EG sat with two of its oldest members - Greg "Idra" Fields and Benjamin "DeMuslim" Baker to discuss how are things with the beta of the upcoming expansion.
Although excited about the newly introduced Medivac "Emergency Thruster" ability which allows more flexible and aggressive harassment for terran, DeMuslim does not share the same enthusiasm with most of the other changes. In Baker's eyes, the changes done to the terran race are much less interesting than terrans' or zergs'.
DeMuslim:
A lot of people are right, in that the changes for Terran aren’t half as interesting as for Zerg and Protoss. Hellions right now are a mobile unit that are made for harassing and dealing with light units — they have a role and purpose. They are going to be able to convert into a unit that’s made for dealing with Lings (which they already do pretty darn well) and Zealots (which isn’t needed since bio does that well enough anyway, especially with upgraded Medivacs). Thors — well, that’s another change that doesn’t change play style.
The only somewhat [unreasonable] change are Widow Mines, which have their defensive uses. I understand Blizzard have tried to make them more a battle-usable unit, which is cool and stuff, but the reality is there are just better alternatives. Would I rather have 10 Widow Mines (20 supply) try run in behind an army and blow it up (at the risk of dying before they even do anything), or would I rather have a double drop somewhere on the map, or 2 drops possibly killing 2 expansions simultaneously? The answer is pretty obvious to me.
A lot of people are right, in that the changes for Terran aren’t half as interesting as for Zerg and Protoss. Hellions right now are a mobile unit that are made for harassing and dealing with light units — they have a role and purpose. They are going to be able to convert into a unit that’s made for dealing with Lings (which they already do pretty darn well) and Zealots (which isn’t needed since bio does that well enough anyway, especially with upgraded Medivacs). Thors — well, that’s another change that doesn’t change play style.
The only somewhat [unreasonable] change are Widow Mines, which have their defensive uses. I understand Blizzard have tried to make them more a battle-usable unit, which is cool and stuff, but the reality is there are just better alternatives. Would I rather have 10 Widow Mines (20 supply) try run in behind an army and blow it up (at the risk of dying before they even do anything), or would I rather have a double drop somewhere on the map, or 2 drops possibly killing 2 expansions simultaneously? The answer is pretty obvious to me.
What we're not accustomed to hear from Idra is him feeling happy for a zerg nerf but this is exactly where Greg stands on the new Infestor, who now "enjoys" a Fungal Growth projectile and weakened Infested Terrans. How is that positive in terms of playing zerg however? Idra explains:
Idra:
I think [Infestors] have become pretty bad units, which personally I like as gameplay revolving around the other Zerg units should be much more fun and dynamic. The Infestors will also get a little bit better because right now the beta servers have pretty significant lag/latency, and casting the projectile Fungal in those conditions is almost impossible. So it depends on your point of view. They probably went too far, but it’s good for my style of play and my personal preferences that they did.
I think [Infestors] have become pretty bad units, which personally I like as gameplay revolving around the other Zerg units should be much more fun and dynamic. The Infestors will also get a little bit better because right now the beta servers have pretty significant lag/latency, and casting the projectile Fungal in those conditions is almost impossible. So it depends on your point of view. They probably went too far, but it’s good for my style of play and my personal preferences that they did.
Other zerg units are also revised by Idra and he explains why Swarm Hosts will need "more experience to be used effectively", why Vipers are a better gas expenditure than Infestors, and what makes Roach/Hydra/Viper so strong.
Source: Evil Geniuses
