Starcraft 2

Hey any updates on SC2?

Discuss!

Again with belatedly reported news, Blizzard Entertainment has released their 6th "Blizzcast" - among WoW and Diablo III related content, it includes 2 relevant pieces of information for Starcraft fans: an interview with Dustin Browder and Samwise Didier regarding unit design from start to finish, and some community questions answered by community manager Karune.

You can get the podcast or read a transcript here, or look for it on iTunes. Included in the text transcript are several new unit portraits and animations which show just how impressive the game is already looking.

An excerpt follows from the Starcraft-related portion:

Sam Didier: Well we had an idea, on the Terran side, we had the old Goliath. It was cool. We had the Valkerie. It was cool. But we wanted to kind of make the Terrans a little bit more new. We wanted to add some more transforming to the Terran side so we said “Okay well what if each of those was one stage of the unit and then it transforms?” So now you have an air attacker, you have a ground attacker, whatever they end up doing at the end of the day whether it’s machine guns on the ground, missiles in the air, whatever, we knew we wanted to have some kind of transforming robot. That was one of the areas of sci-fi lore that we hadn’t had. We all grew up in the eighties and nineties watching transformers so that was something really dear to our heart that we wanted to put in.

Karune: Everyone was waiting for that.

Sam Didier: STARSCREAM!

Dustin Browder: (laughs) Yeah I think units like the mothership, I know when I first got to the studio from the original movie for the beginning of Starcraft had a very huge Protoss ship in it that shot a terrible beam and destroyed the small terrain salvage ship and this was a unit that was part of the lore but we never actually saw in the game so the idea of a mothership, I think, had been floating around the studio for quite some time just based on that opening cinematic on that really cool piece of art. And so there was an example of a unit that sort of came from art and lore first and then we’d been working on different mechanics for it now for quite some time to make it work in the game.

Read more of the interview's transcription here.

Source: Blizzard Entertainment

Discuss!

Apologies for taking so long to get this up - I have nothing to blame but my own character flaws.

Last week over on the Battle.net forums, Karune posted his latest Q&A with the Starcraft community - here's what he had to say this time:

Chat with Devs: StarCraft II is definitely evolving to be even more intense than the original StarCraft, with the increased mobility of units with cliff traversing abilities, as well as new transport abilities. In response, the development team has buffed up the Terran Planetary Fortress to have splash damage as well, which has proven to hold off decently against raids now, especially with your SCVs fixing the command center at a very high rate.

As always, shoot the devs and I a w00t! if you are enjoying this Q&A batch!

---StarCraft II Q&A Batch 46---

1. In StarCraft II, will there be friendly fire? – Xigon(Battle.net)

Yes, friendly fire is still available in StarCraft II. You can take out cloaked units attacking your base by using friendly fire on your own unit and giving splash damage to cloaked enemy units, which has been executed by many players in the original StarCraft. For example, if you play Zerg, you can kill Dark Templar attacking your Hatchery, by targeting your Banelings to attack your Hatchery near the invading Dark Templar.

2. Trilogy is Beginning, mid and end, or is it the same story told from three points of view? – Lolod(Battle.net)

The stories will be sequential. The Zerg story will begin from the end of the Terran story, and Protoss story will begin from the end of the Zerg story.

3. Are there any special animations for units which are standing around doing nothing for a long time? (StarCraft 2 Source)

There will be multiple animations for units which are idle.

4. What is the optimum procedure for the new gas mechanic? Should a player mine both gases at the same time and cycle the inactive workers (when the geyser goes down) to the minerals? Or should a player mine only one geyser and alternate the workers between the two? (StarCraft 2 Forums)

It totally depends on what your strategy is in the game. For example, you can mine two at the same time and double up your gas supply to build up certain armies or tech up very quickly. Or if you need more continuous and stable gas supply for your strategy, you can switch off your workers between the two gases with your micro-controls.

