12 years ago, a company by the name of Blizzard Entertainment took their first babysteps into what has now become a multi-million dollar industry, RTS gaming. RTS is short for real time strategy, where opponents are pitted against each other in real time, to determine who is the better player. 12 years ago, this was still a really new concept, which lead to a very interesting beta-stage and early develpment of the game. Fast forward to present time, and things are totally different. Gone are the days of slow hand speed, delayed thinking, and the overall casualness of gaming. This has been replaced with players who now have 10+ years of gaming under their belts, with mindsets capable of figuring out new mechanics, strategy, and concepts at a very alarming rate. All of this adds up to a much more tougher, competitive beta test filled with talented young individuals capable of bringing the RTS genre to the next level. Fame and Fortune!
The first thing everyone will notice when logging onto their beta account is the brand spanking new Battle.net 2.0. Chalk full of new features, it certainly is a step up from their traditional battle.net services. Here's a quick run down of the new features, and their basic functionality thus far.
At the top left hand corner of the screen, you have the option to choose between single player, and multiplayer. Single player is currently not available yet, however clicking on the multiplayer button will take you to this screen, where you have the options to choose between 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4, and FFA game modes. These are counted as league games, and give a point value towards your overall ranking. Before joining a league however, it is required that you play 10 ranking games which are then used to determine your overall skill level. I think this is a nifty new feature that allows lower classed players to play amongst themselves in the lower league divisions until they are capable of surpassing their competition and given the shot to move up to another, more difficult league.
The leagues As as follows:
Within each league are a number of divisions, that hold around 100 players or so each. This allows players to achieve more short term goals, like getting to the top of their division, rather than trying to scrape their way to the top of the entire ladder, which could be quite daunting to those unable to mass-game. From what I have read, and heard, blizzard plans on taking the winners of each division, and hosting a tournament at the end of each season. Overall that leaves alot of room for possible prizes and accomplishments. Perhaps we shall see the striking return of Blizzard trophies, like the ones given to the winners of the very nostalgic Battle.net Ladder that took place 11 years ago, or something much bigger and better, MONEY!. All I know is they took alot of time and effort to think out a league system to group players, so they probably have something up their sleeve.
What would Starcraft 2 be without a new and exciting replay feature. Replays were only brought into the original Starcraft after release (roughly 2years), and had grown to be one of the most popular learning tools used in the game. Starcraft 2 is no exception as it brings forth the same learning tool , but gives it alot more improvement. Now you can fast foward, and rewind replays which was always a hassle in the past. You can also see mouse clicks, and choose to follow a single player, or casually watch both. One downside I find is they removed x2 speed , and replaced it with x3. Personally I find this a bit too fast when watching game action, or when trying to follow build orders. Speaking of build orders, you now also have the ability to load a post-game chart that shows both players exact build orders and timings. This will be tremendous help to those wanting to learn or copy builds from more successful players in the future, and it will be interesting to see it develop.
Another new feature happens to be the profile page. Instead of the generic profile given to you in starcraft 1, you now have a much more indepth, rich looking profile full of all kinds of wonderful stats. These include Win streaks, most successful maps, career wins, and ranking. You can also see the games you have already played, and choose to click them and read the end game scores. All of these small things add up to create a plethora of things to read, study and remember. You even have the option to change your Profile picture! To the right side of the screen is an Achievements section, however for the beta this is currently unavailable. I assume this is going to be focused on small achievements like unit kills, scores , winstreaks, etc.
Shifting now from the interface to the actual gameplay leaves one quite stunned. The gaming effects are quite simply amazing. The environment is surreal, and you are left staring at the beauty that this game has become. Eye candy aside, the actual gameplay is quite similar to the first one. They have sped up the early game quite a bit by giving you 6 mining units rather than 4, and a higher supply cap before making your first supply building. I decided to use terran in my first 12 games, as that was the race I was most successful with in the first game. Taking a deep breath, I press the start button, and wait while battle.net finds me a worthy opponent. Immediately I notice the speed difference, and quickly the game enters into combat mode. Being a decent player in the first game, I make short work of my first opponents, and move higher on the rankings. Most games are pretty short, as currently everyone is trying rush tactics as they figure out unit combos and timings. Using a base force of marines/mauraders against both protoss and zerg, terran is left usually on the defensive. I found it hard to move out and take control of the map until I had a factory up and running, and was pumping Thors to accentuate my already growing army. Battles last longer, but units are a bit harder to micro in and out of battle, as everything tends to clump up on the screen. Sometimes I was left wondering what the heck was going on, as 2 giant balls of units mixed together and reigned down all hell.
Zealots encounter a pack of zerglings, and prepare for bloodshed.Another thing to look at are the new macro mechanics, which basically allow a player to mine minerals faster, or produce units quicker. These force a player to pay more attention to his base, and to make sure he is properly using these extra features. I find them quite effective, and only time will show how they affect build orders and the overall balance of the game. Some things I will mention are the fact that zerg roaches are really really hard to stop. Most zergs I've played have done some form of roach rush, which is actually very powerful. Another thing are mutalisks againt protoss. I find that protoss has really no good anti-air, and are left struggling against any sort of mutalisk build. However that is only my opinion based on the replays I watched of various league leaders.
A large terran force dismantles an unsuspecting protoss army
•Fast gameplay
•Tons of new features in battle.net
•Global ranking system
•Updated replay support
•Amazing Visuals
•Resembles the first game quite nicely
•Possible future E-sport
•No lan Latency yet
•Hard to micro in big battles
•units tend to mesh together forming a big blob
•inability to view other leagues and players outside of your ladder division
•inability to fastfoward in replays, and a maximum of x6 viewing
The pros FAR FAR out way any negative sides to this game, overall I think the gameplay is turning out to be quite enjoyable for most people, and as the newness of the game begins to wear off, we will most likely see trends developing, and the first real build orders coming together. It is an exciting time to be a beta tester, and surely a part of history as this game progresses from a simple beta test, to the worlds most dominating RTS game, filled with competitions, hopes, and dreams.
This has just been a very brief overview of what I have seen and played in my very short time thus far with the beta. Forgive me for being vague on someparts, as this is also my very first article for
www.starcraft2.pro. In the future you can expect alot more coverage including a close following of the league leaders and how they are playing the game. Interviews with top players and their current progress, strategy articles, and basically anything worth writing about. It's going to be an exciting ride, and I thank you for reading and choosing to ride along beside me!
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Luck
