I searched the forums and didn't find any threads with this topic so forgive me if there is already a post about this. So there are many big differences between Starcraft and Starcraft II. Unit and building abilities are one of those changes. There have been many, many new abilities added and some old abilities dropped or reworked. My question to you is: Do you think Blizzard has put in too many abilities? Personally, I think Blizzard has put in too many abilities. The Dark Pylon and it's ability to modify resource collected speed is just a bit too much of a game changer in my opinion. The Nullifier, Queen, High Templar and many more all had abilities either changed or removed due to the fact players feeling that the unit was either overpowered or underpowered because Blizzard tried to balance the units with their counterparts on the other races. Why'd they give them so many abilities to begin with? It was so it would be balance with the already tons of abilities the Protoss had. And since then the Terran had too many, they started reworking them to tone them down which ultimately led to new abilities taking the place of the reworked ones. Might sound confusing to you readers but it sounded a lot better in my head. What are your thoughts?
I think the amout of abilities in SC2 will be almost the same as in BW and WC3. Thus bringing me to the point: No big whoop. BUT, I'm no expert in all that, so if you can show me the amout of abilities currently in SC2 and in BW I could change my opinion..
eh? A list to copare the different amounts would indeed be a great addition to the topic. Not everybody is a living wiki... Most people hate putting effort into researching before posting. Anyway: I think the game has indeed a large amount of abilities. But why is this a bad thing? You kinda forgot to say why this is such a bad thing, from your point of view. As long as the amount never gets to Warcraft-ish levels, it should work out just fine. They add extra strategy into the game, and how can that be annoying in a RTS genre game? -RTStrategy, duh-
Yeah, but then again.. If you are to make a thread saying that there are too many abilities, I think you need to show some evidence to make your point. Or else, why make a thread in the discussion part of the forums.
I agree but I find that there are just a little bit too many. I don't think the protoss Zealot needs a charge ability.
I think it does need such an ability. How else would it take on the newly introduced units? Marauders will completely destroy them without charge.
You don't need to use more abilities than you did in BW. If you can, you will be a better player. Hence the increased number of abilities broadens the micro dimension on which to compare players' skills. Blizzard has a more 'additive' attitude towards this, as in they too think there are too many micro abilities but instead of decreasing the number they implement new macro abilities to even out the aspects.
The macro abilities are the ones i dunno about. It seems like it's just turning macro into micro... So you won't be able to macro without good macro-micro. I think micro belongs on the battlefield and macro belongs at your base. We don't need to complicate things with ye olde macro-micro.. The only one i like, is the zerg one... I mean mule? no ty... And isn't 1 pylon enough?
You need to construct additional Pylons. (Just couldn't resist.) But seriously: I agree. The whole Dark Pylon concept is not really something I will ever be a big fan of. Although it does show the reuniting of the Dark Templar with the rest of the Protoss.
The whole dark pylon idea seems like a bureaucratic nightmare. "Click X button every Y seconds to get a Z% boost to your gathering rate." About as satisfying as an 80s electronic clock alarm. Axe!
LOL if this is so for the dark pylon, I hope they will at least put a countdown timer!!! - this is very unlikely though
Blizzard has mentioned some problems with the dark pylon, the other abilities being not important enough to need to choice when to proton charge, so there is likely going to be a redesign, or atleast a change of abilities.
Well. The game's had some tuning since Blizzcon, but playing the demo there, I didn't feel in the least overwhelmed by abilities, playing Protoss. I don't know if that's the concern, but since there was some macro vs micro discussion, my opinion is that for the units that you generally macro'd in SC1, such as zealots and dragoons, the abilities for these kind of mass-approach compliment the macro movement we're used too. IE, you charge with all your zealots, you can blink with a number of stalkers to get into combat, and micro them out with the blink, which i feel is an easier micro move than trying to navigate it out of combat. Etc. Units such as the defiler or science vessel are still not as amass-able as these kinds of units, so the range of abilities that these more special units have comparatively shouldn't cause a worry for change in gameplay. You micro-manage them, but it's not equivalent to microing sorceresses and druids in warcraft. I think it's kind of hard to explain why until you actually get a feel for the new gameplay, but it's definitely still starcraft, and I didn't feel in the least burdened by it. Finally, i feel it's a definite improvement as it allows you to consider the full arsenal of units available to you in multiple ways and the various roles they can take, allowing for more gameplay options than SC1 as opposed to cookie-cutter military builds you typically see in online play.
The dark pylons abilities probably need some changing but I don't think there are too many abilities in the race as a whole for a player to manage.
Actually too many abilities is great for the person playing the race with too many abilities and bad for the opponent. As the player has so many options to choose from and the opponent has to be ready for them all and have a counter for them all.
I agree with the idea that a large amount of abilities are best. It adds a new layer of strategy to the combat beyond two groups of units just smacking at each other until one is dead. So I voted just right because I have full confidence in Blizzard's ability to balance an RTS at this point.
I voted It's just right. The reasons Blizzard introduced the new macro concepts (Dark Pylon, Orbital Command, Spawn Larvae) was because people were complaining about the Mass Build Selection (MBS), and automine. A lot of people including myself, think that with the introduction of MBS and automine, SC2 will be noobfied. You won't have to worry about your resource collection other then expanding because all you have to do is set your rally point for your workers onto the mines. What makes SC such a demanding game was that you have to constantly macro your workers and tell them to mine. All these little things adds up and it really separates people's skill on their ability to multi-task. The same can be said about MBS. Massing up a unit in SC2 would be much easier compared to SC1. With the introduction of MBS and automine, SC2 was looking not as promising in terms of skill-set. That is until Blizzard introduced the new macro concepts. Now, people would have to worry about when to use those abilities to give them an economic advantage. This totally makes up for the automine + MBS . You need to weigh in on the situation on when to use their abilities. For example the Orbital Command. Do you use all your energy on the Mules? Or should you save some of it later for scan. If you use used too much on Mules, you might miss out on some key scouts with your scan. If you used too much scan, you will lose the economic advantage. All these choices are what makes SC2 compensate the introduction of MBS and automine. However, I do think that Dark Pylon needs work. People can just spam Dark Pylons near their mineral lines. There wouldn't be any decisions that needs to be made due to the numbers of Dark Plyons compared to the Orbitial Command and Queen. Blizzard is also well aware of this situation and has replied in Teamliquids Q&A.
I was just comenting about this on the protoss forum but I feel like the good abilities all belong to combat units right now, and casters are for the most part left with gimmicks. If the infestor stays the way it is now for instance, it's unlikely that I will ever build one.
