WinterStarcraft Profile Joined June 2012 United States 109 Posts #1



Archon mode has the potential to make sc2 a legitimate team based esport. 3v3, 5v5, 8v8, even better 3v7 or 4 v 5. There is intense potential in this game mode that has yet been unrealized by most. I'm a masters random player, played tens of thousands of games, but as yet really realized the heights of control and micro you can reach at the top level combining forces with another player, or even more.



Archon mode has the very serious potential to make starcraft a legitimate team sport, to make "casual" gamers interested in ranked ladder with friends, and to make the true esports (Starcraft) a competitor to all others.



I am being overly dramatic, but as of now I feel archon mode may very well be Sc2's best addition for years.



Here is myself as a captain (of 2 gold, and 2 silver league players), commanding them to victory over a top diamond level protoss player in archon mode. I am no pro player, no real leader, but I hope you guys see the potential (remember this is from the unofficial fan alpha mod btw, all issues/bugs are from that).



Overall I was very skeptical and really didn't read into archon mode as a very serious addition to starcraft, kind of like anything involving teams in general. I thought it was another half hearted gimmick addition to a game mildly abandoned by it's very passionate creators (they still are).Archon mode has the potential to make sc2 a legitimate team based esport. 3v3, 5v5, 8v8, even better 3v7 or 4 v 5. There is intense potential in this game mode that has yet been unrealized by most. I'm a masters random player, played tens of thousands of games, but as yet really realized the heights of control and micro you can reach at the top level combining forces with another player, or even more.Archon mode has the very serious potential to make starcraft a legitimate team sport, to make "casual" gamers interested in ranked ladder with friends, and to make the true esports (Starcraft) a competitor to all others.I am being overly dramatic, but as of now I feel archon mode may very well be Sc2's best addition for years.Here is myself as a captain (of 2 gold, and 2 silver league players), commanding them to victory over a top diamond level protoss player in archon mode. I am no pro player, no real leader, but I hope you guys see the potential (remember this is from the unofficial fan alpha mod btw, all issues/bugs are from that).

joshie0808 Profile Blog Joined March 2011 Canada 1013 Posts Last Edited: 2014-12-11 06:41:39 #2



I agree! When I went home I immediately called up one of my bronze/silver level friend who doesn't really play sc because it was 'too hard' and '1v1 too scary' and he didnt want to drag us down in team games and we played 2v1 against another friend of mine and he greatly enjoyed it.



We then played a few more games with a bunch of my friends of varying skill difficulties (from super newbie to diamond) and it really evened out the playing field (rather than playing something like 2v3 in actual team melee games) and everyone had lots of fun. It took away the stress of management overload from the newer players while not letting the more skilled players feel like their team was being dragged down because of lesser skilled teammate.



I think 2v2 or 3v3 archon mode with pros would be really cool and brings in the "team" aspect of MOBAs while retaining the super competitiveness of 1v1 in sc Watched this live while you were streaming, very funI agree! When I went home I immediately called up one of my bronze/silver level friend who doesn't really play sc because it was 'too hard' and '1v1 too scary' and he didnt want to drag us down in team games and we played 2v1 against another friend of mine and he greatly enjoyed it.We then played a few more games with a bunch of my friends of varying skill difficulties (from super newbie to diamond) and it really evened out the playing field (rather than playing something like 2v3 in actual team melee games) and everyone had lots of fun. It took away the stress of management overload from the newer players while not letting the more skilled players feel like their team was being dragged down because of lesser skilled teammate.I think 2v2 or 3v3 archon mode with pros would be really cool and brings in the "team" aspect of MOBAs while retaining the super competitiveness of 1v1 in sc Cheering for Liquid & more -- Snute, TLO, Bunny, Taeja, Mana, Vortix -- Polt, Maru, Bomber, Marinelord, Dark, DRG, INnoVation, sOs, Bly, HerO

DeeL Profile Joined December 2011 Switzerland 28 Posts #3 Hey Winter



I agree heavily. This might be the new aspect of the game not only pros, but also casuals will be focusing on. I think this will appeal to a way bigger audience than 1v1, which helps us expand our playerbase.



