Dustin Browder WCS TL Interview Text by TL.net ESPORTS Interview with Dustin Browder by Antoine and monk.



We sat down with Dustin Browder during the Battle.net World Championships for a lengthy chat regarding the state of StarCraft 2 and what Heart of the Swarm will be bringing in the future.











The following is a basic summary of the major points Dustin addressed in our interview. That being said, we highly recommend you watch the full interview, as he goes very well in-depth on a lot of issues the community is concerned about right now.



Dustin Browder Interview Summary

Believes Immortal/Sentry All-in can be solved by Zerg players without Blizzard intervention



Blizzard is aware of the restrictions on map design caused by the Stephano Roach style, but doesn’t think it can/will be fixed in WoL, will work on for HotS



Will redesign Mothership so it won’t be a serious unit used in professional esports play



Testing internally: Very likely balance map in next two weeks

(WoL)Psionic units immune to Fungal Growth-Hopes EMP/Templar more viable

Note: Psionic units include: Ghost, Queen, Infestor, Sentry, Templar, Dark Templar, Archon, Warp Prism, Mothership

(HotS only)Add projectile animation on Fungal Growth-This delay will allow units to dodge



About uprooting spines/spores to base trade in PvZ: The core problem is that races don’t have options vs Infestor/Broodlord, so Blizzard will fix the core problem instead



Regarding the Carrier: Considered Change: Interceptors Immune to Fungal



Thinks Corruptors are a bigger problem vs Carriers rather than Infestors



Blizzard wants to be cautious with balancing PvZ



Seeing more Infestor/broodlord mirrors lately, will play close attention to this



Feels Neuraling Motherships is a problem



Neural is on the chopping block for Swarm



Doesn’t feel changing Fungal to a slow will change much to the game



Believes there’s cultural differences between countries that makes Korean Terrans and foreigner Terrans different



On lack of Terrans at BWC: Some Korean Terrans dropped out for various reasons and “It is what it is”



Blizzard doesn't blindly look at win-rates and actually watches the games



When watching games, Blizzard always asks, ‘could this player could have played the game better?’



Relies on community to call out specific games and issues with the game



Can redesign 250mm strike cannon to give Thors a different purpose



Test map: Seeker missile won’t require an upgrade

Dustin doesn't believe this will change much



Possible buffs to Medivacs to account for more new options to defend drops



Feels like HotS units, especially Protoss and Zerg right now, are “balanceable”, Terrans might need bigger changes to create dynamic play



Will work on Mech TvP later on in HotS Beta



To TeamLiquid: Please keep the feedback coming and please play beta!

We ran out of time, but after the interview, he told us there were changes planned for Void Ray, Phoenix, and Mutalisk. It’s unclear if these will be for WoL or HotS, but most likely will be HotS only.



+ Show Spoiler [Summary of the Possible Proposed Changes] +

WoL WoL

Terran



Raven Comes with Seeker Missile Researched Zerg



Infestor Unspecified change to Infested Terrans



Psionic Units Immune to Fungal Protoss



Carrier Interceptors immune to Fungal Growth





Terran

General unspecified mech buffs, especially in TvP

Hellbat Buffed in an unspecified way

Thor 250mm Strike Cannon redesigned so that Thor will gain an additional purpose

Medivac Ability to drop buffed in some way



Zerg



Mutalisk Changed in an unspecified way

Infestor A projectile will be added to Fungal Growth



Neural Parasite Removed

Protoss



Phoenix Changed in an unspecified way

Void Ray Changed in an unspecified way

Mothership Redesigned so it won’t be used in professional play

RavenInfestorCarrierHellbatThorMedivacMutaliskInfestorPhoenixVoid RayMothership

We sat down with Dustin Browder during the Battle.net World Championships for a lengthy chat regarding the state of StarCraft 2 and what Heart of the Swarm will be bringing in the future.The following is a basic summary of the major points Dustin addressed in our interview. That being said, we highly recommend you watch the full interview, as he goes very well in-depth on a lot of issues the community is concerned about right now.We ran out of time, but after the interview, he told us there were changes planned for Void Ray, Phoenix, and Mutalisk. It’s unclear if these will be for WoL or HotS, but most likely will be HotS only.

monk Profile Blog Joined May 2009 United States 8468 Posts #2 Hope you guys also focus on his answers about his approach to the game, and not just the balance changes. Moderator

SchfiftyFive Profile Joined September 2010 United States 131 Posts #3 Starting to watch, really excited only thing im not excited for and im actually against is that destructible rocks at 3rd, even as a P player and not even a Z player i dont really like it. My IQ? // "Unprotected sex is like fast expanding in close positions. Its risky, but feels great when it works out" Cim9

thejamster Profile Joined December 2010 Canada 71 Posts #4 hmmm does this mean that you will also no longer be able to reveal dts with fungal? I'm starting to be more excited for HOTS hope it turns out well.

Chicane Profile Joined November 2010 United States 7143 Posts #5 So they introduced the mothership core which has many uses, but the mothership itself won't be a useful unit in competitive play? Interesting.....

Gaius Baltar Profile Blog Joined April 2010 United States 447 Posts #6 Thanks for great interview and summary. Very excited that so many units are being revisisted. Will check out the video tonight when my VPN starts cooperating.

