Patch 1.3.3 preview, what do you think?

Balance

PROTOSS

Archons are now a massive unit.
Pylon power radius has been decreased from 7.5 to 6.5.
Cybernetics Core

Research Warp Gate time increased from 140 to 180.


Gateway

Sentry train time decreased from 42 to 37.
Stalker train time decreased from 42 to 37.
Zealot train time decreased from 38 to 33.
Warp Gate unit train times remain unchanged.




TERRAN

Salvage resource return reduced from 100% to 75%.
Ghost

Cost changed from 150/150 to 200/100.




ZERG

Spore Crawler

Root time decreased from 12 to 6.


Discuss
Source:http://eu.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/2220749#blog

 

Fo shizzle my nizzle
cept the training times (liek really , not that i care too much. the zlot may be a bit too much tho)
and the ghost. just NO.
and spore crawler. wtf is bliz trying to do, like REALLY

 

Ok, t before I post my thoughts I should say that I LOVE these changes!

Here's my thoughts on them:

1) Warpgate/Gateway change:
I like this very much. It didn't make sense that warpgate tech was allowing you to not only warp in units anywhere but also do it more often than the gateway trained them. It now makes it possible to switch back to gateways in order to defend or get an army faster and switch to warpgates when pushin to reinforce on the fly which adds some tactical choice to the race. Also it'll be way easier to defend against 4gate pushes in pvp, which will allow for more variation to this matchup which imo is currently the most annoying one...

2)Warpgate research. This was also a needed change. it should be easier to defend against 4gate as any race, due to it coming slower, as well as especially more easy to defend in pvp since gateways now produce units faster. This will also push P players into more varying playstyles which I'm very very interrested to see... Also a 50/50 upgrade like this that allows such incredible flexibility was a little OP despite the fact that it was just considered the norm so nobody gave it too much credit...
New reduced production times from normal gates also strengthen the gateway army of the protoss since it'll be easier to mass when not pushing with warpgates and will effectively solve the PvT early problem with bio and add a reactive element to playing P.

3)Archons being massive. This was a very very needed change for 2 reasons: The most important is that phoenixes in PvP are simply OP right now due to the nature of protoss armies:
The only current massive unit P has is Colossus which can't attack air and phoenixes can attack it anyway cause of it's height. Also the only viable anti-air, the stalker, does pitiful dmg against light armor, but buffing it would make it OP against mutas/banshees since they have too little HP and stalkers have good range. The only thing that can beat mass phoenix in pvp is even more phoenixes since if you go ground you'll get pinned to your base unable to move out due to harass and having the army harassed in addition to the mineral lines and the stalker numbers in check is an easy way to victory, so the archon being a new massive unit and unaffected by the phoenix beam is now a counter to this strategy since it can hit air for quite a good amount of dmg. Massive also means that bringing archons into play doesn't simply cancel out stargate play from a phoenix player since VRs do absurd amounts of dmg against them so it will turn into a responding-to-the-composition game which in my opinion is a good change.

3)Pylon radious reduced: I like this one too. For the purposes of planting a pylon outside the enemy base to warp stuff on the high ground it actually takes some effort to protect the pylon now which is good. I think that the buildings won't be as much affected, though I'm not sure about the wider ramps, but you usually get to build a second pylon there anyway, so it won't be a big deal there either...

4)Bunker refund nerf: Was needed, really 100% was just too much and let bunker pushes be like 100% unpunishable if they failed, plus planting a bunker at the wrong spot or reading a push wrong etc. Wrong decisions should be punished even a little.

5) Ghost cost change: I think that this brings it more in line with similar units for P and T and their costs. Ghosts are a little less of a caster than HT or infestors but have combat capabilities, so it's more reasonable to pay more minerals for the dmg portion and less gas for the comparable lower casting abilities. I think that minerals=meatier/chunkier/stronger units while gas translates to more elaborate/techier stuff, so this change fits in this philosophy well.
It'll also make the terran bio-ball a little weaker on the mineral side and allow for some more gas to be spent on upgrades/tech/ravens/whatever. I like it, though it's not something I'd cheer loudly about

6) Spore crawler change: I like this one too... I've seen tons of matches where zerg makes a crawler, the VR comes kills the queen and then avoids the crawler by moving around. Repositioning will be quite easier now which is quite nice.


