Mysterious new HotS unit

Accname

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Zerg:
really like the new lurkers (however, if the locusts mess up the AI of the victims as much as broodlings do it i guess they will be imbalanced) and the changes to ultralisks were needed i think. Ultralisks have always been too fat to enter battle in my opinion.
If banelings can move while burrowed they wont get much more deadly as they already were when burrowed. All your enemy needs is still just detection. Will make the raven much more likely to be build now i guess.
The viper seems really nice, the asspull ability and the dark cloud from sc1 will be incredibly useful against protoss.
Think about the standard protoss deathball now being limited to melee attacks thanks to this ability. Imba.
Hydralisk speed upgrade? Huh? What eff. . .
No overseer? Huh? What eff. . .
No early game anti air? No massive queen? I am disappointed. . . What eff.

Protoss:
More and more air units as it seems. The oracle might be painful depending on the tech requirements. If it is a late game unit it wouldnt be too bad though. (Just imagine taking out a spawning pool in the early stages of the game o_O)
The tempest might not be as useful as it looks depending on its movement speed. If the mutalisks are still way faster it will be just like fighting a thor. But now in the air. Well maybe slightly harder for the zerg i guess.
That transformer-Orb-Like-Thingy might be tricky, depending on the cost.
If you transform it to a worker will you be able to build your enemies structures then?
No more motherships and Carriers? What will happen to the 4vs4 games now? T_T But i agree, they were not really used in 1vs1.
Nexus with mass recall and that other defensive ability Oo becoming an orbital without needing extra resources now huh?

Terran:
New Thor == Old Mothership.
Wont be used, period.
Hellions can morph to fire bugs. Funny. That was a good choice.
Battlecruisers can increase speed temporarily. Nice.
Ghosts cloak changed. What eff. No difference i guess.
Smaller version of the thor, thats nice i think. Mech will become much more viable now, i always thought the terran mech play was very weak against air.
And that last automaton-looking-whirlwind thingy. I guess it wont be too useful. You can not use it in combination with other friendly units. I guess you drop it inside the enemies mineral line or on a ramp or a xel-naga tower. Still not "really" useful.
Reapers can not throw bombs anymore, good for zergs which get bunker rushed. The terran race is now weaker against spinecrawlers in the early game.


Thats about it, anything i missed to rant about?
 

Bloodcount

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Zerg sounds really powerful. Maybe too powerful on ground, and not as much in the air ?

The new protoss units are cool. I just pray the oracle won't be too expensive. On theory they should be good, but question is how much will they cost ?


Terran sound really cool. I think thanks will be replaced by the whirlwing thingy.




Overall blizzard are giving us units that are full of abuses to utilise. This sounds like broodwar to me. ^_^
 

Accname

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I think that whirlwind-Thingy-Mech-Kind-Of-Thingy-Automaton-Like-Thingy is completely (or almost completely) useless.
It can only attack if no allied units are around. Do you think they will go out alone? With a single automaton-like-thingy? I dont think it will have too many hitpoints either to make this viable. Besides, ranged attacks will most likely kill it without problems.

But the other terran changes will be great i guess.

Well, besides the thor change, i think it will end up like the mothership, too much tech, and just imagine how they will rage when it gets neuraled.
 

s3rius

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I think that whirlwind-Thingy-Mech-Kind-Of-Thingy-Automaton-Like-Thingy is completely (or almost completely) useless.
It can only attack if no allied units are around. Do you think they will go out alone? With a single automaton-like-thingy? I dont think it will have too many hitpoints either to make this viable. Besides, ranged attacks will most likely kill it without problems.

But the other terran changes will be great i guess.

Well, besides the thor change, i think it will end up like the mothership, too much tech, and just imagine how they will rage when it gets neuraled.

I think they'll be used as forcefields and crowd control.
Basically you can:
Sneak them behind the enemy to stop their retreat.
Use them as shields and to block ramps.
Put them down to somewhat safely escape.

I also think they'll have a decent amount of hp. They're really supposed to take the place of destructible forcefields.
I find the idea of the unit itself as a bit questionable. It drifts more into the "comic" section of starcraft. But the unit itself could be pretty useful.
 

Accname

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The usages you describe would either require an opponent who holds his army at one fixed point for a long time so that you can set these things up to cut his retreat route or it would require yourself to have godlike micro management.
I doubt you could make your army retreat and find the time to set up these guys in a line and make them all cast their ability and still not place them too close to each other.

And telling from how the model looks like they wont have many hitpoints. They look more fragile then an scv.
 

s3rius

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The usages you describe would either require an opponent who holds his army at one fixed point for a long time so that you can set these things up to cut his retreat route or it would require yourself to have godlike micro management.
I doubt you could make your army retreat and find the time to set up these guys in a line and make them all cast their ability and still not place them too close to each other.

And telling from how the model looks like they wont have many hitpoints. They look more fragile then an scv.

Well giving players ways to use great micro is always good.
But players also sneak around banelings or zealots and try to get them into the enemy's back. So why not these guys? We don't know much about their movement speed and health. If those things are somewhat larger I can very well imagine them to have a good chunk of hp. If they're small they might be fast enough to just zip around some cliffs and fall into the enemy's back.
 

