SC2 Balance Changes: Pros' Impressions Text by TL Strategy Proposed Patch Notes: Professional Impressions



Recently, Blizzard provided a set of proposed changes to StarCraft 2.



Following in the footsteps of our DotA 2 and Hearthstone counterparts, the TeamLiquid Strategy team reached out to some professional players asking them about their first impressions on the proposed changes. Please keep in mind: these are impressions based on their experience and understanding of the game. Should any of these changes go through the impressions put forth here may change, as they explore the possibilities with each change.



A special thanks as well to Nathanias, who was able to contact many of these players and provide much of the feedback from Korean players seen here was collected through him.



Proposed Changes

Protoss

Mothership Core:

Photon Overcharge duration decreased from 60 to 50 seconds.

Time Warp energy cost increased from 75 to 100.

Tempest:

Resonance Coil ground weapon damage increased from 30 to 30 + 30 vs. Structures.



Terran

Ghost:

Starting energy increased from 50 to 75.



The Moebius Reactor upgrade has been removed from the Ghost Academy.



Zerg

Hydralisk:

Cost decreased from 100/50 to 100/25.







"I think it's kinda not bad that Mothership core is nerfed like that. But if they do the Ghost buff and MSC nerf both. It'll ruin PvT so much I think.



I can't really imagine that tempest but I'm pretty sure buff Hydralisk totally sucks."

Axiom Crank "I think it's kinda not bad that Mothership core is nerfed like that. But if they do the Ghost buff and MSC nerf both. It'll ruin PvT so much I think.I can't really imagine that tempest but I'm pretty sure buff Hydralisk totally sucks."







"I dont know yet about ghost, I need [to play the] game after patch. I guess Terran will use ghost cheese in earlytime [unclear if this means early timing, or when patch is new].



Overcharge and timewarp are small nerfs to Protoss but its not a big deal.



Hydra patch - ZvP its really hard.



Tempest its good for Protoss but [I'll] need [to play a]game after patch but it also not a big deal (vs Zerg small advantage )"

mouz Dear "I dont know yet about ghost, I need [to play the] game after patch. I guess Terran will use ghost cheese in earlytime [unclear if this means early timing, or when patch is new].Overcharge and timewarp are small nerfs to Protoss but its not a big deal.Hydra patch - ZvP its really hard.Tempest its good for Protoss but [I'll] need [to play a]game after patch but it also not a big deal (vs Zerg small advantage )"







"I'm looking forward to the mothershipcore change because it will greatly reduce defender's advantage for the photon overcharge.



As for the timewarp if that's what it takes for people to stop crying their hearts out, I can live with it.



The tempest change is really refreshing. I haven't had too much trouble with swarmhost but I also haven't played the Firecakes, stephanos and catzs of this world. It will also make players want to try more shenanigans like proxy or use tempest more in PvT so it will be fun. It won't be game breaking.



I don't think the ghost change will do anything other than help players with poor macro have ghost with enough energy for a battle. If you time your energy upgrade to sync with the ghost production, like how a Zerg would sync up the energy upgrade on his infestor, you don't have that problem therefore if you have good macro, the energy upgrade wasn't a problem before.lets take a look, a ghost takes 40 seconds to make and energy upgrade takes 80 seconds to research,so, you're saving 40 seconds but there are barely any games, if at all, that a Terran is dying because of a 40 second window with ghosts not being on the field.



The hydralisk change will break the game, hydralisk are extremely powerful but are vulnerable to collosus. a buff in the mineral cost could be an option but ling hydra into muta will just be way too strong if this goes through."

desRow "I'm looking forward to the mothershipcore change because it will greatly reduce defender's advantage for the photon overcharge.As for the timewarp if that's what it takes for people to stop crying their hearts out, I can live with it.The tempest change is really refreshing. I haven't had too much trouble with swarmhost but I also haven't played the Firecakes, stephanos and catzs of this world. It will also make players want to try more shenanigans like proxy or use tempest more in PvT so it will be fun. It won't be game breaking.I don't think the ghost change will do anything other than help players with poor macro have ghost with enough energy for a battle. If you time your energy upgrade to sync with the ghost production, like how a Zerg would sync up the energy upgrade on his infestor, you don't have that problem therefore if you have good macro, the energy upgrade wasn't a problem before.lets take a look, a ghost takes 40 seconds to make and energy upgrade takes 80 seconds to research,so, you're saving 40 seconds but there are barely any games, if at all, that a Terran is dying because of a 40 second window with ghosts not being on the field.The hydralisk change will break the game, hydralisk are extremely powerful but are vulnerable to collosus. a buff in the mineral cost could be an option but ling hydra into muta will just be way too strong if this goes through."







"[Mothership Core] TvP clearly , its Protoss nerf. But overcharge 10second it cant change something [much]. Time warp patch also cant do much, if Protoss use blink stalker, time warp just needed one time. Nothing will be changed .