Also Archonmode will be awesome as a mean to "cool down" after a hard loss, while still being decent for practice. Student:"how do I counter mech? :(" - DeeL:"UNITS!"

Basic Profile Blog Joined June 2010 Canada 273 Posts Last Edited: 2014-12-11 09:14:28 #4 Hey Winter,



Big fan of your stream and I managed to catch this live. I especially enjoyed the idea of the odd man advantage, where the difference in skill gap is fostered by simply adding players to the formula. The original idea was an option in StarCraft 64, the console version of the original StarCraft. Despite how terrible that game is it was a neat introduction to a different idea.



I think the concept needs some serious fleshing out before any high level competitive context can be adapted to fit this game mode. It is quite likely that a 1v1 with four players, regardless of match up would have an intensely different meta, which in turn might make it a player specialty. Teams of Archon Mode players would likely only play this mode on a highly competitive level, as the dedication it would take to maximize synergy with another player would be, I imagine quite large.



None the less I hope to see this tested in some capacity or another, even if it is as a gimmick at an event, having eliminate or specifically invited players at a Home Story style event play in random teams against each other.



Also, lets be real, there will be a "How many pro foreigners does it take to beat a Korean" event.

sths Profile Blog Joined October 2012 Australia 191 Posts #5 Ender's game.

MarlieChurphy Profile Blog Joined January 2013 United States 2014 Posts Last Edited: 2014-12-11 21:14:36 #6 Shotcaller calling the shots.



It would be nice to have some exhibition tournament with pro players for a nice purse with the new archon mode.



And yea definitely like ender's game.



The players can take their best decision making player and/or most strategic/tactical player and just give him the role of the brain. Where all he does is look around and impose his will.



Then he has a teammate who is good at micro do all the harassment and scouting.



Then he has another teammate who is good at macro.



Then he has another teammate who controls all the defenses. (can also take over for triple harass)



Then have another teammate who does the main engagements. (can also take over for 2ndary harass or 2ndary defense)



So that makes a 5 man team, I think I covered all the bases there.



Playing like this is almost as perfect and as close to a tool assisted multiplayer match of sc2 we can get. Might get some really epic vods/replays out of that. RIP SPOR 11/24/11 NEVAR FORGET

DepressedOne Profile Blog Joined September 2014 United States 190 Posts Last Edited: 2014-12-11 22:41:57 #7 Eh, there was a mode exactly like this on Brood War called Team Melee except you could have only up to 4 players controlling one base. I don't think it's gonna happen for sc2.



Edit: Also, I think Archon Mode would prove to be frustrating between two players because how would they divide the tasks evenly without interfering and disagreeing about how one thing should be done? That's my experience at least and I don't see how this is any better than Micro Macro which had structure to its teamplay.



edit 2: Then you have the pro player telling his newb partner to stop controlling everything and let him do all the work when he gets frustrated. Me sad.

Meavis Profile Blog Joined September 2011 Netherlands 1296 Posts #8 I think sc2teamgames have more potential over archon mode, as the skill cap in archon mode is quite easily reached.

You could use the argument that teamgames are "imbalanced".but i dont expect archon mode to be more different in that, as 2 players executing 1 build could easily lead to some broken strategy's Ex organizer of Starcraft Mapmaking Association, currently retired.

domane Profile Blog Joined September 2009 Canada 1603 Posts #9 Archon mode is my favorite announced feature (surprised it wasn't made available earlier - wonder if Blizzard staggers the release of features or comes to these decisions as they go). I've played team matches with better/worse/missing allies/opponents, and always thought multiple-players-running-a-single-base would make things a lot more interesting.



SC2's price of entry is already free and this feature helps soften the game's time/effort investment - quite high relative to many popular games today. Hopefully this mode attracts a lot of returning and new players (although I don't expect that many newcomers four years into an RTS game).





As a side event in major tournaments, archon mode matches could be a lot more interesting than what we've seen so far - traditional 2v2 matches (rushes and all-ins) and off-race 1v1 matches (different races played less well).



