StarCraft 2 Q&A Batch 49 Released!

New Unit Art Pictures (Korean Batch 49)

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I have to say that I'm rather impressed by this week's Q&A. There is literally so much information regarding unit function and visual changes that I feel like we're seeing a new build of StarCraft 2. Clearly the team has been hard at work over the last few months making some major changes to the graphical look of SC2 and the balancing of unit roles. Congrats to Karune on a great Q&A, and while they are more spread apart, are much more interesting and fun. I much prefer this method of releases.

Let's get down to it and discuss the changes outlined in this week's Q&A. Links on this page will take you directly to important information, so don't be afraid to click on them!

Art Updates:
Drone Overlord Hydralisk Overseer Baneling Infestor

Protoss Dark Pylon: A new Protoss structure that costs 150 minerals (no gas) and requires the Gateway, this structure casts Proton Charge, which allows Probes to mine more quickly for a short period of time. It can also cast Null Shield, an ability that can make a single Protoss unit invisible for a short period of time.

Terran Orbital Command: It used to be the Fortress, but not it's much more ability focused. You can call down Mules to help your SCVs mine more quickly. These Mules run out of power after a short time. You can also Call Down Extra Supplies to a selected Supply Depot to give you more Supply. And you can still use your Scanner Sweep.

Zerg Queen: She still looks the same and has similar abilities, but she has a bit of a twist. She still builds Creep Tumors (and not defense buildings) but they've tweaked the Spawn Larvae ability.

Zerg Infestor: The Infestor also appears to be getting a makeover, and some new abilities. It's new Fungal Scourge ability is ranged and allows you to slowly kill a unit and once it dies, it will explode dealing AoE damage.


---StarCraft II Q&A Batch 49---

1) I am very curious... previously, SCVs, Drones, Probes, Vultures, Archons, and Dark Archons hovered above the ground so they were not hit by mines. My question is simple: Are there any hovering units in Starcraft 2? If there are, can they hover over shallow water? -Ancientdefender (Battle.net)

If Spider Mines stay in the game, then there will be hovering units. Shallow waters are currently just a visual effect and will not ‘play’ differently.

2) How does the Mutalisk attack work in StarCraft II, what defines its bouncing pattern? Is it random or not? If not, what is the criteria that defines how it bounces? -Kain175 (Battle.net)

Regardless of the position of the Mutalisk, when its attack hits a target, it will then acquire the next target based on proximity to the first target. The attack will always bounce to the next closest target.

3) Is it possible to toggle off Multiple Building Selection (MBS)?

No.

4) Balancing of 2v2 team play: Roaches + Medivac are too over powered for 2v2 team play unit combinations?

The regeneration rate of the Roaches and the healing of the Medivac will not stack upon each other.

5) What is a good counter for Zerg against Marines, which are upgraded from the original StarCraft?

Zerg actually have a few options that are quite effective. Zerglings can catch Marines out in the open and surround them relatively easily. Secondly, Banelings with the burrow ability are also very effective. There is nothing more gratifying than watching a group of Marines walk over a burrowed Baneling. When it unburrows – BOOM! Another counter that can be used are Roaches with burrow. A player can burrow a Roach at low health for it to regenerate back to full health in seconds, at which point it can unburrow and begin attacking the Marines again.

In late game, Infestor’s with their fungal scourge ability, which causes a biological unit to take damage over time until the unit explodes and does an area of effect damage, decimating groups of Marines easily if the opponent is not fast to react. Additionally, Ultralisks with their new cleave attack as well as 200 more hit points from the original StarCraft also make them an excellent counter to massed Marines.

6) How do you keep the Baneling from exploding on targets that you don’t want them to hit?

The Baneling now has an ‘attack building’ ability now which allows players to have more control over what the Baneling attacks. Players no longer need to worry about Banelings accidentally exploding on a building when they actually wanted it to hit a unit.


Source: Battle.net


Karune's followup answers here.

 

Jeez, damn Koreans get all the attention. What are we, chopped liver?