About Ghost, blizzard said it will be helpful with mechanic [mech compositions] but i don't think its much help mechanic. I think it gives more power with bionic [bio - marine marauder] play. Its a nice patch but we need to see it for a while [if it is] good or not. [Against] high templar basic mana will be problem because player can use them after make unit but ghost need to walk they get mana between time so i dont know its over patch or so so. [the intention here is as follows: since when attacking, ghosts walk cross map they should already have energy for emp]



Hydra buff - crazy patch it shoud be removed.



Tempest - tempest's don't need patch its good enough damage x1.5 only bionic building (Zerg) its good enough to testing but x2 x3 its not good."

My Insanity Jjakji "[Mothership Core] TvP clearly , its Protoss nerf. But overcharge 10second it cant change something [much]. Time warp patch also cant do much, if Protoss use blink stalker, time warp just needed one time. Nothing will be changed .About Ghost, blizzard said it will be helpful with mechanic [mech compositions] but i don't think its much help mechanic. I think it gives more power with bionic [bio - marine marauder] play. Its a nice patch but we need to see it for a while [if it is] good or not. [Against] high templar basic mana will be problem because player can use them after make unit but ghost need to walk they get mana between time so i dont know its over patch or so so. [the intention here is as follows: since when attacking, ghosts walk cross map they should already have energy for emp]Hydra buff - crazy patch it shoud be removed.Tempest - tempest's don't need patch its good enough damage x1.5 only bionic building (Zerg) its good enough to testing but x2 x3 its not good."







"Mothership vision, please change.



The photon overcharge and time warp changes are very good, but not enough.



Ghost energy change is good :D"

Acer MMA "Mothership vision, please change.The photon overcharge and time warp changes are very good, but not enough.Ghost energy change is good :D"







"Photon overcharge nerf will change PvP more than any other matchup, it's an extremely volitile matchup and it is already difficult enough to take a natural, this will just make it even harder. PvT it will help Terrans slightly, they can now do a push out, bait out photon overcharge, and then push in again only faster than before, but I don't think anyone thinks this is the best way to go about fixing PvT. Time warp nerf will help Terrans in general, overall good nerf, not too extreme one way or another, possibly will only have enough energy for one time warp doing a blink stalker all in instead of two, which is a big deal.



Tempests - seems just to be a bandaid to cover the actual problem, which is the unit design of the swarmhost. It will help toss be able to push forward faster, but doesn't fix anything.



Ghost buff - I don't see what prompted this buff, this is a decent nerf to ht openings, I personally stopped opening colossi due to scv pulls, but might have to switch back depending on how severe this actually is. I'd like to see it in play to get a feel for how big of a buff it is. IMO they are looking to buff/nerf areas that don't really make sense in trying to fix PvT.



Hydra buff - Scary buff for Zerg, ling/hydra into muta switches will be extremely scary, they will have quite a bit extra gas to work with. I don't see this buff going through.



When asked what fixes he would suggest to PvT Minigun replied as follows:



Mothership core vision nerf. It's absurdly high at the moment [currently 14], and this change would indirectly nerf quite a few Protoss all ins and allow them to play less greedy. Another nerf I saw was suggested was nerfing the range in which photon overcharge could be casted atm you can cast both photon overcharges from in between your two bases, if you had to be directly over the nexus, or very close that would be another viable nerf in my opinion. [The current cast range for Photon Overcharge is 10]"



ROOT.Minigun "Photon overcharge nerf will change PvP more than any other matchup, it's an extremely volitile matchup and it is already difficult enough to take a natural, this will just make it even harder. PvT it will help Terrans slightly, they can now do a push out, bait out photon overcharge, and then push in again only faster than before, but I don't think anyone thinks this is the best way to go about fixing PvT. Time warp nerf will help Terrans in general, overall good nerf, not too extreme one way or another, possibly will only have enough energy for one time warp doing a blink stalker all in instead of two, which is a big deal.Tempests - seems just to be a bandaid to cover the actual problem, which is the unit design of the swarmhost. It will help toss be able to push forward faster, but doesn't fix anything.Ghost buff - I don't see what prompted this buff, this is a decent nerf to ht openings, I personally stopped opening colossi due to scv pulls, but might have to switch back depending on how severe this actually is. I'd like to see it in play to get a feel for how big of a buff it is. IMO they are looking to buff/nerf areas that don't really make sense in trying to fix PvT.Hydra buff - Scary buff for Zerg, ling/hydra into muta switches will be extremely scary, they will have quite a bit extra gas to work with. I don't see this buff going through.Mothership core vision nerf. It's absurdly high at the moment [currently 14], and this change would indirectly nerf quite a few Protoss all ins and allow them to play less greedy. Another nerf I saw was suggested was nerfing the range in which photon overcharge could be casted atm you can cast both photon overcharges from in between your two bases, if you had to be directly over the nexus, or very close that would be another viable nerf in my opinion. [The current cast range for Photon Overcharge is 10]"







"If they change 2 things in PvT like that, PvT will be so good for Terran.



