I just got the beta after keeping an eye on the game for a long time. I was delighted by the way SC2 felt the same, yet different. A good balance has been struck between new and old. Except for the top tier units. The ultralisk is virtually unchanged, unless you count being able to burrow a big deal (which I suppose it could be). Any kind of ability would make the unit much more interesting to use. It's not even that powerful for it's cost. It looks cool, but I don't want to have to build a unit because it looks cool, I'd like to build it because it has a use in my army. The battlecruiser is an even bigger offender because it originally had so many cool abilities planned. Now here we are, back with it only having the yamato cannon and an attack that looks like it's hurting the enemy with bee strings, not a high power laser battery. I understand most of these things were changed in the name of balance, but right now the battlecruiser seems ridiculously weak for it's cost and tech level. The carrier is fine to me, because it's still serves it's specific function well: A protoss air unit that can attack from long ranges for good damage. It remains unchanged (mostly) but still fulfills a needed niche. The mothership, however, seems so boring. A rehashed arbiter, horray! Recall, cloaking field, and...I guess we'll change statsis field a little so it looks like we did SOME work. Same deal with the battlecruiserl; they already had cool stuff lined up for this unit, and then scrapped it. Balance is great...so is variety and micromanagment of abilities. I'm sure a happy medium can be found without turning the top tier units into ability-less combat units or almost straight copies from the original SC. Some good ideas I've heard for the units: Ultralisk, let it walk over allied units (or maybe enemy units too) so it's large size isn't a huge disadvantage in battle when it is manuevering, and it can actually do it's job (tanking on the front lines). Battlecruiser, bring back some of the old abilities. Carrier, have the interceptors suicide on carrier death for minor splash damage. Mothership, take a look at the old abilities again. Anyone else feel the same way, or am I nit-picking too much?
You are nit-picking a little but you do make some good points too. With so many good tier 1 and 2 units. Most people are like yeah lets use those to get the job done. Sure tier 3 are better, bigger and badder. But they cost the earth to mass. So most people don't have a need to use them. I think Blizzard needs to make tier 3 in such a way that people want to tech up to them.
In all my games I've never even seen someone use a tier 3 unit (save colosuss, which I think is an excellant example of how to make a high tier unit, and one game where the guy tried to rush carriers), even when the game has gone on for awhile. You're right, the8thark, the cost is probably the primary factor in limiting these units (also the build times on them are pretty insane). So you have these units that take tons of time and resources. The solution would be to only use a few of them...but with the ultralisk and battlecruiser need their techs researched to be truly effective (and yet still not effective enough...), so is it worth researching the costly techs for units you would only use 1 or 2 of?
The carrier and ultra are down right horrible, unless its a BSy game where you have your opponent contained and kill him in a "fun way". Doesn't help that many advanced Tier 3 units are countered by basic tier 1 units. The only outlier is the Broodlord, which uber-own pretty much anything on the ground without exception.
I havn't really had enough experience with carriers to make a judgement on them. Brood lords seem pretty ridiculous, but maybe that's what a tier 3 unit should be. Too bad none of the others are.
yeah, mothership is just way too arbiter-y. it needs some unique skills. BRING BACK PLANET CRACKER! or at least let it recharge other protoss units' energy (making sentries and high temps more powerful). or make it a mobile shield battery. SOMETHING. it's just totally not worth it- i rarely ever see games where a player builds a mothership and wins... it's a waste of money. it's not even as good as an arbiter because it's slower and you can't hallucinate it.
Agreed the mothership costs more then a nexus. And the nexus is more useful for a new expansion or another point of use for that "building speed up thingy" I forget what it's called.
Chrono Boost. You have to be leading seriously to make it worth the time, and if you hadnt gotten the mothership, you could instead have made one Immortal and three sentries, which is a little bit more agile.
I agree totally but my last game was just such one of these BS games. We attacked each other till in the end he had a few drones and was remaking all his bases from scratch. Cause I destroyed them. And all I had was a few worthless buildings a nexus 3 observers and 18 carriers. I had a lot of units but I was way in the red for unit supply. So this besically became a race. He sent every zergling he could at my nexus. And at the same time I sent one carrier and one observer against his hatcheries and he'd build them as fast as I destroyed them. But he thought he could get to my nexus with 17 carriers parked ontop of it with zergling rushes. It was so funny. He had like 50 zerglings at one time do a rush of my nexus and my nexus didn't get a scratch . In large numbers carriers are a wall of death. But no good player would let you have the free time to get a lot of them. You'd be rushed many times before you could get them.
Ninja, I agree with pretty much everything you say. One thing though, doesn't the ultra have splash now? Or was that taken out? I suppose even then; splash was just making a teir3 unit a mass teir1 counter. Further devalued by the loss of the only Terran melee unit. Huh, wtf were ultras really good for in SC1 anyways?
