Photo by: Battle.NetOnce again Blizzard wants to test out the new balance changes just before they hit. "Antiga Shipyard 1.5.0 Balance v1.0" has hit custom games shelves and the players are called upon to test.
As always, Blizzard is keeping a close watch on match-ups of all levels in order to maintain balance. It seems as though matches outside the professional level are balanced as there are no significant issues on the matter. At higher levels of play however, Terran players have been having a hard time against the Zerg, especially those just below the very highest of skill levels.
To deal with the issue, very careful changes need to be implemented as to not affect Terran vs Protoss matches. TvP in the pro levels appears to be fairly equal at this time.
Here are the changes and explanations:
Creep tumor build, vision, and creep spread radius decreased from 10 to 8.
With pro players starting to spread creep more often, Blizzard noticed the move affecting only TvZ in a significant manner. This minor change is meant to positively impact the balance only at the highest levels of play.
The implications are as follows:
First - early game queen defenses and creep spreading is still viable, while creep spread across the whole map is made more difficult.
Second - with tactics where only one creep tumor is used, there is no real change, and thus no effect at most levels of play other then the professional level.
Raven movement acceleration increased from 2 to 2.25, and movement speed from 2.25 to 2.5.
Seeing how pro players use the raven it was clear that some change was bound. It seems as though even the best micro players out there were having trouble utilizing the raven to its full potential. It is also believed that the Seeker Missile cost and cast range are secondary factors and so were not touched.
This change should influence only the highest level of play, as the ravens are still very difficult to use. This buff should not have more then a small impact on high level play and almost no impact on the general balance.
Note that the changes are not final, and may be updated as they are being tested. The testing period is planned for about a week and if all goes well the changes will come into effect shortly thereafter.
Source: Battle.net
