Blizzard made me depressed.
Here I was, helping them to beta test HotS, when I clicked somewhere I’d never clicked before. My profile. What I saw there shocked me, brought me through the various stages of denial, ultimately ending with depression.
They showed me the total number of games played, 90. So far so good. But then they also showed me how many games I won, 40. The bastards!
For I am trained in arithmetic. My brain couldn’t help but subtracting the latter from the former. I had lost 50 games! Blizzard, is this your subtle way of insulting me? I am a delicate flower, who plays SC2 for the escape, for the fantasy. I do not play to do math and to relive the horror of losing a StarCraft game. But to multiply that loss fifty times over! Shame on you!
What’s worse, I’m also trained in ratios and fractions. I can’t help but now have the knowledge that I’ve only won 44% of the time, despite my best efforts! Woe is me! I’m a failure at the one thing I ever loved …
Or maybe I slice my sarcasm too thick, and Blizzard could treat us all like the adults, average aged 35, big boys that we are, save us the math, and post the meaningful statistics right there in the UI.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
3 Gate WaitCraft
StarCraft is one of those games that’s so big and so epic, there’s more than one way to play it. Some prefer the campaign. Others, 4v4 battles. Still, some prefer custom games. Me? I only ever do 1v1.
That’s right. Every time click the StarCraft 2 icon on my desktop, I do it to que for the 1v1 ladder.
What I noticed the other day is how many obstacles or “gates” there are between me and StarCraft.
Step one, double click the desktop icon. Wait for the game to load.
Step two, enter my password. Wait for the game to load again.
Step three, various clicks to start my usual 1v1 multiplayer. Wait for opponent to be found.
Step four, final loading screen wait.
Basically, you wait for the game to load (or an opponent to be found) four times! That seems kind of steep to me. I mean, sure, it’s nice to see Kerigan's smoking bod. Her breasts are perfect, who would ever get tired of looking at those? And yeah, StarCraft is a complicated game. It NEEDS those loading screens. I mean, maybe one day the technology will be there to let us click on an icon and play our usual SC2 game in one simple step. But hey, it’s only 2012. This is only a major release by Blizzard/Activision. Four waiting times, I’m sure, is the absolute minimum possible number of waits that can separate a SC2 player from his usual game. Maybe they'll get around to it when we buy the game for the third time in 2014.
One day, computers will be able to predict our choice. Or allow us to pick the options on a quick-loading, initial screen. But until then, the millions of StarCraft players all over the world will just have to wait … and wait … and wait … and wait … to play.
That’s right. Every time click the StarCraft 2 icon on my desktop, I do it to que for the 1v1 ladder.
What I noticed the other day is how many obstacles or “gates” there are between me and StarCraft.
Step one, double click the desktop icon. Wait for the game to load.
Step two, enter my password. Wait for the game to load again.
Step three, various clicks to start my usual 1v1 multiplayer. Wait for opponent to be found.
Step four, final loading screen wait.
Basically, you wait for the game to load (or an opponent to be found) four times! That seems kind of steep to me. I mean, sure, it’s nice to see Kerigan's smoking bod. Her breasts are perfect, who would ever get tired of looking at those? And yeah, StarCraft is a complicated game. It NEEDS those loading screens. I mean, maybe one day the technology will be there to let us click on an icon and play our usual SC2 game in one simple step. But hey, it’s only 2012. This is only a major release by Blizzard/Activision. Four waiting times, I’m sure, is the absolute minimum possible number of waits that can separate a SC2 player from his usual game. Maybe they'll get around to it when we buy the game for the third time in 2014.
One day, computers will be able to predict our choice. Or allow us to pick the options on a quick-loading, initial screen. But until then, the millions of StarCraft players all over the world will just have to wait … and wait … and wait … and wait … to play.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
RvR is Popular Now?
Random vs random is easily the rarest matchup. It would have to be, what with random being the most seldom used race. While I am a random player, it used to be days and weeks in between random vs random matches.
All that seems to have changed in just the past few days.
I don’t know why, but I’ve been having random vs random games like it’s nobody’s business. Every day, multiple times a day. It makes me wonder what the cause is? One player suggested that he’s simply playing beta for the Lols. But I have the feeling that Day9 must have asked people to play random. Or that some other similar event has caused people to start playing random.