Nigerianrulz

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The usages you describe would either require an opponent who holds his army at one fixed point for a long time so that you can set these things up to cut his retreat route or it would require yourself to have godlike micro management.
I doubt you could make your army retreat and find the time to set up these guys in a line and make them all cast their ability and still not place them too close to each other.

And telling from how the model looks like they wont have many hitpoints. They look more fragile then an scv.

look for videos of the shedder on youtube, they arent as bad as it looks after i saw the video. It was placed on ramps to stop ling run by and they have quite a long range and all the lings died before they could run past the shedders so. And i assume they would have around 60 - 80 or something health, they took a few shots from roaches and didnt die yet.
 

Jedimindtrixxx

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I was just going through the sound files located in the current SC2 because i wanna make a cool sound theme for my windows with sc2 sounds, and i came across something... interesting...

If you go to export sound items, and you go under Assets > Sounds > Zerg, you can find a folder called 'Swarm Host' with a sound file called SwarmHost_AttackLaunch

I think the Swarm Host was supposed to be in WoL but they didnt have time to finish it
Id attach the sound file but WAV isnt supported

would have been interesting to have had the unit in WoL
 

Bloodcount

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: O So you are saying that the units were already implemented in a patch, and the expansion will just install the new missions ?
 

Jedimindtrixxx

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No, the only unit sound i could find after looking through it all was just the swarm host. i think that its been there since the beggining, with blizzard planning to have had the unit with the release of the game but they ran out of time or something and decided to delay it for HotS
 

Accname

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No, the only unit sound i could find after looking through it all was just the swarm host. i think that its been there since the beggining, with blizzard planning to have had the unit with the release of the game but they ran out of time or something and decided to delay it for HotS

I dont think so, as far as i know blizzard always takes as much time as they want to release their games.
Thats why they never give a statement when their next game will be released until it really is finished.

I guess it got removed due to balancing just as the other units which are in the game but not in use or all the units which were planned for the beta.
 

Jedimindtrixxx

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I dont think so, as far as i know blizzard always takes as much time as they want to release their games.

Thats only slightly true. They've stated that different PvP modes will not be released with diablo 3 because they dont have time to do it, and would probably release it with a patch. while they do give themselves more time than any company (maybe other than valve, id say they are the same) they still give themselves an approximate due date, which they can extend if necessary but they still try to give themselves a certain time frame.
That old product leak slate had diablo 3 at q4 2011 release like a year or 2 before it was even announced, meaning they had an approximate time to release. sure they delayed it till q1 2012 but it stills shows they give themselves a somewhat due date
 

s3rius

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They probably didn't run out of time for the Swarm Host but simply ditched it along the way.
Just like things like Diamondback or the earlier battlecruiser model.
They can be found as easter eggs (or simply forgotten) in the data.
 

GFreak45

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what i want to know is if they can be moved around with nydus worms... the swarm hosts that is, because you could move a overseer nearby with creep, make a nydus just outa site, then all of a sudden start spawning 150 food worth of these guys right next to the enemies base
 

Bloodcount

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On theory this is possible. :p

Btw, imagine: instead of spines you use these guys for defence.... interesting huh :p
 

GFreak45

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huh... i like that idea, a constant renewing base army :)

but they take up food i assume :(
 

Bloodcount

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They won't. The unit will probably be 4 or 6 supply, but summoned units never use supply in blizzard games (look at wc3, infestors)

What I am displeased about is that protoss didn't get any decent boost to their army.

•Blizzard said that the oracle is for use without army.
•The tempest has only areal AoE attack AND costs 300/300 bitch, please that is cost uneffective against almost everything
•The replicant is 200/200 4 supply. It would be okay if you clod copy whatever non massive unit you want from your opponents army without him having to have teched to it, OR to at least be able to copy massive units too. Why ? It costs almost as much as a collosus (which is the face of protoss DPS units, hell the fase of a T3 dps unit of SCII even) and let's face it- most of the strategies are around T1/2 units (MMM, roach/hydra and the likes).


What gives me faith is that blizzard said that the replicant and tepmest are under construction but honestly they look like shit when compared to the terran units.

The zerg are 50/50 for me. The guy that summons units is a third option for siege (broodlords, infestors and this guy)
The ultra change is really nice (it will be an upgrade 100%, else it would be imba)
The baneling change is also nice.
The flying caster looks insanely good(which is good)

Overall I don't want it to sound like QQ-ing but the terran units seem better than the other 2 races xD

Imagine, getting a decent army of the 2 new mech units, pulling SCV's off the line, gogo repair all in! : PP
The radiation unit looks like tons of fun. I will probably play 1-2months random after the patch and then start playing with protoss again. I just have to play some with the new terran and zerg units ! :D


Still, this is blizzard, I am sure that 4-6 months after release the game will be playable without any major abuses (which is actually quite good, given that some companies like EA break the games the more they attempt to balance them)


Overall the new units look like they will be fun to use, if not really effective, we will see when they come. What I am sure that will own though are the missions.


Bottom line: If the collector's eddition is cool, I will get it haha :D
 

GFreak45

I didnt slap you, i high 5'd your face.
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i was meaning something that uses supply as a defense would diminish your offensive strength

and sure the cost is high for the protoss units, but early game toss should play defensively anyway, and late game if you propperly expand with a defensive toss you can make a game ending army with no problems, they have some of the strongest late game units and are great for defensive play and resource stockpiling, to warp in a ton of units almost instantly lol
 
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