We're veering into the other thread territory, but for anyone enjoying the single player experience MLG is a good place to stick your toe in the water of the e-sports/multiplayer side of things. Normal stream is free, MLG has the best commentators for the play by play, the best player pool this side of Korea (including some of the best Koreans of GSL and KESPA) and high production quality. I'd anticipate an extra effort to make it accessible since its right after HotS release
The Winter Championship in Dallas, Texas, from March 15-17 will include an invite-only, 32-player, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm exhibition tournament just days after the game is released. The 28 players who won their Winter Season Showdowns will join the top four (Life, Leenock, Flash, Bomber) from the MLG 2012 Fall Championship to compete in a single elimination bracket for $75,000 and a first place prize of $25,000.
All matches will be broadcast via two streams.Watch all the action FREE in 720p at www.majorleaguegaming.com. Purchase a Premium Upgrade to watch in 1080p HD and unlock premium chat features.
Spectator and VIP Passes are available now in the MLG Store. Buy online and save $15!
Back to single player:
Roach evolution
No temptation for the other choice. Roachlings all day
Baneling
Banelings that can jump, not just a joke any more
It turns out that roachlings are kind of crap. The atk speed debuff/slow are awesome. ^_^
Are you serious? I love them. They pretty much create a never ending stream of cannon fodder that keeps your army alive for ages. I've used them in almost every level.
We're veering into the other thread territory, but for anyone enjoying the single player experience MLG is a good place to stick your toe in the water of the e-sports/multiplayer side of things. Normal stream is free, MLG has the best commentators for the play by play, the best player pool this side of Korea (including some of the best Koreans of GSL and KESPA) and high production quality. I'd anticipate an extra effort to make it accessible since its right after HotS release
The Winter Championship in Dallas, Texas, from March 15-17 will include an invite-only, 32-player, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm exhibition tournament just days after the game is released. The 28 players who won their Winter Season Showdowns will join the top four (Life, Leenock, Flash, Bomber) from the MLG 2012 Fall Championship to compete in a single elimination bracket for $75,000 and a first place prize of $25,000.
All matches will be broadcast via two streams.Watch all the action FREE in 720p at www.majorleaguegaming.com. Purchase a Premium Upgrade to watch in 1080p HD and unlock premium chat features.
Spectator and VIP Passes are available now in the MLG Store. Buy online and save $15!
Back to single player:
Roach evolution
No temptation for the other choice. Roachlings all day
Baneling
Banelings that can jump, not just a joke any more
It turns out that roachlings are kind of crap. The atk speed debuff/slow are awesome. ^_^
Roachlings are great, actually, you just need to get a critical mass of them in the front.
PS - no hating on the LOLz mmmig, just think if blizzard had done for its esports divisions what riot has done for theirs.
People were talking about Swarm Hosts earlier. Here's how you use them in the campaign. Spoilers, this includes clips from the last mission (and also a preview of my Mastery Achievement guide that'll be going up later today after I encode the video):
We don't actually hate LOL. We just think anyone who plays LOL instead of starcraft deserves to be beaten and set on fire.
Just kiddin
Or am I :shock:
It's all good. Just trying to keep the general SC2 vitriol over LoL out of here. It must be frustrating to be really excited about a game that's developed and handled by people who seem to not have any real vision anymore.
It was fun playing another SC2 campaign though, but it would have been great to have a mode like Dawn of War: Dark Crusade where you can conquer planets. It's hard for people like me, where I love playing SC2, but don't have the time/ability to devote to laddering/multiplayer.
We don't actually hate LOL. We just think anyone who plays LOL instead of starcraft deserves to be beaten and set on fire.
Just kiddin
Or am I :shock:
It's all good. Just trying to keep the general SC2 vitriol over LoL out of here. [INSERT OFFENSIVE REMARK ABOUT BLIZZARD SURE TO CREATE SC2 VITRIOL HERE]
I see what you did there. Well played.
Seriously though, I don't have anything against LoL. It's a fun game and Riot is a great developer. But making snide remarks about LoL is kinda a tradition around here.
So I finished the campaign the other day. All the different permutations of the upgrades and mutations are really great. Almost too great. In fact, it kind of felt like no matter what you did you could get away with it in every level. I wish they'd pushed the evolution angle in a more challenging way, forcing you to adapt in order to meet the needs of specific missions. Still, though, it was a ton of fun. I wrote up all my thoughts in detail here:
3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
I could see that for the mutations maybe, since you could go back and be like "welp I should change that before trying that mission again." But evolutions are permanent, and games that punish you for making a wrong choice that can't be changed aren't actually fun.