I will say this, Blizzard makes it fun to play random. While we haven’t received a separate MMR for each race, in HotS, we do get separate ranks for each race. I used to think that Zerg was my best race. But according to the new leveling system, Zerg is actually my worst race and I play Protoss best. Thanks Blizzard!
All that seems to have changed in just the past few days.
I don’t know why, but I’ve been having random vs random games like it’s nobody’s business. Every day, multiple times a day. It makes me wonder what the cause is? One player suggested that he’s simply playing beta for the Lols. But I have the feeling that Day9 must have asked people to play random. Or that some other similar event has caused people to start playing random.
I will say this, Blizzard makes it fun to play random. While we haven’t received a separate MMR for each race, in HotS, we do get separate ranks for each race. I used to think that Zerg was my best race. But according to the new leveling system, Zerg is actually my worst race and I play Protoss best. Thanks Blizzard!
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Yes Virginia, Pros Bunker Rush
One of the most entertaining aspects of SC2 for me, is the shit that the players talk. Maybe I get more of this because I play as random, but take the circumstance of rushes. If I roll terran and I decide to bunker rush, I’m always labelled a cheeser and a noob.
Here I was, thinking that bunker rushing was a standard tactic. I’ve seen it done countless times by pros. I have always considered it an almost ‘always good’ strategy in TvZ. Unless the map is prohibitively big, I’ll bunker rush a zerg without even thinking. I’ll fake a bunker rush, just to make him waste mining time. I’ll fake a bunker rush just to throw him off of his game.
Then I turn to twitch.tv and watch some Korean claiming to be the #1 Terran in the world. I see him in the middle of a game where he’s obviously winning -- and bunker rushing a protoss!
Then it hit me … you can bunker rush a protoss. The exact winning strategies that draw the most shit talking, are the same things that the top pros are doing.
So that got it in my head that I want to bunker rush a protoss.
Next game I random TvP, I go for a blind 2xrax bunker rush strategy. Turns out this guy was going for a fast expand building layout. I wound up winning that game, easy.
Moral of the story? The next time someone tells you what a noob cheater you are, he just might not have any fucking clue what he’s talking about.
Friday, November 23, 2012
24/24 Workers
I want to write a post celebrating Blizzard for a very minor change. There’s a good chance this change has been around the entire beta, and I’ve only just noticed it. I’m talking about the worker counter.
Click on a Nexus, Hatchery, or Command Center in HotS and you’ll see the most wonderful improvement to StarCraft since Dark Swarm. You’ll see a counter listing the number of workers mining, as a ratio to the maximum number of efficient workers. It looks something like:
14/24
This solves the greatest StarCraft mystery on my mind. How many workers is enough? Before this feature, I honestly had no idea. Answering the question of how many workers I should have mining had raised even greater philosophical questions to me. What is knowledge? Is that post I read on Team Liquid’s forums accurate? When HDStarCraft said otherwise, who is correct?
In one simple mouse over, Blizzard has laid the issue to rest. What’s even better about this feature is that the ratio changes, based on the number of mineral patches. If you mine out a patch, the number will change to look something more like 24/21. So it even helps you to micromanage that awkward in between number of workers mining as you’re playing longer macro games.
I played a set of three games the other day, keeping this information close to my heart, and I played LIKE A GOD! For once, I could make just enough workers. I have a feeling what I had been calling ‘saturation’ was actually under saturated.
My first game, a ZvZ, I was able to saturate two bases PERFECTLY, then switch immediately to a Stephano style max roach rush ftw!
Game two, a PvZ, I was able to saturate one base before launching the popular sentry-immortal attack, again ftw!
Game three, a TvZ, I was able to saturate two bases like a boss, and push a maxed thor-marine army, ftw and a hat trick.
Blizzard, let’s spread awareness of your best, most cost effective improvement, ever. If you’ve helped me, then you’ve helped hundreds, nay, thousands of gamers to take their StarCraft play to the next level.
