Missioni CO-Op, altro update pubblicato da Blizzard
Alla fine della passata settimana sul forum ufficiale di Starcraft 2 il developer MONK ha pubblicato un nuovo importante aggiornamento riguardo l’ultimo update previsto per le Missioni Cooperative.
Nello specifico, largo spazio è stato dedicato al Comandante Swann reo, oltre al resto, di avere anche un tempo di ramp-up troppo più elevato rispetto agli altri comandanti disponibili.
Andiamo a vedere, di seguito, tutti i dettagli in merito.
Greetings! We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about the upcoming changes we have planned for Artanis and Raynor. There’s been a lot of constructive discussion about both commanders, and we appreciate the ongoing, thoughtful dialogue. Now, it’s time to talk about Swann—the final Commander we’ll be touching on in the upcoming Co-op revamp patch. As we identified in our original post , we have the following concerns for Swann:
- Swann’s ramp-up time is a higher than other Commanders’.
- Swann’s HERC/Tank combination is very powerful, but inaccessible to many players due to how demanding it is skill-wise. Goliaths are also strong, but his other options tend to fall off in power.
As a result of these concerns, we are going to focus on improving both Swann’s ramp-up time and buffing his lesser-used unit combo options.
SCV
- SCVs now benefits from the Level 1 Vehicle Specialist upgrade, which reduces the SCV’s build time by 20%.
- SCVs now benefits from the Level 15 Mechanical Know-how upgrade, which increases the SCV’s HP by 20%.
Applying the Vehicle Specialist upgrade to SCVs has been a common suggestion to help with Swann’s ramp-time. Faster SCV production should make it much easier for Swann to amass a substantial army in the game’s early phase. We also want to apply the Mechanical Know-how upgrade to SCVs to have its performance more consistent—plus, we just think it would be a cool bonus for SCVs to have in Swann’s kit.
Hellion/Hellbat
- Hellbat HP increased from 135 to 235.
As we did with Mira, we will be applying an HP buff to Swann’s Hellbats so that they can better fulfill their role as a mineral-heavy tank for Swann’s more gas-intensive units.
Cyclone
- Cyclone cost decreased from 150/150 to 150/100.
- Targeting Optics upgrade cost decreased from 150/150 to 100/100.
- Targeting Optics research time decreased from 90 seconds to 60 seconds.
- Mag-Field Accelerator upgrade cost decreased from 200/200 to 100/100.
- Mag-Field Accelerator upgrade research time decreased from 120 seconds to 90 seconds.
We think that Cyclones are cool units that promote a unique playstyle. However, their exorbitant gas costs and long ramp-up and research times means that players will often have trouble accessing them in the first place. These changes are intended to decrease the ramp-up time of Cyclones and help them snowball earlier.
Thor
- Thor 330mm Cannon animation cast start and finish times decreased from 2 seconds each to .5 second each.
- Thor 330mm Cannon cast range increased from 7 to 10.
We believe that the primary problem with Thors is that their 330mm Cannons are simply too unwieldly. The currently take 2 seconds to charge up, 6 seconds to cast, and 2 seconds to power down after they attack. We believe that the ability will feel much more responsive with these proposed changes.
Wraith
- The Wraith’s Pulse Amplifier upgrade has been reworked. It now has the following functionality: When the Wraith is moving, the damage of its Gemini Missiles is increased by 100% and the damage of its Burst Lasers is increased by 300%.
- The Wraith’s Displacement Field upgrade now provides Wraiths with 20% additional movement speed when cloaked in addition to its current functionality.
- Decreased the time between the Wraith’s Burst Laser attacks from 1.7 to 1.25.
- Decreased the deceleration of Wraiths from 2.6 to 1.25.
- Increased the attack arc of the Wraiths’ Burst Lasers and Gemini Missiles weapons from 0 to 90.
- Increased the Wraith’s turning rate from 720 to 1440.
- Reduced the damage point of Wraith’s Burst Lasers and Gemini Missiles from .167 to .0446.
In its current form, the Wraith suffers mostly because it’s too similar to the Goliath—both units are primarily strong against armored air units, with a weaker anti-ground attack. The changes we’ll be making to the Wraith attempt to more differentiate it from the Goliath.
The primary change to the Wraith is that it will now have greatly increased damage output when it is moving. In addition, we’ll be making a lot of changes that make the unit feel more fluid to control. As a result, Wraiths will be much more powerful if you can constantly keep them on the move, much like how they’re used by professional players in StarCraft I to great effect.
We believe these changes sufficiently differentiate Wraiths and Goliaths from each other and open up yet another unique and powerful option for Swann.
Hercules
- The Hercules’ Tactical Jump no longer requires vision of the target area.
- Enemy units near the target of a Drakken Laser Drill’s attack will now try to find and attack any units providing vision for the laser.
As we mentioned in the Raynor post last week, we’d like to change all versions of Tactical Jump so that it will no longer require vision of the target area players wish to teleport to. However, we still wanted to prevent situations where players can cheese objectives with the Laser Drill. To help with this, we’ve changed the behavior of Amon’s units so that the Laser Drill will aggro all enemy units in the area it’s targeting. This means that you may no longer park a single Hercules over an objective and shoot it down with just the Laser Drill without retaliation.
Regenerative Bio-steel
- Increased the life regeneration of Regenerative Bio-steel from .6 HP per second to 2 HP per second.
We felt this upgrade was a bit weak, so we wanted to provide players with a healing alternative to Science Vessels.
Masteries
- Laser Drill Build and Upgrade Time Mastery renamed to Laser Drill Build Time, Upgrade Time, and Upgrade Cost Mastery. It now reduces the build time, upgrade time, and upgrade cost by 1.5% per point, up to a maximum of 45%.
While a good portion of players currently see the Laser Drill Mastery as weak, a few creative players in the Chinese community have made good use of this Mastery in combination with Turrets. We’re hoping these changes will further encourage this unique playstyle and make it feel more competitive.
Going Forward
That about does it for the changes we have planned the next balance patch, encompassing Artanis, Raynor, and Swann. When the changes go live, we hope you have as much fun playing with the new changes as we had playtesting them.
Until next time,
Kevin Dong
Co-op Commander Designer