5. What Protoss unit is now the best option to counter mass enemy air units? The Phoenix lost its overload ability which was really the only Protoss splash damage option other than Psi Storm. (StarCraft 2 Forums)

Against Zerg’s mass air units like Mutalisks, Archons and Psi Storm are still the best counters. Against Terran’s mass air units like Vikings and Banshees, Protoss can still use Phoenixes and focus fire. Vikings currently do additional damage to large ships, rather than light armor.

6. What kind of damage do spells deal? Is there a type “Spell” or don’t they have any specific attack type? (StarCraft 2 Source)

There isn’t a specific “spell” type of damage, but some do additional damage to current types already in the game. For example, Ghost’s Psi Round deals an additional 40 damage to Psionic units. There are ‘special’ cases though as well, seen when Psi Storms instantly kill Hallucinations and when a Yamato Cannon will not activate an Immortal’s hardened shields.

ADDON: "Spells" also ignore armor, as well as the Immortal shields.

[StarCraft II Blue Roundup]

How useful Archon have in SC2?
i've heard they lost their splash damage and they lost Feedback ability for longtime ago
even the Archon have thier splash damage but what improvement Archon have from SC1 ?
against Terran , Archon easily defeated by ghost
against Zerg , Does Archon still have splash damage ?
now the protoss have Immortal with High HP equip with Harden Shield and have longer attack range
i think Archon need buff :/
(Pondpond, USWest)

Archons still have their splash damage and are still quite the beasts they were in the original StarCraft. There is no better feeling than watching a group of Archons instantly pop a stacked group of Mutalisks.

Question on Zerg
I read this interview about mbs.
They said let's say you have 3 baracks in one group
you have to press m three times to get 3 marines.
Now, let's say I have 3 hatcheries in one group,
do i have to press z 3 times for lings,
or do i have to press z for each larva=9times?
(Shaytan, USEast)

If you have three Hatcheries in one group, press your group number and hit 's' key, you will select all your Larva of three Hatcheries.
And you can hit 'z' as many as you want them to morph to Zerglings.
If you have nine Larvas, you need to hit 'z' nine times to morph all of them to Zerglings.

---End of Transmission---

As well, here's a roundup of the miscellanious dev posts on the Battle.net forums since then:

Re: Zerg mobility/spells:

The devs are currently testing new abilities to make the Zerg more mobile, as compared to Terran and Protoss. If they end up sticking, I will update everyone further on the matter.

Confirmation that the "tabbing" system for subgroups selected as seen in Warcraft III still applies:

Yup, currently they work similarly with Warcraft III. When you have a group selected of various types of units, when you hit 'tab' it will cycle thorough those various groups. This will be a key skill to master when dealing with large group battles in which those abilities cast could turn the battle.

On the appearance of the Zerg Infestor:

The Infestor is currently undergoing a complete visual redesign. The goal is to give it a much more creepy, eerie, and infesting feel to it. Will keep you guys updated as they solidify the look.

On unit behaviour when moving to a rally point:

Right now, when the rally point is set, the units will attack enemy units nearby while going to the rally point.

On special death animations:

This still isn't determined, though the additional animations added so far is really making the polish of the game look amazing. Watching Marines get scorched by Hellion fire, burning up while hitting the ground, and then dissolving into ashes...is quite a spectacle.

On how Sniping works with the Terran Ghost:

Snipe and Psi Round are the same. You Snipe with a Psi Round, which currently does 20 damage + 80 versus Psionic Units. This means, Ghosts are not only able to see energy based units in a limited range within the fog of war, they also take out units like High Templars with one Psi Round shot, making them excellent caster killers.

On the status of the EMP ability from Starcraft I, and its current unit assignment (it was previously on the Ghost to our knowledge):

I agree with that EMP is an interesting ability as well.
Right now, EMP is taken out from the game but as you know, this is not the final.
I will update you all when EMP's back to the game.

Source: Battle.net Forums

Discuss!

Like pretty much everybody who is hyper-obsessed with Starcraft and has the means, several members of the competitive Starcraft site Team Liquid sent several people down to take a look at the public Starcraft builds at Blizzcon 2008.

