It is ironic that, being in Platinum, I was subject to 4 defeats in a row, from cannon rushes. A further 2 defeats later, due to 6 pools, And all in one day? That was me relegated to Gold. Being back in Gold, I was subject to very few cannon rushes, a couple 6 pools... most games deteriorated into lengthy wars of attrition. I also fended off quite a few 5 and 7 roach rushes.
About three weeks of playing at Gold, I seem to have gotten used to this new patch. In the last four days I won 18 out of 22 games and I guess the ~4:1 win ratio was enough to put me back up to Platinum... So here I am, back in Platinum and I'm feeling great... I feel like if I can continue this recent winning spree, I might even fancy myself a low-level Diamond player for a little while!
So, what happens? I play 5 games in Platinum and four of them turn out to be 6 pools and cannon rushes. Why is it that this cheese is lingering around literally, like a mouldy old piece of Stilton? Why were my most enjoyable games ever played in Gold, and not in Platinum?
I play Random... my strongest race is most probably Protoss - since I enjoy Sentry forcefields, Blink stalkers and chargelot micro. Coupling these units with some unique pylon placement and Warp-Prism harassment means I almost always have the upper hand economically, which ends up in a transition to Collosi or High/Dark Templar into Archons. GG.
Second strongest race, I would have to say is Zerg. I almost always play an economic opening - going for a 14 pool, or even 12 at the earliest. I find Zerg to be really underpowered when fighting against Terran and Protoss. I have to resort to Nydus Worms (very costly in terms of Gas) to damage their economy, and that is only to be on a level footing. My favourite technique is creatively using littering banelings around the map behind vision blockers and on top of ramps... It really does wonders to the "attack-move" MMM-BioBall. My record, I think, has been when 7 Banelings killed around 25 Marines and 2 Marauders... Those Medivacs sure looked kinda pointless.
So, Protoss strongest, Zerg second... Where does this leave Terran? I hate playing Terran. I find them far too easy. This is not me being arrogant, I simply do not feel challenged when I get Terran. Three or four barracks, a planetary fortress on Gold, dropping a handful of Mules... a couple scans here and there.. Siege tanks to stop anything getting close... Point-Defence Drones, for the player who doesn't like taking damage... It frustrates me. The two things I do enjoy as Terran, is a delayed Banshee with Cloak, or a delayed 4-strong squad of Reapers. But, this is just to practice my micro - I really do not need the economic advantage that these units give me.
Where has this all been going? Well, I am glad you've read this far - since this where I get bored of recanting my tales of journeying through middle-earth and fending off nazguls... Just checking you're still paying attention... no seriously... Here is what I think:
Hydralisks are too slow and too fragile to be a Tier 2 unit. Roaches have been heavily, heavily nerfed during beta. They went from regenerating really quickly above ground and having two armour... to regenerating slightly quickly underground, one armour and also moving a hell of a lot (30%, to be precise) slower underground... What's more, Burrow is a Tier 2 research now. So my Tier 1 unit doesn't get to have any of it's regenerative bonuses until I after I get my Lair.
The Queen is a goddamn requirement to function as a Zerg player. Not only this, but each hatchery you possess pretty much NEEDS a queen to be a viable investment. And I won't get into the whole APM argument here, since that is not the point I want to make, but it is relevant. Let's compare the Queen and her two abilities Spawn Larvae and Creep Tumors to the Terran and Protoss equivalents, Chronoboost and Mules/Scans/Supply Drops respectively (we will ignore Transfusion, since this is only viable if you have MORE than 1 queen per hatchery).
Spawn Larvae has a cooldown and requires a handful of excessive Overlords to be 100% useful. Mules require no supply, and also, have no cool-down. A mule harvests minerals at 6x the rate at which an SCV does, and can also mine a fully saturated mineral patch - as in, if 3 SCV's are harvesting a patch, the MULE can harvest at the same time. Chronoboost, I will be lenient on, because Protoss do infact need a speed-boost for most of their Tech and Units... But, once Warpgate is finished and a second Nexus is going up - they really are spoilt for choice on what they want to 'Operation CWAL' into completion. Drop a couple Forges, and you can have 3,1,2 or 2,2,2 upgrades in very little time at all.
