Blizzard November Discussion Report: The Terran Ghost

Hey guys, here's this month's report that was submitted. I might note that my reports were a few hours late this time which may have been why our questions weren't included in the Q&A for the week, but I hope not.

Anyway, enjoy. Let me know what you think about the reports so I can do better next time.

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Monthly Discussion Report
Platinum Blizzard RTS Fan Site Program

Month/Year of Report: November 2007
Fan Site Name: Starcraft 2 forums
Fan Site URL: http://www.starcraft2forum.org
Monthly Topic: The Terran Ghost

Monthly Discussion Topic: The Terran Ghost

The Terran Ghost is perhaps the most unique and useful unit released so far for Starcraft 2. When commenting on this month's discussion topic, there were a number of recurring comments and suggestions. The first, of course, was how great this unit is. In Starcraft, the Ghost was rather overlooked and relatively underused because of the cost of the unit, its relatively weak attack, and its lack of stamina. It was situationally useful, but only rarely, mostly against large mechanical units (Carriers, Battlecruisers, Tanks) and for its obvious purposes with the Tactical Nuclear Strike(TNS).

The second comment about the Starcraft 2 Ghost was its color scheme. White and red simply doesn't fit the unit. Nearly all users agreed with a color change in the Ghost, preferably to black and red to fit the unit's role as a "covert" specialist. This, however, is simply a superficial problem, and for purposes of visibility it may help for the unit to stand out when not cloaked. However, it would certainly serve to emphasize the unit's role with the black color scheme.

Naturally the next aspect of this unit to come up in discussion was its various abilities. All five of them! Cloak, Snipe, EMP, TNS, and the Drop Pod. These are all conceivably great ideas, but there has been a lot of criticism about the fact that the Ghost simply has too many of these abilities. The Ghost has effectively gone from a unit effective in too few situations to a unit that is effective in too many situations. It was the opinion of many posters that the Ghost's EMP ability be moved back to the Nomad. After all, Snipe will still be a major battle winner at the lower tiers, before the Nomad becomes available. At the very least, most users want to see the EMP's AoE drastically reduced so as to combat its overall usefulness early-game. The agreed upon size of AoE was the equivalent of affecting 2-3 compacted units or one large unit (such as a Carrier or MS).

Another option for the dispersion of the Ghost's abilities was actually in the form of a suggestion for the Thor. There was serious discussion about the possibility of transferring the Ghost's Nuclear Strike (TNS) to the Thor instead of its Artillery Barrage. This would certainly add a dimension to the use of the Thor and give the unit the needed thematic element to make the unit more interesting and unique, which has been the problem with its development from the start: separating it from the Seige Tank. Furthermore, this would emphasize a new element of Terran strategy by adding it to the Nuclear Strike. This is what has been referred to as a the "Brute Finesse" strategy, where as in Starcraft it was described as the "One-Shot" strategy, where a player had a mid-game push that ultimately decided the outcome of the game. Giving the Nuke to a highly durable but visible and predictable (as well as slow) unit would give the Nuke more of an "oomph" factor, forcing an opponent to attack a certain point of a player's strategy. After all, one of the main strategic elements of Starcraft was forcing the opponent's hand, which is exactly what would happen if your Thor was approaching an enemy base with the threat of a Nuclear Strike.

It is clear from the opinions of our users that one or the other of these abilities should be switched to other units to avoid overloading the Ghost and creating a super-unit. Most users would rather that the Ghost be a semi-caster and have a greater ability as a fighting unit than be purely a caster with only token attack strength.

The final feature of the Ghost to note is that its hit points have been highly buffed, along with a few other Terran units, including the Seige Tank. It is doubtable whether 100 HP is a good idea for the Ghost because of its variability in the field. It still is, and should remain, primarily a support unit and light caster rather than a highly durable unit, as 100 HP would suggest. While still certainly weaker than a Zealot, the addition of its numerous spells makes it far too dangerous a weapon to be so durable in combat, especially in a support role. In fact, at such a relatively low cost for a caster, it runs a risk of becoming too prevalent and therefore overpowering to enemy forces.

Most players agreed that the Ghost would be a highly resource scouting unit and would be useful in delaying and weakening enemy forces. For now it is being considered a specialized support unit, although there is concern about how its newfound strength will affect its role. It is being viewed mostly as an infantry support unit that will even the playing field against enemy infantry, even at lower tiers. Furthermore, as a standalone unit, the EMP is being viewed as very useful, especially in combination with the traditional TNS ability and the addition of the Drop Pod. Untold possibilities of strategic use have been opened up for this classic unit.

Overall the Ghost is a very exciting and amazing unit that will add depth to the Terran lineup. It will most certainly have a more pronounced role in the gameplay of Starcraft 2 as was obviously intended. However, giving it too many strategic options in the form of spells rather than simply allowing the unit to stand out because of a small number of highly useful abilities and a better atttack strength might be going to far to the other end of the spectrum.

 

The report is fine. :good:

 

Hell yeah, really nice

 

Wierd. He got mad at me when I sent him this kind of report for my shield discussion.

 

How did I get mad?

Lol I read the whole thing. It was awesome, and you can definitely see that I integrated it into the monthly report. Big help.

 

You made comments about it being too long.

Anywho I had thought about doing another one of those discussions but can't think of a subject. Anyone have any ideas? Protoss air force Vs Terran air force perhaps?

 

I did? I think I was just kidding...

It was actually rather well done, I think I just asked you to condense it a little for me, which wouldn't be a bad thing.

Oh, and BoP, for ideas regarding discussion you might want to check other fansites, because apparently they come up with some pretty cool alternative questions that Blizzard accepts.

 

No reason to do something somone else has done. I was just looking for some discussionspeople HERE thingk would be good.  So far I think a discussion regarding the two air fporces would be a goo one since with the Cobra's abilities being moved to the thor and the viking a starport unit the Terrans seem to lack early AA.

Anyone here have any ideas before I go hunting?

Also I suppose if I start now it would be something to do for the January submission when do you have to submit reports?

 

I would focus on the Thor.

Nuke? New ability? Etc.

Another topic would be my Reaper idea. I had proposed that it get a new mechanic for its weapon (whatever that weapon would be since no one wants it to have a flamethrower).

I.E. a laser... It does high damage to small units like probes, infantry, but poor damage against armor. It pierces all small units and goes through 1-3 units in a straight line. So a small number of Reapers would be ineffective, but 100 Reapers would be absolutely dominating against small units like Zerglings or workers.

And remember, straight line, not like the Glave Wurm. It would create a "field" of fire. Anything in that field would be damaged but only if it got caught by bullets on a trajectory. The bullets would not auto-aim after the first target.

 

I think I'll do the Thor now since it just changed.

As for the reaper I assume you mean it should have line splash damage like the lurker.

 

Well.. kinda, but not AoE......

It would only affect single units. But yes, kinda like that. It wouldn't kill units on each side or anything.

 

i think the januari topic will be the nydus worm

 

Why would it be the Nydus worm?

The thing is barely a unit, it's pretty much a building, and it hasn't been revealed yet. There's no way that will be the topic. Lol.

 

i think it will be up to us to decide how it works

 

I was actually expecting this month's discussion to be theThor