With the recent release of the new HOTS Beta, it's all anyone in the StarCraft 2 scene seems to be talking about anymore.
On that note, I would like to talk about it. Specifically, the WarHound.
Word on the interwebs is that this WarHound is the new imba. In a recent steam I heard "Nobody knows how to deal with them, yet."
I was lucky enough to catch one of the IPL Casts live on twitch.tv. Kevin "CatsPajamas" Knocke (@kevinknocke) made my day when he took my request for his unit tester. I asked to see Marauders vs WarHounds.
This wasn't just a random request either. Days earlier, trolling the official StarCraft 2 forums, I heard rants to the effect of 'Why is Blizz making a new unit for vs. armored units. That's what marauders are for.' My thoughts exactly. The WarHound seems eerily similar to a superfluous ground based vs. armored unit, a role that is already being fulfilled by a unit. Which is why I asked to see them both go head to head.
First run, they simply made a bunch of each unit vs each other. The WarHounds won easily. But next I request even resources, which I consider to be a better measure of a unit than say, even supply. I believe, at even resources, the marauders won by a single, low hp unit. This was a simple, A-move test. Which means that with micro and stim, the marauders would win every time.
Why again, are WarHounds in the game, Blizzard? The one thing I'm still not sure about is the specifics of the WarHound's attack vs non-armored units. But judging from teh HOTS games I've seen livecast and on youtube, I'd say the WarHound is destined to have a nerf.
The one question I'd really liked answered (that almost certainly never will be) is: Is Blizzard making more units to sell us, or are they actually filling holes 'n new roles?