team games. The corrections we’ve made should show an improvement for many team players, especially in the sub-Gold leagues.
Improved Placement for Teams
Another related issue we’ve received feedback on and experienced firsthand is the difficulty of placing in a high league while in an arranged team. We made two changes that should improve the experience. 1) The improved matchmaking mentioned above will help teams find opponents of similar skill sooner and, as a result, help to more quickly place teams in the league in which they belong. 2) We also found we were being too conservative in how teams were being placed in leagues and have made some adjustmentsto allow teams to be more easily placed in higher leagues. 3v3 random and arranged teams will likely notice this change the most.
Team Matchmaking Improvements
We found conditions where the matchmaking system was forcing certain teams and players to wait longer than needed for team matches. Those conditions have been addressed and the wait times should be reduced without affecting the quality of the matchmaking.
Starcraft I is ddefinitely a successful game, and what about his brother Starcraft 2? You will find it out.. now.
“IRVINE, Calif. — September 1, 2010 -– Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that StarCraft® II: Wings of Liberty™ has sold over 3 million copies worldwide in the first month of its release, building on the game’s momentum as the bestselling PC game of 2010 and the fastest-selling real-time strategy game of all time.*
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty was released simultaneously in North America, Europe, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau on July 27. With day-one sales topping 1 million copies, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty became the bestselling PC game of 2010 within its first 24 hours of availability. The game went on to sell more than 1.5 million copies in its first 48 hours, setting the record for fastest-selling strategy game of all time, and has won numerous critical accolades, including multiple editor’s choice awards from major gaming publications.
“We appreciate all the enthusiasm that players around the world have shown for StarCraft II,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “It was important to us to deliver an overall gameplay experience that was accessible, balanced, and fun, and it’s been gratifying to see how strongly the global community has already embraced the game.”
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is the sequel to Blizzard Entertainment’s 1998 hit StarCraft, which has been hailed by players and critics worldwide as one of the top real-time strategy games of all time. Sporting a vibrant 3D-graphics engine, StarCraft II once again centers on the clash between the protoss, terrans, and zerg, with each side deploying legions of veteran, upgraded, and new unit types. Unparalleled online play for StarCraft II is available through a new version of Battle.net®, Blizzard Entertainment’s world-renowned gaming service. Battle.net has been redesigned from the ground up to be the premier online gaming destination for Blizzard gamers, with several enhancements and new features, such as voice communication, cloud file storage, leagues and ladders, achievements, stat-tracking, and more.
The solo campaign for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty continues the epic saga where it left off in StarCraft: Brood War®. The story line chronicles the exploits of marshal-turned-rebel-leader Jim Raynor and features both familiar faces and new heroes. Players are able to tailor the experience, choosing their own mission path and selecting technology and research upgrades to suit their playing style throughout the 29-mission campaign. Several challenge-mode mini-games are also included, with focused goals designed to ease players into the basics of multiplayer strategies.”
Source: blizzard.com.
Balance Changes
There will be several balance changes in sc2 patch 1.1. One general change is that friendly units will no longer provide vision after being killed. Enemy units previously revealed will no longer be targetable. Now let’s break down the additional balance changes we’re implementing.
Maps
We’re going to be adding destructible rocks to the Desert Oasis map to make natural expansions easier to protect. In addition, the center map watchtower area is being narrowed.
Protoss
We have two key changes in mind for the zealot: the build time is being increased from 33 to 38 seconds, and the warpgate cooldown is being increased from 23 to 28 seconds. Zealot rushes are currently too powerful at various skill levels, particularly those that rely on rapidly assaulting an enemy base from nearby “proxy” gateways. We feel the window players have to scout for and fend off this rush is too small. We also want to address the problem of protoss being able to dump minerals a bit too quickly with the combination of warpgates and Chrono Boost.