They've now delivered their reports - and like the highly-competitive Starcraft players they are, have given very meticulous details about what they've seen so far, and what they like and don't like from the standpoint of competitive skill and gameplay in the game to date. Here's a small fraction from one of the reports:

I led with the problem-free game speed and pacing section so that the crash through unit and game mechanics would be that much more painful. Not to sound too dire, but there are a lot of issues with units. Now, I am very optimistic that Blizzard has recognized these issues and will fix them before release; however, if we were going to write an article on how StarCraft II might eventually be, I’d just link to a picture of woodland creatures dancing around a rainbow. We can only report on how the game works now.

Units control very well for the most part. Unit pathing is accurate. Units seem to move without getting too easily obstructed and take the logical path. Units move down ramps more easily than before. Units still auto-flank in a sense; this simply means that with improved pathing comes a more powerful attack-move.

So all in all, units do what you want, except for a few. Mutalisks stack, yes, but it really isn’t comparable to the original. They overlap if you spam but usually spread out pretty easily. Mutalisk micro is very hard to do. Mutalisks are still good, and I spent quite a lot of time with them, but I really couldn’t get the hang of harassing too well with them. I tried patrol, hold, and attack, and nothing made them emulate their Brood War counterparts. That’s not to say Mutalisk micro can’t be done and won’t be solved eventually. I’m just saying in this build, I personally couldn’t get it to happen.

Zealot against Zergling micro no longer exists. One reason will be explained in the next section, but the more important issue is explained here. Six Zerglings engage my 2 Zealots. Since I don’t play Protoss in Brood War, I actually use micro in this situation. I grabbed my 2 Zealots and instructed them to attack the leading Zergling. Since the Zergling line was coming in at an angle, there should have theoretically been room for 6 Zealots around that Zergling. The first Zealot engaged, but his companion felt it a better idea to, instead of going around the other Zealot to attack the Zergling, go around the entire Zergling line and attack from behind. I don’t know why things like this occur, but it was definitely a reoccurring issue in my games.

Read the full (and very lengthy) report here.

Source: TeamLiquid.net

Discuss!

This comes as quite the surprise, so take this with a grain of salt, but Blizzplanet is reporting that both the roles of Jim Raynor and Sarah Kerrigan are still open for casting:

We have received heads up from a couple of agencies informing us that the voice acting role of Jim Raynor and Kerrigan the Queen of Blades are now up for grabs. It seems the Jim Raynor voice actor used in the Starcraft II cinematic and in the in-game single player demonstrations was a placeholder; or the creative team decided at last minute to change the actor.

This news seems very surprising, especially given that Glynnis Campbell, who voiced Kerrigan in Starcraft, has not only been confirmed to return but was confirmed to have voiced Kerrigan in the clip from the intro cinematic shown at Blizzcon.

However, given that there has been some controversy in the fan community over Raynor's recasting, there is always the chance this could mean that Robert Clotworthy could still return as Raynor.

However, I would be very skeptical of this development.

UPDATE 11/13/2008: It seems that fans at Blizzforums have contacted Glynnis, and gotten the following response:

Hmm... I've gotten a lot of similar comments lately from fans.

Here's what I can tell you. I did record a number of segments for
Starcraft II over summer, and I know they used some of that audio for
Blizzcon. However...in my contracts and conversations with Blizzard,
they're very careful to call those recordings "auditions," which I find
kind of odd, and my contracts have always included a clause that says
there's no guarantee they'll use my voice in the finished game. I don't
know if this is to create intrigue, to cover their arses legally, or
what. (Or maybe they just don't want to use me after the over-the-top
diva temper-tantrum I threw in the studio last time! ;D)

One thing I did insist on in the contract is that I get credited by name
if they DO use my voice, so if I end up in the final game, you'll see it
on the packaging.

Anyway, it's always flattering to know there are fans out there who
care, and I hope you're giving Robert lots of props, too.

Sources:
Blizzplanet
Blizzforums

Discuss!

It seems that Karune over at Battle.net has made my job a lot easier - he's now posting weekly roundups of all the "blue" posts, or those made by Blizzard employees responding to Starcraft II questions in general discussion threads.

