Suggestion: Auras

Well I don't know if this belongs here so move it if it doesn't.

This might be something out of Diablo 2 , but I want to suggest auras for some units in the game. Basically, when the aura is turned on, friendly units in the radius of the aura will get some boost of strength like damage or armor, or enemy units will get the opposite. There could be a special unit for it, or be just a simple ability of another. It might or might not cost energy ( if it does then it will be like the ghost's cloaking). Thoughts?

 

WCIII has these already, with the hero, and some regular, units. However, I've always felt that some things should give off auras, realistically. Say you're a Zealot warrior....You and your buddies are being pushed back by a swarm of 'lings, no hope. Then an Archon rolls around and starts killing three per shot. That's gonna rally you pretty good.

I'm not saying that it should be an attack bonus from an Archon or anything, that's just an example.

 

It's a nice idea but it's something you would expect to see more in the Warcraft universe than in Starcraft. It's similar to the buff / de-buff system in Warcraft / Wow. The dynamic in Starcraft focuses more on units own abilities or some aoe abilities to "share" the affect of abilities amongst fellow troops.

I think it would change things too much and make abilities seem more like spells than researched technological upgrades. The only way I could see it working is if when activated it froze the unit in place and there was some graphic to show the area affected by the aura during the time it was on. This would make the ability useful for melee support, perhaps balanced by having no effect against air?

Could possibly also work like a Veteran function rallying troops as Praetor Fenix mentioned. Certain units could give a +1 attack in battle to nearby units. Would still be too much like Warcraft though.

 

Mhm, I agree with #3, auras will make units seem like the Heroes of Warcraft, at least for me. Also, I might be able to see it working for Protoss, but the Terran marines are resoc'ed criminals that arent doing it of their own free will but because the Dominion is forcing them, and the Zerg is a single organism. So in my head, neither are going to benefit much from some heroic fella stomping around.

 

I wouldn't like to see auras in SC. To me, auras sound magical and they should stay in the warcraft universe. Starcraft - while being far from realistic - tends to have abilities that are easier to imagine and are not related to magic but technology.

 

As I see it, auras are more for Warcraft because there are a lot less units there. This means that it is a nice addition that MAY give you a slight advantage over the enemy. Now imagine 100 lings or 50 marines getting +2 attack just because an unit is nearby. Maybe heroes in the single player campaign could have auras, but I wouldn't want to see it in multiplayer.

 

This was actually one of the things the developer that spoke to my section of the line for the SC2 demo talked about. He used WoW terminology, referring to spells and abilities that improved or weakened a unit as "buffs" or "debuffs" and noted that theStasis Orb's slowing ability was a kind of "debuff." But, he noted, this was about as far as they were going, and that they were generally trying to stay away from this kind of approach in SC2.

Of course, we know that the ability hasn't been axed, just moved to a different unit, but from what we know, they have been largely following this approach, and have not added any units with "auras" beyond the abstract ones that already existed in the original SC, like the cloaking field and detection. Given that this is the same team that developed WC3, and they would be very aware of the possibility of including auras, I think there is a good chance that they're intentionally staying away from that approach.

 

Yes, diablo 2 did have auras. The palidin for example had about 50 of them to choose from.

 

brilliance aura: plus to armor....
command aura: increase move speed and attack speed
LOL, thats WC3 auras, but i think regeneration auras would do. HP or energy.

 

HP and Energy auras would be reasonable, but anything beyond that wouldn't really make sense except in the Zerg, and even then it'd be a stretch. I don't think that a unit's presence on the battlefield would make bullets more damaging, or psi blades more powerful, or armour tougher. It just wouldn't for Protoss and Terran to have auras.

As for the Zerg, that's a completely different matter. It's entirely possible for some units to have an aggression aura which drives all Zerg in the vicinity into a feeding frenzy, but again it would have to be limited to prevent Starcraft from becoming Warcraft in space. Hmm, I'd like to see maybe an aura or two added on to Zerg to differentiate them even more from the other two races.

 

i dont think a mindless zerg attacking or a mindless zerg defending should have an aura. arent they suppose to fight at 100% frenzy perfomance or something?

imo, i find that auras should be in warcraft not SC.

 

yes auras should stay out of starcraft

speaking of auras does any one here know what color theres is? mine is yellow generally

 

Yes, yes, and Blizzard won't make an other Warcraft-like game, that would make no sense at all. Starcraft is not Warcraft tough

 

This isnt WC in space

 

No Auras but Effects you could call it that (Depends on which hero if He is very good at Commanding they are faster? or if he taught his men about Accuracy it effects the whole army no just a group of specific area Thats my suggestion).

 

It would be fine if it was just a visual effect like your soldiers cheering when a certain unit or hero comes by, but I don't think it should be a real aura that gives affects the units.

 

No like I mean... Ugh Heres an example like General Duke is really good at commanding his army so they have an effect his army (WHOLE ARMY NOT JUST AROUND HIM) Will have an increase rate in speed of attack/fire, or Raynor's effect on his army could be extra armor (For the Whole Army as said not only the units around Raynor) like that (Each kind of army with a Hero has a different effect, depends what you like and stuff) And this is just an Example and it's made up so its not true (And Raynor is Jim Raynor)

PS I think each hero should have a different name in multi-player like if you want Raynor's ability you'd pick that sort of hero but it will have a different name.

 

I know what you're talking about. They sound good on paper but usually suck in practice. The closest thing to an aura they should get is a special animation units do when a hero/unit gets close.

 

That gives me an Idea how about in Campaign there are a limit of some elite units to Protect your hero Hows that

 

Auras are a great idea. It wouldn't really be turned into a fantasy game just make it more realistic like let a certain unit be like the leader of a certain squad and his aura will be to "brainwash" his fellow comrades to do battle.