I could see that for the mutations maybe, since you could go back and be like "welp I should change that before trying that mission again." But evolutions are permanent, and games that punish you for making a wrong choice that can't be changed aren't actually fun.
Yeah, that makes sense. I think I was speaking more broadly, though. Not just in terms of the upgrades/mutations but in terms of unit compositions as well. It felt like I could go roach/hydra in every single mission regardless of upgrades and mutations and be just fine. Likewise I could go muta/bane/ling in every mission regardless of upgrades and be fine as well.
They give you this massive tree of possibilities (literally hundreds of permutations), but you never have to use it with any precision.
I could see that for the mutations maybe, since you could go back and be like "welp I should change that before trying that mission again." But evolutions are permanent, and games that punish you for making a wrong choice that can't be changed aren't actually fun.
I changed my mutations around a few times, but I think you're right that they didn't make that much of a difference. Changing from speedlings to lings with higher attack speed and back was probably my most common change, depending on how offensive/defensive the level was.
0
3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
edited March 2013
Oh, yeah, I agree with that. But WoL had that problem too - you could use diverse builds and all your special unlocks but medic/marine/marauder was the easiest path.
edit: Part of why Raptorlings are great is that the charge/cliff climbing means speed is much less important, so you can go with Adrenal Overload basically all the time (which also benefits them more than standard lings because they deal 7 damage).
We don't actually hate LOL. We just think anyone who plays LOL instead of starcraft deserves to be beaten and set on fire.
Just kiddin
Or am I :shock:
It's all good. Just trying to keep the general SC2 vitriol over LoL out of here. [INSERT OFFENSIVE REMARK ABOUT BLIZZARD SURE TO CREATE SC2 VITRIOL HERE]
I see what you did there. Well played.
Seriously though, I don't have anything against LoL. It's a fun game and Riot is a great developer. But making snide remarks about LoL is kinda a tradition around here.
I wasn't trying to bait, seriously. I love SC2. I'm just continuously frustrated by blizzard, and I don't even play multiplayer!
Snide remarks are fine, just tired of seeing it in the gaming community at large, so it's a knee-jerk reaction to things I think are counterproductive overall.
It'd have to be a custom map, and I have no idea how to make those. If I made the map, the player could choose what evolution to use. But again, I have no idea how to do that.
We're veering into the other thread territory, but for anyone enjoying the single player experience MLG is a good place to stick your toe in the water of the e-sports/multiplayer side of things. Normal stream is free, MLG has the best commentators for the play by play, the best player pool this side of Korea (including some of the best Koreans of GSL and KESPA) and high production quality. I'd anticipate an extra effort to make it accessible since its right after HotS release
The Winter Championship in Dallas, Texas, from March 15-17 will include an invite-only, 32-player, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm exhibition tournament just days after the game is released. The 28 players who won their Winter Season Showdowns will join the top four (Life, Leenock, Flash, Bomber) from the MLG 2012 Fall Championship to compete in a single elimination bracket for $75,000 and a first place prize of $25,000.
All matches will be broadcast via two streams.Watch all the action FREE in 720p at www.majorleaguegaming.com. Purchase a Premium Upgrade to watch in 1080p HD and unlock premium chat features.
Spectator and VIP Passes are available now in the MLG Store. Buy online and save $15!
Back to single player:
Roach evolution
No temptation for the other choice. Roachlings all day
Baneling
Banelings that can jump, not just a joke any more
It turns out that roachlings are kind of crap. The atk speed debuff/slow are awesome. ^_^
Yeah. I don't know what's weak about lowering all enemy units attack and movespeed by 75%. That's fucking crazy.
It even affects bunkers!!!
0
3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
edited March 2013
It's not that it's weak, it's just that getting free units is even better.
I fucked up and posted this in the MP thread originally, so I'm pasting it where it belongs:
Guys this campaign is fun. I'm only like 7 or so story missions in, so I'm kind of avoiding the SC2 parts of the internet, but I just needed to interject my worthless opinion that HotS is great.
Blizzard knows how to make an engaging RTS campaign metagame and interesting missions. Also with just a couple minor tweaks (hatcheries and swarm queens), they actually made playing the Zerg in a campaign not a complete pain in the ass like it is in multiplayer, which was my biggest concern.
That motherfucking Hyperion mission is a goddamn disgrace to the game. Get that MOBA shit out of here! :arrow:
Spoilers. Blah!!!
+2
TurksonNear the mountains of ColoradoRegistered Userregular
I'm on the fence. Is the single player campaign good enough to justify $40? I did like WoL, but felt it was too short.
oh h*ck
0
Dark Raven XLaugh hard, run fast,be kindRegistered Userregular
I've gone back and watched a couple Wings of Liberty cinematics again, and real talk; they're all much better looking than Heart of the Swarm's. I dunno what's up with that. Everything just seems more detailed, better directed, better music...