Here's the last week's roundup:

1. Warpgate’s warp-in (Theoblivion, USWest)
Even though the Warpgate is good enough, I was wondering if the Robotics Facility and Nexus warp-in aswell.

Only Gateways can be upgraded to Warp Gates. Gosh...warped in Carriers/Void Rays over an enemy base would be OP! -Karune

2. Reapers and Marauders (Battlenuts, USEast)

Whats units are the reapers good against? Ones they totally own. Also the marauders. Is it more anti toss or anti zerg? Better as a mixed in unit or stand alone? ect
Seems like lings take out reapers well
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/41334.html
what are the large walking units in this video are the marauders?

Reapers are actually one of the best units against any light units in the game. They kill Zerglings, workers, and even Zealots pretty well with a little maneuvering. Their mines also decimate stationary defenses, as well as tech buildings. They are no doubt one of the best raiders in the game right now.

Marauders on the other hand are probably better mixed, unless you are going up against an all armored ground force. Marauders work well against both Protoss and Zerg. Early game, as mentioned above, they are great for slowing Zealots while Marines do the damage. Against Zerg, they are better suited against those pesky armored Roaches with the fast regen. -Karune

3. Colossus (Communitysc, USEast)
There have been some questions about the Colossus' utility on my website's forums. stebo88 and I have been speculating about possible uses for this 6 food monster. stebo88 used it at Blizzcon to fight some Zerglings and he had to retreat due to the Colossus' low damage (he did get to use its cliff climbing abilities though, the one positive aspect of the situation). In addition to its seeming uselessness, the Colossus costs a large amount of resources...

So I want to ask...what makes the Colossus worth its price? Are the Thermal Lances stronger than stebo thought them to be (against another class of units perhaps)?

In my opinion, the Colossus is the most effective when you have more than one. Three seems to be my optimal number, especially against Terran. Medivacs heal at a very fast rate, but only one target at a time. Against a group of Marines with a Medivac, one single Colossus would do virtually nothing, because the damage would be healed through easily. With three Colossi, the Marines would die in one sweep, negating any healing that could be done. A single Colossus is good at softening targets, but with more rapid healing from Medivacs and new units like Roaches, it may not be enough. At that point, you need enough to kill them in one sweep, and when you do have that, it will do significant damage to any army, especially with the additional range upgrade for the Colossus. -Karune


Karune, what are your thoughts on the Colossus attack mechanic? While the numbers can be adjusted in accordance to balance, there's concern that the current attack mechanic is itself a flaw in that it's too situational. Has your team considered enhancing it in any ways, or adding more control to the attack pattern is etches into the ground?


Even though the beam is currently shown visually in various ways, the damage is done to all units in that straight line at the same time instantly. That line will always be based on the position you are attacking from, so in that way there is a lot of control as how to use the Colossus.

I definitely wouldn't say the Colossus is too situational either cause this unit is quite useful in both Zerg and Terran matchups. As long as in these matchups, both players continue to adapt to counter each other's strategies, Colossi will surely be brought to the battlefield. -Karune

But what benefits do Colossi have over using units like High Templar or Archons for Zerglings and such? The only differentiating mechanic is the ability to walk up and down cliffs, which is situational in most cases because not every map will be entrenched with cliffs. It seems like Archons will generally be an all-around better unit for fighting the units that the Colossi is also good at.

It is true, they all do some form of AoE, but they are very much different from each other. Archons have a range of 2. Colossi have a range of 6, and with the upgrade that becomes 9, as well as increasing the area in which takes damage. The range of the Colossus is what makes it such a great support unit, as well as an awesome raider from cliffs. Additionally, all competitive maps will have cliffs to some degree. -Karune


4. Molecular Displ. & Seismic (Gearvosh, USWest)

So even though I went to Blizzcon, theres still 2 abilities im not sure of.
Firstly what does the Nullifiers Molecular Displacement do? I heard that it shoots a beam of energy and deals extra damage to units of the same type? Can we get more detail on this.
Secondly I keep hearing of a Seismic Thumper ability for the Nighthawk (im positive I never saw this). Supposedly the Thumper stops Zerg from burrowing. Any input?

