Raven about StarCraft 2: "You can't just mass one unit anymore"

Maciej "Raven" Polak was a referee and a broadcaster at the Polish finals of WCG09

Maciej "Raven" Polak is well known in the StarCraft: Brood War community, having a long history of contributing to the community in different ways. The Polish terran player is now 26 years old, and is currently the leader of the Polish StarCraft national team. GosuGamers sat down with the veteran to discuss the StarCraft 2 beta.


What do you think of StarCraft 2 now that you've been playing the beta for a while?
I love the game already, even if there are still major balance issues to be fixed. My main concern was about skillset required for the game, I was afraid the new interface and the AI improvements would hurt the part of game I always found the most playable and unique part of SC:BW.

SC2 is different game, that's for sure. But thanks to new macromanagement mechanics and to improved mobility of all races, it feels like game is just faster (well it's faster technically, fastest speed in SC2 is much quicker than fastest SCBW speed). Micro is extremely hard in some situations, but sometimes you can earn a lot more thanks to good micro. Also there is more playable combos of units/skills it seems, and scouting is more important, as you can prepare much harder counters than we got used to in Broodwar.


Are there any tactics you're especially fond of, or any tactics you hate?
Well, as a Terran player... I really liked multi-harassment openings with Reapers, but with Patch 2 lately it doesn't feel that good anymore. I love to play fast Ghost, and how fast nuke really became playable in StarCraft 2.

I don't really like the new mech yet, it's too vulnerable to some hard and easy accessible counters (few Roaches or 2 Immortals totally destroy most of mech openings nowadays). Even then I'm not really saying mech is THAT unbalanced, it's just that the new infantry in good hands does much better in my humble opinion and allows easy switches to various counters.


Terran infantry escaping a Psi storm.


Roaches, how have they evolved with time, are there any good counters for it yet, or are they still extremely hard to counter?
I think people are learning the proper counters for Roaches finally. Roach rush felt too strong for many players, until they realized what are their true weaknesses - low range (3) and slow movement. You can do pretty well if you just micro more with your Marauders or Stalkers.
Still, 145 hit points, armor 2, range 3, damage 16 - all for only a price of 75/25/1 is ridiculously cheap and should be balanced.


What differs StarCraft Brood War and StarCraft 2 the most? And which race is the most alike what was in the original StarCraft, and which one is the most unlike what it was?
Biggest difference - mobility. All three races has got new options to attack opponent and there is no penalty for shooting from the downhills anymore. It all makes it so much different, it's really hard to sit on your cliff, block the ramp and make an expo - you have to think of various crossed timings all the time, at any stage of the game. That and really hard counters make also scouting more important.

You can't just mass one unit, universal counter to any opening of your opponent (hi Dragoons), wrong scout will put you in a horrible tactical situation in SC2.
All three races are totally different. I'd say Protoss is more similar to what we had in Brood War and I think Terran is absolutely different now, thanks to so heavily retouched concept of the infantry play.


Have you played any of the top foreigners yet?
Well, like everyone except White-Ra maybe. I'm in Platinum league and didn't see a Terran with higher ELO / better stats on the EU server yet, but I guess that might change when I log into my account, didn't play the ladder last 4 or 5 days now ;)

Who of the players you've played seem to have the greatest potential for SC2? Did anyone make an extremely good impression on you?
It's really hard to really make the opinions yet, all the players are developing their skills so fast, it's just amazing when you play someone one day and it feels like a different player 2 days later.

But if I had to try, my props will go to top players from Sweden (Kaaz as Zerg, RunA as Protoss and MinD who plays random), and Ukraine (Dimaga as Zerg, and White-Ra who's still Protoss). Terran rookies - I call you all to show your best, we need the reinforcements here :)

Any shoutouts?
Sure! Thanks for the interview, it was a pleasure. Salute to followers of Terran.PL, soon there will be a lot of cool utilities for Starcraft 2 available, I bet you'll love them, so stay tuned (also the English audience)!