Those models are amazing. I'm especially liking the new Hydralisk. It's also hilarious to see how cartoony the old Drone looked in comparison to the updated one

EDIT: just looked through all of 'em. The new Infestor artwork is a step in the righ direction, but still not quite there yet. It also looks like Blizzard is going ahead with the speed-harvest mechanics, what with the Terran "Mules" and what looks very suspiciously like a dark pylon in the 7th and 8th pictures.

 

Woooow. This is the best update in a long time.

New Infester art looks stunning. A smoldering grub... Genious.


Pic 7. So it has been confirmed. There is indeed a Dark Pylon.

Pic 9. "Big SCV" spotted.

 

The Zerg's new render is coming together and omg, the new infestor model looks amazing. I think its based on Mr.Jack's infestor artwork and the Hacthery looks amazing atm, its actually attached to the creep! and the sunken crawlers (i think) have spikes on them with the new rendered nydus network!!!!!! i am having a heart attack and the ultralisk are pwning those marauders and the marines, plus the dark pylon looks quite cool, need to work on the ring around the crystal thing but heyho, it looks cool. and i like the surveillance station render now and what are those drop pads things on the terran base? And the Large SCV looks awesome

 

Got tired of waiting for a reponse so here's mine:

PLOT HOLE!!! Haha! The Infestor doesn't have a will

But, seriously, it looks the Dark Pylon is confirmed to be what we last heard it was. But, what wasn't clear before was the fact that you have to cast the spell like any other so that it gets all of the Probes within its field.

However, the "Big SCV" idea has been debunked. It's actually ...

We even get a screenshot of it this time

I must say .. This is the best Q&A batch we've had in ages

 

@ MC. Those are "Big SCVs" coming down in Drop Pods.

And those aren't Spine Crawlers, they are Spore Crawlers. Watch them launch their spores at the Banshees.

 

*facepalm* i got mixed between sunken and spore. of course they are spore crawlers, thanks for mentioning it :>

Edit: I forgot to say thanks for telling me aobut those drop pods, thanks and the new Hydralisk render looks bad@$$

 

This makes me wonder what glorious wonders await on the Korean side of the Battle.net Forums ... kind of makes me want to learn Korean Maybe Blizzard isn't as up-tight about information as we thought .. maybe it just all goes to those damn Koreans!

I say we revolt!

 

I've heard that everyone gets the same Q&A batch. Is this true? If it is then why didn't we get these screenshots?

 

It looks like the art for these units is done for this pass so that means that the next Battle Report should be coming out "soon" since they said they were waiting for this art pass to finish.

Ugh ... I can't wait for the beta ... then we'll probably get loads of content to watch ...

 

nice update, in the last 3 pics, what is the queen doing? Does it have a ranged attack now, cuz it looks to be doing something yet is always staying behind the lings.

 

I can feel the hunger to slaughter Terran and Protoss. And i would to see more videos of Zerg, i'm getting tired of seeing terran and protoss vids D:

@Eon: the Queen should have a range attack now, this was updated before, and i think it still has its range attack.

 

Hopefully the next Battle Report will have a Zerg player in it. I'm in the same boat as you

 

They better release a battle report soon. I am betting they will be obsolete as soon as the beta is released. Professional commentators will spectate pros and release stuff a lot more frequently than Blizzard. Unless Blizzard hire commentators and invite pros the battle report section will be pretty much dead.

 

Exactly. So, I'm expecting the next Battle Report by the end of April at the latest.

 

I like the infester the most. It's ridiculous Blizzard thought the multimouthed abomination could even be considered a solution. That thing looked as if it came straight from "real monsters". Also the spiced up Terran macro looks amusing... I expected it to look crooked.

Very nice batch on the whole, a shame the text is undecipherable though. Looks like Orcs return in space

 

Does anyone know if the Q&A batches are the same for all languages? I'd like to know so that I don't waste any more time scouring the Korean Battle.net Forums.

 

I think they are, otherwise we'd see variants with the same number.

 

Maybe so but if that's the case then why the hell didn't we get these screenshots when we got Q&A Batch 49? Hopefully they just weren't ready then and it's not because we're not Korean that we didn't get them

-- Haha! I made a copy of this topic at the Battle.net Forums and it was deleted. What the hell?

-- Oh! I see why

http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=15211803043&sid=3000

 

The artwork for the Infestor looks better than the original, I hope we can see its ingame model soon.