How is Spawning Larvae to contend with these two (completely free) abilities? People often tell me, that Zerg are cheap since they get map-control and therefore more bases easily. The 300 cost for a Hatchery is less than justified, since a Hatchery only gives 2 supply - a Command Center and a Nexus both give +12 and +10 (respectively, I think). So, you factor in the Overlord cost, and let's not forget about the mandatory Queen... This means that a Zerg expanstion requires 550 minerals to be on par with a Terran or Protoss Expansion. And, our hatcheries do not continually build up energy to unleash a storm of MULES on a Gold Expansion for example... Neither do they give us the ability to speed up our Lair>Spire>Hive>Greater Spire>Corrupter>Broodlord (which is just a ridiculous tech path, in my opinion)...
I often complain that Hydralisks are far too slow, when I mention that Stimpack completely destroys the viability of Banelings in a head-on encounter.. people tell me to spread creep... spread creep? Are you joking? I'm too busy trying to play here! I find it VERY interesting that Blizzard have given massive health bonuses to all Zerg buildings, but our little Creep-Tumors are still 25 hitpoints (I think). This leads me on to my next complaint about Detectors. Terrans already get their Com-Sat scan-sweep... They get Ravens too! With their point-defence drones, your slowdralisks can pretty much nuke themselves... The Protoss Observer, although a Starcraft 1 Classic, gives far too much advantage to an already powerful race... Starcraft 2 is very much about information, scouting, countering and knowing what your opponent is up to.
What do the Zerg get? An Overlord, costing you 100 minerals, and then let's give this Overlord, and ONLY this overlord Detection. For another 50 minerals and 100 gas. So that's 150 Minerals and 100 Gas for our detector, which also gives us our 8 supply. Okay, we get 'Spawn Changeling'... Any player with eyes can tell that that Marine, Zergling or Zealot doesn't belong to them. So, for Zerg, the most reactionary race in Starcraft 2, we have the most penalties incurred for attempting to scout. Losing a 50 Minerals and 100 Gas (I think) Observer is a no-biggie for a Protoss Player. What's more, their invisibility pretty much garauntee's them to harvest some valuable scouting information. Most units are dying for a chance to blow an overlord or overseer out of the sky and supply block the Zerg.
Right, I've reached my limit of 1400 word limit for this topic. I'm going to wrap it up now...
I would like to see ATLEAST 25 to 50% of the following things implemented in a Patch BEFORE Heart of the Swarm:
- Infestors - can now cast Neural Parasite while Burrowed / alternatively, casting Neural Parasite causes the Infestor to burrow again afterwards, retaining control of the target unit.
- Hydralisks - now have 100 hitpoints / alternatively, start with Range 6 attack and get a Speed Upgrade instead.
- Burrow - is now a Tier 1 upgrade from the Hatchery.
- Overlords - gain +50 hitpoints and +1 armour
- Overseers - gain +75 hitpoints and +2 armour
- Lairs - Have a limit of 7 Larvae produced naturally (without Queen)
- Hives - Have a limit of 9 Larvae produced naturally (without Queen)
- Alternatively Queens now cost 100 or are produced from somewhere other than a Hatchery/Hive. Maybe Spawning Pool?
If you didn't read all of this, please do not comment. I am not trying to be arrogant or whatever, but a TL:DR comment is not conducive to the health and vitality of a discussion I hope to create. If you think this is a wall of text, i suggest you leave. Do you read a book and think, nahh wall of text after the first paragraph? I have tried very hard to punctuate and keep this structured. Furthermore, I may only be a Gold/Platinum level player and you may (by all rights) retort that Blizzard beleive Zerg to be optimally balanced at the Diamond level... But, why then is there such an animosity against Terrans? Why do Terrans hate it when someone 6-pools them? Why does a photon-cannon rush end in Idra-esque cursing and swearing?
The answer I beleive answers many of these questions is that Blizzard have created too much complexity in the Zerg gameplay mechanic and now regret it. Their current stance is that "Zerg are Balanced for 20% of our player-base" (ie. in Diamond). What this translates to me as, is this: Zerg will only have major balance changes when Heart of the Swarm is released (and if you bought it). But let this final paragraph not influence the discussion here either. I do not want to flame blizzard more than necessary. Starcraft 2 is a simply awesome game, and is set for great things - balancing such a unique and vibrant game in a saturated genre such as RTS, is bound to be difficult.
Your turn, let us discuss, like men, what you think and feel are the current problems in Melee. Please reply to my thoughts and comments in a constructive way, and feel free to point out any errors you think I may have made.
Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Nov 5 2010, 1:52 am by Cardinal.
None.