The Molecular Disrupter is a new ability we are testing out on the Nullifier, in which the unit fires a psionic projectile which bounces between units of the same type, doing 10 damage with each hit, up to a maximum of 10 bounces. Thus, if you were to use this ability on 2 Marines (with 40 hit points each, not upgraded), both Marines would die easily. If there were 3 Marines, it would kill 1 Marine and leave the last two at 10 hp each. Currently, the ability costs 125 energy.

Stats are of course all subject to balance.

The Seismic Thumper is no longer in the multiplayer game, but was originally dropped on the battlefield, which slows all units within it's radius by 50% (including friendlies). The only way to stop it was to destroy the Seismic Thumper itself. -Karune

5. Medivac (From the Poll: What do you think about the Medivac?)

The Medivac Dropship is a unit that has already gone through quite a bit of discussion since it was introduced. Some were reluctant, many saw its huge potential on site at events and through videos.
The Medivac Dropship is a dropship that heals biological units at an incredible rate and from a range, keep it out of harm's way. This new addition has made the Terran race much more mobile than previously in the original StarCraft. These flying healers have become quite a staple in any Terran army, but we want to hear from you on what you think of it. -Karune

6. Targeting Drone (Shaolin_bboy, USEast)
And the enemy notices it without detectors? (Asides from calculating the damage taken by the units)

Even though the drone is stealthed, visually, there will be a red laser coming from the drone aimed at the target, so you will know when there is one around. -Karune


7. Stalkers (Crazyjimlizard, USWest)
When I heard they have a blink, I thought it was 30-60 sec cooldown. Even 15 sec cooldown could be abused.

My teammate and I were talking about it. Blink basically fixes a lot of the problems the old dragoons could have, and gives them some advantages. In SC1, siege tanks could beat Dragoons from a distance, but with blink, the Stalkers can close the distance and avoid more siege tank fire. In SC1, zerglings countered Stalkers, but in SC2, I think Stalkers do a better class of damage vs Zerglings. That stuff is just kids play to the sort of micro you can get out of Stalkers en mass because they're ranged. I've done my share of micro, and people hate it when you use 2 marines to gun down a zealot. Stalkers are even easier to abuse and they scale up.

Lets say you see a bunch of lings on the offensive. The most immediate thing you can do is hail an initial line of fire down. Then when the front guy loses most of his shield, blink him behind the lines. Repeat for the other front line guys. Then you're looking at a situation where you really flee the stalkers, or if you continue the attack. The Zerglings are always looking at losing a few zerglings just to begin the battle with no loss of the Stalkers because they have a community shield in effect.

Stalkers still fall to large groups of Zerglings in terms of cost, even with Blink micro. Although, with the additional micro, especially while also using terrain to your advantage, a Protoss player will definitely be able to at least fight a group of Zerglings, rather than being forced to retreat.
In the Sonkie/Yellow game 1, the Blinking micro definitely kept his Stalkers alive longer, though force firing would have ended that battle in the Protoss favor as well, since the Stalker has bonus damage towards armored units like the Roach. Zerglings are still definitely the best counter against Stalkers from the Zerg side, especially since the improved pathing system allows them to get to their ordered locations faster and are able to surround more efficiently.

The cooldown for Blink is perfect in saving Stalkers from death against Roaches which have a much lower rate of dps than Zerglings. Against Zerglings, the cooldown is not fast enough, similar to the announcement video of the Protoss race when the Stalkers were first introduced. -Karune

Source: Battle.net Forums

Discuss!

Straight from the Battle.net forums, here's the latest batch of community questions on Starcraft II answered!

Chat with Devs: After BlizzCon, it has been very exciting to see all the feedback from the fans and pro players about the latest build of StarCraft II. There was lots of noted feedback about both the Colossus and the Nydus Worms (which we are currently polling on right now in the gameplay forum: <link>). At my most recent meeting with Dustin, we decided to chat about some of the lesser focused on topics, that have undergone quite a few changes since the original StarCraft.

