Legionnaire: 'Warp gates are awesome"

Peter "Legionnaire" Neate is one of the most renowned players in the StarCraft scene, holding a bronze medal from the World Cyber Games 2005 as well as a successful progaming career in Korea.
He was also awarded the Most Mannered player back in 2005, an ongoing pattern in his career.
- "That guy played with pros in Korea but isn't arrogant or condescendant in any way", was said in the nominations back then.

Legionnaire is now retired from StarCraft, but has been playing StarCraft 2 for the last couple of days. GosuGamers took the chance to hear what the Australian Protoss thinks of the game so far.

What have you been up to since you retired from StarCraft Brood War? How is life?
Life's good, a mix of nothing, poker, travel and work. I do programming for the QLD (a state in Australia) government. We are trying to migrate all transactions online - so you don't have to fill out any paperwork for any interactions with the government. Which is pretty cool.

What do you think of StarCraft 2 so far?
First thoughts, were that it's awesome, it looks fantastic. I'm a little worried that the builds are too WarCraft 3 like, but it's early days yet, we will see.

What rank do you currently hold?
I started 3-4 days ago and I'm currently in top 8 of my division. I won't specify more than that at the moment. I don't really get this 'division' thing in SC2 though. What's the point? Why do I care if I'm ranked #1 in division 4000? It means nothing, but a total ranking means something. Anyway, I think it's weird.

Are there any certain tactics that fascinate/impress you? And are there any you dislike?
I've mainly played protoss, although I did some random. I reckon sentries are awesome, so are warp gates. They provide so many possibilities. In one game, I dropped a sentry in their base along with 2 zealots, and ran the colossus in, and just blocked their ramp with a forcefield while attacking the probes. Those are the sort of tactic things I like, it makes it interesting.



As for the warp gates, I think they are overpowered at the moment, they are very abusive, but in theory, it solves a lot of issues that occurred in PvZ from StarCraft 1, where you lost total map mobility /harass possibilities once zerg penned you in.
I don't think people really use the early game bonuses very well. I haven't seen very many replays of top players, but most people seem to do it poorly. And no one really harasses or does anything too tricky, everyones just following basic builds so far. Hopefully that will change.

Mass muta is troublesome I think. And I don't particularly like that my final army always seems to be the same no matter what race I'm playing. By that, I mean slight variations, but mainly a few colossus's (nerf anyone?) and mass zeal, with anti air or range support numbers depending on what I'm up against.

What differentiates StarCraft: Brood War and StarCraft 2 the most? And which race is the most alike to what it was in the original one, and which one is the most different in your opinion?
Currently terran is most unlike SC (strategy wise), mainly because they don't go mech, while in SC, they had 2 very distinct play styles vs the different races. I'd say protoss game play is the most changed (mass warping in things everywhere - which is awesome) As for most like... not really sure, they all have a lot of changes.

Would you like to see mech more used in SC2?
Yeah, it was one of my favourite conflicts of starcraft zeal/goon combos vs tank/vult so I'm pretty biased. But I'd just like more 'different strategies'. So far it's just mass mariner rush or banshee harass.

What are your goals for StarCraft 2? Are you planning on competing on a high level, or are you playing just for fun?
Play for fun, I doubt I have the time to play enough to get to the highest levels. I might have a crack at WCG Australia if they have it this year. Not really sure at this point, we'll see what eventuates.

Who do you think will be the "king of StarCraft 2", who will dominate the scene?
I don't think anyone will. Not in the sense of another 'boxer' or something. They've removed a lot of the excessive difficulties that were involved with high level macro. Which from their point of view is good, as it opens the game up to a lot more players. But I don't think there will be the total domination as there will be a lot more players who are similarly skilled. Besides... it's way too early to tell at the moment. Whoever plays the most.

Will the foreigners be able to compete with the Koreans like in WarCraft 3, or will it eventually evolve into like what StarCraft 1 is? What do your guts tell you?
Yes, it should be a lot more even. One reason of the starcraft domination, was the proscene, the way the servers were set up with matchmaking, and the language barrier. It caused the Koreans to be separated from everyone else and with monetary/fame incentive allowing them to progress a lot faster. With war3/sc2 the matchmaking system sets you up vs everyone else, so the barriers get cut down.


a tribute video to Legionnaire by nevake.