larse Profile Blog Joined March 2012 1595 Posts Last Edited: 2013-08-05 15:09:01 #1



David Kim's balance talk with Chinese Casual Players (Not the same interview with the progamer) [simplified translation]







Q: SC2 is faster than Warcraft3, have you thought about changing game speed?



David Kim: It's hard to weight between causal and pro gamers. We have a speed option, but it seems like no one is using it, even the casual players. Maybe the fast speed like a progamer is why it is attractive to play SC2.



Q: Have you thought about free race every week? Like LoL's free heroes every week.



David Kim: Interesting thought. I can't guarantee anything. I will feedback this advice to the team. We hope that more players support our game. But changing from a singleplayer game to a multiplayer game is not easy.



Q: SC2 is hard for players of other games. How to improve the fun of the game?



David Kim: Our emphasis of fun is on arcade mode and 2v2/3v3/4v4. Not everyone likes 1v1, and not everything players 1v1.



Q: Shouldn't there be some limits of KR players in WCS NA/EU?



David Kim: This is first year of this system, so we don't want too many limitations. We will mostly not make change this year. Next year there may be some changes.



Q: Will SC2 get a ingame stream system like Dota2?



David Kim: We have been improving our observing system. Ingame stream system is great. But it's not the core of our development at the moment.



Q: As a girl, I am thinking whether there will be more female units?



David Kim: ...... this is the area of our art team. In fact, we want more female units.



Q: Will the campaign be about all three races in LotV?



David Kim: Good idea. We may do so in LotV.



Q: Have you thought about putting campaign units into 3v3 and 4v4?



David Kim: Actually, for example, our design team has considered to put lurker into the multiplayer game. We tried many times. But colossus has long range, immortal has anti-armored damage, and Terran has marauder, all of which counter the lurker.



Q: Will there be some rewards for mapmakers?



David Kim: In fact, we are discussing this. But I can't reveal the details.



Q: Any news about Blizzard All-Stars?



David Kim: Haha, you know, coming soon.





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Update: Balance talk between David Kim and Chinese progamer Jim and XY.









The balance talk is not very well done by the players and it is quite biased. So I summarize a few important points from David Kim:



1. We won't change balance based on a single region.



2. We are observing the turtle swarm host plus static defense style in ZvP late-game.



3. We won't nerf the medivac because Terran is not strong at the moment. Further nerfing the medivac will make Terran even weaker.



4. If ZvZ continues to be roach vs roach for a very long time, we may make changes in the future.



5. It is true that mech is countered by Zerg. But they are observing carefully, because buffing some units may bring about more problems.



6. When people talk about "balancing by map", they are actually making the argument that some maps favor a specific strategy of a certain race. So on the flip side, the opponent knows what strategy that is, so the opponent can be prepared. So it's balanced in the end.



Source:





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David Kim's balance interview in IEM Shanghai



This balance interview is done by Chinese media, S.163.com in IEM. I translated the interview while omitting a few useless information.



It is important to note that this is a translation of an oral translation. The interview is done in a media meeting in which David Kim talks in English and the translator translates it into Chinese and the journalist posts it online and now I am translating it into English. So the true meaning can be distorted during the process.



Enjoy.







Q: Many people complain that Zerg is not strong at the moment. But this is an expansion about Zerg. How do you see the balance right now? How do you rate balance at the moment?



David Kim: I don't think there is balance problem right now, and I don't think Zerg is weak at the moment. For example, the recent Dreamhack had a ZvZ finals. Also, WCS S1 Korea Regional Final had a ZvT finals and the Zerg won (Soulkey vs Innovation). In terms of ladder's data, Zerg actually has a little advantage right now.



If I need to rate the balance right now, I will give it a high score----of course, this is not to say that the balance has no problem. We will keep listening to the community's feedback.



Q: I said that Zerg is not strong because widow mine is quite strong and its damage to Zerg units is the most prominent. How about the medivac boost? Now the game is all about medivac boost and drop and has no other strategies.



David Kim: Based on the data in ladder, the winrate between Zerg and Terran are very close. The medivac boost is to give Terran more harassment options. And it produces more entertaining games to some degree.



We don't want to nerf the widow mine and medivac. Rather, it is better to change the Zerg, for example, we can buff some abilities of Zerg.