Hallucination
The first topic was about hallucination, a classic Protoss ability, that honestly did not get that much use in the original StarCraft. To make it more interesting, Dustin explained how the ability has been brought down in tech to the Nullifier. Additionally, hallucination could be used to create units in which the player doesn’t even have prerequisite buildings for. That in itself should be an interesting scare for opposing players, watching 3 Colossi trampling in, only to counter with Corruptors and realize that they were not real. Furthermore, even probes could be hallucinated! Since the amount of hallucinations you get are based on ‘actual’ costs of what they would cost if they were real, you could get 8 probes per hallucination to trick those incoming Reapers. Dark Templars, Observers, and Carriers though were not on the list of units that could be hallucinated since the first two would be quite overpowering to use as an invisible fake scout (soo OP). Carriers too, would just have much too many hit points, as well as become quite a bit over complicated when you deal with how many interceptors they might have.

Queen Spawns 3 Mutant Larva
The mutant larva count has increased with the latest version of the Queen to encourage more use of a pretty powerful ability if used correctly. Mutant larva crawl around independently of a Hatchery and can create units at a discounted production rate. This is like a free Hatchery with each additional Queen! Along with the Queen’s ability to defend against air units early game, it shall make her quite a crucial unit in any Zerg army.

Everyone who made it out to BlizzCon or watched on TV, we definitely hope you guys enjoyed it! It is always a blast having fans and devs alike come together to celebrate the games we’ve all come to enjoy and love. As always, shoot the devs and I a w00t! if you are enjoying this Q&A batch!

---StarCraft II Q&A Batch 45---

1. Do enemy Zerg units also get a boost on your Creep? (StarCraft 2 Forums)

Yes, enemy Zerg units will still get the speed boost when on creep. Currently, the creep shares no affiliation.

2. Are there abilities that remove creep? (TheWarCenter)

The 2 ways to push that expanding creep is to kill the burrowed creep tumors, or kill those Queens building them. On another note, the creep no longer damages enemy buildings. Through testing, the ability actually affected players adversely in team games where players allied with Zerg players would end up having their units damaged by their friend’s creep. In 1vs1 matches, the usefulness of this mechanic was hardly ever used, amongst all the new cooler Zerg strategies that have spawned.

3. Does the creep speed boost apply to zerg air? (TheWarCenter)

No, they do not apply to air units or drones.

4. Won't Reapers, Marauders, Hellions, Siege Tank's splash damage, and Stimpacks be too powerful against a Zerg player? All of that seems pretty well suited to counter masses of low-hp units, like most Zerg ground units. (StarCraft Legacy)

As you know, there is still much balance to be done since we have not even entered into a beta phase yet. With that said, there are several counters still to these Terran units, but Zerg players will be forced to adapt with new units and strategies veering away from some of the original StarCraft strategies. For instance, Roaches and Lurkers are excellent counters to Hellions and Reapers. At a later tech, Infestors simply rock massed units such as Marauders with Fungal Infection, causing them to explode when they die. All the new mechanics and abilities will add many new strategies to your bag of tricks.

5. Can Allies ‘merge’ their Nydus networks? In other words, can you enter through the Nydus Warren of player A, and exit through the Nydus Worm of player B? (TheWarCenter.net)

No, allies can’t share Nydus networks between networks, but allied units can enter into another ally’s Nydus network.

6. Is the Thor still an anti-air unit? Does it fulfill this role effectively? – Thelorme (Battle.net)

Yes, it is still an anti-air unit with the longest range against air units of any unit in StarCraft II. Visually, we are moving to give the Thor anti-air missiles that will fire from his shoulders, unleashing a devastating barrage from a remarkable range.

Source: Battle.net forums

Discuss!

As always, at Battle.net, there is a Blizzard presence in the Starcraft II forums in the form of Karune. In the wake of Blizzcon, he's made a number of posts to clarify/answer questions posters had about the build as displayed:

Re: Targeting drones for the Nighthawk:

Even though the drone is stealthed, visually, there will be a red laser coming from the drone aimmed at the target, so you will know when there is one around.