I doubt pros will be eager to play archon mode in show matches against semi-pros. If they win, they don't gain much since it's against a group of players not at their skill level. If they lose, it's bad for their reputation (somewhat sacrificed for the challenging pair/trios' moment).



But against one another, archon mode could lead to great 2v2 show matches at major events. We could see one player being in charge of production and control of attack units, and the other player being in charge of the economy, research, and expansion.

EJK Profile Blog Joined September 2013 United States 1285 Posts #10 I compeltely agree, and I hope you will be able to draw other's attention to this Sc2 Terran Coach, top 16GM NA - interested in coaching? Message me on teamliquid!

Vansetsu Profile Blog Joined October 2010 United States 1274 Posts #11 I made this argument a long time ago while sc2 was still doing very well, and I just got shotdown by a bunch of "bw had team melee it didn't take off so this is stupid". I would honestly rather see a 2v2 "archon mode" with pros, than and actual 2v2 in sc2 because of how fucked the balance gets, and how weird timings and such become. Only by overcoming many obstacles does a river become - デイヴィ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ド

sths Profile Blog Joined October 2012 Australia 191 Posts #12 This has big potential.



The video in the OP showed us that unless you are gold or below, the maximum number of players in archon mode would be no more than two. This is because there just isn't enough things to do for better skilled players. 3 master level players on one team just isn't going to have enough things to do.



HOWEVER what blizzard could do is significantly increase the units allowed in archon mode. If the unit cap was significantly increased (ie:300 or 400+), that would a commander to fully utilize all his players.

lichter Profile Blog Joined September 2010 1001 YEARS KESPAJAIL 22233 Posts #13 I'm actually really excited for Archon Mode. Administrator YOU MUST HEED MY INSTRUCTIONS TAKE OFF YOUR THIIIINGS

ETisME Profile Blog Joined April 2011 Hong Kong 11898 Posts #14 I don't see it happening BUT this could be very fun to watch as a low league 2 (+1) v2 (+1) tournament

1 being the commander of cause. 其疾如风，其徐如林，侵掠如火，不动如山，难知如阴，动如雷震。

J0k3 Profile Joined May 2010 Sweden 40 Posts #15 Just watched the video and it looked like so much fun! I would love to have you as my commander :D Maybe I could win some games that way! :D

Musicus Profile Joined August 2011 Germany 23392 Posts #16 . Haha, okay this was fun. First time I feel a slight interest in archon mode, let's see what happens when LotV hits Maru and Serral are probably top 5.

stif Profile Joined December 2012 United States 12 Posts #17 I agree.If there was some sort of game mode where 4 people played and one additional person had a free moving camera and could just talk to everyone we could see actual perfect games of sc2. It would be crazy

Djzapz Profile Blog Joined August 2009 Canada 10676 Posts #18 Cool stuff actually "My incompetence with power tools had been increasing exponentially over the course of 20 years spent inhaling experimental oven cleaners"

boyle Profile Joined March 2011 United States 134 Posts #19 cool and all but i dont understand how 3k people were watching this last night.... not very entertaining but still interesting.

bhfberserk Profile Joined August 2011 Canada 390 Posts #20 ^Ender's Game :D



This was actually really awesome! I think there are a lot of potential in this.



First of all, it can really clear that ladder anxiety for newer players. If Blizzard decides to have a separate ladder, this can definitely get competitive and rewarding.



Can actually have insane micro opportunity if units are allocate and distributed properly. (Imagine all 4 of them just control a hand full of bio and vikings separately, the army would be split so wide and each bio forces will look like they have a mind of their own.)



Captain Mode: (This is so awesome!)

Who wouldn't want to play just as the commander and take lead of a might army. It is your sole responsibility to lead you team to victory. The only hope here is better UIs as Winter said, maybe able to see production tabs.



The fights and harassments looks great. Each commander judge their situations. The most interesting thing for me is to be able to hear the captain giving out orders and watch how the game unfolds and win.







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