that's reassuring :P

awesome, gj pat :) cant wait for sc2 any longer... weeeeeh

i like the upgrading concept.

150 minerals for 160hp and 8 damage is weak though, much worse than a zealot.

so there is no real static defense for zerg any more? i wonder how this will turn out. i'm sceptic.

Well, it's really something new in SC
But the main thing to do is balancing this unit! it can be too serious force against getting Zerg Base down. We'll see it in multiplayer :)

#3

it could be like in this vod savior vs bisu. Savior made fast expo and couldnt defend vs upcomming zeals cause of lack of sunkens. But i think or i hope its just cause sc2 got completely new builds and abilities for zerg and it wont require sunkens anymore :D

thanks mate^ apart from the doubts i have about the sheer amount of spells i like this unit. especially as a base construction manager.

thx for this explanations <3

I think zerg needs to play alot more agressive in sc2 because of lack of static defence. And that is great imo, because i love playing agressive.

one question...

raist i'll pm u my address and can u send me a copy of the beta? LOL

seriously though...sounds sick...just how zergs should be...lol when sc2 drops i'll be like effk war3...FOR THE SWARM!!!

I WHANT SC2 TODAY buhu :'(

:)

#10 "buhu" :DD

I want it too...i rly do :'( " buhu "

say whatever you want, for me is just a hero unit T_T

Well, to me it sounds pretty ok...hero or no..

Every alien has theyre queen...so why not make it " realistic " as possible?

It will be balanced anyway, its blizzard guys..

it reminds me of the lich >_> but still an awesome idea for a unit, it's a really cool concept of a caretaker within the zerg army.

No "normal" static d for zerg?
That seems incredibly weak since protoss gets teleporting stalkers and mobile phase cannons, and terran now gets 4!? forms of static defense: bunker, turret, mine drone, auto cannon.

Additionally, no static defense is a natural imbalance. It will allow protoss to make more cannons, they are mobile after all, and turtle with less drawback. I dont want to have to cast a spell on my evolution chamber or hydralisk den to make a defensive structure. Its an absurd base micromanagement requirement that neither of the other races has at all, and in fact they have the opposite: tons of sit and watch splash damage and army killing spells and abilities.

This will mean the zerg must use his army for both offense and defense, while the protoss will have both a full army and defensive structures, then in a stalemate situation the protoss can actually use Phase Prisms and move all his cannons into an attack position at the Zerg's base, and the Zerg has not static defense to stop a supported push.

Given Karune's batch 29 and 30 on SC2 website, this bothers me quite a bit.

In terran vs zerg, the "Nomad" should be just as devastating as the science vessel ever was in late game. Drop a few mine drones in the worker stream, and then drop the auto turrets behind the resources, zerg = wrecked economy.

What's more, the nomads fly and are massable, while the Queen is a one-of and does not fly.

Given the teleporting and other cliff jumping units, this game is going to be all about maneuverability and mobility, and simply "burrowing" a single unit between buildings isn't going to cut the mustard, regardless of that units strength.

finally, medics heal non-bunkered units while themselves bunkered? This is completely absurd and would render zerglings absolutely useless, and possibly even lurkers.


All in all, the Zerg are more like what I hoped, and SC2 is more like what I had hoped: An all new RTS set in the same Sci-Fi universe.

But some of these things need serious consideration. Where are the zerg's self propelled cliff jumpers? Are mutalisks going to be able to cope with the absurd flexibility protoss and terran have gained?

#15 you didn't even play the damn game,all of your stupid talk is pure theory.

So it is a hero...that you need for defense and in the mirror can finally use for offense. It levels with your tech. It gets spells and hp/mp based on level. Design seems cool, shame you can only build one. If they are going to limit you this way I'd at least like 1 per hatchery.

#15 you didn't even play the damn game,all of your stupid talk is pure theory.


No, I haven't played the game, (sorry, I didn't pay a few hundred dollars and buy a plane ticket to wherever it was to play a video game), but I've kept up reasonably with the videos and the updates, and my oppinion is as valid as any other.

#2
You also have to remember that she has 3 abilities too.
That's like a marine, with more than x3 the hitpoints, who has 3 different spells. I'd say 150 minerals is pretty good.

It's all theory in here, except the report from Raist who has played the game
(btw @ craftmatic2: even if you had bought a ticket to go to irvine you would not have had the change to play the game since it was invite only to a few websites and other press ;) )

I can only repeat, keep in mind that you can't talk about facts but unly speculate and keep in mind that the game is not yet finished, so a lot of things can still be changed before release :)

"you might actually place her in the hero category after all" =\

starcraft2 is going to suck if the queen is this powerful i was never aware of all these abilities she has

this powerful? it starts weaker than a single zealot!