On Stalkers seeming imbalanced in the Sonkie/Yellow game:

Stalkers still fall to large groups of Zerglings in terms of cost, even with Blink micro. Although, with the additional micro, especially while also using terrain to your advantage, a Protoss player will definitely be able to at least fight a group of Zerglings, rather than being forced to retreat.

In the Sonkie/Yellow game 1, the Blinking micro definitely kept his Stalkers alive longer, though force firing would have ended that battle in the Protoss favor as well, since the Stalker has bonus damage towards armored units like the Roach. Zerglings are still definitely the best counter against Stalkers from the Zerg side, especially since the improved pathing system allows them to get to their ordered locations faster and are able to surround more efficiently.

The cooldown for Blink is perfect in saving Stalkers from death against Roaches which have a much lower rate of dps than Zerglings. Against Zerglings, the cooldown is not fast enough, similar to the announcement video of the Protoss race when the Stalkers were first introduced.

And a quick note regarding Immortals, Siege Tanks and line of sight on the high ground:

If you have LOS, your Immortals will be able to hit those tanks. LOS is very important in StarCraft II. Without it, ambushes can have devastating consequences.

Finally, he put up a nice big FAQ on the trilogy announcement:

What is the StarCraft II Trilogy?
The StarCraft II Trilogy consists of the base StarCraft II game and two subsequent expansion sets. StarCraft II is subtitled Wings of Liberty (working title) and will include a lengthy single-player campaign that focuses on the terrans and puts players in the role of Jim Raynor, one of the series’ main heroes. The first expansion set, Heart of the Swarm (working title), will follow later and include a single-player campaign focusing on the zerg and Kerrigan, Queen of Blades. The second expansion set, Legacy of the Void (working title), will continue the story experience with a single-player campaign centered on the protoss.

Will we still be able to play multiplayer matches of StarCraft II with all three races?
Yes! From the beginning, StarCraft II will be a fully featured multiplayer game, and all three races will be available for competitive play.

How will the expansion sets impact multiplayer gameplay?
The expansion sets will add new content to each race for use in multiplayer matches. This could include additions such as new units, abilities, and structures, along with new maps and Battle.net updates.

If I buy StarCraft II but don’t buy any of the expansion sets, will I still be able to play online?
Yes. This will work similarly to Warcraft III and the original StarCraft, which maintained separate online gaming lobbies and ladders for expansion set players and players with the base Warcraft III or StarCraft.

How long is each of the campaigns?
StarCraft II’s terran campaign will consist of approximately 26 to 30 missions, and each expansion set will include a similar number of missions. This means that the complete StarCraft II Trilogy will include as many as 90 single-player missions. This allows us to create a truly epic story experience with a great variety of unique missions and gameplay types.

Why did you decide to release each race’s campaign separately?
We’re aiming to push the boundaries of storytelling and character development in RTS games through the unique single-player campaign design of StarCraft II. Players will be able to choose their mission path and technology upgrades for their army as they advance through the campaign. In order to make these choices meaningful while creating an epic story and well-developed characters for each faction, we needed to focus on a single race for a large number of missions.
The Trilogy also allows us to create more in-game and prerendered cinematics to tell the story in between missions. There will be more interactive sets and elements for players to explore during each campaign, along with other interesting design elements to differentiate the single-player game from multiplayer matches. For example, the technology choices within the terran single-player campaign will include special upgrades and unit types that are unique to the single-player game. These could include the ability to purchase classic units such as the wraith or firebat to add to Jim Raynor’s army.

Are these three separate games? How much will all of these games cost?
The StarCraft II Trilogy will consist of the base StarCraft II game and two expansion sets. Pricing on these games hasn’t been determined at this early stage; however, we’ve always charged an appropriate price for the content the player receives, and we will continue to release high-quality games that offer great value.

How long will it take to ship each expansion set in the Trilogy?
We’re still focused on developing the base StarCraft II game, and all the content associated with the terran campaign, including the missions, cinematic cutscenes, and interactive sets. It’s too early to provide an estimate on how long it will take to develop each of the expansion sets in the trilogy, but as always, we will take as much time as is needed to create the best possible gaming experience with each expansion set.

Source: Battle.net

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