Terran
There are several changes in the works for terrans. Reapers against zerg are stronger than expected. Due to the zealot build time increase, reapers would be a bit problematic in combination with proxy barracks, bunkers, and/or marauders against protoss. Therefore, we have decided to increase the build time of reapers as well from 40 to 45 seconds. Fast reaper + bunker, or fast marine + bunker rushes are problematic against zerg. Although this rush would never outright destroy the zerg player, we feel zerg suffers too much of a disadvantage from either having to cancel the fast expansion, or getting trapped inside the main base for too long, so we are also increasing the bunker build time from 30 to 35 seconds.
Siege tanks in large numbers are performing too well in all matchups. In the mid- to late-game, siege tanks are too dominant against all ground units. We want a small set of light and unarmored ground units to perform better against siege tanks. With this in mind, we’re changing the Siege Mode damage of the siege tank from 50 to 35, +15 vs. armored; to correspond with this, damage upgrades will be changed from +5 to +3, +2 vs. armored. This change reduces the base damage of the siege tank against light and unarmored units, as well as the splash damage.
Battlecruisers currently lack good counters from the ground and still perform very well against a wide array of unit types. We’re aware that it is not easy to get battlecruisers out for the cost, but at the same time, it is possible in both 1v1s and team games to create stalemate situations to bring them out. Overall, we feel that battlecruisers are too strong for their cost, and the terran-forced stalemate situations are causing less interesting gameplay. We will be lowering their damage against ground units from 10 to 8.
Zerg
Ultralisk damage is being decreased from 15, +25 vs. armored to 15, +20 vs. armored. This reduction is comparable to the changes being made to the battlecruiser and siege tank. Like the battlecruiser, ultralisks are simply too powerful for the cost, even though they are difficult to muster. Also, in combination with other units, ultralisks are difficult to counter from the ground. The ultralisk building attack (Ram) is being removed because the damage rate is too similar to its normal attack, which will be used against buildings instead. When ultralisks target tightly packed smaller buildings such as supply depots, the Ram attack is actually outputting considerably less overall damage than its normal attack, as Ram only hits a single target.
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty may have just come out but it’s never too soon to think about what’s next. There isn’t a lot of information on StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, but we do know some things.
Is it a new game or an expansion?
Blizzard intends for Heart of the Swarm to be an expansion for Wings of Liberty. Blizzard’s Rob Pardo explained in a Q&A last year, “Right now, the plans are to do something along the lines of a full single player campaign and some additional features to the multiplayer side… we’re looking at much more of an expansion-like feature set.” Blizzard confirmed that to Kotaku today, explaining that Heart of the Swarm can be thought of as expansions, stocked with a campaign that is as substantial as Wings of Liberty’s but with new content for multiplayer and a different metagame.
Will Wings of Liberty owners be able to play against Heart of the Swarm players?
One school of thought is that, despite the three games having different campaigns, the multiplayer sections of all three StarCraft II releases would be compatible with each other. That’s not the case. A Blizzard representative told us to expect separate multiplayer ladders for Heart of the Swarm, similar to how StarCraft Brood War had a separate multiplayer ladder from the original StarCraft.
According to the Executive Vice President of Blizzard Entertainment, Rob Pardo siad that : in muti-palyer mode, Heart of the Swarm would join new units like the first game Brood War, but those units in Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty wouldn’t be modified and no new race would be joint.
What will it be about?
This installment in the StarCraft II trilogy will pick up at the end of Wings of Liberty and focus on the Zerg and their quest to develop an empire. The campaign will center on the infested Kerrigan’s quest for power through mutations. The more power she has, the more Zerg she can control. The single-player is planned to play a bit differently than Wings of Liberty but we’re not quite sure how yet. Lead designer Dustin Browder proposed that the player might use the Zerg armies to protect Kerrigan on the battlefield while she gains more power. This would imply it will have more of a RPG twist, similar to Warcraft III.
When will it be out?
No one can be sure yet but it is looking like it could be out in early 2012, based on an estimation of 18 months from the release of Wings of Liberty from lead producer Chris Sigaty. Blizzard won’t nail this down, of course. They’re not big on promising release dates this far out.
