First I want to say that I am loving the new patch. I’ve played a bunch of games on it and am quite enjoying figuring out what feels like a new expansion sometimes. I’ve played almost exclusively Protoss in the new patch so far, so it will be through that lens. Here are some of my thoughts on things I actually got to try out some:



Tempest Redesign



So, I don’t think that this is as much of a redesign as it is a nerf. I think that it’s a good thing that the Tempest is being changed as well. If you look at it’s roll in all 3 matchups, massing it can be pretty insane late game. PvPs can turn into pure Tempest vs Tempest battles, which are absolutely not fun at all, even for me. That will absolutely not happen anymore. PvT the Tempest can still be made to kill off Liberators without much change there. Before though, you could just whittle a Terran player down, constantly poking his army late game. I think it was probably pretty lame to play against as a Terran player, so it’s probably good to cut that back. Also, on the off chance that your Terran opponent went mech before this patch, Tempests countered it pretty hard. In pre-patch PvZ, Protoss could make an unbeatable army which had a backbone of Tempests in the extreme late game. Go watch some Neeb PvZs if you are unfamiliar with this.



So yeah, I think that it’s good to change the Tempest. This might have been too much though. The combination of greatly decreased range vs ground AND +2 supply makes it completely unmassable (a good thing). Really it’s the range vs ground that was the problem vs everything pre-patch, and that’s probably still the case. I don’t think that the gigantic increase in supply is really called for right now. The Tempest will only be a support unit, and to have to eat up that much supply is pretty wild for a support unit like this.



The new ability “Disruption Blast” I haven’t been able to play around with much. Since it’s a support-unit now, I haven’t been in charge of when I make them (it’s for my opponent to get advanced ballistics or brood lords before I make them). When I have used Disruption Blast, I felt that the “low” range (lol 10 range is low? wtf? well it is when you have such an expensive flying unit casting for…) and slow cast time (…forever) made it pretty tough to get results with. My current thoughts are maybe it will find a place as a zoning tool or perhaps it will be useful vs mech, such as siege tanks and thors. Still withholding judgement, though it feels like it will be a while before people have it figured out.



Adept Shades Go Blind



It’s really, really hard to scout with Adepts right now. Like… really hard. I understand the thought that the decreased vision will make Adept attacks extremely risky to pull off (just keep your units right out of their vision range and kill them when they shade in), but I really thought the Adept in the early game had a great place like the Reaper, just to get you some scouting intel while giving you something to possibly do a teensy bit of damage with. The scouting is greatly missed for Protoss right now. It will take everyone some time to get used to I think.



Carriers



They feel like SC1 Carriers a lot more. A bit risky to make, but pay off well. Huge damage. Fun to use. Very much enjoying them. I think there will be a lot of whining about the Carrier in the next few weeks, but that’s just because people have to get used to them being used a lot. They feel extremely strong at the moment. Everyone needs more time before we figure out exactly how strong they will end up being. My guess is quite strong.



SC1 Siege Tanks



Yep, that’s what they feel like when being hit with them from the Protoss end of it. Really cool and really fun.



Cyclone



The changes on this are so massive, it feels like a completely new unit. The numbers may still need to be tweaked. I think there will be some really powerful all-ins created in the next few days which will be a pain to learn how to build. The loss of it’s strong anti-air is pretty significant. Should be lots of Stargates being built vs Terran because of this.



I do have to be a bit critical of it’s design right now. It feels bland. It’s this unit made out of your factory (thus, a “mech” unit), but it doesn’t seem that much like a mech unit. It just kinda does some set damage and has decent mobility. It seems like the combination of the Hellion / Cyclone / Widowmine in TvP mech is all together trying to replace the Vulture and Spidermine from StarCraft 1. Think about it. You make these units to harass with and stay alive while trying to get into your better units. I dunno it just makes sense to me. Weird that it takes 3 units in TvP to fulfill the roll of 1 unit and an upgrade for it from SC1. Its not a perfect comparison but it feels like what’s going on.



All that being said, I am having fun playing against Cyclones so far. It’s hilarious and surprising how quickly they kill Stalkers, but with solid micro and unit positioning you can deal with them.



New Hydras



Just a prediction here: I think that we will see the return of Phoenix / Colossus due to this change.





Yeah, no strong opinions on anything else as of yet. If you haven’t tried the new patch yet, I definitely would recommend it. This could be the last time SC2 is shaken up this strongly, and it can be really fun discovering things on your own!



P.S,Great job to Blizzard. There will be a lot of frustrated players from all 3 races in the coming month or so, but be patient! Better understanding will evolve new counters to strong units/strategies, and the game will eventually stabilize in a place where the best player wins (as it always does).

