What would you change?

If you were suddenly promoted to being the supreme dictator of Activision Blizzard, what would you change about StarCraft2? I ask because as a whole, StarCraft2's looking to be pretty good, but there's just a small selection of things that I find to be really poor, or dull, especially when compared to the game when it was first announced, and other previous builds.

Here're my changes. I'll stick to the changes I'd make as opposed to elaborate explanations of why I'd make them. That was I might get be able to fit it all in less than eighteen posts. Here goes.

Protoss.

Nullifier - Give it the Anti-Gravity ability, removing it from the Phoenix, and remove the Hallucination ability.
High Templar - Give it the Nullifier's Hallucination ability. Possible change Phase Shift, or give to the Nullifier.
Dark Templar - Use the Zer'atai model, and only the Zer'atai model.
Immortal - Bring back the original cannon design, or simply a new design with the same style.
Colossus - Bring back the original sweeping attack.
Phoenix - Remove Anti-Gravity. Possibly bring Overcharge back.
Void Ray - Change attack so that instead of chasing units that flee out of range, the Void Ray has an 'initial' attack range and a longer, 'final' attack range. To start attacking a unit, the unit must be within the 'initial' attack range, but has to flee beyond the 'final' attack range to flee out of range. This stops any chance of the Void Ray running off on its own. Also, finalise the colour scheme. At the moment it looks like a High/Dark hybrid. It should be either one, or the other.
Carrier - Difficult one, but it needs to be brought up to scratch, without any gimmicky abilities or changes, perhaps by decreasing the range of both it and Interceptors, decreasing the Interceptors' rate of fire but increasing their damage, and perhaps reducing the maximum number of Interceptors by a couple. If it can't be brought up to pace, it should be scrapped.
Mothership - Make it unique. Bring back the original Time Bomb ability, a Planet Cracker ability and a damaging Vortex ability.
Dark Pylon - Play around with abilities. Proton Charge and Null Shield looking a bit plain. Perhaps move Proton Charge to the Nexus, to activate and buff all Probes returning to that Nexus. Null Shield is too similar to Phase Shift. Argus Link isn't enough to single-handedly keep the Dark Pylon in the game.


Terran.

Reapers - Increase health or reduce cost by enough to make them more independent and not rely on healing.
Marauder - Give back original slowing area of effect attack, though stick to a very small area of effect. Possibly give Stim Packs.
Ghost - Remove Psi-Round and bring back Snipe. Remove Energy Radar.
Hellion - Redesign.
Siege Tank - Increase damage in Tank Mode. Possibly increase its minimum range when in Siege Mode.
Thor - Increase health, damage, etc, and drastically increase cost, in order to prevent massing and stopping Terran players from running around with ten or more massive Thors, completely dominating their entire army. Have them built individually by SCV's, or perhaps by a set number of Mules.
Viking - Make it be built from the Factory, even if it requires a Starport to be built.
Medivac Dropship - Split back up into the Dropship and Medic.
Banshee - Bring back original area of effect attack.
Nighthawk - Redesign. Possibly remove Spider Mines and replace with the original Defensive Matrix from StarCraft1, EMP Shockwave, Nano-Repair, Lockdown, or another, similar, ability.
Battlecruiser - Remove Defensive Matrix upgrade.


Zerg.

Larvae - Bring back the original StarCraft2 design.
Queen - Make unique, or at least, one per Hatchery. Make melee, or ranged-melee, with a long, reaching, attack. Give her back the Deep Tunnel ability. Give her back her original ability to create base defences, etc, with the possible exception of Shriekers.
Drone - Remove ability to morph into Spine and Spore Crawler.
Baneling - Remove the rolling movement animation.
Roach - Redesign attack projectile, possibly make melee.
Lurker - Redesign.
Infester - Redesign, redo concept art. Alter Fungal Scourge to be include and area of effect casting area, or some sort of contagious element. Bring back its ability to Infest Terran structures, replacing the ability to spawn Infested Terran, possibly just for structures like the Barracks or Bunkers, have Infestation be permanent and allow for the production of Infested Terran. Possibly bring back Dark Swarm to replace Neural Parasite. Possibly give it Parasite, which would require a Detector to discover. Keep its ability to move while Burrowed.
Ultralisk - Redesign.
Overlord - Add universal upgrade to make all Overlords Detectors. Have Hatcheries and/or Queens also supply food so such a great number of Overlords are not required.
Overseer - Remove unit completely.
Swarm Guardian - Remove the ability to Spawn Broodlings on attack. Possibly give it Spawn Broodlings as a separate ability.
Nydus Wyrm - Make it so it doesn't require an Overseer to be created. Should be able to erupt anywhere in the sight of a Zerg unit.