Overall I think we'll see an increase in proxygating early on but i also think that it'll soon die out to safer scouting. Personally I prefer getting proxygated once in a while to being 4gate rushed every time which is good either if it dies out soon or not(or even if it gets to develop at all). I like all the changes so far and would love to see them go live. Big thumbs up from me so far


Edit: The archon change also pairs well with the recent HT nerf via the amulet upgrade removal. Now archons are a more viable unit in both matchups they were not(pvt/pvp) and quite unchanged in pvz where they were already powerful since all Z is bio.

 

you forgot to mention that archons are now a viable unit to combat M&Ms

 

I also made amistake on warpins, and some guy in TL corrected me(I copy/pasted my post there too)... Here's his post:

"

 

I was pretty sure I did when typing it, but I might have forgotten... Yeah, not only archons but HT are again more viable in PvT(since they were falling a little out of trend after the amulet nerf)... Aye, I love this change idd!

 

I know all about fine balance tuning and that symmetry plays next to no role in this game but the different root times for the crawlers bothers me. I think the 6 seconds should be applied to spines in an attempt to help hold off early gateway aggression (as often you start building your crawler where you can and not where you'll want it eventually).

I like the nerf on salvage. I'm not sure if it will be too big of a blow to T with the current stats on stim, but it'll certainly reduce the amount of 2 rax herp derp. And really, losing mining time on an SCV is really not such a big deal when you get an early chance for a win, so this change makes sense.

I'm waiting for the mule nerf though. I've been hearing rumours about multi-base T killing off all their workers in order to get an additional ~60 supply for their army and then steamrolling through everything.

 

Okay theres 3 things i liked about this patch :3
-- Archons are now Awesome!!! i mean really... this change was needed soo much ^^
-- Bunkers... well yeah i think they needed that change aswell, and i dont have too tell you why
-- Spore Crawlers Okay to be honest thats probably only because im zerg but nvm =.=

 

O HAI!! YES! U HAS PATCHED! kK LEZ REEVUE!

1. TURRENZ NOW HAS NO STATiC DEFENSES EARLEE CAN'T STOP DIS NEW 4 GAITZ STUFF THAT WILL HAPPEN BEEF FOUR WARPGATES WIZ PROXEEZ SUCH NOTZ. XTRA 25 MINZERALZ IS TEH BULL SHEETZ.

2. CRAWLZERZ NOW BURROW IN 6 SECOND. KK GG ZERG NO MORE COMPLAINZ NOW U TRULY OP WUT WUT IN DA BUTT!!

3. KK LETS NERF SUM PEWTOSS STUFF SO THAT IT DUZNT LUKE LIKE WE ONLY NERF DA TURRENZ!! UHHH YEZ PYLON RADIUS DAT SOUNDS GEWD, DUZ NOT DEW ANYFING.

 

I read the notes and changes when they were released out for the PTR server. I actually think the decrease in all gateway unit build times (basic units Sentry, zealot, and stalker) will allow protoss to put alot of pressure still. I think they remove warpgate timing and pylon radius due to the simple fact of even if someone put up defense to defend off the 4 gate. Protoss could simply just warp up into the main and avoid it. Which makes it really hard to defend up and try to take advantage of having a greater economy than the protoss.

Rest of the changes seem a little odd. Spore crawler was an odd one. Guessing this is more for vsing banshees or something. Archon into being a massive unit guessing this is make PvP more interesting and marauders a little less effective vs archons when trying micro back with concussive shell.

Yeah bunker thing I have no problem with, Was nice though to have vsing 4 gate be able get full refund (Not much of issue when 4 warpgate will be delayed on timing by 20 seconds)

Ghost change is well not a buff or nerf. Just different type of income investment might help other strategies that are more gas heavy a little bit (mech), but hurt the more mineral heavy strategies a little bit (bio heavy).

I think the ghost change actually was made to see if they will have increase in the use vs infestors but I don't think ghost use will be that big. Just much harder get emp on infestors than it is on high templars or a protoss army in general. plus the fact of infestors being like 3 - 4 times the size of a high templar. I think Infestors will continue have better and stronger strats will Terran being the under dog in the match-up for once.