Click on a Nexus, Hatchery, or Command Center in HotS and you’ll see the most wonderful improvement to StarCraft since Dark Swarm. You’ll see a counter listing the number of workers mining, as a ratio to the maximum number of efficient workers. It looks something like:
14/24
This solves the greatest StarCraft mystery on my mind. How many workers is enough? Before this feature, I honestly had no idea. Answering the question of how many workers I should have mining had raised even greater philosophical questions to me. What is knowledge? Is that post I read on Team Liquid’s forums accurate? When HDStarCraft said otherwise, who is correct?
In one simple mouse over, Blizzard has laid the issue to rest. What’s even better about this feature is that the ratio changes, based on the number of mineral patches. If you mine out a patch, the number will change to look something more like 24/21. So it even helps you to micromanage that awkward in between number of workers mining as you’re playing longer macro games.
I played a set of three games the other day, keeping this information close to my heart, and I played LIKE A GOD! For once, I could make just enough workers. I have a feeling what I had been calling ‘saturation’ was actually under saturated.
My first game, a ZvZ, I was able to saturate two bases PERFECTLY, then switch immediately to a Stephano style max roach rush ftw!
Game two, a PvZ, I was able to saturate one base before launching the popular sentry-immortal attack, again ftw!
Game three, a TvZ, I was able to saturate two bases like a boss, and push a maxed thor-marine army, ftw and a hat trick.
Blizzard, let’s spread awareness of your best, most cost effective improvement, ever. If you’ve helped me, then you’ve helped hundreds, nay, thousands of gamers to take their StarCraft play to the next level.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Score Screen Bug
StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm bug.
This is another minor issue I’ve been having. It seems to come at random. But after finishing a multiplayer game, I will drop back to the score screen. In HotS, the score screen is a sort of a window that appears over the normal user interface. However, this window often displays no info whatsoever. That is, other than a small spinning circle, which usually indicates that it’s “loading.” However, the load never arrives.
Some games the information will be there. Other’s just a spinning circle.
This is another minor issue I’ve been having. It seems to come at random. But after finishing a multiplayer game, I will drop back to the score screen. In HotS, the score screen is a sort of a window that appears over the normal user interface. However, this window often displays no info whatsoever. That is, other than a small spinning circle, which usually indicates that it’s “loading.” However, the load never arrives.
Some games the information will be there. Other’s just a spinning circle.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Mothership Core vs FFE wall
l'm playing the Beta of HotS and I’m still loving it. However, I’m also still experiencing a bug where, when I play as random, my icon at the loading screen is displayed as Protoss. Unlike other posts I’ve read on the official StarCraft forums, The icon does not necessarily display the race I will spawn as.
I’d also like to talk for a bit about Blizzard’s most recent change, adding their version of the neutral supply depot at the base of the ramp. It’s unclear whether they did this to allow zerg to more easily defend a cannon rush at the bottom of their ramp, or to discourage the ease with which protoss can FFE.
But there is a big balance issue at stake here. Before, not only could a protoss FFE, it was standard in their vZ matchups. Now it’s much more problematic. But let us not forget that protoss also has the mothership core. I believe Blizzard’s reasoning is that the fast mothership core will make up for the fact that Protoss can’t as easily wall off their ramp like they did before. It also encourages protoss to get their first cannon up faster to then destroy the rocks.
I’ll have to play a few more games to really get the feel for it, but I think Blizzard is doing a good job of keeping up their balance. Sure, it changes the entire dynamic of openers in the game. But if they’re going to give the toss such a powerful unit at the beginning of the game, I think it’s fair that they have a weakness to go with it.
I’d also like to talk for a bit about Blizzard’s most recent change, adding their version of the neutral supply depot at the base of the ramp. It’s unclear whether they did this to allow zerg to more easily defend a cannon rush at the bottom of their ramp, or to discourage the ease with which protoss can FFE.
But there is a big balance issue at stake here. Before, not only could a protoss FFE, it was standard in their vZ matchups. Now it’s much more problematic. But let us not forget that protoss also has the mothership core. I believe Blizzard’s reasoning is that the fast mothership core will make up for the fact that Protoss can’t as easily wall off their ramp like they did before. It also encourages protoss to get their first cannon up faster to then destroy the rocks.