They're my thoughts. What would you guys do?

 

This would be more interesting if you'd tell us why you want these changes. Eg why move hallucination?

 

Why. I saw a poll be Blizzard that 2/4 of the forum wanted both 1/4 old model 1/4 Zer'atai.

 

+1 to your void ray and phoenix, and +1 to scrapping the carrier - the Protoss have enough of an aerial arsenal. Actually I'd like to see the nullifier become a very early air caster without an attack - it would make it unique in the game in pretty much all the aspects there are.

+1 to your thor as well, especially in the building process.

+1 to your queen, and +10 to your baneling - I thought I was the only one who found the somersaults ridiculous. +1 to your roach as well because I feel the hydralisk as a staple unit deserves to be the only ranged ground unit. +1 to your overlord/overseer solution but only if universal overlord detection upgrade cost a lot more than the generic 200/200, maybe I'd settle for 500/500. Also, increasing their supplies provided (and cost to get rid of the generic 100/0 cost of supplies for all 3 races) would result in fewer overlords, but I don't think any other building or unit should be given supplies - then Zerg supply would work too much like the other races'.

Generally I like all your ideas in wanting to return to a previous, more desirable state, but above I highlighted the most prominent ones for me.

 

Viking back at factory.
Thats all.
It would give the Terran a easy air unit, like the mutalisk was.
Plus and air unit that goes ground is less impressive than a ground unit THAT FLYS!!!

 

I like everything you said for changing of the zerg, on the terrans I agree mostly, i'm just on disagreeance with the viking being in the factory. For the protoss the only thing I feel differently is how I like the dark pylon the way it is and also I like the two models being sued for the DT.

 

I wouldn't change a friggin' thing. I would be a supreme dictator, yes. But I would have zero experience with the game. Maybe some things you guys want to change are for the better, but I believe that most of you guys are underestimating Blizzard and should give them more credit when it comes to gamemaking. I'd like to think that all the effed up things are there for a reason. I doubt Blizzard would make hasty, half assed solutions with ANY game. They'd rather delay or cancel it.

When beta comes, I'll see what's actually wrong with the game.

@Itza. I agree with quite a few of the things you said, such as redesigning some units, but I think a lot of the art gets better when you've gotten used to it.

 

I like Gasmaskguy's response, it's truly honest and blunt.

 

Protoss
High Templar: Replace Phase Shift with Hallucination, give it Null Void, but possibly with a different name (along the lines of "Imposed Will" or something). Make total energy same as SC1: 200, upgraded to 250
Nullifier: Replace Hallucination with Phase Shift, give it Anti-Gravity. make energy 150 upgraded to 200
Immortal: Make the cannons look bigger and more forceful, rather than the little pin-prick cannons it has now.
Colossus: (Not exactly sure one this one, as the damage of it's current attack has supposedly increased.) A. change the animation so that both thermal lances are used in the sweeping attack animation. B. Give it back it's old attack mechanic from the announcement demo, possibly with small splash damage around the point of fire.
Warp Prism: Change the name back to Phase Prism, and give it 10 extra shield points.
Pheonix: Take away Anti Gravity, give back the ability to attack ground units. adjust damage/rate of fire accordingly
Void Ray: Change the name back to Warp Ray.
Carrier: Like Itza said, it's difficult. Return the HP total to 300 (currently 250). Other than that, I can't really think of anything to bring the Carrier back to it's former glory.
Mothership:Bring back the original Time Bomb, make Vortex do damage over time instead of stasis (keep the draw-in effect though). Either bring back Planet Cracker or give it Recall.


