Six months ago, WiNG went on a rant about his disdain for Protoss macro mechanics. And while certain people argued Blizzard would never acquiesce, they’ve been summarily proven wrong. Unabashed gloating now ensues.
Xiant delves back into strategy with an examination of how movement affects performance.
As requested, WiNG shares his thoughts on the latest Starcraft 2 balance patch changes. Who wins? Who loses? Is there any reason at all to use Carriers yet? Find out on the next episode of “Just Click the Continue Reading Button!”
With SlayerS’ intention to train a female pro, is a legion of Grandmaster lady gamers on the horizon? And assuming it is, can male players keep their cool long enough to say GG?
A promising new technology will allow you to watch unlimited professional Starcraft 2 replays back to back to back to dead. We hope you love it!
Greg Field AKA Idra AKA the Grack Attack shares his thoughts on Starcraft 2′s current metagame. Will it involve rage? Surprisingly… no.
Every race in Stacraft 2 had something added to it to give players something to do in the early stages of the game, plus an engine for macro economy later in the battle’s progression as well. Terrans got the option to build an Orbital Command structure that rains awesome stuff from the sky, while Zerg got a Queen unit that poops out royal jelly and confuses your sexual feelings.* The Protoss, however, got stuck with Chrono Boost, an ability tied to their Nexus headquarters that drastically accelerates almost anything with a progress bar under it. Thanks, Blizzard.
Don’t get me wrong, Chrono Boost is a great ability. It helps worker production, warps in units faster, makes upgrades breeze by, and can even help a Mothership complete in slightly under infinity seconds. Overall, it’s easily the most versatile “macro” ability in Starcraft 2.
The only problem? It’s boring.
Following last week’s site-destroying article on the future of e-sports, the gentlemen over at VVV Gaming asked me if I’d like to guest host their podcast, The Loser’s Bracket. While I’m inclined to think of myself as a winner who is above swallowing his pride, I agreed to participate with the unstated stipulation of infinite personal and financial gain the long run.
Want to listen to what I had to say? Of course you don’t. But if you’d like to learn about Starcraft news and then stop the file right when my segment comes on, you can listen to The Loser’s Bracket episode and let us know what you think.
Also, if you were following us on Twitter, you would know this already. Because Twitter is a valuable facet of modern society.
With Starcraft 2 patch 1.3.3 live, the Protoss tech tree has taken another leap away from de facto Colossus tech and into exciting new realms where Zealot/Archon play pays off and Dark Templar can transition into something other than losing your whole fucking base.* 4 Gate also faces setbacks that make non 4 Gate openings more viable, which is even more refreshing to see in PvP at all levels of play.
As various data are showing a steady convergence of Starcraft 2 tournament results towards an almost completely balanced game,** it seems like everything east of Aiur is finally finding a place both in casual play and in top tier battles. From Forge first expands to Templar tech to robotic death and Phoenix harass, is there anything that isn’t winning games for our favorite psionic aliens?
Oh, right. Capital ships.
With all this excitement, money, and public interest pouring in, it seems like society is on the precipice of mainstream acceptance of e-sports as an acceptable voyeuristic past-time, much like regular sports.
But there’s one tiny problem.
It’s that time again: Starcraft 2 balance changes! And as a wave of terror washes over you in anxious preparation of learning your favorite race has been nerfed, you can relax.
Well, as long as you don’t play Protoss.
Before delving into the actual changes, your impending cardiovascular failure can be forestalled with one caveat: these changes have been applied to the Public Test Region (PTR), so they’re not quite official, yet. That said, the vast majority of PTR changes have been enacted in the past, so unless the world’s testers (or Tester, for that matter) determine these updates are game-breaking or don’t directly help fucking Terrans (they do), odds are you’ll be seeing this stuff hit the real game soon.
But, as you can probably guess, the biggest changes will directly affect the oh-so-popular 4-Gate build. Hint: they didn’t make it better.
Destiny is a professional SC2 player who also hosts a popular stream of himself playing the game, that is, a stream of him humiliating players who are themselves far better than I could ever dream of being.
Recently, Destiny outdid himself:
He showed the world that he could win a series of games using only Zerg queens.
Look, fact of the matter is there aren’t a whole lotta games about gay protagonists out there. And of the ones that do exist, most of the heroes aren’t purple dragons. This is too fucking awesome to not take a look at!
The last time WiNG wrote an angry rant, he regretted it for months. But this time’s different, right?! Facing increasingly bitter opposition to his preferred form of Assassinate gameplay, WiNG fires a warning shot.
Every last gauntlet within a 50-mile radius has been thrown. The T3 ACR Tournament Finals are done and WiNGSPANTT has sifted through the pile of corpses to determine the Grand Champion. Who is it, and how did it all go down? Watch now!
It’s the first week of Soul Calibur V, and WiNG is looking for every possible trick to use in his online bouts. Luckily, AvoidingthePuddle shows off some nifty defensive moves to keep your life bar green and your armor unscoffed.
Guest writer Grahf is back with Part 1 of his Killing Floor beginner’s guide. In today’s lesson, you’ll learn basic strategies to deal with enemy AI, ways to play nice with teammates, and just how sweet it is to continually slay zombies.