I have no idea about hydralisk and tempest because I'm Terran."

Axiom Ryung "If they change 2 things in PvT like that, PvT will be so good for Terran.I have no idea about hydralisk and tempest because I'm Terran."







"Photon Overcharge: I like this change, Protoss has been feeling a bit too strong in the defense lately and I like the approach of going small steps so this has my approval.



Time Warp: Definitely agree with this change as well, the MSC is incredibly strong throughout the game. Considering its low tech and relatively low price for such a powerful caster I welcome this change.



Ghosts: Not too sure about this, it's not like ghosts are hard to obtain as it is now and they're incredibly strong. Might create some timings that will be too tough for Protoss to hold and won't make Terran stronger in the late game. It's a purely timing based change, not a big fan.



Hydralisks: This is completely insane and won't make it into the game. Slashing the gas costs of a core unit into half is probably the biggest change to any unit we've seen in SC2 since beta. I'd prefer a much smaller buff, like reducing the costs of the both upgrades to 100/100, giving them an additional 10 hp or +1 armour.



Ling/hydra timings are already very powerful and I don't think Protoss will be able to hold against 25 gas hydras especially if MSC also gets a slight nerf. Follow that up with Muta and it's a completely nightmare for Protoss.

Might also make Roach/Hydra too strong in ZvT. But it would be cool if Zerg had a 2nd composition you can reliably play in that matchup.



Tempest: No Big opinion on this one, I'd much rather see Swarmhost nerf combined with a voidray/tempest nerf. And allow more dynamic unit compositions into late game."

Liquid`TLO "Photon Overcharge: I like this change, Protoss has been feeling a bit too strong in the defense lately and I like the approach of going small steps so this has my approval.Time Warp: Definitely agree with this change as well, the MSC is incredibly strong throughout the game. Considering its low tech and relatively low price for such a powerful caster I welcome this change.Ghosts: Not too sure about this, it's not like ghosts are hard to obtain as it is now and they're incredibly strong. Might create some timings that will be too tough for Protoss to hold and won't make Terran stronger in the late game. It's a purely timing based change, not a big fan.Hydralisks: This is completely insane and won't make it into the game. Slashing the gas costs of a core unit into half is probably the biggest change to any unit we've seen in SC2 since beta. I'd prefer a much smaller buff, like reducing the costs of the both upgrades to 100/100, giving them an additional 10 hp or +1 armour.Ling/hydra timings are already very powerful and I don't think Protoss will be able to hold against 25 gas hydras especially if MSC also gets a slight nerf. Follow that up with Muta and it's a completely nightmare for Protoss.Might also make Roach/Hydra too strong in ZvT. But it would be cool if Zerg had a 2nd composition you can reliably play in that matchup.Tempest: No Big opinion on this one, I'd much rather see Swarmhost nerf combined with a voidray/tempest nerf. And allow more dynamic unit compositions into late game."







"Mothership Core: not relevant at all, one approach to making Terran early aggession viable is to nerf the mothership core (which is what Blizzard is doing), but since the reason why Terran can't be aggressive is because of 2base blink all-ins and oracle what they should really be focusing on is how to make those less viable. Time warp maybe decent because you can only time warp twice, and the 3rd one wont be available for a while after that, but usually the game is decided by the first 2 time warps.



Tempests: makes some niche proxy tempests in PvT better, like on Polar night where there's a huge amount of air space behind the main mineral line.



Ghosts: Seems like a redundant buff, Terran is only strong in the mid game (when they're not being all-ined) so it's making the strongest Terran point a little bit stronger (still doesn't have that much of an impact).



Hydralisks: lol"

EGXenocider "Mothership Core: not relevant at all, one approach to making Terran early aggession viable is to nerf the mothership core (which is what Blizzard is doing), but since the reason why Terran can't be aggressive is because of 2base blink all-ins and oracle what they should really be focusing on is how to make those less viable. Time warp maybe decent because you can only time warp twice, and the 3rd one wont be available for a while after that, but usually the game is decided by the first 2 time warps.Tempests: makes some niche proxy tempests in PvT better, like on Polar night where there's a huge amount of air space behind the main mineral line.Ghosts: Seems like a redundant buff, Terran is only strong in the mid game (when they're not being all-ined) so it's making the strongest Terran point a little bit stronger (still doesn't have that much of an impact).Hydralisks: lol"





Recently, Blizzard provided a set of proposed changes to StarCraft 2. As of right now the following changes have been made live on a balance test map. Following in the footsteps of ourandcounterparts, the TeamLiquid Strategy team reached out to some professional players asking them about their first impressions on the proposed changes. Please keep in mind: these are impressions based on their experience and understanding of the game. Should any of these changes go through the impressions put forth here may change, as they explore the possibilities with each change.A special thanks as well to, who was able to contact many of these players and provide much of the feedback from Korean players seen here was collected through him.