Terran
Marine: Assuming it's HP stays at 45, make the Ballistic Alloy Combat Shield give 15HP. Make it only affect Marines built after the research is complete
Marauder: Give it 100 HP - I find it ridiculous that an infantry unit has more HP than a frikkin mech (Viking). Make the damage 10 +5 vs. armored, and give back the slow effect, with small AoE.
Ghost: Make Energy Radar similar to the Sensor Tower in that you know there's a (caster) unit out there, you just don't know what it is. Give back Snipe, take of the 'biological targets only' restriction, and make it do 25 +75 vs. Light. make energy 200, upgraded to 250
Hellion: Change the name back to Jackal.
Thor: minor visual tweaks (change the cockpit, make it look less top-heavy). Keep Mechanical Rebirth, but rename the ability. Make transportable by Dropship.
Medivac Dropship: sacrifice 1-2 medics and a Dropship to create a Medivac. No refunds.
Viking: make air damage 10 +5 vs massive (or armored). Increase air attack fire rate slightly
Banshee: Bring back AoE attack, but make it more condensed (higher damage, smaller area)
Nighthawk: Scrap Targetting Drone. Make Spider Mines cost 15 energy apiece, Auto Turret cost 25 minerals/25 gas, give it the SC1 Defensive Matrix, but make it cost 75 energy instead of 100, and no damage leak. Make energy 200, upgraded to 250
Battlecruiser: scrap D-Matrix, make Missile Barrage more noticable on BCs that have it (add missile pods to the hull or something). Either decrease HP by 100 or decrease laser fire rate slightly. Energy 200, upgraded to 250

Zerg
Baneling: 50 HP, damage 50 +50 vs. Buildings.
Roach: change attack animation (no more vomitting!)
Lurker: reduce gas cost to 75. redesign the model.
Infester: Scrap all current abilities. Bring back original Disease (contagious, can kill a unit), but make secondary, tertiary, etc. infectees take less damage than the original infectee. Bring back Dark Swarm. Bring back Infestation for both Terran and Protoss structures. Spawn Infested Terran/Protoss according to size/importance of the building.
Ultralisk: Scrap the Head Thrust and give it +20 total damage vs. buildings.
Queen: Give it 300 HP, 200 energy
Overlord: Change visual for Exrete Creep.
Overseer: Change color scheme. Give it 12 control total. Give it the SC1 parasite ability, but make it temporary (lasts 30 seconds or so). Possibly scrap Changeling and Nydus Worm.
Swarm Guardian: Redesign, maybe rename as well (Brood Guardian?)
Corruptor: Make damage 10+10 vs. armored.

 

I'd make everything look like it was a while ago.

Still looking sharper, and not like a Fisher Price toy, but still with some vivid colours.

 

Kaaraa, most of what you said is up to balance to sort out and isn't really worth talking about at this phase. General abilities and mechanics, however, are being constantly thrown around currently, so are worth discussing, as Blizzard has people checking community boards for these AFAIK.

 

This would be a good color cordination.

1 votes Black
2 votes DarkRed
3 votes Red
4 votes Magenta
5 votes Pink
6 votes Sienna
7 votes DarkOrange
8 votes SandyBrown
9 votes Orange
10 votes Wheat
11 votes DarkOliveGreen
12 votes Olive
13 votes Sea Green
14 votes Lime
15 votes Pale Green

 

So? Itza asked what we would have changed. I stated what I would have changed. I would be supreme dictator, after all

Any thoughts one what you deem necessary from my last post?

 

The Mother Ship's Weapon of Mass Destruction

Everybody knows the mothership should represent the ultimate pinnacle of Protoss power. Many believe in bringing back planetcracker since it fits in with protoss lore and has potential as a powerful offensive attack. I agree, however, my version of planetcracker is a bit different.

Every since I saw the cutscene at the beginning of starcraft where the unidentified protoss ship destroys the terran vessels, I always thought it would be cool to use that weapon somewhat as a Protoss doomsday weapon similar to the terran nuke. And I think it could work like this. I will use the terran nuke example first in order to show the similarities.

1. The ghost agent is built after going through the proper tech tree.
2. Nuclear Silo is built.
3. Nuclear missile is built for a cost of minerals/vespene, takes time until ready.
4. Ghost goes to site and paints target.
5. Animation of nuclear missile leaves silo and waits a while.
6. Nuclear missile comes down over blast site and destroys everything within given radius.