StimiLant Profile Blog Joined July 2006 United States 514 Posts #7 <3 TL/Dustin Browder

Deckkie Profile Blog Joined July 2010 Netherlands 1588 Posts #8 Happy that Dustin Browder recognizes that the Sentry highly influenceses the map. Always look on the bright side of life

lordofsoup Profile Joined January 2012 United States 135 Posts Last Edited: 2012-11-20 07:01:40 #9 Seems like he is finally taking an interest in the pro scene. I dont see how you can change the mother ship as a unit so that it wont be used in professional play, and still have it do anything. Might as well take it out. Psionic units immune to fungal sounds really interesting. I am somewhat confused about his opinion on the weakness of Carriers to corruptors. It seems to me that if you have enough fungals currently, you can just spam them and bring down the enormous swarm of interceptors.



His approach to balance is interesting, but it seems to me that the way to stop the immortal sentry all in is either to get lucky, spend so many units on breaking the attack that you are behind, spend just enough so that you are even because of your third base. Besides that all you can do is some gimmicky 2-base play, which for zerg is somewhat questionable as you have the same number of bases as the protoss. NOHUNTERS

MiCa Profile Joined October 2011 United States 147 Posts #10 Ok inc nerf to the bunker... If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull sheet. - W. C. Fields

Falling Profile Blog Joined June 2009 Canada 10385 Posts Last Edited: 2012-11-20 07:03:59 #11



Like, why is it that the Protoss gets stuck with the 'non-serious' unit?



10 mins in. Very nice interview so far I wish if they are so adamant to make the mothership as a goofy unit, then give us the Arbiter back. Or some equivalent.Like, why is it that the Protoss gets stuck with the 'non-serious' unit?10 mins in. Very nice interview so far Moderator It's Struggle Session Time

herMan Profile Joined November 2010 Finland 1917 Posts #12 Thanks monk for all the work you did in China!



Good to see that blizzard is clearing up its image about balancing stuff.

Chicane Profile Joined November 2010 United States 7143 Posts #13 On November 20 2012 16:01 Falling wrote:

I wish if they are so adamant to make the mothership as a goofy unit, then give us the Arbiter back. Or some equivalent.



Yeah I agree. The mothership is an interesting unit with recall and cloak... and if vortex is reworked so it isn't so ridiculous then it will still be a lot of fun. Yeah I agree. The mothership is an interesting unit with recall and cloak... and if vortex is reworked so it isn't so ridiculous then it will still be a lot of fun.

arcane1129 Profile Joined January 2011 United States 247 Posts Last Edited: 2012-11-20 09:58:15 #14 Infestors wouldn't be able to fungal archons, sentries, warp prisms, and DTs? I'm fine with say ghosts and high templars being immune but those 4 in particular would suck for zerg players...

Snake.69 Profile Joined February 2010 Canada 140 Posts #15 How in hell can we stop immortal sentry all in if sentries are immune to fungal? ....

blade55555 Profile Blog Joined March 2009 United States 17375 Posts #16 On November 20 2012 16:01 Falling wrote:

I wish if they are so adamant to make the mothership as a goofy unit, then give us the Arbiter back. Or some equivalent.



Like, why is it that the Protoss gets stuck with the 'non-serious' unit?



10 mins in. Very nice interview so far I wish if they are so adamant to make the mothership as a goofy unit, then give us the Arbiter back. Or some equivalent.Like, why is it that the Protoss gets stuck with the 'non-serious' unit?10 mins in. Very nice interview so far



Heh well hydras have been that way in sc2 for a majority of it .



Very informative interview :D Heh well hydras have been that way in sc2 for a majority of itVery informative interview :D When I think of something else, something will go here

blug Profile Joined February 2011 Australia 623 Posts Last Edited: 2012-11-20 07:10:40 #17 I really get the impression from Dustin Browder that he's not passionate about the game, he's just been hired to do his job and he does a bit of research to understand a bit about the meta game.



I think Dustin is good in interviews, but I think they need to hire a few open minded professional sc2 players who can at least assist with balance, because I think Dustin might not have a complete understanding of the game.



I think Dustin has been trying harder lately though. He used to be completely ignorant... now he sounds like he's been watching a bit more of the E-Sport scene. Derp

Xenocryst Profile Joined December 2010 United States 519 Posts #18 Fungal changes are absolutely horrifying....

FlukyS Profile Blog Joined August 2011 Ireland 481 Posts Last Edited: 2012-11-20 07:12:02 #19 Every time I hear him talk I just get really afraid that he is going to nerf things and completely destroy the balance. Like for instance that change to fungal to make psyonic units immune, it completely removes infestors as a counter to immortal sentry. And fungal as a projectile just makes me see into a future of just muta in ZvZ becauase what are you going to make hydra? Nope they still suck unless you have 20 of them infestors? Well unless they are asleep they won't lose many muta. So it would change ZvZ completely and make it imbalanced (as in really boring and awkward like early game ling bling battles) mid game from a place that was ok.



And removing neural? They nerfed it out of excistance and then they remove it. I remember talking about thor hellbat in heart of the swarm being stupid and everyone said oh you can neural the thors and that is the only option for winning in that scenario because the entire army has almost 10k hp potentially.



I just feel like Zerg will be a mess if they made every change that he talked about in this video.

Chicane Profile Joined November 2010 United States 7143 Posts #20 I really don't know how he doesn't think that changing a fungal to slow wouldn't do much. If he really thinks that, then change it! People will be happy how you can micro against it, and apparently it won't really change the balance so... no reason not to! :D

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