StarCraft 2 Beta Patch 9

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Blizzard has released StarCraft 2 Beta Patch 9, which immediately sent all updated launchers into an update loop. Restarting the game simply starts the patching process all over again. In the interim, it also appears that Battle.net is down. So if you're one of the frustrated players, don't worry, you're not alone! Perhaps for the first time in 3 months those without a beta key aren't missing out!

The Marauder also got a re-buff which was badly needed. The Concussive Grenades upgrade has been reduced to only 50/50 cost and 60 seconds research time (same as WarpGate Tech without Chronos Boost). This should allow the Marauders to have the upgrade early enough to be effective against mass Zealots while coming late enough to stop the perceived Marauder rush problem.

The Infestor also got a buff with the damage of Infested Terrans now outpacing that of normal Marines (8 damage versus 6 for a Marine). Lastly, the Zerg Queen is now the slowest unit in the game when off Creep.

New 2v2 and 1v1 maps were also added, as well as Lost Temple and Metalopolis being removed. Why they did nothing to the incredibly unbalanced Kulas Ravine is beyond us!


In any case, here's the changelist:

StarCraft II Beta – Patch 9 (0.11.0.15097)
The latest patch notes can always be found on the StarCraft II Beta General Discussion forum.
General

• The StarCraft II Editor is now available!
  • Players will now be able to begin creating trigger maps in preparation for map publishing which will be made available in an upcoming beta patch.
• Achievements & Decals are now live!
  • Players will now be able to earn achievements, browse the list of available achievements, and view achievements earned by friends.
  • Earning certain achievements will unlock portrait and decal rewards.
• The updated Homepage now includes a Recent Broadcasts panel and a News & Community panel.
• A new Match History page is now available which will allow players to browse and filter their last 1,000 games played.
• A new Community page is now available which features an in-game version of RSS news feeds.
• A new Friends-of-Friends feature has been added, which allows players to easily find and connect with more real life friends on Battle.net through existing friends.
• Additional friends’ presence details are now available from the Friends’ list.
• Improvements have been made on the Voice Chat system in game.
  • Please use the new voice chat and provide feedback via the StarCraft II beta forums.
• The score screen now features a new graph tab.
• The art for many parts of the user interface has been updated.
• Hotkey templates have been added.

Balance Changes

• TERRAN
  • Marauder
    • Concussive Shells research cost decreased from 100/100 80 seconds to 50/50 60 seconds.
• PROTOSS
  • Immortal
    • Build time increased from 40 to 55.
• ZERG
  • Infested Terran
    • Damage increased from 5 to 8.
    • Speed decreased from 1.5 to 0.9375.
  • Queen
    • Speed off creep decreased from 1.5 to 0.938. (Speed on creep unchanged.)
  • Spine Crawler
    • Attack period decreased from 1.6 to 1.85.
  • Infestor
    • Neural Parasite range increased from 7 to 9.
    • Fungal Growth projectile removed; Units in the target area are now instantly hit.

Maps

• We've made a change to the (2)ScrapStation map to make the natural expansion easier to defend.
• New maps have been added to the ladder rotation while others have been removed as follows:
  • 1v1
    • Added (2)IncinerationZone
  • 2v2
    • Removed (4)LostTemple
    • Removed (4)Metalopolis
    • Added (4)AridWastes
    • Added (4)Coalition
    • Added (4)Decena
    • Added (4)ScorchedHaven

Source: Battle.net

Discuss This Article in the Forums!

 

Removed Lost Temple? :X

seems like the queen will hardly move while off creep at all now, maybe to get players to make creep highways sooner?

 

i know.. /sadface

actually guys a little update the patch has been released, im downloading it right now.. sadly i cant play it because i have to go to work.. damn oh well ill have lots of fun when i get off.

i think they removed lost temple to test the 4 new maps there adding, im exciting because one of them sounds lava-ey

 

spot on with the concussive shells upgrade but man, why removing LT and Metalopolis?!

Thanks Seradin for the timing update.

 

umh for some reason my downloader is stuck in a seemingly infinite loop of "successfully" finishing the patch and then restarting somewhere around half way complete finishing quickly.

i suppose ill just leave it doing this while i work then fix it when i get home if it doesnt fix it self, tried restarting it but it didnt do anything.

eventually it crashes itself and i have to restart it for it to do it again.. but it never downloads normally..

heres a video clip of it. http://www.livestream.com/seradinsc2/video?clipId=pla_ff625719-b142-4122-a192-bcca17367306

 

I'm not reading this until Jon has edited it.

On a more serious note I really think this is the best patch so far.
Does anybody know if your achivements are saved when the real game comes out on your b.net account???

 

I have three people at my apartment trying to download it once. Yay!

This patch is so huge that it's hard to say anything about it at all.

Galaxy Editor: YES!

Achievements!

Extended Match History! (Ignoring the fact that match histories have just been reset)

Graphs! We'll be abke to get a lot of good information out of endgame data, now.

Voice chat improvements! (maybe people will be able to hear me now.)

W-hotkey mass-change: Why are they changing Terran and Zerg keys for a Protoss hotkey...?

Infested Terrans possibly useful now. Previously, their low damage just didn't justify their use.
Neural Parasite no longer broken now that the Infestor doesn't have to be at the front lines to use it.

Four new maps!

Now for the download to finish....

 

Is it worth beeing an achievement wh*re?
Like in WoW I think when the beta there was out all your achievements where saved when you got the real game as well as your character I THINK.
Is it the same for SC2 Beta?
Still no answer!

 

I have the exact same problem, how to fix it??

 

Just give it a day.

 

Maybe they removed Lost Temple and Metalopolis because it was screwing up their stats.

Like how scrap station is a constant static stat for long gound vs short air.

While in Metalopolis it could be long ground/short air OR long ground/long air OR short ground/short air depeding on the start location.

Maybe the same thing for lost temple , but kind of a bit less..

Getting stats from Stepees of war is a constant good indicator for close battles, while Kulas Ravine a constant indicator for long distances.

KulasRavine would be equal since it's just a X shaped map but still...

I think they are doing a good move if the information parsing is too complex at that point. Stick to your plan Blizzard.

By the way anyone found pictures of the maps?

 

Yup, I haven't been able to play the beta at all yet. It's stuck no that same "Finishing patch" loop for the last 2 hours.

 

I also have the infinite loop bug, bummed I can't play yet.

 

You couldn't play anyways. Battle.net's down for maintenance.

If you want to you can use SC2Switcher.exe to by pass the launcher.

 

im also stuck in that infinate loop with the patch, please someone help me, i just got my key today and i can't play, that makes me a sad panda

 

Im in the same boat as you guys . Hopefully by the time I get home from work it'll be working.

The ladders are getting wiped right? I hope so, a few days ago I logged on and I had randomly been switched into a lower league. Then for a while I was back in my old league but with a lower score for some reason, then it had me do placement matches, then put me in the league it originally had randomly switched me to, in the same position.

Anyway I hope after this patch things will be working smoothly again like they were a week ago. Stoked to see what the achievements are going to be like.

 

the other bad thing about this loop, is that i have even unistalled, redownloaded, and reinstalled SC2 and it still happens :,(

 

Me THREE! Ive only played 1 game so far... major bummer.

 

i like the infestor changes. makes micro play a bit easier with the zerg. right now zerg is too macro-heavy, most players seem to just go roaches or muta/ling and attack en masse.

 

Patch loop = Blizzard silliness. Marauder = Bad, they are OP as is. Nerfing the queen and sunken crawlers was completely unnecessary. The infestor upgrades are really nice, though, and I cannot wait to try out the new maps.