1. The mothership is built after going through the proper tech tree.
2. Research planet cracker for a sum of minerals/vespene.
3. Charge energy for attack/convert khaydarin crystal to energy/ or (insert fancy sci-fi explanation here/etc for a sum of minerals/vespene, takes time until ready.
4. Invisible flying probe is dispatched from mothership and goes to site and paints target. (if observer is still in starcraft 2, then it will take this responsibility)
5. Animation of mother ship going into orbit to launch massive attack (flys up at the screen and disappears/ waits a while.
6. Large death ray like beam rains down over blast site (independence day style) in a deadly flash of white and blue and destroys everything within given radius


Even though I always thought it was cool for the protoss to also have an ultimate offense, doomsday attack similar to the terran nuke, some people will probably disagree that this Protoss ‘nuke’ is un-protoss like or unoriginal (rip-off of terran nuke which it is). But if you want, you can add other features to differentiate this from the terran nuke (The protoss version could be more expensive, have a slightly larger blast radius, secondary effects (every electronic device just outside the blast radius shuts down for 20 seconds), or unable to build anything on the grounds where a planet cracker just took place for a short period of time)

But I think the concept is cool, concept and special effects wise, and if this type of ultimate attack can work for the terrans without making them overpowered, then it can work for the protoss too.

Small note, if this version of the planetcracker would be introduced, then this should be the MS primary offense ability that will use minerals/vespene, then the secondary ability of the MS should focus more on defense and will use energy, (time bomb or make vortex an ability that can be both offensive and defensive). And have a smaller weak concussive attack in actual battle for attacking large groups of smaller units (like how the arbiter had a weaker version of the dragoons photon cannons). The cloaking should be scrapped for another unit. This way the MS is truly a powerful unit without being named an Arbiter clone or too overpowered.

So what do you think?

 

I think what i would change would be:

1. Maybe make the Warp Prism able to be like the old arbiter, therefore no need for the 'cloaking field' of the mothership. Or maybe make a new unit, or bring back a unit they were GOING to add in, such as the Star Relic.
2. Make the Pheonix be AtG and AtA, so therefore it can be used for both situations and not for just AtA or it is just like the old corsair.
3. That Protoss 'Nuke' doesnt sound that bad actually, would look to see how people wanted it and add it in.
4. Get the Mothership's old abilities back!

Other then that...Its fine, until I think of something else

 

Just a quick reply. I'll reply more in-depth to everyone's builds when I have more time.

Hallucination was the High Templar's ability in the first place. It seems odd to change something around like that when it wasn't really a problem, and then have to play around with new abilities, to see what suits it, when they already had an ability to suited fine. Also, it seems that it'd be fairly obviously if you're making use of Hallucination so early on with the Nullifier.

On top of that, I simply love the idea of the Nullifier focusing around the creation and prevention of choke points, and other, similar, acts. Having both Force-field, or whatever, and Anti-Gravity simply works so well in my opinion, and, needless to say, Anti-Gravity would be a lot more effective with this guy than it would with the Phoenix.

Overall, I tried to explain my reasoning for all the changes that would otherwise sound bizarre, as otherwise it'd've gone on for ages. Feel free to ask, or list, any other change you're wondering about.

Now, as you may or may not be aware, as I know it's kinda hard to tell, but I do not consist of everyone who voted in Blizzard's poll. Beginning to understand?

I thought about whether the Overlord should give more supply or not, but realised that if they were given any significant increase in supply, then they'd simply be too much of a target. If your opponent was able to down a couple of them, then you'd basically be crippled. So if something else, and something simple, like the Hatchery, or perhaps the Queen provided there's one per Hatchery, could help shoulder the load, then Overlords wouldn't be swarming everywhere, nor would they be high-priority targets. It would liken the Zerg to the other races, in regards to supply, but I wouldn't think it's to any major extent, I mean it's not like people would be building Hatcheries like Supply Depots, but I also do feel that the Zerg method is, in some areas, flawed, especially when it also acts as a Detector.

 

Isn't Phase Shift basically a single-target version of Stasis Field? I don't see how that's similar to Null Shield, which makes a unit invisible.

 

Things I'd like to see changed, mainly for flavor reasons:

Terrans

Reapers: Give them back their stimpack. It fits. However, this could make them too powerful in combat, and they have enough problems healing without an ability that inflicts damage on tem.

Marauder: Make their grenades do AoE slow again. They'll be pretty useless vs zerglings otherwise.

Ghost: Take away the uncool Psi Round and give them the slightly more useful and much cooler Snipe.

Take away Energy Radar; they're commandos, not mobile detection. (Protoss also don't have that ability.) The ability is supported in lore, but again, it should probably apply to protoss as much as to ghosts.

Siege tank: I'd love to see them with more hp.