Hmm, i dont think that all the gosu scbw people will like the feeling of playing a totally new RTS.. They loose the feeling of being gosu and are shipped back to being noobs again. But, hmm whatever, I guess we all will be noobs :)

i am confident that blizzard will get major imbalances fixed, you can change so much by the resource costs and build times. i also like the design of the new queen very much, wether you want to call her a hero or not. as long as she doesn't have too powerful aurae she won't prevent you from splitting your army effectively.

but i am afraid that replacing static defense by the queen will hurt the strategic depth of the game. with sunkens made of drones you have to decide to either sacrifice economic power in order to make static defense, or to save economic power by making no sunkens. but with the current new queen you would probably build her anyway. this would take away some of the zerg's enormous flexibility in the mass-power-balance, which makes the race unique, challenging and fun to play imho.

#15 I don't remember if you could phase prism buildings. I thought it was just units....

#18

the trip was paid for...a free plane ticket to play sc2 and enjoy californian sun...

yeh...would you say no???

#26 Phase prism makes psi, allowing you to move the cannons along. You can "leap frog" two phase prisms and move your cannons across the map if you want to.

Let blizz balance the game cmon man do you really think they are gonna leave the zerg that open to attack? Do you really think they would make it that imba? COME ON PLZ PLZ look at SC they did an awesome job there but the game was imba for a really long time! Do your remember when pools cost 150? omg it was so much easier fo z to rush. Dont expect a perfect game right when it rolls of the line or even for a year or two afterwards. To quote one of the wisest men ever: "I find your lack of faith disturbing!" GGNORE

Cool new unit but yes it does look like it's abit over the top on micromanaging and less basedefences for Zerg. It also looks like its a ripoff from the cryptfiend of warcraft 3 wich is abit lame seeing as the old queen really stood out from the crowd in terms of modelling.

Good thing to remove their static defenses. Turtling zerg is against their whole concept. Zerg is all about overwhelming your enemy, that's why we love them!

they didn't remove static defense, they just replaced sunkens by a special ability of the queen. this rather takes away the option NOT to make static defense, unless you don't build the queen.

#31 u insane? Turtling zerg? Did u maybe do a mixup with protoss?

Zerg = sunkens = losing drones = not too many in any good players game (basic defense, needed ofc)

protoss = cannons = hundreds = long game


Blizz will give some static defense to Zerg, they have to, one queen cant get all expos in time to protect, not mentioning she is vulnerable, so killing queen would mean getting zerg expos unprotected.

It all depends on how much the spells cost and if they are permanent. If the swarm clutch isnt permanent it sux. Also is important the quantity of energy and the time for restauring it from the queen.
The queen can a be a good unit if it is all good balanced

@craftmatic2
#15


First off all, zerg are supposed to have great mobility thanks to Nydus Worm, and to the great speed of units in general.


"Where are the zerg's self propelled cliff jumpers?"

After seeing that new zerglings have some sort of insect wings, I suspect that there will be an upgrade allowing them to jump on short distances (on/off the cliff). That might be just my imagination, wouldn't it be cool though? :)

#34 I think you have a point. If the swarm clutch would be permanent, or either be active for a long while and doesn't cost too much energy, this can be effective on all expo's.

Anyway, we should leave this for Blizzard to handle, they know what they're doing.

I can't wait until sc2... :)

great article, thanks

much pointless discussion and arguing ;p but again thanks OP :D

Zerg without static def thats really cool but i think i ll change race in sc 2 XD

#25; #31 and #33... i am fully agreed in what, you guys, have said... if you want to lame use the queen. We will love this game, after all... we were newbies once..

Seems so unbalanced, you just go with your queen to enemys gas place, put the acid thing under their workers and run away. :/ Works only if your opponent is zerg, but still.

good read

She is one ugly bitch :(

Incgamers just released a nice article about the Zerg Queen.

You can read it here :
http://starcraft.incgamers.com/for ums/vbarticles.php?do=article&articleid=17

I doubt they would give out a game that's unbalanced, therefore also doubt that even due to the amount of abilities the queen or any other unit may have, they will not be imbalanced units.

Also, I do think it's kind of like a hero, but then again, wasn't there also a Queen of the Swarm in SCBW? Then I do think there should be a Queen in SC II as well. It is only fitting that it's made distinct compared to the other units. Something great and majestic which can control all.

That's my view on the subject.

I also can't wait for SC II ofc ^^

I'm Leord over at IncGamers btw =) Should have registered here a long time ago, but finally did it.

If you read that article AYCE mentioned, you know that I don't quite think that she is a Hero. For one thing, no aura at all. She works mostly like a regular unit. If she dies, you make a new one, and upgrade (twice) that costs time and money. It is like ifyou lost your Yamato Gun BCs, you make new ones, and upgrade their guns...

Swarm Clutch is permanent, but slightly OP in the build at the press conference. That was because of their 1x1 size though, not cost or anything. They are rather cheap, and do decent damage, but they only have like 75 hp, and with 2x2 size as in the current build (as Browder said), they might even need buffing.