Q: Have you considered buffing Terran mech?



David Kim: About mech, we are thinking to make it easier to use. In fact, in WOL, TvT had a lot of mech, but in TvP and TvZ mech didn't get used much.



Overall, we are focusing on the strength and weakness of certain units. We don't have a clear plan for mech right now, but it depends on the situation in the future.



Q: Since the launch of SC2 WOL, Protoss hasn't gotten a lot of championships. How do you see this? Is this because of balance?



David Kim: Overall, Protoss's performance is not weak. In a lot of tournament's Ro32, Protoss has a stable and high presence. This is not a problem of SC2. It seems like there are fewer top Protoss players out there, at least fewer than Terran and Zerg. So I think we need to look for more new top Protoss players, and then the situation will change. If the number is getting worse [for Protoss], then we will consider change some Protoss units. In addition, in recent Dreamhack, Stardust won the championship. WCS S1 NA had a lot of Protoss. These numbers make me relaxed.



Q: In my opinion, Protoss is not a stable race. Although it has high damage, it relies heavily on high-tier units and the high costs of them limit the versatility of Protoss in competitive games. Have you considered changing this situation?



David Kim: I think, in WOL, Protoss's strategy choice was too narrow. Basically you only need to turtle up for a big army and then win with one push. But now the situation is different. We add oracle for harassment to improve the harassment ability of Protoss. We also change the warp prism's speed. These give more choices for Protoss players. I hope we can see more competitive games.



If we find that these aspects of Protoss don't change in the future, then we may make alterations again. But now there is no need to do that.



Q: SC2 is a game of "high damage and low defense", namely, the damage output in the game is too high, which makes the big battles only last for a few seconds. Why not slowing down the pace of the game a little bit to improve spectating experience?



David Kim: If we make this change right now, then it is too big of a change. Players have gotten used to the current mode. But we can improve the length of the game. Especially in TvZ, there are a lot of back and forth. This is because the healing ability of medivac and the production capacity of Zerg. So the game lasts longer.



Q: What is the most successful units in HOTS so far?



David Kim: Hydra now has speed upgrade. Ultra is a great threat to enemy right now. Muta makes harassment more effective.



About new units, Swarm host now has two diverse strategies. One is offensive strategy that utilizes its siege capability to contain the opponent. The other is the turtle strategy which uses swarm host to hold until 200 supply and then push out. Now we are looking. If the latter strategy becomes the norm, we will make changes accordingly. About viper, our original intention is to give Zerg players more choices, but now many players know how to counter it, so we are thinking how to do something about it.





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The following is another article in which David Kim talks about all the new units (because HOTS just releases in China). There are some valuable information in it.







Widow mine



David Kim: This units is made for players with good micro. It a micro unit for both sides. Now it seems like it is a good unit and its damage [pattern] makes the game more entertaining.



At first when we designed the unit, it is a unit that can shoot a missile to any place in the map!



Hellbat



David Kim: The original purpose of hellbat is to counter zealot. Later, we buff its capability and make it more useful in other situations, for example to provide a support to siege tank.



Viper



David Kim: When designing Viper, because Protoss and Terran got some strong siege units, so we don't want to give Zerg another siege unit beside swarm host. So we designed viper to break the siege. But currently, Viper is not strong, we are planning to make some changes to it.



When talking about the Chinese players, David Kim said he likes Jim



End



Source:

http://s.163.com/13/0725/14/94KU94Q600314Q8K.html

http://s.163.com/13/0726/08/94MS5L5400314Q8T.html Update 2:David Kim: It's hard to weight between causal and pro gamers. We have a speed option, but it seems like no one is using it, even the casual players. Maybe the fast speed like a progamer is why it is attractive to play SC2.David Kim: Interesting thought. I can't guarantee anything. I will feedback this advice to the team. We hope that more players support our game. But changing from a singleplayer game to a multiplayer game is not easy.David Kim: Our emphasis of fun is on arcade mode and 2v2/3v3/4v4. Not everyone likes 1v1, and not everything players 1v1.David Kim: This is first year of this system, so we don't want too many limitations. We will mostly not make change this year. Next year there may be some changes.David Kim: We have been improving our observing system. Ingame stream system is great. But it's not the core of our development at the moment.David Kim: ...... this is the area of our art team. In fact, we want more female units.David Kim: Good idea. We may do so in LotV.David Kim: Actually, for example, our design team has considered to put lurker into the multiplayer game. We tried many times. But colossus has long range, immortal has anti-armored damage, and Terran has marauder, all of which counter the lurker.David Kim: In fact, we are discussing this. But I can't reveal the details.David Kim: Haha, you know, coming soon.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1. We won't change balance based on a single region.2. We are observing the turtle swarm host plus static defense style in ZvP late-game.3. We won't nerf the medivac because Terran is not strong at the moment. Further nerfing the medivac will make Terran even weaker.4. If ZvZ continues to be roach vs roach for a very long time, we may make changes in the future.5. It is true that mech is countered by Zerg. But they are observing carefully, because buffing some units may bring about more problems.6. When people talk about "balancing by map", they are actually making the argument that some maps favor a specific strategy of a certain race. So on the flip side, the opponent knows what strategy that is, so the opponent can be prepared. So it's balanced in the end.Source: http://game.163.com/13/0802/10/9592VVA900314QV4.html --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------David Kim: I don't think there is balance problem right now, and I don't think Zerg is weak at the moment. For example, the recent Dreamhack had a ZvZ finals. Also, WCS S1 Korea Regional Final had a ZvT finals and the Zerg won (Soulkey vs Innovation). In terms of ladder's data, Zerg actually has a little advantage right now.If I need to rate the balance right now, I will give it a high score----of course, this is not to say that the balance has no problem. We will keep listening to the community's feedback.David Kim: Based on the data in ladder, the winrate between Zerg and Terran are very close. The medivac boost is to give Terran more harassment options. And it produces more entertaining games to some degree.We don't want to nerf the widow mine and medivac. Rather, it is better to change the Zerg, for example, we can buff some abilities of Zerg.David Kim:In fact, in WOL, TvT had a lot of mech, but in TvP and TvZ mech didn't get used much.Overall, we are focusing on the strength and weakness of certain units. We don't have a clear plan for mech right now, but it depends on the situation in the future.David Kim: Overall, Protoss's performance is not weak. In a lot of tournament's Ro32, Protoss has a stable and high presence. This is not a problem of SC2. It seems like there are fewer top Protoss players out there, at least fewer than Terran and Zerg. So I think we need to look for more new top Protoss players, and then the situation will change. If the number is getting worse [for Protoss], then we will consider change some Protoss units. In addition, in recent Dreamhack, Stardust won the championship. WCS S1 NA had a lot of Protoss. These numbers make me relaxed.David Kim: I think, in WOL, Protoss's strategy choice was too narrow. Basically you only need to turtle up for a big army and then win with one push. But now the situation is different. We add oracle for harassment to improve the harassment ability of Protoss. We also change the warp prism's speed. These give more choices for Protoss players. I hope we can see more competitive games.If we find that these aspects of Protoss don't change in the future, then we may make alterations again. But now there is no need to do that.David Kim: If we make this change right now, then it is too big of a change. Players have gotten used to the current mode. But we can improve the length of the game. Especially in TvZ, there are a lot of back and forth. This is because the healing ability of medivac and the production capacity of Zerg. So the game lasts longer.David Kim: Hydra now has speed upgrade. Ultra is a great threat to enemy right now. Muta makes harassment more effective.About new units, Swarm host now has two diverse strategies. One is offensive strategy that utilizes its siege capability to contain the opponent. The other is the turtle strategy which uses swarm host to hold until 200 supply and then push out. Now we are looking. If the latter strategy becomes the norm, we will make changes accordingly.------------------------------------------------------------------------David Kim: This units is made for players with good micro. It a micro unit for both sides. Now it seems like it is a good unit and its damage [pattern] makes the game more entertaining.At first when we designed the unit, it is a unit that can shoot a missile to any place in the map!David Kim: The original purpose of hellbat is to counter zealot. Later, we buff its capability and make it more useful in other situations, for example to provide a support to siege tank.David Kim: When designing Viper, because Protoss and Terran got some strong siege units, so we don't want to give Zerg another siege unit beside swarm host. So we designed viper to break the siege.Source: