StarCraft II

[Figrin D'an]

So, even though the official announcement of Blizzard's new game isn't until Saturday, all signs point toward the new project being StarCraft II. Both the Blizzard main page and the url www.starcraft2.com have the same new design, and of course the starcraft2 url was registered by Blizzard last fall. Throw in the fact that the announcement is coming at a gaming tournament in South Korea, where StarCraft is still one of the most popular games, and the evidence seems pretty conclusive.


With as popular as the original game was (and still is in competitive circles), this game will be huge... like breaking sales records huge.

It'll be interesting to watch the development process.

[Dimitri Vojslav]

While any release to do with StarCraft would no doubt make me wet myself with glee, there have been rumours that it's going to be a StarCraft MMO, according to this article:

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=163207&site=cvg&skip=yes

Whether or not the rumours are true, I'd much rather believe them than be skeptical. Depending on the content, I'd gladly turn in my WoW account for a StarCraft Online, since it was one of the first PC games I ever played (the original StarCraft that is). As excellent as World of Warcraft is, I'm a sci-fi guy at heart.

My life for Aiur!

PS: I'm sure one of the undead units in Warcraft 3 says 'My life for Aiur...I mean Ner'zhul!'

[Karl Valten]

*GASP*

Starcraft was my first games I spent a lot of time playing online and in LANs, I still enjoy playing the game. I've always wanted to have a starcraft 2. If it is an MMO, I had better be able to play as a hydralisk. :)

[Dimitri Vojslav]

Although it's a bit fruitless to speculate about the choices in a game that may not even be in the works yet, I wouldn't think the Zerg would be a playable race. It'd be like roleplaying as a Borg in a Star Trek MMO - how can you roleplay an individual when there are none in such a collective. Both the Zerg and Borg consist of a hive mind with no free will.

An interesting comparison between the Zerg and Borg would be Locutus and Kerrigan - both are integrated into their respective collectives to add individuality. Though linked to the hive minds, they still retained some of their free will. But considering how massive a 'massively' multiplayer online game is, I don't think it would be realistic to have lots of special free-will zerg running around.

Thats just my take on it. As awesome as the idea is, unless they came up with a very good explanation, I couldn't imagine Zerg being playable.

[Nathanial K'cansce]

They best not go Ghost with this one.

[Figrin D'an]

A second MMO is a possibility, but if they want to avoid cutting into their own player base, it'll be a long-term (ie. 3 years) development project. With WoW still going very strong and likely to see a couple more expansions, I doubt Blizzard will be in a huge hurry to get anything out the door.

If it's not StarCraft II (RTS), I'm thinking it'll be a completely new project. But, we'll find out Saturday.

[Dimitri Vojslav]

I'm worried, more than anything, that it'll be StarCraft 2 (RTS game). I absolutely adore the original and Brood Wars. I'd be terrified in case they wrecked it. Granted, Blizzard certainly know what they're doing and their franchises are so well-established that it'd take a fool to bugger them up (and let's be honest, Blizzard ain't no fools).

But still, I have this inner dread that it won't do the original game justice. I recall Dark Reign - a very underrated real-time strategy sci-fi game with some really cool units and an interesting story. Dark Reign 2 was god-awful in my opinion. The transition from 2D to 3D didn't do it for me, and the 2 races weren't as engaging as the original games.

I trust Blizzard, but that worry is still there regarding a StarCraft sequel.

On a more positive note, it'd be awesome to see how Raynor and the others have come since we left them. I'll be so annoyed if (assuming StarCraft 2 is announced) they end up killing off Raynor - he rocks.

[Karl Valten]

Either MMO or RPG, I'd really like to see how this whole Zerg/Protoss hybrid thingy plays out (If they choose to go that route). I think that'd definately suffice for a third race.

[Zereth Lancer]

I feel that it is more likely for Blizzard to produce a StarCraft 2 RTS game then a MMORPG. With the dynamic success of World of Warcraft they may be tempted to see if they can stick their hand into the tiger's mouth again to see if they can escape with a fistful of money. Blizzard is legendary, but I would not put it past them as to be so sly as to make a StarCraft MMORPG. Although, I really cannot see where they can go with it. World of Warcraft is massive, a virtual playground that stretches two gigantic continents. A StarCraft MMORPG would have to be equally large, but as a Science-Fiction masterpiece it would likely span many planets, and that can make things incredibly confusing.

As was said: the Zergo would not make a proper playable race for all the reasons mentioned. So, I am really curious as to where a StarCraft MMORPG could go. Making it only Terran playable character-wise would limit it incredibly and likely cut it off from most of it's fan base that would desire to play as a different race. Using the World of Warcraft template of two separate sides fighting against each other, it's possible that Blizzard could have the Terran and Protoss as playable races and the Zerg being the wild units in the middle for the players to kill for experience.

And then you have Quests, how would Quests for a StarCraft MMORPG go? Freeing planets from the Zerg/other aliens? That can only go so far before it begins to suffer from the same problem that City of Heroes/Villains has, which is over-repetitiveness of a few mission types.

I really just do not think a StarCraft MMORPG would work out, but I'd welcome it and give it a try if it became a reality.

Whichever form of game they make, my only desire is that they, especially in the case of an RTS, have the original characters, especially Raynor. I also hope it sheds more light on the Xel Naga, the race that created both the Protoss and the Zerg.

Either way, I trust Blizzard to do a good job.

[Yog]

A Starcraft Online MMO would be interesting, cause it's Blizzard producing it, and it's a refreshing sci fi setting. Although, like Figrin says, this would likely be years down the line for a release. I would not mind a RTS either. I am excited to see what will be announced on saturday.

[Morgan Evanar]

If it's another theme park like WoW I'm not going to play it. Now if it has WoW in the middle and Eve on the outside and the economy I am going to play it for sure. It would be nice to play something on a client that doesn't suck.

[Figrin D'an]

Initial reports from the WWI tournament... it is indeed StarCraft II (RTS).

[Droo]

http://eu.starcraft2.com/

It looks sooo good!

[Yog]

Star Craft II indeed. It looks fantastic!

[Morgan Evanar]

Well thank goodness.

[Karl Valten]

Mmmmmmmm.....tasty.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Zeratul looks sweeeet.

[Morgan Evanar]

Gameplay videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1KnmnFxHoE&mode=related&search=

[Dimitri Vojslav]

This game looks excellent - the transition from 2D to 3D is gorgeous. I'm really pleased with the 'look' of the game.

[Yog]

Gameplay videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1KnmnFxHoE&mode=related&search=

Color me impressed. Looks like Blizzard is setting the benchmark once again.

[Zereth Lancer]

Wow. It looks really, really good. Downright pretty. I cannot express how happy I am that they did not introduce a new race, because I feel that would have destroyed the balance they have created with the trio of races. I cannot wait till more eye-candy is released.

Oh, and God bless Blizzard.

[Khendon Sevon]

That particle engine is... I'm in love with it. What a good looking game. They really know how to build their engines over there.

Now, if the game plays as well as it looks :)

[Diamond Roa]

I'd like to reiterate Zereth Lancer's words.

God Bless Blizzard.

It took them long enough, but Starcraft really was the next obvious place for them to go back to. It of course leads to the question...what next?

[Khendon Sevon]

Diablo III, of course.

They really don't ever have to create a new IP (intellectual property). I mean, it'd be nice if they came out with something crazy, new, and original. But, they're Blizzard, they don't have to.

[Bloodcrest]

Diablo III? What else do we have to kill? Three prime evils dead, two lesser evils dead, the world has been wrecked once already...I personally think they'll be hard-pressed to do much more with Diablo...but at the same time, I so wish they would make me eat my words.

[Figrin D'an]

Diablo III? What else do we have to kill? Three prime evils dead, two lesser evils dead, the world has been wrecked once already...I personally think they'll be hard-pressed to do much more with Diablo...but at the same time, I so wish they would make me eat my words.


I think this is a problem easily solved, and hints that are already popping up fit well with the premise.

The next Diablo game will be an MMO.

Blizzard has said they plan to revisit the Diablo storyline at some point (just has they had always said about Starcraft before announcing SC2.) We know that they are already hiring people to fill positions related to a "next generation MMO." WoW is likely to consume/cover almost all of the existing Warcraft lore established in the previous RTS games, so a second Warcraft MMO seems unlikely... and with SC2 in the works, a Starcraft MMO seems to be a stretch at this point. So, unless they have a completely new gaming universe they plan to open up, the Diablo series seems to be the logical storyline.

We know, lore-wise, from the end of the Diablo II expansion, that although the Prime Evils are dead, the Worldstone has been destroyed. The barriers between the mortal world and Hell are breaking down, and eventually will disappear. This opens up a multitude of story possibilities without really needing characters like Diablo, Baal or Mephisto to play a huge role. The kind of chaos that is set up by the death of Baal at the end of 'Thone of Destruction' seems perfect for an MMO adventure world. A lot of the character classes are already in place, at least in principle.


This is, of course, complete supposition on my part. But it fits the facts that are already in place regarding a known future MMO project that Blizzard is planning.

[Bloodcrest]

It sounds like a possibility, I admit. On the other hand, I'd really wish Blizzard went and did something original again. I mean, Warcraft was original. Starcraft was the sci-fi version of Warcraft. Diablo was fairly original. What else does Blizzard really have? With only those three, you can only go so far before needing to introduce another original art.

[Khendon Sevon]

Actually, I'm pretty sure they can milk those three IP's for the rest of their existence, as long as they do it well.

That being said, if I were them, I'd create a new IP just to show the world that we still got skillz ;)

[Morgan Evanar]

This is, of course, complete supposition on my part. But it fits the facts that are already in place regarding a known future MMO project that Blizzard is planning.As long as they keep the isometric view and random dungeons it's all good.

[Peter McCoy]

Check out the new Zerg trailer, downloadable from the Blizzard website here:

Starcraft 2 Movies (http://eu.starcraft2.com/movies.xml)

I haven't downloaded the Terran and Protoss ones yet, but I'll be checking them out next. I'm very excited about this game.

[Peter McCoy]

http://www.game.co.uk/PC/Strategy/RealTime/~r331102/StarCraft-II/

Thats the only place I've seen a release date mentioned. February eh!? I'm ecstatic if thats true, but I'm not sure since I haven't read a confirmed release date anywhere.

[Pierce Tondry]

Knowing how Blizzard has released large titles in the past, I have to doubt the accuracy of that date. Usually there's far more trumpets and fanfare.

[Morgan Evanar]

They haven't even released the public Beta. They announced there would be one at Blizzcon, so that date is incorrect.

[Peter McCoy]

Well I thought that anyway. I'm just surprised that it's the month before and it hasn't been removed. Fair enough if there had been no word from Blizzard and the site showed a release date of 6 months down the line. But to say its out next month with no basis for such a claim seems odd.

The one thing I can think of is that they may be trying to encourage people to pre-order the game. Some people may see it's out soon and think 'Oh, I better get my order in quick'.

[Uncanny]

My mate in work who used to work in GAME said thats what it'll be - to encourage pre-orders. And when I did pre-order it last night, the girl working there said the pre-order form showed the release date to be September.

[Pierce Tondry]

http://www.starcraft2.com/features/terran/terratron.xml

This is one of Blizzard's classic April Fool's jokes, but I SO wish it was real.

[Peter McCoy]

Hell...it's Morphin' Time!

That was great.

It wouldn't surprise me if Blizzard put it in as a cheat, like the nuke troopers in Age of Empires or something :p

[Tear]

Starcraft 2 Beta getting ready (http://kotaku.com/5242698/new-beta-opt+in-process-for-starcraft-ii).

[Morgan Evanar]

Sweet I can use my blizzcon card thingy :D

[AmazonBabe]

Don't forget to create a Battle.net account and also opt-in for the beta if you haven't already. I have a feeling a Battle.net account will be needed to play the beta. Also, opting into the beta through Battle.net is not only for SCII, but also for the other titles of WoW and D 'verses.

:)

[Peter McCoy]

Yay. Got my new Battle.net account all set up, and all my games added too! Awesomeness!

I really enjoyed the two battle reports that are online at the moment. If anybody hasn't seen them I highly recommend you check them out. I thought the commentary was great. Lets hope we don't have to wait too long for the next one.

[Tear]

I echo that statement. The commentary was very good and even though I wasn't playing the game simply watching it was pretty entertaining.

[Pierce Tondry]

For those who have missed, or simply weren't up to speed to begin with:

1) There is a third SC2 Battle Report video out. Go to http://www.starcraft2.com/features/battlereports/3.xml to check it out. Fantastic use of blink and of probe denial by the Protoss player in there.

2) StarCraft II will actually be a total of three games. The first game will be an entire campaign of missions from the Terran standpoint. It will feature heavily Jim Raynor and the characters he's currently with. The current title is StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty.

3) The first game will contain the "core" SC2 game and editor. Future games will be along the lines of expansions. Two are scheduled, one to cover a Zerg campaign (featuring Kerrigan), and one to cover a Protoss campaign (featuring Zeratul and Artanis).

4) The original voices of Jim Raynor and Arcturus Mengsk are back to reprise their roles! At this time, the original voice of Kerrigan is not.

5) Beta opt-in is still going on as far as I know. Sign up at Battle.net for a shot at testing.

6) I CANNOT FREAKING WAIT FOR THIS GAME

[Figrin D'an]

The whole "3 games" thing has some people up in arms, but since it's been made clear that each of the race campaigns will be as large as the entire original Starcraft game was, I really don't mind that much.


The other aspect that is rubbing a subset of people the wrong way is the lack of LAN support. One of the things that made Starcraft such a huge success was that people could run spawns of the game on multiple machines on a LAN, meaning that a LAN party of 8 people only needed one copy of the game to play each other in multiplayer mode. This is how the original game gained such a massive following, and became the game of choice for LAN parties for the better part of a decade. For SCII, all multiplayer games will function through Battle.net, and each player must, of course, have a verified copy of the game.

I personally don't care, and will play the game regardless, because LAN support is just not that important to me. While it would be a nice feature to have, it's not a deal breaker. It's something for people to bitch about though.

[Xavier Synik]

*watches video*

*looks at desktop*

Yup... going to need to upgrade...

[Dasquian Belargic]

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=24952


Tricia Helfer, best known for her role as "Number Six" on the recently-concluded television series Battlestar Galactica, will serve as the voice of the character Kerrigan in Blizzard Entertainment's upcoming StarCraft II.

:3

[Figrin D'an]

Double post....

[Figrin D'an]

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=24952


Tricia Helfer, best known for her role as "Number Six" on the recently-concluded television series Battlestar Galactica, will serve as the voice of the character Kerrigan in Blizzard Entertainment's upcoming StarCraft II.

:3

Yeah, that was announced at Blizzcon. I went to the Starcraft II Lore panel, and Chris Metzen said that instead of a traditional lore discussion, they decided to invite all of the voice actors for the game. So, they trotted out the people who do the voices for Jim Raynor, Zeratul, Arcturus Mensk, and a couple of new characters. Then, he announced that the new voice of Kerrigan was Tricia Helfer, and brought her out on stage as well. I have some pics that I'll try to post tomorrow or something (i just got home about 30 minutes ago).

[Tear]

Star Craft 2 Editor (http://unrealitymag.com/index.php/2009/08/24/starcraft-2-reveals-the-most-insane-map-editor-ever/). Impressive, most impressive.

[Peter McCoy]

To quote Jim Raynor: Sounds fun!

[Peter McCoy]

Zeratul vs... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or_-jn5AnoI)

Blizzard really know how to make a gorgeous cinematic! And just to ocnfirm, the actual visuals are outstanding, that video above is poor quality. I have the good version on a disc I got free with PC Zone the other day. It also had another video showcasing some of the action from the Terran campaign (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9YXVpi_mKQ). I can't wait for this game.

[Xavier Synik]

Ladies and Gentlemen... Zerg of all ages... We have a date...

Apparently SC:II in stores July 27...

Of course I couldn't find anything on their website to back up the tweet I read. And it didn't include a year, but hopefully that date stands. Just have to find a machine to play it on.

[Pierce Tondry]

Beta key huzzah!

[Peter McCoy]

You swine!

[Karl Valten]

I kinda scored a gig with Fantasy Flight Games (the company that make SC The Board Game, Wow The Board Game, Tides of Iron, Twilight Imperium, Descent, Wings of War, and all those crazy games) and got bunch of SC2 Beta Keys.

The company has it's headquarters here and I'm a regular at the events center as well as a playtestor for their RPG games which is crazy cool.

I have one left that Brian had dibs on, but since apparently he already has one, first person to ask for one gets the key.

[Karl Valten]

And Peter McCoy gets the key. If anyone that has a key wants to play a game, my handle is: Nungunz.AQT

[Peter McCoy]

I'll definitely hit you up on it sometime. Only played a few games. Three as the Terrans - I got owned in my first one, won the 2nd as the guy quit, and then got owned again. My two outings as the mighty Protoss were much better - a decisive victory for my first try and a win via surrender for the 2nd. I was always a Terran man in the first game but I reeeeally enjoyed playing as the Protoss. I haven't even messed with the new stuff yet - Carriers, Void Rays and a mothership are just a fleet of awesomeness that gets the job done. I'll have to play about with the new units but its kinda hard to get to grips with them as its so fast-paced and I'm constantly building up the base to really appreciate the lower-tech units such as the stalkers.

Nevertheless I'm loving it so far - it looks really nice to. I think it's laughable to call this a beta - it plays rock solid and I imagine with less than two months before release it's just a case of tweaks and balancing. I'll try to get some HD screenshots tomorrow evening after work - the Protoss look simply beautiful.

[Peter McCoy]

While I am really loving the game, I'm not enjoying the constant ass-kicking I receive in games. It's insane how fast people get their bases up and an army built. I try to get defenses up and their initial forces overwhelm me. So I go on the attack at the start and they have good defenses. And they even manage to do both. I'm getting a 2nd base up in a timely fashion but it's as if it all goes slower for me compared to my opponent. I can't see myself playing much random multiplayer- maybe matches with friends who dont do rushes - whats the point in playing 25 games that all last eight minutes - I prefer slower-paced, longer games.

[Karl Valten]

Yeah, the multiplayer is very fast-paced and a lot rides on what your opening build is. Always send out a scout asap to figure out the route your opponent is going and send periodic scouts units to keep up-to-date intel and and use harassing units to hit their mineral lines.

As Protoss, be sure to use that chrono-boost liberally and try to secure an expansion asap as 'toss blow through minerals crazy fast.

I'm still having issue with the learning curve myself with zerg.

What league did you place in (bronze, silver, gold, platinum) and route do you usually go as protoss?

[Peter McCoy]

Bronze, lol. As for my approach to Protoss, I did enjoy amassing a fleet of Carriers cloaked with a Mothership, and a few Void Rays. But I only managed it onced (and I owned my opponent). Since they I just get wasted quite quickly. I need to strike a balance early-game with building up defenses and getting a few zealots on the board. I thought I was doing okay in the last game but then a load of zealots and immortals showed up. My 4 photon cannons and 4 zealots defeated them with 50% losses so I thought 'Okay I can rebuild that quickly' and started warping in more cannons and zealots - then another batch of immortals and zealots show up seconds after the first lot to finish me off. Bah!

[Karl Valten]

The carriers and mothership take time so resources are key. If possible keep sending harassing units of zealots and stalkers. And like I said if you can drop some units in by their mineral line it keeps an opponent distracted.

I won a game as Terrans playing against Terrans by sending multiple harassing units of marines and mauraders backed up by medivacs (MMM) behind his command center to kill off resources and units while I built up battlecruisers.

Almost lost the game when he sent about 20-30 marines at me, but was able to hold them off. Lost most of my expansion in the process, but lucked out. Only ever had to build 2 bases for that entire game and it lasted about 20-25 minutes.

[Peter McCoy]

Won my first ranked game earlier. Unintentional too. My girlfriend was round and wanted to see what I'd been swooning over and waiting 10 years fo. So I jumped into a quick match - Terran vs Protoss. I was only messing about to show her a few different things and ended up winning the game. I sent 3 tanks, 6 marauders, 8 marines and 4 Vikings and 2 medivacs to the Protoss Base, wiped out the expansion (Steppes of War) and advances on the primary - he surrendered. :-)

[Figrin D'an]

The key to multi-player is knowing the UI backwards and forwards and using hotkeys. Just like with the original game, there will only be a handful of viable strategies, from that point on, it's all about micro-managing units and resources and the speed at which you can do so.

I've only really played some matches against friends and computer opponents thus far. I was more interested in testing out unit abilities, seeing the tech trees, etc. I might play some multi-player matches when the game goes live, but that's not the draw for me.

[Peter McCoy]

Same for me really. I'm in it for the single-player and solo/co-op games against the AI

[Pierce Tondry]

Once I got used to the build order and the notion that it was advantageous to produce about 3 SCVs per mineral patch, I quickly improved.

The only thing I've found difficult about 1v1s so far is the decision making process. If I go into a game with a plan in mind (build up to X number of unit Y and then go attack) I usually do much better than if I waffle and experiment. For the copper leagues, the game is more about "decisive action!" as Edmund Duke used to say. :)

One thing I don't like is how there's very little anti-air that isn't a flier of some kind. While my base defense often compensates for quick striking, any concerted attack by fliers "before I'm ready" will often wipe my miners out quickly. I don't run into a situation where I'm "not ready" often, but those few times it's occurred I recognize my defeat and surrender pretty immediately.

[Peter McCoy]

Protoss are definitely my favourite. All the races have really cool units and different play styles. But I love the way the Protoss play. If you have enough capital, they really do behave like the advanced alien they're supposed to be. Strong units that can take lots of damage, nice special abilities as well as the option to create an army anywhere on the battlefield IN FIFTEEN SECONDS using Warp Gates.

I remember playing a game with Droo, and I got a Warp Prism in range of his base - the warp field just overlapped with the corner of the base behind the line od sight blocker (the smoke vents). I honestly don't know if Droo could see the Warp Prism over the smoke or not but regardless, I was able to warp in 6 Dark Templar right under his nose. The base wasn't standing for much longer after that.

I'm hopeless at countering rushes as Protoss though. The other games where I've played against Droo, his Reapers are my worst nightmare. He really plays on my weakness by going for my pylons and rendering my photon cannons useless.

And I must say it's a bit naughty for Colossus's (should that be Colossi?) to be targetable by anti-air fire yet they can't attack air units.

But regardless - yeah, loving the Protoss' new toys. Loving charge. Loving blink. Dark Templars are still badass. Archon's feel underpowered for the cost, Immortals rock, shame they're not anti-air. I should mess around with the Sentry. If only they were available sooner, their forcefield would be great for keeping rushes at bay. And since the shield recharge battery has disappeared, I think it'd be good if Protoss shields recharged a bit faster when they're within range of a Pylon or Warp Prism field. Nothing ridiculous, just a bit of a buff on the recharge rate.

[Tear]

War is coming

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[Park Kraken]

A couple of questions - Is there still a pesky 200 unit cap limit in the game? And, do any of you have access to the Map/Unit Editor in the Beta? I was going to mention Mr Tondry, perhaps you'll be able to create your own ground-based anti-air unit once the game actually comes out. :)

[Sarah Lymia]

A couple of questions - Is there still a pesky 200 unit cap limit in the game? And, do any of you have access to the Map/Unit Editor in the Beta? I was going to mention Mr Tondry, perhaps you'll be able to create your own ground-based anti-air unit once the game actually comes out. :)

1) Yes
2 and beyond) No idea

[Ahnk Rashanagok]

I'll be getting this game on release day and intend to become a zombie for the next three or four months until they wake me from my stupor and slide New Vegas under my door.

[Peter McCoy]

This month's PC Zone had a feature looking at Wings of Liberty. There's a research system that spans the campaign - completing optional objectives during missions will net you either Zerg or Protoss research points which you can then use to pick various upgrades. But the article went on to say that the research choices will be an 'either - or' situation - there won't be enough points to have everything, so you'll need to think carefully about it.

[Dasquian Belargic]

http://beta-us.battle.net/en/info/digital-purchase


Don't wait until launch date to download your digital copy of StarCraft II. Grab all seven highly anticipated gigabytes worth of Blizzard's sequel right now so you're ready to play on July 27. You don't even have to pay!

Blizzard is opening up digital purchasing for its long in the making sci-fi real-time strategy game in advance of StarCraft II's official launch. Simply head over to Battle.net, sign in, download and wait patiently. Then, on launch day, pay, activate and play.

If you're planning on buying a boxed copy, perhaps at some midnight sale, this is not the version you're looking for. Move along. If you're planning on not leaving the house and opting for a digital download of StarCraft II, this is probably a good idea.

The digital download version can be activated and played starting July 27 at 10:00 AM PDT.

[Pierce Tondry]

Finally, someone uses the distribution model I've wanted for YEARS. Downloading - BEGUN!

[Peter McCoy]

I'm getting the collectors edition. Art book! Soundtrack! DVD! Original game plus Brood War on dogtag USB! Thor pet for WoW! I know I'm missing a bit but ZOMG!

[Pierce Tondry]

I'm curious. Do you usually go for Collector's editions?

[Morgan Evanar]

I'm not buying it for two main reasons:
1) I'm awful at StarCraft
2) RealID was disgusting and I'm not going to reward a purchase of StarCraft to Blizzard/Activision.

[Yog]

StarCraft II not being on Steam is a dealbreaker for me. And I would not buy games at launch anyway, it has to be on budget.

[Peter McCoy]

I don't usually go for Collectors editions but I did get the one for The Burning Crusade. I never got Wrath's CE because I couldn't afford it at the time.

[Acacius Blade]

OMG 3 days! A canee weeet!

[Travis North]

Two to go!

Sweet, sweet pre-order paid in full already.
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[Acacius Blade]

I started playing the original last night. I can't see myself playing all through Starcraft and Brood War tonight, but I may put the cheats on just to play through it fast to remind myself of the story.

I think one of my favourite missions was the 5th Terran mission where you first meet Kerrigan and have to liberate the colony on Antiga Prime, then cross the body of water and take out the Confederate base. I only realised last night how weak Wraiths are against ground targets when uncloaked. Once I realised the error or my ways I started ferrying marines over in shuttles.

This was also in part because I caught the 2nd half of Starship Troopers, just at the start of the outpost scene.

[Crusader]

StarCraft 1 was awesome. I fell so much in love with its story so that I even started to write fanfiction about it.

[Acacius Blade]

Actually no - favourite level was 'The Big Push'. Terran Mission 7 or 8 I think. You start off with your command center, barracks, factory, wraiths, dropships and Norad 2 in the bottom-right corner and have to take over an abandoned base site. There's two main bases, the reds and the whites, with a few expansions you can claim. I love pushing forward with Siege Tanks, Goliaths and Marines on that level.

Speaking of Goliaths, I believe they;re in single-player - an upgrade or research choice as part of the Terran campaign. For example, you may have the option of unlocking a fast attack option (Vultures perhaps!?) or infantry support in the form of Goliaths. Ossum!

[Crusader]

I think you mean mission 8. It is the battle over Tarsonis where you are allowed to command General Edmund Duke's Norad 2 and his infamous alpha squadren.

This mission ends with the destruction of the defensive forces for the capital of Confederacy which makes the planet defenseless against the terror of the Zerg that is unleashed by Arcturus Mengsk by putting up PSI Emitters around Tarsonis.

This is one of those emotional moments that I mentioned in the other thread: I felt pissed because I helped Mengsk to slaughter billions of people on this fictional planet that he turned into a second Chau Sara and all that you can do is nothing. This is the point where I realized that Mengsk is not a liberator but a man that is seeking revenge for his family.
The next mission made me even more angry since instead of at least letting the Protoss contain the Zerg investation he orders a direct assault on the Protoss and forbids the destruction of his pet Zergs and even worse he leaves Kerrigan for dead.

When Raynor decides to leave the Rebellion in the final mission I was like: "Dude, you just watched this guy killing billions of people and eventually your girlfriend and now you want to leave? You are not the fastest mind right?"

[Pierce Tondry]

Nuclear Launch Detected. Impact 10 AM PDT.

[Karl Valten]

Hmmmmm, I wonder how I can get off of work long enough to get the game installed so it's ready to roll when I get off.

[Acacius Blade]

I have it! And I just know work is going to draaaaaag today because of it.

[Acacius Blade]

Okay so work wasn't too bad. But I'm home now and it's almost installed. I'm all excited! :)

[Nathanial K'cansce]

Got it during my lunch break. Installed after work/dinner. Played the first 3 missions. Enjoying it.

[Xavier Synik]

mine's just finishing the install now... Holy huge install... Oh and the recap during the install process was a nice touch.

[Figrin D'an]

Enjoyable thus far. The non-linear nature of the campaign is nice. The level of polish and refinement that is expected in Blizzard games is certainly on display. It's easy to see already how the designers learned from some of the things they tried in Warcraft III and either expanded upon them or made adjustments. The achievement system will give people a reason to keep replaying the story mode missions... I can tell already that some of them will be a bitch to complete, but that's part of the challenge.

Gotta make it last though, since it'll probably be a while before we see the next part, Heart of the Swarm.

[Acacius Blade]

Disclaimer: I am a bit of a fanboy when it comes to Starcraft, but please don't gloss over my praise as hyped-up madness.

I am absolutely loving this. Though I was looking forward to it, I made sure not to get too crazy and hyped up. I'm happy to say it's exceeded my expectations thus far. I was just hoping for an updated Starcraft with shiny new graphics, new units and new missions. But there's just so much to do!

I'm loving the campaign system. The missions themselves are a lot of fun. I like how a lot of micro-stuff is automated now, like SCV's repairing and medics healing. And the choices available to you when it comes to your units is exceptional. Not only do you control the order of tech-unlocks depending on the mission you choose, but you can buy upgrades for your units and buildings with cash earned from completing the missions. And then there's the research aspect of it, where you can unlock new units as well as enhance other aspects of your forces. And... mercenaries. I'm loving these elite units. So far I've got access to three - the elite marines, firebats and marauders - essentially two to four of each with improved health and damage compared to the standard unit trainable at your barracks. Having all the squads deployed at once, backed up by medics - my God! They're almost unstoppable! And on the laptop screen where you view them for purchase, there's a little bit of info about the unit. I'm loving the expansion of the lore surrounding the game in this!

So far my highlight of the experience is definitely the mission where you go to help the refugees and find out the colony is infested. And the infested civilians and marines are too sensitive to sunlight so only come out at night. You basically have 5-minute cycles of night and day. The idea is to roam the map in daylight and burn down the infested structures, while retreating to your base at night and hold up until the sun comes up.

I actually decided to establish an outpost away from my main base and used it as a staging area for my Hellions - I was launching attacks from there, night and day - there's just hundreds of units at night so I filled the outpost with SCV's for repair work. It's quite a big map and there's loads of buildings to destroy, and the terrain is twisty in places so their speed really helped me with that!

Just fantastic. I can't wait until tomorrow evening to carry on. And after the campaign is all finished there's the challenges and skirmishes against the AI which I adore in the first game.

Looking forward to unlocking Goliaths as well as getting my hands on Ravens and Vikings.

Finally, gotta mention the in-between-mission interface. Initially it's Joey-Ray's bar but quickly the scene changes to the Hyperion Battlecruiser. There's the bridge, cantina, armory and laboratory, with various characters you can click on to speak with. You don't actually move around, but rather change between the four different scenes. The scenes are incredibly detailed with tidbits to click on such as Zerg trophies, photographs, people who say various things, a dancing night-elf hologram in the cantina, a TV where you can see news reports of the current dilemma gripping the Koprulu Sector. And as always with Blizzard - the cinematic's are breathtaking. I couldn't believe how splendid the Hyperion looks. Think of the original Starcraft's in-game graphics, and these new visuals in comparison. Well the cinematic quality has increased by the same amount at least. Stunning.

It's wonderful that Blizzard have put so much thought, time and effort into all these extra things to flesh out what, lest we forget, is a real-time strategy game. Already I'm wrapped up in the story, with the various sub-plots woven into the grander scheme. The entire package has brought an immense smile to my face and I can proudly say I'll be boring my work colleagues to tears telling them all about it tomorrow.

OMG I almost forgot to mention The Lost Viking. If you followed the games development you'll know that the Viking is an air superiority fighter that can land and transform into an assault walker. Well in the Hyperion's cantina there's an arcade machine called 'The Lost Viking' - it's basically a playable mini-game that's mod of Starcraft 2 that plays like space/aircraft vertical-scrolling shooter games where you can move left and right and are essentially heading towards the top of the screen - formations of enemy ships show up and you have to blast your way through them. You can collect various power-ups and score points, and there's even end-of-level bosses. Well, I say that as a plural but I don't know if there's more than one level - I can't defeat the boss. But all the units I saw were air units from the Starcraft 2 game itself. You're flying a Viking and have to take on numerous Protoss Phoenix's until you encounter the boss - a Protoss Carrier which sends out loads of interceptors before unleashing a huge energy cannon that I just cannot dodge to save my life. They didn't have to do it, but it just immerses you even more and also goes to show what the engine is capable of - I foresee some truly awesome mods when the marketplace goes live.

Blizzard have brought us something really special. Do your self a favour and experience it.

[Acacius Blade]

Just been reading up on the editors features. Apparently you can link units to other units. For example, you can set the Zerg Spore launcher (anti-air defence) to fire Banelings for ground assaults (Banelings are suicide units that roll into their target before exploding). I assume thats how they set the Carrier to fire that energy beam in the Lost Viking minigame. I'll wait for the weekend before I start playing with the Galaxy Editor.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Did anyone get the collector's edition, with all the extra paraphenalia? I am a sucker for the bundles of art books, etc and I'd like to know what the quality is.

[Acacius Blade]

I never bothered in the end. It's not payday until tomorrow and I couldn't wait so just bought the standard edition. But if it's anything like the WoW Collectors Editions, it should be awesome. I'be got the Burning Crusade art book and it's really really nice. I think I've got vanilla WoW's art book as well, my girlfriend bought it somewhere - The Works perhaps!?

[Firebird1]

I wish I could afford it, but I just moved into a new apartment! So I got the standard edition. Meanwhile I am having a blast, and I'm not even through the campaign yet.

[Acacius Blade]

18 missions done and the story just keeps getting better and better. I can't remember the magazine, but they weren't exaggerating when they said it had the best single-player/story of an RTS ever. The plot twists are fantastic and fans of the original will be very pleased at numerous points.

And I'm happy to say I got my beloved Goliaths. It's really hard for me to choose a favourite unit. I'm loving the Siege Tanks as ever, and the Banshee's would be unstoppable if they could target air units. I like the extra units avilable in the single-player campaign - Firebats, Wraiths, Vultures, Goliaths; they're not available in multi-player. I'm sure there'll be mods with them accessible for VS matches eventually.

Also, I unlocked a research upgrade - the Perdition Turret which shoots flame jets and lowers underground when not in combat. Oh, and my armoury on the Hyperion looks real badass now!

[Park Kraken]

:hug Roach Rush :hug

[Acacius Blade]

I've not even touched anything other than the single-player campaign yet. But in general I hate it when people use rushes in games. It just bores me. I've paid £40 for this; I want to play for longer than 3 minutes per game.

I admit it's satisfying to rush someone: "Hah, I beat you, I was faster, lolz!" but there's so many different, really cool units in the game further up the tech tree that I'd rather have a longer game. Hence why I won't play online matches very often - only to try to unlock some of the portraits and earn some achievements. I'm much more looking forward to co-op vs AI and making my own maps. I've already got an idea for a co-op map where one member of the team is reliant on the other for reinforcements. More details once I've started it.

[Karl Valten]

And I'm happy to say I got my beloved Goliaths. It's really hard for me to choose a favourite unit. I'm loving the Siege Tanks as ever, and the Banshee's would be unstoppable if they could target air units. I like the extra units avilable in the single-player campaign - Firebats, Wraiths, Vultures, Goliaths; they're not available in multi-player. I'm sure there'll be mods with them accessible for VS matches eventually.

Yeah, I nostalgiad here as well. I love my Goliaths!


Also, I unlocked a research upgrade - the Perdition Turret which shoots flame jets and lowers underground when not in combat. Oh, and my armoury on the Hyperion looks real badass now!

Same, I likes roasting me some bugs.


Oh, man. Warfield is pretty badass for a Dominion guy. Punching a hydralisk in the face!

[Acacius Blade]

We should exchange usernames/realID's so we can team up some time. I can't remember mine but will share it when I get home from work.

[Acacius Blade]

I assume my real ID is the email address my Battle.Net account is linked to, is that correct?

[Acacius Blade]

I've just had a crack at the final mission.

GG

I'll try again tomorrow.

[Pierce Tondry]

Already defeated the game on normal. Was wicked fun. Replaying it on hard. :D

[Karl Valten]

I found the game a bit boring on normal (in terms of how hard the missions were). Need to step up the difficulty and do it again.

[Travis North]

I'm a nub to StarCraft, I found the normal setting to be amusing. I usually restart a mission once I have a decent strat set up though.

For example the train robbery took three takes as the kill team launched in front of my diamondbacks before I could micro them outta the situation, and after that try number eight's defenses pummeled the units I'd assembled. My third try was a line of bunkers and defensive towers across all three tracks backed up by a roving band of twenty or so diamondbacks - It was win.
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[Acacius Blade]

I'm actually thinking of restarting, even though I'm on the last mission. I'm gonna try again, but I'm thinking of what different armory and research upgrades would have been better.

[Acacius Blade]

Okay so I just went back to the choice and decided to eliminate the nydus worms instead of the orbital platform housing the air swarms.

It was a lot easier! Now that I've finished it on normal, I'm going back for the achievements - as I would gather most people would do.

Add me to your friends list guys! Should be Peter McCoy I think, or Superego, or both - I dunno.

[Anne Phoenix]

My Battlenet Address is Waltinator205 At Aol.com if you want to add me. As of now I haven't bothered with campaign, as I prefer to just play as the Zerg.

[Park Kraken]

Two Hatcheries side by side plus a Queen running between them keeping the 'Spawn Larvae' ability going equals a fearsome number of units being produced. Whether it being a Zergling Swarm, Roach Rush, or whatever, that is the way to go when playing Zerg.

[Acacius Blade]

The mission 'Zero Hour' where you have to defend your base for 20 minutes - anybody managed to get the achievement where you don't lose or salvage a single structure? I swear I lose nothing but the summary screen still says I lost a building. I can only assume that either it's bugged or I'm losing one during the in-game cutscene - which is incredibly crappy if that's the case.

Anybody managed to do it?

PS: My Battle.net email address is peter.mccoy1 AT btopenworld DOT com - if you add me, let me know who you are from Fans so I know who I'm adding.

[Xavier Synik]

I've been working on that one. I haven't played it again in Normal to try and get that one, but I've been trying to get the hard acheivement.

Haven't figured that one out yet. By the time I get enough forces to go after any of the hacheries there are only like 5 minutes left.

edit: Okay got the "no loss/no salvage" acheivement. Not sure if there is a specific part of this strategy that did it, but basically did the following:

1) Built a whack of SCVs to make sure I had the minerals for the rest of the steps.

2) Set up basic defense with 2 bunkers at each entrance and added an extra 4 missile towers to cover the rush of air at the end.

3) Built up a large force of about 20 Marines and 4 Medics (give or take).

4) Went over and rescued the 1st set of trapped Marines over on the far right corner, then came back to the crossroads, so that the Marines could cover an SCV while it built a set of new bunkers at the crossroads that is just over the bridge on the right side. Set up 4 bunkers that can cover each other better. (did this more as a thought on how to get a better strategy for the Hard acheivement, so not sure if this is really needed)

5) Sent the Marines (now a force of about 30) over to the left of the base (more to take a look around) and found that there is a Nydus worm and at least 3 hives.

By the time the I killed the 3rd Hive time was up so I'm not sure if there's a 4th one there or not. I think one key was taking out the Nydus. I know that I've realized that you need to go and get it on Hard to stand any chance. Just haven't figured out how to build a strong enough force fast enough to get in there.

[Acacius Blade]

I'll have a crack after work today. I'm thinking I may just mass-produce marines and medics and not bother with any structures.

As for the Hard Achievement of taking down 4 Hatcheries - I'm gonna try this:

1: Double-up on resource-gatherers. Just as one SVC gets to the mineral vein, the current one has finished and is on its way back to the Command Centre. Faster resource rates that way.

2: Build extra barracks. I think you start with two, so build another two. When the madness starts near the end, lift them all off just in case they're at risk of destruction by the emergence of a nydus worm.

Of course it's easier said than done, but it'll be fun trying.

Also noticed that my "...vs AI" wins are not registering for achievement gains either. I've played two games against medium AI opponents - one as Terrans, one as Protoss - and neither have registered as going towards my achievement gain. Grrr!

[Figrin D'an]

Just an FYI for anyone playing for long periods of time...

http://news.filefront.com/starcraft-ii-melting-pcs-fix-it-quick

This was also posted on the official SC II forums. Essentially, if your PC seems to be getting hot while playing the game, take a break, and consider using the framerate fix provided. Blizzard has confirmed this is a real problem and will be patching a fix, but until then, best to take some precautions.

[Park Kraken]

I've found out something interesting. Using the Queen's Spawn Larvae ability, Hatchery Production of Larvae is stopped if there are more than the normal 3, but there is no limit as to how many Larvae there is at a Hatchery. In other words, if you aren't using up your Larvae but keep doing the Spawn Larvae cycles, you could end up mass producing a large number of units at once.

For example, during one game I was under-producing Vespene for a Roach Rush, I already have more than enough Overlords and Drones, so I had twelve and eleven larvae sitting at two hatcheries, respectivley. I spawned twenty three Roaches when I noticed I had enough vespene, and incidentally, I got an achievement for doing so (the achievement was for mutating 21 Zerg units at once).

[Kyran O'Hurn]

I'll have a crack after work today. I'm thinking I may just mass-produce marines and medics and not bother with any structures.

As for the Hard Achievement of taking down 4 Hatcheries - I'm gonna try this:

1: Double-up on resource-gatherers. Just as one SVC gets to the mineral vein, the current one has finished and is on its way back to the Command Centre. Faster resource rates that way.

2: Build extra barracks. I think you start with two, so build another two. When the madness starts near the end, lift them all off just in case they're at risk of destruction by the emergence of a nydus worm.

Of course it's easier said than done, but it'll be fun trying.

Also noticed that my "...vs AI" wins are not registering for achievement gains either. I've played two games against medium AI opponents - one as Terrans, one as Protoss - and neither have registered as going towards my achievement gain. Grrr!

#2 won't work unfortunately. Reason being It's about when Matt shows up, not when the Zerg destroy your base.

And I had the same problem with the AI games. If you look at the achievements it says "evenly matched game" I don't know what they consider evenly matched. I'm guessing it probably means Hard or Hardest but I haven't tried either of them.

[AmazonBabe]

Joe's been pretty much playing SCII on a daily basis. I was able to procure a CE for him, and somehow lucked out with a CE key for myself as well.

I haven't had a chance to play it yet because my HD is too full and can't hold the install.

Hopefully I'll be getting a new huge HD in the next month, along with a new OS. I figured if I'm going to overhaul the HD, might as well overhaul the OS. :)

[Acacius Blade]

And I had the same problem with the AI games. If you look at the achievements it says "evenly matched game" I don't know what they consider evenly matched. I'm guessing it probably means Hard or Hardest but I haven't tried either of them.

It's not Hard, so perhaps Hardest or Insane. I would have thought evenly matched meant 1 v 1 with no handicap applied.

[Xavier Synik]

Okay just did a quick google search, and it seems that you need to play a custom multiplayer game vs AI rather then a single player game.

I haven't tried this at this point in time, but found a couple places where that is what is mentioned as the main reason for it not to show up. Also a couple mentions about handicaps being set to 100%, but seems that the level of difficulty doesn't matter. At least according to what I've found.

[Park Kraken]

Okay just did a quick google search, and it seems that you need to play a custom multiplayer game vs AI rather then a single player game.

I haven't tried this at this point in time, but found a couple places where that is what is mentioned as the main reason for it not to show up. Also a couple mentions about handicaps being set to 100%, but seems that the level of difficulty doesn't matter. At least according to what I've found.

I've gotten achievements while playing as Zerg on Co-Op Online, playing against medium difficulty AI on 3vs3. I haven't gotten any achievement apart from League class achievements though.
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[Park Kraken]

I've gotten into using Infestors more and more. I tried going all Infestors one game, but the lack of Hydra support caused me to lose my base, (although I did go on for about another ten minutes running sixteen burrowed Infestors around and destroyed two of the three AI bases before they were hunted down and killed off).

Now I'll usually morph about six Infestors in between building up my forces, and as soon as they're done, I'll send them into an enemy base, waltzing right under any defenses they have, and spawn two dozen or so Infested Terrans out to attack their resource gatherers.

Its usually a good prelude to launching my main offensive.

BTW, just played a game were all three of us were Zerg. We must have had upwards one hundred fifty Hydralisks when we finally decided to attack, lol.

[Acacius Blade]

Played two co-op games with Droo last night against the AI. The first was against the Zerg and although they were both Medium, the attacks were quite formidable. Defenses weren't holding but we got the back up fairly quickly - a lone SCV of mine was a repair champion with Droo's bunkers.

If we play again tonight I'd like to ramp at least one (preferably both) up to Hard and see how we fair.

While I like to climb right up the tech ladder, I quite enjoyed playing around with a small squad of Reapers. The map we played on had easy reaper access to the base and expansion mineral veins - taking out their economy would have been easy if we'd done it sooner. But we never pushed until air units were in full flow.

Aside from the strong attacks, Medium AI is very easy to beat. Once you're in the base there's nothing to stop you wreak havoc. I'm hoping higher AI levels will have more/stronger units in the base, or tougher defenses.

I'll definitely use Reapers some more tonight, maybe even mess about with Marauders. Usually all my barracks is for is filling up bunkers.

[Figrin D'an]

I had fun with the Challenge missions. Managed to get gold on all of them, with a little bit of work on a couple.

Haven't done a lot of multi-player yet. Still working on some of the campaign achievements.

[Pierce Tondry]

I've gotten all the mission-based achievements but one. 50-kills on Belly of the Beast. I hear it's easy, but I haven't tried it yet so we'll see.

Beat the entire campaign on hard and am thinking about trying brutal just for kicks.

Really can't wait for the next installment in the story.

[Acacius Blade]

Me too. I understand Heart of the Swarm will have some RPG mechanics. I wonder if they'll be more in-depth than Warcraft 3's system. I know the engine supports equipping items on units (or at least heroes).

I got the achievement for drowning the brutalisk in lava last night - just on my 2nd playthrough, trying some different research choices this time. I'm going for ones that will be particularly useful against the Zerg, so upgrading firebats and hellions ASAP. Dunno whether to ultimately go for the Hive Mind Emulator or the Disruptor. I guess that depends on what penultimate mission I choose.