Posts
You're just doing it wrong. Kill a unit, then kill the roachlings generating 4 roachlings altogether. Repeat. Infinite army for free.
QEDMF xbl: PantsB G+
Are you serious? I love them. They pretty much create a never ending stream of cannon fodder that keeps your army alive for ages. I've used them in almost every level.
Roachlings are great, actually, you just need to get a critical mass of them in the front.
PS - no hating on the LOLz mmmig, just think if blizzard had done for its esports divisions what riot has done for theirs.
I only wish I got to use deep burrowing hosts earlier in the campaign.
QEDMF xbl: PantsB G+
It's all good. Just trying to keep the general SC2 vitriol over LoL out of here. It must be frustrating to be really excited about a game that's developed and handled by people who seem to not have any real vision anymore.
It was fun playing another SC2 campaign though, but it would have been great to have a mode like Dawn of War: Dark Crusade where you can conquer planets. It's hard for people like me, where I love playing SC2, but don't have the time/ability to devote to laddering/multiplayer.
Someone get Blizzard on the horn and tell them to make this.
I see what you did there. Well played.
Seriously though, I don't have anything against LoL. It's a fun game and Riot is a great developer. But making snide remarks about LoL is kinda a tradition around here.
http://www.gosu.com/2013/03/heart-of-the-swarm-campaign-impressions/
Our first game is now available for free on Google Play: Frontier: Isle of the Seven Gods
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
Yeah, that makes sense. I think I was speaking more broadly, though. Not just in terms of the upgrades/mutations but in terms of unit compositions as well. It felt like I could go roach/hydra in every single mission regardless of upgrades and mutations and be just fine. Likewise I could go muta/bane/ling in every mission regardless of upgrades and be fine as well.
They give you this massive tree of possibilities (literally hundreds of permutations), but you never have to use it with any precision.
Our first game is now available for free on Google Play: Frontier: Isle of the Seven Gods
I changed my mutations around a few times, but I think you're right that they didn't make that much of a difference. Changing from speedlings to lings with higher attack speed and back was probably my most common change, depending on how offensive/defensive the level was.
edit: Part of why Raptorlings are great is that the charge/cliff climbing means speed is much less important, so you can go with Adrenal Overload basically all the time (which also benefits them more than standard lings because they deal 7 damage).
I wasn't trying to bait, seriously. I love SC2. I'm just continuously frustrated by blizzard, and I don't even play multiplayer!
Snide remarks are fine, just tired of seeing it in the gaming community at large, so it's a knee-jerk reaction to things I think are counterproductive overall.
I'll go to my grave believing swarmlings were the better choice.
1v1 swarmlings vs raptures. Any time, Any place. Bring it, sucka.
What upgrade level do we get?
It'd have to be a custom map, and I have no idea how to make those. If I made the map, the player could choose what evolution to use. But again, I have no idea how to do that.
you're a developer
learn the map editor
I hear it's one of the dumbest coding environments conceivable with a ton of redundancy and forced reverse compatability due to patching and crap
but, people have done it, people with no formal coding experience or training, so you can prob. do some awesome stuff
Witty signature comment goes here...
wra
Also, I am going to miss teleporting swarm hosts so much.
they are so good I find myself not really needing to build anything else if I have a hero unit that can handle air
I only code if I get paid. Otherwise I'd never code, and would just play videogames all day. Coding stopped being fun awhile ago.
Stephano?
QEDMF xbl: PantsB G+
"[thing that I used to do for fun that I now do as a job] stopped being fun awhile ago" kinda always works.
maybe I'd be as good as stephano if I could 1v1 a colossus with a roach
Roach/Hydra all the way.
Hence I pitty all porn stars.
Such wasted talent.
Witty signature comment goes here...
wra
QEDMF xbl: PantsB G+
Yeah. I don't know what's weak about lowering all enemy units attack and movespeed by 75%. That's fucking crazy.
It even affects bunkers!!!
It really isn't, imo.
But it's not like the campaign is so technically demanding that it matters too much.
Guys this campaign is fun. I'm only like 7 or so story missions in, so I'm kind of avoiding the SC2 parts of the internet, but I just needed to interject my worthless opinion that HotS is great.
Blizzard knows how to make an engaging RTS campaign metagame and interesting missions. Also with just a couple minor tweaks (hatcheries and swarm queens), they actually made playing the Zerg in a campaign not a complete pain in the ass like it is in multiplayer, which was my biggest concern.
Spoilers. Blah!!!