Zerg Changeling

New Zerg Spawned Unit

It seems the Overseer will have a new ability: Spawn Changeling. Take a look!http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Changeling Not to much info atm.

 

Yeah I found that on sclegacy.com too, but a bit funny Blizzard didnt mention it at WWI!
And I never trusted sclegacy.com, so I dont trust this one, as the references all are sclegacy.com
The newest build is the one used at WWI, and there was nothing about this abbility their, so this sounds fake.

 

You sure the Overseer even remains, it seems useless.

Lol, a shape shifting unit. Remember how the succubs was just someone's imagination.
For now there isn't enough information on this so I won't acknowledge it.

 

I have researched even more in the informations on sclegacy.com, and a lot of their posts are jsut fake informations, so dont get you hopes high, this is probably just fake.

 

Fake or not, I fell in love with the concept. Since zerg cannot cloak, it's only logical that at least one of their units evolve the ability to camouflage. I'm thinking this unit could be special in that even under detection it would only show on the minimap, and the enemy would need to manually target it (unit AI would not see it). It would take 4 seconds to completely blend in with a totally different environment, so if you moved it slowly it would constantly change its texture to try and match the map texture where it's standing, so if the enemy spots it on the move it it isn't hard to hunt it down (much like cloaked units without detection) but if it keeps still it would be really hard to kill it.

<3

 

Yeah, but if you read what they wrote in sclegacy about them:

"The Changling is a new Zerg unit spawned directly from the Overseer. Once it comes within 12 hexes of an enemy unit, the Changling automatically shifts its appearance to the basic unit of that enemy race (Zealot, Marine or Zergling) and takes on the enemy's color. Players who don't pay attention to their roaming units may quickly find their bases infiltrated by these metamorphing Zerg as they impersonate friendly forces."
http://www.sclegacy.com/content/wwi-08-coverage-11/wwi-08-coverage---zerg-units-80/#overseer

And as starcraft wikia has taken the information from their, this must be the truth!?!?
Seems very OP in some way, because it sounds like it also kills right?

And the unit wasnt in the WWI build, and this was posted under WWI Coverage.

 

It's a really cool idea. Obviously it's not hard to detect if you're overusing it, but if used correctly you can overrun an enemy's base from the inside. You still have to be careful, though, or your enemy will think why they got a bunch of free units.

 

How do you know? Have you ever seen a list of all the Overseer abilities? It might count as an ability and not a unit.

 

Yeah, but its pretty much OP when theres detection, and worth nothing when detection exsist?! So if this is Lair Tier then its not worth much (because zerg always wants to expand, like they did in scbw I think). And has Zerg ever been about clothing etc. ? Isnt zerg brute strenght?

I dont like it.

 

Its listed as a unit on sclegacy.com, and I said this unit wasnt in WWI. Perhaps its in as an abbility, but not as an unit. (ohh sorry, its listed as an abbility, im sorry). But isnt it wierd that no other sites said anything about it, and that Blizzard didnt either?

sorry for double post

Edit:
I just dont trust the site guys, check out this:

"This transport unit is the Zerg's primary means of bypassing cliffs and terrain obstacles. It can be killed after surfacing to form a Canal, or beforehand through the use of detectors. The Nydus Worm can morph back to a Worm after it morphs to the Nydus Canal. Otherwise the Nydus Worm works just as the Nydus Canal, but the removal of the restriction of only being able to emerge on creep means that a backdoor assault will be a very real threat."

The nydus worm doesnt have the worm form anymore does it, and this is posted under WWI coverage. Same link as before.

 

Oh. Well taking on the appearance of the enemy doesn't make much sense lore-wise. Zerg are still animals, not Robert Patricks from T2. Though as Wlck says finding the right balance between staying undercover and mustering a considerable force sounds thrilling, I don't see the lore behind it.

...

Screw lore, this is a sci-fi game! Bring on them shapeshifters!

 

Confirmation from Blizzard:

"Overseers can create a Changeling by spending energy. The Changeling is a small unstable Zerg creature with timed life. When he gets near an enemy structure or unit he will change shape into the correct basic unit type and color to match that player. So if you get near a Blue Barracks you become a Blue Marine. If you get near a Red Stalker you become a Red Zealot, etc.

Enemy players cannot control the Changeling. It's still owned and controled by the Zerg player who created it. It is very vulnerable and can be killed by a single hit from just about anything. The Changeling cannot fight. He is just a shapeshifter, when he looks like a Marine that gun in his hand isn't "real."

You can see that something is a Changeling by mousing over the unit, by trying (and failing) to drag select or by selecting the unit and seeing the name and portrait.

What it does for the game:
1) Gives the Zerg a fun way to scout (though really they already have plenty of scouting options).
2) Makes enemy players constantly fearful of all of their own units. Is THAT a Changeling?! What about THAT GUY!?

In live games it is pretty difficult to keep on top of the "Changeling Problem" if an enemy Zerg player is trying to sneak into your base. However when you do catch them it feels pretty good.

It's something we have been trying for a few weeks and we thought we would include it in the WWI build to see what people thought."

Not sure how I feel about this. A cool idea, (it reminds me of the Spy from Command and Conquer), but as some of you have already said I don't think it fits with the Zerg lore-wise. Lots of neat strategies though could arise, and a new type of fear for the Zerg!

In any case, I am glad Blizzard is trying so many things for Starcraft 2 - I get more and more excited for the game to come out every day.

 

I dont like it, really. This is RA2 (spies). I hate this idea, really, I think its sucks. If it then was cloacked or something... Its just so non zergish and so non starcraft like....

Edit: I think its great they try new ideas, but I hope this one is not included in the final build, as kuvasz already said: Zerg arent USA/Great Britian/Korea/Germany/France (did i get all factions)?

 

I'm not too against it lorewise. To me, Zerg represent all the tactics of nature, and mimicry is found throughout the natural world , so I'm fine with that. It just really unnatural and arbitrary that the changeling has to be spawned from the overseer, just to give an ability? or is there another reason?

 

Yeah, just to give it an abbility... Cut the overseer and bring back the overlord IMO.

 

Btw, I think there should be a similar ability to this, but instead you parasite the unit and gain full control over it, it stays the original team colour also, so you can infiltrate the enemies base if they don't realize its not under their control, that would be so cool.

But maybe there should be a limit on the energy use, like if you parasite an Ultralisk it would be OP to gain full control, so maybe tier 3 units with lots of hitpoints should require all the energy the parasiting unit has, and something like a Marine would require 50 mana.

 

The overseer already has abilities - extend creep and the mineral blocking thing. Or is that the ovie?

So now it's official. It's stupid though that if you get next to a stalker you get a zealot - what if the player never made zealots? Busted straight away. This unit needs serious work on it.

 

The Zerg Changeling is indeed real. Conformation from Cavez:

He's not making it up.=) Here's how it works.

Overseers can create a Changeling by spending energy. The Changeling is a small unstable Zerg creature with timed life. When he gets near an enemy structure or unit he will change shape into the correct basic unit type and color to match that player. So if you get near a Blue Barracks you become a Blue Marine. If you get near a Red Stalker you become a Red Zealot, etc.

Enemy players cannot control the Changeling. It's still owned and controled by the Zerg player who created it. It is very vulnerable and can be killed by a single hit from just about anything. The Changeling cannot fight. He is just a shapeshifter, when he looks like a Marine that gun in his hand isn't "real."

You can see that something is a Changeling by mousing over the unit, by trying (and failing) to drag select or by selecting the unit and seeing the name and portrait.

What it does for the game:
1) Gives the Zerg a fun way to scout (though really they already have plenty of scouting options).
2) Makes enemy players constantly fearful of all of their own units. Is THAT a Changeling?! What about THAT GUY!?

In live games it is pretty difficult to keep on top of the "Changeling Problem" if an enemy Zerg player is trying to sneak into your base. However when you do catch them it feels pretty good.

It's something we have been trying for a few weeks and we thought we would include it in the WWI build to see what people thought.

 

The concept is great, but I think they're doing it wrong, they should bring back parasite but allow us to gain control of the unit, meaning we have to act according if we don't want to be found out, then you can break cover and take out some workers, if its a basic unit like a Marine or Zergling, as taking Ultralisks in one go is overpowered.

 

I think this is going to go the route of the Infested Terran. It's a very fun unit from what it sounds like, but its uses are too limited to justify using it most of the time.