I’ll have to play a few more games to really get the feel for it, but I think Blizzard is doing a good job of keeping up their balance. Sure, it changes the entire dynamic of openers in the game. But if they’re going to give the toss such a powerful unit at the beginning of the game, I think it’s fair that they have a weakness to go with it.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
BattleNET 2.0!
I just finished spending a few games with the updated Battle.net for StarCraft 2 Heart of the Swarm. Let me tell you, I was blown away.
I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting. But it certainly wasn’t a complete redesign. The first thing you’ll notice when you play HotS now, is Kerrigan. She’s front and center of the screen, tits bulging out of her ghost uniform, looking sexy and she knows it with all the special effects and zergy dreadlocks.
If anything I was ever so slightly disappointed by this, as I was tempted to click on the woman, and clicking her does nothing. Until I clicked on one of the buttons -- then she did some kind of animation before the screen changed. I can’t emphasise this enough, but everything looks awesome! The buttons, the eye candy, it was all top notch.
Personal to me is the addition of the unranked ladder. I was happy to see that they did away with the checkbox for ranked games that was in the older version, and now we have a whole other button to push.
Right after hitting the button to play my first game, I noticed my first bug. There I was, playing my first match, a qualifier to determine my league. I play as random, had selected random, but when the loading screen came up, it drew a Protoss icon next to my name. I haven’t played protoss for months. So this might have thrown off my opponent or not -- he didn’t seem to notice. But take note Blizzard, that icon should have been the random one. In subsequent games, the icon displayed correctly.
Once in the game, the eye candy didn’t stop. As I’m sure you’ve seen in other youtube videos, the in game death animations have all been updated. Blowing your opponent away has never been more fun!
If anything, here is where the first actual adjustment takes place. In a game of mine, after some probe kills, I mistook one of piles of dead probes for a living probe. Not a big problem, not much of anything really. But definately worth mentioning that the new frag gibs will take a bit of getting used to.
Also, shortly after when I typed gg, I realized I had no idea where the surrender button is. Turns out my usual F10 didn’t seem to work, and the menu button is no longer in the upper left. It’s now in the lower right hand corner of the screen. Good to know.
Let me make one thing clear. The value of buying HotS, IMHO, is in this update alone. I only play SC2 for the multiplayer and as far as I’m concerned, they made me very happy. I’m looking forward to playing more in the future. Thanks Blizzard!
I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting. But it certainly wasn’t a complete redesign. The first thing you’ll notice when you play HotS now, is Kerrigan. She’s front and center of the screen, tits bulging out of her ghost uniform, looking sexy and she knows it with all the special effects and zergy dreadlocks.
If anything I was ever so slightly disappointed by this, as I was tempted to click on the woman, and clicking her does nothing. Until I clicked on one of the buttons -- then she did some kind of animation before the screen changed. I can’t emphasise this enough, but everything looks awesome! The buttons, the eye candy, it was all top notch.
Personal to me is the addition of the unranked ladder. I was happy to see that they did away with the checkbox for ranked games that was in the older version, and now we have a whole other button to push.
Right after hitting the button to play my first game, I noticed my first bug. There I was, playing my first match, a qualifier to determine my league. I play as random, had selected random, but when the loading screen came up, it drew a Protoss icon next to my name. I haven’t played protoss for months. So this might have thrown off my opponent or not -- he didn’t seem to notice. But take note Blizzard, that icon should have been the random one. In subsequent games, the icon displayed correctly.
Once in the game, the eye candy didn’t stop. As I’m sure you’ve seen in other youtube videos, the in game death animations have all been updated. Blowing your opponent away has never been more fun!
If anything, here is where the first actual adjustment takes place. In a game of mine, after some probe kills, I mistook one of piles of dead probes for a living probe. Not a big problem, not much of anything really. But definately worth mentioning that the new frag gibs will take a bit of getting used to.
Also, shortly after when I typed gg, I realized I had no idea where the surrender button is. Turns out my usual F10 didn’t seem to work, and the menu button is no longer in the upper left. It’s now in the lower right hand corner of the screen. Good to know.
Let me make one thing clear. The value of buying HotS, IMHO, is in this update alone. I only play SC2 for the multiplayer and as far as I’m concerned, they made me very happy. I’m looking forward to playing more in the future. Thanks Blizzard!
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