Viking: Increase GtG damage. They have the same damage as pre-patch 1.? goliaths GtG, and I don't think that's enough. (Goliaths were boosted to 12 base damage for a reason.) Vikings used to do bonus damage vs light (I believe 8 + 8) making them better economy raiders.

It probably won't happen, but I wish they'd go back to being factory units.

Banshee: I'd love to see them do AoE damage, but they can kill probes in only two hits, so that would probably make them overpowered. Outside of their raiding role, though, I think they should have it so they can destroy groups of marines, etc.

Nighthawk: I think I'm the only person who doesn't like the new appearance. The old one better suited their role as constructors. They don't need to look sleek. I also really liked nano repair; that hasn't been seen since BlizzCon 2007.

Battlecruiser: Give them back Plasma Torpedo. Currently there is no terran AtG AoE damage. This wouldn't be needed if Banshees got AtG AoE.

Needless to say, one or two other battlecruiser abilities would have to be removed to give back this "space". I suggest the missiles.

Protoss

Zealot: Change flavor text of Charge.

Archon: Needs a larger attack animation. They look like they're using tasers when they attack.

Colossus: Higher damage and/or bonus damage vs light units. More time between attacks. (Blizzard has basically done this already.) This would let their initial sweep do more damage, and make them deadlier, sort of like how reavers can one-shot a bunch of hydralisks but are weak against multiple waves of them. Also they need a larger AoE effect.

Nullifier: Need more flavor text. Are they still Dark Templar units? Why do dark templar need to put themselves in cybernetic shells before they can use psychic abilities?

Phoenix: Give them Overload back.

Make them faster than void rays.

Remove anti-gravity and give them an anti-ground attack. There are lots more GtG attackers than pure AtA attackers. Alternatively, just replace with corsairs; Disruption Web could also shut down buildings and corsairs had AtA splash damage anyway. (I just think Overload was cooler than pure splash.)

Mothership: Remove ability to cloak buildings. (Cloaking units is fine.)

Vortex should do damage with the stunning effect.

Return Planet Cracker somehow. It was too hard to use at BlizzCon 2007, so Blizzard probably removed it for a good reason.

Zerg:

Queen: If it were up to me, they'd have that cool-looking melee attack again.

They're slow, so IMO offensive abilities like Razor Plague are pretty pointless for them, give that to the Infestor instead.

They're slow, so they're defensive and tend to remain in bases. I'd give them back Transfusion (great for healing crawlers) and Swarm Infestation (the temporary weapons added to buildings).

They create creep tumors, but are slow and vulnerable. This makes it more difficult for them to assist in expanding (as they would take a long time to get a new expansion and put down creep so the player can put down crawlers). The only way to boost their speed (nydus, creep or overlord transport) are all lair tech or above. Something needs to be done about this.

Maybe just increase their speed. I hope there are not-so-slow heroic queens in Heart of the Swarm. I don't want a hero as slow as Tassadar was. Heroic queens could have offensive abilities like Razor Plague and lose many defensive abilities instead.

Roach: Would look cooler as a melee attacker. Alas, Blizzard has good reasons to give them a ranged attack.

Corruptor: Raise their tier to spire tech. Increase their damage, or give them a boost vs massive units. (A large boost, like what Vikings get.)

Ultralisk: Remove burrow, it's more than a little silly on a unit of this size.

Infestor: Remove Neural Parasite. (That's the ten second mind control ability.) I don't think that's nearly long enough to be useful. Replace with Razor Plague.

Give them Infestation back. (The current summoning ability is obviously a stop gap measure.)

Fungal Scourge is awesome; keep it the way it is!

Hydralisk: Reduce tier to 1.5. Slightly reduce stats.

Lurker: With their splash damage, they're more suited to anti-infantry operations. Boost base damage and drop bonus damage vs armored. (IMO, 20 damage +10 vs armored is fine.) Reduce the tier.

I don't really care about which unit it's on, actually, though I did want to know why you wanted it moved back.

However the old ability did have problems. Players (both in and out of Blizzard) wouldn't use it, as it had to compete with the more direct Psionic Storm for energy. That's why Blizzard reduced its cost and increased the duration (and also made it possible to make more copies, depending on copied unit).

 

I find it funny it's mostly changes about the units, and that's all people are focussing on.

Everyone's happy with all the aesthetics, sound, music, etc.?

 

Aesthetics I can understand Willy, but music? Why would you change something you haven't experienced?